The Lucky Baseball Bat by Matt Christopher

The Lucky Baseball Bat by Matt Christopher

Rating: 5 stars

Throwback Thursday!

Written fifty years ago, this book is hardly cutting-edge.  But it is sweet and classic and wholesome in a "swell" sort of way.  This is the first book by the prolific sports author Matt Christopher--who has a whole shelf of books at our local library.

Marvin is the new kid in town, and he wants to play baseball but doesn't have a glove or bat.  And…Marv is the opposite of talented.  He seems destined for only strike outs.  He misses most balls that come his way.  Then, a nice, older kid down the street gives him the bat and glove that he recently outgrew, and Marvin starts to hit.  He gets really good.  He credits his bat for his good fortune--it's easier to explain good luck than improved skill in Marvin's head.

The inevitable happens (and it's really clear that this is going to happen in this very beginning chapter book): the bat breaks, and Marvin loses his confidence.  Despite feeling low, he rescues a toddler from being hit by a car.  This might seem like a happening from left field, but it is tied in nicely with the story and is actually pretty realistic.  I love how Marvin doesn't just watch an accident happen--he jumps in and tries to help.

While Marvin shrugs off the parents' insistence that they help him in some way, the father of the little boy makes a bat.  He says it's Marvin's lucky bat, just put back together again, all Humpty-Dumpty like.  Marvin believes him and helps his team win the last game of the season--the game that wins all the boys on his team a trip to one game of the World Series.  Only then does the father of the little boy break the news to him: It was a new bat, not his lucky bat.

Marvin realizes that it was his skill and confidence in himself--not luck--that won the game, and he is even more proud of himself.

A simple story, right?  Ben was on the edge of his seat.  "One more chapter, Mommy!"  and "Can we read another?"  We finished it yesterday morning after breakfast while his brother was sleeping off a sleepless night (no comment on the sad fact that I did not get to do the same!).

The nostalgic glimpses made me chuckle: When Marvin is at the height of his hitting with doubles and tripes flying off his bat, a local TV reporter invites him to be on the news.  Marvin's little sister Jeannie gasps in delight and says, "I'm going to tell my two friends!  They even have television sets!"  It was a wonderful opportunity to a) shake my head at the changing times and b) explain to Ben that the then and now realities are very, very different.  Marvin is a good guy--earnest, honest, and takes the high road every chance he gets.  It's great to have a character in a book be this kind and uncomplicated.

This is a great read-aloud book for young kids, especially sports-crazy Ben.

Brothers At Bat by Audrey Vernick

Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brothers Baseball Team by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Steven Salerno

Rating: 5 stars

I love this book.  Love it!

Meet the Acerras: The best way to meet them, methinks, is to go back in time and stand outside their house on a nice Spring day like today (here in Northern Virginia) and count how many boys run out.  Count how many gloves and bats fly out the door with those boys.  Count how many times the back door slaps against the frame as they come out, running, to the ball field.

It'll slap twelve times.  Twelve.  Twelve!  There were twelve baseball-playing brothers.  (And four sisters, too.  They didn't play ball because "back then, most people thought sports were just for boys.")

Their uniforms all said the same thing: Acerras.

Their story is fun and sweet and full of SO many little and big opportunities to compare and contrast today's childhood and yesteryear's childhood. The Acerras' house was crowded, and they entertained themselves, mostly with outdoor sports.  (Those two things are certainly related!)  Smaller house equals more outside play time.  In 1938, the brothers ranged in age from seven to thirty-two.  Their was an Acerra on the high school baseball team for twenty-two years in a row.  The facts are mind-boggling, and smile-inducing.

There were so many brothers that they formed their own semi-pro team and competed against other New Jersey teams.  Their coach?  Dad.  Each brother had their own nickname that matched his own personality. There was no rivalry or fighting--"we stick together," Freddie said.  And when that same guy, Freddie, suffered an accident and lost an eye, his brothers helped him through it and helped him get back on the field.

This is a feel-good book of all feel-good books.  The tight-knit, huge family; the all-American game of baseball; the nostalgic illustrations by Steven Salerno; the gut-wrenching moments when they all went off to war (and came back--each and every one--I have to spill the beans so you don't worry)…  All of this makes for a great read and a huge appreciation for the type of childhood that built characters I know and love.  Characters like my two grandfathers, my dad, my uncles.

The all-brother team always drew big crowds.

I kinda want to buy Brothers At Bat for those characters.  For my Grandpa K, whose excellent playing put him in the Pennsylvania Baseball Hall of Fame (but he went to serve his country rather than join the major leagues).  Or maybe for my other Grandpa, who coached--baseball on the field and life lessons off the field--his three boys and  all the neighborhood boys.  Or maybe for those three boys, who are now my dad and my two uncles.  Or…

Or maybe I'll just read it to Ben, who leapt off the sofa just a dozen minutes ago, where he was comfortably watching an afternoon cartoon, because the neighborhood brothers (all three of them) plus their cousin (all one of him) invited him to play baseball.  And he's out there now on this warm Spring afternoon, throwing and catching and hitting like so many boys before him.

Barbed Wire Baseball by Marissa Moss

Barbed Wire Baseball by Marissa Moss, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu

Rating: 4 stars

There's just so much you can learn through baseball.  I'm talking about sobering American history: what happened to Japanese-Americans during World War II after Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Kenichi Zenimura was born in Japan then immigrated to America when he was eight.  He was small and slight--barely five feet tall and only one hundred pounds!--but fell in love with baseball the first time he saw a ball game.  His parents wanted him to become something more serious and important--a lawyer or doctor, perhaps--but "Zeni" coached and managed and played baseball. He was selected to play with star members of the New York Yankees, and even arranged for Babe Ruth to play in Japan.

But that world collapsed for him when the Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.

But in 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, his world changed.

As you probably know, but as your children probably yet do not, Japanese-Americans were sent to camps in the west because the government considered them possible spies.  Zeni was heartbroken not to continue his work in baseball, but since that was what gave him joy and made him feel happy, he brought it to the camp.  Zeni mobilized his friends and family and, with many hours of hard labor, built a true baseball field in the dry Arizona camp.

Most of the book is about the building of the field--Moss writes how Zeni was focused on creating a real ballpark, not just a thrown-together one.  "We have to do this right," he explained.  I love the focus on doing a job well and right, with a focus on excellence.  All of this gets you, and got Zeni and his helpers, a huge sense of pride when the job is done.

Zeni is between Lou Gehrig (second from left)
and Babe Ruth at an exhibition game in Fresno, CA

The mood around camp shifted as the first game approached, as people had something to look forward to and enjoy.  People filled the bleachers and spilled over onto the ground, excited to watch as Zeni, his sons, and their friends simply played ball.  And felt free.

This is a really good book, though definitely for an older reader and best read while in your lap--it is sure to raise a few very good, very serious questions, and hopefully a patient parent or grandparent or teacher can answer those questions.

Rain! by Linda Ashman

Rain! by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Christian Robinson

Rating: 5 stars

At first glance, you might think, "See?  Picture books are so easy to write."  This is a simple book--a simple idea, written with sparse words; a picture book written with, well, pictures.

It's raining.  And from a tall apartment, two characters get ready for a little walk to a little bakery.  One is a young boy, happily dressed in a hoppy frog outfit, a smile on his face, boots made for splashing in puddles on his feet.  Frog-Boy is celebrating the rain, and his excitement is contagious.  Every person with whom he interacts soon has a smile on his face.

The other character is a grumpy old man whose furrowed brow dives down deeper at the sign of the blasted rain.  "Nasty galoshes.  Blasted overcoat. Dang puddle." he complains.  His grumpiness is contagious.  Every person with whom Old Grumps interacts sobers up and gets serious.

The first page says it all...

The two meet at the Rain or Shine Cafe.  Frog-Boy bumps into Old Grumps, who spits down at him, "Watch out!"  He alone is immune to the cuteness of the boy.  But then Old Grumps forgets his hat, so the Frog-Boy runs after him.  He puts on Old Grumps' hat and mimics him.  Old Grumps realizes right then and there what he looks like.  So he takes the Frog-Boy's hat, squeezes it on his big bald head, smiles, and says, "Ribbit!"

Cheerfulness wins the day!  Hooray!

Linda Ashman was wise to write such a simple, perfect little book about something we parents rant about all the time: attitude.  Have a good one, and not only will you be light and happy, but you'll have a good effect on those you touch during the day.

A simple, sweet book that my kids and I just love.

Becoming Babe Ruth by Matt Tavares

Becoming Babe Ruth by Matt Tavares

Rating: 5 stars

I suspect that this will only happen once, and it's happening now: Lorelei and Ben are playing the same sport, and they're on the same team.  They're both playing for the Cincinnati Reds in our local Little League--at the t-ball level.  Lorelei likes it, Ben loves it; they are both soaking up some of the rich history of the oh-so-American, oh-so-tradition-rich sport by the stories they are reading.

Dozens of wonderful nonfiction books exist about baseball that bring out the excitement of a previous era, teach about a famous sportsman, and hold the interest of almost any age of reader.  This is one of those books.

Becoming Babe Ruth came out last year--I read about it in the NYTimes Book Review (click HERE) one Sunday when I actually did read the paper.  The story starts off with a slightly shocking image and with a fact I didn't know: In George Ruth's early years in Baltimore, Maryland, he was a rascal of a kid who skipped school and caused trouble.  Yikes! What else was I about to read my kids?! I wondered as I read this page out loud.

But then the story unfolds: in an effort to straighten him out, George's parents send him to the strict St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys.  There, he first chafed under the tight control...until he found baseball.  He was soon slugging away nearly every afternoon, and the balance of finding something he loved (and that something he loved came along with someone he loved, the brother/coach of the team) made the strictness of the school bearable.  Years later, after he'd been playing baseball there for a decade or so, a scout came to watch him.  He was signed onto the Baltimore Orioles the next day.  While he played for them (for just half a season, before being traded to the Red Sox), he often returned to St. Mary's to play with his pals after practicing all day.  Also while playing for the Orioles, he got his nickname "Babe," which obviously stuck.

He got traded to the Red Sox, pitched less and slugged more, and became a sensation unlike any other ball player had before.  Tavares doesn't highlight his trade to the Yankees, and doesn't bring up the curse that trade famously causes (you and your child can--and should!--read about that in the fine, informative The Legend of the Curse of the Bambino).

Instead, Tavares highlights a story that highlights Ruth's character--which gave me the opportunity to talk with Ben about the importance of being a good man while also being a fantastic ball player.  While Babe Ruth was at his peak, out slamming balls left and right in any field in which he played, he got word that there had been a fire at St. Mary's.  Everything burned to the ground.  He was shocked and concerned--this was his home for so many years, and he loved it.  He returned and figured out a way to help.  He took the St. Mary's baseball team on tour with him--letting them lap up hot dogs and ice cream like they never had before, and letting them soak up games as they traveled around with the Yankees for a good part of the season. At the games, Babe Ruth asked people to donate money to have St. Mary's rebuilt.  They did, and St. Mary's was, in fact, rebuilt.

This is a fantastic book about a sportsman every kid needs to know about--a must-read for sure.

There's so much to love about this sport even if, like me, all the joy of playing it comes from pitching to your kid and watching the joy and pride wash over his face when he actually hears the SMACK of the bat meeting the ball.  It's really the first time in parenting when I've sat on the side and watched my children being coached (by my great friend and great coach for this sponge-like yet attention-challenged age group).  I'm learning so much about it all.

Xander's Panda Party by Linda Sue Park

Xander's Panda Party by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by Matt Phelan

Rating: 5 stars

If you want to read a book to understand how some authors make rhymes work--I mean really work--for them, just pick up Xander's Panda Party by Linda Sue Park.  It is, quite possibly, the best rhyme within a picture book I've ever read.  Each time I read it, I'm just floored by the twists and turns in the poem.  It's like riding a pleasant, not-too-crazy lyrical roller coaster.  When accompanied by the sweet illustrations by Matt Phelan, and once you realize the story itself is wonderful, you've got a pretty flawless book.

The story adds to this flawless feel because it's a feel-good, lesson-underneath story.  Xander is a panda who wants to throw a party (for himself), but he's the only panda.  So he decides to invite all the bears.  Including Koala Bear.  But wait!

From her tree, Koala hollered, "Zander, I am not a bear."
Xander didn't understand her.  "Koala Bear, you're not a bear?"
He stared at her in consternation.
"Sorry for the complication.
I know I'm called Koala Bear, but I am not a bear, I swear.
I am a marsupial.  Marsupials--we're rather rare.  Will I not be welcome there?"

Xander cutely distributes invitations to every animal...

He adjusts his invitation list to include marsupials by inviting all the mammals.  But…cranky-looking rhinoceros sends him a note:

It may sound a bit absurd, but I won't come without my bird.

So…  Zander broadens his guest list once more to include mammals and birds.  And then crocodile (with a most beguiling smile) begs politely to have the reptiles included.  Finally, with excitement rather than exhaustion and with the help of Amanda Salamander, the final invitation includes everyone.  And the first gift to Xander (from the zoo): another panda!

This book is quality, no doubt.  I can feel the hours it took to get every word just right, and now you have a rhyme that sure sounds effortless as I read it out loud to my children.  It is just flawless--because of its rhythm and rhyme and illustrations, but most importantly, the story.  And a teachable moment sort of story, too--a nice lesson on including everybody, even the animals you didn't think of first.  (I always forget to invite the crocodiles to my parties, too, Xander…)

Baby Bao Bao

P.S.  This book is great for anyone in the Northern Virginia area as we've been seeing adorable images of baby panda Bao Bao, born at the National Zoo some months ago.  So the kids are already panda-crazy and appreciate Xander a little bit more than usual.

Wuthering Heights: A Weather Primer by Jennifer Adams

Wuthering Heights: A Weather Primer by Jennifer Adams, illustrated by Alison Oliver

Rating: 5 stars

Of the six board books I've borrowed from a librarian-friend in this clever BabyLit series, this one is my favorite.  As "fashionable ways to introduce your toddler to the world of classic literature," the board books are actually books on colors, counting, opposites, animals…and like this Wuthering Heights board book, weather.

The illustrations all have the same backdrop of Mr. Heathcliff's castle-like home, Wuthering Heights, and the same gnarled tree and same climb-up-me hill.  Yet each one, of course, is used to show that specific type of weather, so the sky above is either bright or stormy, full of clouds or lightning bolts.  The individuals in the picture are either basking in or hiding from what's happening above them.

And I think it's so neat.  With each type of weather, there is a sentence from the book that describes that type of weather. Not only does this provide a more sophisticated text than toddlers are used to these days, it gives us parents a nice change of pace with classic, poetic, descriptive sentences from another era, and often from our own bookshelf.  For example:

"The first feathery flakes of a snow shower."

BREEZY "The weather was sweet and warm."
SUNNY  "The place was filled with sunshine."
CLOUDY "Bright white clouds flitting rapidly above."
STILL "The mild glory of a rising moon."

I was talking about these books with someone recently and I said that I thought one drawback to them was that they seemed easy to buy for little girls, but…not so little boys.  I have Anna Karenina: A Fashions Primer in mind, mostly…  Then I looked up what other books are available and now I'm currently sitting on my hands trying not to order them to have them:

Sherlock Holmes: A Sounds Primer
Dracula: A Counting Primer
Jabberwocky: A Nonsense Primer
The Jungle Book: An Animals Primer
Huckleberry Finn: A Camping Primer

As you read these books to your little ones, it's a nice reminder that there are more things to read than board books--but that's where this love of reading all starts: board books.

Alice in Wonderland: A Colors Primer by Jennifer Adams

Alice in Wonderland: A Colors Primer by Jennifer Adams, illustrated by Alison Oliver

Rating: 5 stars

Have you heard about this BabyLit series?  They are board books--or, as their website explains, "fashionable ways to introduce your toddler to classic literature."  The first books in the series, Moby Dick came out over a year ago…I read a review of it in the New York Times and definitely shook my head at these literature-for-babies series.

I thought: Pretentious.  Obnoxious.  Is this what parents read to their babies while driving them from preschool to their Mandarin lessons?

Yup, that's what I thought.  Until I got them in my hot little hands (thanks to our librarian who, intrigued by the books and frustrated that they aren't yet part of the collection, ordered them on her own dime and loaned them out to me…it's nice to have friends in literary places!).

red hearts

I now think: They aren't so pretentious.  They aren't so obnoxious.  They are pretty genius.  They are very cute.  They are great for parent book-lovers to read to their baby bookworms.

Let it be known: I was wrong.  These are creative, cool, cute board books.  I REALLY love them!

Each book in the series is a different genre (I think there's a better word but it's escaping me right now…forgive me, I'm out of coffee…): colors, opposites, weather, even fashion (again, sounds obnoxious but I think it's done well and I'm not super girly-girly).

Take Alice in Wonderland: A Colors Primer.  The text reads:

white rabbit
black shoes
purple bottle
orange cat
blue caterpillar
brown hat
red hearts

If you're familiar with the story, the images probably jump to your mind.  And those images, produced by Alison Oliver, are fantastic--bright and clean, simple and interesting.  This book was one of the kids' favorites among the stack we've borrowed from Miss Daniella because they have read the picture book version of the story and watched the old Disney movie.  So they had fun remembering the characters and stories, and they liked how Jennifer Adams boiled down the huge story to such a simple text for little guys and girls.

Check 'em out!  I'm curious what you think.

But you can't check them out at Fairfax County Library, at least not yet…unless you want to request that they are added to the collection!  Click HERE and then scroll down to the bottom of the page to request this book, or any other.

Tools Rule! by Aaron Meshon

Tools Rule! by Aaron Meshon

Rating: 5 stars

Please don't tell him, but I got this book for Kiefer for his third birthday.  As of this blurry-eyed, early-morning typing, that's 19 days away.  I got it early so I could read it and tell you all about it.  I'll give it to him once I've dog-eared my favorite pages, underlined my favorite passages, and shared it with friends and strangers…  Ah, the joys of being a third child!

In Tools Rule! I was excited to see:

1. A book on tools!  They are hard to find.  In fact, I can only think of two others that I've found over the years: I Love Tools! by Philemon Sturges and Tools by Taro Miura.  It's as if no one else's child has walked around with a pint-sized version of a saw, driven his mama crazy by hammering nothing and everything, and dreamed of using his daddy's drill some day.  Seriously--more tool books, authors!
2. Another book by Aaron Meshon.  We loved his debut children's book Take Me Out to the Yakyu--it was informative and clever, simple and sweet.  We are busting it out again, not for baseball-obsessed Ben but for Lorelei, whose first grade class is studying Japan right now.

Tools Rule! is another adorably illustrated book where a bunch of scattered, messy tools organize themselves to come together to build a shed in order to, well, organize themselves.  The story is mostly told through word bubbles; the tools talk to each other and to themselves and say what's going on or what needs to happen.  Throughout the book there is a little bit of traditional text that acts like an all-seeing narrator.  I do wish that there was more of it to provide a little more structure as the tools, well, build their structure.

But Kiefer will neither notice nor care about a detail like that.  And who is this book for, anyway?  He'll see the big tools jump out on the pages and chuckle as the ruler wakes up his tool friends and spurs them to action.  He'll see the tools using teamwork to build a shed and then cheer at the finished product.

And Meshon thoughtfully gave me, the reader-parent, plenty of opportunities to chuckle as well: He makes puns with the tool names throughout the book.  "Saw?  Saw?  Where is Saw?  I just saw him!" or Clamp saying, "My advice? Let's get a grip on things." or when Hammer tells Nail that he's needed to build a wall and, as Hammer hammers, Nail says, "OK!  Ouch!  OK! OK! Ouch! OK! Ouch!"  Just makes me smile.  I appreciate that, but it also makes this book interesting for an advanced reader like Lorelei, who is ready to seek and find silly play-on-words like Meshon throws in.

At the end, when the toolshed is finished and each  tool is nestled in their own cubby or hook, spot or nook, they say good night to each other.  And then they snore in their own unique ways: "Pourzzz" for Pail, "Bangzzz, bangzzz" for Hammer, "Drillzzzz" for Drill…  See? Doesn't that make you smile, too?

A very cute book with very tough and witty characters! I look forward to reading it twice a day for 30 days straight!


P.S.  I have to include my non-tool-toting but oh-so-funny dad's comments to me after he read this:

I believe that Meshon actually is a ghost writer for Home Depot and Lowes, a covert plot to convince people that tools, and therefore projects that cost money and take up too much time, are cool. 

I have no evidence yet for my belief.  I'm working on it.

Joan of Arc by Shana Corey

Joan of Arc by Shana Corey, illustrated by Dan Andreasen

Rating: 4 stars

Seen the movie Frozen?  Heard the songs from it…maybe just once or twice?  Not surprisingly, Lorelei is downright enchanted with the story, the characters, and the songs.  Last night I had to ask her to sing a little more quietly as she flitted around her room before turning her light out because her brothers were already asleep.

While singing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" Anna sings as she gazes up at a painting: "Hang in there, Joan!" Lorelei, in her ice cream night gown and wavy hair in her face, sung the line "Hang in there Joe."  I had to pause her enthusiastic singing and insert a teachable moment. It sounds worse than it was.  It sounds like I deflated her fun.  Oh wait, I think I might have.  POP!

I quickly explained that it was J-O-A-N, a girl, and she was a famous woman…wait, actually a teenage girl who fought for France in a war.  Lorelei's eyes got bigger with these quick facts, unable to digest the craziness of that story.  Or maybe she just wanted to get back to the flitting around part of her evening.

The next day we went to the library--wonderfully, with my mom, who occupied the rogue Kiefer who can still get loud and feisty at the drop of a hat--and Lorelei and I wandered over to the biography section.  We were looking for books on Georgia O'Keefe; Lorelei's class was learning about her in art and Lorelei was pretty intrigued and curious to know more.  She also humored me and said "yes" to wanting a book on Joan of Arc, too.  So we got one two on Georgia and one on Joan…it clearly was Famous Woman Day at the library for us.

We got home and read Joan of Arc over dinner.  And I immediately realized how serious a story it is for a Step into Reading book.  Shana Corey does a wonderful job of putting such a huge, serious story into digestible sentences and using the right words for this reading level.  But it's still an incredible, sobering story.  I was glad to be there to answer the many questions that came up.  "What's a vision?  How could they fight for 100 years? Why couldn't women fight? What does prisoner mean?" But Lorelei and Ben were all ears--the book smartly starts with Joan looking for a sword for her journey, so Ben was captivated by the thought of a voice telling her where a sword was located.  As the book follows Joan from a village to the prince, and then on to battle, the kids were spellbound.  They asked a few times, "This is really nonfiction?"

And then the book came to the final pages.  Joan is, you probably know, captured and put on trial.  If she lies and says she does not hear the voices, she'll escape her punishment of burning at the stake.  She does not lie--she stays true to herself and to God and therefore is tied to the stake and the fire is lit.  Needless to say, the kids were still spellbound at that part…and there were a few more follow-up questions to be answered.

AND needless to say, I rolled my own eyes at myself for getting a book with a young girl burning at the stake for my nearly 7 year old and 5 year old!  Did I cross the line this time and go overboard on wanting to teach anything and everything as soon as possible?  But…if not now, when?  These stories are part of history and part of my own Catholic background and…even part of a Frozen song.  And we read the book together, I answered my kids' questions patiently and honestly, and the kids know I'll be around if they have more thoughts on the inspiring but shocking story of a very famous woman in history.

Babe Ruth Saves Baseball! by Frank Murphy

Babe Ruth Saves Baseball! by Frank Murphy, illustrated by Richard Walz

Rating: 5 stars

"Everyone knows something about George Herman Ruth," author Frank Murphy writes at the start of this Step 3 Easy Reader.  And it's true.  At the very least, you know that Babe Ruth was one of the best--if not The Best--ball players in the history of the game.

But did you know that he saved baseball?  I sure didn't.

Murphy tells the story of a time when things sure seemed a whole lot simpler--the early 20th century when baseball stars were heroes, and families gathered 'round the radio to listen to their favorite teams play when they couldn't get to the ballpark to see them and root them on in person.

In 1919, Babe Ruth was a Red Sox pitcher-turned-home run star; he hit home runs in every state he visited and played in, and people counted his home runs across America.  He was becoming a sensation, no doubt. Also in that year, the White Sox and Cincinnati Reds played in the World Series.  "But some White Sox players cheated.  People all across America found out.  People were shocked.  Many fans stopped going to the ball fields."

These devastated, disappointed fans needed something, or some one, to bring the spark back to baseball.  To give them a reason to care about the sport and the individuals who played it.  And that person could be, and was, Babe Ruth.

In 1920, Babe Ruth (famously or infamously, though Murphy doesn't make any fuss about it) moved to New York City to play for the Yankees.  He started talking about how many home runs he was going to hit that season--50, not the measly 29 he had hit the year prior--and got people curious and then excited to see if he could keep his word.  He sure did.  He hit 54.

Babe Ruth made kids fall in love with baseball all over again--I never knew that he signed hundreds of baseballs and then hid them around the city for people to find (hey, Nats, my son Ben thinks it'd be cool to do that again!).  A new ballpark--Yankee Stadium--was built and called "The House that Ruth Built." Guess who said he aimed to hit the first home run in the stadium?  Yup.  Babe. And guess who did what he said he'd do?  Yup.  Babe.

I've read this book three times to the kids, though Lorelei and Ben could easily read it by themselves.  At the end of each book, we're all in awe.  We all look up to Babe and the image he deliberately crafted for himself.  We talked about the World Series in which players cheated, and how important it is to be honest and how great it was that Babe Ruth did what he said he was going to do--that's how you gain people's trust.

There's so much kids (and their mamas!) can learn from this sport--both the history of it and actually playing it today.  I'm intrigued by that as I watch Ben and now Lorelei practice hitting, catching, and throwing their way through practices and ball games.  Of course I want to provide the cultural history, too, by reading books like this one to them.  But when it comes down to it, I know that Ben is just curious about how hard he can hit the ball, how high he can hit that ball, and how far he can hit that ball.  Just like Babe Ruth.

(To read my other reviews on baseball books, click HERE.)

Because You Are My Teacher by Sherry North

Because You Are My Teacher by Sherry North, illustrated by Marcellus Hall

Rating: 4 stars

It's Teacher Appreciation Week at Ben's preschool, so we parents have been baking and flowering and hugging our kids' teachers a little more often to make sure they know they are appreciated.  Maybe I should also give Ben's teachers a copy of this book…

Because You Are My Teacher is a terrific gift book.  In fact, if not for a teacher gift, I'm not sure why else you'd buy it.  The book is a list of all the places that the fictional, in-the-book teacher "takes" her class--out to sea, over a volcano, across the Amazon, down in a submarine, to name a few destinations.

If we had a schooner, we would shave our class at sea
And study the Atlantic, where the great blue whales roam free.
If we had some camels, we would trek through desert lands
To see the ancient pyramids rising from the sands.
If we had a chopper, we would soar above the cone
Of a rumbling volcano as it churns out liquid stone.

The illustrations by Marcellus Hall are terrific; they show the teacher at the helm of one vehicle or the next while also (I imagine) spewing thought-provoking lessons to the smiling children that obediently and enthusiastically follow her.

While I know that each minute of every day my children go to school won't be this picture-perfect or this adventurous, I do know that the vast majority of their teachers will give them her or his very best.  And for that--and for them--I am oh so grateful!

Our classroom is our vessel, always headed someplace new.
Because you are our teacher, we'll explore the world with you.

Thank you, teachers!

Pete the Cat: Old MacDonald Had a Farm by James Dean

Pete the Cat: Old MacDonald Had a Farm by James Dean

Rating: 3.5 stars

This book takes nearly five minutes to read.  I know that because I timed myself last night reading it.  With no kids around.  (After this review, feel free to join in a brief discussion about the state of my mental health…  Let me know if there are any useful conclusions.)  I cannot imagine how long it would take if Kiefer wanted to sing the whole thing with me.  I realize that, as a good mama, I would want to encourage this sort of engagement and musical interest.  But as a tired mama at the end of a long day, that sort of engagement and interest might push me over the edge!

And, despite the fact that there are 14 animals in it, James Dean doesn't even help me out by explaining what on earth a good mama like me is supposed to say when your kid yells out "giraffe!" or "turtle!" from the peanut gallery in the backseat while singing this song.  The nerve!

Ok, seriously.  Enough kidding around here.  This book is, straight-up, a version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm.  There are no silly twists or unexpected turns.  It's just the song, and a whole lotta verses to the song.  If you love Pete the Cat, you might not be able to resist buying it.  If Old MacDonald Had a Farm is your kid's favorite book, you might not be able to resist buying it.  Of course it's great to have a book that kids can sing to; little ones like Kiefer can "read" every single page because he knows the song by heart and therefore he can "read" along with it.

And the illustrations are, as always, wonderful.  (I'm a big Pete the Cat fan!)

But know this! Pete the Cat Old MacDonald Had a Farm is a loooong, repetitive song book.  If your child is one of those "read it again, please!" types--which we all know, and we all sort of want--you will want to pretend like the dog ate this book at bedtime.  Because you'll be saying E-I-E-I-O 42 times!  You'll be maa-ing and baa-ing and cock-a-doodle-do-ing ALL NIGHT!

Don't say I didn't warn you!



P.S.  Click HERE for a fun twist-of-a-book on Old MacDonald had a farm for preschoolers.

Toilet: How it Works by David Macaulay

Toilet: How it Works by David Macaulay

Rating: 5 stars

Yes, that's right.  A book about toilets.  Random, right?  But more than so many other books, I think this one does what children's books ought to do: take the ordinary and make it extraordinarily fascinating!

The book and toilets really are fascinating--and fantastic.

We all have toilets.  We know how they are used.  But how do they work? Macaulay invites us to be curious about something we (hopefully) see and use a few times a day.  And then, he dives in to answer that question with the illustrative details that he's know for.

After humorously pointing out what a toilet is for--a dog watering bowl, a goldfish burial site, a spring garden (when the toilet is being recycled for a new use)--he gets down to the nitty gritty: they're for removing the waste our bodies make.  He spends a useful two-page spread (again, with humor) showing how waste is formed inside our bodies, and then--turn the page--he gets into the toilet mechanism that we all use to flush.

(I might or might not have referred to this page to figure out what was wrong with our toilet a month ago…)

Macaulay illustrates how, when the stopper goes up, the water goes out and forces the water (and waste) that you see in the bowl to leave the bowl and go up the pile.  Once it spills down to the other side of the steep pipe, gravity takes over and the weight of the air (kids thought that was cool) pushes that stuff down the pipe.

Bye, bye bone...

From there it could go to one of two places.  For us non-city folks, it goes to a septic tank.  Lorelei and Ben have known that we have a septic tank, and I've done a C+ job of explaining it to them, I think.  Thankfully, Macaulay picks up where I left off; he illustrates the answer to show that every time the wastewater flows down into the septic tank, it pushes up the water level.  As that water leaves the tank, nutrients in the water help the grass to be a little happier, a little richer.

For city folks, the wastewater gets pushed through pipes buried deep under the city streets, pipes that go to wastewater treatment plants.  He illustrates the process of filtering the waste through many different tanks, each one aimed to get the water that much cleaner.  Around and around it gets cycled, so it gets cleaner and cleaner.

Lorelei and Ben wanted to know why--why spend all this time getting the wastewater clean?  Macaulay answers, again with a heavy dose of humor:

Finally, the water is clean enough to join the river.
Some of the clean water will evaporate and form clouds.
Some of these clouds will produce rain.
Some of the rain will end up in reservoirs as drinking water. 

Now you know why we go to all the trouble!

Yes, please--clean water falling down on me as rain (rather than poopy water)!

This book, and the others that Macaulay has written for kids of this age group and reading level (including Jet Plane, Castle, and maybe more) are gifts of books that show the mechanics of ordinary things.  Okay, well maybe castles are ordinary to you.  Not quite to us.  Much to Lorelei's dismay…

This book is fun and great and informative.  What's not to love?  Oops, gotta go use one...

Walter the Lazy Mouse by Marjorie Flack

Walter the Lazy Mouse by Marjorie Flack, illustrated by Cyndy Szekeres

Rating: 4.5 stars

Walter sleeps through his family moving. That's lazy for ya. He sets off to find them and transforms himself into a hard-working young lad, a giver not a taker, alert not asleep...you get the picture. A coming of age story, of a mouse.

Of course, there's a little more to the story (there always is).  Walter wakes, surprisingly calm for a kid who woke up alone, without the family that surrounded him when he fell asleep. He sets off to find that family.  He makes some friends and realizes he can't let other people take care of him for the rest of his life.  He meets three funny unnamed frogs that can't for the life of them remember Walter throughout their friendship with him.  Within hours of "see you later" the frogs are back to "who are you?"  It's a funny twist for Lorelei, but troublesome to me (my brain can't stop searching for the metaphoric or symbolic reason they can't remember his name).  Through his friendship with these three amphibians, Walter becomes a responsible guy.  He erects his own house, builds his own furniture, learns how to swim, teaches the frogs (incorrectly), and becomes a stand-up mouse.

Lorelei holds Jessica's mom's childhood copy of Walter.

He's ready to join his family, who are overjoyed to see him (but with a dozen siblings, I get the feeling his mom barely noticed his month-long absence).  They are impressed with and proud of his growth, but it's Walter's pride and new-found confidence in himself that really matters.

The book is ten short chapters, with plenty of sweet illustrations by Cydney Szekeres.  Written in 1937, this is a pretty old book, but still a great, charming read.  It is a great early chapter book for kids to read alone or with their favorite parent (hopefully that's you).

This was Lorelei's friend Jessica's choice for book club this month, and it was a really good one.  Yesterday we met at a coffee shop to chat about the book; Jessica and her mom prepared some good questions for us to discuss.  The girls tossed around these and other questions: 

• How does Walter feel when his family moves away?
• What would you do if you came home and couldn't find anyone?
• Do you think the frogs are good friends?  Why or why not?
• Would you want to be Walter?
• Are you ever lazy?  When?  Give some examples of how you are not lazy.

The discussion, as always, was pretty funny--after dutifully answering the question about how they're lazy in little ways, they threw their classmates under the bus for being lazy in big ways.  Lorelei brought up how Walter says he's hungry but he never eats throughout the whole book.  And then, when discussing how many siblings Walter has, the conversation turned to the siblings in Lorelei and Jessica's lives.  They both have two, but Lorelei has two little brothers and Jessica has two older sisters. The girls whipped out pens and paper and drew up a Venn diagram to compare their situations.  When a conversation with two first graders end with a Venn diagram, you know they aren't lazy Walter-types!

As always, it was a delightful way to spend an afternoon.  Next month (Lorelei's choice): Mr. Popper's Penguins!

Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes

Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes

Rating: 5 stars

On Wednesday, Lorelei told us that Kevin Henkes was her class's author of the month.  We've been fans of his for years--he is an author to remember on the days when you have exactly 3.4 minutes in the library.  He's written enough books to fill your library bag.  You'll be in and out of the library before your toddler throws his tantrum.  Promise.  (I know, I know, parents aren't supposed to throw out empty promises like that one, but…)

Penny and Her Marble is one of his newest books.  It is one of three sweet little beginner reader chapter books (the other two: Penny and Her Song and Penny and Her Doll) about a young mouse learning important moral lessons.  They are wonderful gems of books!

In Penny and Her Marble, Penny strolls along with her doll Rose and finds a beautiful, shiny, new, blue marble near Mrs. Goodwin's house.  She picks it up and appreciates its beauty in her little hand, telling her doll all about it.  She walks home with it, feeling like she's found buried treasure.

But then her conscience--that wonderful thing that is still forming in our kids' little brains--kicks in.  She starts to wonder if she did the right thing.  She wonders if she stole something valuable from Mrs. Goodwin, rather than innocently found a lost item.  Did Mrs. Goodwin miss it?  She feels guilty and concerned and worried, though Henkes never uses grown-up words such as guilty or concerned or worried (or stealing or thief or innocent).  Instead, he shows us her face and how her sleep and eating is interrupted because of her thoughts on what was right and what was wrong.

"Isn't it pretty, Rose?"

Penny decides to go and return the marble the next morning.  She strolls back over with Rose and plops it back in the grass where she found it.  But Mrs. Goodwin walks out and calls after her.  Penny's heart pounds.  Her cheeks are hot. She cannot speak.  Mrs. Goodwin says, "I found the marble yesterday.  It was in the back of m kitchen drawer.  I thought someone would love it.  That is why I put it in on the grass by the sidewalk.  I hoped someone would walk by and see it."

"I did see it, but I put it back," says Penny.  (She did the right thing!)  But Mrs. Goodwin puts it in her hand--she gives Penny permission to take the marble.  Penny is overjoyed!  Penny is relieved, and I tell you, Lorelei, Ben and Kiefer and I were all relieved, too.  (When you feel for a character, that's a mark of a good book for sure).  And she thinks it is smoother and shinier and bluer and more beautiful than ever (because her conscience is burden-free).

I love the discussion we had over dinner after this book.  Did she do the right thing?  What would we have done?  How did she feel in the beginning, and then at the end?  Kids realize sooner or later the hard reality: there are no totally right answers.  Just mostly right, and mostly wrong.  They've got to have the skills to think clearly and weigh options and choose wisely.  Books like this one give us parents the opportunity to have good discussions in a safe environment about what is right and what is wrong.  And how we love them even when they make a not-so-awesome choice...and how we cross our fingers and hope they don't make the same mistake over and over again.  "On to new mistakes!" we say in our house.


P.S.  The kids and I watched a short video about Kevin Henkes on his website (click HERE).  It was informative and fun to see him show us all the books we've read by him, but the kids were most impressed with how well he drew with just a few quick strokes of his paint brush.  They were really impressed.  Also on the website is his mailing address.  Guess who is getting three pieces of fan mail sometime soon?

When the Beat Was Born by Laban Carrick Hill

When the Beat Was Born: DJ Cook Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Theodore Taylor, III


Rating: 4 stars

Ben is sure he can breakdance, so I figured this book was perfect for him.  I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone to grab it; I don't know anything about DJ Kool Herc and my favorite station is country, not hip-hop.  But that's one of the best things about books: you can easily read about and learn something totally and completely new.

Even a picture book!

DJ Kool Herc was born as plain old "Clive," and was living in Kingstown, Jamaica, when he realized he had a big, deep love for music.  "He loved the way the music made his feet go hip hip hop, hippity hop."  Right in his neighborhood there was someone else who loved music like Clive: a DJ nicknamed "King George."  Clive was too young to watch King George perform at parties, but Clive watched him set up and listened to the music from afar.

When he was 13, Clive moved to New York City with his family.  He didn't fit in anywhere except the basketball court, where he quickly got the nickname Hercules because of his tall frame.  Clive cut that name in half and added "Kool" and he was quickly called Kool Herc more often than Clive.  Around that same time, his father bought a stereo system with enormous speakers.  Clive thought the sound coming from them should be bigger, deeper, richer.  So he spent time rearranging the wires until the sound matched what he thought should come out of them.

DJ Kool Herc noticed that dancers danced crazy hard during
the breaks in the song when the lyrics ended and the music
bumped and thumped.

And then, he and his sister did what any teenagers would do in that era, with their moxie and new huge sound system (I guess!): they threw a big party, and Clive performed, for the first time, as DJ Kool Herc.  Not only did he give his dancers a "hip hip hop, hippity hop beat" to dance to, he also sang/rhymed out their names and what they were doing on the dance floor.  The coolest dancers--he called them break-dancers or b-boys--showed up to do what my kids call them "rad moves." People soon lined up around the block to get in.

With that first party and the others that followed, Kool Herc became a sensation as DJ Kool Herc.

Okay, confession time: I really am unclear about what a DJ does. I don't really know what a turntable is.  I still read this book to Lorelei and Ben and fielded their good, honest questions as best as I could.  I don't really know what a turntable is.  Sometimes I worry that they'll look back and roll their eyes and ask, "Mom, do you know anything?!" (Ben is asking me lots of sports questions these days and MAN I'm lucky to get one out of ten right!)  But I'd rather not be limited by my knowledge and limit them by my limited knowledge.

I'm not afraid to say, "I don't know!  Let's find out the answer together."

Cecil, the Pet Glacier by Matthea Harvey

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

Rating: 3 stars

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

(Reviewed for Washington Family Magazine)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Don't Spill the Milk! by Stephen Davies and Christopher Corr

Don't Spill the Milk! by Stephen Davies and Christopher Corr

Rating: 5 stars

Of course Returned Peace Corps Volunteer me would love this book! A suspenseful, unique, sweet book set in Burkina Faso, with wild and creative illustrations of scenes you and your children will probably never see first-hand.  (Unless they join the Peace Corps.  One can only hope!)

And maybe you're already looking at the cover, wondering: does she spill the milk?

First, let's figure out who she is and I'll tell you the story that Davies tells and Corr illustrates.  Penda's father is up in the grasslands, tending sheep.  Penda's mother wants to take a bowl of milk to him.  Penda begs him--please, please--"let me take it!"  And, wonderfully, her mother grants her this responsibility.  She settles the bowl atop Penda's head, and off goes the young girl towards the grasslands.

"Let me take Daddy his milk. Please, please, please!"

Penda travels across the "uppy, downy dunes" (oh don't you love that description?!), through the mask-wearing "beasties" in a festival, on a stinky fishing boat, past a herd of giraffes, and up one looming mountain of a hill.  All the while, she balances the bowl of milk on her head.  All the while, she repeats to herself: "Come on, girl, you've got work to do" and other similar encouraging remarks--to herself.

Finally, she makes it to her daddy, who is resting under a big mango tree when she approaches.  She carefully and successfully takes takes the bowl off her head, and just as she's passing it to him, a big mango plops into it, and spills all the milk.  She's (of course!) upset, and my kids were heartbroken along with her.  "I don't believe it!" she wails.  Sitting so very far away from Penda but still magically close to her, Lorelei, Ben and Kiefer didn't believe it either.

Daddy points out: "There was more than milk in that bowl."  His daughter looks at him quizzically.  "Your love for me was in that bowl as well. This bowl is full of love, girl, and it still is.  You didn't spill a drop."

"Don't shiver, don't quiver, don't fall in the river, girl.
Keep it on your head, girl, milk don't float."

Together they cut a big mango in three pieces (Daddy confesses he likes mangoes more than milk anyway--I love that reassurance to his Penda): one for Penda, one for Daddy, and… "One for Mummy?" asks Penda.  Her dad nods.  And off she goes, with the piece of mango, the piece of love, on her head as she travels back home from the grasslands.

My kids were spellbound while reading this book.  They traveled with Penda, hoping right alongside her that she didn't spill her milk. By the time she got to her daddy, they were holding their breaths.  And, I was choking back tears at the end.  I was surprised--in a great way--at the small, subtle inclusion about the love between Daddy and Mummy in this children's book.

After I finished, there was a flood of questions that made me realize this is a great, great book. I could see their minds stretching as the book sunk into their heads.  How old is Penda? How could such a young girl take a trip by herself?  Would she really see giraffes like that?  Why does she carry it on her head?  Why don't they have a jug with a lid?

This is a must-buy.  I want it to be read over and over by American kids so their perspective on other cultures can be broadened just a little, and they can see one of many things that link all of us humans together: love.

Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi

Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi

Rating: 4 stars

Throwback Thursday!

Newsflash: Everybody poops!  (But I think you already knew that.)

This funny book is full of pictures of lots of animals (including humans) pooping.  That's all there really is to it.  Taro Gomi illustrates all the differences and the similarities that go along with our scatological preferences: some animals poop in the water, others in the air, most on the ground.  What do all these bowel movements look like?  Well, Taro Gomi is glad you're curious about that: he's drawn pebbles and logs, heaps and piles…of poop.

There's such a fine line between funny and gross, and I think some would argue that an illustration of poop falling from a giraffe's rump might be totally gross…and not picture book worthy.  But what child isn't a bit shocked when they realize what is happening when they squish up their face and push out some freakishly dark object from their own little body?!  Taro Gomi's sorta-gross, sorta-funny book reassures us in a way that we adults still want to be reassured: everybody does it.  So relax, laugh a little at yourself, and keep on doing it.

C'mon…that's funny!

(Not that we have a choice about that last part when it comes to pooping.)

Enjoy the book!  Feel free to take it to the bathroom with you…



P.S.  Taro Gomi's My Friends is one of my favorite board books for babies…it is very cute and sweet, and not gross at all, promise.

Locomotive by Brian Floca

Locomotive by Brian Floca

Rating: 4 stars

I checked this book out easily before it won the Caldecott; after the gold seal shone brightly on its cover, there was a long waiting list both at the library and at the bookstore.  Here's a tiny secret: When I first checked out Locomotive, I didn't read it.  I don't know if any of my kids did.  So we returned it without having read it.  It happens…what can I say?

But then the Caldecott team deemed it worthy of a win, and it became wildly wanted.  We were number 60 on the waiting list!

Finally, it's our turn with the library's copy of the book and we all understand easily why it is Caldecott-worthy.  The book is a huge lap size picture book, with illustrations that resemble a wide screen TV.  Somehow, Brian Floca created a hundred masterpieces in this big, long book--masterpieces of illustration, not just beautiful pictures, but pictures that tell a story of a long-ago way of life.

Slowly, slowly the engineer drives--
the train is so heavy,
the bridge is so narrow,
and rickety rickety rickety!

After a brief show of how the rails were built, we see the iron horse chug up to the station.  In familiar prose, where Floca writes directly to you ("She pulls her tender and train behind her, she rules up close, to where you wait, all heat and smoke and noise.")  That noise of the train jumps out from the page at you with larger and fancier font than the rest of the words.  We, the readers, follow along as one family (a mother and two children) travels from east to west; we also observe and learn all the different people required to run the train smoothly.  Because, of course, it takes a team.

There's a whole lot that works in this book for me and my trio: The illustrations are spell-binding.  Floca's research shines through on every page: from the close-up details of the gaskets or that coal car to the historical map of the United States that shows the path of the train.  (I am curious how many pictures he took of real-life trains to take back to his studio with him.  Surely thousands…)  The family we see travel on the train are excited throughout; we experience what they experience, including going to the bathroom, (which was definitely a highlight for Ben in the book) but not when the train stops!  For there is "no plumbing here, there is only a hole in the floor."

The facts taught in the book easily earn my approval: and not just the team members' roles and responsibilities…  That's important, but so are the little, anecdotal things: For example, the switchman's job is dangerous; the train cars lurch and slam up against each other quickly.  They say "You can tell he's new to the job if he still has all his fingers." Or the mighty Sierra Nevada that "rise like a wall on the edge of a basin" requires an extra engine to pull the train up and over them.

Through the night the engine runs.
Those up late hear her whistle,
her wild and lonesome cry.

The ending works for me, too.  I love it: the mother and two children arrive to their father, who came out west before them.  There's nothing like a homecoming to warm your heart at the end of a story!

What doesn't work for me are all the words.  Oh my gosh even I am thrown off by all the dozens of words on each page.  Lorelei sat and read the book quietly in one sitting but Ben couldn't sit through the whole thing, despite his normally curious mind and the gorgeous pictures that go along with it.  Even I found myself skimming it.  My eyes were more interested in the illustrations than the words.  Because of the number of words, this book is better for an older age group--first grade or older.  It would be great to read right after finishing a chapter book from the same time period, such as Little House on the Prairie or Sarah, Plain and Tall.

Still, it is a masterpiece despite my silly gripes.  If there's a locomotive enthusiast in your family--of any age, your son or your mother or your grandfather!--this is a book for him.  Or her!