Picture Books

I Know Here

| Tasha

I Know Here by Laurel Croza, illustrated by Matt James

The little girl in this story lives in a remote area of Saskatchewan where her father is helping to build a dam.  She lives in a trailer among a group of trailers.  There are woods to play in, a creek to catch frogs, and lots of animals.  But now her family is moving to Toronto.  Her teacher in their one-room school suggests that the children draw pictures to remind them of this place.  So the girl decides that she will draw a picture of her beloved home and all that surrounds it so that she can carry it with them to her new home, safe in her pocket. 

Croza’s words are understated and so allow us to really feel the emotion coming through them.  She has captured the emotions with skill and grace, not overwhelming them, but allowing them to stand on their own.  So many children have either moved or are about to move that this book will find a welcome audience and even better will offer children a way to deal with their emotions and what they miss or will miss. 

James’ illustrations are wild at times with a giant, alien frog on one.  They have intriguing perspectives and through the deep color also help reveal the emotions of the text.  They are imaginative and fantastical, capturing a world of wonder for the reader in their paint.

Few picture books have ever moved me to tears.  This is one of them.  There was such a bittersweet tone at the end that I responded from the gut.  Beautiful.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

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A deeply-felt picture book, this picture book captures a setting with

Ladybug Girl at the Beach

| Tasha

Ladybug Girl at the Beach by David Soman and Jacky Davis

The latest Ladybug Girl book explores what courage means.  Ladybug Girl and her family head to the beach in the book, and it’s Lulu’s first time on a beach.  She is sure she is going to love it.  But when she sees the huge waves and hears the roar of the surf, she is afraid to get into the water.  Lulu and her dog Bingo spend a lot of time avoiding the water.  They build a sandcastle, fly a kite, go for ice cream, and plays on the shore.  It isn’t until the emergency of her bucket floating away gets her into the water that she realizes that she was right!  She does love the beach!  And even better, she’s not afraid any more.

Soman and Davis have once again captured the emotions of childhood with humor and honesty.  Lulu continues to be true to the character she was in the first Ladybug Girl book, still wearing her antennae and her wings.  It’s great to see a character who is so self-assured be scared and overcome it.  Soman’s art is wonderful.  He uses lines to capture emotions with such skill.  Even background characters have great body language and facial expressions.  His use of large washes of color for the beach, sea and sky add to the summery, sunshine, sand feel of the title.

Recommended for any library where Ladybug Girl is popular, this book stands just fine on its own and will have new families and children asking for the other titles.  A perfect summer beach read for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

Easy as Pie

| Tasha

Easy as Pie by Cari Best, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Jacob’s favorite TV show is Baking with Chef Monty, so when Jacob sets out to bake his first pie, he knows all of Chef Monty’s rules by heart.  He knows that: a happy baker makes a happy pie.  He finds all of his ingredients in the kitchen and sets to work.  When his sister Charlotte comes to get him ready to go out for dinner and celebrate their parents’ anniversary, Jacob makes sure he keeps working because one of the rules is: Concentrate on what you’re doing – no matter what.  He rolls out the dough, fixing his mistakes like Chef Monty advises.  He flutes the edges of the pie and pricks holes in the top crust, slightly larger than Chef Monty would have recommended.  Soon the pie is in the oven, though his family is getting tired of waiting for Jacob to be ready to go.  But there is one solution to that!  Dessert first!

So many children’s books about cooking have the child making a horrible mess, combining strange and unappetizing ingredients together, all resulting in an inedible creation.  This turns that formula on its head with a child who is confident and capable, creating a pie that makes the parents’ anniversary even more special. 

Best’s writing is a pleasure to read aloud with the sprinkling of Chef Monty quotes throughout, great asides of noises, and plenty of action.  Sweet’s art is light-hearted and funny, filled with peach-colored splashes and funny touches like the titles of the books on the shelves.  The writing and text go together like ice cream and warm pie.

A great read aloud for any classroom starting a cooking project or any story time where food will be featured.  Guaranteed to be a favorite around Thanksgiving too.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Stand Straight, Ella Kate

| Tasha

Stand Straight, Ella Kate: The Story of a Real Giant by Kate and M. Sarah Klise

When Ella Kate was born in 1872, she was normal sized, but that soon changed.  At school she needed a larger desk that her father built for her, and she was wearing her father’s shoes, size 12.  Ella Kate was sometimes ridiculed for her size.  At age 17, she reached 8 feet tall, finally growing to a height of 8 feet 4 inches tall.  When she was 18, she was approached to appear at a museum because of her height.  This started a six year tour of museums, exhibitions and circuses where she made enough money to pay off her family’s farm and build her own house.  It was a house that was built specifically for her height with very high ceilings and tall windows.  After building her home, Ella Kate returned to the exhibition circuit, continuing her travels around the world.

Ella Kate is an example for all of us: she took what made her different and strange and made it into an asset.  The Klise sisters have created a book that has just the right tone.  It is playful and fun, but always treats Ella Kate with awe and respect.  It is not just her size that is impressive for modern readers, but an understanding that Ella Kate was an independent woman in a time when women did not live that sort of life.  The art in the book, done with acrylics, echoes the playful spirit of the text.  The images often show Ella Kate’s height in a unique way without it being mentioned in the text.  Just the family laundry on the line is worthy of attention.

A warm picture book biography of a giant of a woman.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

How to Clean a Hippopotamus

| Tasha

How to Clean a Hippopotamus by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

A fascinating tour through symbiotic relationships in the animal kingdom, this book uses comic book frames and short text bubbles to become incredibly appealing to reluctant readers.  Filled with Jenkins’ paperwork illustrations that offer clarity beyond that of photographs, this book is a visual treat.  It is also filled with interesting facts, and is sure to surprise even the most informed reader with several of the relationships inside.  Journey through symbiotic relationships where one animal cleans another one to others where enemies become friends and supporters for a time.  Get this one into the hands of children who love animals and struggle with books, they are sure to feel right at home here.

Jenkins’ art is done with such confidence and cleverness.  His use of fuzzy papers to get the feel of fur, of color to get the feel of skin, and of pattern to get the texture right really take him beyond most other paper artists in children’s books today.  The fact that he manages to capture what an animal actually looks like is amazing.  Animals have a light in their eyes, a focus and in this book a relationship with each other, all captured with paper. 

The facts here are done with just the right amount of text and a playful, interested tone.  The book invites readers in and marvels alongside them.  The design here is wonderfully done, breaking what could have been paragraphs of text to wade through into windows of color filled with bite-sized bits of text that get readers wanting more.

Highly recommended, every library needs this book on their shelves.  Guaranteed to go home over and over again.  Appropriate for ages 5-9.

Reviewed from library copy.

Check out another review at A Patchwork of Books.

Little Diva

| Tasha

Little Diva by LaChanze, illustrated by Brian Pinkney

Tony Award-winning actress LaChanze brings us the story of Nena, a little girl who wants to be a diva.  Right now she is a D.I.T.: a Diva In Training.  She wears stylish clothes, does vocal exercises, and even helps her mother with her yoga.  Her mother is a diva already, a Broadway star.  Nena gets to accompany her mother to the theater where there are costumes, wigs, and makeup and much more backstage.  Nena sits in her special place to watch her mother onstage.  Then she has to go home where she tells her Nana all about the show before heading to bed to plan her own performance for tomorrow.

LaChanze brings a breezy tone to this picture book that really captures the dreams of a youngster wanting to be just like her mother.  The allure of the stage is brought to life in the book.  I particularly enjoy the fact that diva is meant positively.  It doesn’t mean tantrums and drama, rather it is art, craft and the theater.  Pinkney’s art matches the breezy style of the text so well.  He uses free-flowing lines and swirls of color to show this young diva’s life.  There is an effortlessness to this book that makes it a pleasure to read.

Perfect for any little divas in your life that would have problems taking a short bow.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Feiwel and Friends.

Amazing Faces

| Tasha

Amazing Faces, poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Chris Soentpiet

This book is a great collection of poems that really reflect diversity and America.  Diversity in race as well as the range of emotions in human experience, both are on display in this collection.  The collection moves gracefully from one poem to the next, each fitting next to the other to make a cohesive whole.  This is helped by Soentpiet’s art which celebrates emotions, humanity and community in the faces he depicts.

Hopkins has created a collection that really meshes well.  Each poem and poet has a distinct voice and point of view.  The differences are celebrated here, the poems just as diverse as the world they share.  The first poem, Amazing Face by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, welcomes readers with open arms into the collection.  It is closed just as effectively with a Langston Hughes poem, My People. 

Soentpiet’s art captures moments in the world that we all want to grasp and hold onto a bit longer before they pass.  There is the smile of a baby, the power of a storyteller, the evening sky, and that moment that loneliness disappears.  All are illustrated with great detail, making those moments ever so real.

Highly recommended, this collection of poetry will help you celebrate what America is all about: the diversity of its people.  Appropriate for ages 5-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Lee & Low Books.

Wanted: The Perfect Pet

| Tasha

Wanted: The Perfect Pet by Fiona Roberton

More than anything Henry wanted a dog.  More than chips, more than a trip to the moon, more than world peace!  Henry already has lots of frogs, 27 varieties, but they are boring compared to a dog.  He knows just the kind of dog he wants: one with personality, one that does tricks, one that has floppy ears and a warm, furry tongue.  So Henry posted an ad in the paper and waited.  The ad was read by a lonely duck who decided that being Henry’s dog was the perfect place for him.  So he disguised himself as a dog and headed to Henry’s house.  Henry was very excited to see him, but got more and more puzzled as his dog failed to live up to his expectations.  When the dog was revealed to be a duck, what would Henry do?

Roberton has created a book with an interesting feel and style.  She includes clever asides and quirky perspectives.  The book has a very charming style of writing that gives the illustrations enough space to help tell much of the story too.  The illustrations are filled with white space and offer plenty of small details that readers will enjoy discovering.  Watch for the sheep flying past in the background on a windy day. 

A special, quirky picture book that takes selecting a pet to an intelligent and wise place.  Appropriate for ages 4-7. 

Reviewed from copy received from Putnam.

Animal Soup

| Tasha

Animal Soup by Todd H. Doodler

This book is pure silliness.  Pure.  There is not an educational item here, just lots of giggles and guesses.  Take one animal, add another and the result is a mixture of the two.  The book begins with “What would I be if I had wings to fly…” with a picture of a bird.  “…but walked very slowly instead?” with a picture of a turtle.  Then one lifts the flap to see the answer which is: Bird + Turtle = Birdle along with the image of the bird wearing a turtle’s shell.  Turn the page and it begins again and it is impossible to stop opening the flaps to see the silly combinations. 

Doodler has hit upon a winning combination here of humor and surprise.  His pairing of unlikely animals (who could resist finding out what a squirrel and a whale combine to become) along with the humorous names he calls them will have children laughing out loud.  His simple colorful art adds to the humor.  The animals are all googly eyed and the combination images are delightful. 

Hand this to a reluctant young reader and they will read it again and again.  It is an ideal choice for libraries with flaps that will stand up to most use and for storytimes where children are restless.  This will have them laughing and entranced in no time.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Golden Books.