Picture Book Roundup: Books about books edition

Emily Gravett and Suzy Lee - You can't go wrong with these two illustrators' books about books! Both are "novelty books." One features a "burned" hole in the back cover. (Is that the smell of dragon breath?). The other features books within books.

• Gravett, Emily. 2013. Again! New York: Simon and Schuster.

Cedric, a baby dragon, pesters his mother to read his favorite bedtime story again, and again, and again! Cedric's favorite book (about Cedric the Dragon) is included in the fun, and the words change every time his mother reads it.  When mom finally falls asleep, exhausted, baby dragon gets a little too hot-tempered!   Emily Gravett has a unique sense of humor. Expect funny with a surprise ending!

• Klausmeier, Jesse. 2013. Open this Little Book. San Francisco: Chronicle. (Illustrated by Suzy Lee)

Here's a book about a little red book about a little green book about a little orange book, well ... you get the idea. Kids will love this one!

Picture Book Roundup - kid pleasers!

Cars, pirates and caterpillars - how can you miss?
 
Stein, Peter. 2011. Cars Galore. Ill. by Bob Staake. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

With Seussical rhymes,

Black car, green car,
nice car, mean car.
Near car, far car.
Whoa! Bizarre car!

Peter Stein writes about one of children’s favorite topics – cars. In rhyme reminiscent of The Foot Book (which, BTW, I think I might know by heart!) this should be a genuine crowd pleaser. Bob Staake’s digitally-created illustrations are all double-spreads. His often long-necked, pointy nosed, angular humans are humorously squeezed into improbable conveyances that travel along whimsical and scenic blacktop roads set against a backdrop of white space. Kids will love it.

Check out Bob Staake's occasional newsletter on The Sporadic Bob.

 

Wolfe, Myra. 2011. Charlotte Jane Battles Bedtime. Ill. by Maria Monescillo. New York: Harcourt.

"Charlotte Jane the Hearty came howling into the world with the sunrise” … "finer than a ship full of jewels,” and with “formidable oomph.”

Under the loving and watchful eyes of her pirate parents, young Charlotte is a daring little doubloon. At least she was, until she stays up all night and loses her oomph; and then, the search is on! With smart writing that offers more than just Pirate-talk, Wolfe spins a simple, humorous yarn. Monescillo’s digitally retouched and textured watercolor illustrations are crisp, colorful and modern.
 
Martin, Bill Jr. 2011. Ten Little Caterpillars. Ill. by Lois Ehlert. New York: Beach Lane.

Yes, you’ve probably got enough caterpillar to butterfly books (even Ehlert’s own books), but how can you resist the combination of Bill Martin Jr. and Lois Ehlert? A rhyming, counting, nature, butterfly book illustrated in Ehlert’s signature watercolor, cut-paper collage style. Martin avoids triteness by varying the rhyme pattern to offer a final poetic metamorphosis equal to the caterpillar’s natural one.

That's it for tonight.  Enjoy!

The Quiet Book

Underwood, Deborah.2010. The Quiet Book. Ill. by Renata Liwska. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Shhhh... How many kinds of quiet are there?

Coloring in the lines quiet, thinking of a good reason you were drawing on the wall quiet, hide-and-seek quiet, last one to get picked up from school quiet,

 and many more.


Each page features its own mood and special kind of quiet, accompanied by digitally colored, pencil drawings in soft and comforting shades. Expressive woodland creatures convey the many shades of quiet - their eyes closed, contrite, wide-eyed, tearful, pensive or contemplative. The Quiet Book is a small and gentle book waiting for small and gentle hands.

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Picture Book Roundup

In no particular order, these were some of the wonderful picture books

 that I found in my book bag this week! I loved them all.

Spinelli, Jerry. 2010.I Can be Anything! Illustrated by Jimmy Liao. New York: Little, Brown.

A rhyming romp through all of the possibilities of the future - "cross-legged sitter, make-believe critter, deep-hole digger, lemonade swigger." Who knows? Bright and joyful illustrations!

Fuge, Charles. 2010. Yip! Snap! Yap! New York: Sterling.

Another lively, rhyming romp! This one featuring delightfully goofy dogs!

Thomson, Bill. 2010. Chalk. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish.

The illustrator of the exquisitely illustrated, Baseball Hour, Bill Thompson outdoes himself with Chalk - a wordless book that tells the story of a magical, rainy day at the playground for three children and a mysterious bag of chalk.  Let your imagination run wild and enjoy Bill Thomson's hand-crafted brilliance!

Geringer, Laura. 2010. Boom Boom Go Away! Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. New York: Atheneum.

Music lovers, noise makers, and children who don't want to go to bed will love Boom Boom Go Away! Its cumulative rhyme is full of playfulness and imagination.  The warm illustrations evoke picture books of an earlier era.

Jeffers, Oliver. 2010. The Heart and the Bottle. New York: Philomel.

This is not a book for storytime.  It's a serious book for a special child - perhaps a grieving child, a child with a profound loss, a child who may have placed her heart in a bottle, a child who needs to know that there is a way to retrieve her own heart.  Gently and tastefully done.

Bottner, Barbara. 2010. Miss Brooks Loves Books (And I Don't). Illustrated by Michael Emberly. New York: Knopf.

The tagline for the book is "a librarian and a contrarian face off in this tale of a very reluctant reader." I predict that this will become a librarian favorite! When Miss Brooks assigns a book report (in costume!) for Children's Book Week, it prompts the best line in the book -

When I get home, I ask my mother if we can move to a new town. My mother says there's a librarian in every town.

 Too funny!

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2009 ALSC Awards and the House in the Night

Below is the link to the 2009 American Library Association's (ALA) Association of Library Services to Children (ALSC) 's list of award-winning books for 2009.

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/2009medawardwin.cfm
Click the link for the complete list of winners and honor books in all categories.

Here are a few highlights:

The Caldecott Medal (picture book) went to
The House in the Night, illustrated by Beth Krommes and written by Susan Marie Swanson, Houghton Mifflin Co.

The Newbery Medal (J Fiction) went to
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins Children's Books.

Unfortunately, because it is cataloged at a Young Adult book in my library, I did not read The Graveyard Book, and now I'm on the waiting list for a copy.

The Sibert Medal (non-fiction) went to
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson, Disney-Jump at the Sun, an imprint of Disney Book Group

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) also chooses an annual award, the Orbis Pictus Award for outstanding non-fiction for children.

Their choice this year is:
Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator by Shelley Tanaka, illustrated by David Craig (click the link for Honor and Recommended books)

As the saying goes, so many books, so little time!

Night's Nice

Emberly, Barbara and Ed. 2008. Night's Nice. New York: Little Brown.

I have just discovered this reprint of Night's Nice, first published in 1962. It's a bright, colorful and rhyming romp through all of the reasons why night is nice,

"Fireflies
Owls
And yellow-eyed cats
All think night's nice
And of course
So do bats."

Illustrated by Ed Emberly in gouache and ink, in his now-classic style, (I love his drawing books!) the light-hearted illustrations manage to evoke evening, while still offering a riot of color. A perfect book to read before going to bed,

"So hop into bed,
Turn over thrice
And whisper this softly:

Night's nice, night's nice, night's nice."

In a Blue Room

Averbeck, Jim. 2008. In a blue room. Ill by Tricia Tusa. Orlando: Harcourt.

A short and gentle bedtime story about Alice, a little girl who wants everything to be blue before she goes to bed. Her kind and inventive mother, however, coaxes her with with fragrant white lilacs and lilywhites, warm orange tea, and a silky-soft quilt of red and green. And as she drifts off to sleep, "off goes the lamp and in comes the moon, bathing everything in its pale blue light." The pen and watercolor illustrations are softly colored with soft edges and a slight hint of whimsy, as in the painting of Alice floating down to her bed with her makeshift blue parachute. A very pretty book.

Bedtime at the Swamp

Crow, Kristyn. 2008. Bedtime at the swamp. Ill by Macky Pamintuan. New York: Harper Collins.

I love this book! A little boy is just a "sittin' by a swamp just hummin' a tune," when he hears "Splish splash rumba-rumba bim bam BOOM! Splish splash rumba-rumba bim bam BOOM!" He takes off running and is soon summoned by his sister, brother, and cousins in turn. Each arrives with the same message and receives the same response, "'Ma said to fetch you 'cause it's time for bed!' ‘QUICK! HIDE! There's a monster in the swamp!' I said."
The refrain is so catchy that children won't be able to resist chiming in! The artwork is rich with the deep blues, purples and greens of an evening in the swamp. Pamintuan's illustrations are able to convey fear with humor as the children hang upside from the willow tree where they have taken refuge from the swamp monster. Of course, the book has a humorous surprise ending. A perfect choice for storytime! Great fun!

The House in the Night

Swanson, Susan Marie. 2008. The house in the night. Ill. by Beth Krommes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

This is a cumulative story in the vein of "This is the house that Jack built," or "There's a hole in the bottom of the sea." The difference is that this is a very simple, soothing story - less about participation and more about exploration, "On that bed waits a book. In that book flies a bird. In that bird breathes a song..." The text is simple and calming, one sentence or less on each page.

The double-spread illustrations are "scratchboard and watercolor." The only colors, however, are black, white, and a golden yellow. The yellow is used to illuminate light-giving sources in the night and to highlight small areas.

A perfect bedtime story, meant to be read slowly and savored.

Little Hoot

Rosenthal, Amy. 2008. Little Hoot. San Francisco: Chronicle.

Not the typical bedtime ritual, Little Hoot is an owl that wants to go to bed early.

"All my other friends get to go to bed so much earlier than me! Why do I always have to stay up and play? It's not fair!"

Of course, Little Hoot is an owl and owls must stay up late, but that doesn't stop Little Hoot from complaining, or "boo-whooing!" This book is full of avian and other word play, "...besides, I don't give a hoot what time your friends go to bed," Papa Owl says.

The illustrations are crisp, colorful and modern. Thought and word bubbles give Little Hoot an almost comic strip feel.

A cute twist on a nightly bedtime ritual!