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
The last time I wrote about Frog and Toad, this series didn’t interest the boys much. But recently they developed a strong interest in A Year with Frog and Toad, a musical based on the books (and a wonderful show, if you ever get a chance to see it in person), and now really enjoy the books.
Like Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggy series, the two best friends in this series have very different personalities. The Frog and Toad series is less laugh-out-loud funny than Mr. Willems’, but is still humorous and often tender. Some of our favorite stories are “Shivers,” from Days with Frog and Toad; “Spring” and “A Lost Button,” from Frog and Toad are Friends; “Cookies,” from Frog and Toad Together; and “Down the Hill” and “Ice Cream,” from Frog and Toad All Year.
Author: Arnold Lobel
Illustrator: Arnold Lobel
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Posted in Chapter Books, Early Readers
Tagged A Year with Frog and Toad (Original Cast Recording), Animals, Arnold Lobel, Caldecott Honor, Christmas, Days with Frog and Toad, Elephant & Piggie, food, Frog and Toad, Frog and Toad All Year, Frog and Toad are Friends, Frog and Toad Together, garden, I read this as a kid, Mo Willems, Newbery Honor Book, Robert and Willie Reale, series, songs
Long ago there were no colors in the world at all.
Almost everything was grey,
and what was not grey was black or white.
It was a time that was called The Great Greyness.
Every morning a Wizard who lived
during the time of The Great Greyness
would open his window to look out at the wide land.
“Something is very wrong with the world,” he would say.
“It is hard to tell when the rainy days stop
and the sunny days begin.”
When the dissatisfied Wizard eventually makes a color (blue), everyone is thrilled. They paint everything blue and The Great Blueness begins. But soon people begin to grow sad. So the Wizard tries again. And again. And again. Until, “[a]t last, the world was too beautiful ever to be changed again.”
This is a fun story with beautiful pictures. It subtly teaches about primary and secondary colors (like The Color Kittens). It also demonstrates the perils of too much of a good thing (like Bread and Jam for Frances).
Author: Arnold Lobel
Illustrator: Arnold Lobel
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Posted in Picture Books
Tagged Arnold Lobel, Bread and Jam for Frances, I read this as a kid, out of print, The Color Kittens, The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments
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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Posted in Picture Books
Tagged Animals, Arnold Lobel, out of print, The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds
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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Posted in Picture Books
Tagged Animals, Arnold Lobel, Barney Bipple's Magic Dandelions, Carol Chapman, fairy tale, Machines, out of print, Steven Kellogg, The Tale of Meshka the Kvetch
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
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Posted in Picture Books
Tagged Arnold Lobel, Carol Chapman, David Shannon, Diverse Books, How I Became a Pirate, I read this as a kid, Melinda Long, out of print, pirates, Tall Tale, The Tale of Meshka the Kvetch
The Elephant & Piggie series focuses on the interaction of two best friends: Elephant (who is generally cautious and anxious) and Piggie (who is generally spontaneous and joyful). (This odd-couple pairing reminds me of Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad–the stars of a series that I remember fondly but doesn’t interest the boys much.) The books are very funny and inspire lots of dramatic reading aloud and laughter. They are very popular at home, at school, and during trips to the library and the Kennedy Center.
I think the books pictured above are the very best of the series, but it would be hard to go wrong here.
Author: Mo Willems
Illustrator: Mo Willems
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Posted in Early Readers
Tagged Animals, Arnold Lobel, Elephant & Piggie, food, Frog and Toad, Happy Pig Day!, I read this as a kid, I'm a Frog!, Kennedy Center, Listen to My Trumpet!, Mo Willems, series, Should I Share My Ice Cream?, Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book, Today I Will Fly!, We are in a Book!, We are in a Play!
