Picture Books

Book Review: The Red Wagon by Renata Liwska

| Tasha

redwagon

Red Wagon by Renata Liwska

Lucy has a bright-red new wagon that she wants to play with so badly.  When she asks her mother though, her mother sends her on an errand to the market.  Lucy takes her red wagon to help her, but isn’t sure that it sounds like much fun.  On the way, Lucy and her friends have great imaginary adventures that include surviving a flood, being part of a wagon train, performing in a circus, and flying in a rocket.  By the time she gets back to her mother, Lucy is tuckered out completely but finally is free to play with her wagon.

Liwska is the artist behind The Quiet Book and The Loud Book.  This book is her first as both author and illustrator.  One could never tell that she hasn’t been writing books for children for some time.  She has just the right amount of text per page, clever pacing, and humor to spare.  It is all done from a child’s point of view with a child’s voice, making it very charming.

Her art is stellar with its spiraling lines that create soft textures.  There are small touches throughout that add humor and fun to the story.  I particularly like the three-eyed raccoon in the UFO when they are pretending to rocket into space. 

A clever, warm book about helping out and still having fun, this book celebrates the joy of a vivid imagination.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Philomel Books.

Also reviewed by Books Beside My Bed and Twenty by Jenny.

Book Review: Ice by Arthur Geisert

| Tasha

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Ice by Arthur Geisert

Geisert returns with another wordless picture book featuring his industrious little pigs.  In this book, the pigs are on a desert island where it is hot and water is running very low.  So the pigs hatch a plan to find water.  Delightfully, they create a hot-air balloon from their boat and fly over the waves.  They find an iceberg, where they install a sail on the ice and take the entire thing back to their island.  The final pages show interesting details of transferring the iceberg into the water tank and the differences the ice has made in their lives.

Geisert excels at details in his illustrations.  Sweltering heat and low water are shown by bucket brigades and drooping pigs.  The time with the iceberg is shown as almost a party with pigs dancing and celebrating.  The pigs then begin working again to get the ice moved to the tank.  Somehow Geisert makes work look fun or at least very intriguing. 

These are illustrations that are small, detailed and worthy of some time spent looking at them.  Share this book with a child who loves looking closely.  Or even better, curl up together and share some time with ice, invention and imagination.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Enchanted Lion Books.

Also reviewed by:

Book Review: Say Hello to Zorro! by Carter Goodrich

| Tasha

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Say Hello to Zorro! by Carter Goodrich

Mister Bud had a great life.  He had his own bed, his own toys, his own dish, and best of all, his own schedule.  His schedule had plenty of nap time, meal time, and walks.  Everyone followed the schedule.  Period.  But one day, the schedule was interrupted when a stranger showed up.  Zorro, a new dog, was moving in with them.  At first it was tough and there were fights, but then both Mister Bud and Zorro realized that their lives were a lot better together.  And everyone followed the new schedule.  Period.

Goodrich writes with a real sense of comic timing.  The book reads aloud beautifully, often using a page turn to add to the suspense of a sentence.  The growing friendship of the two dogs is a pleasure to read.  Especially noteworthy is the fact that neither dog changed their personalities as the book progresses, but rather found common ground for their friendship.

The illustrations make great use of the white background.  They tell the story with visual humor that adds to the book’s tone.  The colors are bright and friendly.  Best of all, the illustrations capture emotions perfectly.  There is the joy of a walk, the quiet of a nap, the anger of a new dog, and the silent lean of a dog waiting to be fed. 

Pet lovers, this is a book that you will relate to immediately.  A great addition to any dog story time, this book will also work for friendship or new sibling units.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

Also reviewed by:

Book Review–Three by the Sea by Mini Grey

| Tasha

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Three by the Sea by Mini Grey

Dog, Cat and Mouse all live happily together by the sea with their household chores neatly divided.  But when a Fox comes ashore, he causes all sorts of trouble.  He brings tempting items from The Winds of Change company that will change their lives.  Dog’s gardening is criticized for only being buried bones, so the stranger offers Mouse herb seeds and new cookbooks.  Dog is encouraged to wear a new collar and is upset at Cat’s laziness.  Cat is shown how dull and repetitive Mouse’s cheesy recipes are by the Fox offering some canned fish.  Soon all of them are at odds with one another.  In the end, Mouse heads away along the shore, but is picked up by a wave and carried out to sea.  When Cat tries to help, she has trouble floating.  So finally Dog, rescues them both.  Now the lives of the three look very different, so was the Fox actually helpful or harmful?

Grey’s book is about cooperation, working together, and also outside influences which can be seen in different ways.  She has created a picture book that is not definitive about the Fox and his influence.  The nuanced conclusion offers room for discussion and speculation.  Grey’s illustrations continue to charm.  She incorporates photographs and cut paper art into them to great effect.  They have a whimsical charm that invite readers right into the world she creates.

Another winner from a great picture book author and illustrator, this book will be a great addition to any beachy story time.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Alfred A. Knopf.

Also reviewed by:

Book Review–Cat Secrets by Jef Czekaj

| Tasha

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Cat Secrets by Jef Czekaj

This book is for cats only, so if you want to read it you will have to prove that you are, in fact, a cat.  The cats in the book are hard to deceive.  If you keep turning the pages, they will be on to the fact that you are not a cat at all.  They will test you.  You will have to meow.  You will have to purr.  Can you stretch like a cat too? And then the final test.  Can you nap like a cat?  This is a book that happily breaks down the fourth wall, celebrating silliness through a very interactive story line. 

Czekaj follows the likes of Mo Willems and one of my childhood favorites, The Monster at the End of This Book, as he allows the audience into the book and to feel as if they have input into the storyline.  His very simple illustrations have a modern feel to them.  They let the humor stand on its own and don’t oversell it at all. 

This is a book that will read aloud extremely well.  It’s one that I would save for that final book of a story time because it will stop the wiggles immediately.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Also reviewed by 100 Scope Notes and Creative Literacy.

Book Review–The Loud Book by Deborah Underwood

| Tasha

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The Loud Book by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Renata Liwska

The author and illustrator of The Quiet Book return with a much noisier book that celebrates the different kinds of loud there are.  The noises follow a bunny through his day from waking up with alarm clock yard to a sister snoring at bedtime and finally crickets singing.  Many of the loud moments could be considered quieter ones, focusing on the noises that can seem loud in different situations.  This is a great noise-filled foil to the first book.

Underwood has collected lovely moments throughout a day that range from very loud and disruptive to funnily loud like a burp in a classroom to noises that only seem loud because of the circumstances.  For each noise, she offers a little phrase that explains the situation and the noise, often with a wry sense of humor.

Liwska’s illustrations offer a fuzzy, warm group of animal characters.  She has a great sense of humor in her work, capitalizing on the most humorous moments and capturing them to great effect. 

A perfect companion to the first book, this noise-filled book is sure to be a hit with any noisy group of preschoolers, meaning all of them.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by

Book Review–Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People by Monica Brown

| Tasha

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Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People by Monica Brown, illustrated by Julie Paschkis

Follow the transformation of a young boy named Neftali into the poet Pablo Neruda.  The book starts with Neruda’s childhood and moves through his life as he begins to write poetry in his signature green ink.  His connection to nature is emphasized throughout the book from his love of the sea to the stones of Chile.  It also speaks to his love of children and his growth into a fighter for workers’ rights.  This is a lovely, quick glimpse of an amazing poet.

Brown’s words are simple and accessible to children.  She manages to explore Neruda’s inspirations without losing her young audience.  Rather she talks in detail about what inspired his poetry, what he meant as a person, and where he came from.  It is a powerful way to look at Neruda and his work.

The art by Paschkis is extraordinary.  Her paintings combine moments throughout Neruda’s life with words.  The words grow on leaves and trees.  They show in the sun and the moon.  They form the very ground.  It is an expressive way to show the power of words in Neruda’s life as well as how they came from all that surrounds him.

Explore Neruda through beautifully simple text and illustrations that have words streaming through them.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt.

Review–Planting the Wild Garden by Kathryn O. Galbraith

| Tasha

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Planting the Wild Garden by Kathryn O. Galbraith, illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin

This lovely book moves from the steady and deliberate planting of seeds by farmers to the ways that seeds are planted in nature.  The seeds sweep along the in the wind.  They are dropped by birds eating from the seed heads.  They pop and snap to new places.  They are carried on the coats of animals.  They are planted by squirrels hiding them for winter.  Told in a poetic voice with images that evoke nature in all of its beauty, this book is one to be treasured.

Galbraith’s writing is leisurely and lovely, lingering on each of the moments that spread seeds across nature.  She explains each instance in detail, offering noises, specific plant names, and building moments that readers themselves can feel and be in for a bit.  She also skillfully blends in animals in each setting, bringing it further to life.

Halperin’s style works very well with this subject matter.  She plays with light and dark, draws the animals and plants described in the text.  Through her fine-lined and gently colored images, nature comes to life.  One of her most successful pages is early in the book, capturing the movement of the wind in colors and lines.

A natural, lovely look at seeds and planting in the wild, this book is a gorgeous tribute to wilderness.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Peachtree Publishers.

Also reviewed by:

Review–In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb by Marion Dane Bauer

| Tasha

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In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

Bauer has created a poetic picture book that explores the concept of March coming in like a lion and going  out like a lamb.  A lion enters a boy’s home and tromps mud across the floor.  But when the air turns warmer, the lion sneezes mightily.  On that breeze, a lamb comes in and the grass turns green.  But what will happen to the snowy lion now that spring has arrived?  Will he disappear?  Not him!  Meanwhile, the lamb is frolicking and bringing in new babies to greet the spring.

The verse is light and free, creating a poetic, friendly picture book for young children.  The idea of the lion not leaving, but instead lingering in a warm patch of sun and purring is a lovely one.  While the lamb is breezy and light, the lion asleep happily is what lingers with me afterwards, waiting for winter to return.

McCully’s art echoes the freedom of the verse and the lightness of the subject.  She uses a light touch on her lines, a freedom in her colors, and a lushness as spring returns. 

Welcome spring and the end of March with this book and hope along with all of us in Wisconsin that the snow will finally come to an end!  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Holiday House.

Also reviewed by BooksForKidsBlog.