Oink? by Margie Palatini, illustrated by Henry Cole is a wonderfully silly book.  Thomas and Joseph are two very content pigs.  But their neighbors, the rabbit, duck and chickens are not content at all.  They see the pigs as a pair of lazy louts who do nothing at all and simply cannot be happy that way.  So they decide to give the pigs some jobs to do that will improve their lives.  But things don’t turn out the way the busybody neighbors expect.

This book’s illustrations add to the humor.  The simple happiness on the pigs’ faces is countered by the anger and frustration of the neighbors.  The text is great for reading aloud with plenty of pizzazz.  This is definitely one to share with a group, especially with its lack of an anti-laziness message.  Embrace your inner pig.

Fuse #8 Production has been one of the blogs I read for some time, and I have added her to my blogroll as well.  This librarian at The Donnell Central Children’s Room in New York City has a great job and also has a phenomenal style to her postings.  She is not shy with her opinions and makes for great reading.  This is definitely a must-read children’s lit blog!

Yesterday I attended my favorite workshop of the year.  It is something I look forward to each spring, the CCBC Choices workshop where we get to not only hear about the books on the Choices list, but we get to touch and look at each one.   This an incredible perk of being a librarian in Wisconsin.  But those outside of Wisconsin can order a copy of the list as well, and it is well worth the $10 charge.

Choices always has books that I have never heard of before, and I hope to get many of them on interlibrary loan and review them here.  Many of their titles are multicultural and serve children as either a window to a new culture or as a mirror of themselves.  This is so very important!   Choices also never shies away from controversial topics and titles, evaluating them on the basis of the research and quality rather than the topic.  Also a very important perspective in evaluating children’s literature.

Kudos go out to those who put the 2006 batch of titles together.  I was thrilled to see some of my favorites of the year on the list! 

Ten-Gallon Bart by Susan Stevens Crummel, illustrated by Dorothy Donohue is a great western picture book, perfect for sharing.  Sheriff Bart has been the sheriff of Dog City for ten years and now is ready to retire.  But on his last day as sheriff, Billy the Kid heads to town.  Bart stands up to the angry goat, but is knocked out.  Then the rest of Dog City comes to the sheriff’s rescue.  The illustrations by Donohue are paper art, adding their own humor and sense of style to the text.  The dialogue is snappy and filled with puns, and the rest of the text will have you getting your western drawl dancing on your tongue.  Great fun for everyone from first grade on down.  This is definitely one to keep in your storytime stable. 

Secret of the Pasture from Willow Creek Press is a nice little book.  It is the story of Piglet who wakes up and can’t find Belle, the horse who sleeps in the stable next to him.  Piglet journeys around the farm, trying to find Belle, encountering all sorts of farm animals from cows to ducks to chicks to cats and dogs.  The book also captures the open feeling of the countryside, the amazing blue of the sky next to the green of the crops.  I liked that it uses photographs combined with simple text, making it very inviting to children, especially boys who will enjoy the nonfiction feel of the book.  This one is great for farm storytimes for small ones or for beginning readers to try on their own. 

Semicolon has the Third Carnival of Children’s Literature with a poetry theme.  I didn’t manage to get a post together for the carnival this time, but hope to for the next one.  Also, Happy National Library Week!  We have lots of programs happening at our library for adults and kids.  I am even lucky enough to be doing a book discussion group with a huge crowd of third graders on Thursday.  I love this stuff! 

The Book Sense Book of the Year Award gives out children’s book awards as well as adult.  The 2006 Award winners are:

Inkspell by Cornelia Funke – Children’s Literature Winner

Zen Shorts by Jon J Muth – Children’s Illustrated Winner

The site offers the lists of honor books as well.