2012 Sonderbooks Stand-outs: Picture Books

Picture Book Review, Stand-outs 0

Now let’s look at the 2012 Sonderbooks Stand-outs in the category of Picture Books.

This is my biggest category this year. This was one area where taking part in Capitol Choices benefited me. Many, many brilliant picture books were nominated, so I read far more picture books than what I reviewed.

Out of all those books I read this year, here are my favorites:

1. Penny and Her Song, by Kevin Henkes
2. The Duckling Gets a Cookie?! by Mo Willems
3. Z Is for Moose, by Kelly Bingham, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
4. This Is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen
5. Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten! by Hyewon Yum
6. Bink and Gollie: Two for One, by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile
7. Bear Has a Story to Tell, by Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin Stead
8. The Boy Who Cried Ninja, by Alex Latimer
9. Oh No! by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohman
10. The Art of Miss Chew, by Patricia Polacco
11. Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton
12. Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, by James Dean and Eric Litwin

Looking at trends in the list, it’s heavy on books that make me laugh out loud and books that are charming. And reading aloud well is a huge plus. After a year of reading stellar picture books, these all have a special place in my heart.

To be honest, the reason Penny and Her Song firmly has been my favorite picture book of the year since I read it in January had to do with my “theme verse” of the year that I chose for 2012. Part of it goes, “There she will sing as in the days of her youth.” So I’d already been remembering back to when I was a little girl, dancing around the house singing. Then I read Penny and Her Song and found a kindred spirit in Penny. And it’s a fabulous book for beginning readers. And it’s a marvelous story. And I simply love it.

Now, I was extra pleased that the Cybils Beginning Readers panel put both Penny and Her Song and Penny and Her Doll on their list, but I hadn’t thought to be so generous, even though I also love Penny and Her Doll.

As for the other books on the list: Well, let’s just say that 2012 was a magnificent year for picture books. I will post another review tonight and finish posting reviews of the Stand-outs in the next week or two.

These ones don’t take more than a few minutes to read. If you worked with me this year, I probably have already pushed at least one or two at you and urged you to read it. So consider this post me doing that to you virtually.

Happy reading!

Review of If Rocks Could Sing, by Leslie McGuirk

Contemporary, Facts, Good for the Very Young, Picture Book Review, Readalouds, Starred Review 0

If Rocks Could Sing

A Discovered Alphabet

by Leslie McGuirk

Tricycle Press, Berkeley, 2011. 42 pages.
Starred Review

Quite simply, this book is wonderful.

It’s an alphabet book where all the letters are made of rocks. What’s more, all the objects that the letters start for are also made of rocks.

She’s got some normal words for alphabet books with surprising rock shapes: e is for elephant. (Yes, the rock is shaped exactly like an elephant head!) i is for igloo. (Yes, an igloo-shaped rock, complete with a door.) L is for Lemon. r is for rabbit. You get the idea.

Then there are also some surprising words, with perfect rock illustrations: c is for couch potato. (A potato-shaped rock is resting on a couch.) J is for Joy. (Two happy faces smiling at one another.) O is for Ouch! (This rock looks like it’s been punched in the nose.) T is for Toast. (I would not realize that rock was not a piece of bread if it weren’t in this book.) And the book does pass the X test: X is for XOXO. The rock looks exactly like two people locked in an embrace.

At the end of the book, the author explains how her collection got started:

This is a book born from the sea. Some people walk the beach searching for shells, all the while passing by the little rocks that make up this book.

This collection began more than ten years ago, as I discovered rocks on the Florida seashore that looked like letters. It became a real passion of mine to complete the entire alphabet. For many years, I waited for the letter K to appear. There was nothing I could do to make it show up. I understood that nature has its own timing, and my job was to be aware and expectant. The natural world is rich with inspiration. Finding these letters, and rocks that looked like objects to match them, was a process of believing that anything is possible. These are beautiful sculptures, little works of art. I feel honored to share these rocks with the world. These compositions are intended to allow these rocks to speak for themselves . . . and for us to imagine what we would hear if rocks could sing.

This book will inspire the reader to start a collection of their own. Or at the very least to look at nature with fresh eyes. This is now among my favorite alphabet books.

lesliemcguirk.com
randomhouse.com/kids

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/if_rocks_could_sing.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

The Boy Who Cried Ninja, by Alex Latimer

Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Readalouds, Starred Review 0

The Boy Who Cried Ninja

by Alex Latimer

Peachtree Publishers, 2011. 32 pages.
Starred Review

This book simply makes me laugh. You’ve all heard the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf? Well, what would happen if a boy saw all kinds of bizarre creatures doing bad things, but no one believed him?

That’s what happens to Tim.

When his mom asked him what happened to the last slice of cake, he told her the truth.

“It was a ninja,” cried Tim.

First the ninja crept into the house

. . . then he kicked it into the air
and ate it in one bite.

Next, an astronaut steals his dad’s hammer and a giant squid eats his whole book bag.

But Tim is not believed! (Oh the outrage!) In fact, he’s told to go rake up leaves in the yard and think about what he’s done. He decides to change his ways.

So when a pirate, a sunburned crocodile, and a time-traveling monkey come to Tim’s house and do bad things, Tim says it was him.

He still gets in trouble!

What’s a boy to do?

Tim comes up with an ingenious solution. This solution shows his parents the truth, teaches the strangers to behave, and gets them all the best party ever.

The pictures are just right for this tall tale of a story. This book is delightfully silly, wonderfully imaginative, and provides plenty to discuss. And it doesn’t hurt to have a totally fun reason to talk about telling the truth.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_books/boy_who_cried_ninja.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Maya Makes a Mess, by Rutu Modan

Delightfully Silly, Easy Readers, Graphic Novel, Picture Book Review 0

Maya Makes a Mess

by Rutu Modan

A Toon Book (Candlewick Press), 2012. 32 pages.

This book simply makes me laugh. It’s a Toon Book — a graphic novel for beginning readers. In fact, it’s specifically a Level Two Easy-to-Read Comic for Emerging Readers in grades 1-2. The series contains some excellent tips at the back for reading comics with kids.

But the story is why I enjoy it. Maya is a messy eater. And the reason that makes me laugh? Well, she eats spaghetti exactly like my son did — with bare hands. I completely understand the parents’ frustration in saying to Maya — “What if you were eating dinner with the Queen?”

So then the Queen invites Maya to dinner.

Maya is very polite. She remembers to say Please when she asks for pasta with ketchup. But when she doesn’t know which fork to use and is told to eat it the way she does at home — well, the entire dining room notices.

But this is a happy and silly story — so eventually all the dressed-up grown-ups decide to eat like Maya does. Hilarity ensues.

This book will get a kid’s focus off the laborious details of decoding words and have them enjoying the outrageously delightful story.

toon-books.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/maya_makes_a_mess.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, retold and illustrated by Helen Ward

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

An Aesop Fable retold and illustrated by Helen Ward

Templar Books (Candlewick Press), 2012. Illustrations copyright 2011. 44 pages.
Starred Review

Here’s the familiar Aesop Fable, told with lavishly beautiful illustrations. There are also few enough words on each beautiful spread to make this a hit for storytime. (Why is it that sometimes the more beautiful the illustrations, the more words on a page? Not a problem here.)

I like the way Helen Ward contrasts the City Mouse’s words with pictures of the country. For example, the first page where the City Mouse is telling the Country Mouse about his home has these words:

“In the city, we don’t have mud,” he said.
“And we don’t have dangerous wild animals.”

The picture on that spread is of a baby fawn curled up asleep in the grass.

The next page says,

“In the city, we dine on rich, exotic foods in sumptuous surroundings.”

The picture that goes with those words is of the two mice in a beautiful orchard eating wild berries.

Helen Ward has the mice come to the city along with a Christmas tree and the feast is a Christmas celebration, so you can use this for Christmas, but there’s nothing about it in the text, so you can also use it any time of year.

The moral is not spelled out, but I think it will be easy even for the youngest listeners to understand and talk about.

This book is a feast for the eyes, along with a story that never grows old.

candlewick.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/town_mouse_and_country_mouse.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Frog and Fly, by Jeff Mack

Animal Characters, Easy Readers, Picture Book Review, Readalouds 0

Frog and Fly

Six Slurpy Stories

by Jeff Mack

Philomel Books, 2012. 40 pages.

My friend has told me that her favorite picture books are those where someone gets eaten, and now I am alert for such books and always show them to her. But I have to admit that there were already several among my favorites before I ever met her. I’ve even started a board on Pinterest highlighting these bloodthirsty — but so funny — books.

With a title like Frog and Fly, that someone gets eaten should not come as a surprise. Though the title should actually be Frog and Flies. Let’s just say that this isn’t one of those stories-about-two-unlikely-friends books.

The cartoon illustrations are accompanied by simple sentences in word balloons, with plenty of repetition. For example, one story goes like this (except no explanation of who is speaking, with the words in speech bubbles telling that clearly):

Zip! The fly lands on a dog and says, “Good morning, Dog.”

The dog says, “Yuck! Shoo, Fly!”

Zip! The fly lands on a hog and says, “Good morning, Hog!”

The hog says, “Yuck! Shoo, Fly!”

Zip! The fly lands on the frog and says, “Good morning, Frog!”

SLURP!

“Yum! Good morning, Fly!”

All of the stories have that kind of simple kicker ending. And the final story? Well, let’s say that the Frog finally gets his comeuppance.

Beginning readers will thoroughly enjoy this book, and I have a feeling it will also go over great at storytime with preschool to early elementary age listeners.

jeffmack.com
penguin.com/youngreaders

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/frog_and_fly.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of The Three Ninja Pigs, by Corey Rosen Schwartz

Animal Characters, Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review 0

The Three Ninja Pigs

by Corey Rosen Schwartz
illustrated by Dan Santat

Putnam, 2012. 40 pages.

There’s a whole subgenre out there of Three Little Pigs variants, and I’ve definitely got a soft spot for them. This one doesn’t attain the heights of The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, or David Wiesner’s The Three Pigs, but it’s definitely fun.

I don’t think I even need to tell you what happens. We’ve got three ninja pigs. The one who trains the hardest (the girl! yay!) is the one who defeats the wolf. Along the way, Corey Rosen Schwartz gives us rhymes that make us laugh instead of cringe. (Well, if you don’t love puns, you may cringe, but the rhymes are excellent. And personally, I love the puns.) Dan Santat’s square-jawed pigs are the perfect tough porkers to take on the bullying wolf.

Here’s the sister pig training:

She balanced and blocked like an expert,
and practiced her lessons nonstop.
By the time she was through,
she could break boards in two
by performing a perfect pork chop!

Okay, there’s nothing profound here, and Sister Pig manages to scare away the wolf with her ninja moves. But it’s definitely a fun addition to the subgenre. And, hey, it’s got ninjas!

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/three_ninja_pigs.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton

Animal Characters, Good for the Very Young, Picture Book Review, Readalouds, Starred Review 0

Oh No, George!

by Chris Haughton

Candlewick Press, 2012. 32 pages.
Starred Review

This book is along the lines of No, David!, by David Shannon, but this time the naughty “child” is a dog. In many ways, I think that will help children take lessons from the book all the more, and get practice putting themselves in the perspective of someone very different from themselves on the outside, but not so different on the inside.

The pictures are simple shapes, rather like a child would draw them, with bright orange backgrounds on alternate page spreads, mostly where the words say, “Oh no, George!”

The opening pages have these words:

Harry is going out.
“Will you be good, George?”
asks Harry.
“Yes,” says George.
“I’ll be very good.”

I hope I’ll be good,
George thinks.

George sees something in the kitchen.
It’s cake!
I said I’d be good,
George thinks,
but I LOVE cake.

What will George do?

That’s the cue for a page turn, a bright orange background, a picture of George taking an enormous mouthful of cake, and the words, “Oh no, George!”

And so it goes. George is tempted to play with Cat and dig in dirt, things he LOVES to do. Before each succumbing, the audience is asked “What will George do?”

Then Harry comes back. He confronts George with his terrible mess.

I said I’d be good,
George thinks.
I hoped I’d be good,
but I wasn’t.

A tear is coming out of George’s eye, and the text reads, “What will George do?”

It turns out that George apologizes and gives Harry his favorite toy. Harry and George go for a nice walk.

On the walk, George is once again tempted by a cake, lovely dirt, and a cat. But hooray! George goes right past!

The book ends like this:

Something smells very interesting.
What can it be?

It’s a trash can. There’s nothing George likes more than digging in trash.

What will George do?

George?

You can see there are so many interesting things that can be discussed about this book! And it tells a fun story at the same time. This is sure to be a hit in storytime or on a parent’s lap.

candlewick.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/oh_no_george.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Writing Reviews, Posting Reviews

Animal Characters, Bedtime stories, Children's Nonfiction Review, Folk Tales, Picture Book Review, Science 0

I have a problem. It’s a good problem. I am way behind on reviews I have written but haven’t posted. Right now there are 97 of them.

Partly, this problem came from the solution to an earlier problem: I was way behind on books I’d read but hadn’t reviewed. I decided to solve that problem by spending 30 minutes per day writing reviews. Some time ago, I’d tried and succeeded — for an entire year — to write 30 minutes a day on my book. For now, I’m putting my book-writing on hold. I went to the William Morris Seminar in January to learn about ALSC’s Book Evaluation Committees. It’s seen as conflict of interest to have a book being published when you are evaluating books for a committee (like the Newbery), so I decided I haven’t gotten published in all this time, why not wait a little longer and see if I can get on a committee first? Surely I can write in the meantime — just not try to find a publisher. Well, I decided that, and then got more and more lazy about my 30 minutes per day goal. When I saw how behind I was on books to be reviewed, I decided to let myself spend that time on review writing. And I’ve caught up!

Or, I’ve sort of caught up. There’s a problem. If I write one review per day but don’t post one review per day, I will never catch up. The fact is, I need to be much, much more choosy about which books I review. Right now I’ve got four books sitting here that I liked very much and want to recommend, but I think I will discipline myself and not review them.

Or, how about this: I’ll give a mini-review here and now, but won’t make a full-on page with links on my main site.

Here are four excellent books. First two picture books.

Rabbit’s Snow Dance, as told by James and Joseph Bruchac, illustrated by Jeff Newman, tells a folk tale about how rabbit got his short tail. The book would make a wonderful read-aloud, with chants like “I will make it snow, AZIKANAPO!” and a longer chant in a circle that begs for the listeners to act out. Rabbit has a nice comeuppance at the end, or, well, comedownance, and that’s how he loses his long tail. Joseph and James Bruchac are storytellers, and this story definitely wants to be told.

Sleep Like a Tiger, by Mary Logue, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, is one I got fresh appreciation for when I heard people talk about it at Capitol Choices. This is a deceptively simple bedtime story. A little girl is not sleepy at bedtime, and her parents tell her she doesn’t have to go to sleep, but she does have to put on her pajamas… and so on. Along the way, they talk about how different animals sleep. The pictures show the animals, like a tiger, in their habitat, while in alternate spreads the little girl settles into her bed with her stuffed animals and toys. In the end, she settles down like the animals do. This is a cozy and lovely bedtime book.

Then, two books of children’s nonfiction, both about birds:

Alex the Parrot: No Ordinary Bird, by Stephanie Spinner, illustrated by Meilo So, is another picture book, but tells a true story. It includes short chapters, but there is no table of contents and this is definitely suitable for younger kids. The story is about an African Grey Parrot and his owner, Irene Pepperberg. She used Alex to show that parrots possess true intelligence. The book talks about Alex’s progress and how he was tested and matched three-year-old children.

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95, by Phillip Hoose, is much longer. It covers science, nature, the environment and what you can do to help. Moonbird tells the story of a rufa red knot banded with the number B95 in the year 1995 who has been spotted since. These birds are some of the greatest distance travelers on earth, and B95 is the oldest known such bird. The book goes into detail about what physiological changes and athletic feats go into his journey. The author interviewed many scientists all interested in helping the red knots and other shorebirds continue to survive.

So there you have it — Four more excellent books. Some day, I will catch up…. Meanwhile, keep reading!

Review of Penny and Her Doll, by Kevin Henkes

Animal Characters, Beginning Chapter Books, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Penny and Her Doll

by Kevin Henkes

Greenwillow Books, 2012. 32 pages.
Starred Review

I love that Kevin Henkes is writing beginning readers, and I love that he’s brought out another book about Penny. The only thing I don’t like? Now that two are both published in 2012, they can’t both win the Geisel Award.

When I heard Kevin Henkes speak at ALA Midwinter Meeting, he said that the Penny books were designed to be a progression, and indeed Penny and Her Doll has three chapters, where Penny and Her Song had only two. It’s a slightly — very slightly — more complicated story and one that comes around back to the beginning.

Penny is out in the garden with her mother as the book opens. Her mother is weeding, and Penny is smelling flowers.

“The roses are my favorites,” said Penny.
“I do not have a favorite weed,” said Mama.

While they are in the garden, the mailman comes with a package for Penny from Gram. It is a doll, and Penny loves the doll as soon as she sees it.

But the doll needs a name. Everyone in their family has a name, and the doll needs one. So Penny spends the rest of the book looking for a name for her new doll. Adults will not be the least surprised at the name Penny chooses, but children will be delighted to guess before Penny comes up with it.

It was the first book that made me completely fall in love with Penny, since I definitely have a soft spot for a little girl who sings around her house. But this one keeps that love going. And I love Penny’s parents, so understanding and helpful and supportive. They suggest, but they don’t solve Penny’s problems for her.

And I love the way Kevin Henkes supports beginning readers with his repetitive structure, which seems entirely natural and adds to the story. For example:

“What if I can’t think of a name?”
said Penny.

“You will,”
said Mama.

“You will,”
said Papa.

Penny tried and tried
to think of a name for her doll.

And I should add that the first time Mama and Papa each say “You will,” there’s a small picture of them next to their words. Simply every detail in this book builds toward a child’s success in reading.

I’m definitely looking forward to the third planned book about Penny, Penny and Her Marble.

KevinHenkes.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/penny_and_her_doll.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.