TWO FOR ONE REVIEWS: Hildie Bitterpickles Needs Her Sleep, Written by Robin Newman & Illustrated by Chris Ewald

From the first time I laid eyes on this book, I loved it. First of all, who wouldn't enjoy saying Hildie Bitterpickles? It's easy to love -- the quality cover with engaging art promises a fun cast of characters - at the very least, a witch, a cat and other witchy friend. But that's not all, there are more surprises inside.

So we know from the the title that Hildie needs her sleep and suspect that a problem is brewing. I can totally identify with Hildie -- I remember long summer nights of insomnia during my childhood summers as crickets created a ruckus outside my window. But Hildie's problem is MUCH bigger than crickets. It's a giant with a clangity, clanky, clunky beanstalk elevator.

Hildie's problem becomes worse as other fairy tale characters turn up, which promise less chance of Hildie sleeping, but more fun and entertainment for the reader.



Finally, Hildie gets fed up enough to take matters into her own hands and uses her head to make everyone happy in a clever and satisfying resolution.

Kayla adds that she too, liked the art and thought it was a very fun read. She loved the fairy tale references, and especially liked the way Hildie solved her problem at the end.

There's so much that we both loved about this book, that I was inspired to create my own Hildie Bitterpickles puppet!

This paper bag puppet is made using a lunch-sized paper bag, construction paper (off white, purple, orange and red), scissors, glue stick and a few strips of scrap book paper for the hatband and belt. Paper Hilde can easily  be reproduced by tracing a paper bag as a guideline and using that page to guide the size of Hildie's face, dress, mouth, hair and hat.

If you make your own Hildie Bitterpickles Paper Bag puppet, please send your picture to: LiterallyLynneMarie@gmail.com so that I may share it, either on my blog or other social media. Sending me the photo is your express consent to publish it.

To the left is a picture of my daughter with my puppet creation. We hope to use it in a Library Story Time Presentation.

We would like to thank Robin Newman for writing such a fun book, Chris Ewald for illustrating it, and Creston Books for publishing it.

For more info on Robin, go to:
http://www.robinnewmanbooks.com/

For more info on Creson, go to:
http://www.crestonbooks.co/books.html


REVIEWER NOTE: If you have a book that you would like to consider being reviewed by Kayla and me for this blog, please message me at LiterallyLynneMarie@Gmail.com. We may even include an activity or craft to go with your review. Thank you!