picture books – Page 4 – Peaceful Reader

Toby and the Snowflakes by Julie Halpern

Some books just make sense to me and I loved this book. It’s like the meaning of life in a picture book. Most kids don’t know it when you read it to them but some kids get the bigger picture. This is the kind of book you could use for all ages because its simple message of friendship resonates with all.

Toby and the Snowflakes

by Julie Halpern

illustrated by Matthew Cordell

(husband and wife writing team)

2004

Toby’s best friend has moved away yesterday and he is sad. He’s left only with his friend’s baseball glove. When he goes outside (after bundling up with scarf, hat, mittens and coat) to check the mailbox one snowflake drifts by (a magical chance meeting) The snowflake introduces himself and Toby proceeds to make some new, albeit cold friends. A day later when the snow begins to melt and the snowflakes give Toby a simple life lesson… “We snow, we disappear, we come back again. It is the nature of the snowflake.” Nature of the snowflake, indeed it is the nature of all living things-the meaning of life!!

This book is a treasure and if you have little ones still at home, go get it from the book store or the library and read it tonight while there is still snow on the ground. Thank you to Julie and Matthew for an life-affirming picture book!! While searching around on Cordell’s website I see he has illustrated quite a few other books including Trouble Gum, another new favorite of mine. Check out his website here and his wife, Julie Halpern’s here. She is a fellow elementary librarian and they live in Chicago. This is their first book together but I’m hoping for many more!!

I read this all week with pre-k through 2nd grade and I could have read it to all classes and had them get something out of it. We discussed The Main Idea of the story: friendship and why it is a fiction book: the snowflakes speak to Toby-big red flag:) I paired it with another great snow book; Snow Sounds by David A. Johnson. I can’t believe Toby was published in 2004 and it is now, let’s see, 2010 but I guess the time was right!! Great, great book!!!

Happy Reading!!

Magic Words

6:00 this morning I received this special announcement…Snow Day!!! Yahooo! I immediately crawled back in bed and tried to finish my first fiction book of 2010. I didn’t quite make it to the end-I fell back to sleep, which isn’t a bad thing either!
A few months ago I recieved one of those lovely padded envelope packages we so look forward to opening. This one came from a marketing person and held 4 books for me to look at and review. Two of them are chapter books, Runt Farm #1 and #2 and as of yet, I have not read them. Recently Peaceful Girl and I read through both the board book and the picture book that were included in the package.

Dear Baby; What I love about you!

by Carol Casey and illustrated by Jason Oransky

2008

The pages are bright and very attractive; eye-catching for the youngest book readers. The lines are catchy and make you smile as you read. It begins: “I love the way you laugh and smile…I love your sassy baby style” accompanied by happy baby illustrations. I don’t have any more tiny ones around this house but I can just picture snuggling a little one close and reading this to them. This is a very sweet book to read with a new baby and would make an excellent baby gift, especially with the guest sign in spot at the back of the book.

Highly Recommended for baby snuggling

5/5 peaceful stars

Dear Baby has its own website-click here

Scarecrow Finds a Friend

Written by Blume J. Rifken

Illustrations by Carol W. Wenzel

2008

Scarecrow Finds a Friend is a lovely read with very unique illustrations to match. Scarecrow is finished protecting the farmer’s crops and is happy to smell the delicious smells of Thanksgiving approaching. As he takes a little nap in the field he reminisces about the fun he had on Halloween. He remembers Tally, the friendly witch granting him one wish; to go trick-or-treating like the farm children do. As Scarecrow is thinking about his past fun with the witch, Tally shows up again needing a wish for herself. Scarecrow returns the favor and helps Tally get her powers back. Scarecrow’s plan is to get the

wishbone from the Thanksgiving turkey to help Tally.

The story is simple, seasonal and delightful to read. I enjoyed how it used the age-old tradition of making a wish using a wishbone. I remember the excitement over the wishbone, and even as I became a vegetarian the wishbone still held its power. We never even paid attention to the fact that our specific wishes didn’t come true-it was just fun to pull and hear the snap.

Luckily, Tally’s wish does come true and she is able to fly again. I love the illustrations of Tally, truly magical, adding to the special friendship theme of the story.

Highly recommended-elementary

5/5 peaceful stars

Thanks to Paula Krapf for sending me these copies.

Boycott Blues

This wonderful picture book features a hound dog with a guitar for a narrator and tells the story of the 1955 bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. The text flows like a blues song and brings this important historical time to life because kids can’t help but be pulled in. Focusing on this part of Rosa Park’s story inspires us to really see how brave she was as well as all the people who carried on this life-changing boycott. As a peaceful teacher it offers me the opportunity to speak of non-violent protests on a grand scale.
The illustrations are very surreal, match the text so well and make you stop and really look. I love Brian Pinkney’s artwork-Max found two sticks is one of my favorite picture books.

I read Boycott Blues today to fifth grade students as part of our ongoing history quest; most of them were mesmerized. The few that weren’t just can’t seem to help themselves. They understood the story enough to ask good questions before, during and after we read the book. It’s very beneficial to have books just like this in order to understand important moments in history better without being dry and wordy.

Boycott Blues; How Rosa Parks inspired a nation (2008)

by Andrea Davis Pinkney;

illustrated by Brian Pinkney.

5/5 peaceful stars

Click here for The Reading Tub’s review.

Halloween List

I read quite a few Halloween books over the last few weeks and I fell in love with a few. While it is after Halloween I share them with you so you will be prepared for next year.

Last night Peaceful girl and I read Hush, Baby Ghostling (2009) by Andrea Beaty and Pascal Lemaitre. This writing team is also responsible for the great Doctor Ted and Firefighter Ted. We really liked the coziness of Hush, Baby Ghostling and little girl loved comparing ghostling’s life to hers. “Ahh, he’s going to bed during the day.” “Ohhh, he likes the lights all out-not one bit of light.” It was cool to listen to her figure out ghost mama loves her baby too! 4/5 peaceful stars

One of my favorites this year is Boris and Bella (2004) by Carolyn Crimi and Cris Grimly. I read this to Peaceful girl, because it is about a messy monster (like her) and Peaceful husband, because it’s a sweet love story! Boris is neat and tidy and Bella, quite messy and they, of course, don’t like each other! When each decide to have a Halloween party they are sadly disappointed when they find out everyone is heading to Harry Beastie’s party instead. They can’t resist and end up there themselves-the rest is monster history! If this book is ever made into a feature length film I vote for Helena Bonham Carter to play Bella!! 5/5 peaceful stars

I actually read Anne Rockwell’s (2001)Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night a lot in the last few weeks. It demonstrates how a fiction book, with imaginary characters, can give us true information. This book does a great job of showing students the whole pumpkin to jack-o-lantern experience. Not all students get to design, scoop out slimy pumpkin guts, and create a glowing pumpkin face-this book does just that. I am a big fan of Anne Rockwell’s books.

The Perfect Pumpkin Pie (2005) by Denys Cazet is a rollicking fun time of a read with any grade. The detailed illustrations lend a creepy atmosphere and the refrain will have kids “reading” with you. It goes like this:

“Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkin pie! I must have one before I die. It must be round and brown as toast, or I’ll haunt this house a hungry ghost. It must be perfect, or a ghost I’ll stay, and haunt this house and never, ever go awaaaaaaay!” said by the creepy and dead Mr. Wilkerson.

Pumpkin Circle-great nonfiction read-aloud as well! What were your favorite Halloween books this year?

2nd Picnic Basket holds multicultural treasure

Grandfather’s Story Cloth written by Linda Gerdner and Sarah Langford with illustrations by Stuart Longhridge is a very well-written tale of family bonds that hold us together no matter our cultural.

Grandfather lives with Chershong and his family in the United States. Chershong hurries home one day to share his 3rd grade art project with him only to find Grandfather out in the yard, gathering wood to build a fire not remembering the gas stove they use to cook. Chershong’s frustration grows and his mother shares Grandfather’s story cloth. Chershong is amazed to see the life his grandfather had in Laos all depicted in stitched pictures. He and Grandfather pour over the cloth as his grandfather tells stories from his past.

The story is very well-developed and easy for readers to understand that Grandfather is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and cannot remember where he is. Sometimes books like this tend to be so didactic they become textbook-like but this one is very a very enjoyable read. I can image classrooms creating story cloths of their own to connect with Grandfather. The illustrations, while dark, set a simple tone for the text and the end papers show traditional Hmong artwork. Highly Recommended.

A Picnic-Basket selection from Shen’s Books.

Dog's day

Through our house this summer we’ve had a pack of entertaining dog books. Maybe because we have our own naughty puppy these picture books have a certain appeal for us.
First we read Be Gentle with the dog, dear! (2008)by Matthew J. Baek. This is a well-written story with very expressive illustrations and we love the shadow play which really demonstrates the toddler/dog conflict. My husband and I glanced at each other, with smiles playing across our faces as we read this book, remembering back to ahhh, yesterday as our six-year-old carried the cat, Pony around. She used to drag the puppy around when she(the dog) was much smaller. The puppy now weighs 41 hefty pounds (see photo above:) so it doesn’t happen anymore. Of course, since we have two teenagers this scene has been played out many times over with other pets. This is a great book to raise the issue to small children on how to treat a puppy or any pet really.

The second dog related book we’ve read is Before you were mine (2007) by Maribeth Boelts, a local Cedar Valley author. Seriously this book made me tear-up!! It begins like this: “ Before you were mine…Did you live in a warm house with warm smells, and a rug that was only yours?” The little boy character continues to have this conversation with the sweet yellow puppy throughout the rest of the book. We learn the puppy was abandoned somehow and at the shelter just waiting for this little boy! Wonderful example of how we can rescue a pet and give it a new home. The author’s note at the back of the book says a portion of the book sales will be donated to the Humane Society-added bonus for buying this very special book.

Dog Blue (2004) by Polly Dunbar is the third great dog book we have read. This one is all about Bertie, who loves the color blue! To round out his blue collection he really wants a blue dog and since he doesn’t have one he uses his imagination and creates a blue dog:

“So Bertie pretended he had a blue dog. He patted his pretend dog. He fed his pretend blue dog. He took his pretend blue dog for a walk. He threw a stick for his pretend blue dog.”

I like Polly Dunbar’s art and this one has a nice surprise ending!! Woof! Woof! Check out her fabulously creative website!

The last book and my personal favorite is Don’t lick the dog; making friends with dogs(2009) by Wendy Wahman . This one is a very creative how-to for any potential dog owner or dog friend. Her illustrations are zany and the text is rhyming!! Here’s how it goes:

“Easy now, take it slow when meeting dogs that you don’t know.
Don’t stick your nose in Stella’s face-until you’re friends, she needs her space.”

Each two- page spread has a suggestion for humans wanting to know more about dog etiquette. Love this one and so did J. and the husband as he took time to read it to our teenagers at the dinner table. Wendy has her own creative website here.

How many of you have dogs out there or a favorite dog picture book?

Memorial Day

I finished Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis this morning and I liked it. I like historical fiction and this shows a different side of slavery. It seemed to be a lot of set-up for the final chapters of excitement but what it has to say about freedom is incredibly powerful. I loved the language of the book! This was selected by my multicultural book group of 5th graders at school and the language was difficult for them. I read a few paragraphs aloud to them so they could get a feel for it and that helped a lot! this will be the last book we read together as they go off to 6th grade. Hopefully, a few out of the 10 students will continue to discover new books after trying new choices through this club. We read The devils’ arithmetic (Jane Yolen), The Breadwinner (Deborah Ellis), Heart of a chief (Joseph Bruchac), and Esperanza Rising (Pam Munoz Ryan) as well as Elijah. We’ve blogged and talked and each book is their “absolute favorite”, hopefullly they will continue reading for pleasure through middle school. See the book trailer here!!

J and I read a great picture book last night, Mrs. Muddle’s holidays by Laura F. Nielsen, a very fun read, demonstating how some folks just have joy of life!!! Mrs. Muddle moves to Katie’s neighborhood and shows all the neighborhood children a host of new holidays. She just has a spectacular outlook on life and I might have to “borrow” the “leaf fairy” idea to motivate my little helpers! Check out Mrs. Muddle’s Holidays to brighten your day!! Another great review here.

Now, on my extra special day off from school(double yeah!!) and in-between meditating on freedom while I plant basil and some flowers to honor my dear grandparents, I will be reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I have three days to read it before it is due back at the library. I can’t even renew it because someone else is waiting for it-and I’ve already had to wait so long to get it from the library because of other holds so the time is now!!! Cue up music and time to get off the computer…

If a tree falls at lunch period by Gennifer Choldenko

Gennifer Choldenko is coming to Iowa tomorrow (yeah!) and I hope to shake her hand and have her sign my copy of If a tree falls… I loved Al Capone does my shirts and gleefully await the second one Al Capone shines my shoes. I picked up If a tree falls, thinking it was more of a YA book but after reading I think I have several students that would enjoy it. I did! I thought the school story was good, characters were well-developed and the plot timely without being preachy.
The chapters flip back and forth between Kirsten and Walker, seventh graders at an elite private school. Kirsten is struggling with popularity, losing her best friend to a more popular clique of girls, her recent weight gain, and her parents constant fighting. This is exactly what middle school, high school is like for many students. It is more than one anxiety all the time. Hmmm, like my life now…
Kirsten’s character emerges through the course of the story to kinda figure some things out with out a big aha moment! I was so excited for her when she decided her ex-best friend, Rory was not the same person she used to be. It’s hard when friends change and make choices you never thought they would, especially at this age. Rory lies and follows her new friends places Kirsten just does not want to go in the name of popularity. She wants to be popular and to make her mom happy but who to trust is a difficult choice.
One new classmate in particular, Walker Jones seems able to give her advice that is mature and worthy. The two, as well as his friend Matteo, the “scholarship students”, treat her fairly and worry more about school than who’s butt is fatter.
Brianna is the resident popular girl bully and she plays it with flair. Lying, scheming, cheating all done to make her life easier; more painful for those around her. I’m not going to spoil what the big mystery is between Kirsten and Walk even though I figured it out pretty quickly-the major crisis does make the story intriguing and timely. I dig this author and if you haven’t read her picture book, Louder, Lili-you need too. Shy Lili learns that a loud voice is worth it at certain times in your life!!
Here’s a teen-ager’s view on If a tree falls at lunch period…Enjoy

Movie Trailer

I just watched a clip of Where the Wild Things Are by Sendak directed by Spike Jonze!

This is a very treasured book at our home and we even have our own collection of lovable Wild Things my honey has collected for me over the years in celebration of birthdays and anniversaries. I love movies but don’t often spend the bucks to go sit in the theater except for special movies and this one makes that list!!
I just finished The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson, which was so unusual and well-written! I, too fell in love with Jenna and all her complexities! It raised so many questions for me of what the future holds for us humans. Second to Jenna I love Lily and their relationship, which seems cold at first but warms up as Jenna continues to question herself. I don’t want to give any of this great story away but read it because it is filled with admiration for the human spirit!
My favorite read-aloud this week is The Zoo by Suzy Lee ,
which tells the story of a young girl discovering the zoo on her own wild romp, while her parents are frantically searching for her. Ms. Lee’s illustrations are so perfectly rendered using something close to chalk, which drew my wee students into it even more. Then when I showed them the back cover many were left wondering but just a few knew about her shoe already…we had to go back into the book to show everyone else her missing shoe. Some students thought the gorilla was going to eat the shoe but those of us that got it knew he was admiring not hungry!

Story time in Little Rock

Today I was hanging with my friend Verda at her home in Little Rock when I nonchalantly went through her current library pile and found an absolute gem of a book by Holly Hobbie called Fanny! I don’t know how this book got passed me because the adorable heroine on the front cover is wearing cute-as-a-button glasses and I am always looking for role models for J. in this area. I love the Toot and Puddle books so I don’t know how this one slipped by but thank heavans Verda had it in her library pile so I had to stop and read it to Sela and Japhy right then and there. I love Fanny’s sense of style because at our house we often have dance outfits mixed in with outfit of the day and we don’t give in to the Bratz doll craze although we do have antique Barbies. Fanny is a heroine who does things for herself in the face of adversity…her Mom saying “no” to the fancy Connie doll. She makes her own doll and stands up to her friends as well. I would like to invite Fanny over to my house for a playdate with J.-the two could commiserate over their Mom’s but have a blast playing in the meantime! Thank you V and S for introducting us to this great book!