Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The House Book by Keith DuQuette

 The House Book by Keith DuQuette

Rating: 3.5 stars

This is one of the many building books we've got lying around our house these days.  The illustrations make it worth checking out--I'm looking at the inside flap before the words even begin, and I'm remembering talking with Ben about all the different types of houses that exist.  There are detailed illustrations of an adobe house, an a-frame ski lodge, city row houses, a simple cabin, an old fashioned colonial, a beach house near the sea...

The images in this book (and others) have made Ben talk about what kind of house he would like to live in, and he constantly asks me what kind of house I'd like to live in.  A small part of me wants to remind him of how lucky we are to live in such a nice house with such beautiful woods surrounding us each and every time he brings up the "What kind of house do you want?" conversation.  But I know he's not being ungrateful; he's using the big imagination in his little head to think up alternative homes.  We're all struggling in some way between the balance of appreciating what we have and wanting something different, I think, and Ben is playing with that big idea in a little, safe way.
Ben's block "neighborhood"...

(Neighborhoods are especially attractive to Ben.  We don't have much of one as we live at the end of a pipe stem, and I think he's a little envious of those he sees--the houses are close enough together were kids can play more easily, and yards touch the yard next door...  Something about that has caught his eye in a big way.)

The words in this book are fine--it's a nice rhyme that describe the parts of a house, from door to windows, roofs to yards.  "Each room is used in its own way, / some for work and some for play. / Another fact that's worth revealing; / one room's floor another's ceiling."

But the detailed illustrations are why you want this book in your library bag, especially if you've got a kid who, like Ben, can't stop constructing houses out of anything he touches!



Monday, February 25, 2013

The Library by Sarah Stewart

 The Library by Sarah Stewart, illustrated by David Small

Rating: 4.5 stars

The great Sarah Stewart has written a book to memorialize her late friend, fellow book lover and librarian Mary Elizabeth Brown.  What a great ode to a reader--to have a book written about her!

This is a simple tale about a girl who, above all else, chooses books.  The clever and funny illustrations by Stewart's husband, David Small, are top-notch.  We don't see the gal's face very often as it is usually hidden by a book.

Of her childhood (what flashlights are for!):
She always took a book to bed,
With a flashlight under the sheet.
She'd make a tent of covers
And read herself to sleep.
Of college life (um, I can relate):
Elizabeth Brown
Preferred a book
To going on a date.
While friends went out
And danced til dawn,
She stayed up reading late.
She eventually stumbles into a small town, and her reading habit takes over her house.  So she does what any good reader does: she shares her books.  She signs them over to her town, and her house becomes the town's library.  She moves in with a friend, and reads for the rest of her days.

This is a charming book--a great book for a child, but also a really good book to give to an adult reader, too.

Alphabeep by Debora Pearson

Alphabeep: A Zipping, Zooming ABC by Debora Pearson, illustrated by Edward Miller

Rating: 4.5 stars

There are hundreds of alphabet books out there--but this one is particularly good.  It is especially great for any little (or big!) car enthusiasts out there...

And Ben sure is.  We just learned about "symbol signage" in Meet Me At the Art Museum, so he loved all the signs for the road.

But I have to warn you in case you're brave enough to drive Ben somewhere.  (Which won't happen anytime soon because he's way too attached to me to get in somebody else's car...maybe next year.)  He is a back seat driver.  I've already had to tell him the important life lesson: "No one likes being told how to drive, Ben!"  He asks me all the questions about the rules of the road, and is constantly baffled by my bad luck with red lights.  "Why are the lights always red for you, Mommy?"  Sigh.  "I guess I need to keep practicing patience, Ben!" is what I cheerfully muster while muttering something else in my impatient brain.
Ben's intersection.
If there's an accident, we've got an ambulence on standby.

But rules of the road are important, and it is cool that he is paying such close attention.  Just a few minutes ago I built him an intersection on our floor with blue painter's tape (our favorite toy), and now he's having his cars take turns stopping and going.  He was disappointed there were no turning lanes; I promised him that next time, I'd plan ahead and include them in my design.

The Quiet Place by Sarah Stewart

 The Quiet Place by Sarah Stewart, illustrated by David Small

Rating: 4.5 stars

Some of the best books help launch kids (of all sizes) into a different creative space.  They teach!  They show!  They inspire!  And, thanks to the great words of Sarah Stewart and the incredible drawings of David Small, The Quiet Place does all of that.

The story: Isabel moves with her mother and older brother from Mexico to America--to some unnamed northern state where it randomly snows in April.  Her mother bakes cakes for little girls' birthday parties, and Isabel gets to tag along.  Sometimes she is offered a piece of cake or goody bag, but she politely declines those and asks for boxes.  She collects boxes--the bigger,the better--and creates her "quiet place" from which she can write letters back home, read books, and just think, dream, be.  By the end, all the little girls in the neighborhood are invited to her birthday party, and they are wowed by the quiet place she's created.

"My quiet place was not quiet, but it didn't matter"
(Check it out in the picture--aren't you wowed, too?)

This book resonates with me for three reasons:

  1. Lorelei has two little brothers who are like two puppies from the same litter.  While she can be loud and crazy, too, Ben and Kiefer are almost always loud and crazy.  So she often looks for a quiet place to read and finish an art project.  Her cardboard box house might need a padlock. Or two.
  2. As an Army brat, my family moved around every 2 or 3 years.  My parents would set aside one room for boxes--for my sister and I to play with.  Just like Isabel, we would create elaborate tunnels that led to higher boxes, with windows and doors, all decorated with our favorite Crayola colors.  I particularly remember the one we created in the bright sunroom in our big brick rental at 25 East 52nd Street in Savannah.  (How I remember the address but not the words to my favorite songs is beyond me.)
  3. The book is written through letters, from Isabel to her favorite Auntie Lupita back home in Mexico.  Letters are by far my favorite thing to write.  And I don't mean the electronic kind!  I spent a few years in Asia and while email was around then, letters were clearly superior.  I was lucky to have parents who wrote frequently and well, and there are boxes of letters in our houses from each other.  I love that this book shows kids another great reason to read--letters are out there to be written and read, shared and enjoyed.  Pen pals and grandparents, cousins and aunties...hopefully millions of letters will be penned by my trio over their hopefully long and happy lifespan (but soon not delivered on Saturday).

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Monkey See, Monkey Draw by Alex Beard

Monkey See, Monkey Draw by Alex Beard

Rating: 5 stars

About a month ago the kids' beloved Grammy went to visit an old family friend in New Orleans.  She and Sheila strolled around the city, eating everything they could and drinking in the time together (and hopefully nothing in grossly oversized mugs).  I loved the pictures Sheila sent me of their time together in the Big Easy--it gave me hope that I'd be able to wander around a city, exploring new shops and old book stores as long as I'd like...  At the moment that seems like a hilarious notion as in this chapter of my life, one, two, or three noisy, needy shadows constantly follow me around.  Anyway, one of the many cool places they visited along Royal Street was Alex Beard's studio.

Alex Beard's New Orleans studio
The pictures that Sheila sent me from the studio really intrigued me.  Here's a guy just a little older than me who was steeped in the arts at an early age and continued to be a photographer and artist as well as an "adventurer"--he's traveled across the world and clearly remains open to having new and unique cultures touch and affect him.  Monkey See, Monkey Draw was in the studio, and I saw pictures of my mom paging through it.  It was beautiful!  I ordered it from our library right away.

The story is simple: A band of silly monkeys play around with a baobab nut, and an elephant joins in.  The elephant's strong throw lands the baobab nut into a dark cave of which the monkeys are afraid.  The elephant is curious and brave and only a little afraid, so he leads the way inside.  What they see amazes them.  The animals find on the walls beautiful, elaborate paintings of animals.  "Each picture [is] made from a handprint or footprint."  Inspired and delighted, the elephant and monkeys use their feet and hands to draw pictures.

See how the art spills over the box/frame?  I love that--like
it can't be contained!
The illustrations use--you guessed it--thumb and finger prints for most of the animals in the story.  Beard crafts wily faces and crazy faces, jumping bodies and wiggling bodies, but all have the same base: his own hand.  The other cool thing about the illustrations is that they have a boxed frame to contain them, but the animals will NOT be contained!  They jump outside of it, and the African scenes spill over the sides of the box, too.  It's a neat addition to the book.

But the best part?  The invitation in the back in the author's note.  Beard describes how children always react wildly when he uses his hand or foot--or a willing child's hand or foot--and transforms it into an animal.  "Tracing a child's hand and turning the palm and fingers into the body, legs, and head of anything from a giraffe to a butterfly to a horse--and of course a monkey--fascinates the kids.  It gives them an easy starting place from which to make their own works of art, and it helps them think beyond their immediate comfort zone of flowers, rockets and square houses with triangular roofs and stick-figure families."  He hopes that when children read this story, they associated themselves with the monkeys and have fun with art.

This is more than a book--it's an invitation and an inspiration.  This book, some paint, some big paper and time (the best part of any gift) with your child to create alongside them (rather than type up a blog entry like I am doing).

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

How A House is Built by Gail Gibbons

 How A House is Built by Gail Gibbons

Rating: 5 stars

After reading and falling in love with Building Our Home by Jonathan Bean, Ben became interested in how houses are built.  So I've found as many books about building homes as I can.  This one, by the leader in how-to/informative books Gail Gibbons, is the best we've found.

Usually I'd recommend Gibbons' books for kindergarten and grade school kids.  They are always jam-packed with information--in a good way, but there are usually TOO many details for four year olds like Ben. This one, though, is a great exception.  It's a bare-bones book, providing first an overview of the types of houses that exist.  (In case you wondered, Ben would prefer live in a glass house.  I informed him that's not a wise choice if he plans on inviting his brother Kiefer in as Kiefer is currently in a let-me-throw-anything-and-everything stage.)

 After that very brief introduction--that is done through more illustrations and few words--Gibbons begins to explain the many steps it takes into building a house.  There are so many lessons that can be drawn from this book...I hardly know where to begin!  One of my favorite lessons to show Ben is in the general contractor area--the architect recommends one to be in charge of a team (team! team work! everyone does their part!) that work together (did you hear that?  work together!) to get the job done right (right! not partially right!).  Also, I love explaining that everything is done by steps.  We follow recipes; Kiefer learns how to run; we climb mountains; they get to high school....EVERYTHING is done one step at a time.  I think this is comforting for my kids--I know it is for me.

Now we could have stopped there with the book and the life lessons, but...why?  I called a friend of mine who is a general contractor; might he have any projects we could visit to show Ben how a house is built, rather than just reading the words in a book?  It was our lucky day--Sidd said that they were starting a new house just 25 minutes away from ours.  So today after school, we stopped by for a visit.  I hope it'll be the first of many.

As Ben and I drove to the site, I asked him if he had any questions.  Ben is Mr. Question, so he already had a few for Mr. Kashyap.  First, what kind of house is he building?  Second, who is it for?  After some more chatting, we realized we had two more questions: How long will it take to build the house?  And finally: Can we check out the blueprints of the house?

When we got there we were totally excited.  Everyone drives past excavators all the time, but we had permission to park, get out, and watch up close!  Way cool.  So we did just that.  Sidd was tied up in the county's office so we asked our questions via text.  (A frame house; there's no buyer yet...you can buy it if you want...click here for more information; five months; yes, the plans are online.)  We will return late next week to see concrete poured for the foundation.

We finished up our Mommy and one son outing with milk for Ben, tea for me, and a shared chocolate chip cookie.  In all, a rather fine afternoon!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Huff & Puff by Claudia Rueda

Huff & Puff: Can You Blow Down the Houses of the Three Little Pigs? by Claudia Rueda

Rating: 3.5 stars

Dear Great Falls librarians,

We just wanted to apologize to you.  We so enjoyed this silly take on The Three Little Pigs that we got the book a little messy.  See, we often read books during mealtimes, and Mommy didn't realize that this was an interactive books until a few pages into the book and a few bites into lunch.  She often lacks the ability to stop when a good time is being had, despite the fact that she should be the most mature one in the group.

Mommy didn't know that we, the readers, were to assume the role of the wolf.  Therefore, after each pig built his house, we--two boys and one Mommy--were to blow through the little hole in the book with all our might.  The author taunted us by challenging us to blow harder, and we rose to the occasion.  We blew with all our might and successfully crushed the first two houses, and got frustrated by the brick on the third.  We were happy to finally stop huffing when the pigs held up a cake with candles on it, ending our game in a sweet, yummy way rather than a frustrated way.

But, since we were eating dinner...um...Ben thinks he got some guacamole on page 3 and Kiefer spat out some partially chewed bits of quesadilla near the third pig on page 9.  We did our best to clean them up.

Next time we check this out, we'll be sure to eat and THEN read.  Sorry...!

Love,
Kate, Ben, and Kiefer

Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant

Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant

Rating: 5 very sweet, very sad stars

This morning a friend of mine and her son came over for a playdate.  Our sons--her first and my third--are about six months apart and play together well.  More importantly, I really like her.  She's wonderfully grounded in the Real Things That Matter, more sure of herself than I ever will be, and a big reader of both children's and adult books.

Plus, she's a dog lover.  In fact, two weeks ago Kiefer and I went to her house to play, and we had the privilege of meeting their family Golden Retriever.  Goldens, in case you didn't know, are the most lovable of all dogs; we had one growing up. My friend's Golden and my childhood Golden both had big goofy grins and big tail wags.  They were sweet, friendly, and looking to give love to and receive love in every set of hands their noses touched.

So I was saddened, to put it lightly, to hear that a few days after we met him, their ten year old Golden simply collapsed during a simple walk in their woodsy backyard.  The next day, she got a call from the vet that every dog lover/owner dreads.  He was gone.  There was no advanced warning, no time to prepare her son, no thought given to hiding away little remembrances of a great dog.  Their family dog--furry playmate, welcome-homer, late night companion--is gone.  I am sad for their family.

I've seen Dog Heaven at the library before, but had no reason to check it out.  Today when I saw it up on display, I grabbed it.  It was a sign, and I believe in signs.

Rather than focus on the inevitable sadness, Cynthia Rylant (an author to remember) focuses on the happy: where dogs go once they leave their Earthly homes.

They will be there when old friends show up.
They will be there at the door.
It is definitely a little religious--in my opinion, in a good, open-armed sort of way--but I love it.  I LOVE it.  It is one of those smile-through-the-tears sort of books.  I really want to type out the whole book here, but here are a few of my favorite passages:
When a dog first arrives in Heaven, he just runs. Dog Heaven has clear, wide lakes filled with geese who honk and flap and tease.  The dogs love this. 
And, oh, the dog biscuits.  Biscuits and biscuits as far as the eye can see.  God has a sense of humor, so He makes His biscuits in funny shapes for His dogs.  There are kitty-cat biscuits and squirrel biscuits.  Ice-cream biscuits and ham-sandwich biscuits.  Every angel who passes by has a biscuit for a dog. 
Every dog becomes a good dog in Dog Heaven.
This is a good book to know about, and to remember.  Because if you're reading this and you're a dog lover and you've got kids, you might need this book.  Actually, this book is proof that children's books are for all ages.  It is a fantastic book to remember even for those tough-seeming but actually tender grown ups whose hearts are going to break when their beloved pup passes away.  Imagining your great dog chasing geese in heaven, getting biscuits in heaven, and hearing that he is, finally (for my dogs) a good dog....it might help put a small smile on your face.

Good dog, Paddington.  Your people miss you greatly.

Going from Crazy to Reading in 6.2 seconds...

Once upon a time when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uttaradit, Thailand, I attended a big English camp for fourth and fifth graders.  My friend and fellow volunteer Ingrid lived in the capital of the province, and she planned the whole thing.  I came in from the country side to help--I lived a few hours away in Fak Tha.

I don't remember the number of kids who attended that camp, but I think it was something like four thousand.  Okay, I'm exaggerating.  It was more like two hundred (seriously).  When farangs (foreigners) were around to teach English, every body wanted to come!

The morning of the first day, all of the kids were gathered in this huge outdoor, playground-like space.  They were...well, they were being like fourth or fifth graders in any country.  They were playing as loudly as possible, in gangs of four or five or twenty.  There were games of soccer in one corner, girls laughing in another corner...everyone was competing for space and sound.

My trio reading after a crazy bout of play.
And then, a teacher took the microphone and said a few things in Thai--he told them it was time to get quiet and meditate before beginning the camp.  Within a few minutes, that scene of craziness transformed into a peaceful, amazingly organized group of little Buddhists.  They had quickly arranged themselves an arm's length apart and sat, criss-cross-apple-sauce, backs ram-rod straight, waiting in silence.  You could hear a pin drop. I was in awe.

At that moment, I learned that kids could calm themselves.  They just need to be taught how.

Lorelei, Ben, and Kiefer don't know any Buddhist meditations. (Yet?)  But they do read.

So, for the past few years, when they get particularly crazy--maybe your kids don't get crazy?  Lucky you!--and they are jumping on each other and the furniture and the dogs, yelling and screaming and laughing as loudly as kidly possibly and I am about to go join the Peace Corps again instead of live within this chaos..., I give them a few more minutes and then say: "Enough of the crazy!  Please grab a book!"  And they do.  Sometimes I have just 5 or 10 minutes of calm before the crazy begins again, sometimes longer, but...even 5-10 minutes provide enough peace to let me stay another few days.

Thanks, kids of Thailand, for helping prepare me for motherhood.

Monday, February 18, 2013

So You Want to be a World Explorer? by Judith St. George

So You Want to be a World Explorer? by Judith St. George, illustrated by David Small

Rating: 4.5 stars

This book has a bunch of my favorite words: Plucky. Thrilling. Adventuresome. Gutsy.  Gusto. Risk. Spunky. Moxie.  These new vocabulary words are reasons enough to bring this book home from the library more than once!

We liked So You Want to be President? but didn't love it.  It seemed a bit disorganized, though the illustrations from the great David Small were too great to linger on that negative.  Judith St. George rectified her mistake and organized this book and So You Want to be an Inventor? and made them great, rather than good.  And the illustrations catapult them into amazing.  These are terrific books for the older picture book reader.  (Younger ones will still get drawn into the pictures, but there is just too much information for kids younger than 5, I think.)

In this book, after a brief introduction, Judith St. George takes one attribute of explorers (for example, they might make a discovery and not even know it; they make mistakes like everyone else; they must be risk takers; they must respect the natives) and gives two examples.  These examples are three to five short sentences, so we're going for breadth not depth here.  This is just to whet a child's appetite, to provide the briefest introduction, to pique their curiosity to this whole explorer stuff.  Or to provide some quality imaginative kid-planned explorations in their backyard, a local park, or even their bathtub.

As someone whose wanderlust led most of my decisions in my twenties, I like the idea of exploring different parts of the earth.  Therefore, I greatly appreciated St. George's broad definition of exploring.  At the end she includes gene exploration, something I would never have thought of.  She ends the book by inviting kids to start and keep exploring--what a way to spend your life!  I might just quit my day job.

I recently reviewed another book on exploring--the never-to-be-topped Lonely Planet has come out with books beyond guide books.  They are really interesting, and we keep our copy of How to be a World Explorer in the car.  It's perfect for long car rides where a kid's attention span might be challenged by a looooong car ride...  Yet another book that will help plant the travel bug in your child (for better or for worse!).


Love, Splat by Rob Scotton

Love, Splat by Rob Scotton

Rating: 5 lovey stars

Well...I started this on Valentine's Day.  Might as well finish it, despite my tardiness...

We love these Splat books by Rob Scotton.  All of the books have cute, quirky illustrations; they tell a simple, solid message; they inspire some giggles by any boy or girl nearby me.  Can't beat that!

In Love, Splat our sweet but smelly, second-guessing, simply-minded feline hero finds the moxie to write a Valentine to the fluffy cute cat that he likes.  Enter Spike, the cat who is always foiling his plans.  Spike and Splat compete in their own cat ways to show each other (not really Kitten) who likes this special girl more.  With each contest Splat feels more and more sorry for himself--clearly, he thinks, Spike is the better choice. He's so downhearted that he just throws away his Valentine.

Spike doesn't.  He gives his to Kitten.  It is obnoxiously large and says: "You're SO lucky that I like YOU!"  (Are you rolling your eyes?  You should be!  But not in front of your kids, lest they pick up this bad habit.)

"I feel loved when I show off my muscles...  Or sometimes
I act like a living waffle.  I am a walking calculator."
Fluffy daintily plucks Splat's card from the trash, reads it, and loves it.  It says, simply: "I like you!"  She gives him a special Valentine that explains, with a little more flair, that the feeling is mutual.

Simple stuff.  Sweet stuff.  That's about as mushy as I want my kids to read right now!  Though Lorelei declared last week that she wants to marry my good friend's son Owen, my line--that I will be repeating until she is out of college--is "Have boys for friends first."

I've included here one of the many activities creative teachers have done after reading this book to their class.  This teacher had her kids add details to Splat and add words to the heart he is holding.  I smiled at this child's answer to the teacher's first words "I feel loved when..."  What a character this kid seems to be!  Love it.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff

 Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond

Rating: 5 unique stars

Here's my first favorite Valentine's Day book.  It's a silly little board book, but I just love it and the message it provides for kids.  I can't find our copy, so this is based on my memory from reading it last year.  And the year before that.  And the year before that.

Mouse is preparing Valentine's Day cards for all of his friends.  But he doesn't make them as most kids do these days--just buy a box, pop in some high-fructose-corn-syrup-filled candy, and sign his name.  Nope.  "Mouse wants each one to be just right."  He stops to think of each of his friends, and what they like to do, and then he creates a unique card for each of them.
Lorelei's owls, Ben's bumblebee

For Moose, for example, he thinks of how much Moose likes art, and creates a masterpiece of art for him.  Because Pig is such a good dancer, Mouse creates a card with a music note bursting with joy.

For anyone familiar with all of Laura Numeroff's books (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, etc.), the images will be familiar--almost all of them are taken from different books, so it's like a gathering of sorts of all those fun illustrations by Felicia Bond showing the animals at their wackiest.

But I love the message: Be thoughtful; think of the other person as you create a card just for them.  We make our own Valentine's Day cards--not sure how long this will last, but I love it for now--and I was proud of Lorelei when she wanted to add glasses to two of her owl valentines.  "Red ones for Ritvik, purple ones for Jessica!"  I of course obliged; was so happy for her thoughtful additions.

Happy Valentine's Day, all.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Farmer Enno and His Cow by Jens Rassmus

Farmer Enno and His Cow by Jens Rassmus

Rating: 5 stars

Children's books don't usually surprise me.  Because they are written for, um... children, their endings are usually predictable.  But when Ben and I read Farmer Enno and His Cow a few weeks ago, we stopped a few times to wonder out loud where the heck this tale was going.  He liked the ending; I LOVED it.

Every night, Farmer Enno dreams.  He dreams of being a captain on a ship, of riding high on waves and guiding his ship through the waters.  And every morning when he wakes up, there is a boat like the one in his dream somewhere near him.  At first these boats are small and manageable--but after months of dreaming and months of boat acquisitions, his bedroom is full of rowboats, tugboats, small ocean liners, sail boats, and one bewildered Farmer Enno.

Farmer Enno, Ben, and I scratched our heads together.  Huh?  We all wondered.

The next few nights, the boats appeared outside.  Life-sized ships with masts sailing up towards the clouds!  "This can't go on," Farmer Enno said to himself.  So he walks to the village to find someone who could cure his strange ailment.  Plenty were excited to hear his story and offer suggestions, though none could help him.  And when he was told to dream in a sleep lab and the latest giant ship crashes through the side of the wall...well, he didn't exactly wait around for the diagnosis.  He ran.

But he didn't run home.  He ran towards the shore, thinking that if he again dreamed of sailing, at least the boat would land in water safely.  When Farmer Enno reached the shore, he breathed it in.  He closed his eyes and let the smell reach every part of him. He let the sounds fill his soul.  He let the salty air fill his lungs, reaching a depth he never knew was possible. Until that moment.  Exhausted, he lay down on the sand and slept.

But he didn't dream of boats.  He had realized what his dream was: Now that he had seen the ocean, he didn't want to be a farmer.  He couldn't be a farmer.  He woke up he ran home, sold the farm, bought a real ship.  He had to fulfill his dream.

Ben and I loved it.

(The words on the book's jacket are so great: "Here is a story about the dream that sometimes lives within each of us and will not let us rest until we have tried to make it real.")

The Friend by Sarah Stewart

The Friend by Sarah Stewart, illustrated by David Small

Rating: 5 tear-jerker stars

Annabelle Bernadette Clementine Dodd is a little girl who seems too small for everything in her house.  Her home, a spectacular mansion, seems to swallow her up.  Next to her fancy-schmancy parents, whom we only see once as she kisses them good-bye minutes after she wakes, she seems unnoticeable.  And the big,wide ocean next to which and into which the story takes place engulfs her.

Since her parents are much too busy for her, they entrust her to Beatrice Smith, also known as Bea, the housekeeper/nanny...  These titles just don't begin to describe the relationship between tiny white girl and sturdy, strong, kind African American woman.  Each day has its own rhythm, with these two ladies dancing their part in a sweet relationship.
First day of the week, they'd wash all the clothes--
Hanging them out in the sun's fullest glow.
Belle would assemble large clothespin bouquets,
While Bea would respond in her singular way:
"Glory be, Lord knows you try, my child!
Now let those clothes just flap for a while." 
Then they'd walk to the beach for a swimming spree--
Belle and Bea, hand in hand, to the sea.
Turn the page to a wordless wonder of an illustration by the uber-talented David Small showing Belle and Bea holding hands in the surf, walking down the dozens of steps from the old mansion into the sparkling water.

Each day of the week is full of chores turned into games, from which they deviate to spend time by the sea.  Near the end, after we know that Belle and Bea are completely inseparable, Belle separates from her.  She decides to go to the beach alone.  With her big red ball.  That floats off in the water.  Belle first feels brave and confident when she paddles in after it, but...then a wave hits.

Back at home Bea realizes in a flash that her little shadow is missing and immediately runs to the sea.  And then into the sea, rescuing the drowning girl.  Bea pulls her out of the water and into her strong, loving embrace.  Grateful, frightened Belle clings to her.  Bea weeps with relief; she would have lost her world had something happened to her.

The book is written in tribute to the author's childhood nanny, and it is a beautiful, beautiful book--both prose and pictures, lessons and reflections.


Thursday, February 7, 2013

My Snake Blake by Randy Siegel

 My Snake Blake by Randy Siegel, illustrated by Serge Bloch

Rating: 4.5 stars

Introducing the only snake I'd ever let live in my house: Blake.  I love what author Randy Siegel does here--he turns an icky and scary snake into a witty, polite pet!  It's a good example of what happens when a good story-teller with a great sense of humor asks him/herself "what if?" while walking around a pet store.  This book is pure fun, and makes Ben and Lorelei giggle as kids should.

A boy's father gets him a pet snake for his birthday, and it turns out that this snake is no ordinary snake.  Ask him a question and he'll spell out the answer for you with his body.  His mom is freaked out until:

The rest of the book is just a list of funny things (with accompanying funny illustrations by Serge Bloch) that Blake does, like find car keys under the sofa, lick the dishes clean, play baseball with the boy, and walk the dog (with a noose-like grip around the trusting pup's neck).

Totally worth checking out.  Totally not getting a snake as a pet anytime soon, though.

Homer the Library Cat by Reeve Lindbergh

 Homer the Library Cat by Reeve Lindbergh, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf

Rating: 4 stars

As a person who loves to escape into the pages of a book, I always like books where characters escape to the library.  Sometimes mice live there, sometimes boys are raised by librarians, sometimes cats are searching for their quiet person in a quiet place.  (That's Homer the cat, in case you didn't figure it out!)

Homer is a cat content with his quiet, peaceful life--playing with yarn and feathers, looking out the window at the birds, sitting with his quiet lady while she reads.  Then one day he falls out the window!  The noises begin--banging trash cans, sneezing kids, weeee-ooohing sirens, clanging trains.  Can't a cat catch a break?!  Finally he pads across a quiet building, across a quiet floor.  He enters a library.
He heard a quiet voice he knew.
He saw a rocking chair.
There was the quiet lady!
And children everywhere. 
"Homer!" said the lady.
"What are you doing here?"
Homer jumped into her arms
And purred into her ear. 
They boys and girls loved Homer.
Homer loved them back.
He slept right through the stories
But woke up for the snack.

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did--the sweet rhyme and friendly illustrations won me over.  And, after finishing the last stanza and closing it while reading it to Ben the other day, he asked me: "Will you read it again please?"  You know I will.  So we opened it up and read it all over again.


P.S.  For some unknown silly reason, Lorelei dared me to sing this book, not just read it, a few days after I posted this.  Always one to accept a dare, I did it.  And it not only worked but was fun and funny!  I will have to try that again sometime, though I will for sure do it only when I'm the only adult in the room.

So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George

So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George, illustrated by David Small

Rating: 4.5 stars

Here's a book to introduce the Presidents to your kids.  Not exactly the Presidency...it doesn't shed light on executive orders or what Commander in Chief means.  For me, the story line is a little disorganized and messy--each page is a different aspect of a President's life, from what he eats to what pets he had, from the jobs he held prior to being President to what states most Presidents are from.  There's a lot going on for kids who don't have a firm foundation of these guys.

But the illustrations!  David Small is one of the best in the business; he makes me think that books should be cataloged in the library by illustrators (yes, I know this is crazy and impossible, but a girl can dream, can't she?).  The Caldecott he won for this book is much-deserved in my opinion.  He's created quirky characters doing funny, memorable things, turning what could be seen as stuffy history into fascinating, fun stuff.

Here are some pictures that are going to stay in Lorelei's mind for a long, long time:

Nixon installed a bowling alley in the basement of the White House.

Teddy Roosevelt's kids brought up a pony to cheer up a sick sibling.

Warren Harding winning the Presidential Beauty Contest.

300 lb Taft and his four-person tub!
I know that there's not a ton of historical information here that is going to be handy on a future Social Studies test.  BUT!  There are funny pictures galore, and the book and its fantastic illustrations make learning about Presidents chuckle-worthy.  Can't beat that!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Meet Me at the Art Museum by David Goldin

 Meet Me at the Art Museum: A Whimsical Look Behind the Scenes by David Goldin

Rating: 4.5 stars

Here's a quirky book by, judging by his blog and website, an equally quirky author.  I mean quirky--both book and author--in a really good way.

How to make educational fun?  Such a hard task.  But Goldin does it. Here's a book that describes what goes on behind the scenes at an art museum (or any museum, for that matter).  Goldin manages to throw in words like curator and docent and archivist and still my kids were asking me to read it again to them.  I'm grateful for this book as it helps my kids have a better understanding of what one is, and a better appreciation for how much effort it takes to run one.

The story:

Stub is a leftover ticket that gets left, flat like a pancake, on the museum floor after it closes.  A friendly name tag named Daisy finds him and gives him a tour around the place.  She shows him the different galleries but also the offices of the museum that are helpful for visitors and/or employees--coat check, director's office, gift shop, library, to name a few.  Ben's favorite page was the one explaining what symbol signage is--"easy to understand, even if you can't read" signs.  He was proud to be able to "read" the signs even though he can't yet read.

This room is called a gallery.  There are many galleries in a museum.
During the tour, Stub wishes and hopes he might live in a museum. And, in the end, he gets his wish!  He peeks his stub-head into the room where damaged treasures are restored and whooosh gets blown by a fan into a painting that is sticky from a fresh coat of varnish.  He's happily displayed in the museum as art the next day, and for every day thereafter.

This book is one of four that I am giving my sister's 6 year old twin girls for their birthday.  (Confession: their birthday was at the end of January, the party last weekend, and their gift STILL is not ready.  One of these years I'll be on time with my gifts...)  Two books on art--this one and A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippen--a great book I reviewed for Family Magazine and two books on how to draw.  And then a date with our family to a museum in D.C.  Priceless, right?

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Sod Houses on the Great Plains by Glen Rounds

 Sod Houses on the Great Plains by Glen Rounds

Rating: 4 stars

Yes, that's right.  I checked out a book on sod houses for my 4- and 5- year old kids.  I believe in encouraging nerdiness at a very young age.

Okay, a little background:  Ben is interested in building, so I called a friend who builds houses and we're going to visit his newest house as it is being constructed.  We're lucky to have this connection, and I feel comfortable exploiting the friendship just a little to open Ben's eyes to one of the zillion possibilities he could do with his life.

Another bit of background: About two years ago I read Worst Hard Times (and then reread the wonderful Grapes of Wrath) and became a little obsessed with the Dust Bowl era of our nation's history.  I started it while still in the hospital after having Kiefer; reading the part about the mom crying because her newborn didn't have clean air to breathe deeply affected my appreciation for how easy I have it in this parenting life of mine.  I want to pass along this appreciation to my trio, and teaching them about this era is one of a zillion ways I plan on doing that.
Uninvited wildlife was another housekeeping problem.

So here's Appreciation 101.  Check out this sod house, Ben!  Aren't we lucky to live in a house that has more than one room, doesn't leak when it rains, and rarely has a cow come through the roof?!  With the help of this neat little book, that was today's lesson over lunch.

This book is geared towards elementary school students--it really does teach a lot in its pages and with its sketches.  The pioneers arrived on the Great Plains and realized they couldn't build houses as they were used to due to the lack of trees and, therefore, wood.

Here was a snippet of our conversation:

Ben: Why couldn't they use trees for wood for the house?
Me:  Look at the picture here.  Do you see any trees?
Ben: No.
Me:  But they need a house, right?  And their temporary houses--the wagons--didn't work so well.  So they had to look around them and improvise.
Ben: And all they could find was dirt?
Me:  Yup.  The dirt could be cut into big rectangles and stacked.  Look at this picture--what does it look like to you?
Ben: Bricks.
Me:  And Duplos, too, don't you think?

You get the idea.  He was all over it, totally into it.  But in case you're wondering, we're not going to build a sod house in our yard anytime soon.  I have to draw the line somewhere...

Anyway, this book is a bit random but very neat--a great way to teach so many lessons.  Shelter is necessary.  Use what you have.  Be creative.  Appreciate what you've got.  Housekeeping stinks in a sod house.

Love is You & Me by Monica Sheehan

Love is You & Me by Monica Sheehan

Rating: 5 love-y stars

Here's a sweet, simple book with a sweet, simple celebration of love.  For those of us teaching others what love is, for those of us who need reminders of what love is, for those of us learning and searching and thanking.  I love how this book could be given to a toddler or grandparent, a husband or best friend, a teacher or a mother.  The illustrations are cute and silly and happy.  Betcha can't read it without having a heart-string or two tugged...

Love is me...and love is you.
So when you smile, I smile too.When you're around, the skies are blue.
It's like being happy! times two.
Love is sweet...and love is GRAND!
Sometimes love...is just holding hands.
It's a feeling inside.
It's a smile in your heart.
It keeps us together when we're apart.
Love is fun!  It's feeling free!
Love lets you be who you want to be.
Love will catch you when you fall.
LOVE! It's the greatest gift of all.
It's just us two without a care.
It's what we give...and the times we share.
It wipes away the tears...sends our troubles along...
Love is the place...where you always belong.

And, by the way, Love is You & Me is only available in board book.  How fitting that a book on love is printed in this sturdy, strong, resilient form?

Monday, February 4, 2013

Elsie's Bird by Jane Yolen

 Elsie's Bird by Jane Yolen, illustrated by David Small

Rating: 4.5 stars

When I first started writing this blog, I remember coming across a book that I read to Lorelei where, in the middle of the story, the mother died.  Lorelei was probably 3.  I kicked myself for not reading the book first, so that I could at the very least plan my editing before making up words on the fly.  Now that she's 5 1/2, I appreciate the greater depth of understanding she now has about how the world works.

I don't want to supply her lots of books with sad topics, but let's face it: there's a lot of stuff that happens to our kids or to their friends that is, as my father would say, un-good.  I can hear his words: It's not what happens to you, great Kate (his nickname, once in a while I live up to it), it's how you respond to it.  And that's it: responding to adversity is a tough thing for a kid to learn.  One way of helping your child learn this necessary skill is by providing a book such as Elsie's Bird and letting them learn about and explore sadness and disappointment--and how to recover from it--from the comfort of your lap.

With that build up, this book really isn't all THAT sad!

"Here there is only grass and sky and silence," Elsie wrote.
Elsie is a happy-as-a-lark girl growing up in turn-of-the-century busy and bustling Boston.  She loves the sounds of the city, but the birds are her favorite.  When her mother dies, her papa longs for something far away from Boston, away from the sadness that resonates for him there.  Her papa takes her far away--to Nebraska.  The busy-ness of the city is replaced by the silence of the prairie, and Elsie is sad and lonely.

Her solace lies in her sweet canary, named Timmy Tune, who keeps her company during her solitary days and quiet nights.  Elsie rarely leaves the house; she isn't ready to embrace her new world.  One day her canary gets out of his cage, and she runs after her only friend.  The little bird returns to her when she sings him his favorite tune, and together they finally open themselves to the sounds of their new home and begin to appreciate them.

Perhaps it's the Army brat in me that identifies with little Elsie--going to a new place is pretty tough on kids.  Add in an extra dose of adversity with a parent dying, and you've got a sad situation.  But Elsie finds her happiness in simple joys: her papa, the animals around her, and nature.  I like that Lorelei has in Elsie an example of quality creature comforts, and as Lorelei faces pint-sized bits of adversity (i.e. losing a game of Monopoly to her little brother), she can learn to cheer herself up a little.

Jane Yolen is a great story-teller, and I found the story of how she wrote the book fascinating--she read an article in Smithsonian of women who moved from their comfortable Eastern homes to the quiet Nebraska farms and went a little crazy.  "It was too big a place," and many walked through the grasses, got lost, and died (this is referenced in the book).  Those who brought canaries from back East seemed to have a higher survival rate. Huh!  Amazing!  And David Small is just fantastic.  Realistic but very, very sweet illustrations, characters with warm expressions and sweeping scenes...these are all his specialties and are featured in the book.

A great book, though for a slightly older crowd.

The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson

 The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Jonathan Bean

Rating: 4 stars

There's something so very special about the bond between father and daughter, and books that showcase this oh-so-important relationship are welcome on my shelf.  In this book, the father is a gentle and strong (such an important mix) farmer, who can both drive horses and bake a pie.

Using a cumulative rhyme, Lauren Thompson lists the ingredients of apple pie.  But it's not the obvious ones that my kids could list after baking pies for years with me--cinnamon, butter, lemon juice, cornstarch, apples.  Nope.  The ingredients in the book go deeper.  Here's what I mean:
This is the rain, cool and fresh,
that watered the roots, deep and fine,that fed the tree, crooked and strong,
that grew the apples, juicy and red,
that went in the pie, warm and sweet,
that Papa baked.
The wonderful illustrations by Jonathan Bean add a whole lot--the smiley sun shines down on the apple tree, the girl, and her father.  They are warm, comforting, beautiful--in a not-so-traditional way.  The story and illustrations make me think of John Steinbeck's novels, and the descriptions of farming in them.

Just a simple tale about a man baking for his daughter--and a little reminder that a gift from the heart, made with your hands, and shared with one you love, is definitely the best.

(And in case you now want to bake apple pie, click here for the best recipe around.)

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Wonder Horse by Emily Arnold McCully

 Wonder Horse: The True Story of the World's Smartest Horse by Emily Arnold McCully

Rating: 4 stars

I recently reviewed a really wonderful book for a local magazine.  Alex the Parrot: No Ordinary Bird was a book that landed in my lap but really opened my eyes to a bunch of great nonfiction books on animal intelligence that are fantastic for young, advanced readers.  Lorelei is reading chapter books, and she's worked her way through The Magic Treehouse, Cam Jansen, and Magic Schoolbus series.  But she's just 5 1/2, so I'm careful about the content of the books she reads.  And she still loves picture books, so I'm happy to keep supplying them to her.  Therefore, I was delighted to find a handful of books that were long and challenging and interesting...picture books.  And nonfiction!  Even better.

"I wonder what else you can learn," Doc said.
Wonder Horse is a long book about the true story of a horse owned by Bill Key, nicknamed "Doc."  Doc was born a slave but freed as an adult, and his natural way with animals remained with him.  He made a fortune selling Keystone Liniment for humans and animals, and spent some of that fortune on an Arabian mare.  He bred the extraordinary mare, who bore an ordinary colt named Jim.  Jim looked ordinary, but within months of his birth Doc realized he was incredibly smart.  He taught him all sorts of things--the alphabet, simple math, colors, shapes.  He quieted naysayers by having experts quiz Jim without Doc to help him out, and the two of them toured the country to show off and help promote kindness towards animals.

Of the books we've found and read on animal intelligence, Lorelei and Ben liked this one the best.  (Alex the Parrot gets my vote.)  Maybe they are just being nice, as they know that horses are my favorite animal...  Regardless, I love how interested they are at the fairly wild notion that animals have significant brain power like we do.  I appreciate how this book introduces scientific methods, but I like even more that their perspectives have been rocked a little, that their assumptions have been challenged a little.

At Night by Jonathan Bean

At Night by Jonathan Bean

Rating: 4 stars

When we find a book we love, we find all the books by that author that we can get our book-crazy hands on and read them ALL!  So it is with Jonathan Bean, the author of the new and wonderful Building Our Home.   And so we had the pleasure of reading At Night.

It's a simple book, and I've found myself thinking about it and wondering of the meaning of it when I really should be focused on more important stuff like those things that are on my to-do list.  But this is a quirky book full of magic; check it out and let me know what you think.  Its quirkiness begins with its size: the book is small and square, setting it apart from traditionally sized picture books right away.  I think I loved it from the beginning, though I really do try not to judge a book by its cover!

The story:

After her brother and sister went to bed, a girl lies in her dark room, still awake.  "She lay thinking alone and couldn't close her eyes and couldn't sleep."  She feels the breeze from her open window, gathers her pillow and sheet, and goes to meet the breeze on the roof of her apartment building.  Creating a makeshift bed for herself, she lay there.  "She thought about the wide world all around her and smiled."  Breathing in the night and the moon and the breeze, she fell asleep.

(In case you're concerned, her mom followed her up and sits quietly next to her.)

As someone who suffers from but often enjoys bouts of insomnia, I can hear the quiet of the night that Bean writes about and illustrates.  I appreciate the need to get out of bed and go to a different place, perhaps a calmer place.  I think the girl in the book climbs up to be closer to nature, to God, to some comforting place.

The story is sweet; the illustrations are amazing.  While I still think that Building Our Home is his best stuff, the illustrations are magical.  I love that he says, when asked why his work often includes landscapes: They "tend to work themselves in.  I don't fight it."  (Read neat-o article about him here.  Thank you for sending it to me, Elaine!)  I love that art has a mind of its own, as if his arm is a mere layperson to a scene grander than himself.

We are huge fans of Jonathan Bean!