Picture Book Monday - A Review of Big City Otto

Losing a friend can be a very painful experience, and sometimes the pain is so deep that we never forget what that friend was like and how special he or she was. In today's book you will meet Otto, an elephant whose best friend Georgie is kidnapped. Otto never forgets Georgie, and encouraged by a parrot chum, he sets off to find him. Be prepared to laugh a great deal when you read this graphic novel story. It is deliciously funny and full of truly outrageous adventures.

Big City Otto: Elephants Never Forget
Bill Slavin and Esperanca Melo
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Graphic Novel
For ages 8 to 12
Kids Can Press, 2011, 978-1-55453-476-0
Otto is an elephant who has never quite got over the loss of his best friend, Georgie the chimp. Otto was orphaned when he was still very little, and Georgie’s family took him in and raised him as one of their own. Naturally, the elephant and the chimp grew very close.
   Some time ago Georgie was kidnapped, or rather chimpnapped, by the Man with the Wooden Nose, and Otto is still grieving. Otto’s friend Crackers the parrot discusses the chimpnapping with Otto again, and he figures out that Georgie was taken in a ship to America. Being a very brainy bird, and a friend who dearly wants to reunite Georgie and Otto, Crackers finds a way to get Otto onto a plane that is flying to New York City. This is no mean feat since Otto is rather large and is therefore very difficult to hide or disguise.
   When they get to America the two friends start getting into trouble from the very beginning. They have to break out of the airport in the middle of the night, and when they get to the city they realize that finding Georgie is not going to be easy because the city is huge.
   After a number of false starts, Crackers and Otto meet a performing monkey who suggests they go to the zoo where there are wild animals. Perhaps one of them will know about Georgie or the Man with the Wooden Nose. Crackers and Otto dare to hope that they are finally going to make some progress, never imagining that a great deal of danger awaits them at the zoo.
   In this deliciously funny, sweet, and entertaining graphic novel we meet a not-too-bright elephant and a canny and loyal parrot who cannot seem to stay out of trouble. Wonderful adventures and colorful characters make this a winning graphic novel that fans of this genre are going to love.

Poetry Friday: A Review of Poetry for Young People: Animal Poems

When I first started to read and enjoy poetry, many of the poems that attracted me were about animals. I learned The Owl and the Pussycat by heart and had a grand time reading The Tyger out loud with my father, trying to make the poem sound as dramatic as possible. Today's book of poetry brings these two poems and many others to readers who enjoy whiling away some time with some wonderful poetry animals.

Poetry for Young People: Animal Poems

Edited by John Hollander

Illustrated by Simona Mulazzani

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 9 and up

Sterling, 2004, 978-1-4027-0926-5

Animals and humans have been interacting in all kinds of ways for thousands of years, and for this reason humans have been writing about animals ever since they acquired the ability to write. Some writers and poets have told stories about animals or described them, while others have tried to imagine what it would be like to be an animal, seeing the world through an animal’s eyes.

   For this collection of poems John Hollander has brought together poems about animals that people in North America, Europe, and East Asia have written in the last four centuries. Some of the poems tell the story of talking animals. For example, in The Owl and the Pussycat we hear about an unlikely pair of lovers who sail away “in a pea-green boat” and are married by a “piggy-wig” that has “a ring at the end of his nose.”

   In Fable by Ralph Waldo Emerson we meeting a talking squirrel who gets into a quarrel with a mountain. The squirrel admits that the mountain is “doubtless very big,” but that does not mean that the squirrel is not important too. After all, a squirrel is “spry” and can “crack a nut,” which a mountain most certainly cannot do.

   Other poems provide readers with a description of an animal, helping us to understand what the animal is like. In The Eagle by Lord Alfred Tennyson, we hear about the bird that lives “Close to the sun in lonely lands,” and that “watches from his mountain walls. / And like a thunderbolt he falls.”  Though it is not grand and regal, the jelly fish that Marianne Moore describes in her poem, A Jelly-Fish is still an extraordinary creature. In her opinion the jelly fish is “a fluctuating charm” that is both visible and invisible.

   Throughout this excellent book all the poems are prefaced by a note from the editor. These notes provide readers with further information about the poet and the poet’s intentions, and some of the notes also tell us a little about the poem and its history.

   This title is one in an excellent series of books of poetry published by Sterling Publishing.

Picture Book Monday - A Review of How to Heal a Broken Wing

For as long as I can remember I have been an animal lover. My parents, and then my husband, have had to put up with the injured birds, mice, voles, squirrels, dogs and cats that I have brought home. Many of my 'patients' didn't make it, but a few have. I will never forget how I felt when my bluebird chicks flew up to where their parents were waiting for them, and how thrilled I was when my one-eyed starling flew off to start a new life. In today's picture book we will meet some people who open their hearts to an injured bird and whose hearts, I am sure, are enriched because they did.

How to Heal a Broken Wing

Bob Graham

Picture Book

For ages 5 and up

Candlewick Press, 2013, 978-0-7636-3903-7

One day high up above the city streets, a pigeon flew into a glass window and then fell to the ground below. No one saw the accident or the fall, and no one saw the pigeon lying on the cement with its eyes closed, a single feather lying beside it. People walked by the fallen bird, never looking down, until Will came along.

   The little boy saw the pigeon and realized that it was alive and injured. He picked the bird up and showed his find to mother, who was, at first, unsure of what to do. Then she took off her scarf and wrapped it around the bird and together they took the animal home.

   Will’s father did not know what to do either when he saw the bird, but when he saw his son’s concern and hope, he too took on the cause of the bird. Together Will, his mother and his father did everything they could to make their injured guest comfortable. Though they could not put the feather the bird had lost back where it belonged, they could hope that the broken wing would heal.

   This beautifully illustrated book, with its spare and meaningful text shows to great effect how powerful hope can be. We see how the little boy and his parents have the same willingness to do what they can to help another living thing that is in trouble, and how they invest time and effort on its behalf.

   This is a book that readers of all ages will appreciate.

Poetry Friday - A review of Here in Harlem

I took a very long time to read today's poetry title, not because it was hard to read or very long, but because I read several of the poems more than once. They were so beautifully crafted that I had to go back to get a second look. If you are interested in poems that tell stories then this is the book for you. The voices that speak to us from the pages are true and honest, and they give us pictures of a wide variety of people.

Here in Harlem: Poems in many voices

Walter Dean Myers

Poetry

For ages 9 and up

Holiday House, 2004, 978-0-8234-2212-8

Author and poet Walter Dean Myers grew up in Harlem, and after he read Edgar Lee Master’s book Spoon River Anthology, he was inspired to create a collection of poems that celebrate people from Harlem whom the author knew or “whose lives have touched” his own. Many of the people whom he admires greatly appear in these poems. Following the advice of poet E.B Yeats, Walter Dean Myers wrote about a community that he loved dearly, “whose people would gladden his heart.”

   The first ‘voice’ we hear belongs to Mali Evans, a twelve-year-old girl. Mali hopes that when she is old she will be like Mrs. Purvis who walks like a monarch “Down the avenue, as if the streets / Were her queendom” and who is “an ancient lady / Tree-tough and deep-rooted.”

   Later in the book we meet Milton Brooks, an undertaker who does his best to comfort those left behind. He tries to “ease the pain” of these people by telling them that the dearly departed will “wake up home.” The only time Mr. Brooks cannot help weeping is when a child dies, and he prays to the Lord that he will not have to watch more “old men shuffling children to / the grave.”

   Later still we find ourselves keeping company with Delia Pierce, who is a hairdresser. Like hairdressers and barbers all over the world, Delia hears all the news in the community and she is not shy to share what she has heard. She tells us about Carla who is getting married for the third time and who “uses men like a Christmas tree uses tinsel.” She tells us about Darlene who is going south, Sister Smith whose husband chases women, Cindy Lou who sneaks out at night, Betty Mae who tells tales about her former glory, and Deacon Grier who would “sit home all day and sip champagne” with a “light-skinned” girl called Baby Jane. Of course, Delia tells us that she “ain’t the kind to talk behind / nobody’s back.”

   Every poem in this collection gives readers a beautiful portrait of a person, and together they capture the flavor of a unique community. Paired with beautiful black and white period photos, the poems are like gems that we can savor and delight in.

Picture Book Monday - A review of What Goes Up

Every so often I decide to start a new project, to take a new direction with my work. Often, in the beginning, I cannot seem to get things to work the way I want them to work. Figuratively speaking, I fall on my face a lot. It is awfully easy to get discouraged at these times and I feel like giving up. From now on, when I have those 'I want to give up' moments, I will pull today's picture book off my shelf. It is the best pick-me-up in book form that I have found, and it always, always puts a smile on my face and a spring in my step. I think this book should be compulsory reading for everyone.

What goes up

Paula Bowles

Picture Book

For ages 6 and up

Tiger Tales, 2013, 978-1-58925-119-9

Martin the dragon is sad, and the children in the village, who love Martin, are worried about their scaly friend. When they ask him what is wrong, Martin explains that he wishes he could fly. Unfortunately, his wings are just too small to support his body, and inevitably “What goes up, must come down.”

   Then Martin sees a bumblebee buzz by and he gets a splendid idea. “Stripes must be the key to flying,” he says and he quickly paints some stripes on his body. Alas, stripes are not what Martin needs.

   After Martin sees autumn leaves drift by on the breeze he decides that what he needs to do to fly is to be in a tree. Then he, like the leaves, will be carried off by the wind. After sitting in the tree for quite some time, Martin determines that dragons and leaves do not behave in the same way.

   Martin tries to be fluffy like a cloud, but when he - wrapped in dandelion fluff - leaps into the air, he and his fluff crashes to the ground. Poor Martin is feeling “so low” that the children decide to take him in hand. There must be something that they can do to help their friend.

   Sometimes something we want very badly indeed seems completely out of reach. No matter how hard we try, that coveted something is unattainable. This charming, funny, and delightfully sweet picture book story will remind readers of all ages that one cannot give up hope. With a little help from our friends, we can achieve just about anything our heart desires, even when our wings seem too small for the job.

Poetry Friday - A review of Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors

There are so many animal species on our planet today that sometimes we forget to remember that millions of species have gone extinct over the millennia. The ones that here now are the survivors, the ones who had that little something that made it possible for them to survive climate change, meteorite strikes, and the rise of humans. Today's book of poetry celebrates some of these survivors, and it is a wonderful book to explore and to share with others.

Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors

Joyce Sidman

Illustrated by Beckie Prange

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 7 and up

Houghton Mifflin, 2010, 978-0-618-71719-4

Four point six billion years ago Earth was a glowing ball floating in space; it was newly formed and was therefore, a place where living organisms could not survive. Then the seas began to form, and when the right conditions occurred, tiny single-celled organisms evolved. These bacteria were simple creatures, and yet they helped make our planet home suitable for the plants and animals that appeared later in Earth’s story. They were, in short “miraculous.” In fact, all the plant and animal species that exist today are miracles. Ninety-nine percent of all species that have appeared on Earth have gone extinct, which makes the one percent that are sharing Earth with us true survivors.

   Many millions of years after bacteria appeared shelled organisms called mollusks arrived on the scene. These animals have soft bodies that are protected by a shell. We often find the empty shells of these animals on beaches, and admire the beautiful cones and swirls. The pearly interiors of the shells look so lovely that we wish we could climb inside and knock on the shell’s
“tiny door / and ask to meet the mollusk” that made the shell.

   The author of this book then goes on to introduce us to several other families of living things that have been very successful here on Earth. These include the lichens, sharks, and diatoms. The poem about sharks is a delightfully clever concrete poem, and the one about diatoms is beautifully simple.

   Next, the author looks at several species that have survived on earth for many millions of years. We meet a gecko who can shed its tail when a predator threatens it. The fallen tail end wiggles and distracts the predator for long enough that the gecko has time to flee. These extraordinary animals wipe their eyes with their tongues, and they can climb straight up smooth walls thanks to tiny hairs on their feet that work rather like Velcro.

   Another species that we meet are ants, who “never seem to play at all,” and who form complex societies that have fascinated scientists for years. Later on in the book we come across a page dedicated to dandelions. It may seem strange that they are here, but then we remember how hard it is to get rid of dandelions in our lawns and gardens. These hardy plants can grow in many kinds of environments and are so successful that they can take over an area in no time at all.

   Throughout this book superbly crafted poems are paired with gorgeous illustrations and sections of informative text. Each piece of text includes information about how long the featured species or family has been around, which some people will find particularly interesting. Who knew that dandelions have been populating our planet for five million years!

Picture Book Monday - A Review of Look! Another Book!

Seek-and-find books are a wonderful invention. I often use them to get children who are bookaphobic to look at books, to give books a chance. Often, to their surprise, these children discover that the books I give them are entertaining and even funny. Bob Staake's seek-and-find books are an excellent example of this genre because the artwork is full of stories. Children can have a grand time coming up with their own tales as they explore the pictures.

Look! Another Book!
Bob Staake
Picture Book
For ages 5 and up
Little Brown, 2012, 978-0-31620459-0
It wasn’t that long ago when there were no seek-and-find books for children. Then the author of the Waldo books, Martin Handford, began creating his delightful titles, and authors and illustrators were inspired to create a wide variety of seek-and-find books.
   In 2011 Bob Staake unleashed Look! A Book! on the world, and children (and adults) got to enjoy exploring his unique, colorful, and often funny illustrations.  Now we have another Look!  title that once again encourages readers to “Discover things, both small and large,” on the pages. Words play a minor role in the book and we are promised that there are more pictures “than you’ve ever seen.”
   Sure enough, the pages are covered with colorful scenes that are jam packed with bizarre looking characters. The first scene is in a mall. A mall? A boring mall? No, this mall is nothing like any mall you or I have ever seen. In this mall, animals, humans, and robots are walking around, selling things, shopping, eating, and having adventures. There is a pirate ship - complete with a pirate - in the middle of a decorative pond. A sporting goods store and an antiques store are housed in houses, and in the food court there is a place where you can buy a honey baked haggis. There is a man who has a bat flying out of the top of his hat, and a boy wearing a cowboy outfit is riding on the back of a dolphin.
     Well that certainly was wild! Perhaps the next scene will be more ‘normal.’ Here we are looking at a school and the school yard. It is recess time and the children are out running around and playing. Actually, there are animals here too. And robots. And a ghost and a monster. Is that an alien peering around the side of the school? It would appear that this scene is just as wonderfully bizarre as the last one.
   In all there are seven scenes to explore in this book and each one is full of things to find. In addition, there are things going on in the artwork that encourages storytelling. For example, in the zoo scene there is a crab in a pot of fondue and for some reason the zoo keeper is walking a little green monster on a leash. Why are these things happening? Why are all the animals out of their cages and walking around? Children can have a little fun coming up with little stories to explain why these things are going on.
   After readers are convinced that they have found all they can, they can go to the back of the book where there is a list of more things to find, things that are “MORE tough” to locate. Who can resist a challenge like this?
   With a wonderful rhyming text, die-cuts on many of the pages, and remarkable illustrations, this is a book that will provide readers with hours of entertainment. This book demonstrates very well that pictures are indeed “worth A LOT!”

Poetry Friday - A review of Cousins of Clouds: Elephant poems

These days, much of the news that we hear about elephants is not good. In fact it is downright depressing, and I confess that I have a hard time listening to the stories on the radio about the poaching problems in Africa and the habitat loss issues in Asia. When today's book arrived in the mail, I felt a little conflicted. Do I want to read this book, I asked myself. Thankfully I did read it. It is a lovely book and it reminded me that we need to keep on doing everything we can to save elephants, no matter how bad the situation looks. 

Cousins of Clouds: Elephant poems

Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

Illustrated by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy
Poetry Picture Book

For ages 6 to 9

Clarion Books, 2011, 978-0-618-90349-8

Since ancient times, humans have been fascinated by elephants. There is something about elephants that captures the imagination, and people cannot help being drawn to these large animals with their tiny eyes, large plodding feet, long trunk, and gently swaying walk.

   In this remarkable poetry title, poems, artwork, and sections of informative text are combined to give readers a book that looks elephants in a number of ways. We read about how people in many different cultures have elephants in their mythology. In the poem “Cousins of Clouds” we hear of how, long ago, elephants “were great kings of the sky.” One day the elephants angered a prophet by arguing in his presence. To punish the elephants the prophet cursed them so that their wings shriveled to become “pitiful ears,” and thus elephants became earth bound. Now these “cousins of clouds” can only dream of flying as they flap their ears.

   We hear about two working elephants; one walks down a street in Bangkok surrounded by cars, and another works in Africa, carrying tourists who want to see Africa’s wildlife up close.

   We hear how much an elephant enjoys a mud bath, and how an elephant’s trunk, with its more than forty thousand muscles, allows the animal to use this curious-looking appendage as a finger, a fork, an arm, a nose, and a piece of rope.

   We also learn that elephant females work together to protect their precious babies, caring for them for several years. As one would expect in such intelligent and social animals, elephants have several ways to communicate with one another. In addition to making trumpeting noises with their trunks, elephants can communicate over long distances using low sounds that are “near silent.”

   Using a wide variety of poetic forms the author of this book beautifully shares her affection for elephants with the reader. Each poem focuses on an elephant related topic, and it is accompanied by an illustration and a section of text. The text offers readers further information about the topic that is featured on that page. By the time readers get to the end of the book they are able to see how truly wondrous elephants are and how vital it is to protect and cherish them.

  

Picture Book Monday - A review of If you spent a day with Thoreau at Walden Pond

Years ago, when my husband was doing his graduate degree at Harvard, I visited him and he took me to Walden Pond. It was a clear day in early fall and I fell in love with the place at once, taking dozens of photographs of the trees, the pond, and the little treasures that I saw about me. Today's picture book captures the magic of Walden Pond, taking readers back in time so that they can explore the special place with Henry David Thoreau, who lived near the pond for two years.

If you spent a day with Thoreau at Walden Pond

Robert Burleigh

Illustrated by Wendell Minor

Picture Book

For ages 7 to 9

Henry Holt, 2012, 978-0-8050-9137-3

More than one hundred and fifty years ago, a man called Henry David Thoreau left his town life and went to live in the woods next to Walden Pond, which is near the town of Concord in Massachusetts.  He lived in a tiny cabin that he built himself, and explored the woods around his home, getting to know the plants and animals intimately. He wrote down notes in his journal, and later Thoreau wrote a book about his life in the little cabin. It was called Walden, or Life in the Woods, and it is now considered to be one of America’s greatest books.

   In this book readers are invited to imagine what it would be like to spend a day with Thoreau at Walden Pond. As readers explore Thoreau’s world, they will see how simple and yet how rich his life was.

   If you could go back in time to visit Thoreau you would have to get to his cabin early because Thoreau “wakes with the sun.” Perhaps you and Thoreau would go out onto the pond in a little row boat. You could help him weed his bean patch and walk with him in the woods. You wouldn’t have to worry about getting lost because Henry knows his way around the woods. You might even go to Fair Haven Hill to pick huckleberries.

   Moving quietly through the woods and across the meadows you would see all kinds of animals. There in the sky is a hawk “soaring and tumbling, over and over.” You might chase after a fox, or watch two species of ants waging a war. With Thoreau for company you will learn how to see the natural world around you in a new way.

   In this unique picture book, Robert Burleigh’s beautifully spare prose is paired with Wendell Minor’s atmospheric illustrations to give readers a picture of what Thoreau’s life at Walden Pond was like. Readers will get a sense of how peaceful the time was, and how the simple life that Thoreau had allowed him to connect with his environment in a meaningful way.

   At the back of the book the author provides readers with further information about Thoreau and his time at Walden Pond. There is also a collection of quotations from Thoreau’s writings, all of which have relevance in the modern day. Since some of the quotations are written in language that is difficult to understand, the author provides readers with “modern interpretations,” to help us appreciate the sayings more fully.

Poetry Friday - A review of Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs

I know that there are some people who think that frogs, lizards, snakes and other reptiles and amphibians are  "creepy" and "nasty." I am not one of these people. I was the kind of kid who collected tadpoles and watched them turn into frogs. I loved to watch geckos walk across the ceiling of my room, and even kept a grass snake in a tank for a while. I was therefore delighted to discover today's poetry book because it is full of amphibians and reptiles. What is special about this book is that even people who don't typically like these animals will find these poems enjoyable.

Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs

Douglas Florian

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 6 to 8

Harcourt, 2001, 978-0-152-05248-5

Even though many of us might be repelled or frightened by reptiles and amphibians, we often cannot help finding these creatures rather interesting. They come in so many shapes and sizes, and live in so many different kinds of habitats. We love to shiver when we read about how long their teeth are, how venomous they are, or how slimy they feel.

   In this delightful collection of poetry, poet and artist, Douglas Florian, introduces us to some of the world’s reptiles and amphibians. We begins with the skink, which slinks along the ground and through the grass and which can drop off its tail if something provokes it. The tortoise is next, and it too has a novel way to protect itself from predators. It wears “a helmet / on my back” which guards the animal “from attack.” Unlike a helmet, the tortoises shell will not fall off if the animal coughs or sneezes.

  Later on we meet a gecko, which can walk up walls with ease, crocodiles and alligators, the iguana, the midwife toad, and many other interesting creatures. With clever rhymes, touches of humor, and interesting facts, Douglas Florian gives his readers a unique poetry experience.

   Throughout the book the poems are accompanied by the poet’s own artwork.