The Pillow War by Matt Novak

First of all, I just want to say that these tiny little images make me sad :-( This one however makes me particularly sad because now you cant see the detail that I can on the cover art. The first thing that I noticed while reading this book were the illustrations and I don't necessarily mean that in a good way. They were awesome as far as details go, but at the same time, the kids look downright creepy! What it is I think is that they look like little adults with these big, round, shiny faces. I dunno. They were a little bit distracting for me while I was reading actually. That having been said though, I do appreciate Matt Novak's obvious attention for details in the illustrations. Some of the scenes he probably could have gotten away with not quite as much, but he went for it anyway. I really like that in the illustrations of all the children everywhere having one giant pillow fight, no two children look the same and they all have different pajamas on.

The story was really only okay for me, though it was entertaining. A brother and sister are getting ready for bed and they begin to argue over who their dog will sleep with. This starts a pillow fight that escalates to encompass the neighborhood and then pretty soon, the whole world is engaged in one massive pillow war (hence the title). It goes on and on until the little brother gets hurt, and his big sister calls off the whole thing. She carries him home and tells him that they will take turns with the dog. Funny thing is though, in the end they cant find the dog because, preferring to sleep alone, he is curled up on a pillow in the closet. I suppose that the lesson here is not as hidden as some of the other books that I have reviewed lately. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Okay, this isn't really a lesson, but it is in there. The lesson here is about taking care of your siblings and it is also about being able to admit you are sorry. It is also about learning to share. In fact, this would be a good book to read to your students about sharing always an important thing to learn about.

This book is ages 3 to 6 :-)