It's time to get back to blogging. Here are a plethora of books to read this fall, some more exciting than others. Be sure to comment on the post and you may be selected to receive a free book!
One Family by George Shannon, Pictures by Blanca Gomez
A counting book with a twist, from a family of one to a
family of ten each page focuses on a different number, a different family and a
few items to count. “One is five. One bunch of bananas. One hand of cards. One
family.” Each family is represents different nationalities, hair color and skin
tones, with some families clearly showing interracial and intergenerational
groupings. A great concept book for those who are just beginning to develop one
to one correspondence.
My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay
by Cari Best,
Pictures by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Zulay is blind and walks with a cane. She tells her own
story from her perspective and never vocalizes that she is blind. This is
inferred through the use of the cane and the braille throughout the classroom
and training she gets with her walking stick. In order to run in the race on
field day, Zulay has to train on the track and feel comfortable moving forward
without an adult to guide her. With practice, she succeeds. A few notes: Zulay
is African American, her best friends are white, Asian and African American and
the classroom where she goes to school is populated with brown, black and white
children. While this refreshing to see, it unfortunately does not represent the
majority of schools that kids attend in America today. Zulay is good in math,
so while she needs help with moving around, she is able to help one of her
friends who is not so good in math, a nice model for talking about kids with
disabilities. Overall, this book is a great representation of how to write
about a child with a disability without becoming overly sentimental or
didactic.
Sleepless Knight by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold and Alexis
Frederick-Frost
Told in the form of a comic book or short graphic novel, the
sleepless Knight packs his bags for a camping trip, sure not to forget his
favorite “Teddy.” But, after the adventure, setting up camp and gorging on
marshmallows, he is unable to find Teddy. His trusty steed is sound asleep and
no help at all, but a local rabbit leads him to a bear’s den knowing that the
bear inside totally matches the description that the knight has given. Use your
imagination to visualize the ending! The crude cartoony drawings would be
simple to reproduce and the frontpiece gives simple directions for replicating
the horse and the knight. Some jokes will go over the heads of the little ones
reading the story, but will keep adults interested to the end.
Special Delivery by Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Matthew Cordell
Sadie is trying to deliver an elephant to her Great-Aunt
Josephine “who lives almost completely alone and could really use the company.”
Once she realizes it will not be possible to do this through the post office,
she decides to try other methods of transportation, including a plane, an
alligator, a train and an ice-cream truck. Through it all, the elephant follows
blithely along. Cordell’s illustrations are pen and ink sketches with
watercolor washes. While they look hastily done, the facial expressions and
attention to detail are exquisite. Be sure to check out the elephant’s face as
Sadie takes off in the airplane leaving her pilot friend behind! Stead’s work
has previously been described as whimsical and this book fits that pattern.
Sadie is determined to get the elephant to her Great-Aunt and does fulfill her
goal.
Naptime with Theo and Beau by Jessica Shyba
Photos of two-year old Beau and the family’s new puppy Theo
in multiple configurations and permutations are the bulk of this book. As Shyba
explains in the endnotes, Theo started napping with Beau the day he was brought
home from the shelter and has been doing so ever since. Simple text accompanies
the pictures that will capture the hearts of young and old.
Orangutanka: A Story in Poems by Margarita Engle, illustrated by
Renee Kurilla
A book of Tanka poems about orangutans, as explained in a
forward. Tanka is a form of Japanese poetry that follows a pattern of five lines that are
short, long, short, long, long. A great way to introduce poetry to your child
and then encourage them to write some Tanka poems. Who doesn’t love orangutans?
More information on orangutans is also included in the end notes.
The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat
From the island of imaginary friends comes Beekle, the one
who is never chosen. So Beekle sets out to find his child, the one who may be
imagining him, but doesn’t know it yet. Searching through the streets and
byways of New York city, Beekle finally finds Alice and they had many fine
adventures together. The winner of the Caldecott Medal for 2015, Santat fills the pages with darkness and light, moving
from the monochromatic sea and the inside of a subway car to the frenzied
primary colors of an amusement park or maple tree in the fall with bright red
leaves with an orb of yellow in the background. He turns the concept of an
imaginary friend on its head and leaves us with a child who does the
unimaginable.
Tractor Mac Series by Billy Steers
Tractor Mac is a personified bright red tractor with googly
eyes in place of headlights. Throughout the series other characters make
regular appearances like, Tucker Pickup, Fetch the dog, and Sibley the horse.
Farmer Bill and his niece Daisy are the only humans to be given names, but they
do not normally play a large part in any of the stories. Tractor Mac stories
are written with a message: Even when you don’t win, you are still able to do
good for others (You’re a Winner);
Your real family consists of those you spend your days with (Family Reunion); Small steps can get a
big job done (New Friend). With eight
books already in the series and four more to come, these staid stories are
appalling appealing to the four year old grandson.
