And now for the Finale! This is the last Summer Reading Program for my location, and I'm a little sad, and a little ready to have a break.
We did some great books and crafts and activities tho, and had a big time.
Even Aliens need Snacks got read again, as our Summer Reading featured title, and then I had a trio of other short books to round out the program with a bang.
Where Does Food Come From?
Shelley Rotner and Gary Goss, illustrated (photographs) by Shelley Rotner
ISBN: 07613269358
I really liked this nonfiction title, with very little text, and excellent pictures. It made for a great interactive read as the kids told me all about their experiences and preferences with each food that we learned about. I don't know what it is about nonfiction photographic picture books, but they really do make it nearly irresistible for a kid not to tell about what they know. I love it. I think I'm going to hunt a copy down for my home library, just to have something there to spark an interest in the real world. We start with major foods (rice, milk, corn, apples, potatoes..) which each get a full spread - going from the plant to the food item, to the finished product (rice, milk, popcorn, apple juice, french fries) getting eaten by one of many engaging multicultural kidlets. Peanuts and grapes share a spread for PB&Js, and then we're on to single pages devoted to honey, maple syrup, salt, and sugar. The only thing I would improve is to have a "landing page" at the end more substantial than the montage of faces asking what foods the reader/listener enjoys.
The Little Green Witch
Barbara Barbieri McGrath, illustrated by Martha Alexander
ISBN: 9781580891530
This is a totally un-spooky "Halloween" version of the Little Red Hen, but I don't find that it's very Halloweeny - the peculiar family is no more weird than any other monster or ghoul group in picture books. Fairly straightforward re-telling, where a Little Green Witch does all the work while a ghost, a bat, and a gremlin laze about and refuse to help. At the end, to tie the homage up with a bow, the Little Green Witch does a POP of magic and turns the useless trio into little red hens (which was greatly appreciated by my audience). Scritchy pastel drawings on white backgrounds reinforce the benign nature of the story and the characters.
The Lion's Share: A Tale of Halving Cake and Eating It, Too
Matthew McElligot
ISBN: 9780802797698
Sharp-eyed readers will note that this makes two books by McElligot that I read in one storytime. Normally, I try to avoid that, but in cases where the author or illustrator has very few books (Dan Yaccarino) or they have different books with very different styles (David Shannon), or have written books with very different collaborators, then sometimes I'll slip a double-header into the mix. In this case, McElligot's style for The Lion's Share is so different from Aliens Need Snacks that I don't even think the kids would have realized it if I didn't point it out to them.
I really like this book. An ant gets invited to a royal dinner, her tablemates have atrocious manners, and the cake for dessert is halved by each recipient so that the poor ant only gets a crumb which she can't even split with the King. She is humiliated (although it's not her fault) and offers to bring him a cake in recompense. Each of her tablemates is outraged and refuses to be stood up, and doubles her offer, which gets ridiculous quite quickly. I loved watching the kid's eyes widen as the amounts grew and grew. I didn't do it this time, but in the past, I've done the trick of folding paper to illustrate the halving concept, first with a small piece of origami paper, then a huge sheet of butcher paper, and finally with a very large square of thin wrapping paper. The kids were quite impressed that no matter the original size, it's nearly impossible to fold after so few folds.
And that's us for the summer! I hope some of the recommendations and reads are helpful for you and your audiences!
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Summer Reading Program 2014. Week 7: Food Science Storytime
And now that you've waded through all the massive piles of rejects for this week's program, here's the first set of actual program books!
Even Aliens Need Snacks
Matthew McElligott
ISBN: 9780802723987
Our narrator is an intrepid cook, creating fabulous concoctions like "an eggplant, mustard, and lemonade smoothie" that he thinks is great, and his older sister thinks is revolting. Undeterred, he sets up a snack shack to sell his creations to friends and neighbors, but no luck. After a day of no customers, he retreats to bed, but he hears a strange whirring sound - an alien has landed and is standing at his snack stand! He quickly heads to the kitchen, whips up a snack, and before you know it, he's up every night serving all sorts of interesting foods to all sorts of interesting aliens! Right before school starts back up, he goes all-out and creates a souffle out of everything he loves. Sadly, it's not a hit, but he is still confident in himself. He likes it after all, and the tag-page on the end shows his sister happily munching away on his latest creation.
Growing Vegetable Soup
Lois Ehlert
ISBN: 0152325751
I have yet to see a picture book do a better job of introducing the concept of gardening for food to little kids than this book here. If I had to create a storytime collection, this would be one of my cornerstones. It's bright, it's colorful, it's simple, it's an actual narrative storyline, and it doesn't muddy the concept up with imaginative flourishes (don't get me wrong, I like a good imaginative flourish as much as the next person, but there's a time and place). Bright die-cut collage pages show disembodied hands in gloves planting, watering, weeding, and picking a variety of simplified garden plants, washing and cutting them up, and rendering them into lovely soup. Simply perfect.
Rabbit Pie
Penny Ives
ISBN: 067005951X
If it wasn't so hot, and my kids weren't so wiggly, I would have preferred to do Cook-A-Doodle-Doo! instead, but this one also features a recipe, and a horde of wriggly baby bunnies getting settled in for the night and then fed lovely carrots in the morning, so it was a totally acceptable substitute. The recipe is introduced first, and then the spreads illustrate the different steps of the recipe, like collecting your baby rabbits, and slowly adding 6 cups of milk. Very sweet, lovely illustrations.
Even Aliens Need Snacks
Matthew McElligott
ISBN: 9780802723987
Our narrator is an intrepid cook, creating fabulous concoctions like "an eggplant, mustard, and lemonade smoothie" that he thinks is great, and his older sister thinks is revolting. Undeterred, he sets up a snack shack to sell his creations to friends and neighbors, but no luck. After a day of no customers, he retreats to bed, but he hears a strange whirring sound - an alien has landed and is standing at his snack stand! He quickly heads to the kitchen, whips up a snack, and before you know it, he's up every night serving all sorts of interesting foods to all sorts of interesting aliens! Right before school starts back up, he goes all-out and creates a souffle out of everything he loves. Sadly, it's not a hit, but he is still confident in himself. He likes it after all, and the tag-page on the end shows his sister happily munching away on his latest creation.
Growing Vegetable Soup
Lois Ehlert
ISBN: 0152325751
I have yet to see a picture book do a better job of introducing the concept of gardening for food to little kids than this book here. If I had to create a storytime collection, this would be one of my cornerstones. It's bright, it's colorful, it's simple, it's an actual narrative storyline, and it doesn't muddy the concept up with imaginative flourishes (don't get me wrong, I like a good imaginative flourish as much as the next person, but there's a time and place). Bright die-cut collage pages show disembodied hands in gloves planting, watering, weeding, and picking a variety of simplified garden plants, washing and cutting them up, and rendering them into lovely soup. Simply perfect.
Rabbit Pie
Penny Ives
ISBN: 067005951X
If it wasn't so hot, and my kids weren't so wiggly, I would have preferred to do Cook-A-Doodle-Doo! instead, but this one also features a recipe, and a horde of wriggly baby bunnies getting settled in for the night and then fed lovely carrots in the morning, so it was a totally acceptable substitute. The recipe is introduced first, and then the spreads illustrate the different steps of the recipe, like collecting your baby rabbits, and slowly adding 6 cups of milk. Very sweet, lovely illustrations.
Summer Reading Program 2014. Week 7: Food Science Rejects; Round Four
Final round of rejected Food Science books - I was very close to choosing all of these, and on a different day, or in a slightly different mood, I may have actually used any of them instead.
The Gulps
Rosemary Wells, illustrated by Marc Brown
ISBN: 9780316014601
I really wanted to hate this book when I saw it first, but I just couldn't. The story is hokey and more than a little heavy-handed, but the family is so good-natured that despite it all, they're easy to root for. The Gulps are a family of obese rabbits (minus one health-conscious daughter) heading off on their vacation in their oversized mobile home, ready to stop at every fast-food place they can find. Instead, their RV breaks down in a field, and they are forced to live and work with a farming family (thin and hardworking, of course) for the summer, eating organic foods and pitching in on the farm. They aren't much use at first, being both fat and unused to physical labor, but over time they toughen up, slim down, and begin to enjoy their newfound energy. The summer finally over, they fix up the RV and head back onto the road home, stopping at an all-you-can-eat salad buffet to cement their new lifestyle. It's cute, that's all I can say. Somehow the heavy-handed message seems more funny and tongue-in-cheek than punitive, and no characters engage bashing either lifestyle or food-choice. A serious contender, but I felt like I wanted to keep the focus on food itself, not people's relationship with food.
Eat Like a Bear
April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Steve Jenkins
ISBN: 9780805090390
I really wanted to make this work, but it was up against stiff competition and just barely didn't make it (apologies for the pun). So, now I just have to do an animal habitat or animal diet storytime so I can use it then! We follow a lovely collage-of-textural-materials bear through the year, month by month, through a lovely tripping rhyme sequence that covers the major food that the bear will eat that month; new spring shoots and long-dead animals in early spring through ants and clovers and trout in the summer to roots and groundhogs and moths and honey in fall. I especially like that the story doesn't shy away from the omnivorous nature of a bear, and spends as much time on the insects as it does on plants and animal food sources. A spread at the end passes on more factual info, broken into different sub-topics. Really really lovely and enjoyable. Can't wait to read it for the kids!
Cook-A-Doodle-Doo!
Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel, illustrated by Janet Stevens
ISBN: 0152056580
I have loved this book since I first encountered it for storytime a few years ago. I try to read it at least once a year. The grandson of the Little Red Hen (you know, the one who couldn't get any help baking?) finds grandma's old recipe book in his coop, and decides to try it out. The traditional lazybones remain unwilling to assist, but he's got new friends now, and a turtle, iguana, and pot-bellied pig stand ready and (somewhat) able to help out! His friends are invested and eager helpers, but not so great at cooking. They misunderstand the directions, fetch the wrong things, and want to continually taste the in-process recipe. Despite setbacks, and one calamity, the foursome rally and create a beautiful strawberry shortcake. The illustrations are delicious, the animals are hysterical, and the casual nod to the classic childhood story just make me all sorts of happy inside. Sidebars on most of the pages pass on short factoids about ingredients or utensils or processes. As a bonus, after you've drooled over the lovely shortcake, you can use the enclosed recipe to make your own! Love this book forever!
The Gulps
Rosemary Wells, illustrated by Marc Brown
ISBN: 9780316014601
I really wanted to hate this book when I saw it first, but I just couldn't. The story is hokey and more than a little heavy-handed, but the family is so good-natured that despite it all, they're easy to root for. The Gulps are a family of obese rabbits (minus one health-conscious daughter) heading off on their vacation in their oversized mobile home, ready to stop at every fast-food place they can find. Instead, their RV breaks down in a field, and they are forced to live and work with a farming family (thin and hardworking, of course) for the summer, eating organic foods and pitching in on the farm. They aren't much use at first, being both fat and unused to physical labor, but over time they toughen up, slim down, and begin to enjoy their newfound energy. The summer finally over, they fix up the RV and head back onto the road home, stopping at an all-you-can-eat salad buffet to cement their new lifestyle. It's cute, that's all I can say. Somehow the heavy-handed message seems more funny and tongue-in-cheek than punitive, and no characters engage bashing either lifestyle or food-choice. A serious contender, but I felt like I wanted to keep the focus on food itself, not people's relationship with food.
Eat Like a Bear
April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Steve Jenkins
ISBN: 9780805090390
I really wanted to make this work, but it was up against stiff competition and just barely didn't make it (apologies for the pun). So, now I just have to do an animal habitat or animal diet storytime so I can use it then! We follow a lovely collage-of-textural-materials bear through the year, month by month, through a lovely tripping rhyme sequence that covers the major food that the bear will eat that month; new spring shoots and long-dead animals in early spring through ants and clovers and trout in the summer to roots and groundhogs and moths and honey in fall. I especially like that the story doesn't shy away from the omnivorous nature of a bear, and spends as much time on the insects as it does on plants and animal food sources. A spread at the end passes on more factual info, broken into different sub-topics. Really really lovely and enjoyable. Can't wait to read it for the kids!
Cook-A-Doodle-Doo!
Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel, illustrated by Janet Stevens
ISBN: 0152056580
I have loved this book since I first encountered it for storytime a few years ago. I try to read it at least once a year. The grandson of the Little Red Hen (you know, the one who couldn't get any help baking?) finds grandma's old recipe book in his coop, and decides to try it out. The traditional lazybones remain unwilling to assist, but he's got new friends now, and a turtle, iguana, and pot-bellied pig stand ready and (somewhat) able to help out! His friends are invested and eager helpers, but not so great at cooking. They misunderstand the directions, fetch the wrong things, and want to continually taste the in-process recipe. Despite setbacks, and one calamity, the foursome rally and create a beautiful strawberry shortcake. The illustrations are delicious, the animals are hysterical, and the casual nod to the classic childhood story just make me all sorts of happy inside. Sidebars on most of the pages pass on short factoids about ingredients or utensils or processes. As a bonus, after you've drooled over the lovely shortcake, you can use the enclosed recipe to make your own! Love this book forever!
Summer Reading Program 2014. Week 7: Food Science Rejects; Round Three
This round was eliminated because the titles were either too tightly focused on one food (apples) or had a split focus (birthdays and storms/fears) making them a little less suited for a Food Science program.
Benny Bakes a Cake
Eve Rice
ISBN: 0688843123
This is an OLD book - as old as I am! I do really like it for my younger group. It's Benny's birthday today, and he's helping Mama bake the cake, and Ralph watches. Benny is also making sure that Ralph is being good. Once the cake is finished, Benny and Mama get ready to go for a walk, but no one is watching Ralph, and down goes the cake. Benny is inconsolable, but Mama and Papa save the day, and Benny gets a cake for his birthday after all. Short, sweet, cute old-fashioned illustrations, and a happy-ever-after ending. I've used it for birthday, sweets, pets, and cooking storytimes so far.
The Apple Orchard Riddle
Margaret McNamara, illustrated by G. Brian Karas
ISBN: 9780375847448
In contrast with the previous title, this one is quite new, and I would have used it, but it has such a singular focus on apples that I thought it would be better to stay with titles that had a more broad focus. However, I'm going to be using it regularly for my fall apple storytime. It's a teensy bit on the long side, but lots of my other apple picks are very short, so it should balance out nicely. A diverse field trip heads to the apple orchard, where they learn all about different varieties of apples, about apple orchards and growing, and about cider and applesauce. Through the whole story, the daydreamer main character tries to puzzle out a riddle "a little red house with no windows and no door, but with a star inside" which is eventually answered by a cut apple.
Thunder Cake
Patricia Polacco
ISBN: 0399222316
Another long book, and this time I decided against it because the focus is more on the storms and the girl's fear than on the actual baking. It remains one of my favorite books about conquering fear of something - by staying busy, staying distracted, and doing what needs doing even if you feel scared inside. An excellent lesson, all wrapped up in a thundery afternoon of baking.
Benny Bakes a Cake
Eve Rice
ISBN: 0688843123
This is an OLD book - as old as I am! I do really like it for my younger group. It's Benny's birthday today, and he's helping Mama bake the cake, and Ralph watches. Benny is also making sure that Ralph is being good. Once the cake is finished, Benny and Mama get ready to go for a walk, but no one is watching Ralph, and down goes the cake. Benny is inconsolable, but Mama and Papa save the day, and Benny gets a cake for his birthday after all. Short, sweet, cute old-fashioned illustrations, and a happy-ever-after ending. I've used it for birthday, sweets, pets, and cooking storytimes so far.
The Apple Orchard Riddle
Margaret McNamara, illustrated by G. Brian Karas
ISBN: 9780375847448
In contrast with the previous title, this one is quite new, and I would have used it, but it has such a singular focus on apples that I thought it would be better to stay with titles that had a more broad focus. However, I'm going to be using it regularly for my fall apple storytime. It's a teensy bit on the long side, but lots of my other apple picks are very short, so it should balance out nicely. A diverse field trip heads to the apple orchard, where they learn all about different varieties of apples, about apple orchards and growing, and about cider and applesauce. Through the whole story, the daydreamer main character tries to puzzle out a riddle "a little red house with no windows and no door, but with a star inside" which is eventually answered by a cut apple.
Thunder Cake
Patricia Polacco
ISBN: 0399222316
Another long book, and this time I decided against it because the focus is more on the storms and the girl's fear than on the actual baking. It remains one of my favorite books about conquering fear of something - by staying busy, staying distracted, and doing what needs doing even if you feel scared inside. An excellent lesson, all wrapped up in a thundery afternoon of baking.
Summer Reading Program 2014. Week 7: Food Science Rejects; Round Two
More fun "food" books for storytimes that didn't quite make the cut for my Food Science programming this year!
This is the "interesting but ultimately unrelated" round of eliminations.
First off:
Secret Pizza Party
Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
ISBN: 9780803739475
This is a thematic sequel of sorts to Dragons Love Tacos, but it's a perfectly fine stand-alone book. This raccoon, occasionally decked out in classic spy gear (trench coat, vaguely fedora-ish hat) just wants pizza, and he tries his hardest to steal everyone's slices, but the people in town are too smart for him, and now he's pining away for lack of gooey delicious pizza. The cure for a mopey raccoon? Throw a Secret Pizza Party for him, and let him crash his own party and steal his own pizza! Well, until he gets a bit carried away again. Cute story, really cute illustrations, just not quite what I want for this program.
How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow?
Wendell Minor
ISBN: 9780399246845
This is just an odd little book. The author starts with pumpkin-weighing contests at country fairs, and moves pretty quickly into straight imagination, with some weird, garish, overdramatic, and occasionally fairly creepy illustrations. He envisions pumpkins as large as hot-air balloons, acting as lighthouses for ships, standing in the lineup at Mount Rushmore, and lurking menacingly at the end of the Grand Canyon. I like the idea, but I really do worry about giving my little ones pumpkin-related nightmares! I've considered it before for fall, halloween, and pumpkin themes, but I've always wimped out at the last minute.
The Honeybee Man
Lela Nargi, illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker
ISBN: 9780375849800
I was sad that I couldn't quite make this fit. I'm planning a bee-themed storytime eventually, specifically so I can use this book. This sweet old dude keeps bees on the top of his apartment building in the city, and he carefully tends them, knows their habits, and keeps them safe as much as he can - and then harvests their honey and gives it away to his neighbors to remind people of how useful (and necessary) bees actually are. The actual factual info is well-incorporated into the story, and there is a lovely nonfiction spread at the end with a great overview. The endpapers also have cutaway or cross-sectional black-and-white scientific drawings of bees and bee-related objects. Very excellent book.
This is the "interesting but ultimately unrelated" round of eliminations.
First off:
Secret Pizza Party
Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
ISBN: 9780803739475
This is a thematic sequel of sorts to Dragons Love Tacos, but it's a perfectly fine stand-alone book. This raccoon, occasionally decked out in classic spy gear (trench coat, vaguely fedora-ish hat) just wants pizza, and he tries his hardest to steal everyone's slices, but the people in town are too smart for him, and now he's pining away for lack of gooey delicious pizza. The cure for a mopey raccoon? Throw a Secret Pizza Party for him, and let him crash his own party and steal his own pizza! Well, until he gets a bit carried away again. Cute story, really cute illustrations, just not quite what I want for this program.
How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow?
Wendell Minor
ISBN: 9780399246845
This is just an odd little book. The author starts with pumpkin-weighing contests at country fairs, and moves pretty quickly into straight imagination, with some weird, garish, overdramatic, and occasionally fairly creepy illustrations. He envisions pumpkins as large as hot-air balloons, acting as lighthouses for ships, standing in the lineup at Mount Rushmore, and lurking menacingly at the end of the Grand Canyon. I like the idea, but I really do worry about giving my little ones pumpkin-related nightmares! I've considered it before for fall, halloween, and pumpkin themes, but I've always wimped out at the last minute.
The Honeybee Man
Lela Nargi, illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker
ISBN: 9780375849800
I was sad that I couldn't quite make this fit. I'm planning a bee-themed storytime eventually, specifically so I can use this book. This sweet old dude keeps bees on the top of his apartment building in the city, and he carefully tends them, knows their habits, and keeps them safe as much as he can - and then harvests their honey and gives it away to his neighbors to remind people of how useful (and necessary) bees actually are. The actual factual info is well-incorporated into the story, and there is a lovely nonfiction spread at the end with a great overview. The endpapers also have cutaway or cross-sectional black-and-white scientific drawings of bees and bee-related objects. Very excellent book.
Summer Reading Program 2014. Week 7: Food Science Rejects; Round One
Our very last Summer Reading Program is today. This has been a great year, with some great reads, and great kids and families.
Food Science is interesting - there are a lot of places possible to go with it. Here are some "runners-up" that didn't make the final cut for one reason or another:
I just recently talked about Food For Thought and I still wish I could use it, but it's just too long for my needs.
Next on the chopping block is:
Talia and the Rude Vegetables
Linda Elovitz Marshall, illustrated by Francesca Assirelli
ISBN: 9780761352174
This is a cute read - I've used it in storytime before. Talia is getting ready for the Jewish New Year with her grandmother, and she's out in the garden to find what she THOUGHT her grandmother sent her out for: "rude" vegetables. Along the way, she digs up quite a lot of root veggies, finding a particularly "rude" example each time for her grandmother, and eventually donating the others to the community. Lots of nice touches, and a beautiful message of working hard and sharing, with no specific religious moralizing.
I really wanted to use this next book again, but it just didn't end up fitting in:
Worms for Lunch
Leonid Gore
ISBN: 9780545243384
What do various animals like to eat for lunch? Worms? Not the mouse, nor the cat, or the monkey (bananas for me!) but fish? LOVE worms! An excellent and very quick-moving read illustrating that tastes differ between people (and species), with lots of die-cut pages to lift flaps and reveal hidden characters. I've used this one before as well, and the kids really get a kick out of seeing the various "icky" foods mixed in with standard kid fare like spaghetti and ice cream.
Apple Pie A B C
Alison Murray
ISBN: 9781423136941
People with classically or musically inclined parents will remember the standard Apple Pie A B C rhyme, most likely in the nearly immortal A Apple Pie by Kate Greenaway. Here we have a pop-art mid-century standard to set beside it, featuring a persistent beagle that is quite reminiscent of Snoopy. The poor pooch is thwarted at every letter of the alphabet from getting to that apple pie, but he perseveres (the letter P) and eventually manages to slide it off the table and eat it all up, falling into a satisfied slumber on an easy-chair afterwards. Delightful, and fun to read and look at the bright happy illustrations, but not quite a match for my program needs this time around.
Food Science is interesting - there are a lot of places possible to go with it. Here are some "runners-up" that didn't make the final cut for one reason or another:
I just recently talked about Food For Thought and I still wish I could use it, but it's just too long for my needs.
Next on the chopping block is:
Talia and the Rude Vegetables
Linda Elovitz Marshall, illustrated by Francesca Assirelli
ISBN: 9780761352174
This is a cute read - I've used it in storytime before. Talia is getting ready for the Jewish New Year with her grandmother, and she's out in the garden to find what she THOUGHT her grandmother sent her out for: "rude" vegetables. Along the way, she digs up quite a lot of root veggies, finding a particularly "rude" example each time for her grandmother, and eventually donating the others to the community. Lots of nice touches, and a beautiful message of working hard and sharing, with no specific religious moralizing.
I really wanted to use this next book again, but it just didn't end up fitting in:
Worms for Lunch
Leonid Gore
ISBN: 9780545243384
What do various animals like to eat for lunch? Worms? Not the mouse, nor the cat, or the monkey (bananas for me!) but fish? LOVE worms! An excellent and very quick-moving read illustrating that tastes differ between people (and species), with lots of die-cut pages to lift flaps and reveal hidden characters. I've used this one before as well, and the kids really get a kick out of seeing the various "icky" foods mixed in with standard kid fare like spaghetti and ice cream.
Apple Pie A B C
Alison Murray
ISBN: 9781423136941
People with classically or musically inclined parents will remember the standard Apple Pie A B C rhyme, most likely in the nearly immortal A Apple Pie by Kate Greenaway. Here we have a pop-art mid-century standard to set beside it, featuring a persistent beagle that is quite reminiscent of Snoopy. The poor pooch is thwarted at every letter of the alphabet from getting to that apple pie, but he perseveres (the letter P) and eventually manages to slide it off the table and eat it all up, falling into a satisfied slumber on an easy-chair afterwards. Delightful, and fun to read and look at the bright happy illustrations, but not quite a match for my program needs this time around.
Friday, July 25, 2014
New Arrivals: Butterflies (Handle With Care by Loree Griffin Burns) and Food Facts (Food For Thought, by Ken Robbins)
A beautiful new book arrived today at the library, all about the practice of growing butterflies for use in museums and schools and for study and propagation. I didn't even know you could grow butterflies commercially!
The other was one I pulled for inclusion in our final Summer Reading Program about Food Science, but it's waaay too wordy for me to use. I find this very sad, because it's a lovely good book with lots of snack-sized snippets of myth and lore and fact and history around various foods.
Handle With Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey
Loree Griffin Burns, photographs by Ellen Harasimowicz
ISBN: 9780761393429
Read July 25, 2014
Read July 25, 2014
My only quibble with this book is that I would have liked to know what the recipients are going to be doing with the butterfly pupae they are receiving. I'm pretty sure that's going to involve testing and dead butterflies, which wouldn't exactly fit the tone they were going for, but would it have killed them to show them being sent to a school, studied, and released? Maybe so.
Regardless, this is a very interesting book, and a great factual and niche addition to a butterfly collection. The story features a butterfly farm in Costa Rica, where the butterflies are kept in a screened and secured greenhouse, with guards to monitor and keep out predators and competition, and the resulting caterpillars are harvested, allowed to pupate, and then the pupae are sent off in protected silver mailing boxes (with adorable little compartments inside) to whomever needs butterfly pupae.
My favorite photograph shows a female employee keeping notes, surrounded by tray upon tray of various different kinds and stages of pupae. It's a fascinating picture. Sadly, either the intended audience age or the limitations on page count prevents the author and photographer from listing the types of butterflies and pupae that are on display - leaving them interesting but anonymous, which is a bit frustrating.
Otherwise this book is splendid; gorgeous and enlightening.
Food for Thought: The Stories Behind the Things We Eat
Ken Robbins (on-site and staged photography)
ISBN: 9781596433434
Read July 25, 2014
The staged photography is occasionally a bit precious, but the factoids and on-site photographs more than make up for that. This is a good book for a reality lover, or for a long-term classroom discussion - there's just SO MUCH TEXT that it is nearly impossible to use in an active children's program in a library setting. Now, I don't mind the text - it's good, it's interesting, it's informative, it's varied; but it's just too much. This is one where I almost wonder if it's more intended to be a picture book for adults - something that is ostensibly for kids, but really intended to keep their parents occupied and interested. Again, nothing wrong with that, but it is frustrating when I'm looking for something to use in a program, and it's so terribly unsuitable, despite the perfection of the premise. Still - if you want to look at really pretty food and learn little tidbits of history and story about them, this is a great book to browse through!
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Renegade, J. A Souders
Renegade
J. A. Souders
ISBN: 9780765332455
Read January 2014?
YA dystopia, girl power (except not really)
I was really put off by this book. It started with such a strong premise, and then it all just went pear-shaped. I'm not going to go into details, but suffice it to say that the worldbuilding and narrative structure did not stand up, even under the insubstantial weight of the cliffhanger story that was set upon them. Add in cliche relationships, a convenient set of powers, and memory loss that isn't dealt with realistically, and the whole read was just really frustrating to experience.
Listing here because someone had asked about it, and I had a hard time remembering the title. Mileage may vary, and just because I didn't enjoy it, doesn't mean that you wouldn't.
(Edit: helps to actually include a brief synopsis, doesn't it?)
Heroine is a kept girl chosen at birth and raised essentially in a utopian seraglio because of her "perfect genes" and destined to inherit the leadership of her underwater commune from the current Mother. Everyone has blonde hair and blue eyes, and Mother is really quite strict about genetic purity, and proper behavior. People are manipulated through having their memories wiped when they do things wrong, or through simply being "vanished." Our heroine, not able to be vanished, keeps getting her brains wiped as she's incapable of actually acting in accordance with Mother's wishes for longer than about half a day. That's perfect genes for you, I suppose. In addition, there is a brute squad of very young girls who have been trained and mentally conditioned into being ruthless emotionless (or alternatively rage-filled - consistency isn't really great here) assassins.
Our heroine has begun to make the foggy realization that all is not dandy in utopia, aided in her discovery by a boy - an outsider from Above who arrives via a really stupid reason. After that, everything goes downhill pretty quickly, devolving into long chase scenes through secret districts of the city (remember this is a smallish underwater commune here), hidden lower city levels (again, where?), mutants, fraught history lessons (spoiler, Mother is a liar), and more gory shambling zombie mutants before the inevitable cliff-hanger ending that sets up for the next book.
J. A. Souders
ISBN: 9780765332455
Read January 2014?
YA dystopia, girl power (except not really)
I was really put off by this book. It started with such a strong premise, and then it all just went pear-shaped. I'm not going to go into details, but suffice it to say that the worldbuilding and narrative structure did not stand up, even under the insubstantial weight of the cliffhanger story that was set upon them. Add in cliche relationships, a convenient set of powers, and memory loss that isn't dealt with realistically, and the whole read was just really frustrating to experience.
Listing here because someone had asked about it, and I had a hard time remembering the title. Mileage may vary, and just because I didn't enjoy it, doesn't mean that you wouldn't.
(Edit: helps to actually include a brief synopsis, doesn't it?)
Heroine is a kept girl chosen at birth and raised essentially in a utopian seraglio because of her "perfect genes" and destined to inherit the leadership of her underwater commune from the current Mother. Everyone has blonde hair and blue eyes, and Mother is really quite strict about genetic purity, and proper behavior. People are manipulated through having their memories wiped when they do things wrong, or through simply being "vanished." Our heroine, not able to be vanished, keeps getting her brains wiped as she's incapable of actually acting in accordance with Mother's wishes for longer than about half a day. That's perfect genes for you, I suppose. In addition, there is a brute squad of very young girls who have been trained and mentally conditioned into being ruthless emotionless (or alternatively rage-filled - consistency isn't really great here) assassins.
Our heroine has begun to make the foggy realization that all is not dandy in utopia, aided in her discovery by a boy - an outsider from Above who arrives via a really stupid reason. After that, everything goes downhill pretty quickly, devolving into long chase scenes through secret districts of the city (remember this is a smallish underwater commune here), hidden lower city levels (again, where?), mutants, fraught history lessons (spoiler, Mother is a liar), and more gory shambling zombie mutants before the inevitable cliff-hanger ending that sets up for the next book.
The Runaway Wife, Rowan Coleman
The Runaway Wife
Rowan Coleman
ISBN: 9781476725239
Slice-of-life "finding yourself " romance set in England/Scotland.
Read July 22, 2014
I actually read a grownup book start to finish! It's been a long, busy, internet-distracted summer.
Rose had a rough life. Her alcoholic father walked out when she was nine, her mother walked into the ocean when she was 16, and she walked down the aisle with the first man who told her she was beautiful. He was an abusive creeper, natch. Now she's 31, has a daughter of her own, and after her husband finally crosses the line (her lines were set way the hell too far back, by the way) she's run away to her "picture postcard fantasy" village where she hopes to meet one man she has built up in her mind into being a prince charming. Predictable heart-warming slushy read.
Good characters: Maddie, John (before he went all soft and squishy), Jenny and Brian the B&B owners, poor Ted.
Less developed characters: Rose herself (a bit of a problem when she's the reason for the story), Prince Charming, Richard the evil doctor husband, Shona.
Good bits: Rose's teenage fumblings with sexuality at age 31. Coming from a repressed childhood myself, that rang really true. Maddie's peculiar quirks and personality. The connection between John and Maddie as artists.
Less good bits: The contrived drama with Ted, Jenny and Frasier. John getting all sappy and parental.
Predictable bits: The entire last third of the book. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, just I was hoping that at least one of my predictions would end up being somewhat subverted (the prince charming letter bit at the end was just wayyy too much for this cynical girl to manage.)
Enjoyable, but not really my cuppa.
Rowan Coleman
ISBN: 9781476725239
Slice-of-life "finding yourself " romance set in England/Scotland.
Read July 22, 2014
I actually read a grownup book start to finish! It's been a long, busy, internet-distracted summer.
Rose had a rough life. Her alcoholic father walked out when she was nine, her mother walked into the ocean when she was 16, and she walked down the aisle with the first man who told her she was beautiful. He was an abusive creeper, natch. Now she's 31, has a daughter of her own, and after her husband finally crosses the line (her lines were set way the hell too far back, by the way) she's run away to her "picture postcard fantasy" village where she hopes to meet one man she has built up in her mind into being a prince charming. Predictable heart-warming slushy read.
Good characters: Maddie, John (before he went all soft and squishy), Jenny and Brian the B&B owners, poor Ted.
Less developed characters: Rose herself (a bit of a problem when she's the reason for the story), Prince Charming, Richard the evil doctor husband, Shona.
Good bits: Rose's teenage fumblings with sexuality at age 31. Coming from a repressed childhood myself, that rang really true. Maddie's peculiar quirks and personality. The connection between John and Maddie as artists.
Less good bits: The contrived drama with Ted, Jenny and Frasier. John getting all sappy and parental.
Predictable bits: The entire last third of the book. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, just I was hoping that at least one of my predictions would end up being somewhat subverted (the prince charming letter bit at the end was just wayyy too much for this cynical girl to manage.)
Enjoyable, but not really my cuppa.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Summer Reading Program 2014. Week 6: Space
This is our "make-up week" for the program that was superseded by our special magic show earlier in the summer. We still have no AC, but the weather has been cooler, and so I didn't have to make any changes to the line-up this time around.
Storytime:
Toys in Space
Mini Grey
ISBN: 9780307978127
Bemused toys exist in a slightly skewed world with a faint English flavor.
I adore Mini Grey for her Traction Man series, and Toys in Space could very easily exist in the same universe, although Traction Man himself does not make an appearance - not even a cameo! The toys are left outside on the lawn overnight for the first time, so WonderDoll decides to avert panic by telling an interactive story about how the toys are abducted by an alien who is looking for his own lost toy.
The meta-storytelling (me reading a book about a doll telling a story (with interruptions) to an audience of toys) is challenging as a reader. I'm not sure whether the littlest ones realized that the story was supposed to be made-up all the way through. Some of the language was a little spicy for my toddler audience (I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and excised the cowboy's "darns" and "dangits" in favor of a broader "cowboy" accent overall). The story is cute, with just enough silly to counteract the potentially frightening elements - getting beamed into a spaceship, a giant closet filled with cataloged "lost toys," a potentially scary alien creature. Everything is lampshaded, and some things are lampshaded, mocked, and then incorporated non-ironically into the storyline. I also appreciate an alien that is named something interesting but still basically pronouncable. (It's is, or is a (was never clear on whether that was it's name or it's species) "Hoctopize" which is a totally cromulent alien name (or species).
This one was also one of our featured Summer Reading books.
This Rocket
Paul Collicutt
ISBN: 0374374848
Bright blue and orange colors this exciting (but reality-based) simple opposites book featuring rockets.
I am really shocked that this book isn't better known and more used than it is. The simple phrasing and related (mostly opposites) half spreads of this book really make it perfect for this age group. Besides that - rockets! Obviously a perennial favorite, just like dinosaurs and excavators and fire trucks. I had to look outside the county for it (first when researching the theme, and again this time to use) so I think I'm just going to give in and buy myself a copy. It really is perfect. Very sparse text, very expressive and contrasting illustrations of actual rockets, with even more rockets and rocketry factoids on the endpapers.
Light up the Night
Jean Reidy, illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine
ISBN: 9781423120247
Blocky, brushed/sponged-textural paintings pinpoint a boy's location, from space to his own bedroom.
This is an excellent use of the "this is the house that Jack built" form of expanding poetry text, starting with a young boy at bedtime turning his quilt into a rocketship, and then zooming in from space "where stars glow bright / and light up the night" through the solar system, onto earth, a continent (left vague), and a country (likewise), town, street, house, bedroom, and bed, and then back out again to show the stars, and a small bed sitting on the earth in a very Saint-Exupery "The Little Prince" sort of image.
Summer Reading
For the older kids, I subbed out Aliens in Underpants Save the World for This Rocket, but kept Toys in Space and Light up the Night. I probably could have gone with a longer book, but we had a time-consuming activity and a fun craft this time around, so I wanted to save some good time for those - programs need to be focused on the books, but I'm not one of those who thinks they should be ONLY about the books.
Aliens in Underpants Save the World
Claire Freedman, illustrated by Ben Cort
ISBN: 9781442427686
Aliens routinely steal underpants from Earth, until a meteorite threatens the planet, and the resourceful aliens make one final giant panty heist to make the biggest stretchiest underpants ever.
I have to say, still not a huge fan, but I do like this one better than the Dinosaurs one. For some reason, the zany colors and silly sketchy art style works much better for me with aliens as the focus. Maybe it reminded me of the monsters from Monsters, Inc/Monsters U? So - similar idea. Rhyming couplets on each spread document how aliens descended from the heavens, stole all the underpants, sewed them into a giant springy underpant net, and bounced a meteorite back into space, saving the earth. Tada!
Next week is Food Science, and then we're all done with Summer Reading until next year: Superheroes!
Storytime:
Toys in Space
Mini Grey
ISBN: 9780307978127
Bemused toys exist in a slightly skewed world with a faint English flavor.
I adore Mini Grey for her Traction Man series, and Toys in Space could very easily exist in the same universe, although Traction Man himself does not make an appearance - not even a cameo! The toys are left outside on the lawn overnight for the first time, so WonderDoll decides to avert panic by telling an interactive story about how the toys are abducted by an alien who is looking for his own lost toy.
The meta-storytelling (me reading a book about a doll telling a story (with interruptions) to an audience of toys) is challenging as a reader. I'm not sure whether the littlest ones realized that the story was supposed to be made-up all the way through. Some of the language was a little spicy for my toddler audience (I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and excised the cowboy's "darns" and "dangits" in favor of a broader "cowboy" accent overall). The story is cute, with just enough silly to counteract the potentially frightening elements - getting beamed into a spaceship, a giant closet filled with cataloged "lost toys," a potentially scary alien creature. Everything is lampshaded, and some things are lampshaded, mocked, and then incorporated non-ironically into the storyline. I also appreciate an alien that is named something interesting but still basically pronouncable. (It's is, or is a (was never clear on whether that was it's name or it's species) "Hoctopize" which is a totally cromulent alien name (or species).
This one was also one of our featured Summer Reading books.
This Rocket
Paul Collicutt
ISBN: 0374374848
Bright blue and orange colors this exciting (but reality-based) simple opposites book featuring rockets.
I am really shocked that this book isn't better known and more used than it is. The simple phrasing and related (mostly opposites) half spreads of this book really make it perfect for this age group. Besides that - rockets! Obviously a perennial favorite, just like dinosaurs and excavators and fire trucks. I had to look outside the county for it (first when researching the theme, and again this time to use) so I think I'm just going to give in and buy myself a copy. It really is perfect. Very sparse text, very expressive and contrasting illustrations of actual rockets, with even more rockets and rocketry factoids on the endpapers.
Light up the Night
Jean Reidy, illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine
ISBN: 9781423120247
Blocky, brushed/sponged-textural paintings pinpoint a boy's location, from space to his own bedroom.
This is an excellent use of the "this is the house that Jack built" form of expanding poetry text, starting with a young boy at bedtime turning his quilt into a rocketship, and then zooming in from space "where stars glow bright / and light up the night" through the solar system, onto earth, a continent (left vague), and a country (likewise), town, street, house, bedroom, and bed, and then back out again to show the stars, and a small bed sitting on the earth in a very Saint-Exupery "The Little Prince" sort of image.
Summer Reading
For the older kids, I subbed out Aliens in Underpants Save the World for This Rocket, but kept Toys in Space and Light up the Night. I probably could have gone with a longer book, but we had a time-consuming activity and a fun craft this time around, so I wanted to save some good time for those - programs need to be focused on the books, but I'm not one of those who thinks they should be ONLY about the books.
Aliens in Underpants Save the World
Claire Freedman, illustrated by Ben Cort
ISBN: 9781442427686
Aliens routinely steal underpants from Earth, until a meteorite threatens the planet, and the resourceful aliens make one final giant panty heist to make the biggest stretchiest underpants ever.
I have to say, still not a huge fan, but I do like this one better than the Dinosaurs one. For some reason, the zany colors and silly sketchy art style works much better for me with aliens as the focus. Maybe it reminded me of the monsters from Monsters, Inc/Monsters U? So - similar idea. Rhyming couplets on each spread document how aliens descended from the heavens, stole all the underpants, sewed them into a giant springy underpant net, and bounced a meteorite back into space, saving the earth. Tada!
Next week is Food Science, and then we're all done with Summer Reading until next year: Superheroes!
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Summer Reading Program 2014. Week 5: Engineering (Summer Reading Program)
And finally for the older kids:
I recycled Block City because it's important for kids to have exposure to classics and to poetry, so even though it's a bit juvenile for this group, I'm doing it anyway. Everybody should have the cultural notion of playing with blocks and creating something wonderful in your mind.
Finishing us out for the day (I'm doing three today, despite the heat, because they were sad that I only did two last week) are:
Building Our House
Jonathan Bean
ISBN: 9780374380236
Dense, but really interesting. Gail Gibbon's How a House is Built for the older set, with the bonus that it's actually a true story! The photographs at the end of the story (of the real house during construction) were confusing to the kids - they thought they were looking at the ruins of the old house! Otherwise, they enjoyed the idea of building their own home, and the idea of having "parties" to work just blew their minds.
Dinosaur Dig!
Penny Dale
ISBN: 9780763658717
Brightly colored dinosaurs work with realistic earthmovers in a vibrant, gritty environment to create something cool for themselves. The kids liked the idea of a pool, but they thought that the author should have called it a water park because it had slides and fountains in it.
I recycled Block City because it's important for kids to have exposure to classics and to poetry, so even though it's a bit juvenile for this group, I'm doing it anyway. Everybody should have the cultural notion of playing with blocks and creating something wonderful in your mind.
Finishing us out for the day (I'm doing three today, despite the heat, because they were sad that I only did two last week) are:
Building Our House
Jonathan Bean
ISBN: 9780374380236
Dense, but really interesting. Gail Gibbon's How a House is Built for the older set, with the bonus that it's actually a true story! The photographs at the end of the story (of the real house during construction) were confusing to the kids - they thought they were looking at the ruins of the old house! Otherwise, they enjoyed the idea of building their own home, and the idea of having "parties" to work just blew their minds.
Dinosaur Dig!
Penny Dale
ISBN: 9780763658717
Brightly colored dinosaurs work with realistic earthmovers in a vibrant, gritty environment to create something cool for themselves. The kids liked the idea of a pool, but they thought that the author should have called it a water park because it had slides and fountains in it.
Summer Reading Program 2014. Week 5: Engineering (Storytime)
So with the AC out, we had a bit of a change of plans.
Instead of our original line-up, we did a grouping of shorter stories, to save everyone from heat exhaustion.
Engineering Program, The Short Version:
Block City
Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Daniel Kirk
ISBN: 0689869649
Brightly-colored blocks and imaginative backgrounds bring a classic poem into modern experience.
I discovered this book a few weeks back, and fell in love. It was perfect for this program, and I'm so glad I got the chance to use it (despite being sad about the other books that I had to leave out). The poem is the classic version, no cuts or changes, and the pictures are joyful and creative, but still very grounded in reality - a young boy is playing inside with his blocks while it rains, and creates a city both in blocks, and in his imagination. When the blocks go tumbling down to clean up, the block city may be physically gone, but the memory city will last. Excellent intro for littles to classic authors and really good poetry. A new favorite storytime book.
Dig Dig Digging
Margaret Mayo, illustrated by Alex Ayliffe
ISBN: 9780805068405
Cartoonish construction equipment and diverse workers go through their routines in this set of rhyming overviews.
Each spread covers a different type of equipment, and while I may be a little confused at the inclusion of Fire Engines, Long Distance Trucks, and Rescue Helicopters, again, I seriously doubt that my young audience cares a whit that none of those particular vehicles are in fact construction equipment. Each vehicle has a short repetitive poem, none of which have anything to do with each other (in rhyme or in illustration) which makes skipping segments a real possibility if necessary or desired. Due to the short rhymes, even with all of the vehicles covered, the read is very short, ending with a construction zone and "sleeping" equipment after a hard day of work.
Dig, Dogs, Dig: A Construction Tail
James Horvath
ISBN: 9780062189646
A colorful crew of cartoon hounds often appear super-imposed against the backdrops, but the story and illustrations appeal.
These are some busy, hardworking dogs. I like most that they have hard-hats and plans and more equipment in and out on a schedule. Even the text focuses on the precision of construction work: "Unpack the boxes. / Follow directions. / Make sure it's built right / so it passes inspection." I like that the craft and science of this work is covered, in addition to the usual "yay earthmovers and playing in the dirt and building/destroying things!" that we usually have. The progression is great, watching the project move from earthmoving to final touches like trees and wildlife, and ends with all of the dogs enjoying the park they've just constructed.
Instead of our original line-up, we did a grouping of shorter stories, to save everyone from heat exhaustion.
Engineering Program, The Short Version:
Block City
Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Daniel Kirk
ISBN: 0689869649
Brightly-colored blocks and imaginative backgrounds bring a classic poem into modern experience.
I discovered this book a few weeks back, and fell in love. It was perfect for this program, and I'm so glad I got the chance to use it (despite being sad about the other books that I had to leave out). The poem is the classic version, no cuts or changes, and the pictures are joyful and creative, but still very grounded in reality - a young boy is playing inside with his blocks while it rains, and creates a city both in blocks, and in his imagination. When the blocks go tumbling down to clean up, the block city may be physically gone, but the memory city will last. Excellent intro for littles to classic authors and really good poetry. A new favorite storytime book.
Dig Dig Digging
Margaret Mayo, illustrated by Alex Ayliffe
ISBN: 9780805068405
Cartoonish construction equipment and diverse workers go through their routines in this set of rhyming overviews.
Each spread covers a different type of equipment, and while I may be a little confused at the inclusion of Fire Engines, Long Distance Trucks, and Rescue Helicopters, again, I seriously doubt that my young audience cares a whit that none of those particular vehicles are in fact construction equipment. Each vehicle has a short repetitive poem, none of which have anything to do with each other (in rhyme or in illustration) which makes skipping segments a real possibility if necessary or desired. Due to the short rhymes, even with all of the vehicles covered, the read is very short, ending with a construction zone and "sleeping" equipment after a hard day of work.
Dig, Dogs, Dig: A Construction Tail
James Horvath
ISBN: 9780062189646
A colorful crew of cartoon hounds often appear super-imposed against the backdrops, but the story and illustrations appeal.
These are some busy, hardworking dogs. I like most that they have hard-hats and plans and more equipment in and out on a schedule. Even the text focuses on the precision of construction work: "Unpack the boxes. / Follow directions. / Make sure it's built right / so it passes inspection." I like that the craft and science of this work is covered, in addition to the usual "yay earthmovers and playing in the dirt and building/destroying things!" that we usually have. The progression is great, watching the project move from earthmoving to final touches like trees and wildlife, and ends with all of the dogs enjoying the park they've just constructed.
Summer Reading Program 2014. Week 5: Engineering (My Original Plan)
Still no AC this week. Very warm, despite fans. Families still great, kids still lovely.
Because of the heat, I switched things up a bit. My original plan was to read Willy and the Cardboard Boxes by Lizi Boyd, How a House is Built by Gail Gibbons, and Demolition by Sally Sutton (all of which I'll review below, because they are awesome books, and I'm sad I didn't get to do them this time.) Instead, I had a whole different line-up of shorter, easier books, which I'll also review in the next post, because they are also quite nice, and the kids enjoyed them.
My Original Plan:
Willy and the Cardboard Boxes
Lizi Boyd
ISBN: 9780670836369
A boy goes to work with his dad and spends the day with a set of empty cardboard boxes, which turn into many imaginary things.
I like this story for a lot of reasons. First, we have a dad taking his son to work, which is nice. Next, we have the dad being supportive and helpful towards his son's self-play activities (offering advice, giving scissors and tape, checking in on him but not interrupting). After that we have Willy himself, creating an awesome stream-of-consciousness adventure fueled pretty much entirely by some boxes and markers. The story is longer, but it flows well, and the ending where Willy and his dad head back home is surprisingly touching.
Demolition
Sally Sutton, illustrated by Brian Lovelock
ISBN: 9780763664930
Pencil and watercolor? illustrations of oversized but realistic construction equipment, lots of sound effects.
A really good pick for the middle, because it's so short and lively, unfortunately it was out of place in my replacement (oh my lord it's so hot) line-up of reads today. Despite the fun of the book, and the great rhymes and word-play, I would have preferred that it either stick with the theme of demolition, leaving an empty bare place for the next construction, or that the creation of the park at the end was more integrated into the story. Have to say that I like Roadwork (same author/illustrator) a little better for that exact reason, even though my go-to book for road-building is Easy Street by Rita Gray, illustrated by Mary Bono (which I also need to use again and review). Niggles aside, I doubt that toddlers obsessed with construction equipment are even going to notice, and it's great fun to read.
How a House is Built
Gail Gibbons
ISBN: 9780823412327
Simple primary-colors and clean lines show off the process of constructing and moving into a house.
Extremely similar to Byron Barton's Building a House, but with more text and the illustrations are slightly more sophisticated, and often show chronology through inset panels (like a comic strip or "classic" graphic novel). The small pictures can present difficulties for larger groups, but despite that, I prefer this one unless I specifically need a short read because it has much more information and more specific construction details. I find that kids are really interested in the details, so they're willing to sit longer when they're hearing bits they haven't learned about before (plumbing and wiring especially seem fascinating).
So, I'm a bit sad that I didn't get to use these good books today, but they're a great program all together, and I'm going to hit them up again probably in the fall when school starts back up.
Because of the heat, I switched things up a bit. My original plan was to read Willy and the Cardboard Boxes by Lizi Boyd, How a House is Built by Gail Gibbons, and Demolition by Sally Sutton (all of which I'll review below, because they are awesome books, and I'm sad I didn't get to do them this time.) Instead, I had a whole different line-up of shorter, easier books, which I'll also review in the next post, because they are also quite nice, and the kids enjoyed them.
My Original Plan:
Willy and the Cardboard Boxes
Lizi Boyd
ISBN: 9780670836369
A boy goes to work with his dad and spends the day with a set of empty cardboard boxes, which turn into many imaginary things.
I like this story for a lot of reasons. First, we have a dad taking his son to work, which is nice. Next, we have the dad being supportive and helpful towards his son's self-play activities (offering advice, giving scissors and tape, checking in on him but not interrupting). After that we have Willy himself, creating an awesome stream-of-consciousness adventure fueled pretty much entirely by some boxes and markers. The story is longer, but it flows well, and the ending where Willy and his dad head back home is surprisingly touching.
Demolition
Sally Sutton, illustrated by Brian Lovelock
ISBN: 9780763664930
Pencil and watercolor? illustrations of oversized but realistic construction equipment, lots of sound effects.
A really good pick for the middle, because it's so short and lively, unfortunately it was out of place in my replacement (oh my lord it's so hot) line-up of reads today. Despite the fun of the book, and the great rhymes and word-play, I would have preferred that it either stick with the theme of demolition, leaving an empty bare place for the next construction, or that the creation of the park at the end was more integrated into the story. Have to say that I like Roadwork (same author/illustrator) a little better for that exact reason, even though my go-to book for road-building is Easy Street by Rita Gray, illustrated by Mary Bono (which I also need to use again and review). Niggles aside, I doubt that toddlers obsessed with construction equipment are even going to notice, and it's great fun to read.
How a House is Built
Gail Gibbons
ISBN: 9780823412327
Simple primary-colors and clean lines show off the process of constructing and moving into a house.
Extremely similar to Byron Barton's Building a House, but with more text and the illustrations are slightly more sophisticated, and often show chronology through inset panels (like a comic strip or "classic" graphic novel). The small pictures can present difficulties for larger groups, but despite that, I prefer this one unless I specifically need a short read because it has much more information and more specific construction details. I find that kids are really interested in the details, so they're willing to sit longer when they're hearing bits they haven't learned about before (plumbing and wiring especially seem fascinating).
So, I'm a bit sad that I didn't get to use these good books today, but they're a great program all together, and I'm going to hit them up again probably in the fall when school starts back up.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Nonfiction: Build the Perfect Survival Kit (2nd Edition), by John McCann
Build the Perfect Survival Kit (2nd Edition)
John McCann
ISBN: 9781440238055
Read July 3, 2014
Nonfiction: survival kits, useful tools, nifty items in small packages.
This was a really interesting book. I may not be the perfect audience (the wildest environment I'm in is my front yard) but it does have some nifty things that are good to learn about, and reviews of useful tools and devices.
I especially liked the idea of a personal kit - an altoids tin or a small sewing-kit sized container with various useful implements (waterproof matches, emergency mini led flashlight, duct tape...) where it's not heavy or cumbersome, but you still have something, which is better than a giant pack full of stuff that's somewhere in your closet at home.
John McCann
ISBN: 9781440238055
Read July 3, 2014
Nonfiction: survival kits, useful tools, nifty items in small packages.
This was a really interesting book. I may not be the perfect audience (the wildest environment I'm in is my front yard) but it does have some nifty things that are good to learn about, and reviews of useful tools and devices.
I especially liked the idea of a personal kit - an altoids tin or a small sewing-kit sized container with various useful implements (waterproof matches, emergency mini led flashlight, duct tape...) where it's not heavy or cumbersome, but you still have something, which is better than a giant pack full of stuff that's somewhere in your closet at home.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Picture Books: Dinosaur Thunder, by Marion Dane Bauer & Alphabatics, by Suse MacDonald
Getting brand new freshly cataloged books into the library is always so nice, and I especially love when the picture books come in.
Dinosaur Thunder
Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine
ISBN: 9780590452960
Pop-art with ragged white highlighted edging shows off the imagination of a young boy scared of thunder.
This one is going on my list of books about storms. It's nice and short, and has various family-members trying to comfort a small boy by saying comforting cliches about what thunder is - all of which he imagines as still frightening, until his older brother latches on to dinosaurs as the magic imaginary remedy. Thinking of the thunder as familiar dinosaurs roaring and stomping around makes the boy much less nervous about the earth-shaking thunderous booms of the storm.
Alphabatics
Suse MacDonald
ISBN: 9780027615203
1986 book, Caldecott Honor, re-issue. Primary colored alphabet letters gradually morph into animals or items in action.
Love the colors in this book, and glad to see a re-issue of it in hardback. Each letter has a color scheme which takes the original letter through a series of three or four blocks of gradual morphing on one page, into the fully-formed scene on the facing page. As an illustrative example (not sorry for the pun), the letter J is a lowercase red J in a yellow box. The next box has the J turned sideways and resting on the floor of the box, and the box is given a "lid" with the inclusion of a simple white line. Next we have the box-top being slightly pushed open by a multiplicity of Js (now minus their dots), and the final box has the lid fully back, the stack of Js are wobbling slightly, and the dot is on top as a head. The facing page keeps the red J body and the yellow box, turns the red dots into the corners of a clown's smile, and adds a nicely contrasting turquoise ruffle and hat to the ensemble.
Sadly, this one isn't so good for storytimes, because there's no through-line or any action/dialogue, but I'm glad to have a copy to suggest to parents with kids who enjoy interesting illustrations. This would be a really interesting teaching tool to pair with a book like Numblers (also by MacDonald) to use in the classroom to help kids visualise numbers and make imaginative connections with them.
Dinosaur Thunder
Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine
ISBN: 9780590452960
Pop-art with ragged white highlighted edging shows off the imagination of a young boy scared of thunder.
This one is going on my list of books about storms. It's nice and short, and has various family-members trying to comfort a small boy by saying comforting cliches about what thunder is - all of which he imagines as still frightening, until his older brother latches on to dinosaurs as the magic imaginary remedy. Thinking of the thunder as familiar dinosaurs roaring and stomping around makes the boy much less nervous about the earth-shaking thunderous booms of the storm.
Alphabatics
Suse MacDonald
ISBN: 9780027615203
1986 book, Caldecott Honor, re-issue. Primary colored alphabet letters gradually morph into animals or items in action.
Love the colors in this book, and glad to see a re-issue of it in hardback. Each letter has a color scheme which takes the original letter through a series of three or four blocks of gradual morphing on one page, into the fully-formed scene on the facing page. As an illustrative example (not sorry for the pun), the letter J is a lowercase red J in a yellow box. The next box has the J turned sideways and resting on the floor of the box, and the box is given a "lid" with the inclusion of a simple white line. Next we have the box-top being slightly pushed open by a multiplicity of Js (now minus their dots), and the final box has the lid fully back, the stack of Js are wobbling slightly, and the dot is on top as a head. The facing page keeps the red J body and the yellow box, turns the red dots into the corners of a clown's smile, and adds a nicely contrasting turquoise ruffle and hat to the ensemble.
Sadly, this one isn't so good for storytimes, because there's no through-line or any action/dialogue, but I'm glad to have a copy to suggest to parents with kids who enjoy interesting illustrations. This would be a really interesting teaching tool to pair with a book like Numblers (also by MacDonald) to use in the classroom to help kids visualise numbers and make imaginative connections with them.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Summer Reading Program 2014. Week 4: Dinosaurs
We skipped the week of Fourth of July, and now we're back with a bang to celebrate the science of dinosaurs!
Super huge crowd today, really attentive and energetic kids, great parents. I love my storytime families so much!
I Dreamt I Was a Dinosaur was our kickoff for my youngsters this morning. I paired it with Dinosaur Roar! as I originally planned, but an AC outage left me mixing things up a bit - Dinosaurumpus was a little too energetic and long for the appalling heat, so we switched over to a cute new one I found a few weeks back called Dinosaur Kisses.
Dinosaur Roar!
Paul & Henrietta Stickland
ISBN: 0525452761
THE PERFECT book of opposites and dinosaurs, with slightly exaggerated colorful and personable dinos.
I LOVE this book. I love this book so hard that I have to stop myself from using it every time I do a Dinosaur program. I might like dinosaurs a lot - they're a great program topic, because I'm excited and the kids are thrilled. I love this book so hard I bought it for my home library and I don't even have kids! Very little coherent story, but we get a parade of various imaginative dinosaurs (no hard names here, which is part of the appeal) which nicely and smartly contrast each other, and rhyme across pages, so we have "Dinosaur fat and dinosaur tiny" on one page, and then the next shows us "Dinosaur clean (using a nail file) and dinosaur slimy." LOVE LOVE LOVE.
Dinosaur Kisses
David Ezra Stein
ISBN: 9780763661045
Naive art, a blobby excited dinosaur baby romps through her world causing mayhem as she tries to "kiss" things.
I'm not totally thrilled with the artwork here, but I have to admit that it suits the tone of the story. It's a little messy, a little blobby, a little scribbly. Like a cross between Mo Willem's Pigeon books and David Shannon's No David books. A newly hatched dinosaur (again, no names) goes around trying to kiss things, and messing up - instead stomping and chomping and whomping them, which is an issue really, until another baby dino hatches (a sibling?) whereupon the "kisses" of stomping and chomping and whomping work perfectly. Interesting to me because it doesn't end with the baby mastering the art of kisses, but with her finding someone who is suited to her own brand of rough and tumble affection instead.
This afternoon, we've got the older kids, and I think with the heat (no AC in the room), I'm going to wimp out and only do two books with them today.
Our Summer Reading Featured Book is Dinosaurs Love Underpants, which I have to be honest, isn't my cuppa, but it's cute and fun, and the older kids will like that they're listening to an adult read to them about underwear. Since I'm only doing two today, the second really needs to be a firecracker, so I'm pulling out Dinosaurumpus for the job.
Dinosaurs Love Underpants
Claire Freedman and Ben Cort
ISBN: 9781416989387
Scruffy bearded cavemen hide from caricatured brightly-colored dinos, also underwear.
The rhymes flow nicely, and the story is silly and fun, but it's not my favorite. T-Rex chases down a caveman and demands his underpants, which starts a fad, which starts a war, and as the dinos tussle over the underpants, they all get ripped up, and the dinos kill each other off. Ends with a modern-day coda with a moral lesson: take care of your underpants because they saved our ancestors from the dinosaurs.
Dinosaurumpus!
Tony Mitton, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees
ISBN: 9780439395144
This is a delightful book - when I can manage to get through it. The story is zippy and silly, the wordplay is fast and furious, and the rhyming and rhythm are a quick syncopated drumbeat that propels you through the story - great for the listeners, great for energy, not so great when part of the rhymes are the names of the dinosaurs. Stutter just once over "deinonychuses" (dino-night-chooses) and you're sunk! With the proper preparation and a great deal of energy, this one is a fast-paced fun dinosaur read that I'm always happy to show off to a group of kids.
Super huge crowd today, really attentive and energetic kids, great parents. I love my storytime families so much!
I Dreamt I Was a Dinosaur was our kickoff for my youngsters this morning. I paired it with Dinosaur Roar! as I originally planned, but an AC outage left me mixing things up a bit - Dinosaurumpus was a little too energetic and long for the appalling heat, so we switched over to a cute new one I found a few weeks back called Dinosaur Kisses.
Dinosaur Roar!
Paul & Henrietta Stickland
ISBN: 0525452761
THE PERFECT book of opposites and dinosaurs, with slightly exaggerated colorful and personable dinos.
I LOVE this book. I love this book so hard that I have to stop myself from using it every time I do a Dinosaur program. I might like dinosaurs a lot - they're a great program topic, because I'm excited and the kids are thrilled. I love this book so hard I bought it for my home library and I don't even have kids! Very little coherent story, but we get a parade of various imaginative dinosaurs (no hard names here, which is part of the appeal) which nicely and smartly contrast each other, and rhyme across pages, so we have "Dinosaur fat and dinosaur tiny" on one page, and then the next shows us "Dinosaur clean (using a nail file) and dinosaur slimy." LOVE LOVE LOVE.
Dinosaur Kisses
David Ezra Stein
ISBN: 9780763661045
Naive art, a blobby excited dinosaur baby romps through her world causing mayhem as she tries to "kiss" things.
I'm not totally thrilled with the artwork here, but I have to admit that it suits the tone of the story. It's a little messy, a little blobby, a little scribbly. Like a cross between Mo Willem's Pigeon books and David Shannon's No David books. A newly hatched dinosaur (again, no names) goes around trying to kiss things, and messing up - instead stomping and chomping and whomping them, which is an issue really, until another baby dino hatches (a sibling?) whereupon the "kisses" of stomping and chomping and whomping work perfectly. Interesting to me because it doesn't end with the baby mastering the art of kisses, but with her finding someone who is suited to her own brand of rough and tumble affection instead.
This afternoon, we've got the older kids, and I think with the heat (no AC in the room), I'm going to wimp out and only do two books with them today.
Our Summer Reading Featured Book is Dinosaurs Love Underpants, which I have to be honest, isn't my cuppa, but it's cute and fun, and the older kids will like that they're listening to an adult read to them about underwear. Since I'm only doing two today, the second really needs to be a firecracker, so I'm pulling out Dinosaurumpus for the job.
Dinosaurs Love Underpants
Claire Freedman and Ben Cort
ISBN: 9781416989387
Scruffy bearded cavemen hide from caricatured brightly-colored dinos, also underwear.
The rhymes flow nicely, and the story is silly and fun, but it's not my favorite. T-Rex chases down a caveman and demands his underpants, which starts a fad, which starts a war, and as the dinos tussle over the underpants, they all get ripped up, and the dinos kill each other off. Ends with a modern-day coda with a moral lesson: take care of your underpants because they saved our ancestors from the dinosaurs.
Dinosaurumpus!
Tony Mitton, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees
ISBN: 9780439395144
This is a delightful book - when I can manage to get through it. The story is zippy and silly, the wordplay is fast and furious, and the rhyming and rhythm are a quick syncopated drumbeat that propels you through the story - great for the listeners, great for energy, not so great when part of the rhymes are the names of the dinosaurs. Stutter just once over "deinonychuses" (dino-night-chooses) and you're sunk! With the proper preparation and a great deal of energy, this one is a fast-paced fun dinosaur read that I'm always happy to show off to a group of kids.
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