Caramel’s reviews – Page 73

Caramel reviews Train Your Dragon To Accept NO by Steve Herman

Both of the younger book bunnies have been enjoying the How To Train Your Dragon series; Marshmallow even reviewed one of her favorites in the book series: How to Steal A Dragon’s Sword (Book 9) by Cressida Cowell. Below Caramel shares his thoughts about a book that initially got into our shopping cart because it had the “train your dragon” phrase in its title, but then we read it and enjoyed it (especially the illustrations) immensely: Train Your Dragon To Accept NO, by Steve Herman. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions as needed.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, what do you want to tell us about this book?

Caramel: The book is about a boy named Drew and his pet dragon Diggory Doo.

S: So what do they do, Drew and Diggory Doo?

C: Drew teaches Diggory Doo how to stop his anger sometimes.

Caramel is looking at one of his favorite pages in Train Your Dragon to Accept NO by Steve Herman, where we learn about what happens when a dragon gets angry and cannot control his emotions. — Caramel is looking at one of his favorite pages in *Train Your Dragon to Accept NO* by Steve Herman, where we learn about what happens when a dragon gets angry and cannot control his emotions.

S: Hmm, that sounds promising. Tell me more.

C: Diggory Doo gets angry when you tell him no. Like once he wanted chocolate pie at dinner time. And Drew said no. So Diggory Doo got super duper angry.

S: Why did he get angry?

C: He really wanted chocolate pie. I would too. Wouldn’t you?

S: Hmm, I like chocolate a lot but I don’t love pie. So I’m not so sure. But apparently Diggory Doo likes chocolate pie. Why did Drew say no to him?

C: Hmm, let me see. Ok, here is what Drew says:

“If you’d taken just a minute
and not behaved your worst,
You’d know that you could have
your pie-just eat your dinner first!”

So Drew said no, because he first had to eat his dinner, so he had to eat the healthy stuff first.

S: This sounds familiar. Sometimes you want to eat things that I want you to postpone until after dinner, right?

C: Yes, sometimes I want to eat grapes and you tell me to eat my mac and cheese first.

S: And do you like that?

C: No, I don’t, not at all.

S: So do you scream at me?

C: Yes, sometimes.

S: And how does that work out for you?

C: Terrible! I don’t get any grapes then.

S: Hmm, so what is the point of the book then?

C: To teach little dragons, and little bunnies too, to accept no.

S: But it’s not that easy, is it?

C: Nope.

S: Does Drew have some suggestions for Diggory Doo when he hears the no and is about to get angry?

C: Yes. Here it is:

“Before you throw a tantrum,
take a breath and count to ten….
… Then slowly, slowly breathe it out,
then do that once again.”

S: That sounds like a good idea. So when you are about to get really angry because someone said no to you, you are supposed to stop and take a deep breath and count to ten. And then breathe it out, and do this whole breathing thing again. Do you think it might work?

C: Hmm, I don’t know. Next time I get mad, I’m going to try it.

S: That sounds like a plan. And a good place to wrap up our review.

C: Yes! Let me say my usual words: Stay tuned for more reviews from the Book Bunnies!

Caramel enjoyed reading Train Your Dragon To Accept NO by Steve Herman and thinks he might actually try the advice given there about calming down when someone says no.

Caramel reviews Life on the Infinite Farm by Richard Evan Schwartz

Caramel has been reading a very colorful math book recently. Below he talks about what he thinks about this book, Life on the Infinite Farm by Richard Evan Schwartz. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, what is this book about?

Caramel: It’s about infinite stuff. There are infinite animals.

S: Do you mean to say there are infinitely many animals?

C: No. I mean there are animals with infinitely many things, like infinitely many feet. There is a cow with infinitely many feet, and she loves shoes! There’s also an infinite sheep, and an infinite donkey, and an infinite gopher. Oh and there’s an infinite shark named Nelson. Guess what he can do?

S: Hmm, I don’t know. What can Nelson do?

C: He has infinitely many teeth. And wait, I’ll find it.

“Nelson is a shark whose head extends in both directions. [His] head can swing open like a door in some places.”

Isn’t it kind of creepy Sprinkles?

Caramel is pointing toward Nelson's scary (and infinite) teeth. — Caramel is pointing toward Nelson’s scary (and infinite) teeth.

S: Hmm, yes, kind of. But it also looks like he’s smiling, friendly like. No?

C: I’m not so sure. Anyway in this farm chickens have teeth too!

S: Interesting! So what else happens in this farm?

C: There is a pond and a crater and these are infinite from the inside but look finite from the outside. They are “enclosed infinite spaces”. Whatever that means.

S: It is kind of confusing, isn’t it?

C: Very!

S: Yes infinity is a confusing concept. But it is also a fascinating one. There are so many strange things happening in this farm, right? Don’t you find them fascinating?

C: Yes. I keep finding new parts of the book to read.

S: Yes, this is not a short book. And it is not quite a book to be read in one sitting, is it?

C: No, not always.

S: How do you read it then?

C: I pick it up every now and then, and read a few pages. I find new and strange things every time. But once in a while I do read the whole book. And then I read it again some other time.

S: So you have read the whole book?

C: Yep.

S: So how does it end? What happens in the end?

C: In the end the book answers the question:

“Can we VISIT the infinite farm?”

S: So can we? Can we visit it?

C: Anybody can. But they have to read the book to visit it. The farm is the book.

S: And you might find more of it in other geometry books, perhaps?

C: Yes!

S: Would you like to live in the infinite farm?

C: Nope.

S: Why not?

C: Because I’m fine being finite.

S: But are you really finite Caramel? You have a big imagination, don’t you?

C: Yes, my imagination goes on forever.

S: That’s some kind of infinity too, no?

C: Yep I suppose so.

S: Do you think this is a good place to end our review?

C: Yes! Let me say my last words as usual: Stay tuned for more reviews from the Book Bunnies!

Caramel enjoys reading and rereading bits and pieces of Life on the Infinite Farm by Richard Evan Schwartz.

Caramel reviews Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld

Both Caramel and Marshmallow love rereading their favorites over and over again. Caramel is rereading a long-time favorite these days: Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld. Below he shares some thoughts on this book. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions as needed.

Sprinkles: What do you want to tell us about this book Caramel?

Caramel: This is a friendship story. There is Stone, and there is Stick. Stone is a stone and Stick is a stick, of course.

S: Of course!

C: First they are alone and alone is not fun.

S: Then what happens?

C: Then they become friends. And then Stick helps Stone. Let me read to you. This is one of my two favorite parts:

Stone whispers: “Gee, you stuck up for me!”
“That’s just what sticks do. Friends do it too.”

S: That’s sweet! So the book is written like a poem; sentences seem to rhyme, right?

C: Yes. good point! “Gee” and “me” rhyme! And “do” and “too” rhyme too!

S: That makes the book more fun to read out loud I think. What do you think?

C: Yes, the next page says for example: “Stick, Stone. No longer alone.” “Stone” and “alone” rhyme too!

S: You said the above quote was one of your two favorites. What is your second favorite passage from the book?

C: Do you want me to read that too?

S: Yes, please do!

C: Ok, let me find it first. Here you go:

“You rock, Stone,” says Stick.
“That’s just what stones do. Best friendship rocks too.”

S: Yes, that is sweet, too! This is when Stone helps Stick in a tough situation, right?

C: Yes, that’s right. But I have a third section I want to read now.

“COWABUNGA!! KER-SPLOOSH!”

Caramel is pointing to the pages where Stone is rescuing Stick. "COWABUNGA!! KER-SPLOOSH!" — Caramel is pointing to the pages where Stone is rescuing Stick. *“COWABUNGA!! KER-SPLOOSH!”*

S: What do these mean Caramel?

C: These are sounds. The first is a bouncing sound and the second is a splash!

S: Hmm, I think I get it…

C: This is the best book ever! If I were Marshmallow, I would give it a 91%.

S: Well, Marshmallow never rates things 91% though.

C: Actually I think this is a 99%.

S: Really? Why not 100%?

C: Ok, how about 101%? Just kidding. It is a good book and I like it. I don’t care about the numbers. But if you want numbers, it should be twenty four thousand!

S: 24,000% is a big big number Caramel.

C: How about ninety nine trillion?

S: You must really like this book! Why do you like it so much?

C: I like stories about friendship. Remember I reviewed Penguin and Pinecone: A Friendship Story by Salina Yoon before?

S: Yes, and you also reviewed The Missing Piece Meets The Big O by Shel Silverstein, which was also about friendship. And these are all sweet stories about being true friends.

C: Yes. Can we read it together one more time?

S: Sure Caramel. And we can also wrap up this review. Do you want to say the last word?

C: Yes! COWABUNGA!! KER-SPLOOSH!! Ok, now I’m done. Let’s read.

Caramel has been enjoying reading and rereading Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld. — Caramel has been enjoying reading and rereading *Stick and Stone* by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld.

Caramel reviews A Big Guy Took My Ball! by Mo Willems

After reviewing three books from the Elephant and Piggie Like Reading series (see his reviews of The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat, The Itchy Book by LeUyen Pham, and Harold and Hog Pretend for Real! by Dan Santat), Caramel is now rereading some of his old favorites from the original Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Wilems. Below he shares his thoughts on A Big Guy Took My Ball! by Mo Willems. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions, though this time Caramel himself also tried typing some of the words.

Sprinkles: So what do you want to tell us about this book Caramel?

Caramel: boing! Boing boing boing boing boing! I love this book! boing!

S: So what is that supposed to mean?

C: it is one of the best books that I have ever read! It is a very good book! I love it! And the boinging is about a bouncy ball.

S: Yes, the book has a ball in the center of the story, right? Tell us about the story. What is happening in the book?

C : There is a big guy that takes Piggie’s ball! Piggie is very sad. So Gerald the Elephant goes to the big guy to try and take the ball back.

S : Why can’t Piggie take it back herself?

C : The guy is too big, she’s scared. It’s a humpback whale! They are huge!

S : Yes, apparently they can grow up to 25 to 30 tonnes. That is a huge weight Caramel. And it is about the size of ten mid-sized elephants. So the big guy is probably too big for Gerald as well, right?

Caramel is reading the page where Gerald is telling Piggie that the big guy is really big.

C: Yes. But in the end everything works out, and all three of them play together. They play a game called whale ball. But I don’t get it.

S: What do you not get Caramel?

C: How is the whale not in the ocean? And where is the water coming from that it spouts from its blow hole?

S: Hmm, those are good questions Caramel, but maybe just like an elephant and a pig are quite unlikely to be friends, the whale joining them is also quite unlikely, but it can happen in fiction. Isn’t that what fiction is about? A lot of times things that don’t always make sense or cannot really happen do happen in stories.

C: I don’t always like that though. I like real things.

S: Yes, of course I know that Caramel. But there are many fiction books you also enjoy reading, right? I think you have enjoyed reading all the Elephant and Piggie books many many times.

C: Yes! I also love the Narwhal and Jelly books!

S: Yes, and you reviewed all four of them: Narwhal: The Unicorn of the Sea!, Super Narwhal and Jelly Jolt, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Narwhal’s Otter Friend, all by Ben Clanton. It is a good thing to read a balance of fiction and non-fiction. I think you are doing great!

C: Yes! I like reading. And I will keep reading. And reviewing books!

Caramel loves reading and rereading A Big Guy Took My Ball! by Mo Willems.