Tuesday, September 28, 2010

AH-CHOO

AH-CHOO
Mercer Mayer ~ Dial, 1976


Gifted to us by a loyal reader and fellow Mercer Mayer lover, I believe I've been remiss in thanking him for sending this little gem, so here goes. My world was all about Mercer Mayer when I was little, and thankfully, my son shares the same warm-snugglies.

The first in a trio of one-worded, wordless books that also includes Oops and Hiccup, it's by far our favorite. Of all the books we own, there are some that stand out in my mind as just thick and awesome and full of life, and most of Mercer's early books are firmly stuck in that category. They are the ones that make me smile when my son pulls them off the shelf for a read. The ones that make me excited time and again cracking open the first page. They did when I was a child, and they still do now.

Here, we meet an elephant with a sinus issue. One destructive sneeze lands him in a heap of trouble with the fuzz. The next lands him in jail, and the last puts the jail house in rubble. The fourth sneeze is not his own but ends in romance. Fantastic. The faces of the animals are so cunning and expressive, it's hard not to chuckle even on the 100th look-through. (Get a load of that owl above. How awesome is that look?)

I love it when children's book authors dedicate books to other children's book authors, and here Mercer gives Steven Kellogg and family a shout-out. Very cool... so at long last, thanks Antmusic.Also by:
Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp
One Monster After Another
Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-A-Zoo
Me and My Flying Machine
Beauty and the Beast
A Special Trick
Bubble Bubble
OOPS
One Frog Too Many
How the Trollusk Got His Hat
Little Monster at Work

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8 comments:

Foxglove said...

I love the illustration, this looks like a wonderful book!

Anonymous said...

The first time I read a Meyer book I was a little girl, "Hay una pesadilla en el armario" was the one, I really have great memories from that time in my life!!!

Burgin Streetman said...

There's a Nightmare in My Closet in Spanish!?! Awesome!

Chandra said...

I'm such a huge Mayer fan! Liza Lou, Professor Wormbog and Herbert the Timid Dragon are my favorites (among others!). But I've also really enjoyed his fairy tale illustrations! I'm always so excited to discover more of his titles!

Burgin Streetman said...

Herbert the Timid Dragon!?! Now there's one I don't own. MUST GOOGLE NOW! Thanks Chandra!

Chandra said...

Oh, I hope you're able to get a copy of Herbert! Would love to see a write up of that one! As far as I understand it's a bit hard to come by. We actually have small drama in my extended unfolding surrounding the ownership of one copy!

Love the new look of the blog by the way!

Burgin Streetman said...

yeah, we have a couple of those in our family.....

Antmusic said...

Thanks for the shout out, and I'm glad you're liking the book. I had my son "read" it to me last night, and he had a lot of fun describing how each person was feeling and what they were thinking(owl, "UH... OH!"). Very fun.

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