Tag Archives: Machines

And May the Best Animal Win!

Posted on October 17, 2025 | Comments Off on And May the Best Animal Win!

This book, Need a House? Call Ms. Mouse!, and The Elephant’s Airplane and Other Machines are peas in a pod. In all of them, various animals want something (a prize-winning project for a festival, a house, a means of transportation). In all of them, there really isn’t a story beyond that. The pleasure in these books (and there is a lot of it!) is all in the highly-detailed illustrations by Doris Susan Smith, whose artwork is very special. Of the three books, this was the least popular in our house and is the least essential. But it is still well worth having, again for the art alone.

Author: Anne-Marie Dalmais

Illustrator: Doris Susan Smith

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Childcraft Folk and Fairy Tales

Posted on October 16, 2025 | Comments Off on Childcraft Folk and Fairy Tales

My family of origin had the whole 15-volume Childcraft set (the 1961 edition) when I was a child, but I ignored most of them (with the exception of this volume, Storytelling and Other Poems, Animal Friends and Adventures, Life in Many Lands, and Great Men and Famous Deeds). Most of them were non-fiction, and already VERY dated. This volume, however, was a favorite. It contains a variety of (mostly European) folk and fairy tales by lots of different authors and illustrators. When I think of fairy tales, a lot of the default versions in my head come from this book.

While I read some of the stories in it to the boys (fairy tales are important for cultural literacy!), they didn’t spend nearly as much time with this book as I had as a child. (After looking at the rest of the 1961 set as an adult, I ended up donating all the other volumes).

Authors: Many

Illustrators: Many and uncredited (although some pictures are signed)

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The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Posted on October 9, 2025 | Comments Off on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Gracious, Prince Caspian (the second published Narnia book) is boring. I didn’t miss a thing not reading that one as a kid. So, I skipped reading it to the boys, going from Wardrobe straight to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the third published Narnia book).  And then, well, I skipped reading them the rest of the series too (because they were dull as Caspian, even more preachy and dated than this book, and the boys never asked about them) and showing them the live-action movies.  So, as far as our family is concerned, I guess this series is a duology.  And a good one!  While Lewis is so very preachy (which I supposes makes sense in the Christian allegory context that he was working within–see my discussion of Wardrobe for more on this) and the pictures are generally awkward (as with Wardrobe), it is full of adventure and a nice change to have an antihero as a main character, someone needs a lot of personal growth rather than starting off perfect.  But the real draw in Dawn Treader, as far as I’m concerned, will always be the glorious Reepicheep.  Well, and the opening line:  “There once was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it.”

Author:  C.S. Lewis

Illustrator:  Pauline Baynes   

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I Stink!

Posted on January 15, 2019 | Comments Off on I Stink!

A rollicking rhyming scheme, a rough and ready narrator (a New York City trash truck), and plenty of gross-out humor make this lots of fun for the younger set. There’s even an ABC interlude (from Apple cores to Zipped-up ziti with zucchini). This was very popular for a long time at our house.

Author: Kate McMullan
Illustrator: Jim McMullan

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Posted in Board Books, Picture Books

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A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee

Posted on January 7, 2019 | Comments Off on A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee

When the boys were in early elementary school, by far the most fun way to volunteer at school was to be a mystery reader. The teacher and parent made super-secret plans, far in advance, for the parent to show up midday, books in hand, to read to the class. The kids loved it (especially the mystery reader’s kids). And I’m a total ham, so I loved it too. Of course, when reading to 25 plus kids at once, you need to pick the right books. By which I mean, they have to read very well aloud, they have to have pictures that work even from a good ways away, they can’t be too long, and they HAVE to be funny. A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee was one of my mystery reader books (I’ve made a tag linking to most of the others below, there was one more that will be my next entry) because it easily checked all the boxes. Mr. Magee, and his little dog Dee, go camping in their (adorable!) teardrop camper trailer and havoc quickly ensues. This is one of Chris Van Dusen’s best books, which is extremely high praise (you’ll notice his If I Built a Car was also a mystery reader selection). The other Magee books (Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee and Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee) are also great fun.

Author: Chris Van Dusen
Illustrator: Chris Van Dusen

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Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site

Posted on February 2, 2016 | Comments Off on Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site

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I was about to read this sweet story tonight when my oldest asked to read it to us (a first!). He did so with incredible fluidity and expressiveness and I’m so very, very surprised and delighted.

Although we haven’t read it very often, both of my boys really enjoy this book, which winds down a busy day of work and play by saying goodnight to big trucks one by one. My youngest noted of the picture above that the crane truck has a teddy bear to cuddle, a star for if he wakes up in the night, and that he looks very happy. Me too.

Author: Sherri Duskey
Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld

 

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Posted on August 20, 2015 | Comments Off on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is another book that needs no introduction and is utterly wonderful. Though there are many hints of the darkness to come (gulp), the tone is largely playful and the story and setting are as imaginative as ever. And it is here that Ms. Rowling, through Dumbledore, quietly states a message that goes to the heart of the series: “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

About a year and a half ago, after we enjoyed reading the first book in this series together, I read half of this second book to my oldest before he lost interest. Now a number of his friends are reading the series and he decided to give it another try. He raced through the rest of the book (mostly by himself) in a matter of days and then hopped straight into the third and fourth books in the series.

Author: J.K. Rowling
Illustrator: Mary Grandpre

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Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts & Pieces of Country Life

Posted on July 28, 2015 | Comments Off on Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts & Pieces of Country Life

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Unlike most of the books I feature here, this is not a book for reading aloud from cover to cover. Instead, this is a book for dipping in and out of, admiring the extensive illustrations and learning myriad new things. Chapters on land, barns, tools, planting, animals, food, and crafts provide an entry point for just about any range of interests and this book would make a wonderful present for just about anyone of any age.

Randomly opening the book to a section on poultry, in four pages we learned: the anatomy of an egg, how to identify (by their footprints) predators that could attack the flock, the average number of eggs one hen lays each year, two ways to tell how old an egg is, and the type of duck my mother had as a girl (a Call duck).

My oldest loves to read through this book on his own and is lobbying for us to try some of the recipes (especially the maple fudge).

Author: Julia Rothman
Illustrator: Julia Rothman

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Posted in Non-fiction, Picture Books

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Those Darn Squirrels Fly South

Posted on June 16, 2015 | Comments Off on Those Darn Squirrels Fly South

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Genius squirrels follow wintering birds to a tropical paradise. Will their grumpy friend Old Man Fookwire be far behind?

Like the first book in this series, Those Darn Squirrels!, it is difficult to read this book once; as soon as it is done, the boys ask me to read it again. Since they are laughing their heads off for much of the book (no matter how many times we read it), I’m happy to comply.

Author: Adam Rubin
Illustrator: Daniel Salmieri

 

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Posted in Picture Books

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Tap-Tap

Posted on June 7, 2015 | Comments Off on Tap-Tap

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It was early on market day when Sasifi and her mama
started down the path to the main road. The sky was still
gray. Mama carried a big basket of oranges on her head.
Sasifi carried a smaller one.
“Will we ride in the tap-tap today?” Sasifi asked.
“No,” said Mama. “We will walk to market, the same as
always.”

Sasifi has just turned eight and is very proud that she is now big enough to help Mama on market day. But she would love to try traveling in a tap-tap (a brightly painted share taxi) instead of walking. This engaging book deftly portrays a way of life very different than our own (the boys wondered why Sasifi’s family did not just buy a car, which lead to an interesting discussion) and is gently humorous. My youngest especially enjoys it.

Author: Karen Lynn Williams
Illustrator: Catherine Stock

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