Sophie's Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller

Sophie's Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf

Rating: 4.5

Sophie is a girl who loves her vegetables.  I mean, she really loves her vegetables, especially a baby-shaped butternut squash that (who?) she finds at the farmer's market, draws a smile on, and plays with.

Her mother is, understandably, taken aback.  To test the relationship between Sophie and Sophie's squash, she looked at Sophie, then at the squash, and tied her apron on (and, in the illustration, you can see a cookbook open to a page with a squash recipe), preparing to make dinner.  Sophie understood what was going on and told her mother, "I call her Bernice." It was clear: the relationship was firm.

"I'll call for a pizza," said her mother.

"I call her Bernice."
"I'll call for pizza."

The kids and I were hooked at this point, giggling along, wondering how a girl and a squash get along these days.  We quickly found out: quite well, actually.  Sophie and Bernice went to storytime together, visited other squashes at the farmer's market, raced each other down hills.  Sophie wouldn't be talked into getting "real" toys; she was happy with Bernice.

Eventually, of course, Bernice starts to age.  I quietly empathized with her as age spots grew and mushy parts appeared.  Sophie's mother quietly counsels that Bernice is going to have to...go.

And so, Sophie buries Bernice in a sad-but-funny sort of ceremony.  (Hmm.  Does this mean I'm a little warped because I think that a burial of any sort is a little funny?  Perhaps, but just take this as a glimpse into my sense of humor...)  Sophie retreats to her house for the winter, looking out at the spot under which Bernice sleeps sadly as she is relegated to dolls and blocks and coloring books as playthings.

"What's that spotty thing?"
"Her name is Bernice.
She's a squash with FRECKLES."

In the Spring, she notices a little bolt of green shooting up from where Bernice lies.  Sophie watches in amazement as this shoot grows to be a plant, and then oh-my-gosh as this plant has two little squashes.

"You look just like your mom!" Sophie declares.  Soon enough, they are big enough to pick, bundle, and love.

This is a clever, clever book by a talented new author with sweet, sweet illustrations by Anne Wilsdorf--it just makes me smile.  And the fact that the story was inspired by a true story (read how Miller's daughter did pick a squash at a farmer's market, take it home with her, and treat it as a baby rather than dinner here...) makes it all the sweeter.  Sophie's Squash recently won the peer-selected Golden Kite Award...  I mean, can you imagine of ALL the children's books that get published in a year, all the authors get together and select YOUR book as the best?  That's big.  And this book is deserving--see for yourself!

Robot Drawing Book by Ralph Masiello

Robot Drawing Book by Ralph Masiello

Rating: 5 stars

This book was on display behind the circulation desk last week.  My kids are so comfortable at the library that Ben saw it and promptly asked the librarian if he could check it out.  Invite us to your library: we'll take your displays apart.  That's how we roll.  (From a different perspective, that display sure worked!  Ben and Lorelei each threw in a couple of art books into our bag.)

And the even neater thing: When we got home, all three kids sat around our kitchen table, fighting for a spot that gave them a good view of this book.  They sat and drew--even little Kiefer!--for 20-25 minutes while I got dinner ready.  I admit that there was a little elbow action as they vied for better positions.  Such is life when you've got three kids who want to look at the same book.

There isn't much to read, so these books
are great for older not-yet-readers, too!

Ben was the most enthralled by the book.  He took the book up to his room at bedtime and sat drawing robots during his quiet reading time.  Robots surrounded him!  And the neat thing about this book is that the robots are all made of lines and shapes--nothing more complicated than that.  There are step-by-step directions and, if you follow them, your robot REALLY looks like the picture!  Anyone attempting any art--whether it's watercolor or a poem or stick figures or a book--would agree that the end result is rarely what you first see in your head.  And I think for kids that's true even more frequently.  Wonderfully, they are not hung up about it as often as we perfectionist adults are.  But Ben was very proud of himself when his robot was a solid twin of the artist-author's robot.

Ralph Masiello has a bunch of these step-by-step drawing books, including Dinosaurs, Halloween, Fairies, Bugs, Dragons, and On the Farm.  I think we're going to have to check them out.  All of them.  So if you're in Fairfax County and you're interested in checking them out of the system, well...you might just want to wait a few weeks.  Or I'll race you for them!

Some of Ben's robots.  Or, his Ben-bots?

Dog Parade by Barbara Joosse

Dog Parade by Barbara Joosse, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin

Rating: 4 stars

This book was a hit with my little trio!  And that says something about Dog Parade already: here's a book that hooks equally a strong reader, an emerging reader, and a reader who can simply but proudly identify "his letter" and builds excitement at each turned page.

There is not much to this book, but there's fun and beauty in the simplicity.  One by one, the reader meets each canine character: Tinkles, a dog that pees a lot.  Delilah the pug that likes to charm humans she meets.  Lovie the mutt so grateful to be rescued that he does lots of things for his person.  Should-be fierce Walter, a big mastiff, cowers behind his owner.  Each two-page spread has a different lovable pooch sure to make one of my trio say "Awww...cute!"

Somewhere on this page is a hint of what's to come.  A clue as to the costume that the dog will wear on the following page.  Tinkles jumps on his back legs in a clown costume.  Delilah puts on a flouncy, fancy dress.  Lovie is Wonder Dog, complete with cape!  Shy Walter hides behind a ghost costume--only his droopy eyes peek out.

The best part: our neighbor's dog, Fritzie the dachshund, is famous!  He's in this book!  By some coincidence (am I missing something?  Is Fritzie a popular name for dachshunds?) there's a barking-orders type barker dachshund that dresses up as (of course) a hot dog.  Pretty cute.

In the end, the dogs parade around happily in their costumes.  As I've never had a dog that wore costumes happily, I'm impressed that not one single pup is gnawing at the clothes wrapped around them. Fun little book, super great (yes, I went to grad school in order to pull out phrases like that..."super great") read-aloud book in case you're looking for one!

Little Mouse by Alison Murray

Little Mouse by Alison Murray

Rating: 5 stars

I usually write before the sun comes up.  I write before my kids wake up.  Therefore, I am often sipping coffee and paging through a children's book all by myself at 5:15 AM before reviewing it.  That's exactly what I'm doing right now--with a snoring dog curled up beside me on the couch, laptop on my lap, Little Mouse over the keyboard, coffee just an arm's length away, balanced on another book on the arm of the couch.

As I page through this beautifully written and illustrated book, I think what a quiet masterpiece it is.

On the first page, a little girl sits nice and close to her mother, reading a book with her.  The words: "Sometimes, when I'm being quiet and cuddly, my mommy calls me her little mouse."

I don't really sound like a little mouse...
Trumpety, trump, trump! Too-wit, too-wit, too-woooot!
Yowly, howly, howl!

But the little girl doesn't feel like a little mouse...  She is TALL! (And we see a giraffe sweetly nibbling at the little girl, who is tall on the top of a staircase.  She is STRONG! (We see her straining to pull a small wagon, in the shadow and in the same pose of a mighty bull.)  She chomps her food like a hungry horse, roars bravely like a lion, makes all sorts of interesting sounds like an elephant, owl, and fox. She stomps like a grumpy bear, makes waves like a whale.

But at bedtime, she's happy to be "quiet and cozy, cuddly and dozy"...  just Mommy's little mouse.

I love how one little girl, in a single day, can be so many different animals in her imagination and through her moods and actions.  Kids are so multifaceted and colorful and creative and BIG in such great ways!  I hope with all my heart that your kids and my kids don't get their colorful-ness and BIG-ness diluted as they figure out the tween and teenage years...I hope they realize they can still be brave like a lion and still want to be quiet and cozy like a little mouse (preferably with their mother).

As I sit in this quiet, the last image definitely pulls at my heart.  My two boys are young and still usually need that last tuck-in to be from their mother.  But Lorelei is old enough that she's more like the other animals, and doesn't need a daily dose of her mother, doesn't need to be curled up in my lap.  She still does fit in my lap, though, and I'm grateful for that and for her wanting to be there a few times each week.  I know I'm supposed to be preparing her (and her brothers) to soar on their own like a bird and march to their own beat proudly like an elephant but...I'll miss the cuddly, mousey days a whole lot.  So I'll savor the mousey moments like crazy now.

Phoebe and Digger by Tricia Springstubb

Phoebe and Digger by Tricia Springstubb, illustrated by Jeff Newman

Rating: 4.5 stars

A digger book!  A digger book with a girl for a main character!  This is already welcome stuff.  Ben was confused, in a great way.  Their definitions of what girls play with/do and what boys play with/do are so chiseled in stone it's great to see a book challenge their stereotypes a little!

And the story is really good: "When Mama got a new baby, Phoebe got a new digger." The baby and Digger made lots of sounds all around Mama, until she says, exhausted from the movement and noise: "It is time to go to the park." Phoebe and Digger have room to play, space for noise, and heaps of real dirt.  Phoebe and Mama are both happy.

Until Phoebe spooks a little boy with a worm, which makes him cry, and that made Mama's baby cry, which "turned out to be a secret baby signal.  Soon every baby in the park was crying."  Phoebe took a time out on the bench.  When she was allowed to play again, a big, mean girl comes in and swipes Digger.  Phoebe turns from a tough cookie to a sad kid in one push of a digger's wheels.  The big, mean girl has Digger.  Phoebe isn't sure she'll ever get Digger back.  Just when she feels like she's about to cry...

When Mama got a new baby,
Phoebe got a new digger.

Mama comes in and rescues her, helps her get Digger back.  After some big hugs and positive interaction between the new siblings for the first time all day, Phoebe gives the baby a turn with Digger while she shares a popsicle with Mama.  It's an ending that makes you feel good.

I am reading children's books through a whole new lens these days.  I came out to the world (okay, really just myself and a few friends on Facebook) as an aspiring author a few weeks ago while packing for my first Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators in New York.  I say "came out" because while I only came out as an author, it did take a dose of bravery to say, out loud, what I've thought of myself for decades.

Anyway, the conference was phenomenal--informative and inspiring and a wonderful immersion into a whole world of kids' literature.  I did my best to scribble down any and all tidbits and suggestions and tips in my notebook, to which I've returned almost daily to get a little dose of motivation.  One of the big takeaways from the conference: a children's book--even one with just 30 or 50 words--needs structure.  I knew I had a lot to learn, but I didn't realize that just reading hundreds (thousands?) of books with my kids didn't teach me what I needed to know about how to write children's books.  The really good ones have a structure behind them that makes them sound better.

And Phoebe and Digger, though there's no rhyming at all in it, has a rhythm to it and a structure to it that makes it read nicely.  For me, there are a lot of similarities between this book and Owen by Kevin Henkes, and a bunch of his other books.  Books that are very well written, and therefore very enjoyable reads...especially, as we do it here, read-alouds.

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers, illustrated by Mary Shepard

Rating: 3.5 stars

Lorelei and I read Mary Poppins for two reasons: First, it was on a How Many Of These Children's Books Have You Read quiz and I wanted a higher score; second, I haven't seen the movie in nearly 30 years and thought it would be a good one to view.  Reading the book first would make a movie a literary experience, at least in my book, and therefore the extra screen time would not induce any mommy guilt.

I loved the movie as a child but had never read the book.  There's a reason for it: the movie, I think, is better than the book.  The book was just okay.  There were a handful of really wonderful parts, including:

After Mary Poppins first arrives, she takes them to visit her uncle who is unburdened by gravity.  He simply floats on air.  The children and Mary Poppins are lucky enough to share in this magic and they float up towards the ceiling, too, and have a tea party high in the air.  They also have a bit of laughing gas, so they roll around the air, laughing hysterically.  Lorelei and I loved that part, and we talked about what it would be like to go to school or hang out in our house without gravity.

We also liked the chapter "Full Moon."  In it, the children wander to the zoo in the middle of the night, only to find that the humans are behind bars and the animals are walking about, visiting them and feeding them and commenting on how wild the humans are acting.  It's a scene where the switching of humans and zoo animals really has dark implications, but Lorelei didn't pick up on anything but the funny mixed-up-ness.  Why did this happen, you might wonder?  As it turns out, it is Mary Poppins birthday, and this mixed-up zoo happens under the direction of a Snake King once a year to celebrate.

What I didn't like was actually a who.  I didn't like Mary Poppins much at all.  As a child, I loved her character (played by the delightful Julie Andrews, of course); I remember her to be a stern woman who would give a wink on the sly so as to assure you that she wasn't so uptight.  And she would laugh and smile as she sang--I still have a warm feeling thinking about her.  In the book, she's stern without the reassuring, warm wink.  She sniffs (is this a British thing?) to show her displeasure--and she sure sniffs a lot.  There is hardly any warm feeling at all.

Her abrupt departure is odd to me in two ways: First, who leaves children without saying good-bye?  I know that she forewarned the children (and us, the readers) that she would leave--fly away with her magical, posh umbrella--but the end seems abrupt and cold.  Second, the kids are totally distraught, and as a reader I'm surprised by their emotional response to her leaving.  Having a magical nanny does have its perks, but she was so quirky and cold and unpredictable that their attachment to Mary Poppins seems unearned.

Julie Andrews was so delightful as Mary Poppins!

And yet, I'm glad I read this book with Lorelei, because the book's ending, unsatisfying though it was for me, was priceless because of what happened while we read it.

Lorelei and I were lying on her little twin bed, on a quilt bursting in little girl pink and butterflies. I lay flat on my stomach, reading the last chapter.  She lay next to me, on her side, propped up on her left hand, which meant her right hand was free.

As she listened, she doodled on my arm with her small finger.  She ran her finger up and down my arm, first in circles and then in zig-zags.  She made her pointer and middle finger walk along my arm.  She played with my shirt sleeve, seeing if she could push it up and then down again.  When she had had enough of that she moved on to my hair, which is usually unruly in its current state.  She tried to pull it behind my ear. It flipped back out.  She tried to pull it behind my ear again, then giggled when it flipped back out.  She brushed the hair on my forehead out of my face with her whole hand, just playing with it, maybe wondering what it felt like, and then letting her hand figure out the answer.

I didn't remark on any of this.  I didn't want to break the spell.  Honestly I didn't want the book to end because I loved these sweet gestures.  I loved that Lorelei felt so comfortable she could twirl my hair in her fingers just as easily as she could twirl her own.

We finished the book and talked about the ending a little; I was honest about how I didn't like the last few pages.  It didn't seem like a true ending to me in a few ways, I explained.  I tried to explain why I thought it was unsatisfying--didn't give me that aaaahhhhh sighing-out experience that great books have at the end.  But in my head I knew that the whole experience was very satisfying.  Lorelei's sweet little touchings on my arm and in my hair made the book's ending very memorable to me.

It reminds me that I read books with her and with my boys for literary purposes, sure, but also because sharing a book together can be a sweetly intimate, completely priceless experience.

Fix This Mess! by Tedd Arnold

Fix This Mess! by Tedd Arnold

Rating: 4 stars

I like books about messes.

Growing up, The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room was one of my favorites.  I must have read it a million times.  I loved the idea of taking a really messy place and organizing the bajeezus out of it!  When Mama freaks out and starts throwing EVERYTHING away and Papa hears the shouting from his workshop and comes in to restore calm and order...  Then, Papa listens to the problem and helps the kids work towards a solution that involves well-labeled boxes and a cool peg board and a snazzy toy chest.  All of the illustrations in this book make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

Note: I loved the IDEA of taking a really messy place and organizing the bajeezus out of it. I still love the IDEA of it.  But...actually doing it is a totally different thing.  One step in any room in my house and you will get exactly what I mean.  (I really, really, REALLY hope that you are nodding an empathetic nod while glancing around YOUR messy house rather than looking down on messy me from your perfectly clean and orderly abode!)

I LOVE this book, these illustrations,
how cheerfully they organized everything!

So this very simple, very funny, very easy-reader-y book was right up my alley.

And all my kids love Tedd Arnold's Fly Guy books with the funny, bug-eyed characters who are wonderfully silly and creative and nice.  So, when we saw this new book on the New Book shelf at the library, one of us grabbed it.  (I can't remember which one of us--we all grab a lot of books.)  We read it over dinner that same day.

Jake receives Robug (a robot that cleans) in the mail.  He turns it on, points to a chair covered with a whole lot of junk, and tells it, "Fix this mess!" Robug replies "I will fix this mess!" as his arms move impressively quickly, smoke clouds around his action.  When he's finished, the chair is clean.  But the TV now has a whole lot of junk--wait a minute, it's the SAME whole lot of junk!!--on it.  Jake repeats his order, Robug repeats his cleaning (which is just moving the mess...ah, this is my kind of cleaning...)  The whole lot of junk moves from room to room: into the bathtub and even onto the roof!  (Enter lots of kid giggles here.)

Finally, Jake himself cleans it all up.

"Jake missed a spot," Robug points out on the last page.

The Bippolo Seed by Dr Seuss

The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories by Dr Seuss

Rating: 4 stars

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!

How could I not review one of his many great books on his birthday?  I don't want him turning over in his grave on my account...

The Bippolo Seed is a collection of seven short stories or long poems--I'm not sure how you could categorize them, as Sr. Seuss is pretty great at creating things that are wonderfully uncategorizable.  Just like that word I totally made up.  About two years ago Lorelei went through a Dr. Seuss phase when she would check out all the books by him that our library had, and then that our county had, and then sit on the sofa and laugh at the jokes.  She was just at that wonderful time when she could appreciate the silliness of his rhymes and also understand some of the jokes.

One of the short stories in the book is "Gustav, the Goldfish"--a funny story that is filled with such suspense that my boys were on the edge of their seat when I read it.  Like most of Dr. Seuss's work, these stories are great to read out loud.

A boy feeds his fish just a little too much after the man who sells him the fish warns against this very thing.  Due to his overfeeding, the fish grows and grows and grows.  The boy puts it in a larger container and then a larger container until the fish is as big as a bathtub and then OH NO he won't fit in the boy's bathtub!  With a whoooosh and a sloooosh the boy and his whale-of-a-fish burst through the bathroom door and into the now-flooded cellar.  Suddenly, the man who sold the fish to Gustav appears with magic dust to shrink Gustav back to his original goldfish size.

Does this story sound familiar to you?  If it does, you've probably read A Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer.  And Helen Palmer's married name was Helen Palmer Geisel, as in Theodore Geisel's wife.  As in Dr. Seuss's WIFE!  He wrote the poem that is in The Bippolo Seed in 1950 for Redbook magazine.  After it was published, he formally gave his wife permission to turn it into a children's book.  "Change it however your heart desires" were a few of the words included in his formal permission.

It just makes me realize, as I toil my way to writing children's books myself, that perhaps I should have married an already established author, one who had too many ideas for his own good, and I could just nab some of his and rewrite them as my own.  Man!  I really did NOT plan ahead...

This book has some quality, fun stuff though is not my favorite of all Dr Seuss books.  Still, you can't go wrong with him--check it out for yourself!

Snow by Roy McKie and P.D. Eastman

Snow (I Can Read It All By Myself) by Roy McKie and P.D. Eastman

Rating: 5 stars

Throwback Thursday!

This book will always hold a special place in my heart.  I remember Jonathan coming home from work one night when Lorelei was about three years old at her bedtime, which was probably around 6:30 then.  So early!  Must laugh at that now...  Anyway, I told him, "Ask her to read this to you."

He walked in and sat with her; I looked on from the door.  As he turned the pages, she recited the entire book to him.  It was fun to see the look of amazement on his face.  In truth, she wasn't reading.  But she had memorized every single word, and she wouldn't say the next line until you turned the page to get to it.  She read it exactly like I read it to her so many times--with excitement.  Her three year old version of this book was PRICELESS.  She'd been book-crazy for a long time, but this was a different example of her bibliophile nature.

Snow is good
For making tracks...
And making pictures
With your backs.

And it's a great, fun book with simple rhymes and funny pictures.  Just a boy and a girl and their dog playing in the snow.  Making snow angels and igloos and snowmen...all before the sun comes out and melts it, and takes their fun away.  They have big smiles and seem to be laughing with each other and at the snow though they sit, frozen, right on the page.


A little sample of the simple text (I've still got the whole book memorized even though years have passed since Lorelei's infatuation with it):

Snow!  Snow!
Come out in the snow!
I want to know if you like snow.
Oh yes! Oh yes! I do like snow.
Do you like it in your face?
Oh yes! I like it any place.

AND it's perfect for this time of year, nearly March, when you want winter to be over (at least I sure do) but it's just. not. yet. over.  Much to my frustration.  Perhaps this book will help you look at snow and the cold in a more child-like way so that these last few weeks of winter will cruise by quickly...

Fraidyzoo by Thyra Heder

Fraidyzoo by Thyra Heder

Rating: 5 stars

We've been reading more books at dinner time.  It's a habit I tried to stop but...it is just too fun, the audience too captivated, the opportunity to read books together too limited that we've started back up again.  I know that we'll have to quit sometime in the future.  But not today.  Or next week.  Let me squeeze a few more months out of this habit of reading with our mouths full!

(Okay, I DO encourage good eating manners--I do the reading, generally without my mouth being full, and they do the eating and listening and adding...)

We checked out Fraidyzoo for the second time in a month this week.  It was just so fun the first time around, and we had an even better time with it on the second check-out.  The story is pretty simple: Little T is afraid to go to the zoo, and her family is trying to guess why.  Which animal she is afraid of?  They guess one for each letter of the alphabet by dressing up as that animal in some incredibly creative (yet doable in your home!) ways.

Does it live in the tropics? Or gloop through the ocean?
Does it hop with a pocket? Does it ROAR?

When we checked this out a second time and read it last night while eating, the kids took turns guessing what animals the family was dressing up as is.  Lorelei, Ben, Kiefer.  Lorelei, Ben, Kiefer.  Three ages, three reading levels, all guessing happily.  Fun times!

The illustrations are spectacular--SO creative they will invite you and your kids to examine them.  We noticed on this second read how the snake had a stuffed animal in its looooong body.  We talked about how the lion sort of looks like a gorilla but it's L's turn so...probably not gorilla because it starts with a G.  And that tail...definitely lion-like.

 It turns out, though, that Little T is not afraid of an animal...well, not exactly an animal...  I don't want to be the spoiler on this one and it's really worth discovering her (funny) fear along with your child.  We laughed like crazy, all together.  It was one of Those Moments, you know?

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

Rating: 5 stars

Delightful.  Delight-filled!

Here's a feisty, silly bathing beauty, happy to mimic a regal, haughty flamingo while he dances regally, ignorant of his human shadow.  Using lift-the-flaps, Idle brilliantly shows the girl mock the flamingo and then--pull the flap down!--she looks away innocently when the flamingo looks back at her accusingly.  The reader shares the secret of the feisty little girl; the two know what the flamingo doesn't!

Flora copycats the flamingo...

Six pages in and the flamingo has the girl figured out.  One loud squawk leaves the girl tumbling, humbled from her little joke.  But just a few turns later and the flamingo forgives, forgets, and reaches for Flora.  And then...and then!...a lovely duet between the master leading his pupil through a complicated, beautiful dance.  The girl is ecstatic--the look of delight on HER face is so precious.

They dance beautifully until they cannonball into the water in one joyous, silly splash!

This book is so very worthy of the Caldecott honor it received just a few weeks ago.  And it reminds me of the great opportunities wordless picture books provide.  All three of my kids--Lorelei (6 1/2) who is reading advanced chapter books, Ben (5) who is reading solidly, and Kiefer (2 1/2) who is delighted (word of the post) to identify "his letter" K--like this book and all of them can get something out of it.  As a wordless picture book, it is accessible to all of them.

...and is found out in this adorable picture.

Here is a sampling of activities you can do with a wordless picture book:

• Have the child tell the story--even Kiefer can look at a picture and describe what is going on, and then he sometimes pretends to read by adding imaginary stuff or adding tidbits from his day or another book.
  
• Use Post-It notes (Ben's favorite thing right now) to write a story.  You can stick them right onto the pages!
  
• Have your child tell you more about the character. Why is the girl dancing?  How does she feel when the flamingo pushes her away?
  
• Look at the structure behind the book--Lorelei is ready to do this.  What happens in the beginning? What is the problem/conflict?  How is it resolved?  Words don't get in the way in wordless books...
  
• Challenge your reader to write or draw or think up a sequel to the book.  What other animals could this girl dance with or, for breakdancing Ben, what animal could best breakdance with him if he was in a storybook?

Some other great wordless picture books (including my all-time favorite, Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola, can be found on my blog here and even more here).

Hooray for Flora, the Flamingo, and Molly Idle!

Grumpy Goat by Brett Helquist

Grumpy Goat by Brett Helquist

Rating: 5 stars

Sunny Acres farm is a happy, lovely place.  "Until that grumpy goat moves in."  He stomps and frowns around, kicking dirt up everywhere he goes.  He doesn't share.  He doesn't play.  He doesn't say please and thank you.  He doesn't like animals very much so he moves out to a grassy knoll (not The Grassy Knoll) and flops himself to the ground in one big huuuumphhh! 

When he does, he comes nose-to-petal with a dandelion.  And he kind of likes that dandelion.  That sunny dandelion causes or inspires his heart to grow a little warmer--with love, of course.  While trying NOT to gather much attention, he starts to take care of the dandelion.  While trying NOT to make a big deal about it, some of the other animals (despite his grumpy disposition) start to help him take care of that dandelion.  A munch here, a munch there...they start to water and weed around the dandelion (kinda funny if you think about it).

And Grumpy Goat is getting content!  He is beginning to realize he has a friend or two!  And then: that dandelion changes...and becomes a fluffy ball of seeds and...even the little reader on your lap can guess what's going to happen next...blows away.

Grumpy Goat is no longer grumpy.  He's MAD!  And then he's SAD.

Luckily, now he has friends, and they try and cheer him.  Through the inevitable change of the seasons and passage of time, they sit beside him in his sadness and disappointment. And they do make him a little happier, they take his mind off of his flowers, until...one day...he realizes...that his dandelion has grown back.  And there are more of them!  A whole field of them!  And now he has friends with whom he can share the view.

Here's what I love about this book:

Who doesn't love the idea of a grumpy, prickly character having a big soft spot for sweet things such as flowers?  We all do.  Even kids.  And it's a great lesson for them to be kind to those who are grumpy and prickly around them because there's sweetness and goodness and I-want-to-belong-ness inside of everyone.

Grumpy Goat and all of his less grumpy buddies love dandelions!  Which are basically weeds!  So here we are celebrating a weed, holding it up as beautiful just like we would a peony.  I can relate--as I'm sure you can, too: my kids love dandelions, and take time and care to pick bouquets of them before any lawn mower gets to them.  Seeing beauty in that which most people don't--what a nice habit to pick up as a child.

The flowers come back.  He's so sad that they go...but with patience (what is that thing called patience?  I sure struggle with it!) and time (the inevitable passing of the seasons), the dandelion grows back.  In fact, it multiplies.   What a great message.

The story is fantastic, but the bright, full, gorgeous illustrations of these loveable characters are top-notch.  The sun and the dandelion pop out whenever they appear in the picture, and the characters are expression-filled and totally lovable.  You've got to see them to believe them--so go get this book!

Loved the book, Brett Helquist!  (And all those drawing lessons in sketches on your blog.)

What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry

What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry

Rating: 5 stars

A new thing: Throwback Thursday!  Here's an oldie but greatie...

The fact that I've been reviewing and recommending children's books for four years and have not mentioned this book is a crime.  I confess to it.  Right now. I am very sorry; I have been negligent in my duties. I will put myself in time out all day long (with a big stack of books beside me...oh happy day).

Truly, this is a must-have for any three-ish year old child.  Right now, at 2 years and 9 months, Kiefer can't get enough of the book.  Just like Ben couldn't get enough of the book when he was that age.  I sat with Ben just like I now sit with Kiefer, reading each story again and again and again, talking about the water wheel in this story, the special ladder to rescue Huckle in that story... I love the book still.  Which is a good thing, because I'll probably read it to Kiefer again later today.

from A Voyage on the Sea

I like all of the stories, but the priceless-ness is in the pictures: Scarry adds in a hundred little details in his illustrations, which means your child sees something new and different each time they read the book.  Oh--and a note on reading this book: because the illustrations are so intricate, reading isn't necessary to really understand what's going on.  That makes it an excellent choice for pre-readers like Kiefer.

Hopefully your childhood included this magical book.  If not, let me explain a little more about it so that, at the end of this post, you can immediately order it for any 3-ish year old child in your life.

The book is an oversized lap book, and is divided into seven or eight different stories.  I will challenge myself to remember them so I don't have to sneak into Kiefer's room to get it (he sleeps with this book; that, my friends, is book-love):

• Everyone is a Worker 
• How to Build a House 
• Fireman to the Rescue
• How to Mail a Letter
• A Day in the Hospital
• Where Wood Comes From
• How a Road is Built
• A Voyage on the Sea
• Where Bread Comes From

The best illustration in the whole book!
From How A House is Built

Each story is just a handful of pages long, and it uses animal characters to tell the story while also teaching the little reader about the topic.  Ben and Kiefer both love the house building one best--and that's my favorite, too.  I love the step-by-step explanations and the detailed pictures that go right along with it.

At the very least, check this book out to remember a bit of YOUR childhood.  At the very most, order it from your favorite bookseller to share the magic with your favorite reader.



P.S.  Many, many thanks to my godmother Andrea, who gave me this book seven years ago at the book-filled baby shower my sister threw for me.  I can't believe we still have the original!

Time to Pee! by Mo Willems

Time to Pee! by Mo Willems

Rating: 4 stars

When we potty trained our first child--or, really, when she potty-trained herself--we bought three or four books to help her understand what she was going to do.  We talked about it at length.  If there had been a movie, I would have sat with her and watched it, pausing it when I had something to add.  Which would have been a lot.

My sister took it one step further.  She potty-trained her twins girls, who are four months older than Lorelei, she WROTE a super long, super detailed book about what they were to do when they "got that funny feeling."  It was practically a chapter book!  With TONS of words.  Way too many words.  I mean, a LOT of words.

She and I recently potty-trained our cabooses--our last kids.  (Her fourth child is just six weeks older than my third; both are about 2 1/2.)  I think we had the same approach, quite different than the first time: "Hey, kid, here's the potty.  You know what to do, right?"

Okay, I am exaggerating.  But it was about the same amount of words as Mo Willems uses in his book, which is simply an explanation with cute illustrations about what you should do when you "get that funny feeling."  With the help of a lot of mice holding up a lot of signs, he tells kids what to do.  My favorite page is "Boys can stand; girls should sit."  That gets a lot of questions in my house.

Anyway, we checked this book out again a few weeks AFTER Kiefer started wearing underwear.  Oops.  We are planning an enormous celebration of the end of an era.  The End of Diapers!  After nearly 7 years of changing them, it is worthy of a celebration!

Thank you for using the toilet, Kiefer!

How to Train a Train by Jason Carter Eaton

How to Train a Train by Jason Carter Eaton, illustrated by John Rocco

Rating: 5 stars

"So you want a pet train?" asks the young boy-narrator.  "Well, of course you do!  Trains make awesome pets--they're fun, playful, and extremely useful.  Luckily for you, this handy guidebook contains everything you need to know to choose, track, and train your very own pet train.  Ready?  Then let's head out and find some trains!"

How can you resist an invitation like that?  I love how, right from the first page, this boy assumes you a) have realized that trains can be pets--and cool ones at that; b) are up for the adventure to find a train for yourself.  By the end of the first page, you're in.  Ready to go find your train.  You've long since forgotten that you once thought that having a train as a pet was a ludicrous notion.

Spend as much time as you can getting to know your train.
Does it like to play fetch?

And so begins a really fun imagination-filled tale of capturing your own train (with careful observation, then sweet luring it over to you, then winning it over with treats and pets in case you're curious).

What do you do with said train once you have it?  Well...lots of things!  You name it, of course, after getting to know it.  (Eaton names two of them after his own sons; I can only imagine their excitement of being in a children's book--my kids would go crazy in a sugar-before-bedtime sort of way.)  You can teach it tricks.  You can take it fishing with you, or take it swimming.

The story is neat and takes your kids on an unexpected, imaginative ride that makes them look around their normal lives and wonder: what else could I make into a pet?  And if a book makes your child wonder a little bit or a whole lot...well, then that's a great book in my book.

Here are some common train names...

But the illustrations!  John Rocco is so fantastic.  He brings to life these huge, heavy locomotives and makes them playful and funny and...just neat.  His trains-as-pets are brought to life, given sweet and kind and caring and even scared expressions on their steel engines in the most creative ways.  It's hard to read this book and not stop and examine the pictures in amazement and appreciation.  He's done our kids such a service here with his own imagination and talent.  (Thanks, John Rocco!)

This is definitely a great book--especially if you're little reader is into trains in just the slightest bit.  And maybe this is the way to persuade your child that they don't really want a puppy...they want a train instead?!

I Am Abraham Lincoln by Brad Meltzer

I Am Abraham Lincoln (Ordinary People Change the World) by Brad Meltzer, illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos

Rating: 3.5 stars

This book is smaller than most picture books.  Rather than standing the usual 12 or 14 inches, and being a standard rectangle, this book is a small square, about 6 by 6 inches.  That smaller-than-normal stature is ironic because by its contents, it is a bigger-than-normal book.

Meltzer (a thriller and mystery novelist who also hosts "Decoded" on the History channel) aimed to create a biography series of individuals that should and could be the heroes for today's children.  Right now, the Ordinary People Change the World series has two published books--Lincoln, Amelia Earhart, and one soon-to-be-published Rosa Parks.  As a proven author, I'm betting that Meltzer will write at least a dozen.

I think he does a pretty good job of packing in a LOT of information in this book that's aimed for 5-8 year olds.  He teaches about Lincoln's young life; he includes a specific example of how Lincoln steps in to stop a group of boys torturing (my word, not his) a poor turtle.  Courageously, he spoke up, and demanded the turtle be released.  "When you're ten years old, it's hard to do the right thing.  But someone has to."

Another vignette Meltzer includes: when Lincoln was 22, a gang of bullies challenged him to a fight.  Lincoln lost, and was angry about the fight--not because he lost, but because his opponent had cheated. He called him out on his poor sportsmanship, calmly and confidently pointing out that he'd fight all of them if he had to.  "Sometimes the hardest fights don't reveal a winner--but they do reveal character.  Especially when you're fighting for something you believe in."

I preferred to read.

The book includes the tough and true topics of slavery and war (but not of assassination), which is to be expected in a book about Lincoln.  With Lorelei we've discussed these topics, but with Ben we've only begun to explain the definition of the words, let alone the heartache they caused both then and now. The book ends by teaching kids how Lincoln used words in Gettysburg ("all men are created equal") and elsewhere to explain his personal conviction and, ultimately, to change the law that ended slavery.

I'm trying to put a finger on what it is about this book that makes it not resonate with me.  I'm not a fan of comic books, and the illustrated Abraham Lincoln in this book is a kid version of the adult--he's small but has a beard and top hat from age 6 to age 60, so...the missing aging process is a little odd to me.  The book is told in first person; I think it's pretty gutsy to actually put words in a man like Lincoln's mouth.  I'm not such a fan of that (but would kids really care? Probably not).  Meltzer is VERY preachy, taking a few pages at the end to talk about how "strength takes many forms.  But there's nothing quite as strong as standing up for someone who needs it." Maybe it is preachy for me as an adult reader, but on par for 6- and 7-year old readers?

Even though I think this book is just okay, I certainly support a Ordinary People Change the World series.  I like how Meltzer starts Lincoln's story--and his conviction, his practice of sticking up for people or animals that can't speak for themselves, his love of words--as a child.  I love that my kids can glance towards their future and wonder where they'll end up.  I know I sure wonder, too.

Journey by Aaron Becker

Journey by Aaron Becker

Rating: 5 stars

Lorelei is now in first grade.  When I started this blog, she was not yet three (click here for the first time she appeared in a blog post).  Back then, we shared books that we found together in the library.  I'd order a bunch that I'd found on some list somewhere, and she'd just look around the library and grab ones that looked pretty neat.

These days, we share books in a different sort of way.  She often tells me about books and, since she knows I have a children's book blog, she suggests books for me to write about.  She searches on her own, in her own school library.  She brings them home for me or points them out at our local library when we go together.

Journey is one of the books she recommended to me.  She told me, in a gushing, girly sort of way: "Oh MOM!  You've just GOT to read this book!  Well, not read.  There aren't any words.  But the pictures are just AMAZING!  You've just GOT to put it on your blog."

Well, okay then.  I will!

I understand why Journey captured her imagination.  It makes me want to gush and use annoying all-caps to explain what a MASTERPIECE it is!  The book was recently awarded as a Caldecott Honor book...and it is so, SO worthy of the award.  It is one of the most magical books I've ever had on my lap.  It is an invitation to jump in and dream of what could be possible if you turned on the light switch to your imagination.

Take a minute (actually only 52 seconds) to watch this:

The girl seems frustrated that no one will play with her, so she creates and enters a magical world.  That you probably already know.  But let me tell you what the best part of the book is so that you parents who want to use books to teach will make sure to put this one on your list.

The girl enters a magical world in which she finds a purple bird that is in a cage, seemingly as lonely as the girl was in the first few pages of the book.  She takes a risk and rescues, then releases the bird, only to be imprisoned in the same cage herself.  And, to make things worse, she's dropped the magical red marker that she's used to create this world.  It is a low moment for her.

(I love that the low moment appears in the book--what a lesson for our kids to realize that life has these, too!  And that the challenge becomes: well, what now?  I like books where the characters rescue themselves and get themselves out of the low point, but...Journey has a neat resolution, too.)

And then, the bird appears.  With the red marker held gently in its beak.  The girl helped the bird escape, and now the bird has turned around to help her.  The bird then leads the girl through its magical world, and back to its creator: a boy, with a magical purple marker.  A friend.  Who also believes in magic.

Like the recent book Oliver, this book is about finding a friend that gets you.  And it's a story with sprinklings of self-determination and kindness and karma-filled goodness.  Definitely one to buy for the shelf, definitely award-worthy, definitely a great recommendation from my fellow bookworm and daughter, Lorelei.

The Shape of My Heart by Mark Sperring

The Shape of My Heart by Mark Sperring, illustrated by Alys Paterson

Rating: 4 stars

Here's a sweet book about a parent's love for a child, explained through the senses and with many, many shapes.

I'll explain.

Sperring writes: "This is the shape of our eyes.  And these are the shapes that we might see."  Paterson illustrates all the little things that a parent and child might see together while playing or walking or being together.  A fun dinner plate, a green plant, a picture in the process of being painted, a balloon, a ball of yarn.  All little reminders of things done together--or maybe things that will be done together.

Sperring writes: "This is the shape of our mouths. Now, what would you like to eat?" Paterson illustrates all the little things that a parent and child might eat together--hot pasta with peas, what-a-treat lollipops, carrots fresh from the garden, sweet strawberries, a hunk of cheese.  All little examples of food--both staples and treats--that will be eaten together.

In between the pages with things the parent and child will see, hear, touch, and taste together are

elaborate illustrations comprised of simple shapes that give a child a great reason to pause and take in the illustration before quickly turning the page.

The last page is definitely the best.  The punchline.  The reason I bought the book.

Sperring writes: "And this is the shape I love you with.  This is the shape of my heart."  Paterson illustrates all those little things that the parent and child did together, this time tucked closely together, collage-style in the shape of a heart.

For me, this is a great reminder to us parents that all those little, very tangible things we do with a child point out how much we love them.  "Forever is just a string of a lot of right nows," said a character in a movie we watched last night.  And love is just a collection of little moments...little moments that hopefully we parents will choose to be in--I mean really BE in, in a join-the-fun sort of way--again and again and again.

Hope your Valentine's Day is filled with a few of these moments.

How to Babysit a Grandpa by Jean Reagan

How to Babysit a Grandpa by Jean Reagan, illustrated by Lee Wildish

Rating: 5 stars

Sometimes, even though I'm nearly 40 years old, I do the Lucky Me dance.  I don't even care if someone is watching (that's the beauty of being nearly 40 years old).

What are the reasons I sometimes do the Lucky Me dance?  Oh good...I was hoping you would ask.

One of the many reasons: my kids know my parents really, really well.

(And I think that is a really, really beautiful and wonderful and priceless thing

Kiefer babysits his Grand-Dad

I'm lucky to say that my mom, a retired teacher, tries to come weekly to spend a little time with each grandchild, separately, before we all have dinner together and she heads home to her house in rural Virginia.  Everyone loves Grammy Days.  My dad, a retired Army general, isn't quite retired from work altogether so he actually is pretty busy.  We all see less of him than we'd like.  But with advanced notice, he'll happily come and babysit our kids.  And they LOVE when he comes to babysit.

(Slight disclaimer because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings: my parents' new partners are equally wonderful with my kids.  Divorce stinks BUT my kids are lucky to two more grandparents who love them like crazy.  And then they've got two MORE grandparents my husband's side!  That's right: they have SIX reasons to do the Lucky Me dance.)

It's such a gift watching my parents with my children because they aren't confined to the discipline standards I need to be, they aren't exhausted by the day-in, day-out aspect of parenthood, they aren't over-present so their presence is a huge present (like that? I did!).  My parents are great at just playing and just being with my kids--and I am reminded to play and be with my kids a little more by watching them.

Oh!  The book!

How to Babysit a Grandpa is a delightful how-to book.  Flip through the pages and the main character, a young boy, will teach you how to properly:

• Greet a grandpa (by hiding until Grandpa totally gives up)
• Provide snacks for a grandpa (the short list includes both "ice cream topped with cookies" and "cookies topped with ice cream")
• Play with a grandpa (including building a cave or fort that you BOTH can fit into)
• Draw for your grandpa (while he snoozes in a chair, mouth agape as only grandparents can do)

When it's cold, bundle up.

Lee Wildish's giggle-worthy illustrations are a perfect compliment to Wildish's words.  He shows as she tells: and he shows, on page after page, a great, active grandpa choosing to engage and play like crazy with his grandson.  Grandpa's jumping in puddles!  Grandpa is playing a kazoo!  Grandpa is eating the ice cream and cookies!  I just love it.

And I just love the book--not only because I love the fact that my kids have a grandpa like that in real-life.  Lucky them!  Lucky me.  That's why I have to do the Lucky Me dance sometimes...!


P.S.  In a neat interview with the author, Jean Reagan (click here to read the whole thing), she says that she was even more inspired to write children's books after listening to a published author, Bruce Colville, say that he writes books to inspire children to be "kindler, gentler, and braver."  I really love that, too.

Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff (repost!)

Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond

Rating: 5 unique stars

Here's my first favorite Valentine's Day book.  It's a silly little board book, but I just love it and the message it provides for kids.  I can't find our copy, so this is based on my memory from reading it last year.  And the year before that.  And the year before that.

Mouse is preparing Valentine's Day cards for all of his friends.  But he doesn't make them as most kids do these days--just buy a box, pop in some high-fructose-corn-syrup-filled candy, and sign his name.  Nope.  "Mouse wants each one to be just right."  He stops to think of each of his friends, and what they like to do, and then he creates a unique card for each of them.

Lorelei's owls, Ben's bumblebee

For Moose, for example, he thinks of how much Moose likes art, and creates a masterpiece of art for him.  Because Pig is such a good dancer, Mouse creates a card with a music note bursting with joy.

For anyone familiar with all of Laura Numeroff's books (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, etc.), the images will be familiar--almost all of them are taken from different books, so it's like a gathering of sorts of all those fun illustrations by Felicia Bond showing the animals at their wackiest.

But I love the message: Be thoughtful; think of the other person as you create a card just for them.

We make our own Valentine's Day cards--not sure how long this will last, but I love it for now--and I was proud of Lorelei when she wanted to add glasses to two of her owl valentines.  "Red ones for Ritvik, purple ones for Jessica!"  I of course obliged; was so happy for her thoughtful additions.

Happy Valentine's Day, all.