It's March, let's read!

Books abound for young readers and listeners. No matter what interests your young readers, you will find something here to keep them interested. Patterns, animals, real and imaginary, and interactive books that travel with you through a rich landscape: who could ask for anything more? 

I See a Pattern Here by Bruce Goldstone

Using famous works of art as well as patterns found in nature, Goldstone explores how color, shape and repetition can work together to form beautiful patterns. Throughout the book, he also gives definitions and examples of mathematical terms. This would be a super book for any math teacher and useful with children in  primary and intermediate grades.

If I Were a Lizard by Lauren Gates Galvin

 

A simple board book with extraordinarily read and colorful pictures of a variety of lizards. Galvin manages to catch the eerie stare of the lizard seeming to view life with a grouchy demeanor, while conveying oodles of facts about these real-life prehistoric creatures. Perfect for preschoolers to catch their attention, but also useful to introduce older children to a unit on amphibians.

Woodpecker Wham! By April Pulley Sayre, Illustrations by Steve Jenkins

With Jenkins’ bright paper collage images, how could this book go wrong? And Sayre’s words are an equal complement to the gorgeous illustrations of woodpeckers in a variety of environs. Each page includes a short poem with strong words to spike the interest of little ones who like birds, and maybe even those who don’t. “Raise that crest./ Bob and Bow./ Flash those wings./ It’s time to wow!” The author ends with several pages of facts about woodpeckers as well as a list of further reading, both books and websites.

Your Baby’s First Word Will be Dada by Jimmy Fallon, illustrated by Miguel Ordonez

In the tried and true silly fashion of Jimmy Fallon, this book progresses through a number of baby animals. Each animal’s father is dictating, “Dada!” To which the baby replies, “Moo” or “Quack” of “Bzzz.” Every parent wants to hear his baby (or her baby) say Dada or Mama first, Fallon just voices this desire. And who other than a celebrity would be able to get a children’s book published based on a silly idea?

I, Fly: The Buzz about Flies and How Awesome They Are by Bridget Heos, 

Illustrated by Jennifer Plecas

A multi-racial classroom plus a talking fly gives you a book with all you need to know about flies. Just like butterflies, they go through the process of metamorphosis, but according to the talking fly, they are so much cooler and useful to society. Several cool facts come to the surface here including the fact that one fly can have 191 gazillion offspring in a matter of 30 days or less. Makes you wonder why the world is not awash with flies, doesn’t it. My mother used to pay us 1 penny for every fly we killed. Should have bred them, then killed the majority and I’d be a rich woman today!

Spare Parts by Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley

 

Rebecca and Ed Emberley are a daughter/father team who have done some wonderful picture books with simple drawings and engaging text, notably The Crocodile and the Scorpion and other traditional tales. Spare Parts features a robot who is missing a part, and spends the pages of the book trying to locate a heart. The story here is more complex than their other works, and the pictures are busy to the point of being confusing. Oh, for the simple drawings found in the other books where they have teamed up! While this is not appealing to me, I will check it out with the grandson and won’t be surprised if he loves it!

Hedgehugs by Steve Wilson and Lucy Tapper

For a family with hedgehogs on the family crest, there is nothing cuter than a hedgehog, unless it is a book with hedgehogs trying to hug. The solution to put on a sock and nibble out the heel, then snuggle up close without those pesky spikes. Love this book and not just because the hedgehogs are so cute.

We’re in the Wrong Book by Richard Byrne

 

Another Postmodern offering from Richard Byrne, the author of This Book Just Ate my Dog!  Bella and Ben are back, jumping across the page of the book when Bella’s dog knocks them off the page and into another book. Jumping, hopping, sailing and flying from page to page, they get to see the Egyptian pyramids, Little Red Riding Hood, and pastoral nursery rhyme lands. Eventually they find their way back to their original book and Bella’s dog. A fun way to explore different genres all within one original book. Hoping Bella and Ben will return again!

A Bodacious Collection of Biographies!

Picture book biographies are growing every year and more and more these books are branching out from the traditional books about white men. The current collection has almost as many women as men, but unfortunately only includes one person of color. It does include one biography of a fictional bear and how he came to be world famous. I enjoyed reading biographies as a child and this new crop of books had many pages to savor. I hope you find something to enjoy here as well. Starting with the women:

Queen of the Diamond: The Lizzie Murphy Story by Emily Arnold McCully

I don’t know about you, but I have never heard about Lizzie Murphy or the fact that she played on semi-pro and professional ball teams along with men in the early 1900s. McCully writes and illustrates the story of Murphy from her beginnings playing ball with her brother through her career as a professional ball player for 17 years. Murphy not only stepped up to the plate to hit the ball, she also stood up for herself as a wage earner, standing up to her first manager who thought he could get away without paying her. Murphy demanded wages equal to what the men were earning. I loved reading this story and will share it with as many as I can. It will be a precious addition to my biography collection!

The House that Jane Built: A Story about Jane Addams by Tanya Lee Stone, 

Illustrated by Kathryn Brown

When I was a child, I read a biography of Jane Addams. For some reason, I thought I had “discovered” her and I fell just a little bit in love with her passion for the poor. She was and is an inspiration to me. This new picture book biography is well written with Jane being presented as a strong woman who knows her own mind. The pictures show both boys and girls of a variety of races and the text treats all people with respect, just as I am sure Jane would have done.

Beatrix Potter and Her Paint Box by David McPhail

With McPhail’s characteristic drawings, this book is true to the art form of Beatrix Potter, with muted backgrounds and soft pastels telling the story with pictures as well as words. Potter was an avid painter from a young age and is portrayed here as a child who knew her own mind, loving her family and animals and not needing others to enter her life. While this book is not as small as the traditional Potter books, it is smaller than the normal picture book, showing how McPhail tried to honor the artist as he tells her story.

Mary Cassatt: Extraordinary Impressionist Painter by Barbara Herkert, 

Paintings by Gabi Swiatkowska

Born in Pennsylvania in 1844, Mary Cassatt became one of the best known painters of her era and one of the very few women of her time to make a name for herself as an artist. Herkert and Swiatkowska team up to tell her story with an impressionistic flair in both words and pictures. The art work fairly shows how the work of Cassatt fit into Impressionistic format and the text uses a free verse poetic approach that draws the reader in with the use of direct quotes and many exclamation points. Makes me want to run out to a museum. See you there!

 And now for the men: 

Elvis: The Story of the Rock and Roll King by Bonnie Christensen

A short biography of The King’s early life beginning with his birth and ending with the start of his musical career. Pressley was a phenomenal musician which is conveyed in this modest story. Both the art work and the text are portrayed in an unsophisticated style, with muted colors and simple words; the author often uses incomplete sentences to convey the message: “Didn’t know the words…” and “Shy, quiet, dreamy boy, that Elvis.” A timeline of his life is given at the end of the book along with a few more details of his career in music. While this is an interesting portrayal of Elvis, it is not my favorite portrayal of his life. 

The Fantastic Ferris Wheel: The Story of Inventor George Ferris by Betsy Harvey Kraft, 

Illustrated by Steven Salerno

The Eiffel Tower was the grand accomplishment of the World’s Fair in Paris in 1889. The developers for the Columbian Exposition of 1893, otherwise known as the Chicago World’s Fair, wanted something even more spectacular. And they got it with the first ever observation wheel that could hold thousands of people at a time. Eventually named a Ferris Wheel after its inventor, the observation wheel was a huge hit! This is the story of how George Ferris invented and built the first Ferris Wheel, one of the favorite rides at most small and large fairs. 

W is for Webster: Noah Webster and His American Dictionary by Tracey Fern, 

Pictures by Boris Kulikov

The story of the first man to write a dictionary for American English, this is a fascinating book about a man too smart for his surroundings and quite obnoxious as well. Webster’s drive to write and publish a dictionary is well told and the illustrations make clever use of design, as the cover art shows with the first half of the W turned into a dictionary. A great addition to any collection of picture book biographies. 

 

How Jelly Roll Morton Invented Jazz by Jonah Winter, Illustrated by Keith Mallett

Based on the life of Jelly Roll Morton, this is told as a what if, and let’s say kind of story. While the illustrations show real faces, worn by worries and time, they also have a dreamy quality to go along with the dreamy tone of the story. This is a perfect choice for those kids who love music, particularly jazz, or those older students who are doing presentations on musicians, or historical figures.  The end notes help straighten out the truth from the make-believe and give ideas for music that can be listened to when reading this book. A perfect addition to the biography shelf.

Aaron and Alexander by Don Brown 

The story of two men who had much in common and both worked hard to help establish a new nation, yet their disagreement over politics led to a duel that ended with the death of Hamilton and the political ostracism of Burr. Except for the duel part, this sounds all too familiar to those of us going through a presidential election cycle. The name calling, the vitriol, the self-righteousness of the candidates sounds just like that portrayed here. A great historical book, not quite a biography, but well told and a great resource for any class studying early American politics.

And now for the Bear: 

Winnie: The True Story of the Bear who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh

By Sally M. Walker, illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss

Part biographical, part historical, this is the story of how Winnie, an American Black Bear came to be in the London Zoo when Christopher Robin Milne was a young boy. Harry Colebourn was a veterinarian in the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps when he saw Winnie on the platform of a remote train station. A hunter had shot Winnie’s mother and he was offering to sell the bear cub who could not survive on her own in the wild. Harry bought the cub and named her Winnipeg, which was soon shortened to Winnie.  As World War I heated up, Harry and his Corps were sent to England, and they took Winnie with them. Ultimately, Harry had to leave Winnie at the zoo when he was sent to the front in Europe. And the rest, as they say, is history. The front piece and the end piece of the book have photos of Harry, Winnie and the Milnes, and Walker includes endnotes with facts that were not contained in the story. Any adult or child who has enjoyed the Pooh stories will delight in reading about the true life Winnie.

A flurry of board books for those who don't want to be bored!

Kiss, Kiss, Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen, Pictures by Dan Hanna

The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark by Deborah Diesen, Pictures by Dan Hanna

    

Pout-Pout Fish has many adventures, all in rhyme and all below the sea. You will meet a variety of fish swimming and working together in both of these sweeter than sweet stories. If you like to rhyme and have the time, you’ll be right in the swim of things with these two new stories.

The Spirit of Christmas by Nancy Tillman

 

Another story in rhyme by the author of On the Night You Were Born. While this is presented as a board book, it’s clear that the story is told for the adult and not so much for the child. The rhymes are sometimes saccharine, “He spoke to me then/ in a whisper of wings./ “There are gentle things/ the season brings.” And the pictures alternate between artful realism and fancifully stylized. As a Christmas book, it has my vote for when I am looking for a way to express how I miss the children in my life at that time of year.

At the Supermarket by Anne Rockwell

A little boy accompanies his mother to the supermarket, telling about the groceries he bought, including the necessary ingredients for making a cake, just in time to celebrate his birthday the next day. As I read through this, I wondered: who still eats meat every day? Where are all the black and brown people? There is one Asian looking woman working at the register and one or two other darker skinned people, most seem to be working rather than shopping. The back of the book indicates that the books was first published over forty years ago. While it is a cute story and one that many children can relate to, the lack of diversity makes me think this should be a book that can be kept on the shelf.

Mimi and Bear in the Snow by Janee Trasler

Mimi is a rabbit with human features who carries Bear with her wherever she goes. But, when she takes Bear out to play in the snow, she leaves him behind. After a careful search, she finally finds Bear and starts carrying him in a backpack so he won’t get left behind again. A perfect story for any child who has a special stuffed animal that goes everywhere with him/her.

Close Your Eyes by Kate Banks, Pictures by Georg Hallensleben

Little Tiger is reluctant to close his eyes as he prepares to go to sleep. Anyone who has had a conversation with a child where one answer leads to three more questions, will recognize Little Tiger in their own child. Mother Tiger has all the answers and finally convinces Little Tiger to go to sleep. The images in both words and pictures are poetic while still being easily understood by the youngest listeners: “You can even float among the clouds, and when night comes, the moon will hold you in its lap.”

I Get Dressed by David McPhail

I Play by David McPhail

    

In I Get Dressed, each page has one animal from David McPhail’s Nursery Rhyme collection and each animal has one item of clothing: shirt, pants, socks, tie, etc. Simple drawings and simple words, for our youngest ‘readers.’

In I Play, the little bear is featured with one simple verb per page, cutely illustrated by bear singing, running, and even reading.

Firebears: The Rescue Team by Rhonda Gowler Greene, illustrated by Dan Andreasen

The firebears have a number of adventures, fighting fires, rescuing other bears and even helping a cat stuck in a tree. Told in simple rhymes, the story moves quickly from one emergency to another. Brightly colored illustrations support the text and help to tell the story. Classrooms that have units on community helpers would love this book. Since the bears are not explicitly gendered, it could be a good tool for talking about both firemen and firewomen.