Meet the Jolly Jangles – Book Review

Book Review
Meet the Jolly Jangles
Written and illustrated by Marilyn Cook
Published April 12, 2019

Why we chose this book:
We were contacted with a request to review this book, and when I spoke with T about it, he was quite taken with the teddy bears. The premise sounded cute, so we accepted. A review copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Mom's Review
We expected Meet the Jolly Jangles to be cute, and we were not disappointed! I have lost count of how many times we've read this book in the past two weeks; T is enamored with the bears. Each of twelve teddy bears is introduced in rhyming format and then asks the audience a question. After the question, the bear shares his or her magic power. This is one book that is very easy to talk about! T answers some of the questions, particularly about what colors he is wearing and what animal he would like to be (it's always a tiger). The illustrations are photographs of the Jolly Jangle bears in different settings; T delights in pointing out what is a photograph and what isn't real. I think what he likes about the pictures is the fact that these bears really do exist somewhere (in the UK, in case you are wondering).

Meet the Jolly Jangles is fun and easy to read (I do my singing/chanting/rapping hybrid thing), it invites engagement through its questions and the bears' powers, and it is just plain cute! This book accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, namely fostering conversation and promoting imagination. T and I had some independent time yesterday (meaning he played alone while I did the dishes), and when I checked on him, he had built a pillow fort for himself and a few bears. He told me that he was pretending they were the Jolly Jangles.

With twelve distinct bears to meet, it's easy to pick favorites. In this house, we love little pranks, so Naughty is one of our favorites. He loves to make the other Jangles laugh through his little jokes and tricks. He's sweet and fun and doesn't do anything truly "naughty." We also like Snowflake's sparkly ears and her love of snow; we love to play in the snow too. There is just one thing about Snowflake that I feel should be mentioned. She says that she "should be an Eskimo." The writer is from the UK and the weight behind this term may be unfamiliar. Certainly, this could lead to a conversation about outsiders naming indigenous peoples as opposed to self-determination, as well as the differences between terminology in the northern US versus Canada, but T is a bit young for that.

Overall, we are loving Meet the Jolly Jangles. I get into the rhyming. T is wild about how adorable the bears are (I concur) and that they have powers, and he enjoys answering their questions. All these things are right up our alley!

Son's Review
(Age: 4)
T is all about the Jolly Jangles right now! He loves how cute they are. He loves how they have magic powers. He loves that they pat their tummies to make their powers work. And he loves telling me how cute they are and how they have magic powers and that they pat their tummies to make their powers work.

In general:
"I really like the Jolly Jangles! The bears are really cute!"

On what people should know:
"That the Jolly Jangles are really happy."

On what is most important to know:
"The Jolly Jangles magical powers."

On how he feels when we read:
"Happy!"

On what the book makes him want to do:
"It makes me want to make the world feel super bright."

Comments

  1. Thank you Victoria and 'T' for your wonderful review. I am so pleased you both enjoyed my book. I will most certainly address the problem you highlighted about the eskimo, that is ignorance on my part and I really appreciate your honest review. Thank you both again x

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