Groundhog Day and The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration - Thirty-Three

Happy Groundhog Day! For today's picture book I have a story about a groundhog who has a very unusual Groundhog Day.

Brownie Groundhog and the February Fox

Susan Blackaby

Illustrated by Carmen Segovia

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Sterling, 2011, 978-1-4027-4336-8

   It is the second of February, and Brownie the groundhog has come out of her burrow to see if she can see her shadow or not. As she stands on the snow, she looks down, and there, “stretched across the frosted field,” is her shadow. It looks as if there is going to be six more weeks of winter, and she is going to have to “Wait, wait, wait” for spring.

   Then, before she can do anything to save herself, a fox jumps on Brownie and he asks her to hold still because he wants to eat her for breakfast. Brownie is a very clever animal and she manages to put off the fox by telling him that it is too late for breakfast. He will have to wait for lunchtime.

   Brownie and the fox wander across the snow together. Brownie looks for signs of spring, while the fox tries to ignore his hungry stomach. Brownie knows full well that at lunchtime the fox is going to want to eat her. Somehow, she is going to have to find a way to save herself.

   In this wonderful picture book, we meet a groundhog who knows how to think on her feet, or rather on her paws. Children will laugh when they see what Brownie does to the poor fox, and how she turns a potential enemy into a friend.

   Paired with Carmen Segovia’s unique vintage looking illustrations, this story is a wonderful tale to read during cold February days when one is looking for signs of spring. 

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For those of you who don't live in the U.S., here is some information about Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day is a holiday celebrated on February 2 in the United States and Canada. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, it will leave the burrow, signifying that winter will soon end. If on the other hand, it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly "see its shadow" and retreat back into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks.

Modern customs of the holiday involve celebrations where early morning festivals are held to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow. In southeastern Pennsylvania, Groundhog Lodges (Grundsow Lodges) celebrate the holiday with fersommlinge, social events in which food is served, speeches are made, and one or more g'spiel (plays or skits) are performed for entertainment. The Pennsylvania German dialect is the only language spoken at the event, and those who speak English pay a penalty, usually in the form of a nickel, dime or quarter, per word spoken, put into a bowl in the center of the table.

The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Groundhog Day, already a widely recognized and popular tradition, received worldwide attention as a result of the 1993 film of the same name, Groundhog Day, which was set in Punxsutawney and featured Punxsutawney Phil.

The holiday, which began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. The holiday also bears some similarities to the medieval Catholic holiday of Candlemas. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calendar, which is celebrated on February 1 and also involves weather prognostication

An early American reference to Groundhog Day can be found in a diary entry, dated February 5, 1841, of Berks County, Pennsylvania storekeeper James Morris:

Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.

For those of you who don't know what a groundhog is, they are large rodents belonging to the family of large ground squirrels known as marmots. They are also called woodchucks or land-beavers. They can weigh up to 9 pounds (4 kg)

Over the years I have reviewed several wonderful books about Groundhog Day. You can see these reviews on the TTLG Groundog Day Feature.

Free ebook of the first Septimus Heap book

Until the end of the day you can get a free copy of Septimus Heap: Book One: Magyk for Kindle, Kobo, and Nook. If you have an iPad you can get a free app that will allow you to download the Kindle ebook onto your iPad. 

This is such a great book. You can read my review of it here. 

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration - Book Thirty Two

Happy February everyone! I have been doing this Picture Book Celebration for a month now, and I am really enjoying it. I was concerned that the extra work would be a burden (I also review at least three books each week day for TTLG), but it really isn't.

For today's picture book, I have a story about a cat. This cat, Bandit, has that cat attitude thing going that we cat fanciers love and sigh over. The artwork is reminiscent of old cartoon strips, and readers will enjoy reading the smart comments that Bandit makes.

Bandit

Karen Rostoker-Gruber

Illustrated by Vincent Nguyen

Picture Book

Ages 5 to 7

Marshall Cavendish, 2008, 978-0-7614-5382-6

   One morning Bandit the cat wakes up to find that something strange is going on. People are taking away his couch, and there are boxes everywhere. Michelle picks up Bandit and she carries him through the house. Bandit sees that his toy basket, his mouse, his blanket, and his bed are missing from the family room. His litter box and food bowl are not in the laundry room. Out in the garage, Michelle puts Bandit in his cat carrier and she carries him to the car. Bandit is sure that he must be going to the vet. Why else would Michelle put him in the car?

   When they get to their destination, Michelle carries Bandit into a strange house. The house is empty and nothing about it is familiar, so Bandit decides there and then that he is “outta here.”

   In this unique picture book, young readers get to meet a cat with an attitude. Like most cats, Bandit refuses to allow people to push him around. With wonderful comic book style art illustrations that are sprinkled with Bandit’s often very funny comments, this is a picture book young cat lovers are sure to enjoy. 

How Rocket Learned to read is now an app for iPad!

One of my favorite picture books of 2011, How Rocket learned to read, has now been turned into a delightful interactive app for iPads. Here is the write up about it from Random House. It is available for $4.99, a special introductory price.

The New York Times Bestselling picture book that is teaching kids to read is now available as a playful interactive iPad app. Featuring the original story and artwork by Tad Hills, with delightful animations, lots of interactivity, and two bonus early-literacy games to play, children will be captivated by each enchanting page. Plus, the ability to tap each word to hear it spoken, and other educational elements will help your kids learn and love to read.




Please double click on the image to see the full screen. 

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration - Book Thirty-One

When I was a child, I loved books. I was lucky enough to have a father who loved to read to me out loud, and he had the perfect voice for it too. I can remember feeling very frustrated when he went on trips, because he wasn't around to read to me, and I was too young to read to myself. I would have loved the wordless picture book that I have reviewed for you today. Young children can tell the story in their own words as they turn the pages and look at the pictures. 

Beaver is lost

Elisha Copper

Wordless Picture book

Ages 4 to 7

Random House, 2010, 978-0375857652

   One day Beaver gets onto a log that is traveling down the river. Instead of getting off and going back to his family, Beaver stays put. Beaver even stays where he is when the log he is riding on is picked up by a big machine and is transported to the city on a truck.

   In the city, the truck takes the logs to a lumberyard and this is where Beaver finally makes a run for it. A dog sees him, and Beaver just manages to escape by slipping through a hole in a fence. He enters a yard on the other side of the fence, swims across a swimming pool, and he walks through a house.

   Across the street from the house, there is a zoo, and here Beaver sees another beaver in a glass tank. He is pursued by a zookeeper and a little girl, and has to take refuge in a little lake. People in swan boats float up and down, and it is a nice place, but Beaver is determined to get home.

   In this almost wordless picture book (there are six words in the book) Elisha Cooper takes his readers on an amazing adventure with a beaver who is inadvertently carried far away from his lodge home. Little children will enjoy seeing how the beaver uses pools, ponds, streams, and other bodies of water to get back to where he belongs.

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration - Book Thirty

Every so often I read and review a picture book that I think has universal appeal, a book children and adults alike should read. Today's book is just such a title. I can honestly say that this book made me stop and think. I read it several times, and marveled that the author was able to say so much using so few words. 

The Flower

John Light

Illustrated by Lisa Evans

Picture Book

Ages 6 and up

Child’s Play, 2006, 978-1-84643-072-5

   There once was a boy called Brigg, who lived in a small grey room in a big grey city. Every day he walked to the library, which is where he worked. “Dangerous books” were stored in the library, and one day Brigg found some books that were labeled “Do not read.” Brigg was curious, so he took one of the books home with him, and when he opened it he saw that it was full of pictures of beautiful colorful things called flowers. Brigg had never seen a real flower, and he searched the city, trying to find one. All he was able to find was a picture of a flower in an old junk shop.

   Briggs bought the picture, and when he went home, he discovered that his picture contained seeds. He followed the directions written on the back of the picture, and something wonderful happened.

   In this evocative picture book, John Light takes us to a world where there are no flowers or green things. Everything is grey and grim and ugly. Brigg’s discovery that flowers once existed, and his subsequent adventure is full of hope. Readers will have a wonderful time imagining what happens next in the story.

   The marriage of the text and the art in this book is perfect, and readers of all ages will moved by the powerful images that they see, and the thought-provoking ideas that the book explores. 

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration - Book Twenty-Nine

Many children love reading about farms and farm animals, and Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin have created a delightful collection of picture books about a group of farm animals that are led by a very intelligent and sneaky duck. Duck is always finding ways to get the better of humans, and in today's picture book, he once again has the last laugh. I have reviewed several of the other books in this collection including Click Clack Moo, Dooby Dooby Moo, Duck for President, and Thump, Quack Moo. Most of these titles are available as picture books and board books.

Giggle, giggle, quack

Doreen Cronin

Illustrated by Betsy Lewin

Picture Book

Ages 4 to 7

Simon and Schuster, 2002, 978-1416903499

   Farmer Brown is going on a vacation, and his brother Bob is going to take care of the farm animals while Farmer Brown is gone. Farmer Brown tells his brother that he has written instructions for him, and he warns Bob “to keep an eye on Duck. He’s trouble.”

   When Bob goes into the house, he finds a note that tells him that “Tuesday night is pizza night.” Being the kind of fellow who believes what he reads, Bob has twenty-nine pizzas delivered, and the farm animals have a feast.

   The next day Bob finds a note saying that Wednesday is “bath day for the pigs.” Thinking that the note is from his brother, Bob gives the pigs a wonderful bath. On Thursday, there is another note telling Bob that Thursday night is movie night and that “it’s the cows turn to pick.” Bob should be keeping a sharp eye on Duck, as his brother recommended, because he is being taken for a ride.

   Readers who like to have a good laugh, will find that this book is just what they need. Readers will love the way the farm animals manipulate the humans in their lives. Using their wits, they find ways to get what they want, on their terms. You can help cheering Duck and his friends on.

   Readers who enjoy this book should take a look at the other books in this collection.

Poetry Friday - A review of Other Goose by Barbara Wyn Klunder

For today's Poetry Friday title I have a book of poetry that I found extremely entertaining. Imagine what it would be like if Mother Goose was a character living in the present day. What would her poems be about? If she is the kind of person who likes to shake people up a little, she might write poems very much like the ones in this book. 

Other Goose: Recycled Rhymes for our fragile times

Barbara Wyn Klunder

Poetry

For ages 12 and up

Groundwood, 2007, 978-0-88899-829-3

   For generations, parents have been reading Mother Goose rhymes to their children. Again and again the spider has scared Little Miss Muffet, the baby has fallen from the tree “cradle and all,” and this little piggy has gone squealing “all the way home.” These rhymes are truly timeless, and will be enjoyed by young children and their families for years to come, but now Barbara Wyn Klunder has created some new versions of these rhymes that address some of the issues that exist in our world today. Her rhymes are not for the very young, instead they are suit older children and even adults, and they are both funny, and thought provoking.

   The collection begins with Little Miss Muffet who is not sitting eating her curds and whey. Instead, she is trying her best, along with the spider, not to choke on second-hand smoke. That famous baby in the tree top is asking for “All this logging to stop.” After all, “trees breathe in / What we breathe out. /That’s what Nature / is all about.”

   Further on in the book there is poor Humpty Dumpty who is once again in a pickle. This time he is not falling off a wall though. This time the big egg is trying to avoid the water of a lake, which is full of “All the king’s chemicals, /All the king’s waste.”

   Without a doubt, this collection of poems will make readers laugh. They will also make readers think, because they look at problems that are of real concern to people. The poems look at environmental issues, social issues, and much more, and they dare to be controversial and, in some ways, subversive.

   

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration - Book Twenty-Eight

Being an only child, I never had to share a room with siblings, but I still sometimes had a hard time finding a place where I could have some peace and quiet. People imagine that children want to be busy all the time, but often they enjoy having a little down time in their own company. In this amusing picture book, we meet a girl who has to go to extremes to have a little quiet time on her own.

Clarice Bean, That’s me

Lauren Child

Picture Book

For ages 6 to 8

Candlewick, 1999, 0-7636-0961-7

   Clarice Bean would like to have “peace and quiet,” but this is very hard to find in her house because it is full of people. Clarice has to share her room with her little brother Minal Cricket, and you can just imagine what that must be like.

   Then there is Clarice’s sister Marcie. She has a room of her own, which means that she can have “peace and quiet whenever she wants.”  Clarice’s brother Kurt also has a room of his own. According to Mom, Kurt is “in the dark tunnel of adolescence,” which means that he hardly ever speaks, and he stays in his room a lot with the door shut.

   Dad is really lucky because he can be alone when he goes to work. If he doesn’t want to be disturbed, Dad tells Ms Egglington to tell everyone that he is in a meeting. Clarice is sure that Dad is actually eating rocky road ice cream and listening to Frank Sinatra on the stereo.

  Even Mom is able to get a little peace and quiet when she needs it. She goes into her bedroom and “balances on one leg,” or she has a bath.

   Clarice tries to get some peace and quiet in the yard, but the boy who lives next door is always calling over the wall in a very loud voice. He is so very annoying.

   Finally Clarice snaps, all hell breaks loose, and Clarice finds out that there is one thing she can do that will guarantee that she gets that precious peace and quiet she is looking for.

   Anyone who shares a house with lots of people and who wishes for a little space and quiet will immediately sympathize with Clarice Bean and her problems. With wonderful multimedia collage art on every double page spread, and a deliciously quirky text, this is a picture book that children will come back to again and again. 

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration - Twenty-Seven

When I was a little girl, the counting books I used were, to be honest, horribly boring. They were bland, totally uninteresting, and I learned to count as quickly as I could so that I wouldn't have to use them any more. Thankfully, authors and illustrators have since come up with wonderfully creative ways to help children practice their counting. In today's picture book, Marion Dane Bauer gives children a story to enjoy, and she helps them practice their counting skills as well.

One Brown Bunny

Marion Dane Bauer

Illustrated by Ivan Bates

Picture Book

Ages 4 to 6

Scholastic, 2009, 978-0-439-68010-3

   One sunny day, a little brown bunny goes outside to find a friend to play with. He invites two red birds to fly down from their tree to “Come play with me,” but the birds fly away. Next, the little bunny came across three bears who “crunched their lunch.” Bunny asks if he can join them, but the bears growl at him and walk off. Later still, the bunny sees five little mice playing hide-and-seek. The bunny so much wants to join their game, but the mice are not interested in playing with the bunny. Will no one play with a lonely little bunny?

   Little children will immediately sympathize with the little rabbit in this story. They know what it feels like when no one will play with you. Thankfully, this little story has a happy ending. The story has an engaging rhyming text and cunning illustrations, and it also helps children to practice their counting.