patience

Review: The Boy and the Airplane by Mark Pett

| Tasha

boy and the airplane

The Boy and the Airplane by Mark Pett

This wordless picture book tells the story of a young boy who is merrily playing with his brand-new red airplane.  He runs with it, runs around it pretending to be a plane himself, and eventually throws it up into the air.  It lands on the roof where the boy where the boy is unable to reach it using a ladder or anything else that he tries.  He sits in discouragement under a tree and then is inspired when a maple seed drifts down and lands in his hand.  He plants the seed, watching it grow through the seasons and the years.  The ending is satisfying and lovely.  This book is about patience and dedication, but is also open to interpretation thanks to its wordless design and flowing storyline.

Pett manages to create a truly timeless book here.  The art is done in sepia tones with just a dash of red for the toy airplane.  The characters are even dressed in clothes that are universal.  The book has a great cyclical quality to it that works particularly well with the timeless feel.  The illustrations also have a contemplative feel to them that permeates the entire work.  This is a book that slows you down and gets you considering other options.

A great gift book for adults, this book will also be appreciated by young children who will see the humor in the boy’s solution.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Review: If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano

| Tasha

if you want to see a whale

If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Erin E. Stead

The incredible partnership that brought you And Then It’s Spring last year has recreated a similar magic in their second book together.  In this book, a young boy heads to the sea to try to spot a whale.  There are things that you must have to see a whale, one is time to wait and another is a way to not get too comfortable and doze off while waiting.  There are also things that you must ignore, like sweet pink roses that want you to look at them or boats that are floating by or insects crawling in the grass.  Just keep your eyes on the sea and wait.  And then…

Fogliano’s writing is poetry.  She lets us wander into distractions, taking our own eyes off the sea to explore the grass, the roses and the clouds in the sky.  Her pacing is delicious, making us wait for the payoff in the end in a way that doesn’t promise anything other than the wait and the sea itself.  It is that wait and that meander that makes this book so wonderful.  In other words, she makes the book about the journey, about being in the moment, about noticing.

Stead’s illustrations are done in her signature style with fine lines and organic colors that seem to come from childhood crayons.  Adding the friendly dog into the story works well, he serves as another pair of eyes both watching for the whale and being distracted. 

Lovely, simple and filled with charm, this picture book is thoughtful, quiet and worth the wait.   Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano

| Tasha

and then its spring

And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Erin E. Stead

This enchanting book starts with the brown of late winter.  It’s the brown that you have to plant seeds into in the hopes of green coming soon.  But then you have to wait for rain, hope that the birds didn’t eat the seeds, realize that the bears may have stomped too close to the seeds because they can’t read signs, and then you have to wait some more.  It stays brown, but even the brown starts to change and seem more hopeful and humming.  Then you wait some more, and then one day, if you are patient and keep caring for your newly planted seeds, you wake up to green!

Oh how I love this book!  In her poetic prose, Fogliano captures the patience of gardening, the drudgery of late winter, and the hope that must be invested in order to see seeds spring to life.  I had expected the birds eating the seeds, but the stomping bears led me to realize that this was more playful a book than I had originally expected, something I love to have happen in the middle of a picture book!  

Add to this the illustrations of Caldecott winner Stead and you have such a winning book.  Her art has a delicacy that is perfect for the whispers of early spring.  The boy in the story is thin, wear glasses, and by the time spring finally comes has created quite a garden with birdfeeders, signs, and plenty of lumps of dirt.  By far my favorite part comes at the end, where the garden does not burst into flowers but remains weedy and lumpy, but green.  Perfection.

Doing a spring story time soon?  Get your hands on this book!  Ideal for classes planting a garden or all of us longing for the green to return.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Roaring Brook Press.

Book Review: Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake by Michael B. Kaplan

| Tasha

betty bunny

Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake by Michael B. Kaplan, illustrated by Stephane Jorisch

Betty Bunny’s parents are always telling her that she’s a handful.  Since she knows they love her very much, she is certain that being a handful is something very, very good.  One day, her mother offers chocolate cake for dessert.  Betty Bunny refuses to try it at first, because it is new, but then gives in.  She realizes that it is very delicious, so delicious that she decides that she will marry chocolate cake.  The next day, she is obsessed with chocolate cake, unable to concentrate at all at school.  Once she got home, she was told she would have to eat a healthy dinner before she could have cake.  When her siblings tease her, Betty gets angry and throws food.  She’s sent to her room where she continues to think only of cake.  The next day, she is told there is a piece of cake just for her waiting in the refrigerator if only she will be patient through the day.  Betty Bunny knows the cake will be lonely all day, so she puts it in her pocket.  At home that evening, she realizes it has become a goopy mess in her pocket.  Her mother tries again, leaving a piece of cake just for her.  What in the world could Betty do next?

I know that this book will have some parents frustrated because it is not a picture book that demonstrates exemplary behavior from the children in the story.  But that is where the appeal of this book is for me.  Betty Bunny reads as a real child with an obsession.  She cries, gets angry, and thinks about it all the time.  But this book is not just about a child obsessed.  It is also the story of a family with older siblings and parents who use humor and clever approaches to deal with a child. 

The writing has wonderful moments built into it.  Betty’s insistence that she will marry chocolate cake because she loves it so much rings very real.  Her brother’s teasing about that over the course of days also reads as true.  It is a picture book that is written by people who have children, love children, and appreciate the humor that comes with them.

Jorisch’s illustrations are done in pencil, ink, watercolor and gouache.  They have a great mix of organic watercolor feel and angular modernism.  There is a bright warmth to them thanks to how colorful they are and a pleasant busyness that depicts the active family.

Highly recommended, this is not a book for parents who want an example for how their children should act.  But it is a great read-aloud filled with chocolate, sweets, temper tantrums and family.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books for Young Readers.

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Book Review: You’re Finally Here! by Melanie Watt

| Tasha

yourefinallyhere

You’re Finally Here by Melanie Watt

A very excited bunny greets readers on the first page with “Hooray!  You’re here!  You’re here!  You’re finally here!”  But then he starts asking questions, “Where were you?”  Do you realize how long he has been waiting for you?  Do you know how bored he was?  Then he realizes that he’s being rude and greets the reader happily again.  But he changes moods once again and starts talking about how rude it was to make him wait.  He is very eager to have you stay with him and starts to talk about it when his mobile phone rings.  Now it’s the bunny that has no time for the reader.

The author of the Scaredy Squirrel and Chester series has created another very unique and funny character.  This little bunny who is unable to stay positive and embracing of the reader rings true completely.  It is exactly the sort of conversation you have with a child who has had to wait.  Watt’s illustrations are bright, bouncy and great fun.  The facial expressions of the rabbit are very successful as well, capturing his shifting moods perfectly thanks to his very expressive eyebrows that make an appearance when he gets negative.

Funny and silly, you won’t want to wait to read this one!  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.