Spending the Night Inside of a Picture Book April 29, 2010

I recently purchased Emma Chichester Clark’s new version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  I became a fan of Clark’s illustrations during a trip to London a few years ago and look forward to any new work by her.  She is an award-winning illustrator of many children’s books, perhaps best known for Melrose and Croc and I Love You, Blue Kangaroo.

What struck me the most about her take on the Goldilocks story is how very much I want to live in the house where the Bears live.  Forget the shelter magazines for decorating tips –  just look at Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  So, it got me thinking…what picture books would I most want to “spend the night in.”  What books feature the coziest houses?

Since it’s Thursday, here are my top three picture book homes…

Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Emma Chichester Clark

Dahlia by Barbara McClintock  (look at the girl’s bedroom with all of the bird’s nests and seashells)

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney  (near the end of the book, when Miss Rumphis is very old, she’s sitting in a room filled with souvenirs of her travels, lots of books and an ocean view)

6th Grade Girls in Need of a Good Book… April 27, 2010

Today I am responding to a request.  A friend of mine is facilitating a book club this summer for a group of 6th grade girls.  She told me that these girls would most enjoy novels about girls in realistic situations – in other words, no Percy Jackson or Black Beauty.  I did a little browsing through my home and library book shelves and pulled books I think they might like.  Here they are:

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Genifer Choldenko

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass

The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg

Friendship for Today by Patricia McKissack

Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor

Millicent Min: Girl Genius by Lisa Yee

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan

My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall April 25, 2010

I can’t image a child (or adult) who would not be drawn to the cover of this book:

I think we may have a new pre-school classic on our hands here, folks.  Michael Hall has created a vibrant and delightful book for young children and a graphic work of art for browsers of any age.  My Heart is Like a Zoo moves instantly into that Lois Ehlert and Bill Martin stratosphere of books that all young children should experience.  The book features one brightly colored animal per page, and they are all made up of one shape – hearts.  I can guarantee that Hall’s book will steal yours!

Three for Thursday April 22, 2010

 

Walking across the school playground today, I heard a four-year-old girl announce confidently to her friends: “I will win the next time because I am the most strongest and the most fastest.”  Well that settles that.  I didn’t actually stay around for whatever race was being run, but hearing her assertion made me laugh, both at her creative use of language and the continuing fascination kids have with superlatives.  I remember my own obsession with the Guiness Book of World Records, and that was before the book had color pictures!   I read the small print version and still couldn’t get enough.  Now there are so many books about superlatives that a fact enthusiast will never exhaust the possibilities.

The most beautiful books of this genre are by Steve Jenkins - he is the most creative, the most inventive and any other positive superlative you want to throw in.  Jenkins uses colorful paper collages to create his illustrations, and his books are perfect for both browsing and collecting interesting facts.  Here are three of my favorite Jenkins books:

Hottest, Coldest, Highest Deepest

Actual Size

Biggest, Strongest, Fastest

Steve’s website (www.stevejenkinsbooks.com) has a cool feature that shows his process; click on “making books.”

It’s Book Fair Time! April 21, 2010

Today is Day 2 of the Inly Spring Book Fair.  I’m glad to report that we are busy and the old technology (the book) is selling briskly. This is when I am at my most “anthropological.”  I love watching kids selecting books to purchase – a very different transaction than borrowing books for a school assignment.  This one involves negotiations with parents and discussions with friends.

I have the privilege of working with kids who are not only excited about reading, but have many books of their own.  When they visit the book fair, they are most eager to see new installments in their favorite series.  My very unscientific study suggests that these books are quite popular for 1st through 3rd grade readers:

Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes by Kate DiCamillo

Clementine’s Letter by Sara Pennypacker

Stink: Solar System Superhero by Megan McDonald

For the older kids, there is no contest.  They continue to make a beeline for Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series.  Of course, there are many other titles being sold, and I continue to push a few personal favorites (like Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor).  The book fair always makes me happy.  I love “playing store” and talking about my absolute favorite subject all day long!

Picture Books as Chicken Soup April 17, 2010

A colleague of mine stopped in the library the other day and while we were talking, she mentioned how wonderful it is to see her two daughters (now in 6th and 8th grade) still enjoying their picture book collections.  On some days, she told me, when one of her daughters is tired or feels a bit overwhelmed by the daily routine and expectations, they will return to one of their childhood favorites.  I was not surprised to hear this story at all.  In fact, I’ve done the same thing myself.  Picture books are the true “chicken soup for the soul.”

What does surprise me is the number of children over six-years-old who come into the library and tell me that they are now reading chapter books, and their parents have asked them not to bring any more picture books home.   Quite frankly, I’m tempted to jump right on the phone.  Elementary age children are observant and receptive, and picture books offer them the perfect introduction to how stories work. Not to mention the fact that an increasing number of  picture books are written for older readers.  Graphic novels are picture books. Shaun Tan’s complex and beautiful picture books are perfect for adolescents.

I sometimes see an older child looking at a book they enjoyed as a toddler, but they are now more able to see things they may have missed.  I often use picture books with middle school students to introduce a new concept or to show how a specific literary device works.  We use picture books to talk about beginning, middle and end.  We use picture books to introduce symbolism.  When we begin The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, I begin by reading The Hockey Sweater, the classic Canadian picture book by Roch Carrier.  It sparks a wonderful discussion about identity and the need to belong – two of the themes in Hinton’s touchstone novel.

Next week is Inly’s book fair, and I’m looking forward to sharing some new picture books with our students.  One of them may find a story which will delight them now and comfort them the evening before their first standardized test.  It may even inspire them to write some stories of their own!

Three for Thursday April 15, 2010

Thanks to Fuse #8′s list of the Top 100 Children’s Novels, I had an especially delightful class with my 6th grade students yesterday. This is a group of eight very enthusiastic and avid readers so I knew they would enjoy looking at the list and counting (somewhat competitively) how many they had read.

I copied the list of 100 titles for each student and then saved a few minutes at the end of class to share it with them. Okay, I lost a bit of control at that point.  The next few minutes were somewhat chaotic as they checked-off, gave recommendations to their friends and compared totals.  After a few minutes, I just sat back and let them go because it struck me how truly amazing the scene was. The students were in a “zone” over a list of books. They were asking friends what to read next, asking me for recommendations and suggesting that by the end of the summer, they would have read any title they had missed. I have to say that it was wonderful.

With that class in mind, I will suggest three books that these kids seemed especially excited to see on the list:

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

The Top 100 Children’s Novels April 14, 2010

Like many of my colleagues in the children’s book blogging world, I’ve been following Fuse #8 closely for the past few months.  Fuse #8 is written by Elizabeth Bird, the best and most well-known of the bloggers about children’s books.  She is a children’s librarian at the Children’s Center at 42nd Street of the New York Public Library system and has served on the Newbery Award committee.

Elizabeth has been conducting a poll of the top 100 children’s novels and announced the results ten at a time.  Through her blog on the School Library Journal web site, she asked readers to submit their favorite middle grade novels of all time.  This list does not include young adult novels or picture books.  The list is now complete, and as I hoped and expected, Charlotte’s Web was number one.  Here is the full list:

#1 Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

#2 A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

#3 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

#4 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

#5 From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

#6 Holes by Louis Sachar

#7 The Giver by Lois Lowry

#8 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

#9 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

#10 The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

#11 The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

#12 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

#13 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

#14 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

#15 Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

#16 Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

#17 Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

#18 Matilda by Roald Dahl

#19 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

#20 Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

#21 Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riodan

#22 The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo

#23 Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

#24 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

#25 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

#26 Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

#27 A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett

#28 Winnie-the Pooh by A.A. Milne

#29 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland /Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

#30 The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

#31 Half Magic by Edward Eager

#32 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

#33 James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

#34 Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

#35 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire JK Rowling

#36 Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

#37 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor

#38 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

#39 When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

#40 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

#41 The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

#42 Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

#43 Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary

#44 Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

#45 The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

#46 Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

#47 Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

#48 The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall

#49 Frindle by Andrew Clements

#50 Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

#51 The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

#52 The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

#53 Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

#54 The BFG by Roald Dahl

#55 The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

#56 Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

#57 Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

#58 The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken

#59 Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

#60 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

#61 Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

#62 The Secret of the Old Clock (The Nancy Drew mysteries) by Caroline Keene

#63 Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright

#64 A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck

#65 Ballet Shoes by Noah Streatfeild

#66 Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary

#67 Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville

#68 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

#69 The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

#70 Betsy Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace

#71 A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

#72 My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

#73 My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

#74 The Borrowers by Mary Norton

#75 Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

#76 Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

#77 City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

#78 Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

#79 All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

#80 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

#81 Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

#82 The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander

#83 The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

#84 Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

#85 On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

#86 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

#87 The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg

#88 The High King by Lloyd Alexander

#89 Ramona and her Father by Beverly Cleary

#90 Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

#91 Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

#92 Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

#93 Caddie Woodlawn by C. R. Brink

#94 Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

#95 Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

#97: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

#98 Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston

#99 The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

#100 The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

April Showers Bring…Poetry! April 12, 2010

Where’s my head?  I have been cruising along the month of April without writing about National Poetry Month.  I will make every endeavor to catch up – there’s so much to write about.

Here’s a poem from one of my favorite children’s poetry books, Today at the Bluebird Cafe, by Deborah Ruddell:

The Eagle

She rides the sky like she owns the sun,

on a sea of air and light -

surfing, skimming, rising high,

then sweeping low and tight.

She swoops to catch a perfect wave,

her wings held straight and true.

You lift your chin and hold your breath

and wish you could do it too.

Kevin Henkes’ New Garden April 11, 2010

One of the highlights of last summer was meeting children’s book author and illustrator, Kevin Henkes.  He was speaking at a children’s literature conference sponsored by the Simmons Center for the Study of Literature, and he was one of the reasons I signed up.  When I saw him standing in the back of a room (talking with Avi), I thought: ” He looks like everyone else.” Unless you knew better, you wouldn’t know that he is a superman of books for young people.  He doesn’t just write and illustrate award-winning picture books, he also writes wonderful middle grade novels.  If he didn’t seem so nice, it could be quite depressing. 

Henkes is the creator of beloved characters like Lily (she of “purple plastic purse” fame) and Owen and Chrysanthemum and the Kitten who thinks the moon is a bowl of milk.  His new book, My Garden,  is lovely – imaginative and sweet and the perfect spring picture book.  The garden in this book blooms in a young girl’s imagination.  The bushes grow jelly beans and the tomatoes are the size of beach balls.  But luckily, the book’s heroine does not need to worry about bunnies nibbling the fruits (or candies) of her labor.  The bunnies are chocolate, and she eats them!