Tag Archives: out of print

Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel

Posted on September 12, 2014 | Comments Off on Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel

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She could have picked a chiming clock or a porcelain figurine,
but Miss Bridie chose a shovel back in 1856.

Miss Bridie chose the shovel from the peg in the barn, and
she took it to the dock, where she stepped aboard the ship.
She leaned on the shovel as she rocked in the cabin while
she lived on the ship on her way across the sea.

Miss Bridie flung the shovel with her pack on her shoulder
when she stepped off the ship in the harbor in New York.

This quiet, beautiful book covers most of a lifetime and is a pleasure from beginning to end.

Author: Leslie Connor
Illustrator: Mary Azarian

 

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Three Strong Women: A Tall Tale from Japan

Posted on September 7, 2014 | Comments Off on Three Strong Women: A Tall Tale from Japan

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Famous sumo wrestler Forever-Mountain thinks very highly of himself. But when he plays a joke on a young woman she (literally) drags him home to her mother (who carries around their pet cow around to spare its delicate feet) and grandmother (who pulls oak trees out of the ground if she trips over their roots) and the three of them offer to make a truly strong man out of him. When he agrees:

Every day he was made to do the work of five men, and every
evening he wrestled with Grandmother. Maru-me and her mother agreed
that Grandmother, being old and feeble, was the least likely to
injure him accidentally. They hoped the exercise might be good for
her rheumatism.

We love this book. It is unexpected, funny, and satisfying from start to finish.

Author: Claus Stamm
Illustrator: Jean and Mou-sien Tseng

 

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The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds

Posted on July 28, 2014 | Comments Off on The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds

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All the birds inside this book
Are very strange and rare.
And if you travel to the zoo
You will not find them there.
Don’t look for them in nature books,
In parks or pet shop cages.
The Drippet, Piffle and the rest
Live only on these pages.

The names and descriptions of these “rare birds” are mildly amusing; their portraits are playful and beautiful. This is an especially wonderful book for pre-readers.

Author: Arnold Lobel
Illustrator: Arnold Lobel

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Houdini: World’s Greatest Mystery Man and Escape King

Posted on July 3, 2014 | Comments Off on Houdini: World’s Greatest Mystery Man and Escape King

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This is a wonderfully written and illustrated book about the greatest magician ever. Harry Houdini, born Ehrich Weiss, used books, his imagination, and pure grit to lift himself (and his entire family) out of anonymity and poverty into lasting, world-wide renown and wealth.

We came upon this book because I read The Houdini Box to my oldest and he wanted to know the real story behind the story. The boys love this real rags-to-riches tale and are fascinated by Houdini’s tricks, especially his escapes. Their favorite escape may be how Houdini would jump (handcuffed!) off bridges in front of huge (nonpaying) crowds, free himself underwater, and swim to safety (and sell out all his remaining performances in the area). As the book puts it, if you saw this, “You remembered it for the rest of your life.”

Author: Kathleen Krull
Illustrator: Eric Velasquez

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The Frog Princess

Posted on June 17, 2014 | Comments Off on The Frog Princess

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While the story of the Frog Princess is not as well known as that of the Frog Prince, it is a classic tale and my youngest has taken to this version like, well, a frog to water. A queen realizes her three rather foolish sons need “sensible wives,” so she has each shoot off an arrow, telling them they will find their bride where their arrow lands. Two of the princes find brides suited to their interests (food and clothing), but the youngest (a dreamer) finds only “a little green frog.” When the queen declares the son with the cleverest bride will become king after her, does the youngest stand a chance? (Of course he does.)

Author: Emma Chichester Clark
Illustrator: Laura Cecil

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The Bake Shop Ghost

Posted on June 11, 2014 | Comments Off on The Bake Shop Ghost

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Miss Cora Lee Marriweather
ran the best bake shop in
these parts–maybe even in the whole
state. The chocolate in her Mississippi
mud pie was darker than the devil’s
own heart. Her sponge cake was so light
the angels kept hoping it would float up
to heaven. No birthday was complete
without a Merriweather layer cake with
her special buttercream frosting.

It would be hard to find a sweeter ghost story than this one, although it does start out sadly. Miss Cora Lee’s baked goods get lots of attention, but she is basically ignored. After she dies (no one cries at her funeral until they realize her desserts are a thing of the past), her ghost refuses to leave her bake shop until a new baker can fulfill a very special request.

This book is very enjoyable to read aloud and the boys love hearing about (and dreaming of choosing from) the bake shop’s wares.  I especially like the gumption, persistence, and–ultimately–friendship of the two main characters.

Author: Jacqueline K. Ogburn
Illustrator: Marjorie Priceman

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Little Fox Goes to the End of the World

Posted on May 23, 2014 | Comments Off on Little Fox Goes to the End of the World

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This is a tale of wild, imagined adventures; practicing leaving home behind; and of family. (It reminds me a lot of Where the Wild Things Are.) The boys like how Little Fox’s imagined journey to the End of the World unfolds–the creative perils and solutions are a huge part of the fun (and the pictures–get the version of the book with these out-of-print pictures, if possible).

Author: Ann Tompert
Illustrator: John Wallner


 

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When the Sun Rose

Posted on May 14, 2014 | Comments Off on When the Sun Rose

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When the sun rose today, a friend came to visit me.
She came in a carriage bright as the sun.
Even the stones in the road were shining.
Her lion stopped at my gate.

This story begins with an enormous, golden rose rising up into the sky (yes, the title is a visual pun); moves to a friend arriving in a carriage shaped like a golden rose and pulled by a golden lion; proceeds to a day of play and creation; and ends with a departure, a promise, and a house full of roses.

The boys are not charmed this book’s dreamy/vague plot and prominent dolls (although they are found of the lion eating blueberries with cream while the narrator and her friend enjoy honeycake and tea). I am utterly charmed by it, however. It glows.

Author: Barbara Helen Berger
Illustrator: Barbara Helen Berger


 

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Bembelman’s Bakery

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

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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

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Barney Bipple’s Magic Dandelions

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

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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)

 

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