Picture Books

Review: Rainbow Stew by Cathryn Falwell

| Tasha

rainbow stew

Rainbow Stew by Cathryn Falwell

Released on June 15, 2013.

Three children scramble out of bed at their grandpa’s house to a rainy day.  But they don’t want to stay inside, so Grandpa sends them outside to find colors to add to his Rainbow Stew.  They splash their way into the garden and look under the wet green leaves to find what colors are hidden beneath.  They find all sorts of green vegetables like beans, spinach, and cucumbers, some rosy radishes, some purple cabbage, yellow peppers, red tomatoes and brown potatoes.  Soon their basket is full and the three children are muddy and happy.  They all head inside to cook the stew together, each child helping in their own way.  Then there is quiet time inside as the stew cooks, until finally they can all enjoy Rainbow Stew!

Falwell merrily combines a love of gardening and a willingness to get muddy in this book.  She uses quick rhymes that add a bouncy feel to the book, maintaining that sense of joy that is everywhere in this book.  I am particularly pleased to see a book with a grandfather taking expert care of grandchildren in this book. 

The illustrations are filled with falling rain, but also small faces turned up into it and knees plunked down into the mud.  The completely African-American family is also great to see in a picture book that easily integrates into rain or gardening or color units and story times. 

Ripe and ready to be picked, this is a great choice for sharing aloud in spring or fall.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Lee & Low Books via NetGalley.

Review: A Special Gift for Grammy by Jean Craighead George

| Tasha

special gift for grammy

A Special Gift for Grammy by Jean Craighead George, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher

Hunter collected a big pile of stones and put them on his grandmother’s porch.  When his father and grandmother ask him what she is meant to do with them, Hunter replied, “What everyone does with a pile of stones.”  Hunter turned out to be right.  Everyone who saw the stack of stones knew just how to use one or more of them.  The postal carrier used one to weigh down the mail on a breezy day.  Workmen used them as hammers or weights.  They are used to stop wheels from rolling and show people what way to turn.  When Hunter returned only six little stones were left.  But this time it’s Grammy who knows just what to do with them.

I have one big issue with this book: the title.  It does very little to convey the charm that is inside this book.  I love the idea of a pile of stones that everyone borrows from and uses.  Then the end of the book is intensely satisfying.  I must admit though that with the uninteresting title, I almost passed on this book, expecting it to be a book about the death of a grandparent or a saccharine poem about familial love.  Instead it is a well-designed look at community, family and connections.  I’d much rather have had the title reference the stone pile or stones or rocks. 

The illustrations are done in collage, acrylic and pencil.  They have gorgeous deep colors, combined with lots of texture from the collage.  The collage is done in such a subtle way that it is almost invisible, just adding a level of texture and pattern to the paintings. 

This book truly is a special gift, but one that could use a new title.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from HarperCollins Publishers.

Review: Steam Train, Dream Train by Sherri Duskey Rinker

| Tasha

steam train dream train

Steam Train, Dream Train by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

The author/illustrator team that brought you the bestselling Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site returns with another gorgeous transportation-themed bedtime book.  The cheerful rhyme invites children to explore the different types of train cars and what sorts of items are stowed in each one.  This is done by a monkey crew who move monkey bars into the boxcars with tumbling moves and lots of bananas.  The hopper car is filled with bouncy balls by kangaroos and a helpful giraffe.  Elephants squirt paints into tankers with their trunks, each train car a different color.  The cold reefer car holds ice cream treats as well as polar bears and penguins.  Gondolas are filled with sand, beach balls and toys.  The autorack has lots of fast racecars.  The well cars have dinosaurs and their lunches.  Finally there are the flatbeds made into beds and the red caboose, the train heads off to a new day. 

First let me comment on the endpages which are done in train engineer cloth pattern and really invite young train enthusiasts to read on.  The book has that wonderful rhyme that is playful and youthful, dancing along merrily to the beat.  That sense of play is evident throughout the book, as the different animals load the train with things that will interest very young readers.  All of it has a silly tone that makes it great fun to read.

Lichtenheld’s illustrations add to that silliness with small touches that are such fun to discover.  Done in a soft yet rich style, the illustrations invite you to dream along with the book.  Their deep color captures the nighttime setting while the softness will have little heads snuggling in close. 

A worthy companion to the first book, get this into the hands of little engineers and fans of Thomas the Tank Engine.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.

Review: Peace, Baby! by Linda Ashman

| Tasha

peace baby

Peace, Baby! by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff

So many children’s books about strong emotions come off as mini-lectures about proper behavior.  This one has a stirring call for people to not react with violence or anger, but instead with peace and understanding while continuing to be understanding about those negative emotions that can overwhelm.  The rhyme helps make the book fun and jaunty while offering the idea of just saying “Peace, Baby!” when you get upset.  This is the most basic of conflict resolution, yet it is also the start of something bigger, taking responsibility for your own reactions and controlling them.  This cheery book invites others to be happy and peaceful.

Ashman’s rhyme is at the heart of this book, carrying the entire idea of being peaceful and calm forward with a jolly rhyme.  Thanks to the playful nature of the rhymes and the “Peace, Baby!” the book does not lecture but instead recommends hugs, conversations and compromise. 

Lew-Vriethoff’s illustrations add a lovely softness to the book.  With their pastel shades, the book continues to feel playful but also has a lightness to it that keeps the message from feeling heavy handed at all. 

A strong addition to library collections, this will be a great way to talk about emotions as a group and also the proper responses to when you feel angry.  Peace out!  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.

Review: Red Hat by Lita Judge

| Tasha

red hat

Red Hat by Lita Judge

This picture book is a companion to Red Sled.  It features that same red hat that was in the first book, but here it is no longer winter and the hat is washed and hung up to dry on the line.  That’s when it is spotted by an eager bear, who snatches it off the line and runs off with it.  But he is not alone, as he dashes, other animals pull and tug, freeing the white pompom and unraveling the bright red yarn as they play.  They leave the mass of yarn hung on the line in place of the hat!  But don’t worry, a happy ending can be knit from the most tangled yarn.

Told almost entirely in sounds rather than words, this book is filled with a wonderful silliness that makes it hard not to giggle from the first longing glance of the bear to the final pages where the animals are pretending innocence at what happened.  The center of the book is a wild chase scene as the hat unravels, adding a great rush of fast pacing into the story.

A great book, even better when read with the first one too.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote by Duncan Tonatiuh

| Tasha

pancho rabbit and the coyote

Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant’s Tale by Duncan Tonatiuh

Released May 7, 2013.

Papa Rabbit had traveled north to find work when the rains didn’t come one year.  Finally, after two years, he was returning home to his family.  A party was planned with food and music, but Papa Rabbit didn’t come back.  When the other rabbits went to sleep, Pancho Rabbit set out to find his father.  He took with him his father’s favorite meal of mole, rice and beans, tortillas, and a jug of aguamiel.  As he traveled, Pancho met a coyote, who offered to help him reach his father.  The coyote demanded payment of the mole up front, then taking Pancho to the train tracks where they jumped a train.  As the journey continued, the coyote demanded food after each part of the journey until Pancho was out of food.  Then Pancho himself was the only food for the coyote to demand.  This allegorical tale of migrant workers coming to the United States is a powerful look at the dangers they face and the love that drives them.

Tonatiuh writes with a strength here, each word seemingly chosen for its impact and power.  The importance of this sort of story for young children cannot be ignored.  This book carefully dresses the horrors of the story in folktales, but the purpose is still clear.  Those folktale devices are particularly effective in a story such as this, allowing the reader to see the dangers but not be overwhelmed by them.  The use of the different pieces of food as payment is particularly clever as is the character of the coyote being that animal.

The illustrations convey the folktale structure as well.  Done in a flattened style, they have strong lines and shapes.  Tonatiuh makes clever use of textures like jean material, tires, fur and textured paper.  This added touch ensures that readers recognize the modern nature of the tale.

This book belongs in every library since it deals with a current issue that affects many in our communities directly.  Teachers will find this book especially useful when discussion immigration as well.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Abrams.

Review: Stripes of All Types by Susan Stockdale

| Tasha

stripes of all types

Stripes of All Types by Susan Stockdale

Visit this gallery of animals who bear stripes of all sorts.  There are animals that live in the ocean, ones that slither in grass, large cats, amphibians, insects, mammals and more.  Drawn in crisp illustrations that show the stripe detail as well as pieces of their habitat.  The book reads quickly, carried forward by the rhyming text.  Children looking for more information on the intriguing animals can turn to the back of the book. 

Thanks to the rollicking rhyme and the short sentences in the body of the book, even toddlers will enjoy this nonfiction book.  Older children will enjoy talking about the different animals and reading more details. 

Entertaining and informative, this is a very flexible title that a wide range of ages will find interesting.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Peachtree Publishers.

Review: Again! by Emily Gravett

| Tasha

again

Again! by Emily Gravett

It’s nearly bedtime and that means a bedtime story.  Mama dragon and little dragon curl up together to share the story of the bright, red dragon Cedric who has never gone to bed.  When they finish, the little dragon asks for it “Again?”  Mama dragon agrees and readers will see another full page of the book that tells more about Cedric and his not sleeping.  Mama reads it one more time before falling asleep herself.  Readers will notice the little dragon getting redder and redder just as Cedric in the story is turning back to green.  But this little dragon has a burning desire for one more story that leads to a fiery ending.

Gravett cleverly reaves two parallel stories together here.  There is the main story of the little dragon who wants to be read to over and over again.  Then there is the story of Cedric in the book that Mama dragon reads.  The two play off of one another, with tension in one ebbing as the other picks up. 

The art is just as clever.  Towards the end, the little dragon shakes the book in disgust and the characters take a tumble across the pages.  This leads to the surprise of the ending, which is sure to delight young readers. 

A perfect ending for a story time, this book is one that young children (and dragons) will want to read AGAIN!  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: The Loopy Coop Hens Letting Go by Janet Morgan Stoeke

| Tasha

loopy coop hens letting go

The Loopy Coop Hens: Letting Go by Janet Morgan Stoeke

This is the third Loopy Coop Hens book and it continues the silly adventures of these three goofy hens.  Here the question is why apples fall.  The hens think that it is probably the fox hiding in the tree and throwing apples at them.  They try to get Rooster Sam to help them, but he is so traumatized by the falling apples almost hitting him, that he runs away.  The hens know that it is up to them, so Dot volunteers to climb up the ladder to see what is going on and whether it is a fox or not.  Dot heads to the top of the tree and discovers two things:  why apples fall and how gorgeous the view is that high up.

Stoeke has a real touch for the absurd and silly.  In her flighty hens, she demonstrates how even the silliest can also be the brave ones.  Her art is simple-lined and really tells a lot of the story along with the words.  The book works well as a read-aloud and the pictures are large enough to work well with a group. 

This is a simple chapter book in the guise of a picture book, inviting beginning readers to give it a try.  Even better, it ends with chickens falling out of trees!  A perfect addition for fall and apple story times and units.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.