The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee

The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee

Beach Lane Books

Rating: 5 stars

It's Caldecott season, and this well-deserving book is being talked about a whole lot...will it win? We'll see...stay tuned on 2 February...

All will feel something when reading The Farmer and the Clown. It's the right balance of silly and somber, though maybe it's us adults who have felt loneliness and loss a whole lot more than kids (hopefully) who see the sobering side of the message...

A curmudgeon of a farmer toils alone in his field, pausing only to watch a train roll by. When something or someone falls out of the train, he's alarmed. He drops his pitchfork and runs right over. It's a boy-clown, with a big, painted-on grin. The surly man and the smiley boy size each other up, then walk hand-in-hand to his home to eat together. When washing up, the boy-clown washes his face, washes his face paint/brave face off to reveal a sad, scared little face.

The farmer tucks the boy in his own bed and sits with him all night so the boy isn't lonely, and then does his best to cheer him up. (There's nothing quite as charming as a grumpy man humbling himself for a child.) They work together at the farmer's farm all day long, playing as well as working, clearly enjoying each other's company. Clearly lighting up each other's life.

And then, suddenly, the train returns.

They bolt to it, wave like mad to get its attention, and the clown's family is ecstatic to see him and hug him and have him back.

And yet. Now the farmer, his curmudgeon face washed off to reveal a sweet man, is lonely again.

(And isn't that the worst kind of loneliness: when you've felt un-lonely and lit up and very loved and then suddenly BAM that other person is gone and you realize how quiet and sad your life is now? And the lonely cloud follows you, envelopes you like fog?)

Because the boy-clown does go. Of course he does. Only after a very sweet good-bye with our now-sweet farmer. They wave to each other as the train separates them.

Sweetly, the farmer is not left totally alone. A circus monkey hides behind his leg, ready to surprise him after we close the book. It's a good ending, and I the reader am left with a smile. At least a half-smile, but I'm relieved the farmer isn't totally alone.

I admit: the first time I paged through this book in the fall when it was released I teared a little. It is beautiful and, like I said, well-deserving of a Caldecott.

The People in Pineapple Place by Anne Lindbergh

The People in Pineapple Place by Anne Lindbergh, cover illustrated by Marla Frazee

Rating: 3.5 stars

Young August Brown moves to Washington, DC, after his parents divorce.  He is adjusting to a new reality in many ways--his mother is back at work for the first time in his life, he lives in a brand-new city (specifically, a neighborhood in Georgetown), and he has no friends.  Until he meets April and her siblings and friends.  He stumbles upon them one day in an alley around the corner from his house, and is overjoyed that they have taken him in as their new playmate.

The funny thing is, they are not real.  They are invisible to everyone but him.  (Well, even more mysteriously, one of the kids is often seen by an adult or two, causing for massive confusion in both real and imaginary worlds.)  They have some fun adventures in their neighborhood and in Washington, DC, itself, and August begins to feel more at home in his new home and also within himself.  Amazing what friends can do, huh?

This book is not the best read aloud chapter book for younger (5-8) kids.  It is not the best book for a 6 year old to read on her own.  But it is the book that our local library selected as the book to be discussed at this afternoon's Kids Book Club.  Lorelei saw the sign and said, "I would love to do that!"  So...I read the book myself, decided it was fine for her to read, and then met with her to have our first Mother-Daughter Book Club.

My goal was two-fold: First, to spend time with our oldest, whose good behavior often means that she gets the least attention.  Mix that with the longest school day of all three children, and you get a mom who misses her daughter when the school year starts. We are both pretty crazy about books; why not share that passion with someone I'm crazy about?  Second, I wanted to give her an example of what a book club was about.  Sure, plenty of them are more social than literary, but I needed to gauge her interest and ability to talk about a book in a focused way.

Well, she did great!  And we had a great time.

Lorelei and her chosen treat: a cake pop

I couldn't find any study questions on The People in Pineapple Place so I got into Kate-the-teacher mode and made up my own.  Along with a fancy-ish invitation to join me for tea, I gave Lorelei a list of these questions about a week before we met so she could think about the answers, reread the book if she wanted (she did), and know what sort of thing we'd be discussing.

1. Pretend I've not read the book. What is the book about?
2. Which character do you like the best?  Why?
3. Why is August mad at the beginning of the story?
4. Do you think August is telling the truth--can he really see the kids?
5. What would be fun about being 10 years old for a long, long time?  What would NOT be fun?
6. What places have you been to that August has also visited?
7. Why can August's mom only see one child?
8. What was your favorite part of the story?

The book was fine, the afternoon with Lorelei was priceless.  We sat outside Starbucks--well, I sat and she twirled and flitted around the seating area while answering all these questions and more.  We laughed about the silly parts of the books, especially about the games the invisible kids could play and get away with, such as roller skating in the National Museum of Art.  A conversation with any child is a bit like sitting in the passenger seat and letting them drive a little--you've got to just follow their lead, take advantage of the focused moments and chuckle at the very random tangents that inevitably occur.

I'm really looking forward to next month's Mother Daughter Book Club!  I think Lorelei is, too, though she might be looking forward to the cake pop at Starbucks more than time with her mom.  That's ok, those things do look tasty.

Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers

Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers, illustrated by Marla Frazee

Rating: 4 stars

Not everyone is a baby person.  I mean, we were blessed with The Cutest Babies On Earth the moment they were born, but...not all babies had Lorelei's huge blue eyes, and no other baby had the cutest little round toes.  There's no way that there was another baby with dimples like Ben or had his same lop-sided grin from such a tiny age.  Wait?  What was that?  Every mother thinks that their baby is the cutest?!  WHAT?!  No way.

Well, Marla Frazee's amazing art is The Reason to check out this book.  She must have spent a year on it!  I actually tried to find out how long it took her because I was curious...there must be two hundred babies in this book, each with a different expression on its little face.  This is truly a book for the new millenium, and it's a wonderfully liberal take on families, too, which I love and deeply appreciate.  Look closely and you'll see, right next to the picture of cookie-cutter family in a house with a cute dog and white picket fence, a baby being pushed by two dads or a baby being rocked by the sleepy foot of one of two mothers collapsed on a bed.  I love that through her illustrations Marla Frazee is gently suggesting we expand our mind just a little bit.  In every picture there the baby is being wrapped in a gentle blanket of love, and MAN isn't that the most important thing of all?

In addition to this liberal definitely of family thing, there are just babies being carried in every single way imaginable, from Bjorn to sling to shoulders to chest to stroller.  Babies are being held by every single person, from grandparent to friend to mother to sister to dog (ok, I'm making that one up...just seeing if you're paying attention).  Babies are being fed all sorts of food, from peaches to breastmilk to formula to bananas.  There is so much going on here!

Susan Meyers definitely plays a supporting role in this book.  When I read this to Lorelei and Ben, I don't think they listened or cared what I was saying!  They were focused on all the pictures.  Ben still (STILL!) isn't talking much at all, but he made it quite clear that he wanted me to point to each picture and describe what was going on.  I would name the babies on the first page, where a dozen babies are in a funny line-up, or maybe baby mug shots?  Each is so wonderfully unique!

Thank you, Marla Frazee.  We're on your trail, and can't wait for your next batch of art to show up in a library book near us!


P.S.  We just checked this book out as a board book--yippee!  Now Ben can boy handle it all he wants.

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee

Rating: 4 gorgeous stars

Confession: When I first saw this book in the bookstore, I nearly leaped into it, trying to imagine myself one of the beautiful characters in the gorgeous settings among the pages.  I resisted the temptation to buy it, barely.  If I bought every picture book I loved, we'd have even books to bend our shelves, which need reinforcement as it is.  I called my mother on the way home from the bookstore, telling her that I'd found It.  The Perfect Children's Book.  It was my new Favorite Book.  I was in love!

So I ordered the lone copy in Fairfax County and told my husband that I felt angst about ordering it.  I already knew about the book; shouldn't I leave it on the shelf for others to find and enjoy?  And would my time in heaven be delayed if I renewed it again and again and again, as many times as possible?  He gave me The Look, like I was thinking too much or something like that.  I get that look hourly sometimes.  Well, we all have things to work on, I guess.

So I got the book from the library.  The first time I read it through, I was, shocker of all shockers, multi-tasking.  Lorelei and Ben were both playing with the train set at the bookstore, and I was flipping through and falling in love with All The World.  I didn't really read it through.  The pictures are perfect (check out this one on the right)--Frazee does an incredible job and the illustrations still make me want to jump right into the pages and stay.  Awhile.  Maybe till Ben is out of diapers, or at least has mastered more than three words.  The words are also gorgeous and prayer-like; my mother will probably tear when she reads this book.  On certain days, I might, too.

But there's no way that I could ever rate it a top-notch book for preschoolers.  I was at first dismayed that Lorelei didn't request this book again and again.  I could read it five times a day.  But there's no story to follow, no characters to giggle at or feel sorry for.  We spend many minutes poring over each picture, especially the one with several stalls at an outdoor market.  While it is a great gift book for adult lovers of children's picture books, I have to say that it's not for us.  I will not be buying it (sniff, sniff), but I will be checking it out from the library every few months, hoping that one more line from the wonderful message in the book gets embedded in their little hearts.