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

When I was a young girl, all the girls in my class were keen to become the next Margot Fonteyn. There were no soccer teams for girls where we lived and ballet was what little girls did. Not surprisingly, most of us really weren't suited to becoming ballet dancers, but how we tried. I can remember having sore feet, and dreading those hours of barre practice. Thankfully I discovered long distance running and my ballet days ended. 

It is not easy finding the courage to be who you are. Some of us are made to be ballet dancers, but most of us are not. We have some other gift that we need to find, and then embrace. Today's book is about a little girl who takes this very important journey. 

Naughty Toes

Ann Bonwill

Illustrated by Teresa Murfin

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Tiger Tales, 2011, 978-1-58925-103-8

   Chloe’s big sister Belinda loves ballet, and now she and Chloe are going to take ballet lessons. At Dana’s Dance Shop Belinda picks pink dancing slippers, a pink leotard, and a white skirt. Belinda wants something that “has style,” so she picks red slippers and a green and purple leotard.

   At her first ballet class, Chloe begins to think that perhaps her choice of clothes was not such a good idea because she is the only one who is not wearing the more traditional pink dance outfit. To make matters worse, when the students are asked to point their toes Chloe’s toes refuse to cooperate, and Madame Mina says that Chloe has “Naughty toes.” Then, when the students practice dancing to the beat of the music, Chloe somehow ends up counting four beats instead of three.

   Unfortunately, for Chloe this is just the beginning. Her hair refuses to form a nice and tidy bun, she cannot flutter like a butterfly, and when she is supposed to “Float like clouds” Chloe spins around the classroom and collides with one of the other students. Chloe cannot help being “a cloud with gusto,” but it is not what Madame Mina is looking for.

   Many children desperately want to fit in, and sometimes this is hard to do because we are all different. How can be all be the same when we don’t all have the same gifts and abilities?

   In this clever and meaningful picture book, Ann Bonwill shows her readers that it is important to march to your own drumbeat and to celebrate the gifts that you have, rather than trying to force yourself into a role that simply doesn’t suit you. It is so much better to be who you are and to let yourself shine!

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

When my daughter was in the fifth grade, she and her classmates had to raise a lot of money for their class field trip. Of course parents got involved, but the kids worked very hard and their labors paid off. For today's picture book I have a title by Eileen Spinelli featuring Miss Fox and her class. In this title, Miss Fox's students discover that raising money for a field trip can be quite challenging. 

Miss Fox’s Class earns a field trip

Eileen Spinelli

Illustrated by Anne Kennedy

Picture book

For ages 5 to 7

Albert Whitman, 2010, 978-0-8075-5169-1

   The kids in Miss Fox’s class very much want to go to Roller Coaster Planet for their next field trip. Miss Fox explains that it is going to coast $135 for the trip, and that the students are going to have to earn the money themselves.

   When she hears about the field trip fund, Ms. Owl gives Miss Fox’s students a job. All they need to do to earn $20 is to clean Ms. Owl’s car so that it is spic and span when she has to drive the visiting author, Percy P. Possum, home.

   Cleaning the car presents no problems for the students, but when the job is finished, the children accidentally get Mr. Possum wet. Twice! After they have paid for Mr. Possum’s cleaning bill the children only have $5 in their field trip fund. How very discouraging.

   Then Young Bear suggests that the children should put on a play. With the help of family members, the children put on a splendid play and they raise $60. At the end of the performance Mr. Possum comes backstage to congratulate the cast. He slips on Raccoon’s costume and one of the lenses in his glasses breaks. That little slip ends up costing Miss Fox’s students $25 to repair Mr. Possum’s glasses. At this rate, the students are going to be all grown up before they have enough money to go on a field trip!

   In this delightful Miss Fox title, Eileen Spinelli gives her readers a meaningful story about the trials and tribulations of fundraising. It takes tenacity and determination to raise money for a good cause, and sometimes it is not at all easy. With a sprinkling of math and loveable characters, this is a story that children are sure to appreciate. 

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book two hundred and eighty-nine

Most of us, at one time or another, wish we had superpowers. How much easier life would be if we could do our chores at warp speed, and therefore have time to do all the fun stuff that we want to do. How much easier travel would be if we could fly, and wouldn't it be cool if we could climb the walls like Spiderman?

In today's picture book you will met a duck who likes to pretend that he is a superhero. Though the duck has the heart of a superhero, he does not have the powers that make superheros successful in their endeavors. This singular lack of superhero abilities does not deter the duck though, as you will see. 

Super Duck

Jez Alborough

Picture book

For ages 5 to 7

Kane/Miller, 2009, 978-1-933605-89-0

  One day Frog and Sheep come to Goat’s house, but they cannot find him. Then Goat calls out from his shed and he shows his friends the colorful kite he has made. Eagerly the three friends head out to try the kite. Who can throw the kite “really high” Goat wonders.

   Which is when Duck, or rather Super Duck, arrives on the scene. Duck throws the kite as hard as he can, but the kite soon comes back to earth. Next, Duck tries running and pulling the kite to get it up into the air. This does not work either. Even attaching the kite to Duck’s truck does not have the desired effect. What can the three friends do to get Goat’s kite to do what kites are supposed to do?

   Children will find it hard not to laugh out loud when they see what Duck, and his long suffering friends, get up to in this amusing picture book. Pairing clever rhymes with his delightfully expressive and funny illustrations, Jez Alborough gives children a picture book that all superhero fans will appreciate. 

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book two hundred and eighty-eight

Trying to convince a child that sharing is a good idea can be challenging. In fact, sometimes a battle ensures, with the child insisting that everything is "MINE!" Today's picture book tells the story of just such a child who claims all the toys are his, until he makes a very important discovery.

Mine!

Shutta Crum

Illustrated by Patrice Barton

For ages 3 to 5

Random House, 2011, 978-0-375-86711-8

   One day a toddler and a baby are set up on the floor with a pile of toys to play with. The little toddler decides that a small stuffed giraffe is “Mine!” and he picks it up. The blue and white star, the red ball, the toy plane, and everything else is also “Mine!” Soon the only thing that is left on the floor is a little yellow toy, which the baby picks up.

   Seeing the baby holding the yellow toy is more than the toddler can stand. “MINE!” he shouts, casting aside all the other toys to get the coveted yellow toy.

   The little dog sees a green and white ball bouncing across the floor and he picks it up. This is not acceptable to the toddler who sets about retrieving the ball saying “Mine!” While the toddler is occupied with the dog, the baby throws the yellow toy into the dog bowl.

   One would think that this would be a catastrophe, but it isn’t. Instead, it is the beginning of a wonderful, wet, and slobbery game that the toddler, baby, and dog all share.

   Trying to show young children that sharing is a good thing can be rather challenging. How can sharing something with another child be better than having that something all to oneself? With no real text (beyond the word “Mine!”) this picture book shows to great effect how sharing some toys with others can be wonderful fun. 

Poetry Friday - A review of Where I live

Some people embrace change, they like to try new things and see new places. For others, getting used to change is a trial, and it can even be painful. In today's book of poetry, Eileen Spinelli uses a series of short poems to tell the story of a young girl who has to leave the home and best friend she loves. The book is a gem, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. 

Where I Live

Eileen Spinelli

Illustrated by Matt Phelan

Poetry and fiction

For ages 9 to 12

Penguin, 2007, 978-0803731226

Diana loves her home. She loves the fact that a wren is nesting in the wreath on the front door. Diana also loves her best friend Rose. Rose and Diana fit together like vanilla ice cream and fudge sauce. Rose never complains when Diana starts talking about stars, and when Diana works on her poems. Rose is always there when Diana needs someone to talk to.

   Then something happens that turns Diana's world upside down; her father loses his job. Diana's parents are going to have a hard time paying for their home without Dad's wages. After Mom goes to visit her father, she comes home to announce that they are all going to move in with Grandpa. Mom and Dad won't have to pay a mortgage if they move, and Grandpa will have someone to share his large, lonely house. They are going to move away from the yellow house and from Rose.

Diana is heartbroken. She will never have another friend like Rose. She will never have a house like the yellow house that she lives in and loves. She will never be happy again.

Written in the form of a series of poems, this warm, touching, and evocative story will resonate with readers of all ages. Because of her father's bad luck, Diana is forced into a new situation, and in the process, she learns that change is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it can even make life richer and more interesting.

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book two hundred and eighty-seven

Like so many other people in our fast-paced world, I often find myself running around at a furious pace, trying to keep up with all the things that I have to do. Aside from the fact that this way of life is stressful, and therefore unhealthy, it is also a way of life that encourages one to be unaware of what is going on around you. You are going so fast that you don't realize that your actions are impacting others, sometimes in negative ways.

In today's picture book you will meet a beaver who lives his life at such a frenetic pace that he makes his neighbor's lives very difficult. 

The busy beaver

Nicholas Oldland

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 8

Kids Can Press, 2011, 978-1-55453-749-5

Beaver is always busy. In fact he is so busy that he does not pay attention to what he is doing. He does not “always think things through.” As a result, his dams leak, he makes a mess wherever he goes, he leaves trees half-chewed, and sometimes he chews down more trees than he needs.

   One day beaver is so careless that he chews a tree that has a bird’s nest in it, and does not notice that the tree is “falling in his direction.” When he comes to, beaver is in hospital with a formidable number of injuries. For the first time in his life beaver has to lie still and take it easy.

   After many days of resting and healing, beaver is able to get up and look out of his hospital window. What he sees makes him realize that he has caused a great deal of destruction and trouble in the forest. He did not mean to cause harm and now he has to do something to make up for his mistakes.

   Sometimes we get on a roll and we plough through life without realizing that we are leaving a wake of destruction in our wake. This picture book addresses this issue with humor and sensitivity. Through beaver’s eyes we see that sometimes it is better to take our time than to rush rush rush.

   With delightful illustrations and a meaningful message, this picture book will resonate with readers of all ages.

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book two hundred and eighty-six

I have noticed that many parents, though they dote on their children, sometimes fail to realize that their children are trying to tell them something. The child says something, and the parent answers with a distracted "yes honey." It is obvious to anyone who is watching, including the child, that the parent did not take in a word.

In today's picture book you will meet a baby who has a lot to say, and the members of his family who don't realize that what he is saying makes sense. A lot of sense.

Edwin Speaks up

April Stevens

Illustrated by Sophie Blackall

Picture Book

For ages 4 to 6

Random House, 2011, 978-0-375-85337-1

   Tomorrow is baby Edwin’s birthday, and his mother needs to go to the grocery store to buy a few things, including the sugar that she needs so that she can bake Edwin’s birthday cake.

   The outing begins with Mrs. Finnemore discovering that she cannot find her keys. “Gloo poop SHOE noogie froo KEY” baby Edwin says in his own brand of baby ferret language. Even though his mother doesn’t listen to him, Mrs. Fennimore does eventually manage to find the car keys, which are inside her son’s shoe.

   When you have five children, loading up the car to go to the grocery store can be rather chaotic, and Mrs. Fennimore is so busy getting Edwin into his car seat, and getting the other children to cooperate, that she ends up driving to the store with her pocketbook on the roof of the car. Edwin did say “Figbutton noo noo POCKY BOOKY froppin ROOF,” but as usual no one listens. If they did, they would know that the “Pocky Booky” is on the roof of the car.

   In this clever and wonderfully funny picture book, children will meet a family of ferrets who youngest member seems to be more aware than anyone else of what is going on around him. For all those people who think that little children have nothing useful to say, take heed. They probably know a lot more than you give them credit for.

   With delightfully quirky illustrations and a memorable tale that has a perfect ending, this picture book is sure to become a family favorite. 

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration - Book two hundred and eighty-four

For some people making friends is easy. For others it is difficult because they don't know how to go about it, or because they are shy, or because they are unsure of themselves. I know a few people who approach making friends as if it is a quest that must be completed. In today's picture book you will meet someone who is like this. She is determined to make a friend, and she will force the issue if she has to.

You will be my friend

Peter Brown

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Little Brown, 2001, 978-0-316-07030-0

   One morning Lucy the bear wakes up and she decides that today she is going to make a new friend. She does not know how she is going to achieve this goal, but she is bursting with confidence that one of the “critters” in the forest will want to be her friend.

   With great enthusiasm Lucy throws herself into the task. Her first attempt to befriend a frog goes horribly wrong when she jumps into the frog pond and all the water splashes out. Next she tries to make friends with a giraffe by climbing a tree. Too late she realizes that she has climbed into the giraffe’s breakfast. She goes on to wash a skunk and to ask an ostrich “So tell me, what’s it like to fly?” Needless to say, neither of these attempts to make a friend work out.

   Lucy tries really hard to “fit in” with her potential friends, and in each case something goes wrong. Then she gets mad. “You will be my friend!” she says, and not surprisingly this tactic falls flat too.

   Making new friends is never easy, no matter how old you are. In this picture book, young readers will meet someone who really tries to make a new friend, and they will appreciate Lucy’s struggles and failures. With Lucy’s help, young readers will come to understand that finding friends is not something that you can control. Sometimes you just have to have a little faith and hope.

The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration - Book two hundred and eighty-four

There is no doubt that many children love picture books that feature a bear as the main character. Some of these bears are big and mean, while others are gentle and friendly. Some behave very much like bears, while others behave like humans, living in houses and sleeping in beds.

In 2002, Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman brought us a delightful picture book about a bear who sleeps so soundly that nothing wakes him up until a fleck of pepper touches his nose. Bear Snores On was an instant hit, and all the subsequent Bear books have also been hugely popular. Here is a review of the latest Bear book.  

Bear’s Loose Tooth

Karma Wilson

Illustrated by Jane Chapman

Picture Book

For ages 3 to 6

Simon and Shuster, 2011, 978-1-4169-5855-0

   Bear and his forest friends are eating their lunch when Bear feels that something strange is happening to one of his teeth. The tooth wiggles and wobbles and bear gets very upset. How will he eat if his tooth falls out?

   Thankfully, Bear’s friends know all about loose teeth. Hare takes a look at the tooth and Mouse reassures Bear that “A new tooth will grow / where the old used to be.” The best thing to do is to get the old tooth out so that new one can grow in.

   This sounds pretty straightforward, but when Bear’s friends try to remove the loose tooth, they cannot budge the thing. Who knew that having a loose tooth could cause so much trouble!

   Bear and his friends have delighted readers of all ages ever since the first title in the series, Bear Snores on, came out. Now Bear is back and he has a new problem, a problem that young children will surely appreciate. Having a loose tooth is annoying after all. At first you are afraid that losing it will mean you will have a hole in your mouth forever. Then you are afraid that the loose tooth will never fall out, and that you will be stuck with it.

   With Karma Wilson’s wonderful rhyming text and Jane Chapman’s expressive paintings, this is a picture book that young children will want to read again and again.

Roxie Munro's New Children's app - Roxie's Doors

A very dear friend of mine, children's book author and illustrator Roxie Munro has a new app for the iPad on the market. I asked her to tell us about the new app and to describe what it was like to make. Here is a sixty second trailer about the app

And this is what Roxie has to say about the new app:

Our previous app, “Roxie’s a-MAZE-ing Vacation Adventure,” was a new maze game created from all new original art, which was based upon my 5 published maze books (BTW, an iPhone version will be out by early November). “Roxie’s Doors,” however, was made from a previously published children’s book by Chronicle, the rights of which reverted to me a couple years ago.  When I formally requested the rights back, I had also asked for the scans. Always do that if you can, because it makes it much easier and less expensive to resell, reprint, or reuse the art.  OCG Studios carefully reviewed the book and came up with a creative game plan. It involved making it 3-D, which is quite labor-intensive, but adds greatly to the experience (tilt the iPad to fully appreciate it). So I had to do some more art, primarily working on the backgrounds, which I did directly on the original art, rather than redrawing everything (it did mess up the illustrations somewhat, but keep in mind that this was lift-the-flap paper-engineered book in the first place, so the art was in complicated separate pieces anyway). Here’s a link on how the 3-D part was done by the developers: http://www.ocgstudios.com/roxies-doors/making-of-roxies-doors/

They found all sorts of cool sounds to add - dog barking, phones, sirens, singing, crunching, flushing, tapping hammers, etc. In the refrigerator, for example, the four desserts in parfait glasses (upper left) each have a different note, like a piano - when you touch them, you can play a tune! There are three choices for voice-over: silent (you can read the text yourself); you can have a guy (Dirk) read it; or be read to by the author (me). OCG Studios is in the Netherlands, and we did all the work via e-mail. The VO recordings, however, were done here in the US not far from my studio, and the files sent over. Updates are important (and free to purchasers) so we are now working on a major addition to “Roxie’s Doors,” which will be out within a month or so.

We’ve had great reviews, from SLJ, Kirkus, PW, Moms With Apps, Digital Storytime, Common Sense Media (which gave it the max 5 stars and a valued “Hidden Gem” award), and many more. With children’s apps you must go beyond the usual children’s book review venues, and reach out to web reviewers, many of whom interact directly with moms and dads. The institutional market (schools and libraries) isn’t as important to the app market as printed books are. Web reviews are also available all over the world.  This app is written/spoken in English, which limits the world-wide audience somewhat. It has sold in 40 countries (the maze app, which is wordless, has sold in 63 countries). We are currently making an app from another out-of-print Chronicle book, to be called “Roxie’s Circus,” which we expect to have out early 2012.