A Good Beginning

I am a Pixar fan. The Incredibles and Monsters University rank in my top five favorite movies. I am always impressed with how clever and tight Pixar's scripts are. The video above is a tiny peek into how they get their scripts started. 

My friend loaned us two picture books I haven't had a chance to read yet--not having a library is no fun people. Anyway, we read The Book With No Pictures, by B.J. Novak. 

My kids giggled themselves silly for hours after reading it, each one recalling their "favorite" part, which ended up being the whole book by the time they were done. BooBoo Butt was soon a fast friend for my children too.

We also read Mr. President Goes to School by Rick Walton. Poor Mr. President has to deal with The National Gopher Society who is demanding that the White House make room for gophers in the garden. Then there's the sticks and stones battle going on between Bulrovia and Snortburg and the two prime ministers who want the president to fix it. And there's the tiny issue of the VP letting the boy scouts chop up the ping-pong table for fire wood. Mr. President needs to find a simpler, happier place, so naturally, he goes to school. 

He enjoys finger painting, recess and milk and cookies before returning to the White House and solving the sticks and stones issue with milk and cookies and a rousing round of the Hokey Pokey.

The plot is tight, the story is well-executed and enjoyable for both adult and child. And the illustrations by Brad Sneed were perfect. The facial expressions he chose for Madame Secretary tell their own story.

Rick Walton also happens to be the mentor for my friend and author Erin Cabatingan whose Musk Ox books are tops at our house. 

I'm looking forward to seeing more books from each of these authors and of course, I'm eagerly anticipating the The Incredibles 2, which sadly, won't be coming out until 2019. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in those writing sessions. 


Have a great week.