Day: April 24, 2009

Quiet Bunny

| Tasha

Quiet Bunny by Lisa McCue

Quiet Bunny loves the many sounds of his forest home: the morning birds, the wind rustling the leaves.  His favorite time of day is in the evening when the meadow is filled with the night song of so many animals.  Quiet Bunny wishes that he could join the night song, so he wishes upon a star that he will get his own sound to make. The next morning, Quiet Bunny tries to sing like a bird, croak like a frog, hiss like a snake, and make other noises, but he still can’t make any noise.  An Owl seeing Quiet Bunny trying so hard, tells him to just be himself and he will find a sound. 

McCue’s illustrations are filled with the bounty of the forest and all of its inhabitants.  They are busy, friendly and beaming with warmth.  Quiet Bunny himself is very fluffy and shows his emotions clearly.  I see in McCue’s dedication that the book “targets sounds that are instrumental for early speech development and pre-reading/reading skills.”  I just know that children of all sorts will enjoy making the noises of the animals together and following the story of Quiet Bunny.  It is a gentle story that will speak to children with differing abilities.

A great read-aloud for spring and one to add to your pile of preschool read-alouds about rabbits.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

I Need My Monster

| Tasha

I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll, illustrated by Howard McWilliam

When Ethan checks under his bed, he finds a note from his monster:

Gone Fishing.  Back in a week. –Gabe

Ethan needed a monster under his bed to sleep.  He missed the ragged breathing, the sound of claws on the floor, and the green ooze.  So Ethan taps on the floor and waits.  A series of monsters appears, each one missing one of the important qualities Ethan needs.  Finally, after rejecting his fourth monster, Gabe returns to fill Ethan’s sleep with his own special scariness.

This clever book could have been trite and contrived, but instead is filled with good humor and vivid monster characters.  As one monster after another appears, they stay distinct and unique from one another.  Each is visually different, but they also have different speech patterns, making them a treat to read aloud.

McWilliam’s illustrations done in pencil with digital acrylic paint are vivid and will appeal to fans of Pixar films since they have a similar quality.  McWilliam uses interesting perspectives and demonstrates a lot of humor in his work.  A perfect pairing with the text.

This book is ideal for pajama story times because the monsters are frightening but great fun.  It reads aloud well and offers readers a great range of voices and sound effects.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

New Author Blog

| Tasha

Teaching Authors  is contributed to by six children’s book authors who are all working teachers.  They are April Halprin Wayland, Carmela Martino, Esther Hershenhorn, Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford, JoAnn Early Macken and Mary Ann Rodman.  Whew! 

They have a planned schedule of blogging, which I’m sure is very important for group blogs.  I look forward to hearing their unique perspective on using children’s literature in classrooms and being children’s book authors. 

This is definitely a new blog to keep an eager eye on!