"The Napping House Wakes Up" is sure to please any fan of Don and Audrey Wood's goofy children's books. The tale is simple, an offbeat version of the classic "House That Jack Built" theme of a growing catastrophe, and ends with a waking bang. The pop-up mechanics are silly enought to bring a smile to any child or collector.

"The Napping House Wakes Up" is sure to please any fan of Don and Audrey Wood's goofy children's books. The tale is simple, an offbeat version of the classic "House That Jack Built" theme of a growing catastrophe, and ends with a waking bang. The pop-up mechanics are silly enought to bring a smile to any child or collector.

Being very familiar and in love with the 1902 version of this book, I didn't know what to make of this new version, at first. But it grows on you! I especially like the way Mother Earth is portrayed, not as a Grandmotherly figure, but a beautiful woman maybe in her early thirties - an image of fertility and fruitfulness. The illustrations are lush and a bit overdone in places, but they represent the bounty of the seasons well. The introduction of Aunt Spring, Cousin Summer, Uncle Fall and Old Man Winter is different than the original, but not offensive or upsetting even to a die-hard fan, like me. The text is shorter and, for that reason, may appeal to younger children who can't sit through Sibylle von Olfers' word-ier original story. Overall, when I compare the two, the 1902 original has a certain charm that is hard to deny. Von Olfers' illustrations are simple and the text is straightforward, although a bit wordy. This new remake is beautifully done and has a different feel altogether: it's lush, full of life, color and movement. Audrey Wood has taken a risk to remake such a beloved classic, but I believe she made a good effort and successfully made it her own. I can't say it's better than the original, but I like it!

This elegantly crafted book is a pure delight! The light-hearted text and the beautiful evocative oil paintings that illustrate the story lead us on a whimsical journey through the changing seasons. We are re-introduced to delightful characters from an old German story about birth and rebirth and treated to the colorful adventures of the Root Children as they awaken in Spring and begin painting the bugs and making lovely flower costumes. We also meet Old Grandfather Winter, Mother Earth, Kind Aunt Spring, Jolly Cousin Summer, and Studious Uncle Fall. The joyous adventures of the Root Children as they meet their older relatives and a host of woodland creatures out in the world are brimming with color and fun. The multi-racial children sport colorful butterfly wings and flower garlands as they frisk about the abundant earth revelling in Nature. The expressions and body language of real children are reflected in these lovely illustrations. The double page spreads draw one in to the festivities and are complimented by a beautiful, uncharacteristic font style for added ambiance. The dust jacket is a smooth silvery paper with a glossy full color picture of the Root Children and a lovely tangle of budding trees. The endpapers are a silvery blue with the same lovely trees and the covers of the book itself are a simulated embossed soft brown leather with a picture of a little Root Child girl holding a lighted candle, oak leaves in her hair. No detail was spared in this lovely book and it is sure to become a beloved treasure.

I wish I had bought just the audiobook and text. The singing in this production is off-key and extremely grating. It would have been much better if the story had been on one side of the cassette and the yowling on the other. I hide it so my daughter can't play it.

My family and I absolutely love this musical production of King Bidgood. The songs are extremely clever and terrifically performed. We all enjoy singing along. I have shared this tape with a first-grade class and they also thoroughly enjoyed it. I would recommend it to everyone!

This is a great read aloud for young children. The pictures are colorful and inviting. The story is fantasy/folk-tale like. It reminds me illustation wise of Jack and the Beanstalk. It is written in understandable text. Beatrix has a wonderful cow. The Rude Giants are hungry and want to eat the cow. Beatrix manipulates the giants into becoming clean, well-mannered giants while saving her cow. The pictures of the giants are humorous, not scary for young readers. The characters are well-developed; as well as, the storyline. Audrey Wood has another enjoyable book, written and illustrated, to be loved by all.

My toddler son loves this book - it is his favourite. I'm not sure why amazon has it's reading level labelled as being 9 - 12 years, as it is truely a 'reading to' picture book that the children follow along. In New Zealand the English version of this book is highly reccomended for parents of 1 year olds and over.

I really like how the book uses similies ('I'm quick as a cricket') to describe each charcteristic a child may have. The pictures really fit each description well, clearly showing the emotion on the childs face in almost every case.

Being an avid penguin collector, I have many, many penguin books, but this is definitely my least favorite. The story is about a grown-up penguin telling a group of little penguins what will happen if they do things they shouldn't. In the meantime, one of the little penguins is doing all these things. Even though the story the Nanny penguin tells is supposed to be exciting, I found it a little on the boring side. I do like the pictures; they are bright and pleasant to look at. However, the rest of the story is, in my opinion, somewhat lacking. True, it does have a well-developed plot line, but it just did not seem very thrilling at all. Younger children might like it, say maybe through kindergarten, but the rest would probably not.

This is a delightful story about a mischievious little penguin and his adventures. My students loved this story and so did I.

My son (3 years old) received this book as a gift and it is one of our favourites to read together. I think the rhythm of the book makes it easy to read out loud and the pictures are very interesting and fun to look at. I recommend this book and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

A simple story of reversing roles between a princess and a dragon.The princess in this story is rude and the dragon is sweet and friendly. Interesting and funny comments from the charcters as they go about living. Lesson learned? Just be yourself.

This nasty princess isnt who everybody thinks she should be, neither is the sweet, well mannered dragon! They trade places and have ball. It teaches that you can be yourself and be happy, also gives some insight into others views. You dont have to be perfect or how others want you to be.. There are perks to being kind and polite though. My kids decided it would be a better choice to be a friend.

A Tangled Tale indeed...this book is so tangled I wouldn't even recommend it to an adult let alone a child. From the depressingly morbid beginnign where the woman wakes up dead, til she eats her potato husband and wakes up, the story is just terrible. It contains tons of subliminal messages that do not seem appropriate for viewers under the age of 18. As future teacher, I will not be having a copy of this book in my library or classroom.

I won't be giving this book to my grandchildren. I have really liked the Woods works previously but find this frightening for children. Too bad- I don't even want to donate it to the library.

While I was reading this book, the poem "Late Last Night, In the Middle of the Day" kept going through my mind. I love word-twisted stories and poems, and this book fits into that category perfectly. For the readers who say that this would be frightening to children, you need to keep in mind that the story is set as a dream. I've read this book to very young children (under five) who've loved it and not found it frightening at all. Children understand that crazy, twisted things can happen in dreams. I think that it can also be a useful tool in helping children understand that strange and frightening things in dreams can be looked at in a lighter way. The illustrations are supurb, as Don Wood's work always is, and a wonderful blend of oil and CG.

I read this to my seven-year-old moments ago. The illustration was beautiful, but the writing I found pompously and overly flowery for a children's book. My daughter summed it up perfectly when we had finally trudged through it, "That was SO boring. Please, never read it again!"

I really enjoyed this book. Even though it is a children's book I still greatly enjoyed the book, and it's illustrations. The story is great for all children, in fact it is one of my three-year-old sons favorites. The story of a little girl who is sent a magic flute that enables her to fly is one that captivates the hearts and imaginations of all children young, and old.

The basic story in Balloonia is that a brother and sister (Matthew and Jessica) are discussing where balloons go at bedtime. Matthew says that balloons go to Balloonia, a land far away, above the clouds, populated entirely by balloons. Jessica wants to see Balloonia, so she screams at her balloon to take her there. Then she magically turns into a balloon herself, and off they go. Balloonia is a place where everything is made of balloons: the buildings, the trees, roller coasters, people. After having lots of fun in Balloonia, she realizes that she is going to meet the same fate as many balloons (she's losing her air), and she starts to shrink. She goes flying back to her house, where she becomes her real self again.

I bought this book because my 2 year old son has been fascinated with balloons. I thought a story about balloons and their "home" would be great. I was a little disappointed when I finally received this book. The illustrations, for the most part, are painful. There are several "panes" of illustration on each page. It makes the pages look cramped. The pictures of Balloonia are beautiful and colorful, but those only take up a couple pages. The rest are awful. Jessica, the little girl in the story, is pushy and demanding. It just wasn't the happy little story I was expecting at all.

If you're looking for a fun story featuring balloons, I highly recommend "Where Do Balloons Go, An Uplifting Mystery" by Jamie Lee Curtis instead. The illustrations are beautiful, and the story is much, MUCH more entertaining.