Tag Archives: funny picture book
the princess and the pony + cozy sweaters
The Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton (2015).
A princess who wants to be a warrior but who usually gets cozy sweaters for her birthday. A princess who wishes for a warrior’s horse this time but gets a little, round pony who farts instead. These are what Kate Beaton’s hilarious picture book is made of.
That’s Princess Pinecone over on the right in the warrior line up, wearing one of those cozy sweaters.
There’s her birthday gift, a farting pony. While her parents got the present totally wrong, their hearts are in the right places. Throughout the book, they’re Princess Pinecone’s biggest fans and yet don’t know what to do with her.
One of the wonderful things about Princess Pinecone is that she doesn’t’ take out the pony’s wrongness on the pony. She just tries her best and prepares for an upcoming warrior battle with him.
During the battle, there’s a huge revelation. It turns out, even (real) warriors have a cuddly sweater kind of side.
Be sure and look out for fantastic details in the illustrations, from hot dogs and snorkelers in the battle scene to the band posters on Pinecone’s bedroom wall. I also love the mix of Viking-esque elements with modern day ones.
Pinecone is a champion in the end, not because she’s the meanest, awfulest warrior with the most fierce horse. She’s a champion because she’s not those things. And because she accepts Pinecone for who he is. (Farts notwithstanding.)
(Even the pony gets some cozy sweaters in the endpapers!)
Thanks to Scholastic for the first three images!
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Cozy sweaters! Here’s my roundup of cutie-pie sweatshirts for kids found on etsy, the kind Princess Pinecone would be proud to wear:
Kutikati’s woodland animals sweatshirt.
David Bowie sweatshirt from Monofaces for the littlest fans.
Two String Jane is one of my favorite etsy shops period. I mean, this rainbow splash-dyed mini-hoodie?!
Lulu and Roo‘s installment is tiny, cozy, and geometric. Win, win, win.
Love this watercolor tiger sweatshirt from 8am Apparel.
Raccoon hooded (and tailed)sweatshirt from Two String Jane! The cuteness!!
Not just a French fries sweatshirt, but French fries sporting mustaches and berets. Thank you, Ministry of Play.
One last installment from Two String Jane again because…heartbreaker hoodie.
rude cakes + rude cake craft!
Rude Cakes by Rowboat Watkins (out June 2, 2015!).
I’ve got a lot of love for this one. It’s a manners book infused with fun and delightfulness and cakes! (And cyclopses!!)
Come see!
One brilliant thing about this picture book (there are many!) is the use of the plural. “Rude cakes” goes the text while we see one particular pink rude cake doing all sorts of bad behaviors, from not saying please to never listening to its parents. It calls a cute marshmallow friend, “clumsy crumb” at one point illustrating just how rude a rude cake can be.
I love how the elder cakes have more tiers. How Rude Cake’s companions are a cupcake and a marshmallow. The muted color palette. The cyclops stuffed animal Rude Cake carries that comes into play in a BIG way in the story. And my favorite line?
“They also think baths are dumb and that bedtime is for donut holes.”
Oh but Rude Cake has it coming. A real, live cyclops plucks Rude Cake from its bedroom in order to wear it as a jaunty little hat. (Cyclopses love jaunty little hats.)
And thus, Rude Cake is on the other end of misfortune. Not because cyclopses are rude. Oh no, they are very polite.
But are they polite enough to listen to a jaunty little hat who finally asks nicely to be returned home, using that magic word, “please”? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
Thanks to Chronicle Books for images!
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This book calls for a craft, no? You could bake a cake! Or you could make a cute rude cake craft, one that can be worn as a jaunty little hat or kept around on a bookshelf!
Looks like frosting, but it’s actually something that will last a lot longer (and is NOT edible). Spackle!
Here’s how my dude and I made Rude Cake: We used two differently sized plastic plant tray liners taped together to form the cake shape. Then we mixed up some lightweight spackling paste and red food coloring to make a pink frosting-like material. We spread it on with a knife, super simple! After adding more red for a darker pink, we applied that with a pastry bag and decorating tip to the top and rim! Some paper circles for eyes and two more lines of “frosting” for Rude Cake’s mouth and voila!
Isn’t Rude Cake (hat) cute?! Especially since it’s no longer so rude. Just ask cupcake and marshmallow.
And, hey! You might be interested in my Hooray For Hat craft as well.