Author: Tasha

Whole World

| Tasha

Whole World by Christopher Corr and Fred Penner.

Just look at that cover and you will know how bright and vibrant this book is.  It shouts out with the various skin colors, places on earth, and the joy of the earth itself.  Perfect match with the song. 

I always enjoy picture books based on songs.  I think they offer a perfect bridge into books for children.  So get your singing voice warmed up and you can get even the wiggliest kids to pay attention and even join in.  On the accompanying CD, you get the song sung by Fred Penner and also a version with only music so you can sing along if you choose.  I always prefer to just sing aloud myself, because then the kids feel free to make their own mistakes.  😉

Share this one with toddlers and preschoolers who will enjoy the bright colors and the music. 

My Dog Is as Smelly as Dirty Socks

| Tasha

My Dog Is as Smelly as Dirty Socks: and other funny family portraits by Hanoch Piven. 

It all starts with a family portrait that a child draws which she thinks doesn’t really portray all of the qualities of her family.  So instead she creates pictures out of objects that show a special quality of that family member.  The father is as jumpy as a spring, the mother as soft as the softest fluff, her younger brother is as sneaky as a snake, the dog is as stinky as an onion.  This is a winning concept.  The final portraits of each member are silly and fun, but also demonstrate an artistic concept as well as the use of metaphors. 

I would share this book with elementary age children working on metaphors and similes.  I would also recommend it for a jumping off point for art projects, perhaps family portraits made with found objects?  A gateway to folk art?  All sorts of options here.

I am Lucy

| Tasha

You may want to take this quiz to see which Peanuts character you are.  I found it scarily accurate!  My husband has always said that I have Lucy’s personality.  And I must admit that it’s true…

I tend to be bossy (hence the director job).
I tend to enjoy rather cruel jokes (and would have pulled the football away from my younger brothers given any chance at all).
I am very opinionated (hence the book reviews).

Embrace your inner Lucy! 

Thanks to Liz for the link!

Power of Fantasy

| Tasha

The New Jersey Star-Ledger has a great article about the power of fantasy books for children.  They interview professor Michael Levy from University of Wisconsin Stout, who specializes in YA lit. 

The article is full of good quotes and thoughts that will make you cheer.  Here’s my favorite:

“People talk about it as escapist, but it is also a
way of dealing with real problems,” Levy says.
“Harry Potter is every kid who’s ever been
picked on by a bully, who’s had to deal with someone
of the opposite sex. It helps them feel they’re not
alone, that they can find solutions. They can’t find
magical solutions, but they can find solutions.”

Augustus and His Smile

| Tasha

Augustus and His Smile by Catherine Rayner. 

Augustus the tiger was sad.  So he went off to find his smile.  On his way, he found shiny insects, birds, mountains, fish, and gets caught in a rain storm.  And finally, there in a puddle, he finds his smile.  He learns that his smile is always with him as long as he takes the time to explore and find happiness wherever he is.

This book has marvelous illustrations that are a great mix of brilliant art and child-friendly subjects.  I also enjoyed the way that the words on many of the pages suit the subject.  They are zigzagging with the mountain tops, waving in the water, and falling with the rain.  The entire book is well designed and well written.

I love a book that presents feelings as things that are under your control.  It offers an empowering look at emotions.  Use this with preschoolers and kindergartners for both tiger stories and for stories on feelings.

Shrinking Sam

| Tasha

Shrinking Sam by Miriam Latimer.

As Sam begins his morning, he realizes he is shrinking.  When he tries to tell his parents about it, they are too busy to listen to him.  The dog sneezes on him and blows him up the stairs where he takes a bath in the sink floating on the soap.  He is then sucked down the drain to find himself outside near another child who has also shrunk down.  She helps Sam get back home through the drier vent.  The dog finds him there and gives him a friendly lick and Sam finds himself growing larger again.  He grows bigger and bigger as his family gathers around him.

I liked that the parents in the book were not cruel or awful, just busy.  As parents we have all had mornings (or afternoons) where we don’t lavish enough attention on our children.  This allowed the story to be about a normal family rather than a dysfunctional one.  The illustrations are bright and friendly and will work well with a group. 

This book is a great gateway to a conversation with children about the times when they feel small or lonely or ignored. 

Filling the Library Gap

| Tasha

The Mail Tribune of Southern Oregon has an article about the new program starting in Jackson County to share books community wide.  It’s called Books for Kids.  Children can come each weekday as well as on Saturdays to either exchange books or borrow them.  It will be done on the honor system with no formal check out.  Sounds great huh?

Well, that’s only until you realize that this is the same Jackson County that just voted to NOT support its public library system and decided to close their libraries.  In that light, this is pretty freakin’ pathetic compared to a full-service library that was just voted into extinction. 

What about older children?  Those who read independently?  What about teens?  Computers?  Magazines?  Life long learning?  Large print?  DVDs?  Newspapers?  What about all of those things that make a library so much more than a shelf of books for little children!  For heaven sakes, what about programming?  What about skilled librarians to work with children?  What about reader advisory?  Reference? 

What makes me furious are the quotes:

Sue McKenna, Medford Parks and Recreation supervisor, said she thinks it’s a “great idea.” “It’s actually something we wanted to get started,” she said. “It’s a perfect fit at a perfect time.”

Perfect now that the library is gone?  Perfect??!  Excuse me while I weep quietly in the corner.

Hathaway said she came up with the idea because when she had been a
single mother, she could not afford to buy enough books to keep up with
her daughter’s reading needs and depended on libraries.

Did you get that?  DEPENDED ON LIBRARIES.  And now she has “several dozen” books for children to replace that.  Yeah, this is progress…  But heck, it saved a few tax dollars, so it has to be an improvement!  Right?

Dexter Bexley and the Big Blue Beastie

| Tasha

Dexter Bexley and the Big Blue Beastie by Joel Stewart. 

Stewart’s art is the winner in this story of a boy who bumps into a Big Blue Beastie who wants to eat him up.  Dexter comes up with a series of adventures that they could go on together instead of the Beastie eating him.  They ride scooters, form a company, solve mysteries, eat large amounts of ice cream, and more.  The ending is sweet but not saccharine.

I love that the author has really thought outside of the norm when coming up with ideas of what the boy could tempt the Beastie with.  Often it is just food, perhaps a game, but here it is the formation of a flower delivery business, scooter rides and mysteries.  I think that almost anyone would be tempted away from hunger with those options.  I particularly liked the montage of mysteries that they solved together with all of the zany names each like a small glimpse of a complete story. 

This would make a nice readaloud, but I would particularly recommend it for reading to a few kids in an intimate setting.  It is that type of warm, cozy book that should be shared along with a hug.

The Plain Janes

| Tasha

The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg.

This is a graphic novel featuring Jane whose life changes when she is in Metro City and a bomb falls.  She is scraped up from the incident, but profoundly affected.  Her parents move with her to the suburbs for safety.  But Jane finds it hard to fit in and continues writing to a man who was found next to her on the sidewalk when the bomb fell.  He is in a coma and no one has identified him.  Jane pours her heart out to him in letters as she slowly makes a group of friends who become the Plain Janes, and perform guerrilla art throughout their suburban community. 

This is a great book.  It has so many dimensions working together.  First, the fear of attack and the search for safey.  The finding of real friends and peers in a high school.  The need to express one’s self through art.  And it ties them all up into a very digestible and friendly bundle. 

The entire book rocks with great writing and wonderful art.  It is a graphic novel that is purely American but has the feel of manga.  I can see it being a gateway book to manga and the graphic novel genre for many teen girls. 

This one definitely deserves a place on library shelves across the country.