Category Archives: Picture Books

The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day

Posted on May 8, 2014 | Comments Off on The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day

IMG_1922

The Bear family didn’t always live in the
big tree house down a sunny dirt road
deep in Bear Country.

Years ago, when Brother Bear was an only
cub, they lived in a hillside cave halfway
up Great Bear Mountain at the far edge of
Bear Country.

And years ago, when I was an only child and the age my youngest is now, my parents gave me this book because we were moving. It must have helped. I came back to it many times over the years and now it is one of my youngest’s most requested bedtime stories.

Author: Stan & Jan Berenstain
Illustrator: Stan & Jan Berenstain

Comments Off on The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day

Posted in Picture Books

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Bembelman’s Bakery

Posted on May 3, 2014 | Comments Off on Bembelman’s Bakery

IMG_1925

This is the origin story of a (fictional) hugely-popular bakery. Back in the Old Country, seven children decide to help their mama by baking bread. Like The Duchess Bakes a Cake, things quickly spiral out of control, but the flavor of this book is completely different:

“This is not just bread,” he cried. “It’s meat and potatoes!
It’s strudel and pie! It’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner all at
once! It’s apples and raisins, vodka and noodles, every taste
you ever wanted to taste, all in each wonderful bite.”

I always enjoyed this as a kid and it is now one of my youngest’s very favorites.

Caveat: Corporal punishment clearly is an option for this family, but the reference is fleeting.

Author: Melinda Green
Illustrator: Barbara Seuling

Comments Off on Bembelman’s Bakery

Posted in Picture Books

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Barney Bipple’s Magic Dandelions

Posted on April 28, 2014 | Comments Off on Barney Bipple’s Magic Dandelions

IMG_1909

Barney Bipple is six, but he’d rather be eight.  He’d also like a big, shiny car of his own and for his dog to be able to talk.  One day he does a favor for his very well dressed next-door neighbor, who rewards him with three white, puffy dandelions.

“Make a wish, blow on a dandelion, and your wish
will come true. But stick to simple wishes, like for diamonds
and furs. If you need more, just let me know.

Now Barney can have everything he’s ever wanted. But things don’t turn out quite the way he expected in this playful book.

Steven Kellogg’s pictures are sunny and fun (and give a very different tone to this book than Arnold Lobel’s work gave to the same author’s work in The Tale of Meshka the Kvetch). The boys love seeing how Barney’s wishes in action and suggesting ones of their own.

Author:  Carol Chapman
Illustrator:  Steven Kellogg (apparently we have the revised edition of this book, where Kellogg did new, more colorful, illustrations)

 

Comments Off on Barney Bipple’s Magic Dandelions

Posted in Picture Books

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Birdsong

Posted on April 27, 2014 | Comments Off on Birdsong

IMG_1892

In this story, a talented, homeless orphan is taken in (in more ways than one) by a bird catcher who deceives her in order to take advantage of her musical ability and kind heart.

This book reminds me a good bit of The Lorax, despite having a very different story and style. Both books show individuals’ choices making a difference and both focus on interactions between individuals and the natural world. The villains in both books are multidimensional, lonely, and even sympathetic characters who lives are warped by greed. Finally, like The Lorax, Birdsong‘s beautiful pictures and unusual story fully capture the boys’ attention.

Author: Gail E. Haley
Illustrator: Gail E. Haley

 

Comments Off on Birdsong

Posted in Picture Books

Tagged , , , , ,

The Lorax

Posted on April 26, 2014 | Comments Off on The Lorax

IMG_1900

This classic story is beautiful, disturbing, and hopeful. It is also, unsurprisingly, a great read aloud and not to be missed.

“But now,” says the Once-ler,
“Now that you’re here,
the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear.
UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It’s not.

Author:  Dr. Seuss
Illustrator:  Dr. Seuss

 

Comments Off on The Lorax

Posted in Picture Books

Tagged , , , , , ,

Skip to My Lou

Posted on April 24, 2014 | Comments Off on Skip to My Lou

IMG_1697

This book is a charming extension of the old song. The board book version has six fewer pages than the picture book, but contains the essence of the tale. Whichever version you end up with, it is great for toddlers.

Author: Nadine Bernard Westcott
Illustrator: Nadine Bernard Westcott

Comments Off on Skip to My Lou

Posted in Board Books, Picture Books

Tagged , , , , ,

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

Posted on April 12, 2014 | Comments Off on The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

IMG_1666

One day a little country girl bunny with a brown
skin and a little cotton-ball of a tail said, “Some
day I shall grow up to be an Easter Bunny:–you
wait and see!”

Then all of the big white bunnies
who lived in
fine houses,

and the Jack Rabbits with long legs who can run so fast,
laughed at the little Cottontail and told her to go back to
the country and eat a carrot. But she said, “Wait and see!”

The little cottontail grows up into a wise, kind mama bunny who teaches her twenty-one (!) children to be self sufficient.  When a spot on the Easter Bunny roster comes open, she is ready to fulfill her lifelong dream.

It is hard to believe this book was published in 1939. (It is the only children’s book by the author of Porgy and primary lyricist of Porgy and Bess; he wrote it for his daughter.) This charming take on the Easter bunny story (the Palace of Easter Eggs is always popular) and its demonstration of work/life balance feels very contemporary.

Author: DuBose Heyward
Illustrator: Marjorie Flack

Comments Off on The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

Posted in Picture Books

Tagged , , , , , , ,

The Tale of Meshka the Kvetch

Posted on April 10, 2014 | Comments Off on The Tale of Meshka the Kvetch

IMG_1669

Tonight I thought I’d give the boys a treat by reading How I Became  a Pirate. (I don’t like romanticizing pirates, so we don’t have many pirate-related books. Which may make reading about them more exciting, rather than less. Huh.)   But the boys took one look at it and moaned, in unison:  “We have that at school!”

So, I picked out Meshka.  And they were thrilled.  Go figure.

Meshka is a practiced complainer (a kvetch).  Her back doesn’t simply ache, it feels as if she has “carried the Wall of Jericho itself.”  Her studious son “sit[s] around the house like a bump on a kosher pickle.”  And so on and so forth.  But, one day, everything she complains about literally comes to pass.  What is a kvetch to do?

The message here (praise the good in your life rather than bemoan the bad) isn’t subtle, but it is a good one and easily carried along by the humorous plot and lively illustrations.

Author:  Carol Chapman
Illustrator:  Arnold Lobel

Comments Off on The Tale of Meshka the Kvetch

Posted in Picture Books

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

The Golden Egg Book

Posted on April 8, 2014 | Comments Off on The Golden Egg Book

IMG_1661

I have just (sniff) cleared most of the board books out of my youngest son’s room. A fair number of board book posts seem likely in the near future. But first, bunnies!

My mom would only take The Golden Egg Book out at Easter time. While I see her point (bunnies and eggs) and I do the same (tradition!), you really could leave this one out year round. It is a sweet story of curiosity and friendship. The boys especially enjoy it when the bunny tries to guess what could be inside the egg (a boy? another bunny? an elephant? a mouse?) and when the duck that finally emerges tries to wake the now tuckered out bunny.

Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrator: Leonard Weisgard

Comments Off on The Golden Egg Book

Posted in Picture Books

Tagged , , , , , ,

The Country Life of J.B. Rabbit

Posted on April 5, 2014 | Comments Off on The Country Life of J.B. Rabbit

IMG_1648

In this sequel to All Aboard with Jeremy Rabbit, it is Waldo Otter’s turn to be a fish out of water when he visits his cousin, Jeremy Rabbit, in the country.  This time there are trips on a car, river boat, and bicycles.  There are more delicious feasts and daring rescues.  And once again the cousins, although they go through a few rough patches during the visit, have a wonderful time together.

Author: Doris Susan Smith
Illustrator: Doris Susan Smith

Comments Off on The Country Life of J.B. Rabbit

Posted in Picture Books

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,