new picture books – Page 4

Just Read

After dance class tonight J. and I went around the corner to the public library and found the children’s librarian putting out brand-new books!! We were so excited we picked a few…so tonight we read:

Sally and the purple socks by Lisze Bechtold (2008)

Loudmouth George earns his allowance by Nancy Carlson (2007)

and

Oink, Oink, Benny by Barbro Lindgren and Olaf Landstrom (2008)

They left both of us smiling…

Sally is a duck and she mail orders a pair of incredible purple socks-the socks, which grow, are really quite versatile! The illustrations are simple allowing the socks to really shine.

Loudm

outh George is a typical Carlson character, who’s been given chores for the summer (great way to understand helping out around the house-might have to read it to my 14-year-old). George, of course, is busy enjoying the beginning of his summer with games, swimming, and building. His wise mother won’t let him go to the movies with Harriet until the chores are finished and he earns his allowance. The lesson is in how the chores are accomplished and we thought poor George learned his lesson for the summer!

Benny and his baby brother, cute pigs, head outdoors to play as the mom reminds them to not go to the mudhole. I asked J. for a little prediction here and naturally she answered uh, oh…they are heading to the mudhole. Oink, Oink (yes, yes) and while the pigs play with a few other cuddly creatures, they get muddy. Uh, oh! Luckily, Mother Nature saves them on the way home. I really liked the illustrations in this one, especially the little brother dressed in his diaper, Tibetan ski hat, pacifier as round as his nose and his what-looks-like an ugly monster doll with 3 large button

s. I also spied the three little pigs by the mudhole-naturally they would be where the mud is! Check out these other blog words on these titles!
Maya Reads

Pink Me

Now for myself I have to finish Red Glass by Laura Resau tonight so I can begin The Hunger Games and my brand-new ARC of Al Capone shines my shoes sent to me by Gennifer Choldenko!!! Thank you Gennifer!!

Bedtime and stories just go together…

like popcorn and a good movie. J. and I have been doing a fair amount of bedtime reading even though I was consumed with reading The Help and left the weekend read-alouds to my dear mother-in-law!!! This week though we have finished two chapter books, Emmaline and the bunny by Katherine Hannigan (IA writer!-with NO website) and Milo and Jazz Mysteries; the case of the stinky socks by Lewis B. Montgomery. I loved Hannigan’s Ida B. so I was excited when she had a new book out. When I saw it at my one and only indie bookstore USB my first thought was this is a perfect chapter book to read with J.-it looked like a Velveteen Rabbit-looking chapter book, so, of course, I purchased it. It is a delightful read with all kinds of fun words like “scoot-skedaddle.”

The simple story begins with Emmaline wanting a bunny of her own and told no

because they are not neat-She lives in “Neatasapin” and the mayor has the great name of Orson Oliphant. Old Orson likes things neat and tidy and the grown-ups have just let him run the place but Emmaline is determined and finds a way to invite a bunny into her life! The language in the book is fun to say out-loud-lots of thump, thump, thumping and stomp,

stomp, stomping-and the plot is carefully constructed to give us a good message without weighing down the pure enjoyment. I loved Emmaline’s determination as well as the Earth Mother/Old One we meet in the middle of the story. Ms. Hannigan was asked to do

the drawings for this book herself and I am glad she tried because the illustrations match the feeling of the story perfectly.

The second chapter book we finished together this week was an ARC sent to me by The Kane Press , written by Lewis B. Montgomery and, well you really can’t go wrong with a book that has stinky socks in the title! J. loved both the boy and girl character and the easy drawings that accompanied the story.

J. likes things to be fair and real and it was cool for her to see Milo and Jazz work so well together to solve the case of the missing pair of lucky socks worn by the star baseball pitcher, Dylan. I know from reading their website that another Milo and Jazz mystery is out (The case of the Poisoned pig) and two more are coming soon. J. and I will be happy to put our Dash Marlowe detective hats back on and help Milo and Jazz solve more mysteries!!

We also read two fabulous pictures books last night and as tired as I was J. wanted both books to be reread again and again!! The first one w

as Belinda begins ballet by Amy Young (great author website!) and oh, what a great lesson Belinda

teaches, without being weird. Belinda, from birth, has had rather large feet!

How sad when the elementary teacher in charge of the talent show asks her to be a clown

because of her large size feet. I had a great time making a very grumpy teacher voice for her!

Belinda, sadly, unwillingly complies and learns the clown routine. Just by chance, though she puts herself in the right place, right time and happily, dreamily watches another student, Camille, practice her ballet for the show. Belinda shows us that her large feet can be just perfect for ballet as well!! Beautifully illustrated and very well-written, I know I will end up wearing the pages out on this one.

Our last book, Not a stick by Antoinette Portis (Not a box) was so well received by J

that we really did read it over several times…how can you resist those blinking sweet brown eyes and it helps that the book is a fast read!! While fast though the impression both of her books leave me with is so refreshing I think Ms. Portis probably never lets her kids watch television. The premise of both of these books is a simple object, used with imagination can be Anything You Want It To Be! The little pig character is so cute, so well-drawn and you feel his (my feeling is that it is a little boy pig)
progressive frustration “It is NOT NOT NOT a stick!” to the elaborate imagining of what the stick can be, remind me of the forest growing in Where the wild things are. These are classics in our midst, definetely.

And after several readings we were both ready for dreamland. Post note; I reread it again to my husband last night! He wanted to dramatize it, of course!

April Showers bring May flowers…

I have been looking around at all the amazing books I have added to the library this year and I realize many of them are titles I heard about from the blogs on the right. (insert arrow—) I picked a few favorites just for you.

1. bees, snails, & peacock tails by betsy franco and steve jenkins(2008). I love the combination of math, shapes, patterns mixed into the natural world. The illustrations are amazing!! Here is another great look at this book by another blogger.
2. Flip, Float, Fly; seeds on the move by JoAnn Early Macken, ill. Pam Paparone (2008). I am astounded at how wonderful non-fiction has become and these first two books are perfect examples. Gone are the days of boring text mixed with simple photos of what becomes an uninspiring topic! When you have text like this: “a wild oat seed curls up in the sun like a comma. The seed straightens out when it rains. Wiggle! Jump!” and a perfect illustration to match. How great!
3. Helen Keller; the world in her heart by Lesa Cline-Ransome; ill. James Ransome (2008). Finally a great biography of Helen Keller that elementary students will get! Now if this team could do one on Anne Frank my students would really appreciate it. They have another biography (Young Pele; soccer’s first star) out which is also fantastic.
4. A River of words; the story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant; ill. Melissa Sweet (2008). This book is such a simple retelling of one man’s life; about dreams not realized in the usual way and hope for all artists. The illustrations are as-if-lifted right from his notebook; we get such a sense of being right there with him. Thank you for this book because we glimpse into this life and understand.
5. Cinderella by Max Eilenberg and Niamh Sharkey great blog 🙂(2008). I love fairy tales, all kinds of versions. This particular one I like because of its simplicity and because the father steps up (for once) and says His daughter should try on the glass slipper-yes, thanks for coming out of the fog, dear Dad! I am going to read it to students next week.
6. Beware of the frog by william bee (2008)-great name, great book…funny, funny book and children love it!
7. Our Library by Eve Bunting (2008)-I’ve already blogged about this one so here’s someone else’s thoughts on this great book that reminds us all of working together in our communities!
8. One boy by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (2008). My kindergarten students loved this book when I read it to them in the library. They said “will you read it again…”
9. The Beeman by Laurie Krebs and Valeria Cis (2008). My step-father is a beeman so maybe I like this one because I can relate but this book shows an unusual occupation/hobby that most kids wouldn’t even think about in an easy-to-read rhyming text!
10. Mrs. Claus explains it all by Elsbeth Claus; ill. David Wenzel (2008). I can’t wait for Christmas! This one offers great questions with wonderful answers! How does Santa get into your house if you don’t have a chimney??? This has a great format and beautiful illustrations. Age-0ld, priceless and brand-new, all in one!
I think 10 is a good number to stop at for today-I know there are more but these are the ones that have been stacking up on my desk; Read Me!! These are just the picture books…whew!

My Library by Eve Bunting is the winner!!

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Last night J. and I read three fantastic picture books from the library, which I must share! The first one we read was Kate DiCamillo’s Louise the adventures of a chicken and while reading, I was so accutely aware of my own life and how it fit into Louise’s!! I made it through a few pirates and “cages” to get to my happy home that I adore now. It took me taking all those “adventures” to get to the place I am in and this is a good, just as Louise finally appreciates her chicken coop. The second book we read was My Library by Eve Bunting. I have been a fan of Eve Bunting’s for awhile and have used her more poignant books to make teacher-y points to students. I love The Wall, Smoky Nights and Fly Away Home, all books that have a clear message. This new book (2008) has the lovely message of how important our libraries are to each of us!! Of course, I love this message. Lots of books are written about the library but this one made J. and I feel so happy after. I think it was that the animal children were the problem-solvers in the story. They found good solutions by reading the books on the shelves, pointing out there is a book for every problem! The third lovely book we read last night was Big Bad Bunny by Franny Billingsley, illustrated by g. Brain Karas. This is a very, very funny story that you don’t automatically get (which makes you think a little-always good!) until the author wants you to and the illustrations fit perfectly. We felt there were two sets of drawings, the illustrator really convinced us of two seperate actions going on in the book. I don’t want to tell anymore because you have to read it cold to appreciate the humor. J. loves to rate the books we read so she laid them out on her bed in order of her likes: The Library won with Big bad bunny second and Louise, third. The good thing is she really loved them all as did I! Another great night of story time at the Holt house!

Baby Dragon by Amy Ehrlich

I have bountiful boxes of beautiful books in my little back workroom and going through the boxes is, of course, like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one. I came upon these two gems today as I was checking titles on the invoice. Baby Dragon (2008) by Amy Ehrlich and illustrated by the fabulous Will Hillenbrand. This book reminded me of how you feel when you read the classic Audrey Penn‘s The Kissing Hand; sweet on your Mom because you know she loves you every minute of every day; even when she’s mad at you. The illustrations in this book are above average as you gaze back to the horizon, deep into the pictue and the mountain peaks. I can’t wait to share this with all my little readers but first I will have to take it home to share with my own dragons to see how it makes them feel.
The other gem I found has some laugh-out-loud parts but ends on a very loving note. When Charlie McButton Lost Power (2005)by Suzanne Collins and illustrated by Mike Lester reminded me so much of my own home life as poor Charlie has a melt-down because the power has gone out. Ms. Collins has written this in great rhyming text and the illustrations together cause for laughter. I will not spoil the ending but the sibling relationship involved, well, we’ll read it tonight and see if my 13 year-old can see himself in Charlie McButton!!!