Picture Book Monday with a review of Henny

Children are not always very accepting when one of their classmates or schoolmates is different. When Henny the chick comes into the world she is missing something very important. Henny has no wings. At all. Instead, she has arms and hands, which makes her rather unique.

Henny

Elizabeth Rose Stanton

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Simon and Schuster, 2014, 978-1-4424-8436-8

In almost every respect, Henny is a “typical chicken” She has a comb on her head, toes with claws, a feather covered body, and a beak. There is one thing though that Henny does not have. Henny has no wings. Instead, she has arms. With hands and fingers.

   Sometimes Henny likes her arms because they allow her to do things that the other chicks cannot do, like climb trees. At other times she does not like the fact that she is different because the other farm animals laugh at her rather strange appearance.

   Being different is hard enough when you are a chick, but when you become a grown up chicken, life becomes even more complicated. Henny’s arms cause her to have a lot of things to worry about. Is she right or left handed? Should she wear gloves or mittens? What kinds of clothes should she wear? 

   While all these worries are rattling around inside her head, Henny does her best to behave like a chicken so that she will fit in. She tries to hide her arms, pecking the ground with her beak instead of using her hands to collect her food. Then something happens and Henny makes a startling discovery.

   Being different from everyone else can make one’s life different and present challenges that sometimes seem insurmountable. Often one is trying so hard to fit in that one does not even consider that being different might actually be a good thing. In this delightfully sweet, gently funny, and powerful picture book, we might a character that we quickly grow fond of. Henny is easy to identify with, and her story, which is accompanied by expressive minimal illustrations, is timeless and meaningful.  

Poetry Friday with a review of Goodnight Songs

When my daughter was little I used to sing her a lullaby at bedtime. She got so used to hearing the song that she refused to go to sleep if someone did not sing it for her. Even her father, who does not like to sing at all, had to give in and sing the song when he put her to bed.

Today's poetry title is full of poems that can be spoken or sung to comfort children who is about to go to sleep.

Goodnight Songs

Margaret Wise Brown

Illustrated by twelve Award-Winning Picture Book Artists

Poetry Picture Book with Audio CD

For ages 4 to 6

Sterling Children’s books, 2014, 978-1-4549-0446-5

Many years ago author Margaret Wise Brown noticed that many children hum or sing little songs as they go about their day. She decided to write the words of songs that she hoped would “capture the spirit of a children’s world,” and collaborated with famous musicians of the time to create songs that would best compliment her words. Unfortunately, Margaret’s songs were not published in her lifetime and for many years they lay forgotten in a trunk full of Margaret’s writings. Thankfully, her songs were discovered by an editor and now, many years after they were written, they are presented to the world in this beautiful picture book.

   The poems chosen for this collection are all perfect for bedtime. We read about a little goat on a hill who “drank his supper and drank his fill” before going to sleep. We visit a little wooden town at night when there is “no one around.” The streets in this town “ran up” and “ran down” and everywhere “there wasn’t a sound.” We find out what someone sees “When I close my eyes at night.” The person sees “Blue clouds in a big white sky,” and a place where “bright green birds go flying by.”

   Packed with soothing images, gently rhythmic phrases, and verse that calms and quietens the heart and mind, this book would make a wonderful gift for families with a young child. The accompanying artwork is beautifully rendered to compliment Margaret Wise Brown’s words, and to bring the poems to life so that young children have something special to look at as they explore the book.

   When they are sung the poems in this book serve as lullabies that offer children a soothing close to their day, and the accompanying CD features recordings of these lullabies, giving young children and their grownups a special way to enjoy Margaret Wise Brown’s lovely words.

Picture Book Monday with a review of At the same moment around the world

I was seven years old when I took my first really long trip in a plane. We flew from Cyprus to India, and when we arrived in Delhi it was early morning. My body felt as if it was the middle of the night, and yet the sun was coming up, turning the sky a golden red color. It seemed so strange that my friends in Cyprus were in their beds fast asleep, while the people around me were drinking their morning tea and thinking about the day ahead

In today's picture book readers will get the opportunity to travel around the world to see what a colorful collection of people in different countries are doing at exactly the same moment in time. The book is fascinating to read and the illustrations are a joy to explore.

At the same moment around the world

Clotilde Perrin

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Chronicle Books, 2014, 978-1-4521-2208-3

It is six o’clock in the morning in Dakar, in the country of Senegal, and the sun is just starting to rise in the east. As the yacht All Around the World steams along the coastline, Keita and his father are on the beach, counting the fish that were caught in the nets that night.  

   At the same time, in Paris many thousands of miles away, it is seven o’clock and people are starting to move around the streets. In an apartment, Benedict is drinking hot chocolate before he heads to school.

   Far to the west in Hanoi, at the same time that Benedict is drinking his hot chocolate, it is one o’clock in the afternoon. The streets are full of people riding bikes and scooters and celebrating the Lunar New Year. A dragon kite flaps in the sky, and a dragon puppet leaps above the road carried by joyful children. Though so much is going on and it is noisy, Khanh happily naps in his hammock.

   Even further west, and across the Pacific Ocean, it is one o’clock in the morning in Lima, Peru. Rain is falling and stormy clouds scud across the sky. In one household nobody cares about the weather or the time because baby Diego has come into the world.

   In this remarkable book we journey around the world, seeing what is happening in the lives of people living is many countries at the same moment in time. The author completes our journey around the globe by bringing us back to where we started.

   At the back of the book the author provides readers with additional information about time zones, and there is also a map to look at that shows readers where the twenty-four countries mentioned in the book are located.

Poetry Friday with a review of America at War

America, the nation, rose out of the ashes of a conflict when the American colonists rose up against their English ruler and demanded independence. Since that time young American men and women have gone off to war several times, and each conflict had a profound affect on the nation as a whole.

In today's poetry title we explore America's war experiences through poetry. We see the many faces of war through the eyes of those who experienced it on the battlefield and those who watched it from afar.

America at War

Poems Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Illustrated by Stephen Alcorn

Poetry

For ages 8 and up

Simon and Schuster, 2008, 978-1-4169-1832-5

Over the centuries men and women from all walks of life have written poetry about war. Sometimes the poems were written in support of a war, and sometimes they were written to warn people about the horrors of war. Often the poems described what it was like to experience war, either as a civilian or as a combatant.

   For this remarkable collection Lee Bennett Hopkins brings together poems written in the past, and poems especially written for this collection, so that we can explore “America at War.” The poems are divided into eight sections, each one of which focuses on one conflict that America was involved in. These conflicts are the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, and the Iraq War. For each section Lee Bennett Hopkins begins by providing a brief description of the conflict, just to give the reader a little background and context.

   The short introductions are followed by a selection of poems, which vary greatly in form, voice, and subject matter. For example in the Vietnam War section we begin with a poem that was written by John Kent, who was a marine. He describes how he sees a boy who is missing an arm and who has “a lifetime of hate” in his eyes after just “eight short years.”

   In her poem Charms, Georgia describes how soldiers in Vietnam carry good luck charms with them everywhere in the hope that the charms will protect them. Sometimes too the charms help to remind the soldier that somewhere, far away, he has a home of his own. These charms take many forms, from “locks of hair” and Saint Christopher medals, to photos of “wives, kids, dogs.” Often the soldiers fall asleep with their photos “clutched tightly in their fists.”

   In Whispers to the Wall Rebecca Kai Dotlitch takes us to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C, which is a long black stone wall covered with the engraved names of the fallen and missing. She reminds us that the names belong to people who “shrimped on boats, / flew planes, / studied, wrote, / collected, / kissed.” They were people just like you and me, and they are missed.

   Readers can dip into this book at will, exploring the poems and the beautiful paintings that grace its pages. Wherever they begin, and wherever they end up, readers will be rewarded with beautiful word images that are powerful and memorable.

Picture Book Monday with a review of Big Bear Hug

One of the things I like about living on the west coast is that most of the people around here are very huggy. When my mother visited for the first time, my new friends hugged her as if they knew her well. She wasn't quite sure what to do. Why were all these strangers hugging her? I explained the people around her are friendly.

In today's picture book you will a sweet, lovable bear who is VERY huggy and who truly understands how to show others that he likes them.

Big Bear Hug
Nicholas Oldland
Picture Book
For ages 5 and up
Kids Can Press, 2009, 978-1-55453-464-7
In a forest there is a bear who is “so filled with love and happiness” that he hugs every living thing he encounters. The bear even hugs animals that bears normally eat, and no animal is too big or too small for the bear’s loving embrace. He even hugs smelly skunks and “scary” snakes.
   Though the bear loves to hug other animals, he loves to hug trees even more. He hugs trees of all kinds and he loves them dearly. One day he sees a man chopping down a tree and the poor bear is appalled. He is horrified. He even starts to get angry, and he thinks that perhaps he should bite the man. After all, the man is harming one of the bear’s beloved trees.
   In this simple yet incredibly powerful book we meet a bear who is goodness personified. Children will immediately fall in love with the big bear who is willing to hug a skunk, and who wraps himself around the trunk of a tree with so much obvious devotion. Most of all, readers will be delighted to see how the bear responds when something negative enters his world. Surely this bear has something to teach us all about how to deal with the negatives things that we encounter in life.

Poetry Friday with a review of Outside the box: A book of poems

I didn't use to consider myself to be an outside the box kind of person. Actually, I thought I was a little boring. Then, recently I started trying new things, like learning to play the ukulele, things that other people thought were "out there" and "cool." Then I began to think about the work that I have created for myself I came to appreciate that I have always been an outside the box person. I just didn't know it.

Recently I came across a book that was written by a favorite author of mine, Karma Wilson. Karma is definitely an outside the box kind of person, and in today's poetry title you will encounter some of her interesting and quirky poems.

Outside the box: A book of poems

Karma Wilson

Illustrated by Diane Goode

Poetry

For ages 7 to 10

Simon and Schuster, 2014, 978-1-4169-8005-6

From the outside, a big box can look quite appealing. One might think that the dark, cozy interior would serve as a splendid “thinking spot.” It is only when one is inside the box that one realizes that the inside of a box - where one does not experience sounds, sights, light, colors, and the beauty of the outdoors - does not provide an environment that encourages thoughts or creativity. It is only when we are outside the box that thoughts, ideas, images, and stories start to flow.

   In this collection of poems author and poet Karma Wilson lets her imagination roam where it will. She truly thinks outside the box, and as a result we are gifted with a colorful, delightful, often funny, and always interesting collection of poems.

   Soon after we begin our journey through the book we meet a child who has been told to write a poem about a tragedy. Not being able to come up “a single line or verse” the child decides to write a tragic poem about how the child “couldn’t write a poem / about a tragedy.”

   Later on in the book we meet the “Boogie Man.” Now everyone knows that the boogie man is a terrifying and dangerous creature or apparition. He is someone who should be avoided at all costs. Or maybe not. He might terrify you and make you dive under the covers, but the little girl in this poem is friends with the boogie man, and they “boogie every night.”

   Then there is the story of the moose that got on a bus, which not surprisingly caused “quite a fuss.” When the animal boarded the bus, the passengers “screamed for police,” but the police were not around. What surprises the narrator of this story is that the moose, who came to sit next to her (or him) was “kind” and made for “polite company.” So all in all the moose was pleasant to be with, except that he was a bit too tall and his antlers were “rather too wide” for an average bus.

   Readers who like poetry are going to love exploring this book. The poems come all shapes and sizes, and one never quite knows what one is going to find on the next page. The poems are paired with Diane Goode’s expressive pen and ink drawings, and together they give readers a memorable book experience.

Happy May Day!

Happy May Day!

Picture Book Monday with a review of Sparky!

Many children dream of having a pet of their own, and often their parents (who know who is going to end up taking care of said pet) are not in favor of the idea. In today's picture book, readers will meet a little girl who manages to find a pet that her mother will accept, but she soon finds out that the pet does not quite meet her expectations.


Sparky!
Jenny Offill
Illustrated by Chris Appelhans
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Random House, 2014, 978-0-375-87023-1
A girl wants a pet but her mother does not want a bird, or a bunny or a seal in the house. In fact the only kind of pet she will let her daughter have is one that “doesn’t need to be walked or bathed or fed.” Now, most people would give up on the idea of getting a pet after hearing this, but the girl doesn’t. She goes to see the librarian, “who knows everything in the world,” and the librarian gives her a book to look at. In the book the girl finds out about sloths, animals which barely move, eat leaves, and drink dew.
   The girl orders a sloth and though her mother is not happy when the animal arrives in the mail, there is nothing she can do because the sloth meets all her requirements; it  does not need to be walked, bathed or fed. What the girl soon realizes is that the sleepy, slow moving animal does not do much of anything. Sparky does not play games and when his owner tries to teach him tricks…well…things don’t quite work out as planned.
   Many of us are told, as children, that we can’t force a person to change so that they become what we want them to become. We have to accept them as they are. Many of us don’t listen to this advice. In this story the girl really wants a cute, playful, trainable pet, and what she gets is a sloth called Sparky. Her journey with her new friend does not turn out as expected, but she gets something priceless all the same.
   With its wonderful characters and deliciously expressive illustrations, this book will charm readers of all ages, many of whom will become firm sloth fans.

Poetry Friday with a review of Poetry for Young People: Maya Angelou

I grew up in the Middle East and Europe, and the work of many of America's wonderful authors and poets was not part of my life until I moved to the States. Maya Angelou's poetry was one of the things that I discovered as an adult, and I have had a wonderful time getting to know her writing.

Poetry for Young People: Maya Angelou 
Edited by Edwin Graves Wilson
Illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 9 and up
Sterling, 2013, 978-1-4549-0329-1
When Marguerite Johnson was three years old her parents divorced and she and her brother went to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. The year was 1931 and segregation was “harsh and unyielding.” It was so absolute that little Marguerite, who came to called Maya, did not know what white people really looked like  and she thought that they “were like ghosts,” insubstantial and frightening.
   Maya’s grandmother raised  Maya and her brother with love, and a firm hand. There were rules that had to be followed and the children were expected to respect their elders and their faith. At the same time Maya was encouraged to explore her love of the written word and she read widely. She absorbed “the words, the sounds, the emotions” that she read, and soon she wanted to write her own material. Maya was only eight when she started writing her own poems, and when she was fourteen, living in California, she began to write songs as well. Maya studied drama and dance, and when she grew up she became a singer and dancer. She became involved in the American Civil Rights cause and then in 1970 she had her first book published.  She went on to write other books, and she also wrote many poems, some of which appear on the pages of this book.
   Some of the poems seem to be telling us about Maya’s own story, while others capture moments in the lives of African American men, women and children whom she might have she encountered in her life. We read about a shoeshine boy who creates a phrase, “pow pow,” which reflects the sound his brushes make as he cleans a client’s shoes.  The sound of those brushes punctuates the boy’s words as he reassures the person he is speaking to that he is “the best,” inviting a potential client to “Come and put me to the test.”
   Then there is a woman who has a long list of things that she must do. She has to take care of the children, clean, shop, cook, weed the garden, and pick the cotton. On and on her list goes. Even though she has so much on her mind, she can still enjoy the beauty of nature and she considers what nature gives her is “all that I can call my own.”
   Maya Angelou also uses her poetry to honor people and remind us of their courage and their sacrifice. In Song for the Old Ones she offers the older generation of African Americans a tribute. On their “pleated faces” she sees “the auction block / the chains and slavery’s coffles / the whip and lash and stock.” Using their “cunning,” their “wits and wiles” they survived and they “kept my race alive.”
   Throughout this book the poems are paired with beautiful paintings which perfectly compliment Maya Angelou’s marvelous words.

Picture Book Monday with a review of Hermelin the detective mouse

I love detective stories and began reading Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers novels are an early age. It is therefore not surprising that I was thrilled when today's picture book arrived in the mail. The cover alone got me hooked because there was a picture of a typewriter on it (love these machines), a mouse (love mouse-centric stories) and the mouse is a detective. What could be better!

Hermelin the detective mouse

Mini Grey

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Random House UK, 2014, 987-0-857-55023-1

Hermelin is a mouse who can read, and he lives in the attic of a house on Offley Street. Like many attics, this attic is full of stuff that people don’t want any more. There are stacks of boxes and books, and there is also a typewriter, which Hermelin has learned how to use.

   One morning Hermelin walks past the Offley Street notice board and he sees that is covered with notices. Seven of the eight notices were written by people who have lost something. Imogen Splotts has lost her tedd bear, Captain Potts has lost his cat, and Emily, who lives in Hermelin’s house at No.33, has lost her notebook. Other residents have lost a bag, reading glasses, a goldfish, and a diamond bracelet.

   Hermelin, who is a compassionate mouse, feels sorry for all these people who have lost something that is dear to them. They need help and he decides that he is the perfect person for the job.

   Hermelin begins by looking for Mrs. Mattison’s lost handbag. Being a mouse who is very observant and who remembers what he sees, he soon finds the handbag in her fridge behind the lettuce. He then finds Dr. Parker’s glasses. Hermelin saw Dr. Parker wearing those same glasses just that morning and at the time she was reading a book, Medical Monthly. It turns out that the glasses are inside the book.

   Every time he finds one of the missing objects Hermelin leaves the owner of the missing object a type-written note telling him or her where it is. Soon, Hermelin is a neighborhood hero and the people he has helped invite him to a party. They never imagine that their secretive little helper is a rodent.

   After spending just a few seconds with Hermelin, readers will find that they have developed a sudden fondness for typing mice. He is such a funny, intelligent fellow that one cannot help oneself. His story is engrossing and beautifully illustrated, and readers will be delighted when they see how Hermelin gets a wonderful surprise.