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5/4/2005
What's in a name? Sometimes, not much
BY LAURIE MUCHNICK
STAFF WRITER, NEWSDAY
May 5, 2005
To a 3-year-old, Elmo is a celebrity. Jay Leno: Who's he? Since kids won't necessarily be interested in a book just because it's written by some famous grown-up, celebrity books have to stand on their own to be worth buying and reading to your kids.
Comedians Leno, Ray Romano and Jerry Seinfeld have produced similar books, humorous but heartwarming family stories with illustrations that feature caricatures of the grown-up author's head on a child's body. I like Romano's "Raymie, Dickie, and the Bean" the best: Young Raymie goes to an amusement park with his family, and his feelings about his two brothers go up and down like a roller coaster - now he loves them, now he hates them. That's realistic, and also funny.
Leno's "If Roast Beef Could Fly" is an affectionate story about his father's latest "project" of building a patio in the backyard, an undertaking that ends with Jay almost ruining his dad's triumphant end-of-summer barbecue. Seinfeld's "Halloween" reads the most like a stand-up routine - aimed more at adults than kids.
John Lithgow writes books that are notable for their imaginative set-ups and humorous wordplay (such as this, from "I'm a Manatee": "With my wit, sophistication and urbanity,/I dignify my watery domain./No one will ever hear me use profanity,/Because a manatee/Has his image to maintain.")
To avoid: Madonna's books, for awkward writing and didactic morals. Billy Crystal's "I Already Know I Love You," about his feelings as he waits for his grandchild to be born. It's dreadful poetry, and some of it barely makes sense.
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.
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