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An almost daily report of interesting, unusual and noteworthy books that passed under my scanner.
An almost daily report of interesting, unusual and noteworthy books that passed under my scanner.An almost daily report of interesting, unusual and noteworthy books that passed under my scanner.An almost daily report of interesting, unusual and noteworthy books that passed under my scanner.An almost daily report of interesting, unusual and noteworthy books that passed under my scanner.An almost daily report of interesting, unusual and noteworthy books that passed under my scanner.
It’s time once again for another Easy Picture Books roundup and I have three really cute one for you today. Tedd Arnold’s More Parts is one of a series of three books that are a pure D delight. In charming rhyme, Arnold explores the thoughts and actions of a small boy who takes common sayings literally. From "broke your heart" and "give him a hand" to "jumps out of his skin" and "lost your mind", Arnold’s beautifully illustrated tale is a sheer joy. This one comes Highly Recommended.
My very first Wordless Wednesday! I’ve long thought that the popular Wordless Wednesday observed by quite a number of quality blogs was a great idea, but since this site is tightly focused on book reviews I’ve never found a way to participate. But recently I stumbled upon a unique and wonderful children’s book that has NO words!
Happy Tuesday! Time for an Easy books round up. Remember you can click on any book cover to place a request for it with Your local library or click on any book title to purchase from Powell’s, an independent and ethical bookseller based in Portland Oregon.
A recent release in the Cat In A Hat line of Easy Readers The Belly Book is a delightfully illustrated look at all sorts of bellies from bear bellies to brass bellies, glass bellies and hula-dancing grass bellies. As always the Easy Reader uses a carefully chosen and limited vocabulary and is specifically designed for our newest readers. Recommended.
Every evening at closing time I go around gathering up any and all stray books that have been left here there or wherever. (We scan them all in case any might be listed as lost or missing before putting them back into the rotation to be re-shelved.) And one Sunday afternoon awhile back I picked up Patrick’s Dinosaurs on the Internet by writer Carol Carrick and illustrator David Milgrim. The bright and comical illustrations appealed to me and I set it aside to be included in some Easy Picture Book roundup or another.
In reading the book and the cover blurbs I learned that Patrick’s Dinosaurs on the Internet was actually a sequel to two books written in the 1980’s by Carol Carrick and her late husband the illustrator Donald Carrick. I fetched the two earlier works the next time I shelved in Easy Picture Books and am thrilled to share all three of them with you today on The Thin Red Line.
Happy Monday! We are Way overdue for an Easy Picture Book roundup and I have four great ones today!
Using only five words, artist/illustrator Emily Gravett’s Orange Pear Apple Bear is a unique and charming book that will delight children and grown ups alike. The books varying ordering of the title’s four words and Gravett’s highly creative illustrations of each are truly remarkable. There. Highly Recommended.
Resuming my regular posts with a Wednesday Easy Picture Book Roundup: Library Mouse, a 2007 release from author and illustrator Daniel Kirk is a delight. Sam, a mouse who lives behind the reference shelves in the children’s section at the library is a voracious reader. Then one day he decides to write a book and leaves it out on the shelf with all the others and the children read and enjoy it.
After writing about a whole slew of children’s books in my 12 Books For Christmas feature, I was burned out for awhile on Easy Picture Books, but the latest batch I brought home from the library are so cute and funny that I decided it was time for a Monday Easy Picture Book Round up.
Laura Numeroff is a prolific children’s book author, best known for the series of books that began with If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. Numeroff has collaborated with illustrator Nate Evans to create her 10-Step Guide To Living With Your Monster. From selecting the right monster in the first place to teaching him to brush his teeth, Numeroff provides wonderfully tongue-in-cheek advice to children who seek to own a monster, and the very colorful and imaginative illustrations by Evans are a sheer delight. To anyone who has ever had difficulty living with a monster, this one is Highly Recommended.
I suppose it is hopelessly politically incorrect to recommend a book that portrays construction workers as exclusively male, but the fact is I Loved this clever little children’s book with pages that unfold up to answer a series of questions about Who Builds? From the beaver building a lodge to the technicians building the space shuttle, Michael Rex answers the questions delightfully. Highly Recommended.
Also, The Very Hairy Bear (no image, Worldat) by Alice Schertle with illustrations by Matt Phelan is a recently published book that follows a bear through four seasons. The soft, almost pastel illustrations are quite striking, although they do not translate well to the computer screen and the story is quite cute. Recommended.
The powers that be are conspiring to prevent me from posting today. I spent over an hour on a long post about Herb Boyd’s We Shall Overcome and Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s favorite words. My DSL failed at the moment I pressed publish and the post disppaered into the ether.
The DSL came back up after a bit and I wrote a new post about my problem with the disappearing post and how hard it is to write an article a second time when you have no access to your first draft. It wasn’t Really a book review but I did include all the links. Then I clicked publish, the connection failed and the computer ate my post. Again.
Clearly the powers that be do NOT want me to promote these two books today. Want to join me in thwarting them? Go over to Worldcat and order these books from your library, even though I have included NO links. Or type the titles in the Powell’s search box and buy the new Carle cuz it’s so cool and to show those powers that be that didn’t let me put a link for your to do so in this space.
The gods willing, The Thin Red Line will return to regular publication tomorrow.
I don’t usually post about books that are not in English but this Spanish language children’s book I came across today is so unusual and a lot of fun even if you do not comprehend Spanish at all. Animalario Universal is spiral bound at the top rather than on the side and except for a few introductory and concluding pages, each page is cut in two places, creating three ‘mini pages’ or frames which can each be flipped independently. The first image shown is an elephant. As you flip each of the three segments over one by one the elephant becomes a pig, then the pig becomes an armadillo and so on until finally after the last three flips a camel becomes a fish. The Spanish words for each animal are displayed beneath the pictures and as best I can tell the book is intended as a fun vocabulary/animal names lesson for the Easy books crowd. Though it will certainly also appeal to anyone who admires clever and artistic books. Even it they no hablo Espanol.
Today’s Christmas book is a bit unusual. It includes a history lesson. Christmas In The Trenches by John McCutcheon with illustrations by Henri Sorensen (who was also the illustrator for The Old Shepard’s Tale, another Christmas book I reviewed) relates the tale of a grandfather and his in England on Christmas Day. After the presents and the meal the little girl remarks to her grandfather that this has been her favorite Christmas ever. She asks if Grandpa has a favorite Christmas. He does and this is the story.
Last week I got called in to work a shift at Sumner Library. I had worked at that branch once before and they had been very nice to me so when they said they were really desperate for someone to come in from 5–9 pm I agreed. Since I’d only been there once before I was not as clear as I might have been on the driving directions, and was at the point of wondering if I had made a wrong turn when I realized the library was just ahead on the left. Since I was in the right lane, I eased over so that I would be able to turn into the driveway, quite failing to notice the big SUV already occupying the left hand lane.
Luckily it was quite minor as collisions go. The Jeep SUV’s rugged side panels showed no damage at all and the scuffs on my driver’s side doors will buff right out. I did knock the side view mirror off, but re-attaching it proved easy and inexpensive. The other driver was very nice and after re-assuring each other we were fine and that no damage needed to be reported to police or insurance, I wandered into the staff lounge at Summer, sat down at the table, broke into my emergency Pop-Tarts and picked up the first book at hand to distract myself so I could calm down and work my shift.
Good Night, Gorilla is a delightful picture book, written and illustrated by Peggy Rathman. The security guard at the zoo goes around telling each of the animals "Good Night", unaware that the gorilla has snatched his ring of keys from his back pocket and is following him around, open the cage of each animal after it has been wished good night. The animals all follow the zoo keeper home, startling his sleeping wife who leads them all back to the zoo. A very cute story with excellent illustrations.
This week’s Easy Picture Books round up is for Nikon, who was very enthusiastic about last week’s selection If You Give A Mouse A Cookie and suggested one I wasn’t familiar with, A Bargain For Frances. This Easy Reader is the delightful story of two furry little girls of indeterminate species who both really enjoy having tea parties with their dolls and both long for a fancy china tea set. The story by Russell Hoban does a wonderful job of entertaining at a true Easy reading level while the delightful illustrations by Lillian Hoban add charm that cause adults to remember this book fondly decades later. Highly Recommended.
The latest Easy Picture Books to catch my eye are a mixed bag. Tana Hoban’s 26 letters and 99 cents is exactly what the title specifies and nothing more. Open it from the front and you will see the alphabet presented in both upper and lower case in a plastic toy-claymation style that is distinctive but not especially impressive and illustrated by a picture of something beginning with the letter–from an airplane to a zipper. A useful but not special book for pre-reading alphabet drills.
Older toddlers who’ve already learned the ABC’s can open the book from the back and see the numbers 1 through 99 displayed with pictures of pennies, nickels dimes and quarters making up the number specified, from a single penny to three quarters, two dimes and four pennies in the final frame, this could be useful in teaching to count money. Recommended only if you happen upon it at the library and don’t have to buy it.
I should no longer be surprised when I find yet another example of a celebrity or public figure who has penned a children’s book, I’ve certainly run across and written about them before. But this one, by former US President Jimmy Carter, illustrated by his daughter Amy Carter, sadly reinforces the impression I got from Pete Seeger’s The Deaf Musicians– that celebrities generally don’t know much about writing children’s books and use illustrations that are downright ugly. The story, which is sweet if a bit oversimple and bland, is told in far more words than a toddler would ever likely read for herself so the book seems intended for an adult to read to a child. But I doubt the poor quality illustrations would hold the child’s attention long enough for the adult to get through the wordy story. Not Recommended. If You Give A Mouse A Cookie is the best of this bunch. A very cute story about things the mouse will subsequently want and you’ll subsequently have to give him. The illustrations are cute and appealing. Felicia Bond, the illustrator, apparently didn’t get the memo about mandatory ugly drawings and author Laura Joffe Numeroff deftly tells the tale at a true Easy reading level. A very pleasant story book suitable for bed time or quiet time. Recommended.
One of my duties at the library is to go around just before we close and gather up any stray books that have been left here, there or wherever. Just before closing time Sunday afternoon I came upon a small stack of books in the Children’s area. I was about to check them in and put them on a cart to be re-shelved when I happened to take a look at them. And found that all three were really neat books that I was not already familiar with. So I decided to bring them home instead to read them and share them with you.
It is very unusual to encounter a book that does not have the title or any other writing on the front cover. Which is just one of the very striking things about Walter Was Worried, a pre-school book by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. This book illustrates the emotions different children experience in response to the weather. While the drawings are in a somewhat primitive style, Seeger deftly manges to communicate the stated emotion in each child’s facial expression as the book moves from worried (when the sky grew dark) to ecstatic (when the sun came out). If you have pre-schoolers in the house, this one is Recommended.
I was very intrigued by the title The Deaf Musicians. As someone who is severely hearing impaired but nonetheless loves music (the net result of that is that I am mostly into music that was popular when I was a teenager before I lost most of my hearing) this seemed like it would be my sort of thing. Sorry to say it wasn’t. Pete Seeger’s attempt to jump on the ‘popular musicians put out children’s books’ bandwagon falls flat. The illustrations are, well, kind of ugly and the story line of a musician who goes deaf and then begins performing “music” in sign language with other deaf people on the subway made little sense. Not Recommended.
I’ve long been a Maurice Sendak fan, particularly of his iconic Where The Wild Things Are but had some how managed to miss this delightful little gem. From Alligators All Around to Zippity Zound, Sendak presents the alphabet. With charming alligator illustrations and inventive alliterations (juggling jellybeans, making macaroni, quite quarrelsome) this is a fun way to review the ABC’s. For the pre-school set, this one too is Recommended.
For me, one of the great things about working at the library is getting to enjoy children’s books in the course of the day. As a non-parent, I would never have occasion to be exposed to what we call Easy Books at the library. So today I decided to feature four of my all time favorites, and invite you to remember along with me that very special time in your earliest life when you were first exposed to the magic of books. I hope you enjoy it.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst was written back in 1972, when I was eight years old and had moved on to reading Juvenile fiction but I was lucky enough to discover Alexander when I worked as a book store clerk in New Orleans in the late 1980’s and it has been my all time favorite children’s book ever since. Poor Alexander wakes up with gum in his hair, and the day just goes downhill from there. From the breakfast table to the carpool, from school to the doctor’s office, nothing goes right for Alexander on his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
I am painfully aware that the beloved children’s classic was disastrously made into a movie a few years back, but even that outrage can not dim for me the enduring appeal of Theodore Geisel’s pseudonym Dr. Seuss. By my count Dr. Seuss is easily the most prolific author ever of Easy Readers and is almost certainly the first poet most children have read and memorized since The Cat In The Hat first stepped in in 1957.
That these books were carefully designed to use a strictly limited vocabulary, repeated numerous times as an aid to children learning to read is largely obscured by the delightful poems and highly imaginative and playful illustrations that are indelibly stamped upon our memories. Who among us does not know I do not like Green Eggs and Ham, I do not like them Sam I Am or has not counted One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish.
If you do not have children, or even if you do, and have not recently been around these classic books, stop by your library soon and pick them up and pass a few minutes visiting with Dr. Seuss. As the ACOA people always say It’s Never Too Late To Have a Happy Childhood. (Alexander is shelved with Easy Picture books, look in the V’s for author Judith Viorst. The Dr. Seuss titles are all Easy Readers, filed in the D’s for author Dr. Seuss.)
Work is, well, work. Somehow I let a week slip away from me without posting, and really only one book caught my eye during that time. I did finally get my copy of Pan’s Labyrinth, a movie that Nina mentioned on her blog awhile back. I played it and sat through it, but it never did grab me and was mostly background. On my day’s off I did watch the entire seventh season of The West Wing on DVD. I always liked that show and enjoyed it, though 24 episodes at once is past the OD point. I also watched three episodes from season 5 of The Sopranos, and have another three episodes waiting to watch.
A dragon lives forever, but not so little girls and boys.
Painted wings and giant’s rings make way for other toys.
One gray night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff, that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.
So of course the book that would get my attention would of course also make me cry all damned afternoon. Joel was a huge Peter, Paul and Mary fan and several times dragged me to see them when they played at the Washington State Fair at Puyallup. inevitably they played Puff The Magic Dragon and got the audience to sing a chorus a capella my own little Jackie Paper always sang just as loud as any of the other children. So naturally this children’s book treatment of the lyrics caught my eye. And I consider myself fortunate that I managed to check it out and finish my shift and get the damned thing home before I slobbered all over it. I sure do miss Joel. As for plot, this book has none. The only words are the lyrics to the song.
The other book that caught my eye this week was A Perfect Mess. For everyone who, like me, has quite failed at the neatness thing and functions quite well in their disorder, there is now scientific evidence that your way is actually more efficient. The preface relates the story of a mom-and-pop newsstand, that has no computerized inventory, no fancy fixtures where the magazines are arranged by employees only once or twice a day and are often disorganized, which has thrived even as a more high tech competitor has come and gone and suggests that the cost of the organizing (computer inventory system, plannograms and a staff of constant straighteners) was greater than the benefits that accrued from that organization. This is a pretty revolutionary concept for many people and the book goes to relate more instances of less organization yielding greater efficiency and why this is so. I did not read the whole thing (and doubt you will, either) but suspect that I am not the only one who will be grateful to have this eloquent justification for my clutter.
It’s time once again for another Easy Picture Books roundup and I have three really cute one for you today. Tedd Arnold’s More Parts is one of a series of three books that are a pure D delight. In charming rhyme, Arnold explores the thoughts and actions of a small boy who takes common sayings literally. From "broke your heart" and "give him a hand" to "jumps out of his skin" and "lost your mind", Arnold’s beautifully illustrated tale is a sheer joy. This one comes Highly Recommended.
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