Picture Books

The Lion and the Mouse

| Tasha

The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

In this almost wordless book, readers revisit Aesop’s tale of the lion who spares the life of a mouse only in turn to be rescued by the mouse.  The only words on the page are animal noises that bring the African setting to life.  Readers follow the mouse right into the lion’s paws, sigh in relief at the release, and will be riveted as the capture of the lion plays out. 

Pinkney shows readers the world in focused images, revealing the view of the land the mouse has, the perspective of the lion, and foreshadowing the capture of the lion in the poacher’s net.  Each image is beautifully done, filled with details that bring the story to life and invite you to linger over them.  His pacing is done with such skill that he can create suspense with a single page turn.  From the moment of opening the cover, readers are in the hands of a master story teller who speaks through his art.

One of the best wordless picture books I have ever read, this book should be on every library’s shelf.  And with that cover, it is not going to sit there long!  Make sure you face this one out!

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.  Copy will be placed in library collection.

Also reviewed by Collecting Children’s Books, 100 Scope Notes, A Patchwork of Books, Pink Me, and Fuse #8.

Star of the Week

| Tasha

Star of the Week: a story of love, adoption, and brownies with sprinkles by Darlene Friedman, illustrated by Roger Roth

It is Cassidy-Li’s turn to be star of the week in her Kindergarten class.  She and her mom are making brownies with sprinkles and she also has to make a poster about herself.  As she looks through photographs, Cassidy-Li’s history as an adopted baby from China is told.  Her parents holding her in China, the first person to meet her at the airport, her cousins, her best friends, and her pets.  But she doesn’t have any pictures of her birth parents, so there is a hole in her poster.  She fixes it by drawing a picture of these people she has never met.  She is nervous about her poster and about answering questions about her adoption.  But by the end of the day, she realizes that she really is a star.

The beauty of this book is that Cassidy-Li is a wonderfully normal kid with the same sort of worries that others have about their star week.  And yet she has a unique background, multicultural friends, connections to China, and a more complicated story to tell.  Friedman does a great job in balancing the two, creating a character who is unique but universal.  The story is told in very brief prose, with the illustrations telling a lot of the tale too.  Roth’s pictures also create a bridge between Cassidy-Li’s special background and her being a regular American kid. 

Recommended for all families, this book is about connections, understanding, and being special.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by A Year of Reading and A Patchwork of Books.

Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer

| Tasha

Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer by Carol Brendler, illustrated by Ard Hoyt

Winnie loves earthworms.  She knows all sorts of facts about them, pulls them around in her wagon, and even races them.  But when the county fair rolls around, she realizes that there is no category for her beloved worms to compete in.  She speaks with three neighbors.  One is growing corn for the fair and needs a good fertilizer.  Another is raising chickens and needs the right feed to make them the best egg layers.  And the third is raising puppies and needs something to get their coats shining.  She makes a deal with each of them that if she finds the answer to their needs they will share the prize with her.  Then she uses her worms to help with the corn, the corn to help with the eggs, and the eggs to help with the shiny coats.  It’s a clever solution from a bright, scientific girl.

I love any book that breaks with the stereotype of girls not liking worms, dirt or animals.  Winnie is a great protagonist for a picture book because she shatters that myth.  She holds and hugs worms with delight.  I also appreciate how intelligent she is and how she solves her own problems by using her brain. 

Brendler’s text is fun to read aloud.  She has taken a traditional tale format and modernized it.  Readers will find themselves in a traditional format and be surprised, which is delightful.  Hoyt’s illustrations are funny, sometimes frenzied, and wiggly with worms.  Any worm haters out there will love the reaction of Winnie’s cat as it grimaces about the worms she loves.

A strong heroine in a modern picture book, this wiggly mass of worms is loads of fun.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Happy Belly, Happy Smile

| Tasha

Happy Belly, Happy Smile by Rachel Isadora

Every Friday night, Louie has dinner at his Grandpa Sam’s restaurant in Chinatown.  He watches the fish in the tank, visits with the chefs in the kitchen, and listens to the waiters calling to each other.  Then it is time to eat.  Louie and his grandfather use chopsticks to eat their rice, dumplings, egg rolls, and chow mein.  The dinner finishes with a fortune cookie.

Children of all races and ages will see some of their favorite things about eating out at a Chinese restaurant.  They will also be thrilled to glimpse the hidden, steamy world of the kitchen.  Isadora tells a simple story in only a few words on each page.  The book is very visual with her illustrations in collage and oils.  Her interesting use of lines and texture are most impressive when dinner is served.  The paper becomes mouthwateringly edible.

Recommended for story times on food, this book will have everyone sharing their own favorite Chinese meal.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by TheHappyNappyBookseller.

Creature ABC

| Tasha

Creature ABC by Andrew Zuckerman

See the cracks in the toenails of an elephant.  Marvel at the scarlet of a rooster’s head.  Sink into the fur of a wolf.  From A to Z, Andew Zuckerman has created photographs that are so detailed, so close and so astounding that you will find yourself bumping your head on the page as you lean in to get a better look.  The photographs are so well done that you can see the texture of skin, count individual hairs, and realize the difference between different types of fur. 

This is an ABC book, but for me that is little more than an order to put the photographs in.  Readers much older than the ABC crowd will be fascinated by the images.  Children who love animals will adore this book.  Expect to see many smudges as fingers big and small try to feel the fur or pet the animals through the page. 

One of the problems for libraries will be where to shelve this.  Yes, it is an alphabet book, but it just might be better loved in the animal nonfiction section.  Either way, this is a great purchase for libraries and one that children will read again and again.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Also reviewed by Pink Me, A Year of Reading, and Fuse #8.

Apples and Pumpkins

| Tasha

Apples for Everyone by Jill Esbaum
Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie by Jill Esbaum

Celebrate the fall season with this pair of book from National Geographic Kids.  Both book have simple text just right for beginning readers combined with vivid photographs.  In Apples, readers follow apples from blossom to harvest to different uses.  Mouths will be watering at the caramel apples, applesauce and cider.  In Pumpkin, readers get to see the pumpkins grow on the vine, turn orange, and be made into pies, jack-o-lanterns, and even boats.  Yes, boats.  The photographs feature children of different ethnicities, which is wonderful to see in nonfiction titles.

Esbaum’s photographs steal the show here with their crisp focus, bright colors and interesting compositions.  But her text is not to be ignored.  Her words add context and detailed information that make the photographs even more interesting.

Perfect to expand your fall seasonal shelves, these books come paperback bound so buy a bushel.

Reviewed from copies received from publisher.

Also reviewed by The Well-Read Child.

All the World

| Tasha

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee

Scanlon’s evocative but simple poetry draws the world together, creating a universal place for us all to celebrate, live and enjoy.  The poem takes us to the beach, up into the branches of a tree, to dinner, to the silence of evening, and then to the bosom of our families.  Frazee’s illustrations are large spanning views of the ocean, expanses of silent evening, and the grandeur of a large tree on a hill.  But they are also small, detailed, glimpses of real life.  They show drooping swimsuits, spilled buckets, sandcastles, and red tomatoes. 

This play between the minutiae of life and the larger connections of us all makes this book work so well.  Both author and illustrator gracefully create a web of the world this book.  The text reads aloud, dancing on the tongue, with subtle rhymes and gentle rhythm.  The tone is gentle, simple and expansive.  It is nicely echoed in the illustrations which work so well with the words that one cannot imagine it being done with different art.

A wonderful collaboration between author and illustrator, this book is a triumph.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by GregLSBlog, Jama Rattigan, Through the Looking Glass, The Picnic Basket, Reading Rumpus, and Jumping the Candle.

The Longest Night

| Tasha

The Longest Night by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Ted Lewin

The longest night of the year is very cold, very still.  One of the creatures must bring back the sun.  The wind knows which creature that is.  Crow offers to fly up and bring back the sun.  Moose offers his strength to bring it back. Fox offers to sniff and search it out.  Chickadee though is the one who must bring back the sun.  But what in the world can Chickadee do?  She cannot fly high enough.  She is not strong.  She is not cunning.  But she can do what she does best.

A poem woven into a picture book, this book is exquisite.  Bauer’s poetry has a rhythm that is almost primal.  She plays with sounds, repeats refrains, and celebrates imagery.  Her poem is deep, thrumming with the energy of the forest.  It is quiet and powerful.  But most of all it is for children but without any pretense.

Lewin’s illustrations match Bauer’s poem so well.  His illustrations explore the dark, the deep, the mysterious.  They linger in blues, blacks and moonlight.  Somehow he has captured that majestic blue of a moonlit night that is so deep and so unlike day.  When the sun returns at the end of the book, one almost shields their eyes from the brightness.  His illustrations are just as evocative as the poem, just as shining, just as powerful.

Highly recommended, this book belongs in every library.  It will work for many units from poetry to winter to moon or sun.  Share this.  It is a pleasure to read aloud such wonderful writing.  Appropriate for ages 4-8.

Reviewed from library copy.

Big Wolf & Little Wolf: The Little Leaf that Wouldn’t Fall

| Tasha

Big Wolf & Little Wolf: The Little Leaf that Wouldn’t Fall by Nadine Brun-Cosme, illustrated by Olivier Tallec

Released December 2009.

This sequel to the lovely Big Wolf & Little Wolf continues the story of their friendship.  Little Wolf spots a special leaf in the spring and wants Big Wolf to climb up their tree and bring it down.  Big Wolf tells him to wait, that it will fall.  Little Wolf asks again in the summer and autumn, as the leaf turns into a deep green and then a soft brown.  When winter arrives, the leaf is still up in the tree, now a black color.  Then one day, Big Wolf decides to climb the tree and bring down the leaf for Little Wolf.  After a harrowing climb, Big Wolf reaches the leaf and it crumbles to pieces.  Beautiful pieces.

Brun-Cosme’s prose is lovely, spare and yet manages to be dynamic too.  She evokes the seasons, colors and wonder of each time of year without becoming maudlin at all.  There is the drama of Big Wolf’s climb and the unexpected resolution of the story that is surprising but fitting.  The first book was about the awkwardness of new friendship.  This second book is about a deepening connection and the beauty of togetherness. 

Tallec’s illustrations are less colorful this time, sticking to a more natural palette of colors.  But they still have an expansive feel, a clear sense of space, and they play with perspective.  They are simple but dynamic, just like the text.  A lovely combination.

Highly recommended, this series has its own unique feel and style.  These are quiet books, filled with natural beauty and deep connections.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Full disclosure:  My review of the first book is blurbed on the jacket of this second.  A great surprise to discover!

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.