What a beautiful, engaging combination – Mary Casanova’s lyrical but stirring, “wake-up” language and Nick Wroblewski’s handmade woodcut block prints as illustrations. I can imagine having a little one snuggling close as I read about the slow, sensuous waking up of the many creatures in a Minnesota north woods and also the slow waking-up of a sleepy-eyed child. Listen to the morning sounds:
“Ravens perch and gargle greetings.
Chickadees call dee, dee, dee!”
This luscious book is filled with sights and sounds. We imagine an island waking up:
“Pine trees s t r e t c h their limbs and branches.
Lichen warms on ancient rock.”
We are waking up too and realizing we all are hungry!
“Heron swoops, a two-stilt statue, watching, watching…minnows flee
Red squirrel chatters, chitter-cheeeeeee! –
Gathers pine cones,
One,
Two,
Three –
Munching, crunching, seed by seed.”
Yum, smell those pancakes sizzling with a heap of fresh blueberries, pour on the maple syrup, dig in, and then out you go exploring a new morning:
“Quickly, quickly – run outside!
You skip down as loon sings greetings,
Leave your footprints – one by one ….
Wake up, Island. Day’s begun!”
Begin a wonderful time of reading to a youngster with WAKE UP, ISLAND.
World War II had just ended. Families in Europe were starving. Many were homeless. Farmers had lost their livestock, their fields, even the seeds needed to be replanted.
THE SEAGOING COWBOY describes in simple, effective words and illustrations the relief program, Heifer International, that sent over 200,000 horses, mules, and heifers to families devastated because of the war.
That’s a lot of horses, mules, and cows! Ships were donated. Animals were loaded. But who would take care of all those farm animals during the long ocean voyage? The request was put out and folks from all types of backgrounds – bankers, preachers, teachers, and students – said they’d give it a try.
Over 7,000 men and boys, ages 16 to 72, traveled as volunteer “seagoing cowboys” feeding, cleaning, and caring for animals that were often upset or sea sick. These farm animals were essential in helping many parents and children rebuild their farms and homes.
The author, Peggy Reiff Miller, is the granddaughter of one of those cowboys and she tells quite a tale of how her Grandpa had a eye-opening adventure and many surprises, including helping deliver a baby calf. Peggy says, “With this book, I wanted to give families a tool to share the story with the younger generation – a story of how people helped to repair a broken world after a major war.” Over 44 nations worked together. This international program eventually evolved to become – and still is – The Heifer Project, known as Heifer International.
The SEAGOING COWBOY is an engaging and inspiring story and a wonderful way to talk about how we each can help people today whose homes and farms have been devastated because of war or natural disasters. How fun to choose between giving a cow, a chicken, or a lamb to another child and thinking beyond one’s own secure and safe world. Take a look at today’s Heifer International, www.heifer.org.
A charming fairy tale retold for today’s young girls a la Jack and the Beanstalk but with a new twist on friendship saving the day. Sophie is a sprightly inspired heroine princess who teaches the beanstalk’s giant about the joys of reading to calm him down. She saves the village from any frightening encounters with warmth and friendship and giving the giant a chance to rest with a bedtime story. The colorful illustrations travel across the pages with lots of actions and small details, such as the party scene, and are interspersed with the text. The fanciful faces by Warburton capture a fairy-tale meets everyday girl. And “I think I’ve done it!” Sophie cried. “Our problems are no more. The poor old giant couldn’t sleep. Now listen to him snore!” Your child will laugh and enjoy Sophie’s antics in this amusing re-telling of a classic fairytale.
Twig’s family suffers from an ancient curse and thus her whole life she has been on the run from the truth and hiding from friends getting too close. Her secret brother must remain hidden from the townspeople, who are afraid of the “monster” in the dark woods. Also, developers are threatening the owls who live there and Twig begins finding clues to who the “monster” really is in town. When Twig and her mother discover an opportunity to break the curse, she sets out on a journey of self-discovery and magic.
“Your Fate is not yet sealed. Even in the darkest night, a star will shine, a bell will chime, a path will be revealed.” So read the opening words of ECHO by Pam Munoz Ryan
This enchanting story defies genres as it weaves together the lives of three children and the gift of music. The story opens with a magical harmonica, which makes it a part of the fantasy genre. Later, the harmonica is passed along to Freiedrich in pre-WWII Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania during the Great Depression era and Ivy in California during WWII. These three characters delve into historical fiction depictions of challenges and how the main characters can overcome their fears with the help of the magic harmonica. This magnificent story keeps you guessing on how the stories are related and what happens to the characters in the ending. If you love music and mysteries you will enjoy ECHO to the final pages.
Megan Poynter Fink is a middle school librarian at Charlotte Country Day School. She began her career working in publishing and for the New York Public Library. She is an active member of YALSA and has served on YALSA’s Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, Teen Read Week and Best Books for Young Adults committees. Megan has written for VOYA and BOOKLINKS magazines. She enjoys cooking, Zumba classes and city adventures in Charlotte, NC.
Bob Raczka seems the kind of poet and artist who loves taking the phrase “playing with words” and turning it on its head. In his newest, WET CEMENT, he writes:
I like to think of poems as word paintings. A poet uses words like colors to paint pictures inside your head.
In concrete poems, or shape poems, the words also paint pictures on the page…
But here’s what’s really cool: by cleverly arranging individual letters, you can also paint a picture on the page with a single word… the letters become your colors.
Suffice to say that, in this collection, Razka plays with words in a whole new way.
I’m allergic to cats so can’t consider myself a fan of the living, breathing animals, but, oh – how I LOVE this collection of 30 original visual poems! Celebrating cats in all their feline fickleness, this collection of part shape poems, part graphic celebration, is a delight. Two of my favorites? “Shadow’s Dream” and “A Question for Scooter About Squirrels.” Do check out A Dazzling Display of Dogs and A Spectacular Selection of Sea Critters.
These one word per line poems move vertically – sometimes up the page, sometimes down – to capture small moment images in ways that inspire the reader to look at the world with new eyes. Can you imagine a giraffe with a neck so long it seems it could make a meal of the stars? How about a grandfather’s grandfather clock that is taller than grandfather? Or the bongs of far-off bells that float and touch us with song?
Share these poems with students and then have them brainstorm their own list of words from which to write a poem in the style of Jensen.
We’re already well into National Poetry Month, a world-wide celebration of all things poetry! Established by the Academy of American Poets in April of 1996, this annual celebration sets aside a small part of each year to remind us all – students, teachers, librarians, booksellers, readers, and writers from all around the globe – of the gift poetry can be in our daily lives.
There are many ways to celebrate. Here are a few suggestions:
I was very lucky to meet the author and illustrator of I WANT A MONSTER, Elise Gravel. Elise is very funny and loves all the monsters in her baby monster book. She is the perfect person to adopt many monster babies. I think you will enjoy reading her answers to my questions:
Nancy Bo Flood: What kind of baby monster would you like to bring home?
Elise Gravel: Any kind! I want to adopt them all. I think I have a special affinity with the funny, silly kind, though. But really, give me any monster and I’ll take good care of them, I promise!
NBF: Why did you begin drawing pictures of monsters?
EG: I just love drawing monsters! You can draw anything any way you want to: it’s a monster! There’s no need to be realistic, or to draw beautifully. The only limit is your imagination.
NBF: When did you begin drawing and what did you like to draw? Did you ever get in trouble for drawing?
EG: I liked to draw as soon as I could get my hands on a crayon. I remember being very popular in kindergarten because I drew princesses with spiral hair, and that was a new thing in my class. After that, I remember drawing superheroes with big muscles, and also snakes with very detailed scales. I got in trouble for drawing in high school because I was playing this fun game where you draw a panel for a comic strip, and then you pass it to a friend and they continue it and then pass it to another friend. It was hilarious, but then we laughed too hard and the teacher caught us.
NBF: How did you do monster research?
EG: I didn’t! I’m a natural expert, meaning all the information about monsters was stored in my brain when I was just a baby. I don’t know how it happened. Maybe I’m from another planet and I was sent on Earth to teach human kids about this very interesting species?
From Elise’s website – she gives this advice to kids who want to become an illustrator:
Draw all the time! Drawing anything and everything. Look at your favourite books and try to copy the drawings that you see. There’s nothing wrong with copying, it’s really a good way to learn! You can even trace the drawings if you want to: it helps to understand how to draw lines and how to create shapes. The most famous painters, when they were starting out, learned by coping their idols. Don’t worry, one day, you’ll develop your own style.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes! This is my MOST IMPORTANT piece of advice. Accept that you won’t be perfect from the beginning. Do you think your drawing is ugly? Take a deep breath. Try to see how you can improve, then restart. And restart again.
Always keep in mind that even the best artists are sometimes unhappy with their work. It’s normal. It doesn’t mean that you’re untalented, or that you’re not good at drawing. It just means that you want to get better, and that’s a good thing!
I often create drawings that I find ugly. Sometimes, I say to myself, “I’ll never get it. It never turns out how I want.” But I restart again and again, and at some point, I’m happy with my work. We learn all our lives!
I read somewhere that the key to success isn’t talent, but the number of hours we spend practicing. So you need to really, really practice. There’s no magic to this job! All the illustrators that I know are people who love to draw and who do it as much as possible. It’s as simple as that. So let’s go, get out your crayons!
Find a ReaderKidZ review of I Want a Monster HERE.
Wonderfully quirky, hilarious, unusual, imaginative, exactly what a four-year old loves – but watch out, once you read this book, that four-year old will say, “Again!”
Maybe not every parent wants a baby monster, but every child will enjoy reading along …. OGG, ARF, HEE HEE … as Winnie and Dad venture to a baby monster store and pick out the perfect baby monster to bring home. No worries. Winnie has already become a monster expert. She has done her research and read “Raising Your Pet Monster.” Of course she is completely ready to walk and feed her own pet monster, even pick up the monster poo. But fair warning: “Baby monsters are something else, let me tell you. They might use the toilet for a swimming pool. They might try to eat Papa’s cell phone. They might not sleep much. They certainly will need a LOT of cuddles, hugs, food, and even a bit of discipline. It’s a good thing baby monsters are so cute.”
It’s also a good thing that this picture book is so funny.
Here I am reading it AGAIN to my grandson.
A Katherine Tegen Book by HarperCollins, March, 2016.
Mission Statement
To provide teachers, librarians, and parents with the resources and inspiration to foster a love of reading in kids, K-5.
