Books to Stir the Imagination

Posted on 02/24/2013

Two books – very funny and imaginative  –

OH, NO!  Who will fall into the deep dark hole next?

OH, NO! (Schwartz & Wade, 2012) a picture book by Candace Fleming delightfully engages a young reader or listener.  With each turn of the page, another animal tumbles into the jungle pit… Oh, no!… with hungry TIGERS lurking oh so close…Oh, no!  The wood-block style illustrations by Eric Rohmann are a delight as usual.  Children will have fun joining in with the playful Oh, no! chorus as tension rises and animals, one by one, continue falling into the pit until — a very fitting end.  Oh, no!

Nocturne by Isol

NOCTURNE: DREAM RECIPES (Groundwood Books, 2012) by Isol and translated by Elisa Amado is a unique book that encourages a reader’s imagination and sense of play.

This unusual bedtime book hints at the magic inherent in dreaming.  The child chooses a dream from the pictures in the book.  Then turns off the light.  Surprise!

Twelve glow-in-the-dark pictures present possibilities as the hidden world becomes visible. Choose a dream. Imagine what will happen next. Included are dreams such as the dream of the cat who smelled a tuna casserole!

Isol’s extraordinary creativity and humor have produced a truly wonderful, very fun, very original book.

Excerpt (from the back cover):
A boring dream is a waste of a night!
In this book you will find adventurous dreams, silly dreams, funny dreams, even slightly scary dreams. All you have to do is follow these instructions:

  1. Choose one of the dreams in the book after reading the titles and looking at the pictures.
  2. Before you go to sleep, open the book to the dream you’ve chosen, and place it on your night table under a bright light. Make sure you can see the picture when you are lying down.
  3. Turn out the light!
  4. You will see the luminous traces that the dream left behind on the page. Look for as long as you like, then close your eyes and follow the dream to its hiding place.

This glow-in-the-dark book will make sure that no night is wasted. Sweet dreams!

Librarian’s Corner: Books to Make You Laugh, Part 2

Posted on 02/22/2013

Children’s book historian and critic Leonard Marcus reminds us that “A joke isn’t a joke if you need to explain it.” Humorous books for young readers must include topics and situations that will be familiar to them. That’s one reason for the popularity of “potty humor” and fart jokes with boys, but we won’t go there. The nice thing about humor is that it can also intersect with almost any other subject so we can have funny mysteries, funny animal stories, and even funny history. Students may learn better when they laugh, laughter can reduce stress and make things more bearable when we are confronting disaster and tragedy. Humor gets close to our feelings. Babies laugh at silly sounds while preschoolers and early elementary aged children can appreciate wordplay or laugh when people or animals get simple things wrong. Older elementary children can appreciate a good joke or a little slapstick humor but also irony and subtle humor. Check out a few of these great books and try not to laugh so hard you spit milk out through your nose!

 

For the youngest readers:

three ninja pigs

The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz and illustrated by Dan Santat (Putnam, 2012)

Fractured fairy tales are a form of humor where a familiar tale is retold with witty, sarcastic, and smart-alecky dialogue. Known characters are recast, sometimes in new and unexpected settings, to give the story unusual twists. In this case, those famous porkers learn martial arts to be able to protect themselves and their homes from the big bad bully (you know who I mean). While each pig takes lessons, only one perseveres to earn all her belts.  Yes, the smartest, bravest pig is a girl. Limerick verse offers great wordplay with Japanese themed art that includes characters that have an edgy techno-manga look.

For the transitional readers:

abe lincoln's dream

Abe Lincoln’s Dream by Lane Smith (Roaring Brook, 2012)

Smith, one of the great funny men of children’s literature, combines humor in words and cartoonish pictures in a semi-true story about our 16th president. While he often looks serious, even austere, Abe apparently enjoyed telling corny jokes. When a young African American girl touring the White House encounters his ghost, Abe takes her on a whirlwind tour of the country to view his legacy. The book has some basis in fact–dogs living in the White House always bark outside the Lincoln bedroom and Lincoln may have had a similar dream right before his death–and Smith includes some historical trivia, but the humor is what will captive readers.

For the older readers:

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The Everything Kids’ Joke Book: Side-Splitting, Rib-Tickling Fun by Michael Dahl (Adams Media, 2002)

It’s hard to think of humor without including at least one joke book because these collections offer something for everyone. They also allow for a wide range of reading levels and reluctant or struggling readers can successfully dip in and jump around, reading more than they think they are. This paperback collection includes limericks, gags, spoonerisms, and jokes of every kind and on every topic imaginable (“What kind of dog does Dracula like? A Bloodhound.”). Dahl, who also writes themed joke books, provides lessons on how to deliver a punch line and other tips for budding stand up comics, comic trivia, and information on famous comedy acts. The collection offers so much that you may find it hard to stop the show!

Librarians Corner: Books to Make You Laugh

Posted on 02/19/2013

Humor. It’s more than joke books. Humor is also very individualized. Some of us have more sensitive funny bones than others and see humor in the oddest places while others don’t recognize humor unless it hits us over the head. Humor also comes from many sources. Some authors recall funny incidents from their own childhood and use these memories in books like Megan McDonald does with her Judy Moody series or as is seen in Jack Gantos’ Jack books. Slapstick humor can come across as a little bit of bullying and parents sometimes fear their children will emulate some of the hilarious antics, which must of course be contained in real-life, right? Keep readers laughing with these “real life” stories.

For the youngest readers:

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Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Betsy Lewin (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2000)

One of my all-time favorite funny books is also the first in a series of equally funny books about Duck and his barnyard friends. The cows on the farm are cold and when they find an old typewriter they use it to type letters demanding that Farmer Brown provide electric blankets. What could be funnier than cows trying to type? (Do cows even have fingers?) They use Duck as their mediator and the comical looks on his face, along with Farmer Brown’s exasperated antics make the illustrations as hilarious as the story. This 2001 Caldecott Honor book is also available in Spanish and in a wonderful audio edition, read in a deadpan voice by Randy Travis.

For the transitional readers:

Moosebelongs to me

This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers (Philomel, 2012)

The story begins with a very typical childhood desire for a pet and an atypical boy. Seeing a moose wander by one day, Wilfred adopts him and names him Marcel. The two are best buddies, walking and talking and exploring together. Wilfred’s life is orderly and rife with rules, including rules related to being a good pet that he tries to instill in Marcel. Marcel does pretty well for a wild animal until Wilfred discovers that his pet has a secret life. Witty text and whimsical illustrations provide a good lesson in independence and compromise while ensuring giggles and guffaws.

For the older readers:

TimmyFailure

Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis (Candlewick, 2013)

The first children’s book by the noted creator of the Pearls Before Swine comic strip tells the tale of Timmy Failure, a Walter Mitty kind of kid. Bored with school and miserable in his life, Timmy sets up Total Failure, Inc., a detective agency with the motto “We won’t fail, despite what the name says.” From his misery comes laughter and of course, Timmy is doomed to failure. I mean, how can an 11-year-old detective with an imaginary 1,200-pound polar bear partner, named Total (as in Total Failure) be anything other than a failure? And how can a story that starts with the line “It’s harder to drive a polar bear into someone’s living room than you’d think,” be anything other than hilarious? Oh, and Timmy tells us that his business partner did the not-so-good illustrations, but I suspect they were not really drawn by a moose. Self-delusion can be very, very funny!

The Adventures of Jo Schmo

Posted on 02/17/2013

THE ADVENTURES OF JO SCHMO: Dinos Are Forever by Greg Trine, illustrated by Frank W. Dormer (Harcourt Children’s Books, 2012)

Readers of author Greg Trine’s Melvin Beederman series are in for another treat. Say hello to Jo Schmo, a normal fourth grade girl who’s content doing normal fourth grade things until the day a mysterious package arrives. Jo comes from a long line of crime fighters and even though she’d expected that one day she, too, would wear a badge, she didn’t expect it to happen quite this way. “Jo Schmo, Crime Fighter, did have a certain ring to it. But Jo Schmo, Superhero?” 

Readers will enjoy following Jo and Raymond, her loyal dog and sidekick, as they track down a pair of “Bank Robber School of America” graduates and later wrestle up Dr. Dastardly and his assistant just in time to save the city from a dinosaur take-over .

Paired with Dormer’s energetic illustrations, Jo Schmo is a perfect series to hand to transitional and reluctant readers looking for a laugh and a quick, fun read.  And don’t forget to check out Book #2:  WYATT BURP RIDES AGAIN and Book #3 SHIFTY BUSINESS.

Want to enter for a chance to win a free signed copy of this month’s featured book, Call Me Oklahoma! ? There’s still time! Email Miriam Glassman HERE or send an email to mgglassman at gmail dot com with the words “Oklahoma Giveaway” in the subject line. Winners will be announced on February 28, 2013.

FAQ: Why did that book win an award?

Posted on 02/15/2013
newbery

January always signals the height of awards seasons. And every year at this time there is a lot of debate about the winners and the nominees, along with discussion of what was overlooked. Whether it is the Oscars, the Emmy’s or the Newbery, we all have to agree to disagree and scratch our heads about the picks and misses. So it’s natural to ask: Do awards matter? And why did that one win?

Yes, they do matter. Okay, let me elaborate. Over 20,000 books for  young people are published in English every year. Some are really horrid and poorly written. Most are well-written by competent people. A few really shine and deserve special recognition.

Awards are given by committees and while the emphasis may vary, those people are looking at the breadth of books released in the previous year and culling out the best. Will they miss some? Sure. Will there be disagreement about the final choices? Of course. But the titles that are selected will meet the award criteria and put the spotlight on some of the best books of the year. Those awards usually result in sales and ensure that high quality books stay in print for many years. They help parents and teachers, who rarely have the time to cull through even a few hundred books, select the best of the best.

Some great books by excellent authors and illustrators are overlooked by the major awards and because those deliberations are secret we never know why. But usually an outstanding title will make the cut for one or more awards and “best” lists. Some awards focus more on the literary quality of the book (like the Newbery Award) or the high level of artistic talent (like the Caldecott Award). Other awards, like the Texas Bluebonnet Award, are based more on popularity, although children are voting on titles from a pre-selected list of nominees that were selected for a balance of quality and appeal to young readers.

In using awards to help find good books for kids, the best thing is to look at several. Some awards post lists of nominees or a short list of finalists, while others never tell us what was under consideration. If you want some great juvenile mysteries, look at the Edgar Awards. For distinguished books by and about Latinos check out the Tomás Rivera Award or the Pura Belpré Award. If nonfiction is your thing, the Sibert Award is the place to look. And be sure to read the entire book before you decide that the committee was wrong; the awards are conferred by some pretty smart people who spend hours discussing the merits of each eligible title before making their decision. With few exceptions, time has proven that they made the right choices.

By the way, my Newbery committee choices were Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (1992) and A View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (1997). How’d my committees do?

Giveaway – Call Me Oklahoma!

Posted on 02/12/2013

This month ReaderKidZ is thrilled to feature Miriam Glassman and her hilarious new middle grade novel Call Me Oklahoma!  (Holiday House, 2013)

From the flap copy – “From now on, call me Oklahoma!” Paige announces on the first day of fourth grade. She is determined that this year she will be different: someone who is gutsy–brave enough to master terrifying flips on the highest monkey bars, conquer stage fright, and stand up to class bully, Viveca Frye. It takes a lot of work for Paige to bring out her inner Oklahoma, but she’s helped along the way by her best friend, her sympathetic teacher, her bratty cousin, and some hilarious but inspiring events at home and at school.

For a chance to win a free signed copy of Call Me Oklahoma! email Miriam HERE or send an email to mgglassman at gmail dot com with the words “Oklahoma Giveaway” in the subject line. Winners will be announced on February 28, 2013. *** CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS: Portia Pennington, Tealena Felix, Carol Baldwin, and Karen Jameson. Your books will be on their way shortly!

For more about Miriam Glassman and her new book, check out this Interview,  “Letter to Readers” and Tool Box post.

Facts Can Be Fun, Even Funnier Than Fiction

Posted on 02/10/2013

PUFFLING PATROL  by Ted Lewin, author, and Betsy Lewin, artist.

Take a most unusual trip with Ted and Betsy Lewin to a group of islands off the coast of Iceland where thousands of puffins spend their summer raising their chicks.  These chicks are called pufflings. The problem part is that the pufflings – once grown – must go to sea.  The fun part is that the children of the islands – the Puffling Patrol – help the pufflings do just that.

As you can imagine, Iceland is cold, even in August when the parent puffins fly away for the winter. The “adolescent” pufflings must fend for themselves. Many of them fly into town rather than out to sea.  The reader is invited to follow along with the children as part of the Puffling Patrol and help rescue reluctant birds. The reader meets the twins, Erna and Dáni, who find a wayward puffling, take it home for the night and then visit the natural history museum’s rescue station the next day. However, rescuing a puffling is not simple and makes for many funny situations.

Wonderfully vibrant, detailed and expressive, the book’s illustrations capture the Icelandic landscape, from the windswept coastlines to the urban home life of the children – and, of course, the birds themselves. This is a book of few words, many surprises, and amazing illustrations.

Lee & Low, 2013