On Market Street, vendors of items from apples to zippers all wear (or are made of) their wares. I’ve loved this beautiful alphabet book from the first time I saw it as a child. The boys prefer The Racecar Alphabet, but this is the week when I share some of the books that I currently enjoy more than they do, in honor of Mother’s Day.
Author: Arnold Lobel
Illustrator: Anita Lobel
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Posted in Picture Books
Tagged alphabet, Anita Lobel, Arnold Lobel, Caldecott Honor, Christmas, food, Frog and Toad, I read this as a kid, knitting, Machines, Mama's Choice, On Market Street, The Racecar Alphabet, toys
A boy was collecting pinecones in
his wagon when he met a robot.
A boy and robot meet, bond, are temporarily confused by ill-timed power outages and sleep, then play happily ever after. This sweet book allows you to break out your best robot voice and is perfect for bedtime.
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Tagged Ame Dyckman, bedtime, Boy + Bot, Dan Yaccarino, Machines, science fiction
Five miles off the coast of Maine
and slightly overdue,
a circus ship was steaming south
in fog as thick as stew.
There is something about Chris Van Dusen–I’m not sure if it is his bouncy rhymes or his bright, beautiful pictures–but the boys go wild for his books. We haven’t had this book terribly long, but it is very frequently requested and seems on track to be as popular as perpetual favorite If I Built a Car. In it, fifteen circus animals find new, much improved, homes on an island in Maine when the ship they are traveling on sinks (finding the animals on the pages is a large part of the fun).
Caveat: The inspiration for this happy story was incredibly grim; Mr. Van Dusen has completely reimagined a true story of an awful shipwreck. Therefore, I suggest saving the author’s note in the back of the book for adults.
Author: Chris Van Dusen
Illustrator: Chris Van Dusen
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Posted in Picture Books
Tagged Animals, Caveat, Chris Van Dusen, If I Built a Car, Machines, The Circus Ship, USA
This series, about a slightly-diabolical genius whose science skills far outpace her social skills, has been making the boys HOWL with laughter. In a very happy coincidence, the poem generator above was part of tonight’s bedtime reading. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Author: Jim Benton
Illustrator: Jim Benton
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Posted in Chapter Books
Tagged Animals, bedtime, Diverse Books, food, Franny K. Stein: Mad Scientist, Jim Benton, Machines, school, science, science fiction, series, toys, Valentine's Day
Old Man Fookwire has only one pleasure in life: painting birds. But some clever squirrels have invaded his beautiful birdfeeders. What happens next is not what you would expect.
This very funny book is a great read aloud. We first read it at a local library and ordered a copy as soon as we came home.
Author: Adam Rubin
Illustrator: Daniel Salmieri
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Tagged Adam Rubin, Animals, Daniel Salmieri, food, Machines, mystery reader books, series, Those Darn Squirrels!
The Iron Giant came to the top of the cliff.
How far had he walked? Nobody knows. Where had he come
from? Nobody knows. How was he made? Nobody knows.
Taller than a house, the Iron Giant stood at the top of the
cliff, on the very brink, in the darkness.
The wind sang through his iron fingers. His great iron head,
shaped like a dustbin but as big as a bedroom, slowly turned
to the right, slowly turned to the left. His iron ears turned, this
way, that way. He was hearing the sea.
His eyes, like headlamps, glowed white, then red, then
infra-red, searching the sea. Never before had the Iron Giant
seen the sea.
He swayed in the strong wind that pressed against his back.
He swayed forward, on the brink of the high cliff.
And his right foot, his enormous iron right foot, lifted – up,
out, into space, and the Iron Giant stepped forward, off the
cliff, into nothingness.
CRRRAAAASSSSSSH!
Down the cliff
the Iron Giant
came toppling,
head over heels.
CRASH!
CRASH!
CRASH!
I’m not sure how I missed this book for so long. It came out over forty years ago, but I had never heard of it before the (quite good, very different from the book) movie came out in 1999 and never read it until this week. This is one of the first times I’ve read a book with my oldest that I was really reading along with him–a book that I had never read before. Luckily, we’re in complete agreement–it is great–especially for reading aloud.
Perhaps it is a good thing I waited so long; the 2010 design and illustrations by Laura Carlin are captivating. I’m not particularly found of her illustrations of people, but they are completely overshadowed (in a good way) by her thoughtful spacing of the text, her portrayal of the Iron Giant, and her introduction of the space-bat-angel-dragon.
This book has been called both a tall tale and a fairy tale. Although neither label is wrong, they are a bit surprising; I would call The Iron Giant an excellent introduction to science fiction.
Author: Ted Hughes
Illustrator: Laura Carlin
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Posted in Chapter Books
Tagged Australia, fairy tale, Laura Carlin, Machines, movie, out of print, science fiction, Tall Tale, Ted Hughes, The Iron Giant
Making an apple pie is really very easy.
First, get all the ingredients at the market.
Mix them well, bake, and serve.
Unless, of course,
the market is closed.
In that case, go home and pack a suitcase.
The pie-craving protagonist travels to Italy (for wheat), Frances (for a chicken that lays “elegant eggs”), Sri Lanka (for kurundu bark), England (for a cow to provide milk), Jamaica (for seawater and sugar cane), and Vermont (for apples). Once the traveling is through, all she will have to do is:
mill the wheat into flour,
grind the kurundu
bark into cinnamon,
evaporate the seawater
from the salt,
boil the sugar cane,
persuade the chicken
to lay an egg…
Well, you get the idea. This book is thoughtful, colorful, and quietly funny. Perhaps it was inspired by the famous Carl Sagan quote: “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” (My youngest swears by the apple pie recipe on the last page.)
Author: Marjorie Priceman
Illustrator: Marjorie Priceman
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Posted in Picture Books
Tagged A Reading Rainbow Selection, Animals, Carl Sagan, Diverse Books, England, food, France, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, Italy, Jamacia, Machines, Marjorie Priceman, series, Sri Lanka, USA
Farmer Brown has some problems.
It was bad enough the cows had
found the old typewriter in the
barn, now they wanted electric
blankets! “No way,” said Farmer
Brown. “No electric blankets.”
So the cows went on strike.
They left a note on the barn door.
Sorry.
We’re closed.
No milk
today.
Soon the hens join the work stoppage. And what are those seemingly-neutral ducks up to?
If workers’ rights are civil rights, as the slogan goes, we have a mini theme going this week. (When the boys stage a sit-in protest of my menu choices, I’ll have only myself to blame.) This book is very funny and I can’t read it aloud without hearing (and slightly mimicking) the Scholastic video version narrated by Randy Travis.
Author: Doreen Cronin
Illustrator: Betsy Lewin
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Posted in Picture Books
Tagged Animals, Betsy Lewin, Caldecott Honor, Civil Rights, Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type, Doreen Cronin, farm, food, Machines, Randy Travis, Scholastic video, series, spoonfuls of stories
This rhyming book reminds me a bit of The Snatchabook. But just a bit. Instead of one cute little (albeit book snatching) critter flying into a town called Burrow Down, here four million (not at all little or cute) wasps swarm a town called Itching Down. And instead of concluding with understanding and acceptance, this tall tale ends with a mighty squashing. The residents lure the wasps into the giant sandwich of the title and then:
What became of the sandwich? Well,
In Itching Down they like to tell
How the birds flew off with it in their beaks
And had a feast for a hundred weeks.
Author: Janet Burroway
Illustrator: John Vernon Lord
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Posted in Picture Books
Tagged Animals, food, Janet Burroway, John Vernon Lord, knitting, Machines, Tall Tale, The Giant Jam Sandwich, The Snatchabook
Amos McGee works at the City Zoo. Every day, he gets up early and rides the bus to work. Although he has “a lot to do at the zoo,” he always makes time “to visit his good friends” (an elephant, tortoise, penguin, rhinoceros, and owl). But one day, he awakes “with the sniffles, and the sneezes, and the chills.” He can’t go to work. So his good friends come to him.
This gentle book is the reading equivalent of lemon tea with honey. Warm, comforting, and sweet, it is good for what ails you. (And I like to think its red balloon is a homage to another of our favorites, Good Night, Gorilla.)
Author: Philip C. Stead
Illustrator: Erin E. Stead
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Posted in Picture Books
Tagged A Sick Day for Amos McGee, Animals, bedtime, Caldecott Medal, city, Erin E. Stead, Good Night Gorilla, Machines, New York Times Best Illustrated Book, Philip C. Stead