From Author Rebecca Grabill
This Joyful Mess
Hamline Universtiy MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults: residency, January 2010
Hamline Universtiy MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults: Highlights from residency thus far?
And the Thunder Rolls: Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
Love the voice. “Mama’s gonna wear you out.” It sings with authenticity with enough description to make the setting vivid without being overwhelming, and all of it is in Cassie’s voice (more or less), which makes it interesting as well as...
Fiction Meets Nonfiction: Quack! Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.
Natural science and strong plot combine to make a classic.
This is a cute story about a mother duck seeking...
A Childhood Favorite: Corduroy by Don Freeman
A classic and one of my childhood favorites. I didn’t notice Lisa was African American until I read it again as an adult, but now I see the parallel between her race and her acceptance of Corduroy just the way he is -- especially given...
Amazing Books In Which Nothing Much Happens: Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The opening chapter sets the stage in this story of wilderness survival and historical family life. There’s not much character development at first, but amazing detail of living on the rustic frontier pull the reader onward. Really, not much happens at all. Yet when I finished this book, I rushed back...
On Symbiosis and Stuffed Bunnies ~ Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
Symbiosis of text and illustration.
Little Trixie loses her stuffed Knuffle Bunny on an errand with Daddy to the Laundromat. In the excitement of having her bunny returned, Trixie says her first words: Knuffle Bunny. This book is heavy on parent-appeal, some of which will be over...
Friends Forever: George and Martha
Very similar to Frog and Toad in that it’s told in short tales, and “adult” characters who act and think like children, yet with a soft, sweet tone similar to Rosemary Wells.
In the stories two happy friends...
Overlong Crocodiles: Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile by Bernard Waber
This book is fairly obviously the personification of a child in Crocodile form. The mean neighbor doesn’t like Lyle the Crocodile and wants him in a zoo but through events, Lyle ends up rescuing him and his cat from a fire, thus solving the problem. It’s quaint and the personification allows the author to stick Lyle in a zoo for a time...
Too Tall for Truth: Tall Tales - John Henry by Julius Lester
An authentic, engaging voice mingles fantasy with reality.
Pinkney’s vivid artwork combines with Lester’s picturesque text to make the telling of the story every bit as “larger than life” as the subject of the story. Lester fills his pages with word pictures, “bat wings on tombstones” and personification, the sun flossing, the wind out of breath. Yet...
Bizarre Title Day: The Book of Three
The heavy info-drop at the start of this book made me put it aside several times. The only reason I plugged ahead was because I had to complete this list!
I’m mixed. On one had the action is compelling and well-done and the plot moves fairly smoothly...
Hi, I’m Rebecca. I write books and I write here at This Joyful Mess to inspire everyone to find JOY in the everyday messes of life. Here you’ll find inspiration, educational resources, and so much more. Please explore and connect. I’d love to hear from you!