MG: Mr Popper's Penguins

Mr Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
Little, Brown and Company

Rating: 4 stars

Here's a funny book about Mr. Popper, a simple guy living a humdrum existence in the 1930s who is obsessed with Arctic expeditions. He is active with his obsession--he writes letters to the leaders of expeditions offering them insights and asking them questions. In return for one of those letters, to sate his curiosity, one explorer-Admiral sends him a penguin. 

Fun, crazy conversation I had with my daughter: What would you DO if I got a penguin delivered to our doorstep?!

Mr. Popper keeps it as a pet with some funny little happenings with that first penguin, and his whole family is even more blown away by the arrival of a second penguin. And with a boy penguin and a girl penguin, you better believe that soon they have baby penguins, too!  

Lorelei loved the image of the penguins waddling around a neighborhood, living in the basement, having one's basement transformed into a penguin playground. The whole image is very fun and imaginative to her--a little less so for me, because I can't imagine cleaning up after that many penguins.

The ending has two parts I have to point out. One I like, one...makes me shake my head a little.

First, Mr. Popper receives an invitation from an important director in Hollywood asking him to use his penguins in the movies. Mr. Popper declines--he doesn't want his penguins living such a flashy lifestyle, so he declines. I like how he chooses a "regular" lifestyle for his penguins (okay, that right there is a little funny) rather than the paparazzi-filled lifestyle of Hollywood.

Second, Mr. Popper is invited to go on an Arctic expedition just as he always dreams of going on.  He is ecstatic and accepts the invitation. As he heads out the door, he shouts out to his wife, "Do you mind if I'll be back in a year or two?!" And she, of course as the housewife of the 1930s who doesn't disagree with much: "No problem! It'll be easier to keep the house clean without you!"  

That is eye-rolling material right there. But I'll try and suspend my feminist disbelief and annoyance and appreciate how adventurous the ending is--he finally gets to go on one after studying them from his armchair every night. And Lorelei and I talked about the differences between then and now.

This is a good read aloud book for kids--Lorelei's Kindergarten teacher read the book aloud to the whole class, and we read it together a few months after that. We still haven't seen the movie, though!

Subway Story by Julia Sarcone-Roach

Subway Story by Julia Sarcone-Roach
Random House Children's Books

Rating: 5 stars

A few weeks ago we read and I blogged about Julia Sarcone-Roach's recent picture book, The Bear Ate Your Sandwich. As I often do, I was so impressed with that book that I checked out every other book our library system had by her. This was how we came across Subway Story. We've had it at home for about a week; I think I've read it out loud about two dozen times. Truly. I'm not exaggerating. My kids (and I) just love it.

Here's the story: Jessie is a subway car "born" in St. Louis, MO, then shopped to New York for a long, busy, productive career ferrying people to and from, from and to. For decades, she takes people and their belongings all across the city. She gets fixed up from time to time, but Jessie is happiest to be on the rails, working hard in her beloved city.

I love how this illustration shows time passing...

Then, something happens that happens to all of us: she ages. She gets outdated. After a few band-aid fixes, she gets pulled into the shop. Jessie quickly realizes that she's not getting fixed up--she's getting taken apart. Sure enough, some workers are stripping her of bolts and chains, seats and screws. She's put on a barge with a bunch of other nervous-looking, outdated subway cars and taken out to sea.

When they are in what seems to be the middle of the ocean, the cars get dumped into the water, one at a time. I admit my kids were a little horrified to see Jessie plunge down, down, down into the deep water and PLUNK heavily at the bottom.

But soon (probably a teensy bit faster than in real life), one fish comes. Then another, and another, and then a whole school of fish. Coral come to attach themselves to poles once gripped by sleepy commuters. Turtles and dolphins stop by and visit.

Jessie once served a city; now a whole city lives inside of her.

The eloquent and spot-on Horn Book reviewer had this to say (quote and more information, including many more illustrations, found here, in this interview with Sarcone-Roach):

Sarcone-Roach displays a discipline not always seen in books about the environment; she allows her theme of reuse and recycling to emerge naturally from a fine story and lets readers draw their own conclusions without adding a heavy-handed one of her own.

I wish I could get inside my kids' brains to understand what about this story so captivates them. Three times this week I've read it to Kiefer, then walked with it to Ben's room and read it to him. (We read separately--not incredibly efficient but allows me some time with each kid at the end of the day.) Is it the unexpected ending? Is it the fact that this is based on a true story? Is it the city landscape, something that is cool but foreign to them? Is it the magical way the fish and coral and other sea creatures cover Jessie at the end? Whatever it is, they LOVE the book.

And, despite the fact that we don't need another book in this house, I bought it. It just had to be a part of our collection of books for now, and forever.

(Such a dramatic ending! I feel like I need theme music or something.)

P.S. Here's an image from real life to show your kids, and click HERE for a little bit of background, too.

Finding Spring by Carin Berger

Finding Spring by Carin Berger
Greenwillow Books

Rating: 4 stars

Seasons are such a great thing. They embody that wise, ubiquitous "this, too, shall pass" magnet that is stuck on most of our refrigerators but we've seen it too many times to really remember what it's all about. Every year, the same magical thing happens: Winter melts to Spring. Spring morphs to Summer. Summer blows into Fall. Fall gives way to Winter. Again and again and again. Seasons are one way--a really great way, methinks--to teach our kids that life goes on. No matter what.

And when I look outside and see snow falling a-freaking-gain, I have to do my best to shake my head and smile, try to appreciate my kids' delight on another morning with freezing temperatures and school delays closures, and choose not to be grumpy. Instead, I'll dust a bit of "snow" (powdered sugar) on their waffles to celebrate this white stuff.

I've gotten off topic. No, I actually was never on topic. I started the blogpost with a tangent rather than interjected one in between paragraphs... Either way, Finding Spring was of course going to find its way to our library bag because I really want to find Spring in my own life. My kids, despite loving the snow, really want to find Spring, too. So we read this with earnest, as if somewhere in the pages of the book was the answer to Spring's whereabouts.

Mama and Maurice are bears preparing to hibernate for Winter. But all Maurice can think about is Spring. "Waiting is hard," Mama says wisely. "Right now it is time to sleep."

"Wow!" says Maurice.

Mama nods off; Maurice wanders off. He's just not sleepy and is curious to find Spring. Alone and unafraid, he asks forest creatures and looks everywhere for Spring. He comes up empty-handed until he feels an icy sting on his nose. A snowflake! He chases the snowflakes falling from the sky until he arrives at the top of Great Hill, where he witnesses a gorgeous snowfall, a sweet illustration made from a photograph of dozens of different snowflakes, some held up with push-pins and some glued down. It's a neat change of illustration pace.

Maurice realizes Winter is coming and runs back to the cave, to his Mama, and sleeps.

When they wake, they realize Spring is here. Finally! But Maurice wonders where it is exactly, and asks the same creatures he asked months before. He searches high and low until he remembers Great Hill. Together, in parade-like form and celebration, he and his pals march up and look out and see flowers blooming everywhere. Hoorah!

Okay, my turn. Can I look out and--nope, not yet. With one inch down and snow still falling, it is clearly still Winter around these parts!

(The snowfall pages in this book made me think of this Waiting for Winter book we bought years ago. The kids ran to find it in on our messy shelves and we laughed again at the animals' thinking that toothbrushes and tin cans were snowflakes...!)

Hoot Owl Master of Disguise by Sean Taylor

Hoot Owl Master of Disguise by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Jean Jullien
Candlewick Press

Rating: 5 stars

This book is best read with some sort of heavy accent, which means that I read it in a heavy, atrocious French accent. But my kids don't care what I mispronounce. They're too amused by the silly way words are coming out of my mouth, too curious about the story, too wrapped up in Hoot Owl, wondering what he's going to dress up as and sneak up on, to care whether or not my accent is realistic.

Hoot Owl tells the story in play-by-play present tense, making me and my kids feel like we're right there with him, right beside his ruffle of feathers. Under the darkness of midnight, he flies around. And did you know that owls are not only wise, but they are also the masters of disguise? (It was news to us, too.)

I disguise myself as...an ornamental birdbath.
It is the perfect way to catch a pigeon. I wait.

He is hungry and looking to find something to eat. A-HA! A rabbit! He must devise a costume! (In the big, bold illustrations by Jean Jullien, Hoot Owl is sewing with twig and thread some orange and green get-up.)

It's a carrot costume! He lies in wait but the rabbit gets away. Drat!

He is still hungry and looking to find something to heat. A-HA! A sheep! He must devise a costume! (We see him fumbling with a lot of white, fluffy stuff.)

It's a sheep costume! He lies in wait but the sheep gets away. Drat!

This goes on a few more times until everybody's favorite part: Hoot Owl spies a pizza and dresses up as a mustached waiter in order to sneak up on it. This time, the disguise works! The pizza does not move! He enjoys every single bite with silly comments (which I think he manages to get out when his beak is not full).

And then he zips off into the night sky. Hoot Owl, master of disguise!

Fun, fun, fun!

Don't Push the Button! by Bill Cotter

Don't Push the Button! by Bill Cotter
Sourcebooks, Inc.

Rating: 3.5 stars

My kids, especially 3 1/2 year old Kiefer, don't care at all that his book borrows heavily from the incredibly creative and super successful Press Here by Herve Tullet. Critical comparisons is not something Kiefer cares about when he sits down in my lap and asks me in his sweet voice, "Will you please read this book to me?"

(Shame on me that I let a critical comparison decrease some of sweetness of this moment!)

Bill Cotter has come up with a book for toddlers and preschoolers that is all about pushing that button that they shouldn't press. Anyone who has ridden an elevator with any young child already knows how, for kids, buttons are The It Thing and how pressing ALL of them is just so very fun. (And anyone with an older child knows how well they press OUR buttons, but that metaphoric button-pressing hasn't found itself in a book. That I know of.)

In Don't Push the Button!, Larry the Monster first tells the reader not to push the button that appears on the left-hand side of every double page spread. But a few pages in, he whispers, "No one is looking. You should give the button on little push."

A mischievous fellow, that Larry.

So Kiefer pushes the button and on the next page Larry is not purple but yellow. When Kiefer pushes the button again he's got polka-dots. Push it twice and there are two yellow-with-pink-polka-dotted Larrys. You get the idea. There's more button pushing and some book shaking, too, which makes Kiefer laugh.

This is a fun book for kids. Hopefully it gets all that button-pressing-desire out of them so they can leave those on the elevator unpressed...

Gazpacho for Nacho by Tracey Kyle

Gazpacho for Nacho by Tracey Kyle, illustrated by Carolina Farías
Two Lions

Rating: 4 stars

Nacho is going through a phase. A picky phase. He refuses--albeit politely, without a single "YUCK" or "NO WAY"--to eat anything but gazpacho. His mami is the real hero of the story, I think. She takes the time and energy to cheerfully and continually introduce a healthy variety of foodstuffs to her child's stomach. But Nacho just wants gazpacho.

The heroic, endlessly patient Mami finally tries a different path to variety. She still has a smile on as she walks Nacho to the grocery store to teach Nacho how to cook his beloved gazpacho. Together, they shop for the ingredients, return home, and cook. At the end of the book, Nacho realizes how fun it is to cook and asks his mother to call him "Chef Nacho" from now on. And not only will he start to try new things, he'll make them himself!

Lastly, she drizzled a very small drop
of oil and vinegar over the top.
She blended the soup in a big batidora
and left it to chill in the fridge for one hora.

Kyle mixes a whole lot of Spanish into this book, and I'm impressed with her ability to rhyme not with just one language but two. The fact that my kids have little knowledge of Spanish left them asking "What does that mean?" at every other line. However, by the third or fourth read, their questions slowed and they knew more words. It was worth stumbling those first few times.

The illustrations by Carolina Farías are warm and inviting. All of the images of a mother and her son are really sweet--I sound like a gripey, tired mom (hmmm...am I one?) when I say that it's mighty handy that Nacho is an only child. Or maybe his siblings are on an extended playdate so that Mami and Nacho can have this uninterrupted time together? Regardless, for me the illustrations remind me how sweet the time with just one child can be, and to savor that time when it happens on the pages of my own life.

As a mom who loves to cook and read with kids, this book really touched my heart. If only my kids liked soup (and it wasn't below freezing outside--an unbelievable eleven degrees as I type this!), I'd make the recipe for gazpacho in the end of the book!

Ben & Zip: Two Short Friends by Joanne Linden

Ben & Zip: Two Short Friends by Joanne Linden, illustrated by Tom Goldsmith
Flashlight Press

Rating: 5 stars

I love surprise endings. As a grown up reading kids' books, I'm not surprised very often by the ending. But the author and illustrator worked together and got me on this one. I'm beginning to see a trend--I didn't see the end coming in The Bear Ate Your Sandwich, which I reviewed last week. Am I becoming a little less gullible? I sure hope so. I like the idea of being so in-the-moment (or on the current page) that my mind doesn't think too much about what's coming next (or on the final page). I'll get there when I get there.

Anyway!

This is a super new book with laugh-out-loud pages and wonder-what'll-happen pages and one big oh-my-gosh-OF-COURSE! page at the end. Linden writes in a format you don't see very often: some parts rhyme, some parts don't. It works, and how nice for something a little different. And the book wouldn't be as super without the sweet and funny illustrations by Goldsmith.

Here's the story:

Two friends, Ben and Zip, are walking along the boardwalk on a hot, summer day. Suddenly, a storm overshadows the beach and Zip gets a little nervous and runs off. Ben can't find him; he spends the next dozen pages searching for his buddy.

First he searches low, from his own short perspective. And all he sees are:

Right knees, left knees, knees with sandy patches.
Fat knees, bony knees, knees with bumps and scratches.

Next he gets a little higher, and scouts from the top of a bench. All he sees are (and how great is this illustration?!):

Round bellies, flat bellies, bellies white and brown.

Hairy bellies, jelly bellies, bellies hanging down.

You see the pattern, I'm sure. As the clouds open up and rain starts coming down, Ben searches high among the heads and then climbs up to the tallest lifeguard stand he can find to look at the now empty beach. No Zip. Where could he be?

Right at this point, my kids started to get worried. They were all in to this story and cared very much for Ben and even more for Zip, even though they didn't know what he looked like. It was Zip, of course, who was lost and they know how scary that can feel. (You know an author's done something right when three kids of three different ages are still, quiet, and impatiently waiting to find out what's next.)

And then Ben hears something. And they two friends are reunited. And my three kids could finally lean back in their chairs and breathe a sigh of relief. And this truly happened: they sat back in their chairs, laughed a little, and then came forward in their chairs, demanding I read it again so that they could look for clues that they should/could have seen to figure out who Zip is earlier.

I can't tell the ending. You've got to find out for yourself! If you're in Fairfax County, this book will be in circulation soon--at least one, lone copy of it. Flashlight Press sent me a copy to review and I'll be donating it to the library so more than my three kids can enjoy it.



Disclaimer: Too Much Glue was provided to me by the publisher. However, my opinions are written free of obligation, compensation or agreement from the publisher.

The Bear Ate Your Sandwich by Julia Sarcone-Roach

The Bear Ate Your Sandwich by Julia Sarcone-Roach

Rating: 5 stars

I've got to tell you about this book right now, right now, RIGHT NOW because the author will be sharing this delightful picture book tomorrow at One More Page Books at 3 PM in Arlington, Virginia. What else do you have to do on a super cold Valentine's Day?  Be there (or have the bear eat your sandwich)!

So, about this book. I'm not sure which I like more: the story or the illustrations. Check out the illustrations I've put in here. Aren't they great?! And now, the story: Somebody--we're not sure who until the very end--is telling the reader what happened to his/her sandwich.

"By now I think you know what happened to your sandwich. But you may not know how it happened. So let me tell you. It all started with a bear," starts the book.

The scent of ripe berries drifted toward him
and led to a wonderful discovery.

This bear woke up and followed its nose to bushels of berries in the back of a pick-up truck. After gnashing on them, with a full belly, he fell asleep. This bear slept through truck starting up and heading across the Golden Gate Bridge, away from its well-known forest of trees and rivers and fresh air and into an unfamiliar forest of streets and signs and people. Still, the bear was happy to explore.

The "trees" (or lamp posts) were still great for back-scratching. The "mud" (or wet cement) squished nicely under his feet. There were lots of smells and ways to have fun.

But then. There it was. Your sandwich. The bear tip-toed up to it, made sure no one was watching, and ate it up in one large gulp!

The narrator, looking a little sheepish.

He didn't think anyone had seen him, but then he turned around to see a group of dogs at the dog park, watching. Gasp! The bear high-tailed it out of the there, climbed a tree to get a visual of the way home, and caught the next boat across the water and into his forest.

"So. That is what happened to your sandwich. The bear ate it," reports...a dog!

I belly laughed when I got to this page. My kids rolled on the floor. How FUNNY! The dog was telling a tall tale about what happened to this kid's sandwich because HE actually ate it! I didn't see it coming at all, and was delighted by the slightly-remorseful, still-wagging surprise ending.

Too Much Glue by Jason Lefebvre

Too Much Glue by Jason Lefebvre, illustrated by Zac Retz

Flashlight Press

Rating: 5 stars

No joke: I just swiped this book from my son. I mean, I was the one who got my hands on it in the first place, but his teacher asked each student to bring in their favorite book, and it didn't take Ben long to decide that Too Much Glue was his new favorite picture book. But I need to review it! So here I am, at 5:13 AM, rifling through my son's backpack to get this book.

Because you need to know about it. It is such a fun book!

(His class needs to know about it, too, but they'll read it at 2 PM today. Consider this a sneak peek before those glue-happy kindergarteners get to see it!)

The art teacher constantly reminds the young narrator in this book: "Too much glue never dries. Glue raindrops, not puddles! No, Matty, that's too much glue!" As most problems do, this too-much-glue problem beings at home--we get a quick look at how Matty's parents encourage this sort of sticky, irresponsible behavior at home. (Gasp!)

But back in school, during art class, Matty goes a little too far by double fisting some good ol' Elmer's and creating a puddle of glue on a table. He throws in lots of trinkets and random decorations until he adds the final touch: himself! He belly flops into his sticky art creation--to his classmates' delight and his teacher's dismay.

Something my teacher said could never happen, happens:
the glue dries!

Of course, he gets stuck.

His classmates come up with a few different options for getting him out, but the lassoes snap off, the plastic brick tow truck explodes, the principal sticks a note on his tummy, and the giant fan helps the glue do what Matty's art teacher promises could never happen: the glue dries. He's now totally stuck. In author Lefebvre's words, he's a "note-on-my-tummy, melted mummy, clicky bricky, clingy stringy, blucky stucky glue boy."

Luckily, his glue-promoting dad comes to school and to the rescue. He peels Matty off the table and declares his boy a masterpiece! I love that his dad sees the humor in the situation...but, just in case any young readers think this is a good idea, his dad says, "Some beautiful things only happen once, and this is one of those things." It's a kind way to say DO NOT DO THIS AGAIN, and we all get the point. I hope.

So they take the principal's sticky note and encourage the use of tape instead.

I did warn my son Ben that when he takes this to school please, please, PLEASE do not do what Matty does during Mrs Rothman's art class and stick himself to a table to become gluey artwork himself! Fingers crossed I do NOT get that call later today...

This book is a kid-pleaser at the highest level. Lefebvre has honed in on that kid type of humor that is borderline inappropriate (for parents) and therefore wildly funny (for kids). I'm sure some parents and teachers will worry that those to whom they are reading will get some sticky ideas of their own, but hopefully that won't stop them from reading this book out loud. Again and again and again.

Just hide the Elmer's if you're a little worried!


Disclaimer: Too Much Glue was provided to me by the publisher. However, my opinions are written free of obligation, compensation or agreement from the publisher.

A Wonderful Year by Nick Bruel

A Wonderful Year by Nick Bruel

Roaring Brook Press

Rating: 5 stars

Last week I had the chance to chaperone a field trip with Lorelei and all of the second grade classes at her school. They were going to hear Nick Bruel, author of all the Bad Kitty books, speak at an independent bookstore (Politics & Prose) in Washington, DC. Did I want to come along? Um....twist my arm...YES!

So I rode on a big yellow bus alongside some happy kids who then sat criss-cross-apple-sauce in front of an author I honestly didn't know much about. Despite the fact that it's the second best selling series for Scholastic, Bad Kitty isn't a title that lures me. But my kids have read them at school and think they're a hoot. As Nick Bruel stood and read from his most recent Bad Kitty book (Bad Kitty Puppy's Big Day) I definitely saw and appreciated the humor in the series--I think the chapter books are on the pulse of what kids want (read: something slightly inappropriate and therefore wildly funny).

We took his magic rubies! His rubies! His rubies!
We took his magic rubies! And now we have to FLEEEEE!

But then Nick Bruel read from his other recent book, A Wonderful Year, and I was struck by how it could be silly and zany ("outright buffoonery" said one review) it was one moment, and then thoughtful and sweet the next instant.

It's a picture book about the seasons, divided into four parts, linked together by an unnamed girl.

Nick Bruel "had me at hello" in a way when, on the first double page spread, the girl is super excited that it's Winter and it's snowing. Her mother tells her to put on her boots. Her father tells her to put on her earmuffs. Her dog tells her to put on her snowpants. Her purple rhinoceros Louise tells her to put on her gloves. Her can of beans tells her to put on her coat. Her tree tells her to put on a sweater. And then she opens the door and sees...that it's Spring. It's taken her so long to get dressed that winter is now over.

Can't you hear the crowd of criss-cross-apple-sauce sitters roar their approval? My face broke out into a grin. I laughed loudly, too. It was great! Brilliant! Silly!

Spring involves a very catchy--it'll be in your head and on your lips for days--sing-songy poem about a "demented fairy" (that's the girl again) and her dog and the imaginary adventures they are having as a princess and a handsome dog. Then they run into their pal, a cat, who is sleeping, who would rather nap than play. His reluctant participation is pretty funny. Hearing Nick Bruel read it out loud was even funnier.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" says Louise.

Summer is perhaps the zaniest of all--the girl and her purple rhino Louise are walking down the sidewalk on a hot day when suddenly the girl melts. Louise slurps up the girl and spits her into a cup, which she puts in the freezer to cool off. While waiting, Louise is excited to watch what the kids know is the least exciting show on earth: the can of beans show. (Random!) The girl waits a little too long in the freezer...but does end up cooling off.

And then there's Fall. The girl sits and reads under a tree. And, while reading, has a conversation with the tree about the book she's reading which is, coincidentally, about a girl and a tree. The tree is alarmed to hear that the leaves on the tree in the book turn colors and eventually fall, leaving the tree completely bare. As the girl gets up to walk away, the tree calls out, "you should put on a sweater!"

So funny and random and silly and thought-provoking. That Nick Bruel writes some funny stuff, and it was great to hear him speak to this crowd of kids. A Wonderful Year is his first non-Bad Kitty book that he's written in five years--all four of us kidlit-book-lovers in this house hope there are more where this comes from!

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown, illustrated by Frank Morrison

Lee & Low Books

Rating: 5 stars

Author Katheryn Russell-Brown starts out with a big promise in this nonfiction picture book: "Spread the word! Melba Doretta Liston was something special!"

She is definitely right. Little Melba definitely was something special.

Melba loved music, lived for music, breathed music--even when she was asleep and dreaming. She watched her aunties dance, she cupped her ear to the Majestic, she daydreamed of notes and chords. She signed up for a music class at seven, but that wasn't enough. When she stepped into her first music store, she saw a long, funny-looking horn. A trombone. She didn't really know what it was or how to play it--she just thought it looked cool. It was enormous for the small girl, but she insisted. Her mother couldn't say no. So, Melba got her first trombone. And Melba started playing.

She tried to push out the slide, but her arm was too short.
She had to tilt her head sideways and stretch out her right arm.

She needed help playing it at first; Grandpa John had to help her hold it. Before long, though, she taught herself to play and was strong enough to hold the trombone and play it on her own. She was only eight when the local radio station invited her to play a solo on air. (How cool is that?!)

Hard times hit her family in 1937 and Melba and her mother moved from Kansas City to Los Angelos. She found a talented band of kids to join, but jealousy ran in some of the kids' veins and they said rude things. Yet Melba still played.

When she was seventeen, she was invited to tour the country with a new band led by trumpet player Gerald Wilson. She visited cities all over and received rave reviews. She was the only female in the band, and some of the men were often rude to her, pretending as if she wasn't there. She visited towns unfriendly to "people with dark skin" and Melba sometimes had to sleep on her tour bus. Yet Melba still played.

Finally, the world knew of her greatness--her "something special"--and she toured the world and dazzled audiences by herself.

The illustrations by Frank Morrison are really my favorite part of this book. They are gorgeous and convey such a sense of movement and richness...I'm not sure how he does it but he really did Melba a huge service by illustrating her with such charisma and cool.

It was fun to walk in Melba's shoes for a little while as my kids and I read this book together. I found some clips on youtube to play for my kids as they ate their breakfast on a dark winter morning before school. None of us could imagine making an instrument sing so well at such a young age--or any age, for that matter. "Wow," was just about all we could say as we listened quietly and respectfully to one woman who definitely was something special.

Tough Chicks by Cece Meng

Tough Chicks by Cece Meng, illustrated by Melissa Suber
Clarion Books

Rating: 5 stars

I am thrilled that my youngest son adores a book about tough chicks. The fact that one of those tough chicks holds a cool tool on the cover helps a little, I admit. This is certainly a book about female empowerment. It's without a doubt a book encouraging girls to be girls. And before all that, it's simply a fun book to read with any child.

So. Mama Hen hatched three tough chicks. Penny, Polly, and Molly zip, zap, zoom, cheep around the farm looking for fun. They always find it, though fun is often sprinkled with a little bit of danger or trouble or both. All the animals tell Mama Hen: "Make them be good!" She patiently nods her head, insisting that they are good. And they are smart. Her tough chicks are...also a little mischievous.

Penny, Polly, and Molly can't seem to stay out from under the hood of Farmer Fred's tractor. With a stern look, he instructs them: "You are fuzzy-headed chicks. Be cute. Be quiet. Be good. And stay away from my tractor. I have hay to move before the rain comes."

But it turns out that the farmer and the tractor can't get along either, and the farmer gets to the top of a hill with his tractor, which soon sputters and dies on him. Frustrated, he gives it a kick...and sends it flying down the hill, straight towards all the animals! The tough chicks think fast. They use the cow's tail to swing on to the tractor and steer it away from the henhouse but into a puddle of mud. Mama Hen encourages them to use their tough, smart brains to get out.

They scratch a plan on the side of the tractor and enlist the animals' help in getting the tractor out. While their farmyard friends heave and ho, they get under the hood of the tractor once again. They get busy (and get dirty) tightening belts, checking fluids, and patching holes. They get the tractor out of the mud and working again.

In short, every animal--and Farmer Fred, too--realize how great it is to have tough and smart chicks around.

Do I really need to say how right a realization that is? This is a great new picture book to sprinkle in a little moxie over your kids...regardless of their gender.

Little Nelly's Big Book by Pippa Goodhart

Little Nelly's Big Book by Pippa Goodhart, illustrated by Andy Rowland
Bloomsbury

Rating: 5 stars

Little Nelly (the young elephant in this story) and I (the writer typing away at this review) share something: we both believe a lot of what we read. Luckily, I've not had a crisis like Little Nelly. Yet.

Little Nelly opens a book and reads that mice can be gray. Mice have big ears. Mice have skinny tails.

Little Nelly is gray. She has big ears. She has a skinny tail.

Ergo, Little Nelly must be...a mouse?!

After this terrific realization, she pushes through the wall in order to get to the mice den behind it and starts bunking with the mouse family. At first, they are startled. That's pretty reasonable, methinks. But kindly and generously, Granny Mouse leads the way in welcoming big Little Nelly to their small home. They pull the biggest blanket they have over her, comb her hair, give her cheese to eat, play with her.

So Little Nelly went home.

Still, Little Nelly "sometimes felt she was different."

After a while, wise Granny Mouse decides to take Little Nelly to the zoo, where she finds big mice, just like her. Everyone's happy...and a little relieved.

I love this sweet tale of friends being friends regardless of their size or shape or color. I love how the mice are so gentle with Little Nelly's false certainty that she's a mouse. I love how one little mouse picks up the same book Little Nelly did at the beginning and starts wondering if he is, in fact, an elephant. And I really love the last line in this picture book:

"Which just goes to show why books should always have pictures."

Ninja! by Arree Chung

Ninja! by Arree Chung
Henry Holt and Company

Rating: 4 stars

This is a sparsely-worded, richly-illustrated picture book by Arree Chung, and it is a really fun read. It's light, it's cool, it's a story about a stealthy ninja boy named Maxwell and his little sister Cassandra.

This ninja is super brave: he surprises his father awake from a nap on the couch. Few children would dare do that in our house! Luckily this dad wakes up with a pretty good sense of humor.

Maxwell's courage continues into the kitchen, when he swipes milk and cookies from his little sister. Cassandra doesn't see the humor in the swipe-ification, and screams to protest his action. The ninja is sent to his room.

But he makes amends...he invites his sister into his ninja den and offers to teach her the ninja ways. The last page is a picture of them, romping off together. "Sayonara!" she gleefully yells out from her brother's shoulders.

Sweet. Fun. Light. And good sibling stuff, too.

But you know what's almost more fun than the book? Arree Chung's website for coloring pages and back story on the characters and other fun stuff, where you can "ninjafy" yourself if you click HERE. Upload a picture and put a costume on yourself, add a ninja-y quote in a word bubble, and frame it up before you print it. Again: sweet, fun, light, and good parenting stuff, too, if you do all that and put it in your child's lunchbox one random school day.

Hiiiii-ya!

The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee

The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee

Beach Lane Books

Rating: 5 stars

It's Caldecott season, and this well-deserving book is being talked about a whole lot...will it win? We'll see...stay tuned on 2 February...

All will feel something when reading The Farmer and the Clown. It's the right balance of silly and somber, though maybe it's us adults who have felt loneliness and loss a whole lot more than kids (hopefully) who see the sobering side of the message...

A curmudgeon of a farmer toils alone in his field, pausing only to watch a train roll by. When something or someone falls out of the train, he's alarmed. He drops his pitchfork and runs right over. It's a boy-clown, with a big, painted-on grin. The surly man and the smiley boy size each other up, then walk hand-in-hand to his home to eat together. When washing up, the boy-clown washes his face, washes his face paint/brave face off to reveal a sad, scared little face.

The farmer tucks the boy in his own bed and sits with him all night so the boy isn't lonely, and then does his best to cheer him up. (There's nothing quite as charming as a grumpy man humbling himself for a child.) They work together at the farmer's farm all day long, playing as well as working, clearly enjoying each other's company. Clearly lighting up each other's life.

And then, suddenly, the train returns.

They bolt to it, wave like mad to get its attention, and the clown's family is ecstatic to see him and hug him and have him back.

And yet. Now the farmer, his curmudgeon face washed off to reveal a sweet man, is lonely again.

(And isn't that the worst kind of loneliness: when you've felt un-lonely and lit up and very loved and then suddenly BAM that other person is gone and you realize how quiet and sad your life is now? And the lonely cloud follows you, envelopes you like fog?)

Because the boy-clown does go. Of course he does. Only after a very sweet good-bye with our now-sweet farmer. They wave to each other as the train separates them.

Sweetly, the farmer is not left totally alone. A circus monkey hides behind his leg, ready to surprise him after we close the book. It's a good ending, and I the reader am left with a smile. At least a half-smile, but I'm relieved the farmer isn't totally alone.

I admit: the first time I paged through this book in the fall when it was released I teared a little. It is beautiful and, like I said, well-deserving of a Caldecott.

Once Upon A Memory by Nina Laden

Once Upon A Memory by Nina Laden, illustrated by Renata Liwska

Rating: 5 stars

There is so much to love about this beautiful, thoughtful book. Its question is simple: does an object remember what it once was?

I read about this book HERE, at the official SCBWI blog. Once Upon A Memory is a Crystal-Kite award winner from Washington state (where I went to college and where part of my heart will always remain). The author began writing the poem that is now a book while walking along a beach. She picked up a feather and asked herself: I wonder...does a feather remember that it was once a bird?

Laden worked with that idea until she had a string of wonderings, and she carefully (and with the help of a great editor, she admits) and beautifully strung those wonderings together to make a poem. And then the talented Renata Liwska (you might remember her from The Quiet Book) drew up some soft, whimsical, sweet illustrations and all of a sudden, we readers get the gift of this book.

Does a feather remember it once was...a bird?
Does a book remember it once was...a word?
Does a chair remember it once was...a tree?
Does a garden remember it once was...a pea?

Does work remember it was once...play?

This is a softer, more thoughtful version of the fun, retro picture book What Goes Around Comes Around by Richard McGuire. But both books offer kids the opportunity to see that everything comes from somewhere, and that growth and change are enormous and inevitable parts of life.

Let me say that again: this book gently reminds kids that growth and change are enormous and inevitable parts of life. That makes me breathe a little easier as I help myself and my trio adapt to new routines, new schools, growing bodies (mine included!), etc...

I love how this book makes me pause on my harried daily routine and makes me wonder. And isn't that the best gift we can give to our kids, and the best thing we can remember to do as adults: wonder? Because we all should certainly do our best to remember that once, long ago, we began as kids. Wonder-filled kids.

I Always, Always Get My Way by Thad Krasnesky

I Always, Always Get My Way by Thad Krasnesky, illustrated by David Parkins

Rating: 5 stars

This book is written for third kids everywhere. For those kids whose parents are wise enough to know that a little leniency isn't a bad thing (but tired enough to forget that too much leniency is a bad thing). For those kids who happily take just the teensiest advantage of their parents' doting and get away with a little too much. For three year olds who are young enough to make a few too many questionable choices and old enough to know how to get away with it.

For those kids like Kiefer, basically.

The little girl-narrator of this story makes some big mistakes: she accidentally dumps orange juice all of her father's work pants, she trips over the big roller coaster track her brother is building, and she swipes her big sister's things to make some unusual gluey model in her room. After all of these things, the little girl's mom rushes to her side and to her defense, and wags her finger at Dad, brother Tom, sister Suzie...NOT the little girl.

"After all...she's only three," rings the chorus.

And then the girl pushes it, like any three year old will. Through a hilarious string of very realistic kid  decisions, such as waking up early on Saturday morning and helping herself to ice cream, her whole family realizes that things have got to change.

After a particularly mischievous string of mishaps, her whole family, including her mom, is standing around looking at her.

My dad stood still. His shoes did not.
They squished and left a drippy spot.
He calmly said, "I'd like to know
who turned the tub on hours ago
and flooded out the upstairs hall,
and soaked my bedroom, rug and all." 

Dad noticed Suzie's dripping shoe-
Tom's dressed-up lizard--and he knew.Dad looked at Mom. Mom looked at Dad.
And that's when things got really bad.
Mom pointed to the stairs and said,
"That's it young lady! GO TO BED!" 

I sweetly answered, "Don't blame me.
Did you forget? I'm only three!"
When I saw Mom being to fume,
I trudged, forlorn, up to my room.

I can't spoil the ending--the last two lines of this perfectly written, oh-so-clever poem are so, so perfect. I just can't tell you. You'll have to check it out for yourself! Krasnesky has created a marvel of a book, with small vignettes that kept my kids riveted and chuckling and then asking for more. This book is going to be purchased and given to any third kid-three year old party for the rest of my life!

Sidenote: How interesting and cool that Thad Krasnesky is a distance-running Army major, teaching at West Point! I have to point that out because when I was three (okay, that'd be too neat a story--actually I was in first through third grade), my own father was a distance-running Army major, teaching at West Point! AND it was around that time that my dad wrote a beginner chapter book (still not published, but still loved by his two girls). He served three tours in Iraq as well, so I can't say enough how much I love the twist on a stereotype...hooray and hooah for this author and hero. Can't wait to check out his other books.

Blizzard by John Rocco

Blizzard by John Rocco

Rating: 5 stars

Today is the second day back at school after my kids' winter break. Winter break for us stay-at-home moms is...different: the house is full, not empty. The house is loud, not quiet. The house is messy from all that playing-inside time, not neat from all that being-in-school time. It's fun and good and full...but I like when they go back to school.

But now, on the second day back, it's supposed to snow. Just a little. But STILL. Did it snow one flake over winter break? Nope. But today. It's supposed to snow. Go figure! I just have to laugh.

Luckily, it's not supposed to snow as much as it does in John Rocco's brilliant new Blizzard. (He won the Caldecott a few years ago with the heart-warming story with amazing illustrations Blackout.) The story is based on his experience of living through a 53-inch blizzard in Rhode Island in 1978, and is told with fewer words than illustrations, but the illustrations are larger-than-life; they tell the story by themselves...you'll be snow-blown away by it, just as I was when I first read it to my kids at the Boulder Bookstore around Thanksgiving.

Here's the story (and here's what my kids WISH they were waking up to):

"I wondered if we would ever see grass again."

A boy wakes up. He goes to school. The first snowflake falls down while school is in session, and his excitement goes up. As the day goes on and he walks home, the snow piles up and up around and on him, and the reader understands instantly that this is No Ordinary Snow. This is a whole lotta snow. The first day of the blizzard is wonderful and harmonious and fun, and the second and third days of being trapped inside and drinking hot chocolate (with milk, of course, which is better than water...I love this nod to the good-old-days, the made-from-scratch days) go by pretty well.

After a few days of being trapped inside by the snow, the family starts to go a little batty. I can relate--the house is way too full, way too loud, and messier than normal as they and their neighbors are completely snowed in. The boy watches as his family and others around him run out of the basic necessities. He decides to do something about it. He creatively puts together an outfit and equipment--including using tennis rackets for snow shoes--and rigs together a sled-grocery-cart thingamajig and pulls it from his house, through the neighborhood, to the town store.

The boy practices walking with his makeshift snowshoes...

(Rocco shows his path in a way most delightful to Kiefer these days: with a pull-out, triple-page illustration of the boy's tracks as he goes through the neighborhood. Kiefer likes to trace the path with his finger, and it's a long one that includes more than a few snowdrifts...)

The boy piles his sled high with groceries and, as he retraces his steps through the neighborhood back to his house, he gives his neighbors what they ordered. He arrives back to his own house, completely exhausted. His family celebrates his homecoming, praises his effort, and make him another mug of hot cocoa. With milk.

Even with all that snow, this is a heart-warming book, and a wonderful example of the good that can be done with resourcefulness, courage, a willing heart, and a pair of tennis rackets. This is THE BOOK you should give to kids this winter--for their birthdays or whatever reason you need to buy one extraordinary book.

Oh, and by the way, it's snowing outside of my cozy yellow house. My kids are going to be thrilled! Me? Well, I'll have an extra cup of coffee to keep up with their excitement...

Penguin Cha Cha by Kristi Valiant

Penguin Cha Cha by Kristi Valiant

Rating: 5 stars

Julia loves the zoo. She watches the daily performances from a tree branch--she has a good vantage point from which she can spot some black fins grabbing random items from performers on the stage. These black fins belong to a group of penguins that are obviously up to something.

Julia wants to know what they're up to.

She follows them back to their penguin cove, but they just stand around acting and looking like "penguin popsicles"--they aren't doing anything when they know she's around.

This is what Julia sees through her binoculars.

So she does what any kid would do: she spies on them. She goes up high and, with some good binoculars, she spots those penguins DANCING! With the stolen props from the performance, they dance around the cove like nobody's watching. Julia wants to not just watch, she wants to join in! But every time she tries, she gets the same: penguin popsicles.

So she does what any kid would do: she dresses up like them. Her costume is hilarious and spot-on, and she waddles in with her pillow-as-white-tummy doing its best to disguise her human-ness. It doesn't work. The penguins still stand around like big popsicles.

So she does what any kid would do: she puts on her fanciest outfit and aims to dazzle them with her cha cha. She juts out her chin and puts back her shoulders and reaches out her arms and cha cha chas with such enthusiasm and joy and grace that the penguins can't resist joining her. Finally, she gets what she wants: she gets to dance with the penguins!

The penguins can't resist: Tap, flap, cha cha cha!

My kids and I are blown away by this book. It is sweet, it is funny, it is cool. Valiant's illustrations are drop-dead gorgeous. I want to sit and study every single illustration because there are so many great details, so much joy sketched in young Julia's face and arms and movements!

But my kids and I also want to know: will there be another story, similar to this one, about monkeys doing magic in their monkey house?  We hope so, because we've enjoyed Penguin Cha Cha so much...we want more!

The Baby Tree by Sophie Blackall

The Baby Tree by Sophie Blackall

Rating: 5 stars

It's an age-old question most parents dread: Where do babies come from?

Sophie Blackall takes a stab at answering this question, taking the load off our parental shoulders for a bit. This beautiful book is on many (most?) of the year-end "best book" lists, and there's a reason why: it's a sweet story with an important message, told with sweet words and incredible illustrations.

Here's the story (and a few illustrations to give you an idea of how great they are):

At breakfast, a little boy's parents break the news to him: there's a baby on the way! He's going to be a big brother. As he quietly eats his oatmeal while the hubbub of the morning swirls around him, he only has one thought: Where are we going to get the baby?

Teenage neighbor Olive answers his question as they walk to school: "You plant a seed, and it grows into a Baby Tree."

Hmm. He's not sure about that. He still wonders, so he takes his question to school.

Mrs. McClure the art teacher replies: "From the hospital."

Okay...he can picture a hospital, because his Grandpa had stuff removed (gall stones) there. But he's still unsure, so...

He asks Grandpa, who tells him: "A stork brings your baby in the night and leaves it in a bundle on your doorstep."

What??!!?

Everyone was right. Except for Grandpa.

Maybe the mailman can clear things up: "Babies come from eggs."

At the end of this long, confusing day, the boy asks his mom and dad where babies come from. The simple, succinct answer includes: "They begin with a seed from their dad...which gets planted in an egg inside their mom...the baby grows in there for nine months...until it runs out of room...and it's ready to be born."

So everyone was a little bit right. Except for Grandpa and that stork thing.

There's more information in the back about where babies come from, with recommendations on how to answer the question based on the age of your child. The information also includes twins and adoption and c-sections in very brief but still-honest ways.

This is a great book for many reasons: it's wonderful to look at, great to read aloud, and a fantastic teaching tool. What more can you expect from a book? (Please don't tell her, but we are giving this to Lorelei's teacher--she has a toddler at home and is expecting her second baby in January!)

Draw! by Raúl Colón

Draw! by Raúl Colón

Rating: 5 stars

Last month the New York Times published their annual list (and I'm a lover of all lists, especially when they are lists of books, not to-dos) of Best Illustrated Books for 2014. Click HERE to access this great list. But watch out! Raúl Colón's gorgeous book Draw! is the first one, and when I looked at the illustration from it I knew I needed to see all of it. So don't expect to just look. Expect to buy. At least one. (I already owned Shackleton's Journey, or else I would have purchased that, too.)

Anyway.

Raúl Colón suffered from severe asthma as a child. Frequently, he'd find himself locked up indoors--for days on end--in order to hide from the pollen that made breathing difficult. But he endured those many hours on those many days away from the world by escaping into books and his own drawing (and sometimes comic books he wrote and illustrated himself). This wordless picture book is inspired by the hours he spent as a child trapped in his room but free in his imagination...

In Draw!, a boy is sitting on his bed, absorbed in a book about Africa. He puts the book aside and grabs his sketchbook, and draws himself walking, walking, walking into the book. (This transporting-into-a-book is something my kids talk about all the time. Are they alone? Do your kids do this?) The boy walks and walks until he sees an elephant. Gladly, it is a friendly elephant that poses for him and then gives him a ride rather than charges him.

The elephant becomes his guide as he walks around the grasslands, meeting and drawing giraffes, lions, gorillas, water buffalo, and a rhino that is the least friendly of the bunch (check out the cover, above left). His eyes and heart soak up the experience and he draws and draws and draws all these animals...until suddenly he is transported back to his original world, where he is presenting his animal artwork to his class.

The wordless story is fine. But the illustrations! They are inspirational works of art, each one.

I loved reading more about Raúl Colón and his technique in an interview on the fabulous School Library Journal blog. Here's what he has to say about how he draws each and every illustration in this book, and his others:

Usually I use colored pencil over watercolor wash. In this case, with the African images, I bought Pantone color papers, and I went straight onto the paper with Prismacolor pencils. The paper has a nice grain to it. If you’re going to use color pencils, it’s good to use a grain paper. 

I found the etching instrument by accident—something [a former] boss purchased when I worked at a  TV station in Fort Lauderdale, FL. It’s like a giant flat coin with prongs sticking out. First I sketch onto the paper. The boy’s pants may look brown, but there are actually layers of greens, purples, and blues, which make the colors appear much more vivid. (I learned this from the Impressionists, who put colors next to each other to enhance images.) After I know where everything goes, I start etching with this instrument—wherever I think I need movement or volume.

We're fans of this author/illustrator for sure. I'm embarrassed that this is the first time I've mentioned him on this blog! If you're curious about his work, definitely check out more books by him. (Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates is my personal favorite.)

Dirty Rotten Pirates by Moira Butterfield

Dirty Rotten Pirates: A Revolting Guide to Pirates and Their World by Moira Butterfield, illustrated by Mauro Mazzara

Rating: 4 stars

This review was first published on the Washington FAMILY Magazine website:

Be forewarned: After reading this book, your kids might call each other “matey” and threaten to make you walk the plank if you feed them spinach and broccoli. Then again, you might cook them fish- and onion-filled salmagundi for dinner if they don’t mend the ship’s sails or ropes…

Dirty Rotten Pirates: A Truly Revolting Guide to Pirates and Their World is not for the faint of heart. The illustrations alone might give a child (or grown up!) the shivers. There are illustrations—and text to go along with—of a pirate looking up in fright at a “doctor” about to saw off his injured limb and another deceased pirate left to hang in the gallows for years after he took his last breath. Gruesome for sure, though what else would you expect from a book about pirates? These chaps were not known for their high-quality manners and impeccable oral hygiene! 

Therefore, it is appropriate that the target age range for this book is slightly older than the normal picture book range. The publisher recommends this book for 8 to 11 year olds. 

That said, Dirty Rotten Pirates delivers on its promise to teach your child about dirty, rotten pirates in a pretty revolting way. Each chapter showcases a different aspect of piracy, and each page is jam-packed with information about the history and life of pirates. I found myself spending the time to read all the facts, fascinated by the band of brothers that existed on each ship. This book, especially because of those gruesome illustrations mentioned above, is highly entertaining. 

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

Elephant and Piggie: Waiting is Not Easy! by Mo Willems

Elephant and Piggie: Waiting is Not Easy! by Mo Willems

Rating: 5 stars

We've loved Elephant and Piggie for a long, long time. I've written about them a few times before (most recently HERE and before that HERE). They are the best easy reader series that exists, and if you are working on reading with your kiddo, you need to check out every single one of them from the library. Really, you do.

But this book. Waiting Is Not Easy. This one take the cake.

This is the best!  The best book in a fantastic series! Do you REALIZE what this means?! This is one spectacular book!

Perhaps I've read it so many times that I am now beginning to talk like Gerald and Piggie? There could be worse things.

SO! The book!

Piggie has something to show Gerald. But he has to wait for it. And Gerald has a waiting problem. I know a waiting problem when I see one because I have serious waiting problems, too. Gerald and I (and my kids, like most kids) have serious deficiencies when it comes to patience. It's really a bummer that Target doesn't sell patience, really. It'd be so handy to have an extra six-pack of patience sitting around...

ANYWAY! The book!

So Gerald does his best to wait--which Piggie insists he must do, he has no choice, the surprise is not ready yet--and finally he does wait until the final few pages of the book, when the reader turns the page and together with Gerald we gasp in appreciation.

Gerald learns he has to wait some more.
(I do the same thing.)

It's a starry, starry night in Gerald and Piggie's world, and they both look up at it, in awe. They are both dumbstruck at the view.

And Gerald says, simply and quietly: "That was worth waiting for."

What a great book to put in the hands of our children! Geesh, what a great book to put in the hands of our friends and partners and siblings, too! In this world of now-now-NOW, where we want what we want yesterday, not months or years from now, it is even more important to teach kids that waiting is difficult and worthwhile.

Some things are worth waiting for.

Isn't that true?