Mo Willems Doodles: KNUFFLE BUNNY: A CAUTIONARY MUSICAL tour schedule!
Click on the link and then scroll down for a fun video describing the “making” of Knuffle Bunny; the musical!
Tag: picture books
Library Finds
Been to the library.Have a whole stack to share.
1. Creamed Tuna Fish & Peas on Toast (2009) by Philip Christian Stead
This one is cute with a great refrain-kids will love to help you repeat it. Wild Man Jack does not like creamed tuna fish & peas on toast so all week long his sweet children ask him “What will you do if Mama Jane cooks creamed tuna fish and peas on toast?” and each time he responds with a new reply. What makes this book really dynamic is the cool layered illustration created by Stead. Click on the author for his funky website.
2. Food For Thought; The stories behind the things we eat (2009) by Ken Robbins.
This is a good resource book with detailed information about apples, oranges, corn, bananas, tomatoes, potatoes pomegranates, grapes and mushrooms. Each food covers at least 3-4 pages with everything from how to eat it, how it grows and its history. The information is interesting but seems scattered to me. About the banana he moves from where bananas grow (Southeast Asia, Africa, India, Central America) to what a Banana republic is (large plantation owner from developed country in charge of poorest pickers), to a discussion about bananas vs. plantains to the healthy benefits of bananas and then jumps to Carmen Miranda becoming Chiquita Banana advertising to slapstick comedy (slipping on a banana peel). While it was jumpy to me I think kids will enjoy the variety of topics and how fast moving it reads.
3. Our Corner Grocery Store (2009) by Joanne Schartz; illustrated by Laura Beingessner.
This sweet book tells the story of Anna Maria, who helps her grandparents at their store. Nonno Domenico and Nonna Rosa open the store promptly at eight and Anna Maria helps Nonno arrange the fruit and vegetables in the front wooden racks. It talks about pricing the produce, the layout of the store and the variety of items they stock. The lunchtime crowd shows the deli side, with everyone picking their favorite meats and cheeses. Both peaceful girl and I noticed how important to the grocery store is to the neighborhood and how they all help each other. This brought back memories of grocery stores of the past but also of city markets I shopped at in Chicago. I can see this book as a great tool for teachers in my school. Click here for an interview with author and illustrator froom Open Book Toronto.
Reading and writing about these three books has made me hungry. Time for lunch.
I hope you check out any of these books at your own library and explore with a child or your own child-like eyes!
The Travel Game
by John Grandits; illustrated by R.W. Alley
(2009)
I love this book!
Opening paragraph: My family owns a tailor shop. It’s on the first floor at 857 Broadway in the city of Buffalo, which you can find on the globe next to Lake Erie in the state of New York in the country of the U.S.A on the continent of North America.
Tad, our wee main character, describes the tailor shop and how the suits are made and how each family member has specific tasks to accomplish at the shop. Tad likes helping out at the shop but is enticed one day after lunch to play a favorite game with his Aunt Hattie. They use a globe and a book: 1001 Pictures from Around the World by George P. Smithers to begin globe-trotting. Aunt Hattie says: “Okay, you close your eyes, and I’ll spin the globe. Then you put your finger down, and that’s where we’ll go.” (15) When Tad points his finger down he’s landed in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean and so Aunt Hattie takes her turn. This next time they land in Hong Kong. They use 1001 Pictures from around the World (which, by the way, is not a real book, I checked) to research Hong Kong and what it looks like. You can’t travel to some place and not have an idea of what it might look like since Tad admits he’s never been outside of Buffalo. Aunt Harriet uses her vivid imagination and story-telling skills to help Tad visualize their exotic destinations.
This book is a must-have for my library in the fall and I have tons of ideas on how to use it. I plan to read it to 5th graders as an introduction to research and world geography. It will also work for discussions on imagination, community, family and visualizing. The illustrations are detailed and add to the coziness of the book. R.W. Alley is the same illustrator as There’s a Wolf at the Door written by his wife, Zoe B. Alley.
Highly Recommended
5/5 stars
Picture Book
Author website-John Grandits
Illustrator website-R.W. Alley
Other reviews:
Katie’s Literature Lounge (she has an activity created to go along with this book)
Tasha at Kids Lit
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?
Two Picture Books-You Choose.
Picture Book A
Moon Rabbit (2009)
This is a delightful tale of companionship featuring a young city bunny; “Little Rabbit liked living in the city. She had her own place to stay, her favorite cafe, and so many things to see and do.” Sometimes the city gets to be too much and she heads out of town to the country (a nice quiet park) where she sits under a tree and relaxes. She hears beautiful night music and goes in search of the source, brown rabbit playing (it’s always a musician causing trouble) Ahh, it is simple retelling of country mouse/city mouse but so beautifully told and illustrated through printmaking by Natalie Russell. The illusrations are striking with her use of unique colors and patterns. I’ve looked through the book several times now after our initial read-aloud and the illustrations draw me into each page. Esme writes about it here and has it on her best books of 2009 list.
Picture Book B
The Knitting of Elizabeth Amelia(2009)
This is a sweet story about the love a mother gives to her children. “Elizabeth Amelia was made of wool. Just where the wool came from no one knew. But her mother found it tucked into a trunk in the attic and took it out and knitted Elizabeth Amelia just the way she wanted her: with apricot-colored arms and sunlit hair and a sky-blue petticoat that she never had to take off.” Because Elizabeth Amelia is made of wool other students at school love to cuddle up to her as they sit in their school room benches-they find her differences appealing. She grows up, meets a hansome dancing guy, marries him and begins a family of her own, using apricot scraps from her feet. Reminiscent of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, the mother keeps giving until she’s lost a good bit of herself. Oh, what we give with love to our children. Written by Patricia Lee Gauch and illustrated by Barbara Lavellee, an Alaskan artist and illustrator (Mama, do you love me?) .
Peaceful Girl and I enjoyed reading both books but we did have a favorite. Which one would you pick?
Trip to the library
I just got back from our local little library and I literaly filled my bags-one library bag and a second one from the used book store attached to our library. Oh, my!! Here’s what I got from the children’s section:
Fantastic Nonfiction
What’s Inside? Fascinating Structures Around the World by Giles Laroche
Our World of Water; Children and Water Around the World by Beatrice Hollyer (Oxfam)
What Darwin Saw; The Journey That Changed The World by Rosalyn Schanzer
If Stones Could Speak; Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge by Marc Aronson
What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe? (A Green Activity Book About Reuse) by Anna Alter
Picture Books
The Travel Game by John Grandits; illustrated by R.W. AlleyA Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno; illustrated by Kazue Mizumura
The Knitting of Elizabeth Amelia by Patricia Lee Gauch; illustrated by Barbara Lavallee
Moon Rabbit by Natalie Russell
Stuff!; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle by Steven Kroll; illustrated by Steve Cox
To The Beach by Thomas Docherty
Bridget Fidget and the Most Perfect Pet! by Joe Berger
What a haul of amazingly great books! My seven-year-old second grader has become such a girl of discovery so I picked a lot of nonfiction. I also liked to find good nonfiction for my school library and this is a fantastic way to research them before I buy them from Titlewave. Nonfiction is expensive and it is sometimes difficult to tell how hard the text is without previewing it.
We will be happily reading tonight!
Congratulations to Kay of My Random Acts of Reading won
my ARC of She’s So Dead to Us by Kieren Scott!!
I’ve begun Fablehaven by Brandon Mull and I love it!!
Fairy Tale Fridays
Tif Talks Books hosts Fairy Tale Fridays and since I love fairy tales and I’m doing a fairy tale unit with 2nd grade I like to particpate. This week I found a fantastic book of fairy tales in my library-that I must have ordered last year and must not have had a chance to crack the cover. There’s a Wolf at the Door; Five Classic Tales retold by Zoe B. Alley, with pictures by R.W. Alley is the perfect combination of old school tale with a few funny twists to keep things lively. The illustrations are comic book style with little arrows (every once in awhile) to help young ones find their way, their own bread crumbs, trailing through the book. The five tales include The Three Little Pigs, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, and The Wolf and the Seven Little Goslings. I’ve explored the first few and plan to take it home as my peaceful girl loves anything Little Red Riding Hood. I’ll leave you with an excerpt:
Blake (the third little pig) threw an apple as hard as he could at the wolf, hit him smack on the head, and ran for home. Surprised and hurt to the core, the wolf realized he’s been tricked again. p. 4
It’s funny and I will have a great time sharing one of these stories with 2nd grade students next week. Students will also love how tall the book is! For now I’m heading home to blog hop without my school filter getting in the way!! Happy Friday!
School Library Journal’s thoughts on There’s a Wolf at the Door.
Recent Reads
Having a cold for the last few weeks has really taken away my ability to get things done, indluding blogging and we’ve been ITBS testing in our building, also throwing off my schedule!
Two weeks ago I got a new order in from Titlewave and I’ve had a great time reading and enjoying all the new books I ordered. I’ve also received three books in the mail this week and I still have two reviews to write from Spring Break!! I’m determined to catch up this weekend.
Here are my top five new books:
1. Redwoods by Jason Chin: This book deserves a page all its own but I already checked the book out to a teacher, who also love, love, loved it! The opening pages of this book show a young boy engaged in reading a book about the Redwood Forest while he’s on a train. We see through the train windows amazing scenery, taking us through the redwoods history (dinosaurs in the background on one page). He enters the forest as he steps off the train steps. It’s magical, really and every library should have a copy. It is picture book format but is nonfiction-it doesn’t matter where I hide this book, kids will find it! It will be the catalyst for many great lesson plans as well! The book sports its own home page as well-which I love and plan to show to students as soon as I can get the book back! I found Jason Chin’s journey of creating this book added to my love of this book. I hope Jason will create more nonfiction books like this blurring the lines between fact/fiction! Really-go find this book.
2. A Day without Crayons by Elizabeth Rusch; illustrated by Chad Cameron: Liza is happily coloring away in her room when she runs out of places to color; her coloring books are filled and her blank paper is all full so (naturally) she begins a mural on the big open wall in her room! Great idea until Mom comes in the room and tells her (aarrgh!)no more crayons for today. This is crushing news until she discovers colors outside adding a new dimension to her artisitic nature. Liza is beautifully impish in the drawings created by Cameron.
3. Twelve Terrible Things by Marty Kelley: This book reminds me of a classic favorite-The monster at the end of this book starring the very lovable Grover. It begins like this: “Please read this: I’m warning you. If you turn the page, you are going to see some terrible things. This book is full of them. Didn’t you read the title?” Once you turn the page…and you know you will, you will find big bright illustrations with 12 very funny things!! I’m not even going to tell you what any of them are just so you can be fully amused all on your own! Kids will love this and I plan to introduce it this week! Marty Kelley’s blog.
4. Henry and the Crazed Chicken Pirates by Carolyn Crimi; illustrated by John Manders: Continuing Henry’s book adventures from Henry and the Buccanner Bunnies. I loved the first one and the second is a pretty good follow-up. Henry gets a threatening note in a bottle and his natural reaction is to get prepared for the impending attack! Again, it is book-reading and lots of thinking and writing that keep Henry (and the rest of the crew) safe.
5. Firefighter Ted by Andrea Beaty (of 3 Silly Chicks fame) and Pascal Lemaitre: Remember Doctor Ted? This time Ted wakes up and smells smoke, can’t find a firefighter so he becomes one. This book has some twisted fun humor in it and I love Ted’s willingness to help everyone! The science fair is a hilarious addition-you don’t hear much about science fairs anymore. Peaceful girl and I got a kick out of the Principal Bigham’s last name-Big Ham-he’s a large boar! P.Girl’s quote upon finishing the book “I just love all Ted’s books!” We’re ready for Artist Ted (see last page for explanation). “No need to thank me” replied Firefighter Ted.
I could probably list more but it’s time to play some Scattergories with the teenagers.
What top five books did you read this week?
Terrible Storm by Carol Otis Hurst
Apparently I have a fascination with snow books at the moment as we are still knee-deep and frozen in the Midwest. Terrible Storm relates Hurst’s grandfather’s experiences surrounding The Blizzard of 1888. Both grandfathers were going about their daily business; one was chopping wood and the other delivering milk when the storm hit, they both take cover and remain snowed in for three days. The social grandfather is stuck in a barn with several animals for company while the more solitary grandfather is stuck at the White Horse Tavern with a group of people.
While it isn’t a thrilling tale it has a good storyteller quality to it. Eventually each grandfather makes it back to their own comfort zone by shoveling out with other townsfolk. The illustrations are beautifully drawn and show a different era, making it a wonderful way to show students how people dressed and worked in the 1800’s. No snow blowers or cars (Grandfather Fred delivered milk in a horse-drawn wagon). I love to read this kind of HF to students because they are so amazed by the differences and this one in particular is a quick read, making its point with little text compared to many other elementary historical fiction picture books. I enjoyed the author’s note at the beginning about her grandfathers tales. Click here for Carol Otis Hurst’s website. This one is the perfect choice for an easy read-aloud about history or the weather. I picked this one up from the public library and I think on my next visit I need to look for books on Spring!! I’m picturing a beautiful book about tulips!
Snow, Snow, Snowmen
A Really Good Snowman
Daniel J. Mahoney
2005
This is a sweetly told story from the polka-dotted snow ball endpapers to the story inside. Jack is busy building a paper airplane when he hears his little sister, Nancy clomping toward his room and Jack is not excited.He hides his paper airplane behind his back, away from her eyes. The next pages show why Jack isn’t enthused to have Nancy’s help with his plane. She’s messed up other projects of his but luckily, Jack remembers he needs to help his friends at the Shady Woods Snowman Contest. He distracts her by taking her with to the park.
When Jack’s friends, Angie and Melden remind him the rules say only three to a team, Nancy gets pushed to build her own snowman. Everyone’s having fun building their snowmen until Jack hears some older boys teasing Nancy. Jack comes to her rescue and then decides to help her instead of his friends.
Peaceful Girl and I read this moments ago for a bedtime story. Even though the characters are bears, foxes, rabbits and mice she could fully relate to Nancy’s heartbreak over her brother’s quick abandonment and her glory when he returns to assist her.
I’ve tried to explain this often to my teen-age son, the hero worship little sisters place on big brothers and he doesn’t take it to heart as much as I hope. My peaceful girl said this was definetely a two-thumbs-up story and she had some interesting thoughts on the brother/sister relationship. Hits on issues of teasing, bullying, family relationships and winning. Daniel J. Mahoney’s website-click here. After exploring his website I realize I have none of his titles on hand in my school library-I need to change that after reading this one.
Highly Recommended-Elementary
5/5 peaceful stars
Peaceful Reader 