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BOOKMONGER
Books for reluctant young readers
Have you been trying to
convince a youngster you
know that reading can be
fun, not a chore? Two new
juvenile fiction books, aimed
at ages 3 to 8, may help you
win the day.
I find it rather curious
that both books, so similar
in purpose, were published
in the same month by the
same publisher. On top of
that coincidence, it’s also
interesting that while Pelican
Publishing is located in
Louisiana, it has tapped into
Northwest talent for both of
these stories.
Not that any of that will
be consequential to the kids
who get their hands on these
books, so let’s get on with
the review!
Poulsbo, Washington,
author Kimberly Long
Cockroft has had several
stories published in chil-
dren’s magazines, but
“Reading Beauty” looks to
be her first juvenile fic-
tion hardcover. This story
follows best friends Gabe
and Ellie, who love to hang
out together playing soccer,
chewing bubble gum and
riding bikes.
Another thing they have
in common is that neither of
them likes to read, until one
day Ellie makes the mistake
of opining that reading is
boring — right in front of
the school librarian, Ms.
Molly.
In the blink of an eye and
the ominous shivering of
a potted plant, kindly Ms.
Molly momentarily turns
tall and terrible, and casts an
enchantment upon Ellie: that
she will fall into a deep read
forevermore.
Sure enough, Ellie is
mysteriously captivated
by the next book she sets
eyes upon, and from then
on Gabe cannot convince
her to do anything besides
read, read, read. His friend’s
fixation with books becomes
so pronounced that even
the mayor shows up, with a
news truck not far behind, to
address the situation.
It appears that only one
person can help Ellie snap
N W
1. with 68 identified
species, any number of
long-legged, fish-spearing
birds of the family Ardei-
dae. Some members of this
family are called egrets or
bitterns rather than herons,
but they are all kin. Known
to frequent both freshwater
and coastal areas, herons
are often identifiable by
the swoop of their long,
S-shaped necks and thin,
pointed slivers of beak.
The most common species
of this wading bird on the
North Coast are the Great
blue heron and the Green
heron.
word
nerd
By RYAN HUME
FOR COAST WEEKEND
HERON
[HER•ƏN]
noun
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out of her reading trance —
and that’s Gabe — but can
he deliver the cure without
succumbing to the curse?
With colorful illustrations
by Mary Grace Corpus,
“Reading Beauty” demon-
strates that there are books
on every topic under the
sun, and promises that even
kids who profess not to like
books can wind up finding
something fun to read.
If you’re looking for a
high-energy barrel-of-laughs
book for that same pre-K
to second-grade age range,
check out Eric Ode’s latest
swashbuckler. In “Paulina
and the Pirate’s Hat,” the
Bonney Lake, Washington,
author/illustrator throws to-
gether a young heroine who
loves to read with a shipful
of zany buccaneers.
They are led by a captain
who has a penchant for allit-
erative expletives — Bilge
rats and barnacles! Fish
bones and flippers! — and a
hankering for a fine chapeau.
This prompts a rollicking
escapade across the seven
seas in search of the finest
hat-making materials avail-
able.
Ode’s illustrations are
bright and cartoonish —
serviceably amusing, if not
accomplished.
But where this book re-
ally sparkles is in the zippy
pacing, the zest for knowl-
edge, the humor and the
“Paulina and
the Pirate’s Hat”
By Eric Ode
Pelican Publishing
32 pp
$16.95
“Reading Beauty”
By Kimberly
Long Cockroft
Pelican Publishing
32 pp
$16.99
crackerjack word choice.
Sit down with a young-
ster today and read with
them!
The Bookmonger is Bar-
bara Lloyd McMichael, who
writes this weekly column fo-
cusing on the books, authors
and publishers of the Pacific
Northwest. Contact her at
bkmonger@nwlink.com.
Origin
Heron first enters Mid-
dle English circa 1300 as
heiron, emerging from the
Old French hairon or eron
by way of the Proto-Ger-
manic haigrô, which means
to “scream, screech or
caw” (the modern French
is the similar héron). Both
heron and egret, the name
for some of the species’
sister birds, arise from this
same root, though bittern
has a different backsto-
ry that also refers to the
birds’ call. According to
the ancient Roman author,
philosopher and naturalist
Pliny the Elder, the bittern
was known for its booming
call during mating sea-
son, which resulted in the
Gallo-Roman butitaurus, a
TRACY HALE PHOTO
A heron eats a fish for lunch in this photo, shot in Warrenton by Tracy Hale, of Astoria. The photo
placed in the Top 25 of the 2014 Coast Weekend Photo Contest.
portmanteau from the Latin
butionem, meaning “bit-
tern” and taurus, meaning
“bull.” The modern form is
first recorded in English in
1510.
“Patience proved a vir-
tue for Seaside developers
Bruce and Max Ritchie.
“For more than a de-
cade, they’ve submitted
plans for the 15-acre plot
of land on the corner of
South Wahanna Road and
Avenue S known as Blue
Heron Pointe.”
— R.J. Marx, “Seaside
subdivision gets go-ahead,”
The Daily Astorian, Feb.
7, 2018
“The cry of the night
herons I cannot describe,
except someone has said it
gives the suggestion that
the bird has swallowed a
very unappetizing frog and
is trying hard to unswallow
it. The ‘squawk’ sings at
his best from midnight to
daybreak….”
— “In a Village of Blue
Herons with the Camera,’”
The Sunday Oregonian,
Aug. 28, 1904, P. 30 CW