Midnight Madness at the Zoo by Sherryn Craig

Midnight Madness at the Zoo by Sherryn Craig, illustrated by Karen Jones
Rating: 5 stars

Arbordale

Just in time for March Madness--a basketball picture book! Add animals, a top-notch rhyme, and practice counting to ten and you've got a winning bedtime (or anytime) book.

What do the animals do after the last guest leaves, after the zookeeper locks up the gate for the night, after the last car exits the parking lot? Play basketball, of course!

The animals must warm up first / before they can roam free.
Some new officials take their place: / three zebras referee.
The trumpet of the elephants / calls players from their pens.
But for a game of basketball, / they'll need a group of ten.

Kids listen and see as one by one, an animal is added to each team, until two teams of five are formed. Then they have a fun game of five-on-five--luckily, these are rule-following animals so no elbows are thrown or fouls earned.

Kiefer has had this book in his room for a few weeks now, and I've read it to him at least five times, which means it has scored high enough to be reread more than once or twice. Ben does his best to pretend that he only reads chapter books, but he stood in the doorway for this one. He couldn't help but be interested in it--he's the child in the family who plays and follows basketball.

--

This book is near and dear to my heart because the author, Sherryn Craig, is one of my critique partners. When I met her nearly two years ago, this book had been purchased by Arbordale and I got to follow along in the publishing process. In the beginning, I simply heard how she and her sons went to the Reston Zoo and wondered why the animals all looked so sleepy. "I think they must play basketball all night," her son said. And just like that, an idea was formed.

It was so fun to see the first sketches by Karen Jones sprawled out on the table in front of us at the coffee shop at which we meet. It was even more fun to see the cover in black and white, then color. But the best part? Seeing my friend with her debut picture book in her hand, smiling proud. A close second? Seeing Midnight Madness on our own shelf, or in my kids' hands as they read through it for the very first time.

Congratulations, Sherryn!

Sherryn will be having a few events around town to celebrate and promote her book:

Sunday, March 13th, at the Greene Turtle in Fairfax from 6-8 PM she'll be selling and signing her book while the NCAA Tournament teams are announced.

Saturday, March 19th, at the Reston Zoo 9 AM-12:30 PM she'll be selling and signing her book to celebrate the zoo's opening (after its normal winter closing). Book readings will be at 10 AM, 11 AM, and 12 PM.

More information can be found on Sherryn's website.

Little Blue Truck's Christmas by Alice Schertle

Little Blue Truck's Christmas by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry

Rating: 5 stars

Little Blue and I go way back. I mean, waaaaay back.

The original Little Blue Truck was Ben's favorite book as a baby. Because I read it to him daily, I can still recite the words and recall McElmurry's sweet illustrations that correspond with the stanzas. I can still recall having baby Ben (who turns six in two weeks! what?!) sitting in my lap and reading again and again, him flipping the pages, making the animals sounds, laughing at the change in my voice for the different characters.

I also snapped up the sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way when it was released a few years later. Both of these books have all that you want in great children's books: a fun, interesting rhythm and rhyme; sweet illustrations of neat characters; a nice moral to the story. In the first book, Little Blue helps a big, rude truck get out of the muck and, through his kind actions (rather than preachy words), teaches him that it pays to be a nice guy. In the second book, country-boy Little Blue teaches big-city traffic how to slow down, be patient, and take turns.

This third book, Little Blue Truck's Christmas, is just as wonderful as the first two. It is in a board book format, so best for ages four and under. There's some counting, just from one to five and then back down again, which is best for littler readers. Little Blue puts five trees in back to deliver to his friends, who all (wonderfully) say please and thank you as they request specific trees in the truck bed of Little Blue.

Who gets the last tree? I like this part. I think in decades past the last tree would be saved for an elderly person, someone who needs it most--and while that is fine and dandy, I think the fact that Little Truck saves the last tree for himself is an example of the "self love" trend that has been occurring for the past few years: You've got to love yourself and regard your own happiness in this life we've got, and that habit starts when kids are kids...and hopefully lasts until they are old and gray (and hopefully still very happy).

It's good to see you again, Little Blue!

Dog Loves Counting by Louise Yates

Dog Loves Counting by Louise Yates

Rating: 4 stars

Another review from Washington Family Magazine:

Here is Louise Yates' third book with the sweet character Dog showing us what he loves.  We fell in love with him in Dog Loves Books a short while ago.  Once again in Dog Loves Counting, Dogs problem lies with books: He loves them so much that he cannot stop reading them.  While he should be sleeping, Dog keeps turning pages.  Finally, he puts his last book on the closest stack next to him and tries to fall asleep.  No luck.  "He tried counting sheep, but they weren't helping at all."

So, he reaches for a book.  What else would a book lover do in this or any situation?  In A Big Book of Curious Creatures and Their Habitats, he finds other creatures he can count.

Dog begins, of course, with One.  He first finds an egg that magically and wonderfully begins to hatch. It is a little baby dodo, which looks odd and loveble all at the same time as it looks up to dog as if asking, "What's next?"  Dog carefully takes him by the hand -- or wing -- and together, Number One and Number Two walk into Dog's counting adventure.

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

Hide & Seek by Il Sung Na

Hide & Seek by Il Sung Na

Rating: 4 stars

I really relish the moments when my older kids come sit with me and Kiefer and read with us.  Often they show him parts of a book that he has not seen before.  Sometimes they show me parts of a book that I have not seen before.

Kiefer is almost 2 1/2, and he's just getting into look-and-finds, a category of books with which Ben was obsessed.  Whereas look-and-finds that I've seen dozens of times before are pretty tedious,  a new one brings a fresh challenge.  There can be something really fun about it.

That's how it was with Hide & Seek.  I first read the book to Kiefer and we both liked it: A simple tale where some animal friends play hide and seek.  Elephant counts while his friends all run and hide.  The illustrations are bright and whimsical, the animals are each playful and unique.  Elephant finds them all, except chameleon.  Chameleon finds them.

It wasn't until Ben came to sit with us that I realized that the sly, clever Chameleon is hiding in each page.  Il Sung Na colors his skin in a bunch of fun, interesting ways, allowing him to camouflage himself perfectly.  So, on another read of the book, Ben and Kiefer and I also hunted for Chameleon.  The three of us had a great time silently looking, pointing quietly at the little lizard when we found him in an encouraging oh-good-job-Kiefer way, rather than a competitive I-found-it-first-ha! way.

It was just one of those sweet moments on the sofa with both my boys and one good book.

Food For Thought by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers

Food For Thought: The Complete Book of Concepts for Growing Minds by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers

Rating: 5 stars

Before telling you how cool this book is, I just have to point out the name of the authors: Saxton and Joost.  Um, why were we not aware of those two cool names when naming our children?!  Joost.  Pretty fun.  Let me practice it:  "Joooooost!  Time for dinner!"  Ok, maybe it would raise an eyebrow or two in this non-Dutch neighborhood...

Now, about the book.

Here is a book that combines two of my favorite things: great books and great food.  These two author-artists cut out fruits and veggies to make all sorts of cute and hilarious images--mostly but not only animals.  The expressions on some of the "faces" are amazing!  Really laugh-out-loud funny.

There are five little chapters: shapes, colors, numbers, letters, and opposites.  But really, this is more about fun than learning.  Oh wait...the two can be combined!  Check it out.  And giggle a little with your little one.


I do apologize if your children want their next fruity snack to resemble the this creative, edible art.

Doggone Dogs by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by David Catrow

Doggone Dogs by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by David Catrow

Rating: 3.5 stars

Ben and I just read this book.  I think we said "dogs" one too many times, because my doggone dog Guidry came over and joined us.  Guidry is just as much a character as the full-of-life dogs on the pages of these books.  Leave it to David Catrow to give us ten different dogs, each one hilariously unique in their own way.  He is so talented!

But it's a winning combination, really, because Karen Beaumont is an author who is good to have in your pocket if you go to the library without a clue (an overwhelming thing, definitely).  Her books are always great, silly rhymes--Baby Danced the Polka is my favorite but there are a bunch of good ones.  And Catrow has a zany way about him that makes characters--human or animal--jump off the page and into your imagination.

Doggone Guidry.  He's either hyper or asleep.

When considering a book to review, I usually choose one that offers a good message or ties into what we are doing in our lives.  But sometimes there's a reason to read and review a book that is just entertaining.  That's it, and that's all.  (Right now my husband and I are in debate: are more violent superhero books okay for Ben?  I think that they're not, and he thinks that ANY book is okay.  The jury is still out on this one...actually, wouldn't a jury be helpful in a marriage?  There'd be no person who was right or wrong...oh I am totally getting off track here...)

Anyway, this book IS highly entertaining, with it's slobbering canines romping like crazy through the park, hardly able to see where they are going with fur in their faces, eyes shut with glee, or inability to focus on anything but flowers to pee on.  The word "delightful" is surely overused in the kidlit review world, but that is what this book is: doggone delightful.

Woof!

1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle

1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle

Rating: 4 stars

We didn't leave Kiefer out of the library book-fest (this time).  He, too, got a zoo book.  This one, by the wonderful Eric Carle, is  totally right for him at 13 months.  There are no words--just huge, bright pictures of elephants and giraffe and lions and seals.

Each animal rides in his own train car, packed with others of his kind.  At the bottom of each page the train cars get added, one by one, so that I can remind Kiefer of the numbers of this animal or that when we get to a new one.  Each animal also gets his own excited yell from Kiefer, who seems to like dogs the best but...jury really is still out as communication is, well, limited.

We have had the puzzle version of this book--the first four animals--for a few years, so it was a fun surprise when Ben opened the book for the first time and realized that.  The puzzles have brought us a lot of quality play (I often take them to restaurants as they are small but there are four of them).

At the zoo yesterday we did a counting game--we wondered which animal was there the most of?  (That seems so grammatically wrong...hmmm...)  The answer?  18 turtles, seen the first 10 minutes of our time there!

Get to Work, Trucks! by Don Carter

Get to Work, Trucks! by Don Carter

Rating: 5 hard-working stars

Today is Lorelei's fourth day of school.  And she's home sick.  I'm not completely surprised because she looked extra tired yesterday and, as a first-time-school-goer, she's going to catch everything this year that her classmates have.  Woo hoo!  I'm going to stock up at Kleenex and Tylenol and chicken soup now...

I was planning on taking Ben to the park and library, which are placed wonderfully close to each other in our town.  But with a sick Lorelei, could I still go?  What a dilemma: spreading germs vs. staying in the house all day...getting some fresh air vs. staying in the house all day...getting new books for a quiet afternoon vs. staying in the house all day.  I guess you know what we chose.  (In my defense I washed their hands with soap and water before going into the library!  We only stayed 5 minutes!)

Lorelei was pretty cheery after a missed breakfast, and she insisted that the park was a good idea.  We stayed about 20 minutes and did our civic duty by taking along a towel and drying all the slides and tunnels from last night's rain.  We went to the library to return our old books and pick up those on hold for us, plus a few more that I knew Lorelei would look at again and again, and then headed home.  The moment we got home Lorelei said she wanted to go upstairs, so I took her now-de-germed sheets out of the dryer, made her bed and tucked her in.  Ben didn't even want to go upstairs with us--a bag full of new library books is heaven for him, so he stayed downstairs pulling each book out and, one by one, "reading" them.  

Ben takes out all the new library books.



Three paragraphs in, and I'll get to this book: we've had it in our possession for about 3 hours and I've already read it 4 times.  I think that's a good sign.  It's really not a whole lot more than your basic truck book, with two twists that I like:

First, Don Carter uses foam board, dry wall, and acrylics to make his illustrations, so they look really different and bulky and strong, something that is just perfect for a little boy's book.  (The background also looks like frosting, so many I'm just hankering for some cake right now.)

Second, after the trucks get into a line and proceed in caravan to the work site, they all stop for a turtle that is trying to cross the road.  That strikes a chord for us, as we live in a fairly rural area where turtle crossings occur.  When my husband or I stop to help the turtle along, we always put the turtle's now-hidden head up to the kids' windows so they can see.  I'm sure the turtle is not thrilled at this ("Just put me down on the other side of the road, you fool!" he's probably muttering) but Lorelei and Ben like it.

A great little book for Ben, whose vehicle-related interests already have broadened my mind.

Fire Truck by Peter Sis

Fire Truck by Peter Sis

Rating: 4 stars

Since it's basically Ben Week this week as Lorelei started preschool and he finally has the undivided attention of his mother, I made it a point to order books mostly for him--books that were age-appropriate and topic-appropriate.  The end result: holy smokes I'm going to read a lot about trucks this week!

Now this is a strange little book.  Ben loves fire trucks and firefighters and hopefully all things related to fire except fire itself, so when I saw this on a recommended reading list somewhere, I ordered it right up.  When we picked it up today, Ben was just as eager and curious as me to read it.  So we dug right in.

The text is simple--a little boy loves fire trucks; "fire truck" are the first words out of his mouth in the morning, and the last words out of his mouth at night.  The pictures are simple black and white except for the very red fire trucks--both Ben and I give that two thumb's up, so that's four thumb's up from our family.  But then the boy becomes a fire truck.  I found that a bit odd, but I guess there are little boys out there who probably aren't satisfied to just ride a fire truck.  That's so last week.  BEING a fire truck is way cooler.  Well, this book is for them. 

As the little boy-truck--a fire truck with a chest and head sticking out the back end--drives around, he seems to be having a great time.  There's a great double pull out page that shows the number and an image, getting the little reader to find 3 hoses, 4 blinking lights, etc.  I know Lorelei will love that page when she sees it.  The boy-truck rolls around saving toys and stuffed animals until he smells something good for breakfast: pancakes!  So he parks his truck, morphs into a little boy again, and eats some of those pancakes for breakfast.

This is a good book for a fire truck/firefighter collection, mostly because it's different than most of the books out there on the subject.  If Ben decides to be a fire truck for Halloween, I'll be sure to come back to this post and add a picture...that would be interesting!  As long as he doesn't insist on requiring a Dalmatian for the ensemble.  We've already got two high-strung dogs.  I can't handle a third!

Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins

Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins

Rating: 4.5 stars

This book reminds me that children's books don't have to be cool.  I mean, as much as Fancy Nancy now permeates our days (Lorelei: "Mommy, can I play with your fancy shoes?" or "What fancy dress will I wear today?"), my kids cheer when they find this simple book on our library stack. 

Personally, I find it a tad annoying, but just because I don't go around saying "Fiddle dee fee" when I get frustrated.  I usually spell out a word or two.

Anyway, Pat Hutchins (think Rosie's Walk or The Wind Blew always produces read-aloud classics with intricate drawings, and this is a good example of why children from all over for so long have appreciated her books.  It's a long poem that is simply counts down the apples on a tree--one by one they are picked and eaten by animals on the farm, with the farmer insisting that they leave one for him.  He gets the last one, but then his wife comes up and wants one.  Oops!  Luckily the farmer, his wife, and all their animals spot another tree and everyone ends up happy. 

It's charming in a dusty sort of way, but Lorelei and Ben just adore it, and grandparents seem to be a fan of it, too.  In the picture is beloved Grammy, who --sniff, sniff-- left us yesterday.  At first I was going to write in this review that I couldn't get the right rhythm to the book, but on the third or fourth read I figured it out.  My mom got it on the first try.  Humph.

Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang

Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang

Rating: 4.5 stars

This is a simple counting and bedtime book that works really well.  Despite the fact that most countdowns are pretty exciting things, this countdown is calming and comforting and will hopefully result in a sleeping child, just like the one at the end of this book.

But you've got to know the background of the book to fully appreciate it.  When her daughter was two, the author spent a few weeks away from her--it was the first time she'd spent such a significant amount of time apart.  One night, in the middle of the night, Ms. Bang woke up and wrote this down as a poem to her daughter.  Luckily for us, her daughter thought it'd be neat if the poem her mama had written for her was published for other (less creative) parents to read to their (still deserving) children.

(So...if I'd like to write a good children's book, I need to go away for two weeks and keep a notebook by my bed.  Sweet!  I'll let my husband know I'll be going to Jamaica for two weeks in February.)

Another really interesting tidbit: The author made the father and daughter black; her publisher told her that she'd likely cut her audience, and thus her paycheck, in half.  Of course, she chose to do it anyway and, wonderfully, it has sold equally "to both white and black, and all shades in between."

Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

Rating: 5 blind stars

This is a different type of children's book.  It's a book-turned-guessing game, and your kids play along with the seven sight-impaired mice, who are trying to figure out what animal is near the watering hole. 

One at a time, each mouse scurries around one part of the animal--on Monday, its toe; on Tuesday, its trunk; on Wednesday, its tusk, and so on.  And then they guess what it is.  Monday's mouse thinks it is a pillar while Tuesday's mouse is sure it's a snake but Wednesday's mouse believes it is a spear.  The final mouse scurries along each and every part and declares, along with your kids: An elephant!  The book doesn't end there.  An additional page states: the morale of the story: "Knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole."  What fine advice!

Ben and Lorelei have enjoyed this book, and it's a great book to read aloud.  It helps that I am a ham; my hand became the mouse and I "scurried" up and down Lorelei and Ben's arms and legs and heads and made guesses about what I was touching each time, with my eyes closed, of course.  It's a good book to read because there are so many ways to use it to make hypotheses, predictions, and guesses.  It also could be an example of how to write a fable, something that I'm sure is a required activity in grade school...maybe second grade?  It also teaches the days of the weeks and ordinal counting, so there's a lot of information within the pages of this book.

I also have to brag here: this is the only book I've ever read in Thai.  My reading is not so good, probably because the language is fun to speak but a bear to read and write.  I can do it, but...as you can see children's books are all that I got through!

Animal Numbers by Bert Kitchen

Animal Numbers by Bert Kitchen

Rating: 3 stars

Not surprisingly, Ben saw this at the library last week and just had to have it.  He's a fan of our two weimaraners (who, luckily, are big fans of him) so the Irish Setters on the cover grabbed his attention.  This is a gorgeous book, with only a few words on the first page that introduce the book--and explain that the numbers correspond with the number of babies each mother animal has surrounding her. 

No doubt, it is a gorgeous book.  Kitchen draws incredibly realistic but also super creative pictures for each number, often making the animal and the number work together.  For example, the three baby squirrels climb up the number "3" and the four baby woodpeckers nest within the triangle of the "4" while the mama pecks away into the "4."  Lorelei traces the large, bold numbers with her fingers (a good pre-writing activity, I think).

It's not meant to be read aloud to kids, I know, and that's how we use most books these days, so I can't wax poetic about the book.  My biggest question comes from the last page, where Kitchen promises to explain all the babies names.  But then he doesn't.  He does say that a baby kangaroo is called a joey and states an interesting and often random fact about each baby animal, but...  We information-seekers want to know what babies are called!  I want Lorelei and Ben to pass that pop quiz of life, or in their second grade class when they are asked to identify all these things. 

Maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself and should just slooooooooooow down and enjoy the pictures of this book.  I'll do better at that sloooooooooooowing down thing.  Tomorrow. Or maybe next week.  Or next year?

10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle

10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle

Rating: 5 stars

This is a great book, but it was made even greater because it was given to Lorelei and Ben from their beloved Grammy. And, what's even greatest of all, was that it came in the mail. A package! In the mailbox! For them! Hurrah for the old-fashioned postal system! This book appeared in our mailbox last year, just a few days before we drove down to the beach, and we read it at least five times a day--in the house, on the deck, on the beach, and of course many times in the car during the looooong car drive. (Who takes pictures of themselves while reading? Yup, we do.)

As with other Eric Carle books, this one does so much! It's a great story--just a simple tale, and based on a true story! Ten little rubber ducks get thrown overboard and they drift ten different ways, meeting ten different animals. The book has its own little rhythm to it that makes the words easy to remember; Lorelei memorized the book within a few days. It is definitely a "counting book" but also introduces or reinforces--depending on where your child is--sequential counting (first, second, third, etc). And the animals are all sea creatures--dolphins leaping out of the water, huge sea turtles, giant whales, and flying pelicans. It is a GREAT book, perfect for anytime or for a trip to the beach.