Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

My mom recommended this book after she read it, so I went in not knowing what it was about and didn’t read the blurb to know what to expect. All my mom said was that she liked how the POV jumped around. I’m hit or miss with that type of storytelling, so I kind of wanted to keep my expectations blank beyond knowing that.

I’m not sure if knowing what it was about would have made a difference at all, but I loved this book. The different POVs absolutely worked, and I loved getting to peek into everyone’s mindset. Being able to get into the mother’s head—and her past—kept the story moving more than it would have just “listening” to the recordings. Can’t wait to read the author’s next book - and watch this series on Hulu!

The Office: A Day at Dunder Mifflin Elementary

The Office: A Day at Dunder Mifflin Elementary is by Robb Pearlman and illustrated by Melanie Demmer.

This book is a must-have for any fans of The Office, whether you have kids or not.

My son is too young to watch The Office with me, but he loved this book! It has a lot of inside jokes for fans, but still works as a stand-alone school story for kids.

Michael is chosen to be line leader for Ms. Levinson’s class, and he wants to be the best he can be! He won’t accept help from anyone, but he soon realizes he can’t handle everything on his own.

This book has callbacks to the show hidden in every illustration, so there’s an extra engaging aspect (for kids and their parents!). There’s also a fun bulletin board beneath the dust jacket, and the endpapers are super cute!

Stinky and Dirty Show

I'm loving all of these children shows being developed from children's books! I reviewed the first episode of Pete the Cat a looooong time ago, and unfortunately haven't watched the rest of the show yet! It's one that I feel like I should watch with my son, but he'd rather watch the same episode of Paw Patrol for the hundredth time - anyone else have that problem? I'll probably watch several of these Amazon Prime and Netflix kids' shows on my own, and just let him sit in if he wants.

One we can both agree on, however, is The Stinky and Dirty Show. This show is loosely based on books by Kate McMullan and Jim McMullan. It's such a cute show, with the catchiest theme song ever. I love how childlike the characters are, and how full of wonder they are. Stinky and Dirty (from I Stink! and I'm Dirty!) are the main characters, but Brave and Mighty have their own books, too.

I love hearing the voices picked for the characters on the show. Billy West (Futurama), Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride), Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants), Jane Lynch, Andy Richter, Joan Cusack, and Whoopi Goldberg all voice characters! Mostly I just love that the two main characters are children. When I read the books aloud, I automatically use a tough voice because the stories are all about showing that different vehicles can do. I read it as a "You don't think I can do this? I'll show you," attitude. Hearing the friendly tones of the show made me wonder if I was totally misreading the books! I might have been reading the book characters a little rude - whoops!

There are already two excellent seasons of this show, and my son and I are both excited to see more! The stories are really cute, and I love the animation style! It's pretty true to the book illustrations, but just looks amazing on screen.

Have you watched The Stinky and Dirty Show? Have you read the books? What did you notice that was similar or different?

You: Books to Shows

You and Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

I've wanted to talk to everyone about You after I binge-watched it on Netflix, but it's hard to find people who have watched it, read it, or both. A friend loaned me the book in October with the disclaimer that she, a fan of psychological thrillers, bought it based on the back cover blurb alone. I'm always excited to have books recommended to me, and I don't judge reading tastes, so I was looking forward to it... and read it in about a day.

As soon as I started reading, I realized the language is pretty brutal and it’s VERY creepy. Overall I couldn't put it down and sought out the follow-up, so what does that say about me?

It was very twisted but I think a lot of the language was over-the-top, and while it didn’t seem out of character for Joe, it could have been taken out and he would come off just as creepy and horrible. Some of the situations in the book seemed like they were there for shock value - or at least the language used to describe them was for shock value. It made me like the story a little less.

But the show polished up the story and took out a lot of the language and scenarios that seemed to be too much. They added some characters, like the little boy, and added some scenes that weren't necessary, but I won't pretend to understand what makes good TV. I'm sure they had reasons for adding in the kid and the abused neighbor and all the drama that brought in.

I think this has been one of my favorite book-to-movie adaptations, because even though I didn't like the book much, I thought the story was interesting, and that was really given room to shine on screen. The writing was what brought down the book, in my opinion, so having a chance to revise the story really made it better.

As I mentioned, I read the sequel and have heard that it will be "season two" of the show, so I'll definitely be tuning in for that!

Did you watch You? Did you read the book before, or after, or not at all? What did you think of the book compared to the show? I love dissecting things like this, so leave your thoughts in the comments!

Happy New Year from Pete the Cat!

We are huge fans of Pete the Cat around here, as you can see from the sampling of our books, the keychain I keep on my bag, and the pouch I use for pens and USB drives.

(Yes, all the cute accessories are mine. Selfish? No - my son can have them when he's old enough to appreciate them. For now, they are mine all mine!)

For several days now, we have been watching the new Pete the Cat show on Amazon Prime. Have you seen it? Only one episode is up right now; it was released on Christmas Day but the story is about New Years resolutions. It's cute to see Pete as a "real" cat, and all his friends are so much fun!

The only negative I can think of, and this is incredibly minor, is that Pete doesn't talk until the very end of the episode. All of the other characters are pretty chatty, and even my three-year-old son said "Pete can't talk because he doesn't have a mouth." Which is true - there is no mouth most of the time, but Pete does talk at the end, so clearly that's not the issue. I just would have like to hear more from him.

I think Pete the Cat books make a huge difference with kids' literacy, reading enjoyment, and vocabulary, based on what I have seen with my son and the kids at school where I teach. Having Pete not talk on the show seemed to be a strange decision. But it's still an enjoyable episode, and we've watched it a few times and it hasn't gotten old. We're looking forward to more episodes.

Amazon does a pretty good job with their kids' shows based on books - we're also huge fans of the Stinky and Dirty Show, based on the books by Kate McMullan and Jim McMullan.