Jacob's Eye Patch by Beth Kobliner Shaw & Jacob Shaw

Jacob's Eye Patch by Beth Kobliner Shaw & Jacob Shaw, illustrated by Jules Feiffer

Rating: 5 stars

Kindergarten teachers should be required to read Jacob's Eye Patch at the beginning of school each year.  The authors  (Jacob and his mom) do a great job of explaining one boy's need for and experience with an eye patch, and the book is easily used to teach empathetic ways to approach other kids who have things (an eye patch, a cast, a wheelchair, braces) that make them stand out.

Here's the story: Jacob and his mother are rushing to the science store, but she keeps on chatting with any and every person who comments on her son's eye patch.  There are a lot of them, and, much to Jacob's dismay, they get held up again and again. He creates excuses for why they need to hurry ("We need to catch a plane for Argentina!") and smart-alec/funny answers to why he needs an eye patch ("I don't speak English"). He simply does not want to talk about it at that time, on that day.

Jacob's mom did want to answer...
She talked and talked about the eye patch.

Until he is at the science store, when the light-up globe that he's coveted is in his hands.  Then he's ready to talk.

When a curious kid-bystander asks, "Why do you have a Band-Aid on your eye?" He calmly explains that his left eye doesn't work as well as his right eye, so he needs to wear an eye patch to cover his right eye so his left eye will get stronger. While he and the girl look at his new globe together, he sees that her mouth is full of braces.  He's curious, but thinks she might not want to talk about it right now.

At the beginning of the summer, Lorelei was told that she needed an eye patch.  For just two hours a day, one of her impossibly bright blue eyes will be covered up in an effort to strengthen the other one. This seemingly tiny addition to my day has provided an eruption of lessons in empathy in me, but also in my young Lorelei. Finding this book in the waiting room at the ophthalmologist helped give her the words that she didn't have but needed to wear it and answer questions about it.

"I'll wear it to camp!  I think I'm ready!" she said boldly as she climbed into my car with a teddy bear eye patch on her face.  Along the way, I suggested we role play a bit, so she could practice explaining why she needs to wear an eye patch.  She didn't want to.  Her normally bold voice steadily decreased until it was just a whimper, and I could sense a trembling chin in my rear view mirror.  As we approached her school on that first day of camp, she got a little weepy.  "I don't know.  I'm scared."

My maternal suggestion: "Take it off!  You don't have to wear it right now."  Avoidance is, after all, one option I like to employ in my own life...

So she did take it off before being whisked from my car in the unexpectedly short carpool line to her waiting math teacher.  The eye patch fell to the bottom of my car, happily finding a place amidst Cheerios and snack bar wrappers and library hold cards.

Eye-patch wearing Lorelei reads to Kiefer at the library.

Some hours later, we had a good discussion about standing out, on being different: The idea of it is so fun!  Look at me!  I'm different!  But then, she realized that standing out and being different comes at a price: having a whole lot of attention directed at you.  Kids are curious.  They ask questions.  You'll have their attention, all right.  Ready or not, here it comes…  Clearly Lorelei was not ready then.  But she looked down at the bottom of the car and saw her teddy bear eye patch right where she had dropped it.  She picked it up, finding it still sticky.

"I have to wear it for another hour, right, Mom?  I think I'll do it at the library."

This time, she heeded my advice and practiced what she would say when someone would ask her.  Just a few sentences, but having them ready in her back pocket gave a little more confidence to deal with her first day of going public with an attention-grabbing eye patch (did I mention sparkles decorated the space surrounding the teddy bears?).

We walked into the very familiar library, a place we go at least twice a week.  As a book lover and book blogger they know me and my kids very, very well. After being there for about fifteen minutes, she whispered to me, "No one has said anything."  I discreetly asked the head librarian to ask her about it.  Daniella pretended to wander around the library until she just happened to arrive at the spot Lorelei was in and moved books around for a minute before looking down at my daughter.

"Lorelei!  Hi there!  What happened to your eye?"

Lorelei paused. She collected herself as I held my breath. Then she said, "I'm okay.  My left eye isn't as strong as my right.  I have to wear this eye patch two hours a day on my right eye so my left eye becomes as strong as my right."  She responded just as confidently and bravely when another librarian asked about it on the way out (this one was not prompted by me, promise).

We have learned so much in the past few days about standing out, being unique, having empathy for others, having courage, learning to ask about something that's different about someone else, having the words to say before you actually need to say them.  I'm humbled by the gratitude I feel for my three kids' health--we've been so amazingly lucky--but also so grateful to have this little opportunity to teach not just Lorelei but also Ben and Kiefer the definition of empathy.

I know this is a super long entry, but I really wish this book was stocked in every elementary school library across the country.  It was the first book I requested that our library buy, and I bought a copy to donate to our preschool's library.  It is just one boy's story of what it feels like to stand out and to be asked questions that usually stem from curiosity and genuine care.  But it provides kids to walk a few steps in Jacob's shoes, to feel like him for just a few minutes, and then have that empathetic experience on which to draw when they see someone different.  Or maybe, like Jacob and Lorelei, it'll be them that stands out.

Remember: sparkly eye patches rock!

Check out the book's website by clicking HERE.

Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School by David Mackintosh

Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School by David Mackintosh

Rating: 5 stars

I love when people recommend books to me.  Regardless of the length of my to-do list, or the hunger level of my children, it suddenly becomes my mission in life to find that book and review it.  And so it was with Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School.  An old coworker/pal of mine (we used to sell furniture together, and now we read picture books to our babies miles apart) found it and thought it special, and I totally agree!

The pint-sized kid in the front row has news for us: Marshall Armstrong is new to his school.  He is quick to point out (and the talented David Mackintosh is quick to illustrate, literally and figuratively) all the differences:

• His school supplies are different--much more elaborate and fancy.
• His face is different--his skin redder and pastier, his eyes always focused on teacher.
• His arm is different--more mosquito-bite food-like.
• His lunch is different--it is wrapped in silver packages like space food.
• His activity in recess is different--his doctor says reading is enough activity for him.

After all these observations, the young narrator arrives at this conclusion: Marshall Armstrong does not fit in at his school.  Not one bit.

"He looks different to me."

Yet Marshall Armstrong is having a birthday party, and the narrator's parents are making him go.  Sigh.  Ugh.  Man.  The injustice!

And then: the party happens.  The house is unique and cool!  The party is even unique-er and cool-er!  It involves stilts, monkey bars, a train set, a piñata, a bike that runs an electric lightbulb, a microscope, a fireman's pole that goes from the top of the house to the bottom… In other words, a whole slew of neat-o things.

Our young narrator's perspective has, um, changed a little.  The next time a new kid arrives at the school, he offers that she sit next to him for the first few days so he can kindly show her around.

Now that this review is done, I guess my kids can eat now...

Cecil, the Pet Glacier by Matthea Harvey

Cecil, the Pet Glacier by Matthea Harvey, illustrated by Giselle Potter

Rating: 3 stars

This is truly one of the most bizarre books I've ever picked up…

(Reviewed for Washington Family Magazine)

Ruby Small is a normal little girl.  If we zoom out from a close-up of Ruby, we quickly see a family and a world that is full of wacky eccentricities. 

Her parents are definitely not-so-normal.  Together, they own a little shop called “Topiary & Tiaras: Sprigs and Sparkles;” Mrs. Small designs fancy tiaras while Mr. Small is a topiary gardener.  In the evenings Mrs. Small dons the glittery headdresses she creates by day and they “tango cheek to cheek” amidst his leafy creations.

Wanting to be just a little closer to normal, Ruby wants a pet.  She voices this desire while seated on an airplane to Norway—her parents didn’t hear her grumpy “no way” when Mr. Small told his girls that he wanted to go to China to see a rhinoceros made out of rosemary.  Her father heard “Norway,” not “no way.”  Norway seemed fantastic and different to her parents, so…off they go. 

Back to the pet: Her mom suggests a glow-in-the-dark jellyfish, her dad suggests a flea circus.  These are pets with quirkiness that would clearly fit right in.  

Of course, Ruby just wants a dog.  While sight-seeing in Norway, the family visits a glacier that is too large, and as they watch, it undergoes a process called “calving”—small pieces break off and float down the river.  One of those little pieces floats itself right over to Ruby (and the three Jennifers).  The family’s new pet has found them.  

To read the rest of the review, please click HERE.

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown

Rating: 4.5 stars

Here's a brand-new book for ya.  I actually went to a bookstore to wander around the children's section and look for newly published, fall, and Halloween books.  I found a whole bunch of 'em, including this one that I purchased for a little friend who turns three on Saturday.

It.  Is.  GREAT!

Mr. Tiger lives in a busy, animal-filled town and is "bored of being proper."  Smiling is out of the question; he can only muster a stern look of frustration.  (The word "bored" is the only reason this book doesn't get 5 stars.  I know, I know...picky, picky me.)  He just can't be himself in his stuffy top hat and tight suit; he is unhappy. But Mr. Tiger finally gets the nerve to loosen up, have a little fun, start going a little wild.  He starts small: he stops walking on two feet and goes back to a primal four.  He then starts chasing (gasp!) children.  He roars on park benches.  He leaps acrobatically instead of stiffly sauntering.

Everyone was perfectly fine with the way things were.
Everyone but Mr. Tiger.

After he takes his clothes off (ha!), the still-stuffy townspeople suggest he go live in the wilderness, if he's going to be wild.  So, happily, he does.  It is beautiful there, and he has a grand time.

For a little while.

Then he gets lonely and realizes that he misses people.  As my philosopher-dad would say, he knows he's got to live as an individual, but in society; he's got to find the right balance of living true to himself, but also within the rules.  He's welcomed back to his hometown, where he finds "that things are beginning to change."  Many animals have abandoned two-legged walking in favor of four-legged bounding.

Mr. Tiger became wilder each day.

By the end, a feeling-more-free Mr. Tiger is smiling in an aloha shirt.

I don't just like this book because, coincidentally, two days before I discovered it I also discovered Katie Perry's song "Roar"(yup, I linked you to the song with lyrics because you know me, I can't remember the words to even my favorite songs).  And, two days after discovering this book, my boys and I drove home listening to said catchy song, had it turned up full blast, and roared like fools (who also think we are champions).  Or like fool tigers maybe.

No, I like this book because everyone should read it, and everyone should learn from the message of the succinct and talented author-illustrator Peter Brown.  (I like his stuff, but I think this is his best book by far.)  Especially grown-ups who feel like they live in a stuffy world, who feel pressured to look and act a certain way.  We should all remain a little wild, I think, for our own soul's sake but also so to be a good example for our kids (maybe that will give some of us a little inspiration to go a little wild).  By daring to be a little unique, I'd like to show them that they, too, can dare to be a little unique.

May we all roar more!

Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman

Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

Rating: 5 stars

I love a good list.  And at this time of year, there are plenty of them.  And as my friends and family know that I'm a serious book-lover (well, actually, I'm seriously goofy a lot of the time), any list that is close to "Best Books of 2012" finds its way to my inbox.

This book was on the list at goodreads.com.  We've checked it out a handful of times before; it definitely earned its title of being one of the best children's books of 2012.  I love the simple story, but I really love the illustrations by one of my favorite illustrators, Dan Yaccarino.

A boy and a robot find each other and, oblivious to their differences, instantly hit it off.  As they roll down a grassy hill, the robot's switch turns off; the boy realizes he must help him.  So the boy helps him in boy-ways: gives him applesauce, reads him a story, tucks him in.  But the robot doesn't wake up until his parents peek in on him and accidentally switch on the robot's switch.

"Want-to-play-tomorrow?" asked Bot.  And the friends did.

And then the robot sees the boy "turned off" (a.k.a. asleep in bed), and the robot realizes he must help him.  So the bot helps him in bot-ways: he gives him oil, reads him an instruction manual, and brings him a spare battery.

After the boy wakes up, they see each other in a new light.  they now realize their differences, but they still hit it off.

The pictures reflect the story: sweet, simple, whimsical.  The story and the illustrations--oh gosh the whole book--just gets under my skin in the best way.

This is a book worth buying!

The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle

The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle

Rating: 4 stars

Another chameleon book today...  And, like the other chameleons, this one is having an identity crisis with some pretty silly results.  This chameleon's life simply involves changing colors and eating bugs.

"That was his life.  It was not very exciting."

But one day, this chameleon happened upon a zoo and added some excitement into his life.  He wished to change not just his color but also his shape...  And his wish is granted!  After he wishes for several attributes of other animals, he looks pretty funny indeed: he has deer antlers, a fox tail, fish fins, and flamingo feet.  Lorelei and Ben howl at how crazy he looks!

And then, when he's totally mixed-up, he gets hungry.  Uh-oh.  And he realizes that he no longer has the ability to catch flies.  How's a guy to eat??  So he wishes himself back to normal again, catches a fly, and is happy to be just...himself.

Makes me think...what is that line in the Sheryl Crow song?  "It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got..."

The Red Lemon by Bob Staake

The Red Lemon by Bob Staake

Rating: 4.5 stars

Farmer McPhee is a lemon farmer; he grows beautiful yellow, tangy, tasty lemons in an orchard that goes on for miles.  Staake's words are almost like a chant, and McPhee is clearly the cheerleader for his own lemons.    

Lemons for sherbert and lemons for pie!
Lemons for drinks on the Fourth of July!
Lemons for cookies and sweet birthday cakes!
Lemons for muffins and fresh fruity shakes!

Then...GASP!...a red lemon grows on a tree.  Farmer McPhee freaks out, plucks the offending fruit from his otherwise yellow lemon tree, and hurls it across the ocean to an island.  The book fades out (well, not really, but...you get the picture) and two hundred years pass.  Turns out, in the future, there are no yellow lemon trees on the isle where Farmer McPhee once farmed.  Instead, on the new island, are red lemon trees that are even tangier and sweeter and tastier.  Who knew?

"That lemon's not yellow. / My goodness it's red!"

I love it!  I love ANY book that allows me to say: "Why don't you try it?  Might be better than what you know."  My kids are good eaters, but there are always new tastes to be had.  Usually, I whip out a taste test--it's my main tool to get them to try new things.  Which do you like better: Red or green apples?  Pasta in marinara or pesto?  Kale chips or beet chips (yup, another crazy beet recipe)?  Or, like last week, red or yellow raspberries?  Try something new--you might like it.

Staake says this book is one of his favorites.  When asked what he wanted to teach through the book, he states:  "Don't be afraid of the unusual, embrace the uncommon, evolve or die.  It's Farmer McPhee's intolerance, fearful assumptions and lack of seeing the bigger picture that literally dooms his future...  After all, when life serves you red lemons, the smart thing to do is make red lemonade."

I'm pretty sure I'll wait a few years to tell my kids that they need to "evolve or die," but I like the rest of what Staake has to say about his book, and in his book.

A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni

A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni

Rating: 5 stars

Lionni's sad and lonely chameleon is bummed about the fact that all animals have a color of their own, except for chameleons.  They change color wherever they go.  He wants a color of his own.  Just like everyone else has.

He wants it so much that he sticks himself to a leaf, thinking he'll be green forever.  But then fall comes and...oops, he turns orange.  Then red.  And then the leaf falls to the ground, with the chameleon in tow.  Drat.  (Hate it when that happens.)

Still frustrated, he meets an older and wiser chameleon and tells his sad story--he can't find his own true color.  The old chameleon explains that that's the beauty of being a chameleon, but perhaps they should stick together, and they'll be different together.

"Won't we ever have a color of our own?"

What a nice and comforting moral: rather than conform to what everyone else has or does or is, find someone with whom you can be different.

This is such a simple, little book and there are a zillion activities that you can do with your kid.  There are actually too many for me to list here, but google it and you'll find exactly one zillion.

But the best is to do what I just did, I think--have the book out, and when your little Ben asks about it, pull them up on your lap and read it to them.  And hope really hard that they find someone that can stick with them and be their color with them, forever.

Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Rating: 4 stars

This is a stretch for books on strawberries...but there aren't many out there!  Hmm...maybe I have found some inspiration to write my own?  Hmm....

This adorable book, and its equally adorable sequels, is by the Julianne Moore, who was a freckleface little girl herself (who grew up to be a big-time Hollywood actress, take THAT you silly kids who teased her about her freckles!).  The illustrations make me wonder how some artists make characters that are just immediately likeable, while other artists fall short.  It's a good story, but Pham certainly helped out the books' popularity with his personality-filled kids stomping around in cartoon-like clusters within the pages of the books.

It's a pretty predictable story: A little girl has freckles and doesn't notice them at all until other kids point out that they stand out.  And we all know that standing out in ANY way in middle school can be totally scary!  The kids around her call her names and taunt her a bit, making her want to hide in silly ways.  Finally, when she comes out from one particularly unwise disguise (a ski mask in summer), a passing mom enlightens her: I had freckles as a child, and they went away.

Whoa!  Good to know!

Our little hero is relieved, and is even more relieved when all the kids at school find her and explain how much they've missed her while she was in hiding.  What?  Teasing is actually a form of love?  Another strange lesson of middle school.  And beyond.

The book is good, though I'd direct them to kids older than five because of the teasing in it.  Call me silly, but I just hesitate to introduce something like that to my kids, who don't do it now and I want to keep them in that bubble of kindness for as long as possible.  But I'm so glad that this book exists--one of our nieces has freckles, and they are so adorable on her already beautiful face that I hope she never feels ashamed of what makes her even more beautiful and more unique.

And this is surely the first book I've reviewed that has a musical based on it!  Check it out here.

Priscilla and the Pink Planet by Nathaniel Hobbie, illustrated by Jocelyn Hobbie

Priscilla and the Pink Planet by Nathaniel Hobbie, illustrated by Jocelyn Hobbie

Rating: 4 stars

Anyone with a daughter understands what I mean when I talk about an explosion of pink.  It started with the (very lovely) baby shower before she was born.  An eruption of pink!  As someone who was not a girly-girl growing up, it was a bit of a shock then.  I'm lucky to have two boys to balance out the pink.  Because of them, I appreciate the pink--and all of the other girly-girl stuff that that single color represents--a whole lot more.

That is exactly what this book is about--appreciating differences!  It definitely made me smile.

Here's the world o' pink...

Priscilla is an adventuresome girl who lives on the Pink Planet.  Everything on the planet is, you've guessed it, pink!  "Pink apples, pink bananas, pink oranges, too. / Pink bicycles, pink rubber on the sole of your shoe. / Pink rivers.  Pink fish.  Pink grass and pink sky. / Pink is all you can see, no matter how hard you try."  That's a whole lotta pink.  Lorelei (and 98.4 percent of all 5 year old girls) would be in heaven!

But Priscilla decides, a la Edna in A Penguin Story, that there must be more color in this world, and she sets off to find it.  She searches and searches, overcoming this obstacle and that, until she runs into a TRULY colorful butterfly.  She follows the butterfly until SNATCH! he is caught in a net by...the Great Queen of Pink!  She haughtily explains: " 'Now look, little girl, just what do you think?! / Don't you know who I am?!  I'm the Great Queen of Pink! / This whole planet is mine, ocean and land, / and unwelcome visitors are one thing I can't stand!' "

...and here's the world o' color.  Better, don't you think?

Priscilla really wants more colors, but she knows she can't just argue with the queen.  Instead, she sits down to tea and outwits the queen by explaining that if all of the colors were out for all to see, that "pink would look even pinker."  So true!  Contrast is everything!

The illustrations by Jocelyn Hobbie are outstanding.  They are fun and busy, jam-packed with little details that make my kids' eyes linger over them until each little detail is discovered.  The animals and people are friendly and cheerful, and Priscilla is quite the character--she seems fun but not snotty, adventurous but not bratty.   And the post-pink world pictures are so much more vibrant, because of the added colors, that I think Lorelei and Ben really DO see and appreciate the idea of contrasting colors, and, hopefully (maybe just maybe!) contrasting differences in things besides color.

The fact that these books are long poems are such a bonus.  They are so much more fun to read, and now I realize how rhymes help Lorelei practice her pronunciation without anyone else around.  Nice little bonus to books that are already getting rave reviews in my house.  We've read a few of the sequels--Priscilla Superstar! and Priscilla and the Splish-Splash Surprise--and will be ordering the rest from our library soon.

Elmer by David McKee

Elmer by David McKee

Lorelei's rating: 5 stars!

What a gem, what a gem! My neighbor happened to be at the library with us and happened to be standing next to the "M" section. She knows of my crazy quest for great books and pulled out this one. It is one of her go-to gift books for a newborn, and I know why. (In the picture, Lorelei follows the words with her fingers as she reads it in her pajamas while we're at the beach.)

Elmer is a patchwork elephant in a herd of regular, plain-old "elephant-color" elephants. The other elephants love him for his uniqueness, but he sees himself as odd and different. Which of course he is. So he tries to make himself just like everyone else, and therefore takes away all his uniquness and coolness. And as soon as he realizes what he's done, he plays the best joke of his life on the rest of the herd.

Ben's favorite animal is definitely an elephant right now; he practices how to trumpet like an elephant all day long, and often calms himself before going to sleep by blowing through his lips in his one elephant way again and again and again and again until he's asleep. So he especially appreciates all the elephants in the book; several pages are just big pictures of a herd of elephants, to show how different Elmer the patchwork elephant is.

As of today (late March 2010) I think this is my favorite book of all!