elementary – Peaceful Reader

Just being Audrey by Margaret Cardillo

Just being Audrey

(2011)

I smiled when I saw this lovely cover sitting on the new shelf at my public library. Our oldest child (a jr at Oberlin now) has a love of all things Audrey and I love her also. Roman Holiday is one of my favorite films. Give me a quiet Saturday, a bowl of popcorn, and this movie and I’m set! Hard to believe it was her first film. Audrey exuded grace and confidence during her life and is a wonderful role model. This beautifully illustrated biography shares Audrey’s spirit with everyone.

While I’ve adored her movies I’ve never read a biography about her and this picture book shares much about her life. I did not know Audrey’s mother was a Baroness, that she lived in Brussels, or that her family hid during WWII? The book explains how she changed her interest from ballet to acting and landed a few small roles when she met the French writer, Colette. Colette thought she would be perfect for her Broadway show, Gigi, which is how Audrey landed in NYC.

Each two-page spread is illustrated with gorgeous drawings. The text tells just enough to keep us interested with out tiring out young readers and the illustrations match each segment perfectly.
I’m so happy I picked this one up!

Find the author, Margaret Cardillo here.
Watch this simple video as it shares the outstanding artwork by Julia Denos and visit her adorable blog, The Cinnamon Rabbit.

Three Unique Picture Books You'll Enjoy!

In between chapter books Groovy Girl and I have had the chance to explore three very cool books. She is fascinated with Russia and chose to do a report on the country for school. She brought this book home from her school library:

Russian Girl; Life in an Old Russian Town (1994) by Russ Kendall. Meet 9-year-old Olga Surikovain in this nonfiction picture book and share a little of what her day is like. Her family lives in the small town of Suzdal-150 miles east of Moscow. The photos are lovely and Groovy Girl poured over them, trying to fully understand Olga’s life. Even though this title is “older” the information is worthwhile and shares a time in Russia’s history. My paternal grandfather came from a small town on the Russian/Polish border and I love to see my girl explore these interesting roots. The back of the book includes two recipes, an alphabet of Russian letters,and a good list of Russian words and names.

Running with the Horses (2009) by Alison Lester. This is a fictionalized version of an event that occurred during WWII; the rescue of the Lipizzaner stallions from the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Nina, a fictional young girl, works with her father, the stable master. The academy has closed and the war comes closer every day. Eventually her father and another stable hand, Karl, decide to take the horses across the border to her deceased mother’s parent’s farm. The story is beautifully told and the illustrations are a gorgeous mix of pencil drawings and what look like photographs but may actually be paintings.

An Edible Alphabet; 26 Reasons to Love the Farm (2011) by Carol Watterson and Michela Sorrentino. I LOVE this book. Every page stands for something I believe in with all my heart. It is a kid-friendly manifest of why we need to be eating locally from farms and our own backyards. It has snippets of healthy information swirled into beautiful illustrations. I’ve already ordered it for my school library collection. On a personal note I have an organic kid’s book on my computer with this same title-no kidding. Guess I better get busy and finish it before some else writes the book.

happy reading!

The Night Fairy

Laura Amy Schlitz

Angela Barrett, ill.

2010

117 pages

This elementary fantasy is a wonderful easy read for everyone who loves fairies, like we do at our house. My 8-year-old Groovy Girl makes fairy water every other day (or so it seems) with markers, lots of water, and tiny jars. The result is sparkly, multi-colored water (think pinks, oranges, sea green) by putting a small (picture the mess in my upstairs bathroom sink) amount of water into the teeny, tiny jars (mini marmalade jars), then sticking a marker tip into the water, and watch the color flow into the water. Magically, the marker is not permanetely damaged through this creative process. She sets these jars on her windowsill, for fairy purposes. I haven’t figured out why or what fairies do with this water…it just is what it is.

The Night Fairy is an adventure starring Flory, a young night fairy who at three monthes old has her brand-new, beautiful wings snapped off by a blundering bat, swooping through the night. She’s left in a sweet, gray-haired human’s backyard and has to learn how to survive without flying. Luckily, this human loves animals and is constantly putting treats out for the birds. Flory befriends a squirrel, Skuggle, who is always hungry and the two learn to help each other.

Flory was no longer alone. She felt that she had made a friend, though she wasn’t quite sure what friendship was. Skuggle was not the best of friends, because he would have eaten her if he could; also, he never talked anything but food. flory wasn’t the best of friends, either. She knew that if she had been able to fly, she wouldn’t have bothered with Skuggle. She was using him. All the same, after she struck her bargain with Skuggle, she was less lonely. (32)

She finds other animals along the way; both friends and foes, even helping a hummingbird escape a spider. She uses her mind and her limited use of magic to defend herself and find out more about the world around her. This imaginative little book is filled with great adventures that many fairy-loving young humans will love. The end of the story paves the way for, hopefully, more escapades with Flory. Flory would probably love to live in my daughter’s room with all the fairy water there for her.

Laura Amy Schlitz won the 2008 John Newbery award for her book Good Masters, Sweet Ladies!

The Night Fairy website.
Planet Esme’s review.
Green Bean Teen Queen predicts it as a Newberry Dark Horse winner.

Picture Book Frenzy

I have a stack of beautiful books checked out from my public library. I love the library but I struggle with their return on time policy. I dislike paying fines for overdue books. I’m much better with Netflix’s return policy (keep it as long as you like-you’ll get more when you return it)-that is within my power. On the other hand the library lets me take out stacks and stacks. Hmmmm.

Since these are due back before I return from camping-I’m going to review them in batch and return them tomorrow before we leave so I skip out on the hefty fine.

Lucky for me I’ve read them all:

First up, About Habitats; Mountains written by Cathryn Sill; illustrated by John Sill (2009)

Peaceful Girl and I loved this book. It is the perfect kind of nonfiction for elementary students….not a lot of text! It begins: “Mountains are places that rise high above the surrounding land.” and a glorious illustration of Mount McKinley (Alaska Range). Each page has one or two descriptive sentences matched with a mountain scene. The afterword gives greater detail to each mountain illustration and a glossary is included. Highly Recommended-Elementary Nonfiction

Stuff! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle by Steven Kroll; illustrated by Steve Cox (2009)

Stuff! tells the story of Pinch, a pack rat (how perfect)who looks like a cute big-eared mouse. Pinch has trouble getting rid of anything and his house and yard are overflowing. Bumper Bunny and Heddy Hedgehog come knockin’ one day to ask for donations and he turns them down! Yes, he’s a hoarder! He tells them he just can’t part with any of it. He finally has a change of heart and loads up a wheelbarrow to sell at the town tag sale. He does it at first to make money (more money means I can buy new stuff) but ends up enjoying his newly clean home! This is a great story to help children understand how important it is to buy responsibly-a good lesson for many adults. Recommended-Elementary Fiction

What Bluebirds Do by Pamela F. Kirby (2009)

This book has fantastic photographs of a bluebird family-it’s a play-by-play of their relationship, which takes place in Kirby’s backyard. My peaceful girl is fascinated by the bird activities in our own backyard and so loved this book. It shows such clear detail of what the birds look like compared to other blue birds, their mating flirtations (the male flaps his wings and offers her food-sounds easy enough) and how the beautiful eggs fare in the nest. The sentences are easy to read with the photographs taking center stage. It has a ton of useful information in the back as well.
Highly Recommended (if I were to buy any of these three it would be this one)elementary nonfiction.

Enjoy these three lovely books. Hopefully I will have a chance to review three more tomorrow before my library trip. My husband should love that. “Sure honey, I’ll be right there to help you load the car-right after I finish this blog post!” Can you picture it?

Picture Books

Peaceful Girl and I have read 5 fantastic picture books recently.

Our rundown in no particular order:

1. Front Porch Tales & North Country Whoppers (2007) by Tomie DePaola: This is a homegrown book just waiting to be read aloud. The language is fun and sleepy little girl was begging for more as we made our way through the 10 little folk tales and tall tales. Her favorite was “Big Gertie and Love at First Sight” which begins: If ya are ever in Weston, Vermont, and ya drive north through the village on Route 100, you’ll come to the Greendale Road on yer left. The beginnin’ part is paved, but as soon as ya git to the unpaved part, you’ll be drivin’ into the Green Mountain National Forest.
Once you there you meet the lumberjacks and their cook, Big Gertie, who is “BIG and TALL and BIG-BONED and is a distant cousin of the Bunyon family. Big Gertie is a good cook but overworked and the lumberjacks find a great way to help her. Fabulous pictures add to the tales as well.

2. A Young Dancer; The Life of an Ailey Dancer(2009) by Valerie Gladstone, photographs by Jose Ivey: This book followers a beautiful young dancer, Iman Bright, an Ailey student. Iman balances dance with school work and violin lessons. Easy-to-read so young readers will love discovering all it takes to be a well-rounded dancer. The photos are often full page spreads, giving the feel of being right there with Iman. Alvin Ailey Dance site.

3. Budgie and Boo (2009)by David McPhail: I love David McPhail’s The Teddy Bear and always enjoy using it as a read aloud at the library. Kids really relate to this very compassionate tale. This new one has two fantastic characters, Budgie is a bear and Boo is a bunny. They both love to garden; Boo grows vegetables and Budgie grows flowers. This one’s message is simple; isn’t it wonderful to have a special friend!

4. Imogene’s Last Stand (2009) by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter: This is the cutest elementary historical fiction book with a very high-spirited heroine. Imogene has always loved history and works hard to clean up the Liddleville Historical Society so others can come and visit. Instead, the mayor decides to raze the historical house and Imogene fights back. Full of spunk, Imogene teaches the whole town a lesson is what’s really important.

5. Fancy Nancy; Poet Extraordinaire! (2010)by Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser: Peaceful Girl has told me a few times that she is “beyond” Fancy Nancy and has moved on to other reading materials. Hmmm, that is until her grandmother brought her this one! See little girl loves poetry, thanks to her amazing 1st grade teacher. This one brought out all the stops as the other Nancy books do with all that wonderful word play focused on creating poetry. I think come April I might have to create my own Palace of Poetry in our library! Fancy Nancy has her own website-click here!

All 5 picture books rate

5/5 peaceful stars

Highly Recommended-Elementary