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Archive for the ‘Friday Favorite’ Category
Friday, August 26th, 2011
Perfect for blustery fall days, let me share with you a favorite new picture book. The Umbrella is by Dutch husband-and-wife team Ingrid and Dieter Schubert. You may remember seeing their art in our galleries during our Dutch Treats exhibition in 2006. Their newest book (which actually released last year in Europe and recently published by Lemniscaat in the US) may very well be their best work to date.
This wordless masterpiece begins before even the title page. The endpapers show a small dog discovering a red umbrella on a windy autumn day. The gusts of wind blow the reader to the right, toward turning the page, and straight across the title page. We see the dog being lifted by this wind-swept umbrella above the houses and trees and through a gorgeous worldwide watercolor adventure. We follow this dog as he is blown through various landscapes, from the Savannah to the ocean, from the jungle to the Arctic. Along the way this little red umbrella is many things to the dog; a parachute, a shield, a boat, a swing and even a sled. Each double-page spread bleeds off the pages, absorbing the reader into each landscape, imagining the untold story the lives with each scene. The Schuberts keep the momentum of the wind and the dog’s journey constantly heading right, urging the reader toward each page turn, until the exhausted dog arrives home and leaves the umbrella, Jumanji-style, to be discovered by the next eager adventurer.
This is a book created by a team who truly understands the art of the picture book, utilizing all the parts of the book right down to its endpapers, to tell this remarkable wordless adventure. For lovers of Barbara Lehman’s books or Regis Faller’s The Adventures of Polo series especially, this book is a going to be a winner.
Pick up your copy of The Umbrella here.
Tags: adventures of polo, barbara lehman, dogs, Dutch, Ingrid and Dieter Schubert, Lemniscaat, picture books, regis faller, The Netherlands, The Umbrella, wordless
Posted in Friday Favorite, Recommended Books | 1 Comment »
Friday, August 5th, 2011
Come On, Rain by Karen Hesse, illustrated by Jon J. Muth (Scholastic Press, 1999)
This is one of those books that I just love to read during the hot and muggy New England summer. There’s nothing quite like a rainstorm to cool an oppressive heat wave. It makes you want to go out in the rain in your bathing suit and dance around. With delicate image-rich prose and beautiful watercolors that seem to blur in the heat and rain, Karen Hesse and Jon Muth bring these feelings to life. You can feel the heaviness of the heat, the impatient anticipation right before it rains, and then the joyful relief as the world finally cools off.
Tess and her mother are wilting and cranky in a summer heatwave. “Up and down the block, cats pant, heat wavers off tar patches in the broiling alleyway.” Tess finally sees rain clouds rolling in on the horizon and she gets an idea that will cool herself off. She rounds up her friends, all barefoot in their bathing suits in the street, and wait. “We meet in the alleyway. All the insects have gone still. Trees sway under a swollen sky, the wind grows bold and bolder…and just like that, rain comes.” The girls play and splash joyfully together, until they are surprisingly joined by their mothers, cheering and whooping uncharacteristically in the cooling rain.Together, mothers and daughters all dance and laugh, enjoying the break of hot weather, feeling rejuvenated and happy. “I hug Mamma hard, and she hugs me back. The rain has made us new.”
The seed for Karen Hesse’s Newbery-winning novel, Out of the Dust, came from this picture book, and you can clearly see the parallels of characters in both books waiting desperately for rain. Jon J. Muth complements Hesse’s poetic prose with watercolors that fully emote. The beginning pages are drenched in yellow and orange, radiating heat, blurry with the haze of a hot summer day. Double page spreads show, first, just hands, reaching to the heavy clouds, and then bare feet in the street, as the first drops fall. As the characters dance and splash, the illustrations become even more watery, as if the reader is looking at them through a wall of rain. I especially love how the mothers and daughters are dressed in matching colors, complementing each other as they dance.
Need a break from the heat? This is just the book for you.
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At The Carle Bookshop we specialize in backlist picture books. Backlist is bookseller talk for the not-so-new picture books that you often can’t find at other bookstores. We carry the fabulous new books too (make sure to read our weekly Top of the Shelf posts for new book recommendations), but we know what makes us unique are the shelves and shelves of picture books you remember from your childhood or books you read to your own children. Each Friday, we’ll highlight one of these special older titles in case you may have missed it or forgotten about it along the way. Let’s keep the picture book alive and loved, shall we?
Tags: city, Come On Rain, friends, hot, Jon Muth, Karen Hesse, mothers and daughters, multicultural, rain, summer
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Friday, April 8th, 2011
The Piggy in the Puddle by Charlotte Pomerantz, illustrated by James Marshall (Simon & Schuster, 1974)
April showers bring…lots of mud! Today’s Friday Favorite is one of my very favorite picture books to read aloud and it’s full of wonderful squishy, mooshy mud. Charlotte Pomerantz’s text is so full of tongue-twisting verse and funny not-used-nearly-enough words like skadaddle, willy-nilly, and squooshy, that it’s almost impossible not to laugh while reading (or listening to!) this book. James Marshall’s hilarious cartoon-esque illustrations show a very clean and fancy pig family, complete with a fez-wearing father, a tea-drinking mother, and a properly behaved brother, who despite their best efforts just can’t persuade the little piggy to get out of the mud. One by one, in playful rhyme, they each try to convince the naughty piglet to get out of the mud and get clean.
“Mud is squishy, mud is squashy,
mud is oh so squishy-squashy.
What you need is lots of soap.”
But the piggy answered,
“Squishy-squashy, squishy-squashy-NOPE!”
I have a feeling most children can relate to being delightfully dirty and deliciously disobedient once in a while. The little pig’s refrain, complete with a loud capitalized NOPE! begs to be shouted right along with the text. And when father, mother and brother all fail at getting little piggy out of the mud, what do they do? Well, when you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! This pig family reminds you to sometimes shed those stuffy inhibitions and just have FUN.
At The Carle Bookshop we specialize in backlist picture books. Backlist is bookseller talk for the not-so-new picture books that you often can’t find at other bookstores. We carry the fabulous new books too (make sure to read our weekly Top of the Shelf posts for new book recommendations), but we know what makes us unique are the shelves and shelves of picture books you remember from your childhood or books you read to your own children. Each Friday, we’ll highlight one of these special older titles in case you may have missed it or forgotten about it along the way. Let’s keep the picture book alive and loved, shall we?
Tags: funny, humor, mud, pigs, read-aloud, rhyme, storytime, The Piggy in the Puddle
Posted in Friday Favorite, Recommended Books | 1 Comment »
Friday, March 11th, 2011
Happy Birthday to Ezra Jack Keats! Ezra Jack Keats changed the world of picture books with his 1963 Caldecott-winning book, The Snowy Day. This simple story depicting a boy’s exploring the the perfect snowy day was the one of the first full-color picture books to portray an African American protagonist. By writing and illustrating stories based on the children he saw everyday in his New York City neighborhood, Keats was one of the forerunners to opening the door for other authors and illustrators to show children of different races in picture books. Many of Keats’ other books feature the same characters, Peter from The Snowy Day and his friends. While The Snowy Day is now a standard classic for any child’s collection, on this special (and rainy!) day let’s celebrate Ezra Jack Keat’s birthday with a favorite of mine from 1968: A Letter to Amy (Penguin).
Peter invites all his friends to his birthday party but decides Amy should get a special handwritten invitation. As you may have noticed from my earlier post, I’m a sucker for a handwritten letter. There is just extra special about them and for Peter, Amy is a special friend. As in his other books, Ezra Jack Keats is always pitch perfect at capturing a child’s actions and thoughts. This is not an elaborate letter. He writes matter-of-factly, “WILL YOU PLEASE COME TO MY BIRTHDAY PARTY. PETER.” Peter’s mother has to remind him to include the date and time and he scrawls it quickly on the outside of the envelope. But when he goes to mail the letter, the stormy weather outside blows the letter from his hand and then, to make matters worse, Amy comes down the street and tries to catch the runaway letter! Peter doesn’t want to spoil the surprise so he grabs the letter from her and shoves it in the mailbox before she sees it’s for her. Amy’s feelings are hurt and Peter worries that she might not come to his birthday party.
 While the story is simple and direct, it’s the attention and respect that Keats gives to children’s emotions that really makes this book wonderful. Peter knows he wants to send a special invitation to Amy that he didn’t send to the other party guests. As I’m sure you all remember, the social tightrope revolving around birthday parties as a child is difficult to navigate. What if you friends don’t get along with your other friends? Can I really invite a girl to my birthday party? What will the boys say? Peter’s mother points this out from the beginning and so the reader instantly knows the tension and anxiety involved. However, Peter never wavers with his intentions. He boldly sets forth to send the invitation, bit after he beats Amy to the letter without telling her what it was all about, he feels terrible, even though he was just trying to keep a good surprise. “Now she’ll never come to my party, thought Peter. He saw his reflection in the street. It looked all mixed up.” Here Keats uses his mastery of art to reinforce this moment of feeling “all mixed up” with an illustration of Peter’s warped reflection in a puddle. The stormy weather, highlighted by a lightning bolt when the letter is ripped out of Peter’s hands, strengthens the tension for this story.
Peter doesn’t let his others influence or sway him too much. He wants to invite Amy and he invites Amy. He wants to write her a special invitation and he so he does. And at the end when others tell him what he should wish for on his birthday candles, Peter makes his own wish. This wonderful birthday book not only celebrates friendship but also the importance of individuality. On a rainy day, after reading this book with your children or students, why not write your own letters (and maybe even design your own stamps) to mail to some of your special friends.
This wonderful treasury, Keats’s Neighborhood is a great collection of 10 of Ezra Jack Keats’s books, including A Letter to Amy, an introduction by Anita Silvey and words from children’s book illustrators who have been inspired by Ezra Jack Keats, including Jerry Pinkney and Eric Carle.
At The Carle Bookshop we specialize in backlist picture books. Backlist is bookseller talk for the not-so-new picture books that you often can’t find at other bookstores. We carry the fabulous new books too (make sure to read our weekly Top of the Shelf posts for new book recommendations), but we know what makes us unique are the shelves and shelves of picture books you remember from your childhood or books you read to your own children. Each Friday, we’ll highlight one of these special older titles in case you may have missed it or forgotten about it along the way. Let’s keep the picture book alive and loved, shall we?
Tags: 1960's, African American, Birthday, Ezra Jack Keats, Friday Favorite, parties
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Friday, February 11th, 2011
In celebration of Jerry Pinkney’s visit tomorrow, today’s Friday Favorite may be a lesser known title of Jerry Pinkney’s work, but is a terrific interactive storytime book.
Pretend You’re a Cat (Penguin, 1990) by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
Let me start off by saying, this is NOT a quiet book. Pretend You’re a Cat is a book that will really get kids moving, making noise and interacting with each other and the book. It’s a FUN book and it’s the perfect opportunity to be just plain silly. Use it for a group story-time, especially when your audience is feeling a bit antsy and at home when your kids are restless. With rhyming text, the reader is asked to explore their knowledge of a variety of animals – cats, dogs, horses, bees, and even snakes!
Can you bark?
Can you beg?
Can you scratch
With your leg?
Can you fetch?
Can you roll?
Can you dig
In a hole?
With each line, readers can get up and act out the motions with their whole body or use hand gestures to allow for space and body restrictions. Jerry Pinkney’s wonderful watercolor illustrations compare side-by-side the actual animal with the children acting like the animal. The illustrations of the kids offer giggles and inspiration for the audience (I never would have thought to “hatch” out of a cardboard box pretending I was a chick – brilliant!). Some of the kids in the book are even illustrated dressed as the animal, such as a girl in a bee costume or a boy with tiger face paint, to help them get more into character. The last line of each page always asks, What else can you do like [that animal] offering an opening for further creativity and exploration. This book is a great leaping off point for a unit on animal behavior or an activity for an animal-themed birthday party. I especially love the handmade horse masks the kids wear. It would make a great accompanying art project!
 Along with our favorite, Head to Toe by Eric Carle, Pretend You’re a Cat is one of those special books that lets kids explore their body’s movements, show off their knowledge of familiar animals, and have fun all at the same time. And a book that can do all that, is pretty special indeed.
At The Carle Bookshop we specialize in backlist picture books. Backlist is bookseller talk for the not-so-new picture books that you often can’t find at other bookstores. We carry the fabulous new books too (make sure to read our weekly Top of the Shelf posts for new book recommendations), but we know what makes us unique are the shelves and shelves of picture books you remember from your childhood or books you read to your own children. Each Friday, we’ll highlight one of these special older titles in case you may have missed it or forgotten about it along the way. Let’s keep the picture book alive and loved, shall we?
Tags: animals, Friday Favorite, movement, picture book, read-aloud, storytime
Posted in Friday Favorite, Recommended Books | 1 Comment »
Friday, February 4th, 2011
This week’s Friday Favorite is:
Sixteen Cows (Voyager Books, Harcourt, 2002) by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by Kurt Cyrus
In honor of upcoming Valentine’s Day, here’s a storytime favorite about love without being mushy. Lisa Wheeler is a master of language and her lilting rhyme begs to read aloud. Cowgirl Sue and Cowboy Gene own neighboring ranches, but a fence keeps them and their cows separated. When a storm destroys the fence, their cows get all mixed up and the two have trouble sorting them out again.
More about compromise than love, this story shows that when the two ranchers get into a fight, it’s the cows that suffer. The ranchers sing, the cows dance and everyone gets hilariously confused. So the two call a truce. Happily, a wedding follows and the two (and all the cows!) will never have to be separated by a fence again.
I just love this book’s language and rhythm of the text. With old-fashioned rancher slang and pitch-perfect rhyme, it’s so much fun to read aloud! Each rancher has eight cows, all with similar humorous names. When the ranchers and the cows get all mixed up after the storm, all sixteen cow names get mixed up too and reading the names becomes a silly tongue-twister. The simple cow refrain of “Moo,” is perfect for encouraging little readers to chime right in along with cows. The repetition, especially of the cow names, is sure to get giggles and the bright illustrations have funny little details that add to the humor of this book. And just wait ’til you see the cows dressed up as bridesmaids! Stories about cows and cowboys are usually a pretty good bet for the preschool crowd, and this book is a storytime winner.
At The Carle Bookshop we specialize in backlist picture books. Backlist is bookseller talk for the not-so-new picture books that you often can’t find at other bookstores. We carry the fabulous new books too (make sure to read our weekly Top of the Shelf posts for new book recommendations), but we know what makes us unique are the shelves and shelves of picture books you remember from your childhood or books you read to your own children. Each Friday, we’ll highlight one of these special older titles in case you may have missed it or forgotten about it along the way. Let’s keep the picture book alive and loved, shall we?
Tags: backlist, cowboy, cowgirl, cows, Friday Favorite, rhyme, storytime
Posted in Friday Favorite, Recommended Books | No Comments »
Friday, January 28th, 2011
At The Carle Bookshop we specialize in backlist picture books. Backlist is bookseller talk for the not-so-new picture books that you often can’t find at other bookstores. We carry the fabulous new books too (make sure to read our weekly Top of the Shelf posts for new book recommendations), but we know what makes us unique are the shelves and shelves of picture books you remember from your childhood or books you read to your own children. Each Friday, we’ll highlight one of these special older titles in case you may have missed it or forgotten about it along the way. Let’s keep the picture book alive and loved, shall we?
This week’s Friday Favorite is from 1975:
The Maggie B. by Irene Haas (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
This is what I would call a quiet book. A book meant to be read together, one-on-one, all tucked in and cozy. Margaret Barnstable wishes for her own sailing ship one night and when she wakes up, she’s aboard The Maggie B. She’s captain, crew, and cook all in one, with only her little brother for company, and she couldn’t be happier. In this fantasy adventure with no mention of parents, Margaret’s in charge and is like a parent herself, looking after her baby brother. Unlike a lot of modern books of sibling rivalry, these two get along just fine all on their own.
I love how Margaret’s character is completely competent and fearless. When a storm hits the boat, she’s bravely out in the thick of it preparing the ship and then is able to keep her brother calm, cozy and oh-so-well fed down below deck. The book taps perfectly into a child’s fascination with being the parent and playing “grown-up.” In contrast to her cluttered modern bedroom with too-big furniture on the first page, on The Maggie B., Margaret keeps a tidy, perfect-sized kitchen complete with old-fashioned oil lamps and a hand-pump sink. Dressed in a kerchief and apron, she resembles an little old lady, bustling around cooking, cleaning, gardening and looking after the baby.
The illustrations alternate between subtle watercolors and black-and-white drawings, and the soothing rhythmic text is dabbled with bits of sweet songs to sing. While aboard the Maggie B. the illustrations are small and contained on the page, reinforcing that this is a safe and cozy place. And indeed, this is a cozy book about true adventure and freedom. Margaret runs a tight ship and I for one would spend a day on The Maggie B. anytime.
Tags: big sister, boats, cooking, fantasy, gardening, imagination, Irene Haas, ocean, picture books, play, ships, The Maggie B
Posted in Friday Favorite, Recommended Books | 1 Comment »
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