LITTLE PUPPY AND THE BIG GREEN MONSTER

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LITTLE PUPPY AND THE BIG GREEN MONSTER
Text  & Illustrations © 2014, Mike Wohnoutka

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Book

Fiction

Age Range:
2-5 years

Grade Level:
Preschool-Kindergarten

Holiday House

Minnesota Book Award Finalist, 2015

A Scholastic Book Club Selection

TooBusy

Who wants to play?
Little Puppy and the Big Green Monster

This picture book scored a triple hit with me through text, illustrations, and a behind-the-scenes meeting with the author-illustrator. And it’s hard to say which tickled me the most!

Speed bump warning: This isn’t a book to read quickly. Take your time and enjoy the journey as Little Puppy searches for a playmate. Each page only employs a few perfectly chosen words to set the pace, establish mood, and visually break up the page. Read it aloud, letting your voice play with the changing fonts.

Next, savor the illustrations. Note how the monster’s appearance bursts the prior restraint of the color palette. Appreciate the variety of size and angle perspectives. Most of all, giggle with the spot-on facial expressions that carry the true joy of the story. And don’t overlook the mini-story in those fantastic end papers!

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DSCN0531800Now for the part you won’t see: I had the pleasure of chatting with Mike Wohnoutka at the 2015 Minnesota Book Awards. He was every bit as animated as Monster (in a good way), and just as friendly and enthusiastic as Little Puppy.  DSCN0534800And talk about optimism! His writing advice? Don’t give up. Just like Little Puppy, don’t ever give up. Whether you’re four or forty-four, that’s advice we can all use.

~Lou


PlayBall

Found you!
Little Puppy and the Big Green Monster

When I first read this story, I envisioned  Mike Wohnoutka in boxing gloves doing a slow motion victory dance to the Rocky theme. Wohnoutka already had a winner by writing a picture book about the unconditional love and playfulness of a puppy, but when he created a big green monster to receive these gifts, he scaled the top of the writing staircase.

For those of us who can’t illustrate, we’re a little jealous that he can write such sparse text and his illustrator gets it. (I know. It helps that his illustrator is him.) Watch for some of the artistic details that make his pages especially endearing: the personalized mailbox, the picket fence, Little Puppy’s tail language, a rubber ducky, and more rubber duckies . . .

As a puppy owner/mom/wife/relative/friend, I’ve been too busy, too lazy, too mean, too boring, and often a big green monster of sorts, but my furry friends’ charming dispositions rarely changed. Little Puppy and the Big Green Monster reminds me how much I miss my pets and how I’d be a better human if I was more like Little Puppy.

And forty-four, Lou? I hope you were talking in dog years.

~Anna

IWon

KEM Diamond

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What children’s books would you recommend?

Swinging a Cat

DiCamillo600

Kate DiCamillo wanted a picture with me, so of course I said . . . Okay, you know that’s not true. I’ll admit, I stalked her.

Author acquaintance Cheryl Blackford said, “You can’t swing a cat in the Twin Cities without hitting a National Book Award winner, a McKnight fellowship winner, a Newbery winner, or a Minnesota Book Award finalist. We are so very fortunate to have such talent here.”

That certainly was the case while sitting among 900 other writers, illustrators, agents, editors, librarians, publishers, and book enthusiasts at the 27th Annual Minnesota Book Awards Gala. Holy cow, it was literary celebrity Heaven. My only regret: that I didn’t take more pictures.

Finalists for the Award for Young People’s Literature:

  • Ambassador by William Alexander
  • Leroy Ninker Saddles Up by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Ban Dusen
  • The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill

Winner:

  • West of the Moon by Margi Preus
Michael Hall's lovely wife, Debra Kelley, agreed to take our picture with Michael after the 2015 Minnesota Book Award's Gala, where IT'S AN ORANGE AARDVARK, was a finalist. Their gesture of hospitality was especially thoughtful, as they were off to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. Congratulations to Michael and Debra!

Congratulations to Michael Hall, finalist for the MN Book Award for Children’s Literature.    (Fellow reviewer and book award judge, Louise Aamodt, is pictured on the right)

Finalists for the Award for Children’s Literature:

  • It’s an Orange Aardvark! by Michael Hall
  • Little Puppy and the Big Green Monster by Mike Wohnoutka
  • Water Can Be by Laura Purdie, Salas, illustrated by Violeta Dabija

Winner:

  • Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen

Congratulations to all Minnesota Book Award finalists and winners!