December 2009

  • Guess How Much I Love You

    By sarajean on 12/30/09 11:00am
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    I just love Sam McBratney’s children’s books. Anita Jeram’s gentle illustrations, coupled with McBratney’s loving storytelling and sweet relationships, combine to create the perfect bedtime story—or anytime story—that children are sure to love.

    Guess How Much I Love You takes the familiar ritual of asking the same question (and the spreading out of the arms to indicate how much) and bunnifies it, creating a sweet personified story of love and warmth between father and child.

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  • Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

    By sarajean on 12/30/09 10:57am
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    Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault were really onto something when they created the loveable picture book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. A story about baby (lowercase) letters daring to climb up the coconut tree, it’s very easy to read aloud, with plenty of rhyming, funny word combinations, and vivid imagery.

    Just saying, “Chicka chicka boom boom!” makes my four-year-old grin; it’s definitely one of her favorite tales. And with phrases like “tag-along k,” and “Skit skat skoodle doot. Flip flop flee,” you can’t help but laugh as you read it out loud. (And yes, be prepared for a bit of stuttering your first way through!)

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  • A Pocket for Corduroy

    By sarajean on 12/30/09 4:04am
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    One of my all-time favorite books as a child was A Pocket for Corduroy. Why this book stood out among the other Corduroy adventures with Lisa, I’m not sure; perhaps it’s because their reuniting comforted me as a child, making me feel as if I, too, if ever lost, would be reunited with my mother. Or maybe it symbolized my own relationship with my sisters, whom I felt responsible for, as Lisa feels responsible for Corduroy. At any rate, it’s a fantastic book to read with children.

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  • Good Night, Gorilla

    By sarajean on 12/30/09 3:35am
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    Good Night, Gorilla is one of those wonderful picture books that you just love to read with children. With very few words portrayed in little cartoon dialogue bubbles, the story leaves plenty of room for interpretation and discussion with little ones.

    It starts out with a picture of an adorable little gorilla stealing the keys of the zoo night guard as he passes by, telling the young primate, “Good night, Gorilla.” The mischievous smile on the gorilla’s face as he takes the keys is really all we need to see to know that he’s up to something very naughty!

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  • The Tale of Peter Rabbit

    By sarajean on 12/29/09 5:14am
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    One of the most beloved pieces of children’s literature from my childhood that I can recollect is Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Perhaps one of the first renderings of anthropomorphic creatures wearing clothes and behaving humanly, it was among my inspirational treasure trove of literature that made me, too, wish to be an artist and author. In fact, I remember drawing my own personified creatures—such as cats, birds, dogs, and the like—after entering Potter’s extraordinary world.

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  • The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

    By sarajean on 12/29/09 4:42am
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    If you love fairy tales with a twist, you must check out The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. I first encountered the book myself in the fifth grade when we not only read the book but also acted it out in a courtroom drama. I, naturally, was the court reporter who couldn’t simply believe it when Alexander T. Wolf lied to the entire jury, knowing that he’d confessed to me prior to the trial! The scandal!

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  • Where the Wild Things Are

    By sarajean on 12/29/09 4:25am
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     With the film adaptation still awing audiences in theaters, Where the Wild Things Are has been in the limelight since the beginning of fall—or even earlier, given the anticipation Spike Jonze’s film aroused. But even without the film, the merchandise, the super cool costumes and bobble heads and t-shirts, the book is a masterpiece all on its own.

    Unlike the film, Maurice Sendak’s amazing story involves the land of the wild things growing in Max’s actual bedroom. Rather than externalizing the wildness found within him, the wildness is actually in his own room, in his own home—stemming from his very life rather than an outside force. Sure, this might be a bit philosophical for children, but it’s a bit scary for them, too—and neither make it less enjoyable on the whole.

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  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar

    By sarajean on 12/29/09 2:50am
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    What book comes first to mind when you think about children’s picture books? For me, one of the top five is always Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Not only is it a fantastic classic piece of children’s literature; it’s also one of my favorite books from childhood.

    If you’re not familiar with the book, it’s about exactly what the title says—a very hungry caterpillar who eats everything in sight. It’s got Carle’s trademark vivid paintings, and each time the caterpillar devours his way through one piece of food or another (from fruits to leaves to sweets that give him a tummy ache), a hole appears through that piece of food painted on the page. The caterpillar grows bigger and bigger until one day he becomes a big, beautiful butterfly, portrayed through Carle’s gorgeous artwork.

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  • The Runaway Bunny

    By sarajean on 12/15/09 7:31am
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     Margaret Wise Brown—is there any other name as synonymous with brilliant picture books and warm childhood memories? Though most readers are more familiar with the much-loved Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny is my favorite Brown book by far.

    Written in 1942 (and still a timeless classic today; it’s never been out of print), The Runaway Bunny, illustrated by Clement Hurd, tells the story of a young bunny who intends to run away from home. (How many of us have threatened to run away at such an early age, multiple times even?) His sagacious mother, however, informs him that wherever he goes, he’ll never be far from her: “If you run away, I will run after you. For you are my little bunny.”

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  • A Gardener's Alphabet

    By sarajean on 12/15/09 7:15am
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    The ultimate book for gardeners and lovers of flora everywhere, A Gardener’s Alphabet is a gorgeous alphabet book with hand-colored woodcut illustrations, interesting vocabulary, and gentle concepts for early readers. Author and artist Mary Azarian uses her own love of gardens to show the user the many different things that can be found in the yard; in fact, she used her own garden as inspiration for the book.

    Both vegetables and flowers are vibrantly illustrated in the book, as well as the smiling gardeners, their children (or grandchildren), and their own love of the gardening life. Each letter of the alphabet highlights a special part of gardening—from arbor to bulbs to xeriscape. Other letters cover topics from Japanese gardens to compost, Queen Anne’s Lace to Dig, Nibble to lawn ornaments and even kitchen garden.

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  • Big Mama Makes the World

    By sarajean on 12/15/09 2:41am
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    Whether you’re a non-Christian, tired of the same old creation stories every Christmas, a pagan interested in creative storytelling, or a feminist who knows that honey, you can’t make a new life without a mama, you’re going to love this book.

    Big Mama Makes the World might just be my all-time favorite children’s picture book, ever ever ever. Written in saucy, down-home language by the hilarious Phyllis Root, it is the story of the birth of mankind, courtesy of Big Momma.

    Big Momma is a round, loving roly-poly woman (goddess? it’s never really alluded to). And instead of “In the beginning, God made…” we instead get the sassy alternative of Big Momma rolling up her sleeves and getting to work, “wasn’t easy, either, with that little baby sitting on her hip.”

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  • The Little Pea

    By sarajean on 12/14/09 12:59am
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    Though we buy our daughter used books throughout the year—dozens during the library dime sale!—we usually try to get one or two new books that we know she loves for Christmas and/or her birthday. (One year, we bought her a few for her Valentine’s advent, and she really loved those.) We haven’t bought this year’s books yet, but one of the top contenders is definitely Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Little Pea.

    For one thing, our daughter loves the book—and when you know your child loves something to begin with, it makes it all the easier to buy. We had the chance to read it on LookyBook.com. Unfortunately, LookyBook is now no longer in service, so we can’t just visit the website every day to read it. It’s been a while since we’ve read Little Pea, so I’m sure it would be a delightful surprise.

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  • The Dangerous Alphabet

    By sarajean on 12/5/09 8:55pm
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    Dark children’s literature fans will delight in Neil Gaiman’s foray into the land of letters, The Dangerous Alphabet. Readers will never look at “A told B, B told C” (though charming) the same way again.

    Gaiman’s tale is woven through thirteen couplets that tell of a young Victorian girl, her brother, and their pet gazelle (who would ever think to have a pet gazelle other than Gaiman?) and their terrifying venture into an underworld filled with danger, mischief and fantasy in search of treasure.

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  • The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish

    By sarajean on 12/5/09 8:12pm
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    It doesn’t matter if you love or hate Neil Gaiman (I’m a huge fan myself); if you don’t like dark children’s stories (think Brothers Grimm, Tim Burton, Lemony Snicket), you probably won’t like his picture books. But if you do… you are in for such a treat with The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish.

    The book is about a boy and his very boring—at least, very boring to him—father. The boy’s friend appears one day with two goldfish who seem much more interesting than the bearer of his genetic makeup. The boy attempts to swap his friend for the goldfish, dangling various items around the house for the barter to no avail.

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