The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book two hundred and two

Everybody has something that they are good at, but is isn't always easy to figure out what that something is. Today's picture book tells a delightful story about a stuffed animal who finds out what his special gift is.

A very special hug

Steve Smallman

Illustarted by Tim Warnes

Picture book

For ages 4 to 

Tiger Tales, 2008, 978-1-58925-410-7

   There is a new toy in bedroom and his name is Bumbletum. The other toys welcome him and then they ask him what he does. Bumbletum is sure that he does something good, what he doesn’t know what it is yet. The toys decide to help Bumbletum to figure out this puzzling matter.

   Milly the mouse squeaks when her tummy is squeezed, but Bumbletum’s tummy is squeakless. Teddy can growl when he stands on his front paws, but Bumbletum is growless. He cannot wag his tail like Puppy, or wet the floor like Baby Drink and Wet. Could it be that Bumbletum is a “doesn’t do anything kind of toy?”

   Sometimes it is hard to find out what your special gift its. You have one, but you don’t know how to find it. In this charming picture book, we join a group of toys who do their best to help a rather strange stuffed animal find out what his métier is.

   With charming characters and a sweet story, this is a book that every child should read. It will put a smile on a face, and give a heart a warm “soft and snuggly” feeling.

Bookish Calendar: The anniversary of the first Moon Landing

On this day in 1969, human beings walked on the moon for the first time. As millions of people watched, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon and took those first incredible steps. Over the years I have been lucky enough to review some wonderful books about the moon landing and you can see my reviews on the Through the Looking Glass Book Review website in the Man goes to the Moon feature. There are some wonderful titles in this collection, and I hope you find a title or two that you would like add to your library.

Here is a video of that famous landing. Enjoy!

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book two hundred and one

Search-and-find books can be a lot of fun. Some authors create incredible photographic scenes for children to explore, and some create illustrations that are full of details that are interesting and often amusing. Today's book is a stunning example of an illustrated search-and-find title.

Look! A Book!

Bob Staake

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 10

Little Brown, 2011, 978-0-316-11862-0

   Most of take the world around us for granted. We don’t take the time to really look at the little details, the cool stuff that is happening right under our noses. In this book, Bob Staake invites us to explore some truly bizarre worlds full of incredible animals, people, robots, aliens, and otherworldly creatures. He challenges us to really look and see.

   There are very few words to read in the book, most of the words being rhyming invitations to “Look!” and to find certain things in the artwork that he shows us through die-cuts on the pages.

   For example, our first seek-and-find challenge is to “Look!” to find “A book! A hook! A cowboy cook!” When we turn the page, we are presented with a double page spread showing “Weird and kooky things that go!” Which is an understatement. In the artwork, (among other things) we can see a zebra flying a biplane, a tiger flying a very strange looking flying machine, a bear riding a peculiar looking green bicycle, and a bird driving a truck that delivers escargot.

   On subsequent pages, we are presented with scenes showing escaped museum creatures, an underwater landscape, a fun park, a haunted house, a robot land, and a treetop town. He ends the book but challenging us to go back to the beginning to find the things on a list that he has put together for us. He hopes that the book will help his readers “to SEE the world anew.” 

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book two hundred!

Today is the 200th day in this picture book celebration. Thank you all for sharing picture books with me for these two hundred days.

Today I have a graphic novel for you that is funny, often silly, and yet that also looks at problems and issues that are very real for many children. Using humor and colorful characters, Jimmy Gownley gives his readers an entertaining AND thoughtful book to read.

Amelia Rules: The Whole world’s crazy

Jimmy Gownley

Graphic Novel

For ages 9 to 12

Simon and Schuster, 2006, 978-1-4169-8604-1

   Two months ago, Amelia’s mother and father split up. Amelia and her mother now live with Aunt Tanner, and Amelia still hasn’t unpacked her stuff. She has a new friend called Reggie and a new enemy called Rhoda who likes (yes in that way) Reggie, and who therefore considers Amelia to be a threat.

   Amelia is inclined to think that everyone in her life is crazy. She is the only sane person around. Reggie is obsessed with superheroes and he likes everyone to dress up as a superheroes. One day Amelia, Reggie, Rhoda, and Reggie’s friend Pajamaman meet in the G.A.S.P (Gathering of Awesome Super Pals) headquarters and Reggie proposes that they should do something about two bullies who have been terrorizing the neighborhood for years. For some reason he is convinced that his cape will protect him when he confronts the two. Actually, his cape is no help at all, but his allergies are!

   On the first day of school, Amelia walks to school with Reggie, Rhoda (who still hates her) and Pajamaman. She soon identifies the cliques in the school, and all of them are familiar. The only one that she does see are the “nerds.” Where are they she asks. Which is when she finds out that Reggie, Rhoda, and Pajamaman are the nerds in the school. Amelia is a nerd “by association.” Fantastic. In no time at all Amelia ends up in the principal’s office for being “disruptive.” Surely her first day in school cannot possible get worse. Ah, but it can because there is gym class ahead.

   There is no doubt that young readers who enjoy graphic novels are going to love this book. Though Amelia’s adventures are outrageously funny, there is a thread of true-to-life-experiences running through the book that young readers will quickly pick up on. Amelia is having a hard time adjusting to her new life, and she feel helpless because she has so little control over what happens to her. This is surely a feeling everyone can identify with.

   This is a first in a series of graphic novels about Amelia and her friends.

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book one hundred and ninety-nine

For many people adjusting to a change can be very difficult. We don't want to have to get used to a new person or a new situation. What is wrong with things just as they are?

In today's picture book you will see how one cat struggles when a change is brought into his life.

Bandit’s surprise

Karen Rostoker-Gruber

Illustrated by Vincent Nguyen

Picture book

For ages 5 to 7

Marshall Cavendish, 2010, 978-0-7614-5623-0

   One day Bandit the cat’s owner, Michelle, takes his cat carrier out to the car telling him that she will be back soon “with a surprise.” Naturally, Bandit is keen to find out what kind of surprise is in store for him. Will it be a new toy or a tasty treat?

   When Michelle comes home, Bandit finds out that Michelle has brought home a kitten called Mitzy. Bandit is not at all happy about the new arrival. No one asked him if he wanted a new kitten! Mitzi eats Bandit’s food, drinks his water, uses his little box, and then she commits the ultimate sin; she starts to play with his toy mouse. This is more that Bandit can stand, and he swipes at then kitten who starts to cry. Michelle scolds Bandit for scaring the kitten, which is when Bandit decides that he is not going to stay in a house where he is not wanted. Out the window he goes.

   Though this amusing and sensitive story is clearly about a cat, it is very relevant to  young humans who have to adjust to having a newcomer in the midst. Getting used to change is not easy for cats or humans, and reading Bandit’s story will help children to understand that their feelings regarding a new sibling or a new adult in their life are perfectly normal.

   Told from Bandit’s point of view (using speech bubbles) and in the third person, and using comic book style art, this second story about Bandit is sure to be a firm favorite with young readers and their adults. 

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book one hundred and ninety-eight

Learning how to do something new almost always is a challenge. Very rarely are we able to do this new thing properly the very first time we try it. Recently I started learning how to play the violin, and I have learned that I need to have two things: patience and a willingness to practice.

In today's picture book you will meet a very small penguin who has to learn a similar lesson. He is not going to be a good swimmer the very first time he tries.

Penguin Pete

Marcus Pfister

Translated by Anthea Bell

Picture Book

For ages 4 to 6

NorthSouth, 1994, 978-1558583566

   Pete lives in a colony of penguins in the Antarctic, and he is the smallest of the young penguins. He is eager to grow up so that he can go swimming in the sea with the sleek and elegant adult penguins. He soon notices that on land all penguins waddle, even the adults. They are no better than he is at getting about on the snow and ice.

   Pete decides that he is going to find a way to move about on land that is more graceful. He practices flipper skating on the ice, and though he looks good, he often ends up landing “on the ground with a thump.” Then Pete meets Steve, a little bird, and he discovers that there is something else he cannot do. He cannot fly.

   Children will immediately identify with Pete, a “pint-sized” penguin who is a “good loser.” They will see that there are many things in life that take practice to make perfect, and that it is perfectly all right not to be good at something when you first start doing it.

   This is the first in a series of books about Penguin Pete. 

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book one hundred and ninety-seven

There are certain things that parents don't consider. For example, becasue they were once children, they have a pretty good idea of what their children are doing when they are in school or playing at a friend's house. They know what it is like to be a child. Children on the other hand have no idea what it is like to be a parents or a grownup. What do their grownups do all day? What kinds of things do grownups do for fun?

In today's picture book we go inside the imagination of a little boy who shows us  what he thinks his parents do when he goes away for a night.

What do parents do? (…when you’re not home)

Jeanie Franz Ransom

Illustrated by Cyd Moore

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Peachtree Publishers, 2007, 978-1-56145-409-9

   A boy and his little sister are going to spend the night at their grandparent’s house, and as they leave home, they ask their parents, “What are you going to do?” As they drive away, the boy starts to imagine what his parents are doing at home at that moment, and his imagination runs wild!

   First Mom and Dad will jump on the bed with their shoes on. In short, they will do what they are always telling their children “not to do.” Then they go sledding down the stairs on pillows, which is not very good for the pillows. After all this rambunctiousness, they sit and watch the TV “for ages.” They watch all kinds of junk and they sit far too close to the TV screen too.

   While the little boy is drinking lemonade at Grandma’s house, he imagines that his parents are pigging out on waffles, ice cream, and Kool-Aid. In fact, while he and his sister are pursuing wholesome activities with Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad are going crazy!

   It is hard for young children to imagine what their parents do when they are not around. In fact, it is something of a mystery. Now, at last, all is revealed, and children will find out that the truth is just as terribly decadent (and naughty) as they thought it would be.

   Cyd Moore’s lively and amusing illustrations perfectly compliment the text in this delightful story. 

Poetry Friday - A review of In the Spin of things.

The world is full of motion. Everywhere you look things are moving in some way. A cat's whisker is twitching, a branch is swaying, a fly is zipping around the room. In today's poetry book, Rebecca Kai Dotlich explores and celebrates some of the everyday sounds that fill our lives.

In the spin of things: Poetry of Motion

Rebecca Kai Dotlich

Illustrations by Karen Dugan

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 7 to 9

Wordsong, 2010, 978-1-59078-828-8

We live in a world that is full of movement. Leaves on trees shiver, birds fly through the sky, cars whizz down roads. Most of the time we barely notice what is going on around us because we are so busy being in motion ourselves.

   In this clever collection of poems, the author explores everyday moments when something is in motion. She begins by looking at the way in which cereal bobs in a bowl of milk. There are “flagging flakes,” “soft moons” and even cereal stars that do “the butterfly stroke” in the milk. Then there is the pepper shaker that gets busy sprinkling “a million / midnight dots” on hash browns and scrambled eggs. When it’s work is done, the shaker is back on its base “hot dots settle / into place.”

   In the classroom the pencil sharpener “nibbles” away at pencils, and a pair of scissors “slides open, / squeezes shut.” The globe spins around “a swirl of blue / a whirl of brown” as oceans and continents going flying by.

   Later in the book, we explore the movement a “crumpled” empty soda can makes as it tumbles across a sidewalk. We watch wind chimes dancing like “tin ballerinas” on their strings in the wind, and we see the flame of a candle with its “curvy wave” flickering before it is blown out.

   With wonderful word pictures and a clever use of rhyming and non-rhyming verse, Rebecca Kai Dotlich turns the ordinary into something extraordinary. 

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book one hundred and ninety-six

Being different when you are an adult can make things complicated. Being different when you are child can make your life downright miserable. If you don't do ballet, or play soccer, or have the newest brand of shoes, you are given a unflattering label that follows you wherever you go.

Today's picture beautifully explores the idea that people who are different can be incredibly interesting and yes, they can also be very cool.

Marshall Armstrong is new to our school

David Macintosh

Picture Book

For ages 6 to 8

Abrams, 2011, 978-1-4197-0036-1

   Marshall Armstrong is the new boy in class and he looks different. He wears a tie and a straw hat and glasses that have the words Ray Ban written on them. He has also brought a ton of stuff to school with him, stuff that his desk partner does not have, like a protractor, various kinds of rulers, a pencil case, and all kinds of fancy pens. Then at lunchtime everyone sees that Marshall Armstrong “doesn’t eat normal food.” Everything he has comes in labeled silver wrappers. At recess he doesn’t play. Instead, he reads a book. All this adds up to one thing; Marshall Armstrong “doesn’t fit” in the school.

   Then Marshall Armstrong invites everyone to his birthday party. His desk partner is told that he has to go. He convinces himself that he, and all the other guests, are going to have a terrible time. After all, a boy like Marshall Armstrong cannot possibly give a decent birthday party. Right?

   This wonderful picture book, with its quirky illustrations, and its humorous narrative, shows to great effect that there are times when really interesting people come in rather strange wrappings. It is easy to judge them by how they look and behave, but you cannot really understand what they like until you get to know them properly.

   This book not only conveys a message that children need to hear, but it also serves as a tribute to all those wonderful and unique people out there who do not fit into a commonly accepted mold.

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book one hundred and ninety-five

Ever single person I know has had days when they wish they could give away a member of their family. A brother, sister, mother, or father does something that is infuriating and an ugly scene ensues. In today's picture you will meet a little girl rodent whose little sister finally goes too far, and who ends up being given to a neighbor "for free."

Rosie and Buttercup

Chieri Uegaki

Illustrated by Stephane Jorisch

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Kids Can Press, 2008, 978-1-55337-997-3

   Rosie is an extremely lucky rodent girl because she has everything she could ever want. She has parents who love her, two pet crickets, dance lessons, music lessons, and a bag of sun-dried dandelion puffs. Then Buttercup is born and Rosie is thrilled with her little sister. Rosie sings to Buttercup and she lets her little sister join her backyard ballet sessions.

   After a time, Rosie starts to realize that Buttercup is rather annoying sometimes. She starts to think that it might be nice if Buttercup was not around to bother her. At first, Rosie resists this idea, but then Buttercup ties to open the cricket’s cage and Rosie gets veryupset. There is only one thing to do and Rosie does it. She gives her little sister away to a neighbor. Ahhh. Now at last Rosie’s life can go “back to the way they used to be.” Or maybe not.

   There is no doubt that little brothers and sisters can be annoying at times. With humor and a delicate touch, Chieri Uegaki tells a sympathetic story that readers of all ages will be able to identify with.