The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Can't believe I've never read this story as a teen.  It's awesome!  I was pretty hooked in the first chapter.  It's about some boys in a private high school and the main character is named Jerry Renault.  He's a football player and his mom's dead.  There's a secret group in school called The Vigils and they pull pranks in school.  For funding at the school, the boys are going to need to sell fifty boxes of chocolates and I'm not to the point where it's a "war." 

More Bread or I'll Appear by Emer Martin

I checked out this book based on the author's name.  Emer sounds like such a great name!  Almost like Elmer, but so much better.  The cover of a headless young girl was also appealing.  Reading the back of the book, it seemed like an interesting story.  It's supposed to be about this girl who goes and tries to find her big sis.  I'm not in love with the story, it hasn't sucked me in.

 

Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School by Philip Delves Broughton

Just started reading this book recently.  The author comes from a journalism background.  It's totally interesting so far!  The inside flap talks about how a lot of business school students go and buy $50,000 BMW's before getting to school because a car isn't listed as an asset.  They hope to get that $50,000 in financial aid and it's like Harvard is buying them a new car.  Fascinating!  I love reading about stuff like that :o)

A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker and illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton

Bear is a loner and has a big sign on his front door saying "No visitors allowed."  One day a mouse arrives and bear can't get rid of him.  He appears in the cupboard, in the bread drawer, in the fridge, etc.  Finally bear is worn out and invites the mouse in for a visit.  They soon become friends and bear rips up the sign on his door.  My favorite part of the book is when bear randomly says that he can do a handstand. 

 

Donald Has a Difficulty by Peter F. Neumeyer and Edward Gorey

This book reminds me of emo-ness for some reason.  Donald is a kid who gets a splinter in his leg and his mom uses tweezers to pull it out.  She tells him to think of other things like markets and battles.  As she is removing the splinter, Donald is fine.  Then she uses a cotton ball to wipe his wound and he freaks out in pain.  They both laugh at how it didn't hurt when she pulled the splinter out but Donald starts screaming when she wipes the wound.  I would have liked to meet Gorey.  I imagine a solemn artist drawing weird black and white pics.  I'm sure we would have been great friends.

 

In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck

This book is alright.  A little girl wants everything to be blue colored and her mom keeps bringing in things that aren't.  Eventually the lights go out and her room looks blue in the light.  This book felt poetic.  I hate poetry, unless of course it's funny and rhymes.

 

Big and Bad by Etienne Delessert

This guy has won a bunch of illustrating awards but I don't quite understand why.  I thought they were just OK.  Anyway, about the story.  This one is a take on The Three Little Pigs, only a bunch of different animals help the pigs build their homes.  And for some reason some of the text are different colors.  I didn't really get why.

 

Tin Lizzie by Allan Drummond

Grandpa takes his grandkids for a ride in his old Model T and they philosophise about the cause and effect of so many motor vehicles.  This is a good "green" book with nice pictures.

 

Bebe Goes to the Beach by Susan Middleton Elya

Bilingual English Spanish book about a baby at the beach.  Sadly I didn't know all the words.  This is a very cute book and I'd love to see something like this in Chinese.  The pictures are very nice and bright too.

Go To Bed, Monster! by Natasha Wing

What a fun book :o)  A little girl named Lucy draws a monster who comes to life and they play together.  Soon Lucy wants to go to bed but the monster wants to keep playing.  Lucy draws a nice bed and blanket and some pink pajamas.  My favorite picture is when the monster is hungry and Lucy draws a pile of meatballs.  Author's semilocal, she lives in Arcata.

 

Harriet Dancing by Ruth Symes

Harriet is an overly friendly hedgehog who loves to dance.  One day she spies hundreds of butterflies dancing and wants to join in the fun but they're all snobby and say she can't dance with them.  Upset, Harriet runs off crying and rolls down a hill, covering herself with flowers.  She finds a friend who rolls himself in flowers too and they start dancing together.  Soon the other animals join in and because it looks like so much fun, the butterflies eventually join in too. 

 

Farmer Cap by Jill Kalz and illustrated by Sahin Erkocak

This book is awesome!  Farmer Cap is a freak farmer who doesn't grow beans and peas.  He grows popsicles and marshmallows.  The pictures in this book are as whimsical as you'd imagine.  Great fun!

Tailypo! retold by Jan Wahl

This is a folktale about a lonely old man who cuts the tail off a creature and the creature comes back at night in search of its tail which the old man has eaten.  Good pictures with a creepy story.

 

Octavius Bloom and the House of Doom by Erik Brooks

Charming rhyming picture book about a boy detective who tries to uncover the mystery of Ms. O'Moore's creepy house.  Turns out it was all just shadows from cacti she was growing in her shed.

 

Can You Do This, Old Badger? by Eve Bunting and illustrated by LeUyen Pham

This is probably my favorite Eve Bunting book because it's so sweet.  An old badger and a little badger spend the day together and the little badger keeps asking the old badger if he can do all these youthful things like climb trees and roll down hills.  The old badger then teaches the little badger things like where to find honey and how to catch fish.  I love this book that teaches kids the importance and wisdom of the older generation. 

 

Who's Been Eating My Porridge? by M. Christina Butler

This book is OK, the pictures are really cute though.  There's a little bear who refuses to eat his porridge so his parents put it on a tree stump and somehow it mysteriously disappears each day.  Looking at the cover you'd think there was some tie-in with Goldilocks but that's not the case.  It turns out the other forest animals have been eating it.

 

The Rickety Barn Show by Jemma Beeke

This story is adorable :o)  A cat decides to put on a talent show so he makes a nice poster and starts practicing his singing.  Soon a pig asks why the cat is singing and hears about the talent show.  Well of course now the pig wants to be in it too!  So he's going to be a one-pig band and starts practicing.  Then the hens join up along with all the other farm animals.  When it's time for the show, no audience shows up because they're all part of the show!

 

Roar of a Snore by Marsha Diane Arnold

Fun book about a boy who jolts awake when he hears a loud snore.  He wakes up each member of his household and barn and forms a search train to look for the source which ends up being a tiny kitten.

 

Magnus at the Fire by Jennifer Armstrong

This is an amazing story about a firehorse named Magnus who is replaced by a firetruck.  During a fire, the firetruck can no longer run and Magnus is there to save the day.  I absolutely love the idea of noble horses that pull fire engines.

 

Never Take a Shark to the Dentist (and Other Things Not to Do) by Judi Barrett

Judi Barrett is clever and this book is wonderful!  This is a really simple book where each sentence is accompanied with a picture.  My favorite is "Never knit a hat for a moose" and there's a picture of a frog trying to knit a beaenie for a moose over its huge antlers.  Cute pictures, wonderful book. 

 

How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz

Uri is a Caldecott medalist for The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship.  OK this book, is awesome!  Uri writes about how when he was little and poor, his dad bought a map instead of some bread.  Uri would study the map and soon became fascinated by it and would imagine being in different countries around the world.  This book speaks to the power of a child's imagination. 

Tadpole Rex by Kurt Cyrus

This book is basically tadpole parallel to t-rex.  This tadpole kind of thinks he's a dinosaur.  Awesome pictures.  The most interesting part of the book was the author's note talking about how frogs were around during the time of the dinosaurs. 

The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs by Alexander McCall Smith

Short and funny book here.  Dr. von Igelfeld is a language prof who is mistaken for a world famous, deceased vet specializing in dachsunds.  He performs drastic surgery on a sausage dog by amputating 3 of its legs and it turns out the dog belongs to his colleague.  This book is a fun intro into the hilarious world of academia.

Halloween Hats by Elizabeth Winthrop

Fun book that promotes head lice!  Just kidding.  This rhyming book talks about different types of hats and honestly, I never realized how many different types of headgear we've got in the world!  There are helmets for football, miners, costume hats, peekaboo hats for babies, etc.  My lame-o comment about the lice is because the end of the book, they all toss their hats up and a different person gets your hat. 

 

Moonlight the Halloween Cat by Cynthia Rylant

Super duper simple book about a black cat and how she loves all the elements of Halloween like the smiling pumpkins, the scarecrow's lap, and of course the candy.

 

Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler

Random--a hiccuping skeleton?!  A skeleton has the hiccups and tries various methods to try to get rid of them.  He eats sugar, drinks water upside down and holds his breath.  Eventually his ghost friend helps the skeleton get rid of them by having him look in a mirror. 

Duck Soup by Jackie Urbanovic

Funny story about a duck who decides to make some soup.  He steps out to grab some herbs and 3 animal friends come in and think that he's fallen into the soup pot so they start pouring the soup out, looking for the duck! 

 

Ms. McCaw Learns to Draw by Kaethe Zemach

Here is a nice book about a boy named Dudley who has a learning disability.  His teacher is really patient and asks to other kids to stop picking on him when he doesn't understand something.  One day the teacher is standing at the whiteboard and she needs to draw a profile of a face but she can't do it!  Dudley comes up and saves the day!

 

Hello! Is This Grandma? by Ian Whybrow

One of those lift the flap books.  A kid named Logan calls his grandma but keeps dialing the number to different farm animals. 

Pat the Husband: A Parody by Kate Merrow Nelligan Ah, I never wrote about reading this book which I did several weeks ago.  This is a parody of a treasured touch and feel book, Pat the Bunny.  It's really funny, there's a husband and you can watch him interchange pants with the wife.  There's a page where you can make him nod his head.  A very funny, clever parody indeed!

Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts and illustrated by Noah Z. Jones

Hey, here's another book about a poor kid.  Jeremy has a tattered pair of shoes and he used to be the fastest runner.  Now all the kids have these awesome black high-tops with two white stripes and they are all the rage on the playground.  When Jeremy's shoes finally fall apart, the school counselor gives him a pair of velcro buckle shoes with a cartoon character no one's ever heard of.  He tells his grandma that he really really wants the shoes but his grandma says they can only buy things they need, not what they just want.  Jeremy and grandma see the shoes at a thrift store and even though the shoes are too small, they buy them anyway.  In the meantime grandma buys him some necessary black snow boots.  Of course Jeremy wishes his toes would just fall off so he can wear the shoes, but that doesn't happen so he continues to wear the counselor shoes as before.  One day he notices that Antonio, another poor kid, has bad shoes and Jeremy decides to surprise his friend with the shoes.  Isn't that a super sweet story?

 

Giant Meatball by Robert Weinstock

Here is one seriously silly book!  Imagine, if you will, a gigantic pink meatball with tiny arms and legs.  The Giant Meatball is a big boor, he bounces his way around town and irritates all the citizens.  Eventually they eat him.  Ha ha ha! 

 

Blue Goose by Nancy Tafuri

Holy colors, Batman!  This is a very nice story about a bunch of farm birds who decide to paint Farmer Gray's barnyard while he is away.  There is the title character, a Blue Goose, also a Red Hen, a Yellow Chick and a White Duck.  Each animal has a pail of paint that is their own color.  White Duck paints the fence white, Yellow Chick paints the flowers yellow and soon the birds are mixing colors.  Blue Goose and Red Hen pour their paints together and paint the door purple, etc.   

Danny's Drawing Book by Sue Heap

The special thing about this book is that it looks kind of like a notebook.  Danny and Ettie go to the zoo and decide to draw an elephant and an aardvark.  Once they draw themselves in the story, they fly to Africain a plane.  It looks like Aardvark is flying and Elephant is sitting on a wing with Ettie.  This is a very cute and imaginative book.

 

Buster Goes to Cowboy Camp by Denise Fleming

The funniest thing about this book is how Buster the dog names the humans by their shoes.  His owner is Brown Shoes, who goes away for the weekend.  Mrs. Pink Slippers takes care of Buster's friend Betty, a cat, but she doesn't like dogs too much.  And so Buster is sent to Cowboy Camp where he is looked after by Red Boots.  At first he doesn't think he'll like camp but soon learns he's really good at catch and can't wait for the next day when he'll be digging for gold.  He falls asleep next to Snarkle (a wonderful name for a kind hearted bulldog), drooling right along beside him.

 

The Fish Who Cried Wolf by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

The pictures in this book are stunning.  As I was reading, I could hear Sebastian singing "Under the Sea."  Tiddler is a little fish who tells tall tales when he is late for school.  "I was riding on a seahorse . . . I was flying with a ray . . . I was diving with a dolphin."  One classmate, a fish named Little Johnny Dory, tells the stories to his grandma who tells it to a crab who tells it to . . . As you can imagine, soon all manner of sealife have been exposed to the Tiddler tales.  While Tiddler is thinking up another story one morning, he is captured in a net and then released in the middle of the ocean--lost.  As he hears his own story told to a shoal (!!!) of anchovies, he asks where they heard it and soon he's off on a scavenger hunt for home. 

 

You Were Loved Before You Were Born by Eve Bunting & Karen Barbour

First let me say that Eve Bunting has written waaaaaay too many books.  She's got to secretly be like 5 people.  The illustrations are very Oilily-esque which was just fine with me since I think Oilily's designs are very pretty and colorful.  This is kind of a sappy book, you know the ones that kind of make you say, "Awww."  It's a mom telling a baby about how everyone loved herm and prepared for herm's coming before herm was born.  Herm because I'm not sure if the baby is a boy or a girl.  The sweetest part of the book is when a little cousin sends his 4 favorite baseball cards to the unborn child. 

Bravo, Tavo! by Brian Meunier

In a Mexican village, young Gustavo, nicknamed Tavo, has some busted up shoes that he's been taping together.  I was reminded of my friend Carolyn and her talking canvas shoes years ago.  He asks his dad for some new shoes so he can play basketball but his dad is focused on bringing water to the community.  There has not been rain and one day they dig irrigation ditches and find a spring in the earth.  One of the digs yields water for a supposed witch and soon Tavo has some shoes made of the witch's quilt.  I really liked this book mostly because it's about a poor kid.  This year I haven't read too many picture books about poor kids.   

 

Little Rabbit and the Night Mare by Kate & M. Sarah Klise

Sarah's local, she lives in Berk.  All right, Night Mare--as in two words.  This rabbit has trouble sleeping because he imagines a horse made of his pillow and blanket.  He's freaked out and can't concentrate on his school report.  Most WTF picture:  When the other animals are getting ready to do their reports, the giraffe is going to talk about tall buildings and there's a picture of Sears Tower.  Um, what about Taipei 101?!  Wouldn't that have been cool? 

 

The Blabber Report by True Kelley

LOVED IT!  Blabber is a talkative mouse who freezes up when he's asked to give an oral book report.  With the help of his mousey classmates who hold up cue cards that say things like "Why did you pick it?" and "Tell me something I don't know" he's able to complete his report and the class can have a cheesy-chip cookie party.  This picture book is a super introduction to simple book reports.

 

Grump Groan Growl by Bell Hooks and illustrated by Chris Raschka

A kid is in a grumpy mood and groans and growls.  watercolor pictures are pretty interesting to look at.  Raschka won the Caldecott for The Hello, Goodbye Window.  The book is super simple and reassures kids that it's OK to feel growly sometimes and eventually those feelings will pass.

 

Oodles of Noodles by Diana Hendry and Sarah Massini

I thought of a couple of authors as I read this story:  Tomi de Paola and Shel Silverstein.  Weirdest picture:  The mom has square boobs.  Ben and Ava's mom gets a pasta maker (that looks humanlike) and soon she's cranking out oodles of noodles but the machine won't stop.  The maker starts off looking innocent enough, but as the story progresses, it looks panicked, then psychotic and finally when they figure out how to stop it--it looks dead.  One would think that with the massive amount of noodles cranked out, they'd have noodles for lunch right?  Well no, they have burgers and fries instead :o)

Camille and the Sunflowers: A Story About Vincent van Gogh by Laurence Anholt

Well on the inside flap it says the book's based on an actual encounter.  Camille's (a boy) dad is a postman and sometimes Camille helps him unload the mailbags.  One day an artist named Vincent van Gogh comes to town.  Soon he and Camille becomes friends but people don't understand his art and torment him.  A few of van Gogh's paintings are featured in this picture book.  My favorite illustration is of van Gogh packing up because the townsfolk are running him out of town--he's got a bandaged ear.  A bit morbid, I like it!

 

The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen

I read this book and rolled my eyes, but honestly I liked it!  All the other creatures in the ocean try to get the pouting fish to smile, but all they get is "Blub, bluuuuuub, bluuuuuuuuub."  Then one day a hot silver fish plants a kiss on the Pout-Pout and all of a sudden he's a kiss-kiss fish! 

 

The Book Book by Sophie Benini Pietromarchi

I've never seen a book quite like this one before.  It gives tons of ideas for creating a book.  My favorite is to tear pieces of scratch paper and staple the pieces together in the shape of a monster!  This book is awesome for skimming.

Too Many Toys by David Shannon

Spencer has way too many toys, so much that his dad steps on his Legos and his mom trips on his race cars.  People give Spencer toys for birthdays and holidays--even 4th of July and his whole house is crammed from top to bottom with toys.  One day Spencer's mom makes him pick some toys to get rid of and asks him to put them in a box.  But then the box becomes a toy too!

 

Potato Joe by Keith Baker

Simple rhyming book a la one two buckle my shoe.  I've never been so enamored with illustrated potatoes before.  The potatoes in this book look a little like thumbprints :o)

 

Melrose and Croc: An Adventure to Remember by Emma Chichester Clark

It's Croc's birthday and Melrose, a yellow dog, wants to catch a fish as a surprise present.  While out at sea, there is a storm and men with a lifeboat go to save Melrose.  When they return the whole town is there to cheer Croc.  I liked this story, it felt kind of old school.

 

Rabbit & Squirrel: A Tale of War & Peas by Kara LaReau

Loved it!  A Rabbit and a Squirrel are across the street neighbors but don't know each other.  They've both got lovely gardens and when a mysterious human hand plucks their vegetables, they immediately blame each other for ruining the other's garden.  Oh and they're mean too!  Squirrel floods Rabbit's house and flushes him right out!  This book is pretty fun.

Otto Runs for President by Rosemary Wells

Three dogs run for president at a kindergarten.  There are a lot of false accusations and bickering between Tiffany the poodle, Otto and Charles the bulldog.  I don't think there are a lot of election type picture books.

 

Super Guinea Pig to the Rescue by Udo Weigelt

With a title like that, how can you lose?  Cast of characters:  a guinea pig, canary, goldfish and hound dog.  They like to watch TV and one day the guinea pig pretends to be a caped crusader but when he falls into the goldfish bowl, his efforts turn out to be less than heroic.  Cool pictures, fun story.

 

Everywhere the Cow Says "Moo!" by Ellen Slusky Weinstein

This is a funny book that shows animal onomatopoeia for different countries.  English, French, Spanish and Japanese are highlighted.  For all countries, animals make different noises--except of course for the cow.  Fun book.

 

 

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross

Yay for this book!  Finally I've found another book that I can get sucked into.  The reason I decided to check this book out is because on the front cover, Fannie Flagg said she loved it.  Fannie Flagg, as you may or may not know, is one of my fave authors but devastatingly, she hasn't published anything in half of forever.  OK, OK, guess you want to know about the story, huh?  Miss Julia is a recent widow who just finds out her upstanding citizen/banker/church elder/community leader (not to mention deceased) husband had an illegitimate lovechild.  And how does she find this out, you may ask?  Well, after the husband is dead, the baby mama just drops her 9 year old son on Miss Julia's doorstep and takes off for beauty school.  What is this strong, proud, moral southern woman to do but parade Little Lloyd around town so everyone will know what her hub was doing all those "late nights" at the office.  She's getting a lot of flack from the church who wants her husband's money to expand the church.  Everyone is gossiping about her and it turns out the whole town had been suspecting her husband of cheating all along.  Great book, I love it.  And I'm really excited to read the other Miss Julia book as well. 

My Travelin' Eye by Jenny Sue

The author had a Dannielyn eye as a kid and this is her story!  At first she's bummed about having to wear a patch but then she and her mom get creative and soon they create a "fashion-patch."  All of a sudden all the kids in school want one too, but not without a note from your ophthalmologist.  Fave pic:  "three bananas+three apples does NOT equal six oranges."

 

I Lost My Kisses by Trudie Trewin

At first I thought the main character was a koala, but then she kind of looks a bit like a cow.  Anyway, she loses her kisses, looks everywhere and asks people if they've seen them.  She's super bummed because her dad is coming home soon and he always asks for a big smoocheroo.  Cute pics--guess the animal is a cow-ala.  I wouldn't buy this one for a personal collection, but it's fine as a library read.

 

Come Fly With Me by Satomi Ichikawa

Author was born in Japan but has been living in Paris for 30 years.  Her pictures don't feel Japanese--guess she's pretty westernized now.  Anyway, this book is about a stuffed dog and toy plane who are best friends.  One day they decide to have an adventure and fly to the big white dome.  I thought it was ridiculous to be friends with a plane, but what do I know--I'm just a grownup.

 

The Dog Who Loved the Moon by Cristina Garcia

Oh my gosh, I loved this book :o)  It's super duper cute!  A Cuban girl named Pilar has a white dog named Paco and a pair of pink dance slippers.  She loves to dance and even wears the shoes to bed just in case she has to dance in her dreams :o)  Her uncle is a real character.  He plays conga drums and has girlfriends who wear shiny, saucy dresses.  When they discover Paco loves the moon, Pilar's uncle serenades the moon on the dog's behalf.  "BabaLUUUUU-NA!"  I was crackin' up.

 

Close to You: How Animals Bond by Kimiko Kajikawa

This kids book has photographs that show how animals show affection!  I loved it!  In the back there's more info about each animal pair.

 

Pop Art: Adventures in Art by Christian Demilly

Mostly just skimmed this book.  It's a book that describes pop art to kids.  Apparently a lot of pop artists had backgrounds in design, advertising and graphic art.  I never knew that!  The book also talks about how pop art was really inspired by European artists 40 years ago. 

 

Monkey With a Tool Belt by Chris Monroe

Yes, this book is AWESOME!  Chico Bon Bon is a monkey with one amazine Batman-like toolbelt.  There's even a picture diagram of all his tools.  One day he gets trapped by an organ-grinder whose old monkey ran away and is now surfing.  It's up to Chico and his amazing tool belt to escape the clutches of the evil organ-grinder.  Wheeee!

Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne

Huh, did you know Jacques Cousteau made films as a kid?  He'd paint a mustache on his face and play the villain :o)  He also invented the aqualung! 

 

The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaimus

Super cool, Japanese style horror pictures.  This is an ABC book for toddling goths and future emos.

 

Keep Your Eye On the Kid: The Early Years of Buster Keaton by Catherine Brighton

From Vaudeville to film, this book follows Buster's rise to fame.  Did you know it was Harry Houdini who named him Buster?  His real name was Joe Keaton.  As a child he was expelled from school when his teacher asked for a sentence using the word "delight."  Buster said, "It's dark, turn on delight."

 

Alistair and Kip's Great Adventure! by John Segal

Alistair is a cat and Kip is a dog.  One day they build a boat and float out to sea where they see all kinds of oceanlife and are rescued by a whale.  This book is very cute. 

Stray Sock Sewing: Making One of a Kind Creatures From Socks by Daniel

Yup, just Daniel--no last name.  OK this book is super cute!  Daniel lives in Taipei and used to do advertising.  These sock creatures are super adorable and he poses them in such cute pictures!  I love the pig socks best!

 

The Librarian From the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler and Jared Lee

Kid with one wild imagination!  The Librarian laminates kids who talk in the library.  Hysterical!  We should start doing that :o)

 

The Little Island by Margaret Wise Brown

Nice pics, it won the Caldecott.  Follows an island as the seasons change.  There's a weird cat that talks to the island.

 

Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown

This book has been around since before I was a kid!  I remember Care's nephew Alex mailed her a Flat Stanley for her to take pictures.  When I was a kid, I never read this book.  Anyway, here's the story:  A bulletin board falls on Stanley and he gets flattened.  The benefits of being flat is that his parents can just mail him when they go on vacation, he can slip under doors and he can catch bad guys by pretending to be part of a painting.  Eventually his big brother uses a bike pump to inflate Stanley :o)  Super cute story with lots of imagination.

 

Bats at the Library by Brian Lies

Rhyming picture book about a bunch of bats who fly into a library after closing.  They read and imagine themselves as storybook characters. 

 

Little Smudge by Lionel Le Neouanic

Random artsy book.  There's a black smudge who wants to make friends with all these color shapes.  At first they shun the smudge but then he teaches them how to be supercool and soon they're forming neat pictures together. 

 

Little Miss Chatterbox by Roger Hargreaves

Ha ha ha ha!  I read this book when I was a kid over at Manor Library.  Those books are a bit bigger now but still super fun.  Little Miss Chatterbox finds a job at the bank but talks so much her boss doesn't get anything done so she gets fired.  Then she works as a waitress but the same thing happens, etc.  Finally she finds a job as the operator who says, "At the tone, the time will be 9:00."