Mini Monday #44

Mini Monday: Where my son and I do two “mini” reviews on two children’s books. Each book will get a Thumbs up, Middle Thumb, or Thumbs down rating!

Moonpowder by John Rocco
Hardcover, 48 pages
Published May 27th 2008 by Hyperion
Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

Young Eli Treebuckle is the "fixer of all things fixable." He fixes the vacuum cleaner, the fan, and even the radio, hoping to catch some news of his father who is away at war. But there's one thing that Eli simply can't fix-his bad dreams. It's the same one over and over again: a mountain of junk, a prize just beyond his reach, and a fall.

One night as Eli stays up late to work on his most recent invention and escape another nightmare, a mysterious, luminous, and somewhat bumbling man by the name of Mr. Moon appears at his window. He knows just what the matter with Eli is and promises to help him, if he can fix one more thing.

And so Eli Treebuckle makes the journey to the broken Moonpowder factory. If he can get it up and running, he can ensure that the whole world will have sweet dreams! But can Eli face his greatest fears and meet the biggest challenge of his lifetime? With inspiring courage, determination, and a little faith, Eli proves that, happily, the answer is yes.

 

This was such a cute book. Little Eli is a very smart child who is able to fix pretty much anything he gets his hands on. The synopsis says he is waiting for his father to get home from war however this was not clear in the book. If you look at the dedication page it does show some war stuff but while reading the book you wouldn’t know he was waiting for his father. The ending was a little confusing at first but I figured out what was going on. Regardless of that we still really enjoyed the story and especially the illustrations. This book has a unique illustration style that was really neat looking to me.  I definitely recommend picking this book up. The entire idea of a Moonpowder factory was a neat take on a sandman sort of thing.

 

My Rating:

 

The Cloud Spinner by Michael Catchpool
Illustrated by Alison Jay
Hardcover, 32 pages
Published March 13th 2012 by Alfred A. Knopf
Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

One small boy has a special gift—he can weave cloth from the clouds: gold in the early morning with the rising sun, white in the afternoon, and crimson in the evening. He spins just enough cloth for a warm scarf. But when the king sees the boy's magnificent cloth, he demands cloaks and gowns galore. "It would not be wise," the boy protests. "Your majesty does not need them!" But spin he must—and soon the world around him begins to change.

From author Michael Catchpool and illustrator Alison Jay comes a magical tale about the beauty and fragility of our natural world, and the wisdom and courage needed to protect it.

  This was another cute story about a little boy who has learned a very neat trade from his mother until a king demands more and more of the fantastic fabric. Everyone soon realizes why you had to be responsible with this talent. It all comes down to the Princess who knows better than her father.

 

The real fun part of this book was looking at all the clouds and trying to find different shapes. If you look at all the hills throughout the story you can spot smiley faces made out of trees, animals, and rivers. We went back through the entire story to see if we could spot everything.

 

My Rating: