Waking Beauty by Leah Wilcox, illustrated by Lydia Monks.

See the bright pink cover?  What you can’t see is the glitter on the title too.  Looks like quite a book for little girls, doesn’t it?  But I am here to tell you that this is one version of Sleeping Beauty that will have the little boys clamoring for another reading! 

When Prince Charming approaches the castle covered in vines, he hears a horrible noise that he thinks is a dragon.  He draws his sword, prepared to do battle, but to his dismay finds a snoring princess fast asleep.  Three fairies appear and offer advice to the prince, but he refuses to listen.  He tries many ways to get Beauty to wake up.  He shouts, jumps on the bed, dumps water on her, and finally resorts to firing her out of a cannon.  But nothing will wake Beauty up except a kiss, which is something that completely terrifies the brave prince.  Will he be willing to wake her?

A great rhyming story, you will get delighted responses from both boys and girls to this story as they realize it is a real twist on the traditional tale.  The rhymes add to the jolly nature of the story and the pure fun of the twists.  Monks artwork is beautiful, graceful and lovely, but doesn’t shy away from the slapstick nature of the book either.  The art offers a bridge between the beauty of the traditional tale and the silliness of this version.

Highly recommended for 4-7 year olds, especially as a final book in a story time.  I always guaranteed good laughs in my final book at a preschool story time.  This one is a perfect candidate and definitely guarantees giggles.

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Michael Austin.

This was one of this year’s honor books for the Belpre Award for the best Latino/Latina writer of the year. 

Martina is now 21 days old and ready to get married.  People in her family offer her things to make her even more lovely, but her Abuela gives her some strange advice instead, recommending the coffee test on each suitor to see how they respond when angry.  Martina doesn’t really think it will work, but her Cuban Abuela insists.  Martina is astonished to see how each person’s demeanor changes when she dumps a cup of coffee on their feet.  That is until she finds exactly the right suitor.

This book is beautifully written with prose that dances along, making it a great read aloud for slightly older children.  It is filled with puns that will be appreciated most by older elementary students.  The art of the book is digital and evocative of recent animated films, so children will immediately be drawn to it.  The art is often filled with movement and excitement that matches the tone of the story perfectly.  A wonderful collaboration.

Recommended as a read-aloud for ages 7-10, because of the great puns that deserve a good groan.  Children younger than that will enjoy the story, but may miss some of the humor in the tale.

Duck Soup by Jackie Urbanovic.

There is sort of a fowl (not foul) trend happening today.  Remember last year when all the books were bunny books?  Well this year may be the year of the bird. 

Returning to the world of Duck at the Door, Max the duck is creating his own soup recipe for the first time.  When he heads out to the garden for an herb, his friends come in and wonder where he is.  The soup smells fantastic and they think about eating some, until it occurs to them that Max has fallen in the soup and been cooked.  They call into the pot for him, beg him to grab the spoon, and finally pour the soup through a strainer and down the drain.  Max returns from the garden to find his soup gone, his friends relieved and realizes that it is best that he did not end up making duck soup.

There are two winning components of this book.  First is the art of Urbanovic, which is humorous, cartoony, and charming all at once.   All of the animal characters have their own personal vibe that comes through not only in the text but in the art.  Even better, this charming art is big enough and vibrant enough to be used with quite a large group.  The second winning component is the pacing of the book.  It begins with a slow savoring of soup, a litany of soups that Duck has made before, and a pondering of how to improve the recipe.  The friends sidle in happily, but then the panic sets in and the pace reaches a breakneck speed.  The relief is expressed in the pacing too as they all sit down to a soupless supper. 

This is one for the story time pile.  It shouldn’t be saved for duck or bird story times, but instead it should be pulled out whenever children may get restless.  The humor only improves with additional readings.  Highly recommended for a great laugh for 4-6 year olds.

Blue Goose by Nancy Tafuri.

Farmer Gray goes away and Blue Goose, Red Hen, Yellow Chick and White Duck decide to paint the farm.  Duck paints the fence white.  Chick paints the flowers yellow.  Hen paints the barn red.  And Goose paints the roof blue.  Then they start mixing colors to get purple, orange, green, etc.  Farmer Gray returns to his bright colored farm, and then in the evening Blue Goose paints a wash of blue over everything as it turns dark. 

It was that final touch of painting twilight over the farm that took this book to another level for me.  I loved the repetition of colors for the smallest children, the mixing of colors with the new color obvious to the eye of a child, and the richness of the hues being used.  Tafuri’s skill with simple lines in a picture book is evident here.  Her illustrations burst from the pages, larger than life and with so few lines of text that the book is almost read in pictures alone. 

Highly recommended, as are most of Tafuri’s books, for toddler storytimes about colors.  Children as small as two will enjoy spending time with these barnyard friends and chatting about colors and animals.

Woolbur by Leslie Helakoski, illustrated by Lee Harper.

Woolbur is his own sheep.  He wants to run with the dogs, doesn’t want to have his wool sheared, experiments with various wool styles, and dyes himself a deep blue.  After each experiment, his parents fret and fret, while his Grandpaa tells them not to worry.  Finally, his parents reach the end of their patience and insist that he act just like the rest of the flock.  Woolbur thinks and thinks about this and comes up with his own rebel solution.

This book is a joy to read aloud.  There are refrains from scene to scene.  Woolbur says “Isn’t it great!” whenever his parents express their concerns.  The illustrations also make the book a pleasure.  The expanding nature of Woolbur’s wool, his glee at being a different color, and finally his puzzling through his parents need for him to be “normal.”  And what a perfect message to share with children.  That it is OK to be different, to try new things, to experiment, to express yourself. 

High recommended for sheep story times and for those about self expression.  A great way to start talking about being different, or to explain to your younger child why his teen sibling suddenly has pink hair.

Ms McCaw Learns to Draw by Kaethe Zemach.

Dudley wasn’t very good at schoolwork.  He had trouble paying attention and it can take him awhile to learn new concepts.  When he didn’t know how to do his work, he doodled.  His new teacher, Ms. McCaw, took the time to explain new concepts to him, over and over again if necessary.  The whole class thought that Ms. McCaw knew everything until one day she tried to draw a face on the board.  She tried and tried, but finally gave up.  But Dudley wouldn’t let her, and volunteered to teach her how to draw a face.  He patiently did it again and again until he covered the entire board and then asked Ms. McCaw to try.  And she did it!

Zemach has created a wonderful picture book where there is real teaching and learning happening for both students and teachers.  It speaks to everyone having their own strengths and weaknesses, the need for people to try hard to learn new things, and the ability for students to be educators.  The illustrations are friendly, bright and winning, especially the many faces that Dudley draws as examples on the board. 

Recommended for classes to talk about why not to tease people about their abilities and to talk about their own strengths and weaknesses.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Previously by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Bruce Ingman

This clever picture book starts with Goldilocks arriving back home “all bothered and hot.”  Then the reader gets to discover what happened previously.  As you read backwards through her time with the three bears, she meets Jack.  The story then changes to Jack and the Beanstalk, done backwards by seeing what happened previously.  The book continues moving into the past and through many different fairy tales, including the Frog Prince, Gingerbread Boy, and Cinderella.  And finally moves back through time until all there is left is Previously.

This is a joy to share with children.  The book starts innocently with Goldilocks and then starts to travel quickly, a tape unrolling through history.  Children will enjoy the premise immensely as they see their favorite fairy tale characters, know what is coming much of the time and anticipate the joy of it.  I particularly enjoyed the ending where we move backwards through infancy and then through rain, wind and nature.  A lovely way to end a book that never really ends.

The text is rhythmic and the use of the word previously helps with that effect.  Ingman’s art is a nice mix of paint and ink which manages to effectively capture the rush of time without clutter or loss of illustrative integrity.  Nicely done.

Because the premise of previously is contagious, you may want to have drawing paper at the ready for children to express their own lives or days this way.  My two children went to bed and then awoke talking about what they had done previously.  But as you know, that was previously, and now they are back to normal.  At least for the moment.

The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock.

Continuing the story started in Dairy Queen, readers join DJ as she is playing high school football.  Everything is going wonderfully in her life.  Brian Nelson is still in her life and has started kissing her, she has repaired her friendship with her best friend Amber, and her two older brothers are regularly appearing on TV playing college football.  But then things change.  Brian starts acting strangely when they are in public, her mother throws her back out, the family farm is struggling, and an accident throws the entire family into turmoil.  But the one thing we can all count on is that DJ knows how to face calamity head on and deal with it using humor and strength.

Second books can often be disappointing, especially following such an incredible debut novel.  But this one stands entirely on its own, perhaps even outdoing the first.  DJ’s voice continues to be authentic, witty and sharp as she faces disasters in her life.  As in the first book, she is an intriguing mix of power, tongue-tied shyness, and self-effacing humor.  In this second book, there are paragraphs of such powerful writing that they are gut-punchingly real:

“Mom started to cry.  Only it wasn’t crying like when you cry at a sad movie.  It was– it was the sound I imagine an animal making when her babies are dead.  Without words or breath or anything until the whole room vibrated…”

Searing writing like that mixed with humor creates an amazing rollercoaster of a book.  The secondary characters continue to be surprising, well-written and complex.  They all ring very true as does the complicated family dynamic. 

Highly recommended for those who enjoyed the first book with both books highly recommended if you haven’t read either of them.  Appropriate for teens, ages 14-18.