Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss

This is a classic for me. King Yertle is quite the expressive anti-hero, commanding his subjects to become a living throne for him. Soon he even yells at the moon, just like Buzz Aldrin and Liz Lemon. Mack's burp is like the butterfly flapping it's wings across the world and then...Yertle is King of the Mud and Poof! Instant Democracy! It's a timeless tale.

The second story is that of Gertrude McFuzz. She is a girl bird so of course the conflict in this story has to do with being pretty and vanity. Gertrude gets hers, but she's happy in the end. It's all good. As a kid, I never noticed that funny part where the female character is in a story like this, while all the others are of course assumed to be dudes. Oh well.

The last story is The Big Brag, where a bear and a rabbit are put in their place by a snarky worm. I liked this one too, but I think Yertle is still the best.

I can't help it, but I love poems that rhyme, so Dr. Seuss will always be tip-top in my book.

Guardians of Ga'Hoole Book 1: The Capture by Kathryn Lasky

This is the first book in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. It's all about OWLS! Soren is a barn owl who is kidnapped from his nest in the first few weeks of his life. He's taken to a strange place, a colony of owls hidden deep in a canyon. The owls hardly seem like owls. They have been cut off from everything that owls love, like the moon, the sky, and the hope of flying free. They eat strange foods and do strange things. Soren and his new friend Gylfie know that something evil is going on and that they have to escape. But first they'll have to do something they've never done before--fly. Can they learn without parents to help them? Will they be able to escape? Or will they fail in their first flight and be put so deep in the canyon that they'll never be free?

This book is a little like Watership Down with owls. But not nearly so enthralling. I'll probably pick up the next one, but I didn't love it so much that I'd commit to the whole series.