The Scallywags by David Melling.

David Melling is unparalleled for cartoon antics caught in picture-book form.  I love that his illustrations invite children in, surprise them, get them giggling and make them see that reading can be a very silly thing to do.

In his new book, Melling has told the story of a family of wolves who are lazy, inconsiderate, messy, and rude to the point where the rest of the animals decide to no longer include them.  The wolves decide that they are too messy and rude and set out to change themselves.  First, they spy on the other animals to find out what they should change.  But could the wolves take the change too far and become too obsessed with manners and politeness?

Wonderful laughs are in store for children and families reading this book.  Like most of Melling’s work, this one is a better lap-read than group-read, because the humor is in the illustrations.  The final illustration of the entire group posing for a picture after a food fight is priceless.

365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental and Joelle Jolivet.

I know, I know! There is a plethora of penguin books out on the market right now.  But this one is different than all the rest and well worth sharing.

On New Year’s Day, a knock on the door brings a package with one penguin in it.  The package also has a note: I’m number 1. Feed me when I’m hungry.  No sender’s name is on the package.  The next day the postman brings another box with another penguin and so on.  The book goes through the family trying to organize the penguins into piles, the months and days of the year, and the math of feeding the many penguins.  By the end of the year, there are 365 penguins in the house and the entire house is covered in fish.  But finally the family discovers who has been sending them the packages!

This book is a lot of fun with illustrations that are both modern and have a 70s vibe.  The illustrations add a lot to the story, especially when showing the futile attempts to organize the penguins neatly.  Children who enjoy math will like this book.  Even children in middle elementary will enjoy it because it has such a good sense of humor.  I would recommend not reading it aloud to a group.  The pictures have small details that are fun to examine.

Chicken Joy on Redbean Road by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, pictures by Melissa Sweet.

This book is pure fun, especially when read aloud.  In fact, if you try to read it silently, I bet you will read aloud just to feel the words dance on your tongue. 

This is the story of a blue-headed rooster who crows the farm awake every morning.  He also crows along with the music of Joe Beebee which sometimes comes floating down the road.  But when the rooster gets the chicken measles, he loses his crow.  Mrs. Miser Vidrine, who owns the farm, sees a rooster without a crow as useless and starts to think about stewing him for dinner.  But a brave chicken, Miss Cleoma, works up a plan with the rest of the flock to get the roo’s crow back. 

Music is used in the story not only as a central theme and a road to salvation, but also in the texture and tone of the writing where rhythm and repetition work together to make the entire book shimmy.  Some of the writing is especially lovely, like this description of what happens when the rooster crows: 

“That call made the skies pinker, the corn crunchier, and the morning glories more glorious.” 

Whew!  What a sentence!

Add this one to your stack of great read alouds that can be pulled out at any time.  It will work well for chicken, farm and music themes. 

Princess Pigsty by Cornelia Funke, illustrated by Kerstin Meyer.

Funke, author of the deep and dark Inkheart series for older children, also writes fantastic light-hearted picture books. 

In this picture book, Funke tells the story of Princess Isabella who doesn’t want to be neat and clean any longer!  In fact, she is tired of being a princess altogether.  After she throws her crown in the fishpond and refuses to retrieve it, her father the King sends Isabella to the kitchens to work until she reconsiders and fetches her crown.  Isabella loves her time in the kitchens getting messy and learning new things.  When she refuses again to get her crown back, she is sent to live in the pigsty.  Again she takes to her new surroundings, loving the mess and smell and pigs.  Her father must find another way to get her to reconsider.

Now I know how people who read books to children select them.  They open the cover and look at how much text is on each page.  If you do that with a Funke picture book, you will not pick them up.  Please, look past that seemingly large amount of text and given them a try even with preschoolers.  Funke’s prose is fast moving, funny and a treat to read aloud.  There are no dull moments, no wasted words, because she uses words to offer a deeper and more enjoyable story. 

Recommended for reading aloud to preschoolers through first graders.

The Talented Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, pictures by Marla Frazee.

I couldn’t help but grin ear-to-ear when I finally got my hands on the new Clementine book.  I knew that I was in for a treat unlike any that I have had since the first book came out.  And I was certainly right!

Clementine remains the same firecracker of a little girl.  She is such a refreshing change from all of the pink and sparkles that so often surround girls’ books.  Continuing the tradition of Ramona, Clementine firmly refuses to cooperate and resolutely stays exactly who she is. 

In this book, Clementine faces the dread of a school talent show after realizing that none of her talents work on stage.  In pure Clementine style, she does come up with some ideas for acts that her parents refuse to let her try.  In the end, it all works out for our curly-headed heroine. 

The illustrations by Frazee are the perfect accompaniment to the storyline.  They are a large part of what makes these books so very charming.  But it is Pennypacker’s humor and warmth that create such an amazing world.  Clementine’s parents are wonderfully drawn.  I particularly enjoyed the part of the book where they try to bribe one another so that they don’t have to be the one to take Clementine shopping.  That scene is also part of an amazing description of why it can be hard to choose one thing when you head to a store.  Lovely writing that completely captures the dilemma.

Read this aloud to classes, hand it to any elementary age person who enjoys doing things their own way, and share it with adults who need a chuckle.  Highly recommended along with the first book, I would also hand this to parents who look exhausted and worried about any one of their children.  Clementine has a way of getting parents to realize that there is beauty in wise-cracking children who refuse to conform.