new picture books – Page 2

New Books!

Two days ago 10 boxes arrived from Titlewave-my big shipment for the year and it is a little like Christmas here. I don’t plan to put them out until we come back from holiday but my volunteer, Janice and I have had a blast going through them, reading and stamping and just holding them!!

Just a short run down of the many titles I now have:

Picture Books

Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown
Disappearing Desmond by Anna Alter ( Abigail Spells is a favorite of mine!)
Thunder Boomer by Shutta Crum (Amazing illustrations by Carol Thompson)
The Enemy; a book about peace by Davide Cali
Guinea Pigs Add Up by Margaret Cuyler
The Travel Game by John Grandits

Mind Your Manners, Alice Roosevelt by Leslie Kimmelman

1 Zany Zoo by Lori Degman (Cheerios New Author contest winner)

Tacky Christmas by Helen Lester

Shadow by Suzy Lee

Thank You Bear by Greg Foley (winner of the handsome author award*wink*)

Chapter Books

The Magic Thief series by Sarah Prineas
The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz

The entire Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull (now I can finally finish reading the last two!)
Road to Tater Hill by Edith M. Hemingway
Palace Beautiful by Sarah DeFord Williams
The Problem with the Puddles by Kate Feiffer
The Secret of Zoom by Lynne Jonell
Neil Armstrong is my Uncle and other lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me by Nan Marino

Nonfiction

The Red Hen by Emberley and Emberley
Do Bees Make Butter by Michael Dahl
Mirror, Mirror by Marilyn Singer
and three new cookbooks for all my little cooking patrons including this one.

I did get a lot of nonfiction but I get less excited about it but these are my top choices- I know that’s bad as a librarian but I am a fiction fan.

My top two questions now

1. How am I going to get them all home to read and share with Groovy Girl over break?
2. How can I get a holiday extention so I can finish reading all that I want to read over my break?

I am glad we are staying here for the holidays so I can do lots of reading!!

Crazy to Calm-Bedtime Reading 101

Groovy Girl and I had a few picture books to read for story time and she likes to put them in order of how we are going to read them. No random just-pick-fro- the-pile for her-she puts them in calming order-the most vibrant first and the most soothing last, perfect to then fall asleep. She’s makes me smile! Two nights ago this was her order:

1. Paulie Pastrami Achieves World Peace by James Proimos. It has an exciting cover, bold words and was a lot of fun to read. Groovy Girl now has her very own Goodreads acct. and she dictated in her review that she loved this one so much she read it aloud to everyone in her family. True enough, I heard her beg her dad if she could read it to him and he relented…it was on Sunday during a football game and she stood right in front of him and read the whole thing. Good for her! It is a very cute book with a good message that kids will relate to.

2. Sugar Plum Ballerinas; Toeshoe Trouble by Whoopi Goldberg. We enjoyed the first one in this series and like this one even more as we get to know the characters. Brenda’s cousin comes to stay and the cousin, who has money and is a bit snobbish about it, causes Brenda to make a terrible choice. Lots of uh-oh moments in this one. This series has a lot to say about friendship. We read two chapters and then moved on to my daughter’s third reading choice:

3. Forever Friends by Carin Berger. Calm, Japanese-style illustration on cover, Groovy Girl said this makes drifting off to sleep so much easier. The inside pictures are beautiful, all natural, subdued colors, gracious cattails highlighted by one bird and one rabbit playing together. I love how perfectly she put these in order-she is not organized about all things (her room) but about bedtime book reading she’s got her own cool method!

Good Night, Sleep Tight.

Found this great interview
with Whoopi about Sugur Plum Ballerinas; Toe Shoe Trouble.

The Missing Chick by Valeri Gorbachev

A few years ago while shopping at Target I lost my Groovy Girl for about 8 minutes. I was terrified! I think it happens frequently to mothers out shopping. I was busy reading the label on something and she was jabbering away at me in her 5-year-old voice and I was uh-huh’ing her but my mind was elsewhere. My son was close by looking at something else when suddenly it occurred to both of us that she was no longer there and jabbering! Oh, how I suddenly missed her sweet voice. We called her name and walked around in the general area but could not spot her. When a Target employee walked by me I said “I can’t find my daughter.” I could feel my chest tighten and my thoughts were going crazy.

That feeling is brought to life so well by Mr. Gorbachev in his picture book, The Missing Chick (2009). Mother Hen is hanging her laundry on the clothes line when Mrs. Duck stops by to chat. Mother Hen says “My seven chicks are very good helpers!” Only six chicks are helping though-OH, NO! One chick is missing and Mother Hen, her neighbors, the police and firemen all help her look. Mrs. Duck eventually finds the missing chick in the laundry basket, asleep! I adore Valeri Gorbachev’s illustrations and this one is no exception. Mrs. Duck looks lovely in her polka-dot hat, dress and petticoat. Mother Hen in her apron and slippers looks so relieved when her little chick is uncovered and brought to her. Gorbachev leaves a little surprise ending that children will love to discover because they will have to find it with their eyes.

Thankfully, my little chick was located just moments away as well-not sleeping but admiring accessories in the girl’s section. She clearly stated she was just looking at the pretty purses! I felt as happy as Mother Hen did when the Target employee walked her to me. BTW: if you say to a Target employee that your child is missing they immedietely walkie talkie the front door area and lock down the store. I was freaked and grateful by how quickly the store responded!

Read Planet Esme’s blurb about The Missing Chick.
and Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast talks about Valeri’s work.

Have you ever lost track of your own little chicks?

What Should I Make?

by Nandini Nayer
illustations by Proiti Roy
(2009)

This book was originally published in India, in English and in Hindi. Neeraj’s mother is making dough, rolling it into chapatis and hands him some dough to play with. Neeraj is a cute boy with hair going everywhich way and he takes that dough, uses his imagination and makes all kinds of creatures.
“Neeraj rolled th edough back and forth, back and forth, into a long rope. At one end of the rope, he poked two tiny eyes. The other end became a pointed tail. ‘A snake! A snake!'”

Even though we never see all of Neeraj’s mother we can tell she is dressed in a flowing green sari and with bangles at her wrists. She has few lines in the book as well but they are playful as she encourages him to play with the dough. I’m happy the author choose to make the main character a boy, crossing the stereotype of girl’s helping mother’s in the kitchen.

I love the heck out of this book, especially the back section, which provides directions for making chapatis. The recipe is simple and I think we will make them some time soon.

She’s Too Fond of Books loved this book as well.

On the other end of the spectrum we read an awful picture book during storytime. The cover is attractive but it ends there. This book scared Groovy Girl right before sleeping. Should I have to preview books before bedtime? No. The illustrations are like clay puppets; think Coraline in the “other world”. The second disturbing thing was the text is scrawled in cursive. She was supposed to be reading it to me but she handed it to me and said “I can’t read that!” I said but you are learning cursive…She said “Not like that.” So I read and well, we finished it but are both unhappy for it.

The Look Book: Two siblings are bored on summer break and their mother sends them outside. Outside they see different things, in contrast.
One page:
“Ann saw a whole pie.”
Next page:
“Ian saw a pie hole.”

farther along:
“Ian saw a car get towed.”
“Ann saw a car get a toad” (picture of blood stained road after the car has passed)
“Ian saw a bird soar overhead”
“Ann saw a bird with a sore head.” ( an axe in a stump next to a chicken head, a chicken’s body running in front of Ann)
After many weird and scary homonyms they return home and tell their mother they saw nothing…there I’ve ruined the end for everyone. This is a perfect book for someone with a wry or slightly twisted sense of humor. Creative-Yes, Perfect storytime book-Nay!

The images and the text are disturbing and I’m not sure who made the decision to market this for children. Boo.
If It’s Hip, It’s Here has another take on the book.

Three Unusual Titles are all overdue!

The Bog Baby (2008) by Jeanne Willis and Gwen Millward. When two young sisters go fishing in a magic pond, they find an unusual pet. They take him home, feed him cake crumbs and sneak him into school. But the Bog Baby started to get sick, wouldn’t eat, didn’t jump up and down anymore and the sisters didn’t know what to do. Guess who helps them solve the Bog Baby problem…their mom, of course. The illustrations are gorgeous and the story line magically simple. Click on both of their names above and explore their beautiful websites. Doesn’t the cover just make you want to open it up!

You? (2009)by Vladimir Radunsky; translated from dog-ese to English by my learned dog, Tsetsa. An owner-less dog and a dog-less girl are watching the people and dogs pass by in separate areas of a park, hoping to be noticed. Eventually the stray dog and the girl find each other. All the dialogue is told through thought/speech bubbles and this would demonstrate point-of-view to students. In the author note, Mr. Radunsky says, “I love dogs; big and small, with spots and without. I love dogs with chubby cheeks. I love dogs with long noses. I love dogs with bushy tails or no tails at all….”

Palazzo Inverso (2010) by D.B. Johnson: Inside this quote resides; “I don’t grow up. In me is the small child of my early days.” M.C. Escher. This book demonstrates Johnson’s love of Escher’s work. Mauk’s master is building a grand Palazzo and something happens to turn the building upside down. Master blames Mauk but all he does is sharpen the pencils…Kids will love turning this book around as they discover what really happens. One reading will easily turn into “one more time” just so everyone can understand how things got mixed up.

My daughter smiled and her eyes glowed as we explored each of these titles from our public library. Isn’t that what we really want for all children-a simple love of literature that makes your face light up! Now I have to rush them to the library as they are several days overdue!!! What picture books made you light up this week? Me: I was overjoyed that each author featured had a brilliant website! I love when that happens.

Summer Blues and 4 cool picture books

I am suffering a little from “What happened to my summer blues!!” It all went so fast and I only got a fraction of my (many) projects done. I set out to organize our home and only got a small amount accomplished. I am trying to round out my summer by going through my Food and Wine and Vegetarian Times magazines; saving recipes and tips so I can recycle the magazines and get them off my shelves. Because I’ve taken to reading books so much I lost track of the joy of paging through these lovely mags as soon as they come in the mail. I aim to get back to that tradition as soon as I get caught up. Really-(my husband 1. rolls his eyes 2. chuckles when I mention “getting caught up!”) The nerve!

I have four lovely picture books to share with you today; all thee are from my local library and have been added to my titlewave list (which is already overbudget).

1. I’m Your Bus by Marilyn Singer; pictures by Evan Polenghi (5 stars)

Cute happy cover which will attract massive amounts of children to check this book out. It begins: “Howdy, you can count on us. Morning, evening, I’m your bus. Sweepers sweeping, bakers baking. Dawn is barely even breaking. Time for buses to be waking!” It’s cheerful, high-energy “talking” bus will have every student wanting to ride the smiling bus! The illustrations show diverse children and a bustling clean city. I think it would be great paired with Kate McMullen’s series, I Stink, I ‘m Dirty,I’m Mighty.
Shop Indie Bookstores

2. Country Road ABC; an Illustrated Journey through America’s Farmland by Arthur Geisert (4 stars)

This is a beautiful book with much needed information whether your a city kid or a country kid. My only complaint with this book is the very first page. “A is for ammonia fertilizer.” Hmmm. Not that thrilling of a beginning but hey, the glossary says A.F. is important for the soil and I don’t get how the picture gives us that info. Hey, it’s my only concern in an otherwise informative text. The next page is “B is for Barn Cats” and the illustration clearly shows us cats wandering around on the farm. I think students at my school will love seeing such an elaborate farm inside the pages of this book. I found an Iowa connection, while researching this book, and the article is from the Quad-City Times. Geisert based the book on a farming community in Iowa where he lived.

3. Animal Crackers Fly The Coop, egg-secuted by Kevin o’Malley (5 stars)

Kevin O’Malley cracks me up in all of his other books so I knew I was in for some serious belly laughs when I picked this one off the shelf. This is a unique retelling of The Bremen Town Musicians using humor as the catalyst instead of music. The first page: Hen loved to tell jokes. Jokes like: Why did the chicken go to the library? To check out a bawk, bawk, bawk. And: How do comediens like their eggs? Funny-side up! Hen dreamed of standing on a stage in a comedy club and cracking up the crowd. She simply had to be a comedi-hen.” And the book is FILLED with puns like that…My mom and I got the jokes but most of them flew right over my nephews and daughter in the bedtime story audience. They still thought it was funny and cute but theydidn’t get the play on words. Like I did, a teacher will just have to do some explaining-and that’s okay.

Shop Indie Bookstores

4. Bobby Bramble Loses His Brain by Dave Keane; illustrated by David Clark

Another one with lots of puns to go around as “Bobby Bramble had ants in his pants, a thirst for adventure and evergy to spare.” and he’s been duly warned by his kind-hearted mother that if he’s not careful he will “crack his head open like Humpty-Dumpty.” He does just that when he falls on his head and his brain “ran off as if it had a mind of its own.” Its a wild rumphus as the whole town spots and looks for Bobby’s brain all over town! This will make a magical read-aloud as kids laugh at the puns as much as the pictues of Bobby, with the top of his brain hinged off! 5 stars

Enjoy your last bit of summer…

with more reading!!

A Pair of Red Clogs

by Masako Matsuno
Purple House Press
(1960, 1988)

Beginning:

A pair of old cracked wooden clogs!
I found them last night in a storeroom of my house
when I was looking for a box to send a new pair of clogs
to my little granddaughter.

Matsuno descibes the new pair she is sending to her granddaughter, far away and then remembers back to when she received the red lacquered pair in the box.

One evening,
when I was as young as my granddaughter is now,
I went shopping with my mother.

And then she describes the store, the experience of picking this pair of clogs (she was only allowed to pick one pair) and how they sounded as she walked (kara koro, kara koro). It is a thrilling shopping trip and once she has them she joins in a traditional Japanese game and the red lacquered clogs are damaged. They no longer go kara koro, kara koro as she walks and she gets them dirty in order to force mother to buy new ones now.

The story is very well done showing an Asian child with a very normal situation that all children can relate to and predict the outcome. The illustrations are beautifully drawn by Kazue Mizumura, with Japanese textures, dress and custums demonstrated throughout. I wished I could have located pages online to show some scenes from inside the book. This makes a wonderful multicultural choice. I thought the book was brand new until I looked up the copyright for this post. It was new at my public library and definetely does not look dated.

5/5 peaceful stars

Highly recommended for elementary

Brilliant Art Work

My 7-year-old daughter did a painting project last Friday. Her inspiration for the project was based on a book we read together-The Imaginary Garden by Andrew Larsen; a fantastic book about a girl and her grandfather who create an apartment garden with paints instead of seeds. I brought the book home from school two weeks ago and we read it together. I guess the book affected her more than I knew. My husband has extra canvases at work and it was something she worked out with him. She painted it for her room, above her bed where she recently asked for the old print of a Maxfield Parrish to be taken down. I was a little crushed as I love Parrish’s work but we took it down. Apparently she had other plans-her very own plans-for that wall space! Before she unveiled it on Friday night

We never know as educators and/or parents what book will touch a child in a certain way…it is an amazing marvel when they have a positive reaction and send that love back out into the world. I’ve commissioned her to paint another one for my room. Isn’t her painting lovely…her own imaginary garden! Don’t you just love it…

Kids Can Press synopsis of The Imaginary Garden–click here.

Making connections

I’ve had kind of a depressing day. Sometimes the field of education can be so amazing and other days-total Debbie Downers! Makes me want to open a bookstore where every day would be blissful. I (helped:) clean my daughter’s room tonight and she wanted to count our blessings while we cleaned. I believe she was trying to cheer me up-love that empathy gene kicking in here and there.
This minute I’m feeling blessed to have fresh daffodils on my table in a ruby red vase. I’m also feeling blessed that tomorrow is Friday. Woo-hoo!

Story time this week for 1st graders involved two stories that I loved and that connected well together. I love when I can find pairs of picture books that compliment each other.

We read about pets in Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen’s book, A Small Brown Dog with a Wet Pink Nose( 2010)-it’s just fun to say and the kids loved saying it with me as it becomes a refrain in the book. Not every read-aloud fits my style as I ‘m not good with a million different voices. I can do a few but have a hard time switching back and forth but this one worked for me and made the kids giggle and smile…and isn’t that what we are really going for anyway! Amelia really, really wants a dog but her parents keep saying no! She asks every day then turns around and changes the questions on them. She stops asking for a dog and starts asking them questions related to dog care. Oh, it has some fun twists and I greatly enjoyed watching some quick students with their a-ha faces. A-ha faces really light up, another thing we are looking for as teachers as well. This book was a win/win! I had to stop in the middle and explain Amelia’s imaginary dog-but it made for an interesting conversation. Linzie Hunter’s illustrations gave the students much to stare at as they are filled with more than just the story.

Give a blogger a book reviews it here.

A Year of Reading reviews it here.

I matched it with one of my favorite author’s Margie Palatini’s The Perfect Pet(2003)! Also about a young girl (Elizabeth) who wants a pet, any pet-doesn’t even have to be a dog! She has a variety of techniques to get her parents to say yes to a pet. There’s the element of surprise, catching them off guard, or the full stomach…her parents continue to say no to each and every pet she suggests until she discovers an animal already in the house, ready to be a pet! Hilarious. The illustrations are wonderfully drawn by Bruce Whatley-at first I didn’t like how the parents were drawn-very square looking parents considering their very unique-looking Elizabeth but of course, makes sense-they are anti-pet!! Elizabeth is the true star in this picture book!

What connections did you make this week?

Hugging Hour

by Aileen Leijten

(2009)

This great little book came in my recent order from Titlewave. Great title, great front cover with the sweetest granny on the front!! From the first few lines you are pulled into a little mystery:

“To Drool, it seemed like her parents had been gone for an awfully long time.”

with a perfect illustration of Drool (Drew) gazing down a long and winding road and throughout the rest of the book is Grandma appeasing Drool with fun activities while she misses her parents.
By the end I discovered the “mystery” of the missing parents is a weekend sleepover with Grandma. Upon reflection this little book gives a great look at what it must feel like for a small child to spend an overnight with even a Grandma as lovely as this one; fun but still filled with longing for the missing parents. This will be a perfect book to use for deep thinking…and yummy cooking.
When I explored Aileen’s website I noticed she illustrated another favorite of mine, Bella and Bean(click here for my review of B & B) by Rebecca Kai Dotlich. I also noticed she has an Etsy shop as well. I’m going to explore that a little more as well!

Highly Recommended-Elementary picture book

5/5 peaceful stars

Click here for Aileen Leijten’s lovelywebsite!