Please Please the Bees by Gerald Kelley

Please Please the Bees by Gerald Kelley
Albert Whitman and Company

Rating: I'd like to give it a 6!

I have 51 books checked out from our local library right now. We brought about half of them to the Oregon Coast last weekend--the hardback library picture books were augmented by paperbacks from our own children's library in an unsuccessful attempt to make my giant library bag a little lighter. Of all those books, this one is my favorite right now.

Meet Benedict. He's a simple bear. A creature of habit. Every morning, he wakes up at the same time. He stretches and yawns, opens his door, and collects the three jars of honey the bees deliver each day.

To fuel his day, he has toast with honey and tea with extra honey. Then he sets off practicing violin, baking honey cake, knitting, and running errands.

Until one day when there are no jars of honey on his doorstep. Instead, he sees dozens of bees, flying and steadying signs: "ON STRIKE!" No more honey. Benedict is beside himself. He doesn't know what to do, but he knows his days are impossible without his honey.

A bee buzzes up to him: "We need to talk!"

Benedict: "Talk? Humph! I let you all live in my yard. All I ask is for a few jars of honey. You should be grateful. Not go on strike!"

Bee: "A few jars? Buddy, we deliver three jars of honey to you every day. Every month! Every year! Do the math, Einstein!"

Benedict even learned how to harvest honey. 

At that moment, a lightbulb in Benedict's fuzzy bear head lights up. And he gets it. And as the bee explains the poor working conditions, high demands, the number of queen bees that have quit, and how many miles and miles they have to fly to find enough flowers to make their honey, Benedict understands the problem even more. At first, he's not sure what to do, although he knows--he agrees with the bee--that change is necessary. Then Benedict does some research, a little shopping, and a LOT of work.

The result? A spruced-up hive and a new plan of action where Benedict does a lot of the work himself. The bees drop their "ON STRIKE!" signs and get back to work.

The bigger result? A children's book that is up there with the great and clever classic Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type--both that book and this one apply a complex, usually-adult subject to a children's book in just the right way. Gerard Kelley created a book to put in the laps of children that inspires and teaches about the importance of taking care of the world's bees. But this book's illustrations go beyond Click, Clack, Moo...the illustrations of Please Please The Bees are sweet and gorgeous, clever and funny. They are downright perfect.

I only wish there was an author's note or resources on the back to show young readers what they can do to "please the bees!" But the Honeybee Conservancy has some ideas. Click HERE for them, right after you head to your local independent bookstore to buy this book.

Ms. Rapscott's Girls by Elise Primavera

Ms. Rapscott's Girls by Elise Primavera
Dial Books for Young Readers

Rating: 5 stars

It's January, and there are approximately 3 trillion "Best of 2015" lists floating around the internet. I love looking at them, but do you know the ones about which I'm most curious? My kids' "best of" lists. I'm sure Ms. Rapscott's Girls is at the top of Lorelei's "Best of 2015" lists. I don't remember how we stumbled across every book, but I do remember how she discovered this one.

During Spring Break, we went down to the chilly beach in Duck, NC, and found some warm refuge in our favorite bookstore there, the Island Bookstore. We bought some books and got an IndieBound flyer that highlighted some of the newly released books (click HERE for most recent one). Lorelei read through the middle grade section and circled the ones that piqued her interest--Ms. Rapscott's Girls was one of the books we checked out from the library based on that flyer.

Here's Lorelei's review of the book:

Have you ever gotten the feeling that something is too good to be true? Boom. Ms. Rapscott's Girls. Right up there with Ms. Piggle-Wiggle and Mary Poppins--you know, the works! 

A story of four girls, four boxes, two dogs, and an extraordinary teacher, an extraordinary school, and an extraordinary adventure to find the missing Rapscott girl, Ms. Rapscott's Girls will sweep you off your feet like the Skysweeper Winds. This book definitely deserves to be at the top of the birthday cake!

I agree with Lorelei--and love that she can reference other books with great stand-in parent figures, and recognizes that this book fits in with those classics!

You might want a few more details:

Ms. Rapscott has two dogs, Lewis and Clark,
who help keep the girls in line...

Ms. Rapscott heads up a school for girls with busy parents, parents who are too busy pursuing Their Own Thing (some examples: running for days, not just miles; becoming celebrity chefs; being popular, successful doctors) to pay much attention to their daughters. As a result, their daughters have not had the chance to learn many basic life skills. Mrs Rapscott snatches them up in a magical way, and they all end up together, in her lighthouse, under her care.

(I must admit I was pleased that Lorelei didn't think I was a "busy parent," and that she knew nearly all of the big and little skills the girls learned over the course of the book. Gold parenting star to me...) 

Ms. Rapscott's School is quite an adjustment for the girls. They're used to watching TV all day, shouting to be heard, entertaining themselves by reading the encyclopedias, or being small grown ups instead of kids. They bumble and fumble as they learn to clip their nails and make tea and eat birthday cake for breakfast. But more important than that, Ms. Rapscott teaches them big, important things, such as How to Find Their Way by making them get lost on purpose. I love that--because all girls (and sometimes grown ups) need to learn how to figure out which way to go in life.

This a lovely book to read out loud with your daughter, or have her read by herself. Or, like me and Lorelei, both!



P.S. There's a sequel coming out in Fall 2016!

Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud by Tracey Fern

Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud by Tracey Fern, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

Farrar Straus Giroux

Rating: 5 stars

Ellen Prentiss wasn't like other girls. She fell in love with sea at an early age. Her father, loving and appreciating that she loved the water as much as he loved it, taught her all that he knew about hoisting sails, steering a schooner, and most important of all: navigating. Every chance she got, she was practicing one of these skills with her father's trading schooner.

She loved racing any and all ship around her. Her father's advice was always the same: "A true navigator must have the caution to read the sea, as well as the courage to dare the wind."

Decades later, when Ellen found a man who loved the sea as much as she did and who encouraged her sea skills as much as her father did, she married him. The two soon were charged with navigating the Flying Cloud on a fifteen-thousand-mile journey from New York City down to Cape Horn and up to San Francisco. The Gold Rush was on, and they were hurrying to get passengers and cargo to America's West Coast.

If they could make the trip faster than any other ship, they would receive a bonus and the world record. Ellen was excited--and determined.

Ellen pushed the Flying Cloud hard at the start of the ship, covering hundreds of miles each day. But she pushes it too hard and the mainmast rips. The damage humbles Ellen, and makes her reconsider how hard she pushed the ship. The next few weeks she sets a cautious course, catching only gentle breezes. Then she remembers her father's advice and thinks "There is no glory in second place. Now is the time for courage."

And so, Ellen dares the wind and leads the Flying Cloud through dangerous waters, a frightening storm, and around the cliffs of Cape Horn. They charged north again, once again covering hundreds of miles each day. After eighty-nine days at sea, they reached San Francisco in world-record time.

This is an exciting true story--an example of how history really does churn out the best stories around. (Congratulations to Tracey Fern who writes the story with such suspense.) I really want to imprint Ellen's father's words in all of my kids' brains. You must have caution and courage, I want them to see, and the wisdom to know when to use which. Caution and courage, caution and courage, caution and courage.

Magic Treehouse Survival Guide by Mary Pope Osborne

Magic Treehouse Survival Guide by Mary Pope Osborne
Random House Children's Books

Rating: 4.5

There is so much to love about the Magic Tree House series! Mary Pope Osborne has been churning them out since 1992, taking her characters and my own children (and probably yours, too) on adventures all over the world and throughout history. Through research and clues, their own smarts and courage, Jack and Annie solve mysteries anywhere and everywhere.

In 2000, Mary Pope Osborne began writing nonfiction companion guides with her husband, Will Osborne, and sister Natalie Pope Boyce. Together, they wrote books chock full of information about animals, authors and events so that kids could “track the facts” in the fiction books Osborne had already written. Then there’s the Merlin series, started a few years later. These are longer and more challenging for kids whose reading level is higher. There’s even a Broadway play based on one of the books!

There really is something for everyone. Lorelei especially has thoroughly enjoyed the series. But when I saw this Survival Guide…I thought it was something altogether unique and cool and separate, and I was excited to grab it, read it, and tell you all about it. The cover alone is pretty fantastic; there’s a compass embedded into it, Jack is jumping from a shark and Annie is dangling by a rope over an alligator. Yikes!

Jack and Annie explain in the introduction that they’ve gone on some incredible adventures and, along the way, they’ve picked up a whole lot of useful survival skills. “Chances are,” they point out, “you’ll never need them, but in case you do, here they are.”

In the five different chapters, your child will read about:

• Wilderness skills (e.g., how to tell time without a watch, how to find water, what to do if you get lost)

• Animal attacks (e.g., how to survive a lion attack, a gator encounter, a stampede)

• Extreme weather (e.g., surviving extreme cold, preparing for power outage, staying safe in a thunderstorm)

• Disasters (e.g., surviving a tsunami, avalanche, fire)

• Incredible survivals, or things that are highly unlikely but still fun to read about (e.g., surviving T-Rex encounter, a shipwreck, zero gravity)

Each survival tip starts with a reference to one of Jack and Annie’s many adventures, and they explain a little bit about where they were at the time and why they had to learn how to, for example, survive a lion attack. For my oldest daughter who has read every single book, it was a reminder of a story she read years ago. For my son who hasn’t gotten through all of the Magic Tree House books yet, it was a helpful synopsis and an invitation to read more.

The book is geared to 7-10 year olds, and the text includes a lot of parental connection—Osborne reminds kids to check with their parents or heed parental guidance frequently throughout the book. I think that’s wise and, as a parent, I sure appreciate the reminder. While Jack and Annie are right—kids will likely never need more than “how to prepare for a power outage”—how fun it is to travel beyond kids’ mostly easy existence to situations that require serious courage and grit. How fun for kids to have a little more knowledge about what it takes to be in one of these situations.

I really hope my trio doesn’t ever have to sustain themselves on a diet of spiders. But if they do, I have Mary Pope Osborne to thank for their preparation!


(The original review was done for Washington FAMILY Magazine. Click HERE to access it.)

Walk on the Wild Side by Nicholas Oldland

Walk on the Wild Side by Nicholas Oldland
Kids Can Press

Rating: 5 stars

This book had me from its opening page: "There once was a bear, a moose, and a beaver who loved adventure. But sometimes their competitive natures got in the way of having fun."

Anyone who knows me understands why this might speak to me... I might be a teensy-weensy bit competitive. Just a tad. Every now and then.

Here is the story of these three wild friends:

They decide to go for a hike. During a snack break a few pages into the book--a few miles into their hike, they discuss ways to make their adventure a little more interesting. The beaver thought it'd be exciting to make the hike into a race!

So off they go. (The illustration of them running, each on two feet, is my all-time favorite.) Because of his long legs, the moose takes the lead. But a boulder suddenly drops down in front of him. To avoid getting squashed, the moose had to jump over the side of the mountain. (Oh, no!)

The beaver huffs and puffs up. He doesn't see the moose so he thinks he's fallen behind. He picks up his pace, unknowingly passing his fallen friend.

Luckily, the bear hears the moose and tries to rescue him. Unfortunately, his rescue attempt fails and moose ends up grabbing his paw and saving him. Their cries for help echo up the mountain, and the beaver turns around when he hears them. The beaver's instincts kick in and he chews down a tree, chews several notches in it, and lowers down the simple ladder. Relieved to not be dangling over the side of the mountain anymore, the beaver's friends breathe deeply.

They decide they've had enough racing for a day, and hike along together, exploring little and big things--together.

I have to admit I'm a little annoyed with myself that I've not seen these books before--this is the fourth book with this wild trio by Nicholas Oldland. I've ordered them all from our local library, but really I would love a print of these guys--I love their silly expressions, the western backdrop, their simple adventures.

(Oh, and by the way, this author also has a cool clothing store company--he started this picture book venture by first making kids' pajamas then thought, "Hmm...wouldn't it be cool to write a book for kids to read while they wore these pajamas?!" Check his company, Hatley, out HERE.)

The Night World by Mordicai Gerstein

The Night World by Mordicai Gerstein
Little, Brown and Company

Rating: 5 stars

I read this book just a few days after our family camped out together for the very first time. At my husband's suggestion, he and the kids slept "under the stars"--which meant on top of a tarp, on a thin camping pad, inside their sleeping bags. But under nothing else. I slept in the tent he'd already set up, thinking someone would join me during the night. But no one did.

The kids were excited, and though we have good kids who like a good adventure, I was still surprised that there was no complaining during the two hours it took for them to fall asleep. For kids who normally go inside and up to bed around 7:30, there was a whole lot to see. Night unfolded in acts: bats flew erratically over them, birds chirped loudly, fireflies flashed on and off, the sky darkened, the birds stopped singing, stars began to shine. The fell asleep sometime around 9:30, and slept solidly until they all awoke, wet with dew, the next morning.

They fell asleep at the beginning of The Night World, looking at a sky very similar to the sky at which the boy on the cover gazes. In the book, a cat, Sylvie, wakes the boy, wanting to go out. The two of them creep through the house--dark bodies in dark rooms, with only the words on the pages and their eyes bright white.

Sylvie says mysteriously, "It's coming. Hurry!" as the two creep along. The reader starts to wonder, starts to get pulled into the mystery just as the boy does. They walk outside to the deliciously wet, quiet, and dark world. The white stars glitter off the page.

The glow flares above the trees.
Clouds turn pink and orange.

They see parts of the night, but they also see animals, who are just as excited about what is about to happen. "It's almost time!" they cry out.

The animals and the boy become the audience for what happens, the same thing that happens every morning, the same miracle we witness, the same gift we're given... The sky lightens gradually, casting shadows on the animals, a glow forms, and the clouds become rich with color. As the animals begin to slip away, just the boy and Sylvie remain to absorb dawn's first, magical light.

They say good morning to each other, filled with sunshine and hope and eagerness for the day ahead.

I love how Gerstein creates an entire story around the magic of a sunrise. Having just seen my three kids' enthusiasm while watching day turn into night, I know it's no exaggeration that kids believe in the beauty of a simple, daily act of nature.

Mama Built A Little Nest by Jennifer Ward

Mama Built A Little Nest by Jennifer Ward, illustrated by Steve Jenkins

Rating: 5 stars

If you've got a nature-loving kid somewhere near you, this book needs to be in his or her hands. We were all blown away by how many facts we learned from a book that appeared to be a simple rhyme with gorgeous illustrations.

Ward gives us a gift of a book jam-packed with great information about a bunch of different birds--from the more well-known emperor penguin and falcons to more unique birds such as the weaverbird (the yellow bird pictured on the cover), falcon, grebe, and shorebird.

This is a grow-with-me book, or a book for a household like ours--with one strong, curious reader; one emerging, interested reader; and one bird-loving, letter-finder. On each two-page spread is a succinct, one-stanza rhyme about the bird illustrated on the page. There are also several sentences about the bird written in a smaller, different font for readers like Lorelei to read on her own or for me to read to Ben (he can read most of the words in the actual poem himself).

Mama built a little nest / inside a sturdy trunk.
She used her beak to tap-tap-tap / the perfect place to bunk.

Each page not only shows the reader what the bird looks like, but what the nest is like. The diversity of each bird--from what it looks like to how it makes its nest--impressed me greatly and was fun to point out to my kids. The birds and their neat nests grabbed my kids' attention and set off their imaginations.

Here are some of my favorite facts about the birds and their nests in this book:

• A hummingbird makes the smallest cup-shaped nest out of spiderwebs so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow.
• The male cactus wren makes many dome-shaped nests to attract a female. If impressed, the female will choose one and then continue to add to its structure.
• Grebes create a floating nest on the water and anchor it to water plants.
• The swiftlet makes an edible nest (!!) using tube-shaped saliva, which hardens in the air. Swiftlet nests are used in bird's nest soup, a Chinese delicacy.

My kids love this type of bird feeder!

This is a wonderful, one-of-a-kind book that pairs nicely with the kind of bird feeder we have attached to our window...click HERE for link to purchase.

A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz

A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz, illustrated by Cátia Chien

Rating: 5 stars

Once upon a time, a little boy about four years old walked with his father to the Bronx Zoo. This boy stood in front of the cage of a giant, wild jaguar. The jaguar paced before the boy, seeming frustrated at his confined situation.

The boy understood how the jaguar felt. He was a stutterer; thoughts were confined to his head, unable to get out. Usually when he tried to "use his words" he grew red in the face and his body convulsed with the his inability to transform his thoughts into coherent sounds and launch them successfully into the conversation.

But today, in front of this great cat, he whispered without a single stutter, "One day, if I figure out how to speak, I will speak for you, too." There was something magical between them. With this wild creature, he could speak.

On the days between visits to that jaguar in the Bronx Zoo, the little boy endured harsh sentences--he heard grown-ups tell him he was broken, and he was sent to a school for disturbed children. Like that jaguar, he felt caged and misunderstood.

"If I try to push words out, my head and body shake uncontrollably."

Years went by and this little boy grew up and went to college in an experimental program that embraced his debilitating stutter, and grown ups encouraged him to be a "fluent stutterer." He worked hard to finally speak without stuttering. He found his voice.

But he still feels broken on the inside, still feels damaged and different and unsure how to use that voice. He studies black bears in the Great Smoky Mountains, then travels to Belize to study jaguars. He starts to feel connected to his voice, and he wants to use it to fulfill the promise he made to that one jaguar on that one day so long ago.

He begins to follow and capture jaguars for study before releasing them. He successfully argues for the world's first and only jaguar wildlife preserve. He becomes Dr. Alan Rabinowitz: a zoologist, a conservationist, a passionate advocate for the 36 big cat species of the world, what Time calls the "Indiana Jones of Wildlife Conservation." And today, he says he is grateful for his stuttering, because that disability led him to what he is most passionate about: jaguars.

This is an incredibly moving true story about working hard, keeping promises, finding your passion, and making the world a better place.

P.S. The illustrations by Cátia Chien are phenomenal, too!

The Tarantula in My Purse: and 172 Other Wild Pets by Jean Craighead George

The Tarantula in My Purse: and 172 Other Wild Pets by Jean Craighead George

Rating: 5 stars

I went on a trip last week, and left this book for Lorelei with a Post-It stuck onto it: "DO NOT read this book! Mrs. George is MUCH nicer than your mom! She lets her kids bring any and every animal they want into their home as a pet!  Your mom is not that nice.  Do NOT read this--you'll get too many great ideas!"

She read the book (of course). And loved it.

That's right: Jean Craighead George was a much more tolerant, patient, encouraging mother than I am. She tolerated--no, encouraged!--her three children to bring home and keep home anything and everything they found in the wild. Crows. Skunks. Frogs. Fish. Ducks. Geese. Lots of birds. And yes, even a tarantula.

Because George herself had this sort of upbringing, it was second-nature to her.  So I guess I could blame my dear mom and dad, but...I try not to throw them under the bus unless it's absolutely necessary.

Each short little chapter is about a different pet the George family had, and little quirks and idiosyncrasies about that particular animal and/or that particular pet. It is not overly scientific, and I think that's a really great thing. Instead, there are heaps of small bits of information about the behavior of wildlife that the family learned first-hand simply by observing the animal over an extended period of time. They just wrote down what they observed, and oftentimes George would also provided background about the animal's behavior that she had learned through research while writing one of her many nature books.  (She is the author of more than 100 books, including Julie of the Wolves and, my childhood favorite, My Side of the Mountain.)

This was a great, fun read for me, but also very appropriate for any animal-loving kid. It would be a great read-aloud book as kids wonder "What if we had a ___ for a pet?!" Appropriate for any age at all--just be ready for some wild pet suggestions!

--

P.S. I heard about this book through the for-adults book The Book Whisperer, which is full of ideas on how to get kids to read more and also has a ton of middle-grade great book suggestions in it.

P.P.S. One fun exercise to do with this book is to read this book together (or, like Lorelei and I did, separate) and then read the I Can Read It book Goose and Duck, which is a cute little fictional story that you quickly find out in the book is based on a totally true story. What a need example of how to come up with a fiction story with a true story, and how you write what you know!

Three Bears in a Boat by David Soman

Three Bears in a Boat by David Soman

Rating: 5 stars

Imagine this: It's dinner time after the first day of school.  A day filled with a whole lot of emotions: excitement, fear, happiness, pride, uncertainty, and relief. Ben went to kindergarten at a new school, with his big sister Lorelei, and is proud of himself for having survived the day full of way too many New Things. He is relieved to be home, but his relief comes out in whining and excess energy.  All are hungry and tired, past the point of being polite to each other.

What do I do?  I look for a story that can make them forget theirs for a minute.  A story that their imaginations can get wrapped up in.

I reach for Three Bears in a Boat, written and illustrated by the co-creator of Ladybug Girl, so he's got a few good books under his belt. While I like Ladybug Girl and the subsequent Bumblebee Boy, Soman is on a whole new level with Three Bears in a Boat.  A whole, new, wonderful level.

The bears in the third boat seemed a bit busy.

Three young bears (my kids loved that there was a girl and two boys) play roughly inside and knock over their mama's beautiful blue seashell. It smashes in a hundred tiny pieces all across the floor. They scatter and come up with a plan to fix the situation. They decide to find another seashell, and put it in the place of the broken one.  Their mama will never know.

The trio sail off in their boat, past other bears in boats that provide them and us comic relief but not much assistance in where to find another beautiful blue shell. They finally meet a salty old bear who reckons he can help them. "Just over yonder," he points with his big old paw.

"Over yonder" brings them past a lot of different places--some fun, some not so fun--into places they never knew existed. Finally they arrive at their destination (how they know it is just one of those magical moments in children's books--they just know) and they begin to search for the shell. They open fish mouths, search in trees, look up high cliffs, and peek in caves. But no beautiful blue seashell. They are empty-handed, and far from home.

Their voyage was not without incident.

They get back in the boat, and begin to argue (they are past the point of politeness, too), each blaming the other for breaking the shell. Around them, the waves and the weather begin to mirror their unhappiness, and the sky becomes dark, the water cranky. "BOOM!" Thunder startles them, finally interrupting their anger.  Scared, they huddle together.  "They are all in the same boat," writes Soman. Yes, indeed. Each accepts responsibility for his or her part in the seashell accident as they cling to each other very tightly.

The storm peters out and the sea is calm again. They sail for home. They know what they must do. As they pull their boat up to their own shore, they find another beautiful blue seashell, right near their home. They carry it, sobered by their experience, up to their mama, and apologize for breaking her shell.  They offer the new one to her.

She hugs them up in a big bear hug, and forgives them, grateful that they are home again.  Mama feeds them supper...but they don't get any dessert!

The illustrations are top-notch--beautiful, sweeping pictures of imaginary places that you just want to set sail to right away. My three kids--especially the two school going ones--were as swept away and calmed by the story that had a mama at the end of their journey.  Just like that bear mama, I was so grateful my little cubs were home after their adventure of their first day of kindergarten and second grade!

Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys by Bob Raczka

Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys by Bob Raczka, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

Rating: 5 stars

This book is a whole lot of awesome.

Raczka wrote a year's worth of haiku poems especially for boys--each season gets about six simple-yet-so-clever poems inspired by the outdoorsy play and crazy behavior that is mostly associated with boys.  Here are my favorites (yeah, I know I did two for summer. I couldn't choose!):

Spring:
In a rushing stream,

we turn rocks into a dam.
Hours flow by us.

Summer:
Pine tree invites me

Ba ha ha!!

to climb up to the sky.
How can I refuse?

Penny on the rail,
you used to look like Lincoln
before you got smooshed.

Fall:
From underneath the
leaf pile, my invisible
brother is giggling.

Winter:
How many million
flakes will it take to make a
snow day tomorrow?

Love, love, LOVE!

Haikus are so accessible for kids--they are so easy to come up while hiking along, eating breakfast, taking a walk around the block, or driving in a car, which is when Lorelei and Ben and I often do them. It's fun and there's no rhyming necessary and the sillier the better. During Lorelei's Spring Break, when she was encouraged to journal every day, she wrote a haiku every day instead.  On the first day we all got in on the haiku fun...I have one of mine written down--our whole family, including our two weimaraners, were in the car heading to West Virginia and the dogs' smelly gas leaking from their rears was filling up the car.  That was the subject of my poem, which had me in stitches (I often crack myself up).

Back to the book.

I think two opposite things, strongly, at the same time: First, I wish that this was for all kids, not just boys.  Lorelei was the one who enjoyed this the most; I was happy she agreed to forget the subtitle of the book and read it.  She loves thinking up haikus any old time.

Second, I love that this is just for boys. I love that a whole book is full of what I hope my boys are always full of: curiosity and energy, laughter and outdoor play, silliness and exploration.

I know, I know.  I'm a card-carrying member of the Want it Both Ways Club.

Either way, this book is a whole lot of awesome!

Doug Unplugged by Dan Yacarrino

Doug Unplugged by Dan Yacarrino

Rating: 5 stars

We picked up and checked out Doug Unplugged by one of our favorite authors, Dan Yacarrino, yesterday.  I read it four times in about six hours.  A curious thing happens when I start reading it to one of my kids: the other two hear me and come over.  Did Dan Yacarrino install a kid-magnet in this book or something??

I love this book--just love it!  I love the message it sends to kids and grown ups alike, and I think Yacarrino tells this message in the most perfect way.

So we've got Doug.  He's a robot.  Every morning his parents plug him into a giant machine to teach him facts and figures.  They want him to be the smartest robot around.  After they've plugged him in, they pat him on his head, walk away, and go to work.

And he really does learn a lot!  Today's lessons focus on the city.  Doug learns how many manholes are in the city.  Doug learns how many emergencies firefighters respond to every day.  Doug learns how tall the highest skyscraper is.  Doug learns how many miles of subway tracks exist.  Doug learns how many pigeons live in the city.

Here's all that Doug learns by unplugging and exploring the city...

Then, something interrupts all this learning.  A pigeon.  A real, live pigeon.  His first observation: he didn't know they cooed like that.  Doug stretches to follow the pigeon and SNAP! Doug unplugged! He is now unattached from his learning machine. He looks at the pigeon and wonders what else he can learn from actually experiencing the city.  So he follows the pigeon (a jet-pack is handy here) out over and then into the city.

From his exploration, he learns that manholes are dark.  Fire engines are loud!  Skyscrapers are so tall they offer a fantastic view of the city. Subways zip through those miles and you have to hang on extra tight around the curves. He even meets a friend, and learns how to play--including how many ways there are to play! Teeter-totters!  Smelling flowers!  Slides! Hide and go seek!  Swinging!

Doug learns not from words or books or downloads but from being there.  Experiencing it.  Using his senses.  What a great message, especially for this tired mom at the end of a jam-packed summer: Unplug.  Go outside and roam.  There is so, so much to experience and learn!


(A sequel to this book called Doug Unplugged at the Farm was released just three weeks ago...will try to get my hands on it! Read all of my reviews of Dan Yacarrino's books HERE.  My favorite is Every Friday.)

Camp Rex by Molly Idle

Camp Rex by Molly Idle

Rating: 4 stars

Hurry, check out this book to get in the mood for your summer camping trip!

If you close your eyes and just listen to the words of the book, you'll hear an old time-y, 1950s guide to camping. I just can hear the enthusiastic, wholesome male voice ring loud and clear:

Searching for an outing to enjoy with your friends?  Consider camping! The fresh air and exercise are invigorating!
Remember to stay together as a group…and stick to the trail. When you reach the campsite, find the perfect place to pitch your tent.

The words in this picture book are straightforward.  The illustrations?  Funny, quirky, endearing, and downright beautiful.  I just can't get enough of them!

Set to the wholesome, no-nonsense voiceover, a girl, her brother, and their pre-historic pals head out on a camping trip. Their time starts innocently enough as they march smilingly through the woods to a campsite. Their tents go up--with a few mishaps--and wave cheerily to a crabby owl as they move out to explore the area.

This is where the story picks up.

A traditional sing-along and marshmallow roast
always bring campers closer together.

They nearly step into poison ivy, and as the narrator urges them not to disturb the natural landscape, T-Rex (with a teensy-tiny boy scout hat perched atop his gigantic noggin), he picks up a beehive. Hilarious panic ensues as they run and jump into a lake.  They head back to camp to start a fire, cook dinner, and roast marshmallows.  T-Rex tries to be helpful by ripping up an entire tree to add to the fire, but instead he uses it to roast marshmallows: the entire root system of the tree has a marshmallow balanced on it.

This is a very cute book with incredibly sweet and warm illustrations.  Really, I'd like the pages of this book to be prints that I could frame and hang around my kids' rooms. I guess I shouldn't expect less from Molly Idle, the author and illustrator of Caldecott honor book Flora and the Flamingo last year.

The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins

The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever by H. Joseph Hopkins, illustrated by Jill McElmurry

Rating: 5 stars

Katherine Olivia Sessions lived in Northern California in the 1860s.  In a time when girls were supposed to be prim and proper, clean and courteous, Kate roamed the redwoods, collected pine needles, and got dirty.

(Don't you like her already?)

She was one of few girls interested in science, and she left home to study plants and soil and water at the University of California.  In 1881, she and a handful of other women held a degree in science.

(Hooray for Kate!)

She moved to Southern California, to San Diego, for a job after graduation.  Unlike her childhood in the north, she was now surrounded by desert and a landscape without trees.  She was a teacher at a local school for a few years, but missed science.  She missed trees, too.  She became determined to find trees to grow in her new home. Few believed this was possible.

(Kate had determination and faith and smarts…enough to solve any problem.)

Her friends worried Kate wouldn't find trees to live in dry
soil with lots and lots of sunshine.
But she did.

It took years of tree hunting to find trees that would grow, but found trees, planted trees, and then opened a nursery to sell trees. All of the trees grew, enriched the landscape, and made city leaders believe that Balboa Park needed trees to become a better setting for a fair that would soon be held there. They turned to Kate, and Kate turned to the community for volunteers to help.  Together, they planted trees and created a lush backdrop for the fair.

I admit that I got this book and a few others like it at the start of Lorelei's nature science camp as further inspiration for her curiosity and interest in the camp.  I read a while back that around the age of seven, girls have a significant decline in their interest of science and math.  Something happens, and I'm not expert enough to understand the nuances of how girls act in school in these subjects in most schools, or what happens psychologically as girls develop and approach things that are Typically Boy and Typically Girl.

But.

I do know that I have a daughter who gasped at the cover of this book and said, "That could be me!" before even opening it.  She identified with Kate Sessions; both girls find solace and wonder among nature and trees.  Both are curious and capable, and care enough about things besides themselves to make a difference in others' lives.  So yes, I want this book lying around to quietly and beautifully remind Lorelei: Individuals matter.  And girls can do great things.

(I believe that Lorelei can.  And will!)

Some Bugs by Angela Diterlizzi

Some Bugs by Angela Diterlizzi, illustrated by Brendan Wenzel

Rating: 5 stars

This book is one, big, deliciously illustrated invitation for your kid to arm herself with curiosity, go outside, and search for some bugs.  As long as she doesn't get too close to a stinging type of bug, what's not to love about that?!

From first glance, I was in love with this book.  Wenzel's illustrations are bright and fun and he somehow gives the cover and pages a sense of movement with all these bugs. He balances perfectly the fine line between real bugs and cartoon-like character bugs.  Kids have a real sense of what the real bug looks like, but it's still cuter and more approachable than in real life.  His work completely shines here.

Some bugs click. Some bugs sing.

The story really doesn't have the rise and fall and resolution story that we hold up as The Way To Go. There's not much story at all--but that works in this concept book.  This book is simply one about a single subject: bugs (as if that's news at this point). "Some bugs sting. Some bugs bite. Some bugs stink."  The words are sparse--but we found ourselves lingering on each page to make sure our eyes saw all there was to see.

Until you get to the end, that is, and then there's a flurry of words:

Stinging, biting, stinking, fighting,
hopping, gliding, swimming, hiding,
building, making, hunting, taking,
bugs are oh-so-fascinating!
So kneel down close, look very hard,
and find some bugs in your backyard!

The final page is this, a vibrant field guide to all the bugs introduced in the book:

A great book for summer.  Pair it with a big magnifying glass and an hour or two, and you've got yourself a nice way to spend an afternoon!

Mr Magee and his dog Dee books by Chris Van Dusen

Rating: 15 stars!  (or, 5 each)

Here are the facts about all three of these books, before I get to the details of them individually:

1. I've had them from the library for far too long. Two are due today!  But I really don't want to return them.
2. Kiefer and I have read them every-which-where, including but not limited to: the gas station, Ben's gymnastics class, the library, and carpool.
3. They are fun, fun, FUN--wonderfully silly and witty read-aloud books that just do not get old!
4. The word choice is just perfect, with mostly known words he bends into a rhyme and creative, stretch words sprinkled throughout.
5. The illustrations are fantastic, jump-out-from-the-page, retro masterpieces.
6. Van Dusen lives in Maine, so each of these books has hints of Maine, which is a nice twist if you're heading there this summer or if you live there year-round or if you wish one/both of these were true.

And now, to a few details about each book (though you really don't need details.  Just get them--order them or buy them or swipe them from my library bag Thursday afternoon if you're feeling especially wily)…

Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee

Oh to have a picture book debut like THIS!  With big, splashy pictures and a wonderful rollicking rhyme Van Dusen tells the tale of a man and his dog (that's Magee and Dee) who like to take little jaunts on their boat.  This little jaunt goes awry when a curious whale checks out their boat and, with a mighty spray, sends them up in the air and then right into a tall, tall tree.  They're stuck.  Yikes!

But it's the whale and his pals who come to their rescue by smacking their tails down all at once to create a tidal wave that makes the man and dog un-stuck.  They fall down safely and decide that their uneaten lunch should become dinner once they've returned to their cozy cabin up the hill…

From under the sea the little whale spied
Magee and Dee's boat--but not them inside
He longed for adventure.  He wanted to play.
So he bumped at the boat in a most friendly way.
Then the whale placed his blowhole directly below
And ever so gently he started to blow.

Learning to Ski With Mr. Magee 


I think this is my favorite.  Mr. Magee decides he wants to learn to ski, so he packs Dee on his back and decides to try his luck on a rather large hill by his house.  Things are going surprisingly okay until a moose meanders across their path in search of a succulent birch.

Magee tries to ask him to move, but the big old moose does not; man and dog wooooosh under him and, when their skies get snagged by a branch, they get stuck at the top of a ravine.  They do get out, with the help of said moose using their upside down skies as a bridge.  Seeing man and dog fly through the air is definitely a riot!

It's a silly tale told with gusto, and I read it once four times one morning when Kiefer was on a Magee kick.

The moose turned around and what did he see?
Mr. Magee and his little dog, Dee!
The moose was so shocked he stood frozen in fear.
But Mr. Magee hadn't learned how to steer!
And he knew very soon they were going to collide,
So he called to the moose, "Would you please step aside?"

A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee

This is definitely Kiefer's favorite.  He loves how Magee and Dee head off with their retro camper (okay, Kiefer doesn't describe it as "retro" but…it is) and park very happily and a little cluelessly near a little stream that--this only happens in children's books, or does this happen in Maine?--turns into a raging waterfall just a smattering of feet later.

After they tuck in for the night, a bear with bad eyesight stumbles along looking for treats.  He finds an open bag of marshmallows, but on his way to the bag he ducks under the trailer hitch and un-hooks the camper from the truck!  Dog and man roll back into the stream and are kept from going over by a big rock.  The bear's bad eyesight is actually the reason they escape a watery adventure (whew!!) and man and dog decide to return home a little early from their camping trip.

They were caught in the rapids--but that wasn't all.
They were headed smack dab for the big waterfall!
Dee and Magee both started to quiver,
As faster and faster they headed downriver.
But just when they thought they'd fall over the edge…
Their camper got stuck on a rock at the ledge.

Is it bad that I think the look of panic on Magee's face is downright hilarious?  Van Dusen gets his facial expressions so right--a mixture of clueless and adventurous and shock at finding himself in yet another disastrous position.  Clearly I hang around kids all day. 

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Camping Primer by Jennifer Adams

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Camping Primer by Jennifer Adams, illustrated by Alison Oliver

Rating: 5 stars

In typical Kate fashion, I purchased a bunch of books for a baby born to my husband's colleague that I actually wanted to read first.  I've been careful with the book, but I need to get this review out soon or the baby will be three years old before I get it to him!

This is another in the BabyLit series of books by Jennifer Adams, and it makes me realize: There are some good options for boys in here. I mean, some GREAT options for boys.  This one might just be my favorite of all this clever little board books!

Each page has one word on it, one word that introduces a part of camping, followed by a quotation from Huckleberry Finn that describes that word.  For example:

RIVERBANK "I laid there in the grass and the cool shade thinking about things."
RIVER  "I'd go down the river about fifty mile and camp."
FRIENDS  "We took my canoe and went over the river a-fishing."
FISHING LINE  "Then I set out a line to catch some fish."

"Everything we had in the world was on our raft."

The reader puts together these little pieces and has a nice image of what a nice camping trip might feel like--not just look like, not just sound like, but feel like.

And the images of Huckleberry and Jim with their opposite skin color but same certain stroke, same grins, same ease, same contentedness lying on the green grass…  It's just priceless stuff for some of a baby's first images.

Another neat book by Jennifer Adams.  And now I'll be going…to reread Huckleberry Finn...

On Meadowview Street by Henry Cole

On Meadowview Street by Henry Cole

Rating: 4 stars

There's this huge trend in children's book: to create lots of nonfiction books that parents and educators can use to teach while kids are turning pages themselves, or on their parents' laps.  I think it's a great trend; there are tons of incredible nonfiction books out there that do this well.

But.

You knew there'd be a but, right?

The books I'm talking about are often too wordy and too "teachy;" they are the type of book parents buy and give their kids or, like me, check them out from the library and just have them lying around in the hopes that facts will be learned through osmosis at the very least.  Books about the environment and living green definitely fall into this trap of trying a little TOO hard.

Sometimes, a simple tale of creating a simple garden can go a lot farther than a book about a woman who helped restore all the redwoods in California (or something like that).

Henry Cole does just that in On Meadowview Street.  Young Caroline moves in, and immediately starts looking for a meadow. Because shouldn't there be one on Meadowview Street?  There is not.  So she makes one.  She starts small, with just a little area of her yard, which she ropes off so her father doesn't mow that area.

The more Caroline and her family worked on their yard,
the more it changed.  It was now a home to many things.

But as flowers start to grow, the area gets larger.  And as more flowers bloom, she gets a tree for shade.  Then a bird comes, and she builds bird houses to put in the tree.  They need something to drink, so she and her family build a little pond.  And pretty soon, one step at a time, she creates a small wildlife preserve in her suburban neighborhood.  Of course, it wonderfully inspires others, and Caroline ends up inspiring many people to start small, in their own yard, to do their part.

It's a really great little go-green book for kids.


Small side note: I met Henry Cole last week.  He's the illustrator of over 100 books, and he's authored a fair number of them, too.  He was a neat, neat guy.  He grew up on a farm not far from where we live--in Purceville--so many of his books are inspired from these simple, rural roots.

Into the Outdoors by Susan Gal

Into the Outdoors by Susan Gal

Rating: 4.5 stars

What's a concept book? As I'm tip-toeing beyond the world of reading children's books into the world of writing them, I've got to know these things.  So I figured I'd educate you as well.  It's an informational children's book that takes a single category--numbers, the alphabet, colors--and focuses on that.

Those concept books are pretty common (betcha you can think of a dozen); one on prepositions is not.

But that's exactly what Into the Outdoors is, and it's a good read for parents and kids.  But it is also a quality, lesson-filled book for teachers to know about when they teach prepositions.  Even though I grabbed the book because of its cover (I try not to judge by a cover, but...well...I'm only human), the book turned out to be a whole lot more than I expected.

We're going camping!  Leaving the city down in the valley, we head up the mountain.
We drive over a bridge and under the towering trees.  At last we arrive in the great outdoors.

Each preposition, those words that "help children know where they are in the world," is highlighted.  The story is cute, the lesson plan possibilities endless.

The trail winds around the lake...

But the illustrations!  That's what got me.  For some reason--was I just feeling particularly nostalgic that day?--they felt like they were straight from my family camping days from 30 years ago.  Dark woods, bright streams, a wood-panel grocery-getter (a.k.a. station wagon) filled with way too much stuff, big brown hiking boots with red laces, and two happy campers.

Like my family, the one in the book drives to their campsite, pitches the tent, and then goes off on a hike.  Following them along the way are some curious animal-friends: a bear, a fox, a porcupine, and a chipmunk.  In almost every page you see those animals peering at the family, with the older boy skipping ahead and the mom carrying the younger boy in the backpack.  The younger boy is the only one who sees the animals, and the looks they exchange are super cute.  In one page the bear sneaks up and quietly replaces the little boy's fallen hat as the family sits atop the mountain, soaking in the view.

A great book, for many reasons.  Makes me want to go take a hike (and use lots of prepositional phrases along the way)!

Wiggle and Waggle by Caroline Arnold

Wiggle and Waggle by Caroline Arnold, illustrated by Mary Peterson

Rating: 5 stars

Ben is into chapter books.  Don't tell him that he actually can't read these, and he'll argue with you with more words than you know what to do with.  The other day he sat reading a Magic Treehouse book while I finished checking out the 513 other books he/we chose at the library when the librarian saw him.  "How old is he?  Is he actually reading that?"  Ben looked up and realized she was asking about him.

"I'm 3 years old."  She looked at me, and I quietly shook my head.  "But he thinks he can!"

So Ben is into any books with chapters, because "chapter" is one of the words that he actually can read.  This book is great for more reasons, but because it has five chapters, it gets two thumbs up from Ben.

I'm not sure how we happened upon it in the beginner reader section of our library, but I'm glad we did.  Wiggle and Waggle are two hard working worms who--you guessed it--wiggle and waggle their way under a garden in order to help it grow.  They make up a (catchy, you-can't-forget-it) song, they spell out their own names in the dirt, they take muddy picnic breaks, they splash in puddles.  All together, like two peas in a pod.  Two worms in the mud!

The illustrations push the book over the edge into the Super Cute category--I know the worms in our yard aren't really this cute.  Including the dead one that was stuck to Kiefer's foot yesterday!  Ew.  Kinda gross...sure hope it wasn't a cousin of one of these guys in the book.  Anyway, Ben and Lorelei had a good time figuring out which one was Wiggle and which one was Waggle, which makes me wonder: Do other kid-readers do this, too?  I love the little logic games that go into it so I totally encourage it.

"Ben, Wiggle is talking here, and the pink worm has its mouth open.  The pink one must be Wiggle!" Lorelei says with the excitement usually reserved for winning the lottery or sleeping in until 7 AM (if you're me).

We've had this book from the library for about two weeks and I think I've read it about five times--plus the time IN the library with Ben, when I happily sang the digging song in the Children's section while other patrons smirked or smiled around me.  I don't care.  I was reading with my kids!  Sometimes that requires a little goofitude.  And I'm fine with that.


P.S.  If you like worm books, check out Diary of A Worm by Doreen Cronin!