While the Net was Sleeping…
Too many Sandra Bullock allusions for one heading? I think so, but I don’t feel like Starting from Scratch. Heehee, see what happens when I go without my internet for 3 whole days. The cheesy humor that only I find funny gets out of control. And this post isn’t even about Sandra Bullock.
It’s about the fact that my internet was down for 3 days and in that time the Kiddo and I went on a bit of a young adult binge. If you follow my blog, or my life, you know we read a lot of picture books. This last weekend, however, we just couldn’t help ourselves. After finishing Pippi Longstockings, the kiddo seemed more and more interested in sitting through me reading chapter books, and there were two in particular calling my name.
The Magician’s Elephant
With The Magician’s Elephant I was moved first by all the deep blue hues. Rich blues and grays give the impression of a romantic gloom I find fascinating. Of course, after it was off the shelf and in my hands, the elephant sealed the deal. I adore elephants and half our lives consists of elephant art and books with elephants on the covers.
The fonts, the illustrations, the beautiful fairy tale… what is not to like about this wonderful book? Everyone should have a copy of Kate DiCamillo’s tale of family and keeping promises. It makes for a great Thanksgiving and Christmas season read, and I highly recommend sharing it with your children by the fire.
Kate DiCamillo is famous for Because of Winn Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, and countless others. She has made quite a name for herself in the book-world as a trustworthy storyteller, but this is the first I’ve actually read of her work, and what a testament it was! My two year old sat through the whole book in one morning.
Of course, author Kate DiCamillo can’t take credit for the art, that is the fine work of Yoko Tanaka. She has quite a bit of published work and still manages to stay in the non-book art scene at galleries and group shows and such, according to her online bio which is actually more of a resume. I’m excited about keeping track of her future ventures as well, because I’ve really fallen in love with what she did for The Magician’s Elephant.
Tony DiTerlizzi became a part of our lives when I first grabbed a copy of The Spider and the Fly picture book. Of course, I was familiar with the dark tale, but DiTerlizzi’s art really sucked me in. It was not until later that I discovered he was the same DiTerlizzi who wrote and illustrated The Spiderwick Chronicles. What a clever, talented man! Where I previously lamented over whether the kiddo was ready for such a gothic tale as Spider and the Fly, Kenny & the Dragon is a story of friendship and book-love for any age. Again, everyone needs a copy. We will probably re-read this in the Spring or Summer.
Side note: I totally want a bicycle like Kenny’s, it’s so cool.
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books – Ella
Titles: Ella the Elegant Elephant
Author/Illustrator: Carmela & Steve D’amico
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Genre: Kids Picture Book
How cute are these!? We picked them up at the library this morning and already kiddo is hooked. They follow the adventures of a little elephant named Ella, who is shy but always finds a creative and sweet solution to her problems. The result? This tiny, unsure elephant always does something outstanding for her friends, family, and ultimately learns beautiful life lessons for herself and her readers.
The pictures are bright and lovely, they capture the eye of the kiddo and remind her heavily of Babar
The Guardians of Childhood
*A Weekly Low Down on Kids Books*
Title: The Man in the Moon
Author: William Joyce
I clearly have an artistic and literary crush on the fabulous writer and illustrator of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore! William Joyce’s work is simply beautiful, spunky, cozy, and classic.
During story time at Half Price Books in Humble, I was very pleased to discover a pile of The Man in the Moon on the shelf this morning, the first of many in Joyce’s Guardians of Childhood series. It seems as though Joyce’s work, despite being lengthy, is just the remedy for a squirmy, whiny toddler. One look at these gorgeous illustrations and immediately stillness and wonder ensues.
Joyce presents the myths of childhood in a way that a child will understand that they are beautiful dreams to enjoy, a fantasy to embrace. Kids and and adults alike cannot tear their eyes away from the colorful and powerful images he creates, and all are equally riveted by the presenation of the tales.
I am coming to cherish my time reading these books to the kiddo and I cannot wait to acquire the others in this amazing series:
Buy your own collection of Joyce’s Guardians of Childhood today!
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books – 6/05/12
There’s nothing better than coming home from an outing (story and play time at the library) to a tired, snuggly kiddo. Ayla and I hunkered down in the bean bag while reading through our haul from the library and Felicity napped. First on the roster: Bats at the Beach
As we closed the book, reading the last line: “Shh – now sleep. The moon’s out of reach. The night was just perfect for bats at the beach,” Ayla’s little eyes began to blink shut. She lazily pointed to the bag of library books and we made it half way through the first page of the next title before she started to pass out completely. After Bats at the Ballgame, I had no intention of hunting down Brian Lies other work any time soon, my nephew loved it, but I wasn’t sure our house was ready for those titles yet. After Bats at the Beach, though, I can’t wait to find a copy of Bats at the Library.
The Swamps of Sleethe
I’ve just recently started beefing up my poetry section in my personal library. I looked out over my shelves and realized I had many biographies but not the works that made the people famous in the first place. On hunting down essential poets and their work, I started stumbling across more children’s poetry that I’d like to have for Ayla. Punctuation Celebration was one of the first, many children’s picture books are poetic in nature and I’ve been trying to make sure we have the cleverest and the best here at home, at our fingertips. Among these searches after Story Time at Half Price Books, I came across The Swamps of Sleethe
Prelutsky is the first Children’s Poet Laureate and also a Star Trek fan, which is obvious in this wonderfully fantastical adventure through space (or his version of it) via rhymes and anagrams. Visit fictional planets like Ogdofod and risk becoming dogfood. Breathe even one breath of air in the World of Thade and you’ll be poisoned to death. The poems are exciting, a little bit scary, but wonderful for your kiddos at home who find poetry and space adventure enticing.
The Cold of Drifig Prime, illustration by Jimmy Pickering
On top of the fabulous work of this brilliant wordsmith are the illustrations of Jimmy Pickering
Needless to say, I bought my copy at Half Price Books, and I’m a huge fan with absolutely no buyer’s remorse. Every parent needs a copy for their kiddo.
Goodbye Mr. Sendak
Photograph by Astrid Christie
I would be remiss as a blogger, book lover, mother, former child, dreamer, and all around human being if I didn’t post something about Maurice Sendak upon his passing. Most famous for Where The Wild Things Are
Sendak made it to a whopping 83 and his life will be celebrated by a posthumous publication of his most current work called “My Brother’s Book” which he wrote in honor of his late brother. How fitting and beautiful that it will be his last new publication, and that he too will be gone for it.
Maurice Bernard Sendak was born June 10, 1928 and died May 8, 2012. For a proper ode to his entire life work, please read the New York Times article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/books/maurice-sendak-childrens-author-dies-at-83.html?pagewanted=all
Hurray for Spring! And Elephants!
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 5/03/12
Title: Hurray for Spring!
Author: Patricia Hubbell
Illustrator: Taia Morley
Publisher: NorthWord
Genre: Childrens, Picture Books
Ayla has a wide assortment of books of her own, she can’t help it with a compulsive book buying mother. But going to the library and picking out special books for just the week is always fun. At a year and a half, she already loves books and spends a lot of time pretending to read or browsing illustrations. ‘Shopping’ at a library, however, is so much different than shopping at a store. For starters, there’s the Dewey Decimal System to contend with, something I honestly haven’t used in about ten years. Then, there’s the lack of beautifully merchandised end caps – you can ask my best friend, I’m a complete sucker for a pretty display. (That’s probably why I enjoyed making them so much in my merchandising days.) Still, we manage to find precious gems and exciting reads every week.
This week we haphazardly pulled Hurray for Spring! off the shelf. The poem tells of all the adventures one can have throughout the season and is accompanied by gorgeous illustrations of kids playing and dragon flies and flowers. There’s mice playing in the weeds, beautiful blue skies, and the book is an all around treat. We read it four times in a row before bed time Tuesday night because Ayla kept demanding, “More” as she turned the book back to the first page and patted the title, indicating a re-read.
I’d like to buy a copy to use to celebrate Easter every year. Its fresh, lively, and is a good way to get kids excited about playing outside, but if read softly the cadence of the words can still put a baby to sleep. We love Hurray for Spring! Even now Ayla discovered it in my hand and is hopping around, rummaging through the book bag, and begging me to read it again.
Title:
Busy Elephants
Author: John Schindel
Photographs: Martin Harvey
Publisher: Tricycle Press
Genre: Childrens, Board Books
In the past, we’ve tried Busy Penguins, which I loved, but Ayla had little interest in. This time, Busy Elephants was all the rage. Each page contains a photograph of elephants out in the wild, eating, running, bathing, etc. And after months and month of every blessed furry (or even some non-furry) animals being called ‘Dog’ its nice to finally see her point with recognition at the elephants on each page, listen to me say elephant, and then try the word out on her own mouth. So far, all we get is “lphn,” but that’s enough for me this week. She’s excited to learn new words, even if she can’t quite pronounce them properly. That’s what makes these kinds of books so great for babies: real photographs, repitition of a word, until by the end they’ve seen the world and added something to their vocabulary.
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 3/20/12
Unfortunately there’s nothing to report. We’ve read and read and read this week, but each time I picked up a title from the library it was quickly tossed aside by Miss Ayla. Nothing resonated with us. Day after day, she kept bringing me Librarian on the Roof! Its become the household favorite over night. Ayla is very young, so even when she is interested in something it doesn’t guarantee we will make it all the way through the story, but she will sit and flip through the pages of Stephen Gilpin’s illustrations over and over again, and come back to it hour after hour. She loves it.
Even now, as I type this, I had the book in my lap and she had Curious George (which she picked out all on her own, mind you) on the floor, and she just instituted a trade.
Although, she does have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the dust jacket. She is fascinated by it, but doesn’t want it attached to her book. Its a slow painful process teaching a toddler to treat dust jackets with care, but she’s getting the hang of it.
M.G. King and Stephen Gilpin… Well Done! Ayla and I look forward to owning any books you may write and illustrate in the future!
Read My Official Review of Librarian on the Roof
Anakalian Whims 