Picture Book Roundup - new or coming soon!

This edition of the Picture Book Roundup features "jampires" (!), two Stanleys (one dog, one hamster), and a new Kadir Nelson book for which I can't find enough superlatives.  Enjoy!

If you can't see the slideshow, I've included my reviews below.

 

• Nelson, Kadir. 2015. If You Plant a Seed. New York: Harper Collins.

If You Plant a Seed is a brilliantly written and exquisitely illustrated book about kindness. Sparse but meaningful text, combined with joyfully detailed illustrations of plants, birds, and animals. I love it!

• MacIntyre, Sarah and David O'Connell. 2015. Jampires. New York: David Fickling (Scholastic)

Who could be sucking all the jamminess out of the doughnuts?  Jampires!  Will Sam find jam?  Will the Jampires find their nest?  If you like funny, this is the best!

• Bee, William. 2015. Stanley the Farmer. New York: Peachtree.

Stanley is a hardworking hamster. Illustrations and text  are bright and simple, making Stanley a perfect choice for very young listeners. Along the lines of Maisy, but with a crisper, cleaner interface.  Nice size, sturdy construction.

• Agee, Jon. 2015. It's Only Stanley. New York: Dial.

The Wimbledons can't sleep.  What IS all that noise?  It's only Stanley, the dog.  He's howling at the moon, fixing the oil tank, making catfish stew, ...?  Hey, something's fishy here! Classic Jon Agee - droll humor at its best.


Review copies of Jampires, Stanley the Farmer, and It's Only Stanley were provided by the publisher.

Vampires, etc.

Still reading Vampire Island ...

So, once again, I've found that it pays to read books that aren't classics, award-winners, or even ones that I really like.  I have been in the midst of reading the short book, Vampire Island by Adele Griffin for a long time.  It's about a family of fruit-bat/vampire hybrids that have relocated to New York City from the Old World.  The three children, Maddy, Hudson, and Lexie, are having a difficult time transitioning to human life.  Maddy is a bit too bloodthirsty for her new vegetarian lifestyle, Hudson has retained the ability to transform into a bat, and the oldest, Lexie, spouts the words of doomed poets and has little in common with school friends who lack her bat-like abilities.

It's a cute little book (only 120 pages) with a sense of humor, but really not my preference.  Tonight, however, a very young girl came up to me looking for Stephenie Meyer books.  It's certainly not my job to dissuade her from her book of choice; but I can tell you that when all of our Twilight books were checked out (no surprise!), she was very pleased when I offered to let her check out my very own Vampire Island book.

So, I still haven't finished it, but I was reading the right book at the right time, and made someone happy. Now I'll have to place a hold to see how it turns out. Vampire Island is the first book in the Vampire Island series, and fills the vampire craving for those too young for the Twilight series.

In other vampire-related news, I went to see New Moon with my daughter over the weekend. So depressing!  Neither boy can make Bella happy.  Even when she has what she wants, she is the picture of misery and angst. Another peeve about the movie? The dizzying scenes with the spinning camera angle - nauseating, really!  Finally, as for the Edward /Jacob debate, put me in the Jacob camp - I'd rather have a dog than a bat any day!