Bigger than a Bread Box - a review

A brief review today with lots of extras...

Snyder, Laurel. 2011. Bigger than a Bread Box. New York: Random House.

Like Wendy Mass' "birthday series" books, Bigger than a Bread Box is realistic fiction infused with an element of magic - in this case, a mysterious bread box that appears to grant whatever wishes can fit inside its limited dimensions. At first 12-year-old Rebecca is delighted,but she belatedly discovers the consequence to her wishes.

Told in the first person, Bigger than a Bread Box is a unique story in which magic doesn't necessarily makes things right - or wrong, just different. Most touching in the story is the evolving relationship between Rebecca and her brother, Lew, a toddler. With no one else to turn to after her mother spirits them away to Georgia against their father's will, Rebecca "discovers" her younger brother,

The only difference was that now, when I was alone in the afternoons, I wasn't so alone. Each day I spent a little more time with Lew, and that felt different. It was like he'd been a piece of furniture before, a big doll, and now he was a person, just because I'd noticed he was.

Worth checking out.

Read an excerpt here.
A Study Guide is available here.

Other reviews @

• 100 Scope Notes
• Pink Me
• Dog Ear

Buster Goes to Cowboy Camp

Fleming, Denise. 2008. Buster goes to cowboy camp. New York: Henry Holt.

A cute picture book for anyone who has ever had to leave a pet at the kennel or go away to camp. Buster, a pointy-nosed red dog (craftily illustrated in "pulp painting"), must go away to Sagebrush Kennels because "Brown Shoes was going away for a weekend of rest and relation." Betty, the cat, "was staying with Mrs. Pink Slippers next door. Mrs. Pink Slippers loved cats. Mrs. Pink Slippers did not feel the same way about dogs."

The story is cleverly told from sad-eyed Buster's view - humans are nothing but shoes and pants, Red Boots runs the Cowboy Camp. Other dogs are bigger, faster, or more skilled. Buster is homesick; but of course, not for long!

A uniquely written and illustrated story - full of "cowpoke" words.