You Can Do It, Bert! by Ole Könnecke

You Can Do It, Bert! by Ole Könnecke
Gecko Press

Rating: 5 stars

"They" (those already-published, know-everything children's literature gurus) tell us yet-to-be-published writer wanna-bes to write books that have a definite beginning, middle, and satisfying ending. One that should surprise the reader. With as few words as possible (preferably no more than 500 words). Possibly with a lesson, but not a heavily delivered one. Oh--and make it funny, too.

Sigh. A tall order, for sure.

Yet Ole Könnecke delivers such a perfect, simple little story with such simple, delightful illustrations that I'm left in awe. I'm tempted to just throw in the towel right now! Or be inspired. (I choose the latter.)

Bert is a little bird whose big day is arrived. We see him at the end of a twig. He's trying to muster the courage to jump. He's well prepared, "mentally and physically." (I love that.)

Bert is well prepared, mentally and physically.

We're with him! Trying to help urge him along as he runs then screeches to a stop. He must eat a banana first. Then he'll be ready.

And he is. So he does.

We see him in mid-air. No wings flapping. Looking distressed. Saying "help" in what I'm sure is a pip-squeak of a voice.

Uh-oh!

And then... Splash! He's actually jumping in water! With three other feathered friends!

You tricked us, Ole Könnecke, in the most delightful way. Bravo!

Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson

Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson

Rating: 4 stars

This week Lorelei and Ben are at camp.  A camp that requires a bus.  A bus that will need to be ridden every day, starting in the fall.  As a rising second grader, Lorelei has been riding this bus for two years.  She's a book-wielding, bus-riding pro.  Ben, as a rising kindergartener, is a newbie. A rookie. And Ben was nervous for his first bus ride on this first day of camp.  As he matures, the hump he needs to get over before he's comfortable and confident decreases in size, but…it's still there.

On Monday morning he came down in his pajama bottoms, a bare chest, and a very wobbly chin.

"I'm scared, Mommy," he confessed, his eyes full of tears.  I gave him a hug, told him it was normal to feel scared on the first day of anything.  I had opened the door to the deck, letting in the sounds of a spring morning fill the space in which I was sitting and writing.  "Can I go outside?" he asked.  I nodded.

We are lucky to live in the woods, surrounded by tall trees that house loudly chirping birds.  I don't know what Ben did out there with only pajama bottoms and without shoes, but he came back in ten minutes later with a smile on.

We must have some magic trees that sprinkled some of their calming magic down on my nervous Ben.  It makes me smile now, just a few days later, to remember how quick was the transformation, how trees really did help get him to a better mood. I'm grateful that somehow this book now houses this memory inside its pages.

Tap the Magic Tree is a beautiful book, about a subject we love: trees.  I snatched it right up when I saw it in the library, eager to find out more about it. Flipping through it, I saw it was most likely inspired by Press Here, the wildly successful and truly wonderful book that's been on the New York Times best seller list for--get this--144 weeks.  And that made me skeptical of Tap the Magic Tree.

But I needn't have been.  The morning after Ben's nervous bus debut (which was wildly successful!), my trio and I sat outside for breakfast, surrounded by acres of tall, tall trees, and read this book together.    I wasn't sure it would work--Press Here is a lap book for one, really, not a circle-time book for a crowd--but it did work, and really well!

Matheson instructs us to tap the bare brown tree, then tap it thrice, then tap it many times, and as I turned the pages, the bare brown tree has more and more leaves on it.  When the kids "rubbed the tree to make it warm," buds appeared.  Instructions helped us help the tree to mature the buds to blossoms and then apples, then watch the apples fall, the leaves turn autumnal colors, then fall, then make snow…  You get the idea.

It worked, and worked well.  Especially for the three younger book lovers at the table who didn't start out skeptical at all.  We watched together the magical transformation of a single tree through the seasons, including pajama-clad Ben whose own magical transformation happened just the morning before!

Standing In For Lincoln Green by David Mackintosh

Standing In For Lincoln Green by David Mackintosh

Rating: 4 stars

Oh to figure out how to do what Lincoln Green does in this book: to be two places at once!

Lincoln Green figures out a way to pull his reflection out of the mirror and make him--by "him" I mean his reflection, the second Lincoln Green, his willing impersonator--do all of the things that fall into the category of "things that need to happen RIGHT NOW."  You know, all of those things that you want to do for your child because you'll do it faster, better and without complaining (though that pesky resentment might build a bit more) but they should do for themselves…  Lincoln Green figures out a way to get those things done for him so that he can spend all of his time swimming at the pool, hanging out with his buddies, and swinging on ropes.

So that's just what he does--his stand-in works while he plays.  Not bad!  Life goes along like this for quite some time, until the stand-in/reflection Lincoln Green gets invited by the neighbor boy to build a tree house with him.  Suddenly, he realizes anything involving a tree house is more fun than raking the leaves and mowing the lawn.  He's IN!

So the real Lincoln Green is pulled by his mom from all that fun stuff and approaches the lawn with trepidation.  But the neighborhood boy comes by and, with his help, they make a game of it, get it done quickly, then play afterwards together.

Definitely a creative, fun story (with a mom-approved lesson: chores can be FUN!) that got my kids thinking about what two places they'd like to be at the same time.  As their mom--of three--this wistful thinking is not new to me.  MAN could I accomplish a lot!  My to-do list would be no match for me and ME!  The four of us had a fun conversation after reading this a few days ago at dinner…alas, we haven't found a way to lure our reflections to do anything but reflect.  Yet.

What I really appreciate about writer and illustrator David Mackintosh is that each time we read a book by him (we are big fans of Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School) we get a healthy dose of fun, new vocabulary words.  Born in Belfast, raised in Australia, now residing in the UK, his vocabulary is wonderfully different from mine.  In Standing In For Lincoln Green my kids learned/were introduced to these fun, colorful words and expressions:

• stand-in
• sorting out
• handy
• shoot the breeze
• fizzy sarsaparilla (those two words just go together!)
• fancy (as in "anything he doesn't fancy doing himself is on a list for...")

And what more is reading and writing than stringing together a bunch of fun words into an interesting story?  This is what David Mackintosh has done…again.  We can't wait to read Lucky when it comes out at the end of the summer (2014)!

The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli

The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli

Rating: 4 stars

Crocodile and I have something in common: we both looooooove watermelon.  He chomps and slurps and bites this juicy wonderful-ness with his eyes closed, savoring every bite.  Yummmm!  I might just might do the same, thinking I am able to get in my mouth the same amount as Crocodile...

But then: He swallows a seed and totally freaks out.

He is completely convinced that there will soon be a watermelon growing in his guts.  Or vines will come out of his ears.  His stomach will stretch.  His skin will turn pink.  And he will turn into…fruit salad!

But then: He burps and the black seed pops out.  He's okay!

This is a bright, silly book sure to get a laugh the first few read-throughs.  Hopefully it'll inspire some serious watermelon eating, and maybe a watermelon seed spitting contest like my cousins and I had during the summers of my childhood.

But then: Kids these days usually eat hybrid watermelons that don't have black seeds.  Or they have one or two tiny ones that are easy to pick out.  Might there be kids out there who will pick up The Watermelon Seed and ask, "Why does that watermelon have dots all over it?"

Whatever your preference--traditional or seedless--let the watermelon eating begin!


P.S.  Ever wonder how to carve a lego out of watermelon?  Me neither, but I was impressed and amused with this watermelon-y website/blog and the instructions!

Jamberry by Bruce Degan

Jamberry by Bruce Degen

Rating: 5 berry good stars

This is a rollicking good rhyme--I feel like I should say that in a fake, Madonna-like British accent. I know that rollicking is a silly word to describe a book or poem, but this book has such a good rhythm to it that Lorelei and Ben choose it again and again and again for me to read out loud. We know the whole thing by heart--well, Lorelei and I can recite it, and word-less Ben grunts along excitedly in his own way.

Here's a little sneak peek if you don't already know and love this book: "Blackberry / Quackberry / Give me a blackberry!" and " One berry / Two berry / Pick me a blueberry / Hatberry / Shoeberry / In my canoeberry."

It is WONDERFUL. Beyond a must-read, it's a must-buy. I put the link to the board book up because this is a wonderful first book, meaning you better buy a near-indestructible board book so your child can go to sleep with it. 

I had to write about this book today not just because we checked it out again but also because this morning, before leaving the kids with their much-adored sitter, Miss Chloe, the three of us made blackberry cobbler. We didn't pick the berries this time, but the recipe looked so easy that I decided to try it. It really was fool-proof and toddler-friendly.  Here's what we did:

1.  I sprayed a 8-inch square baking dish.

2.  Ben and Lorelei helped mix together 2 tablespoons of confecioners' sugar, 2 cups pancake mix, 1 cup whole milk, and 2 large eggs.  Ben shook lots of cinnamon into the batter--we add cinnamon to everything we bake.

3.  We each threw in one half-pint containers of fresh blackberries into the dish (so three in all).

4.  I poured the pancake batter-mix of the stuff on top of it.

5.  I baked at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Here's the best part--it can be breakfast with milk, or dessert with whip cream or ice cream! Yum. The whole recipe can be found here. Everyone, including Miss Chloe, gave it two thumbs up. Try out the book and the recipe!

Summer by Alice Low

Summer by Alice Low, illustrated by Roy McKie

Rating: 5 summery stars

It's been retro week at our house for the past few weeks.  It all started with a trip to my Dad's house a few weeks ago.  He's got a pool, which is cool, but he's also got (drumroll, please) The Children's Library.  This library is a few shelves stuffed with all the old books that my sister and I loved as children.  During a break from swimming and sun, Lorelei said she was ready for some quiet time, so we got a stack of books from The Children's Library and set her up on a pool chair.  Her twin cousins joined in the read-fest and they turned the very pages I turned as a kid.

This was the best of the best in the stack of books.  I read it out loud to Lorelei and her twin cousins while the sun shone down on us, warming our towels that were wrapped around us.  It was towards the end of June, during an unusually hot spell here in Virginia that meant summer really is here, ready or not.  The girls' hair was still wet and in their face as they sipped their chocolate milk, given to them because it was Sunday and they were at GrandDad's house.

Really, is there a more perfect book than this one at that moment? 

All of them loved it, with the references to the sun and the heat and the beach and the waves and the fireflies and the roasted marshmallows and all that good stuff that childhood summertime should be all about.  It was like jumping back a dozen years into my own childhood, one that was full and dirty and fun and perfect.

We loved it so much that we checked it from the library, too, so we read it on the way to GrandDad's house again today, and then read it at his house, and then on the way home. 

Hooray!  Summer is HERE!

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Rating: 5 stars (of course)

This summer we are going on weekly field trips.  Field Trip Wednesdays.  Yesterday was our third field trip; we went blueberry picking.  It was the hottest day of the year but we went anyway, along with some of my very favorite people and their adventurous kids.

Ben's favorite part was definitely the tractor ride from the parking lot to the fields.  It was already 88 degrees by the time we stepped off of the trailer and followed a dude with an orange flag to our assigned bushes.  While walking to our spot in the row of bushes, we passed a mother and her two children and --gasp!-- guess what they were reading underneath the welcome shade of the tallest blueberry bushes I'd ever seen?  Blueberries for Sal!  Of course, I couldn't resist the urge to say, "We love that book, too!  We should have brought it along, too!"  Luckily, I did resist the urge to ask them to pose for a picture and then put it on this blog.  I think that might have weired them out a bit.  Proof I can bite my tongue.  Sometimes.

Anyway, we had a blast.  I didn't realize that I came with such Serious Pickers.  I was taking pictures and handing out clementines to everyone's kids while Serious Picker #1, Caitlin, and Serious Picker #2, Michele, filled an entire bucket in approximately 4.2 minutes.  The littlest Serious Picker was Lorelei; she stood there and picked blueberries for 15 minutes without tasting a single one!  Apparently she delegated that job to Ben, who pulled a Sal and sat down and just pulled berries down one handful at a time.  Lorelei turned pink within that time from that time but obediently drank when instructed, and then told me: "We need to get back to work, Mommy!  Our bucket is not full yet!"

Man!  We produced a 3 year old blueberry-picking machine!

I wish I had been trickier in combining my blog with my children's activities: I could have had them pose in pictures just like McCloskey drew or made them say "Kupink! Kuplank! Kuplunk!" (though we had a gigantic plastic buckets, not small tin pails) or looked (happily unsuccessfully) for bears, or crows, or a partridge family in the fields.  But we were having too good a time to stop for a book-related anything, which was just fine with me.

I was having another bee-bim bop moment, feeling fairly mom-of-the-day-ish.  My kids were able to:

1.  Break out of their normal cycle of activities (that includes an embarrassing number of trips to Starbucks)

2.  Experience child labor (or, tough it out in imperfect conditions)

3.  Relate a book to real life (we talked about how the fields at Butler's were so much taller than those in the book)

4.  Pick their own snack/dessert/breakfast (for the next month or two)

Oh, and by the way, I have 7 pounds of blueberries.  Good grief!  What do you do with 7 pounds of blueberries when you really don't have to can them to store up for food for the winter?!  Please let me know if you'd like any.

Mama, Is It Summer Yet? by Nikki McClure

Mama, Is It Summer Yet? by Nikki McClure

Rating: 3.5 stars

On Father's Day Lorelei, Ben, and I made a list of Daddy's favorite things so that we could give/make/provide those to him.  On the list, tucked between homemade oatmeal cookies and tinkering in the yard, was taking an afternoon nap.  So Lorelei and I happily obliged; we read books to our boys, tucked them into their respective beds, and went to the bookstore.  It was a treat for all of us! 

That morning in the New York Times Book Review was a special children's section.  When they have reviews of children's books, I show them to Lorelei--once or twice we've already read them, which makes her feel pretty proud to know the books that she sees in Mommy and Daddy's newspaper.  Since they had the Children's Bestseller lists, we decided to bring the list along and see if we could find any books on it.  I particularly wanted to read The Quiet Book (I love the idea of it!) and Over the Rainbow.  We couldn't find either of those books (drat!), but we did find plenty of others.

Including Mama, Is It Summer Yet? 

The illustrations are incredibly beautiful.  I looked up Nikki McClure's bio and found out that she arms herself with an X-acto knife and cuts out her images from a single sheet of paper.  Pretty impressive!  The pieces of art she creates for this book are just gorgeous.  I will definitely seek out other books she's illustrated because the images are so captivating.  The text is nicely simple: A little boy asks her mother if it's summer yet, and she says no, and gives an example of how the boy should know that summer is almost here.

However, the story doesn't make me want to read the book again and again.  It reminds me of a road trip I don't ever want to take, with my kids in the back seat, asking "Are we there yet?" and then, five minutes later, "Are we there yet?" and then, five minutes later, "Are we there yet?" and then...  You get the idea.  The story would be so much better if the "Are we there yet?" pages were just taken out (in my humble opinion).

Still, if I were an art teacher, I'd want a book like this within arm's reach to show kids the different types of art that they can create.  It is illustrations like these that make me really appreciate artists for choosing to devote their time and energy to children's books.  What a gift to kids like ours!

PS  Check out the artist/author's GORGEOUS journals.  One for new mothers and one "verb-laden" journal.

Ladybug Girl at the Beach

Ladybug Girl at the Beach by David Soman and Jacky Davis

Rating: 4 stars

We've fallen into the Ladybug Girl and Fancy Nancy series.  Help!

They are both wildly popular; I think each is okay.  I like Ladybug Girl a little more--she's more adventurous and independent and tough than Fancy Nancy seems to be.  We have read most of the Ladybug Girl series, but we've only read a few of the zillions of Fancy Nancy books.  When our first grade neighbor, someone Lorelei wholeheartedly adores, came off the school bus last week with a few Fancy Nancy books in her hands, Lorelei set her sight on reading all of them.  Oh my.

So, Ladybug Girl.

Ladybug Girl is a headstrong little girl with an older brother who usually doesn't pay much attention to her.  (He is not very kind to her; this is one my least favorite things about the series.)  Her best buddy is her basset hound, Bingo.  While she is brave and tough, her chutzpah sometimes borders on brattiness. 

But this book is one of my favorites, mostly because, as my sister put it, "It explains all the sensations of the beach."  Ladybug Girl is totally excited to be at the beach and she just knows that she's going to love it, but...she didn't realize how big and scary the ocean would be once you got up close to it.  So she does everything except go into the ocean--dig sand castles, fly a kite, run around. 

She carefully tries to go in, but the ocean almost pushes her over, and then nearly drags her in after planting her ankles into the soft sand.  If you've ever stood in front of the ocean as a wave washes in, and then out, you know exactly what she's talking about.  Which is kind of fun, especially for Lorelei who is also afraid of the ocean.  (On her first trip she wouldn't even step onto the sand.  We could have walked a mile away from her and Ben, and when we returned they both would have been sitting directly on the towel, feet as far away from the edge as possible!)  By the end, Ladybug Girl, who seems about 4 years old, wades into the water all by herself.  Hooray!

I plan on taking this book with us (along with a few dozen others, of course) when we head to the beach this fall.