Tag Archives: Animals

Flotsam

Posted on August 3, 2014 | Comments Off on Flotsam

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As we’ve discussed before, David Wisener’s work is nearly wordless and always carefully-plotted, mixing the familiar with the very strange. (Although it is very different, it reminds me of Shaun Tan’s excellent, wordless, graphic novel, The Arrival–which I look forward to introducing the boys to when they are bit older.)

Flotsam is the tale of an underwater camera that washes up on a beach with some very unusual pictures waiting to be developed. Among its other virtues, it is the perfect bedtime book for when you’ve lost your voice to a summer cold (assuming you’ve already explained the concept of “film” that needs to be developed during previous readings).

Author: David Wiesner
Illustrator: David Wiesner

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Posted in Picture Books

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Happy

Posted on July 29, 2014 | Comments Off on Happy

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Something adults take for granted is having a feelings vocabulary–knowing what to call your emotions. This book helps kids express their feelings before they have all the right words in place (and, as a bonus, it helps them learn the right words too). The concept is simple: each double-page spread has a highly expressive fish and a single word next to it describing its state of mind (for example: curious, nervous, brave, astonished, bored, and delighted). We don’t really read this book straight through; we flip through it to find the fish(es) that looks like we feel. This is one of my oldest’s very favorite books; he says he will never get rid of it.

Author: Mies Van Hout
Illustrator: Mies Van Hout

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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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The Animal Family

Posted on July 27, 2014 | Comments Off on The Animal Family

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Once upon a time, long, long ago,
where the forest runs down to the
ocean, a hunter lived all alone in a
house made of logs he had chopped for
himself and shingles he had split for
himself. The house had one room, and
at the end closest to the ocean there was
a fireplace of pink and gray and green
boulders–the hunter had carried them
home in his arms from the cliff where
the forest ended….

In spring the meadow that ran down
from the cliff to the beach was all foam-
white and sea-blue with flowers; the
hunter looked at it and it was beautiful.
But when he came home there was no
one to tell what he had seen–and if he
picked the flowers and brought them
home in his hands, there was no one to
give them to. And when at evening,
past the dark blue shape of a far-off
island, the sun sank under the edge of
the sea like red world vanishing, the
hunter saw it all, but there was no one
to tell what he had seen.

This strange and beautiful book has hunters and mermaids; bears and lynxes; loneliness, love, and luck; and moments of violence and deep sadness. More than anything else it is about making a family.

Author: Randall Jarrell
Illustrator: Maurice Sendak

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The Snatchabook

Posted on July 18, 2014 | Comments Off on The Snatchabook

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One dark, dark night in Burrow Down,
a rabbit named Eliza Brown
found a book and settled down…
when a Snatchabook
flew into town.

In this cozy mystery story, books begin to disappear from the town of Burrow Down. As the title foreshadows, the culprit is a Snatchabook (a small, cute critter who is desperate to hear a story). This is a quick, rhyming read with a happy ending. It is perfect for bedtime and is very frequently requested. (As a bonus, there is a great discussion of how the illustrations were created here.)

Author: Helen Docherty
Illustrator: Thomas Docherty

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The Bat-Poet

Posted on July 11, 2014 | Comments Off on The Bat-Poet

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Once upon a time there was a bat–a little light
brown bat, the color of coffee with cream in it.

In this quiet little book, a bat-poet strives to develop and share his art and to connect with others. It is soft, beautiful, cozy, and just right for reading before bed.

Author: Randall Jarrell
Illustrator: Maurice Sendak

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Ball

Posted on July 4, 2014 | Comments Off on Ball

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This funny book has only one word–“Ball”–and is therefore a great example of the impact of punctuation. The dog’s dream sequences are especially creative and playful, so it particularly appropriate as a bedtime story.

Author: Mary Sullivan
Illustrator: Mary Sullivan

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Harry the Dirty Dog

Posted on June 29, 2014 | Comments Off on Harry the Dirty Dog

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Harry, a white dog with black spots, hates baths. But he loves exploring and getting dirty. After becoming a black dog with white spots (that his family doesn’t recognize), bathing suddenly becomes more appealing.

We enjoyed the Scholastic Video version of this simple, cute book a great deal when the boys were younger.

Author: Gene Zion
Illustrator: Margaret Bloy Graham

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Violet the Pilot

Posted on June 26, 2014 | Comments Off on Violet the Pilot

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Violet is “a mechanical genius” with a particular gift for building flying machines, a faithful canine sidekick, and supportive parents. What is not to love about book starring a strong, independent, STEM-focused female protagonist whose skills and moxie lead her to save the day?

Well… First, the book presents Violet’s inclinations as way outside the norm for a girl: “while other girls were playing with dolls and tea sets, Violet played with monkey wrenches and needle-nose pliers.” Although this book was just published six years ago, this feels outdated. Second, Violet is an outcast. She eats lunch alone; other kids make fun of her; and she hopes to compete in an airshow because, if she wins a prize, “maybe then the kids at school would be nice to her.” While she ultimately saves the lives of an entire Boy Scout troop, and gains the respect of her community, there is real pain here that the wish fulfillment doesn’t hide.

But the boys love this book and focus on Violet’s brilliant designs, her dog, and the happy ending. (We do talk a bit about how the other kids at school are being unkind and missing out by not getting to know her.) This is the first book on this blog that we discovered through my oldest bringing home books from his school’s library, but I’m guessing it won’t be the last.

Author: Steve Breen
Illustrator: Steve Breen

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The Going to Bed Book

Posted on June 22, 2014 | Comments Off on The Going to Bed Book

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This was the book we read every night to our youngest when he was a young toddler. Like Goodnight Moon (the book we read every night to our oldest when he was that age), it isn’t about telling a story or making sense; it is about setting a mood that is cheerful, calm, sleepy, and safe. When you are picking a book to read over and over again, this is a very good choice. I especially enjoy the final lines:

The moon is high. The sea is deep.
They rock
and rock
and rock
to sleep.

Author: Sandra Boynton
Illustrator: Sandra Boynton

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