Brett HelquistCritiques

Preschool - 3

This book is about a goat, named Grumpy, who is grumpy by nature (hence the name) and he is reluctant to make friends. A rooster tries to become his friend, and he pushes the rooster away, but eventually comes around.

Genre
Picture books for children
Tone
Feel-good
Illustration
Detailed
Theme
Handling bad moods
Making new friends
Subject
Domestic animals
Farm life
Friendship
Goats
Gratitude
Grouches
Moods and moodiness

Genre
Picture books for children
Storyline
Action-packed
Subject
Bears
Bedtime
Hibernation
Play
Raccoons
Sleep
Snow
Winter
Character
Anthropomorphic

Brett Helquist is definitely one of my favorite illustrators.

As great as you'd expect from Brett Helquist -- fantastic illustrations and a quirky story with a funny twist.

Bear finds it difficult to get to sleep in this engaging picture-book from author/artist Brett Helquist, who also illustrated Lemony Snicket's popular A Series of Unfortunate Events. With winter having arrived, it is time to hibernate, but his raccoon friends want him to come out and play instead, and the sounds of their happy play prevents him from falling asleep. Finally goaded beyond endurance, he emerges from his house in a terrible temper, only to be inveigled into a wonderful day of fun in the snow...

The second picture-book I have read that was both written and illustrated by Helquist, following upon his Grumpy Goat, Bedtime for Bear pairs a fun, engaging story with appealing artwork. The exuberance of Bear and his two little raccoon friends, and the fun of their games is ably captured in the visuals here, as is the affection amongst them. Helquist's depiction of their faces is quite well done, and their expressions are often quite droll. The indoor scenes, which show Bear in his bed, are cozy and cute. All in all, a sweet little bedtime book, particularly well-suited to winter-time.

Roger the Jolly Pirate written and illustrated by Brett Helquist was such an entertaining read! This book caught my eye because it reminded me of the type of drawing I had seen from my favorite childhood series, The Series of Unfortunate Events. When I got to the section about the Admiral, I thought, "That's Count Olaf!" Every page that I turned and read had me smiling from ear to ear. This book was humorous, amusing, and had the typical underdog saves the day message. I cannot wait to read this one to my students.½

Growing up I read The Series of Unfortunate Events all day long. Those were the books that I used to get complaints about because I would zone everyone out and just read. That series introduced me to the art of Brett Helquist whose distinct style and command of the page through his illustrations made me fall for Roger's story.

The story itself was short and sweet. As sweet as a pirate story can be... Roger is just too jolly to be a pirate and isn't really seen as one by his fellow crew mates. Roger figures out a way to try to prove himself. While nothing went according to plan, Roger was able to find a way to gain his friend's respect. In turn his fellow pirates found a way to thank him by making him infamous in the pages of history.

A great story for pirate enthusiasts - Roger, the Jolly Pirate had wonderful illustrations that are sure to capture anyone's attention. I will always be ecstatic to read and view Helquist's books especially his illustrations.

This book is about a bear during hibernation. It is the start of winter. Most animals hibernate during this time, especially bears. Bear is trying to sleep but his friends are trying to get him to come outside one last time. They tell him they won't see him till spring and he should come. He tries to igonore them but they won't stop. He finally comes outside to tell them to be quiet and they through a snowball at him. When he tries to chase them, he trips and falls down a hill. He is cold and wet but he was laughing. He starts playing with his friends, building snowmans, sliding in the snow, and snowball fights. The day is gone and it's time for everyone to go home but bear says one more time because he won't see them till spring. They play one last time and then they finally go inside. Bear finally goes to sleep, and won't be up till the spring.

Sunny Acres was one of the friendliest farms in the area until Grumpy Goat arrived and single-handedly changed all that. Uninterested in making friends with the other animals, whom he chased away, our caprine hero (anti-hero?) kept his head down and ate everything in sight. Until the day, that is, that he encountered a beautiful yellow flower and took the time to admire its beauty, thereby setting in motion a chain of events that led to his reform. But when the flower is blown away, what will happen...?

A prolific and much-celebrated illustrator, one who is probably best known for his work on Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events novels, Brett Helquist takes on the additional role of author for Grumpy Goat, producing a fairly engaging tale about the transformation that stopping to appreciate the beauty around us can produce. As always with Helquist, I enjoyed the artwork here, finding it colorful and expressive, with lots of humorous details. The animals' expressions are particularly appealing. Recommended to fans of the artist, and to anyone looking for picture-books about farm animals and/or stories in which the emotions of the main character are impacted by his perceptions of the world around him.

Yet another one by an illustrator I love, but the text leaves me feeling "meh". Grumpy goat is horrible to the other farm critters. And then starts to nurture a flower, and as he does, he nurtures his relationships. And then the flower goes to seed, and disperses, and he becomes horrible again. But then the field is full of flowers, and they all live happily ever after.

I prefer my picture books to be a little funny, or surprising, or subversive.

Library copy.

The raccoons are right. Bears don't truly hibernate, so it's ok to encourage them to play in the snow a bit. Cute.

Edit. Now scientists have changed their minds again. Well, that's ok. That's what science is about - you figure things out, then you collect more evidence, and realizing you'd misinterpreted and so now you have to refigure. So, we all get to learn something today...

See www.bear.org:

Do black bears hibernate?

Short answer: yes.

When people defined hibernation simply in terms of temperature reduction, bears were not considered hibernators. However, when biologists discovered the many metabolic changes that let black and grizzly bears hibernate up to 7 ½ months without eating, drinking, urinating, or defecating, they realized that body temperature was only a small part of hibernation.

They redefined mammalian hibernation as a specialized, seasonal reduction in metabolism concurrent with scarce food and cold weather (Watts et al. 1981).

Black bears are now considered highly efficient hibernators.

Hibernators the size of chipmunks hibernate differently. They lower body temperature to near freezing but wake up every few days to raise body temperature to near normal, eat stored food, and eliminate body wastes. Then they lower body temperature and repeat the cycle.
The confusion about what to call black bear hibernation is a matter of definition. Further confusion has arisen because it differs with region and fatness (see other exhibits).

People have called black and grizzly bear hibernation torpor, winter sleep, dormancy, and carnivorean lethargy. The leading physiologists now simply call it hibernation.

More than just a cute story about a goat who learns the value of kindness and friendship, it's metaphor & resonant allegory. The colors of the art are deep and vibrant, and every page, even the ends, counts. Belongs on the same shelf as [a:Shel Silverstein|435477|Shel Silverstein|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1201029128p2/435477.jpg]'s [b:The Missing Piece|30122|The Missing Piece|Shel Silverstein|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388184341s/30122.jpg|41394], this is a picture-book fable for toddlers, school-children, and adults.

Everyone has a purpose, everyone has a moment to shine

This book could be used in a first or second grade classroom. This could be a good science book to use if you were beginning to talk about hibernation in the winter time.

Grumpy Goat did not like other animals. He was grumpy all the time and did not want to be bothered. One day he saw a beautiful dandelion and he became happier. Through the story he learns to be more happy and wants to make friends with the other animals.

This book can be used in writers workshop to draft openings during writing!

we can use this book to teach our children that do not let what other people say about you to affect you because you can show them how great you really are just like roger did. the pictures throughout the book illustrate rogers life perfectly.

This is a story boys will enjoy. The students will enjoy the very detailed illustrations in this story.½

Great book for writers workshop when working with crafting leads and writing with expression. Students will find humor in this book.

This book is a good mentor text for writers workshop it would also be a good book for reading with expression. Students will like this book because it has a funny story and they like the twists in the story.

Great story about being yourself. Also great mentor text for writing leads

This story of a pirate who isn't much of a pirate is excellent for teaching how the author's leads the readers into a story. It can used during writer's workshop as a mentor text for leads or openings to a story. It starts off by telling the readers, you might have heard of all these other famous pirates but you've never heard the tale of Roger the Pirate. I can also be great for teaching punctuation and expression. It also educates students on pirate legends.

This book is good to use for a model of a lead. Students can see how the author lured the readers into the story and try using that type of writing in their story. This book is about the skull and cross bone flag ans how it became famous.