Juvenile Fiction/Graphic Novel: Rise of the Robot Army, Robert Venditti & Dusty Higgins

Rise of the Robot Army (Book 2 in the Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape series)

Robert Venditti, illustrated by Dusty Higgins 

ISBN: 9781481405577

Miles gets addicted to the power of the cape and the kick of doing good, and gets kidnapped by a crazy guy with a robot army.

These are fun because they're set in Atlanta, they're prose novels for the most part, but switch into graphic novel format when the character of the Golden Cape is active, and because the author is trying very hard to purposefully subvert the tropes of a superhero narrative and show how hard it is for a normal person to always do what's right and what's best, when they're just normal people faced with powerful temptations.

Supporting Cast: A+. Miles' dad, poor guy. I just want to buy him a drink. At least he's got a girlfriend now. Doctor is cool but needs a bit more characterization. New girl is hella interesting and I hope she's permanent and not treated poorly by the author.  

Plot: A.  Emotional arc is dead-on and perfect for the age-group (honestly, it's perfect for most people all their lives, when you really look at it) and the physical plot/perilous situation is 1) creepy as heck, 2) very nicely built on the first book, 3) subverts superhero-story tropes where people have obvious names to show they're bad-guys or good-guys without actually making the storyline ANY LESS CREEPY (well-done, that is), and 4) is solved relatively rationally and by the characters making informed and purposeful choices instead of getting deus-ex-machina'd (although I do think perhaps dad had a bit of a mild ret-con to his character so that Miles doesn't get murdered at the end of the book).

Fun, silly, engaging, thoughtful, and peopled with fun and interesting characters that are tropey without being any less interesting and individual. I'm really impressed, and really enjoying this series. 

Tuesday Storytime: Christmas

Holidays are always so interesting.  On the one hand, it makes things easier for selection, because there's your topic hanging RIGHT THERE.  On the other hand, it limits choices because now the selection criteria include topical limitations; at least Christmas books aren't as universally unfortunate as the Thanksgiving ones are.  On the third hand (running out of hands here) celebrating (or just acknowledging major religious/cultural holidays can be a bit fraught, because there are often not enough quality resources available to do a storytime about other cultural holidays - I feel like I should be more pro-active about finding those, but this is only one of several hats I wear.  On the fourth hand, getting back to celebrating holidays, especially with Christmas, I feel like there's a distinct possibility that caregivers are just the tiniest bit sick of it all, and would be thrilled to have something else to talk about with their toddlers for an hour or so.  On the fifth hand, I do have a whole lot of parents who are either temporarily in the states or are freshly immigrated, and so there is a whole cultural phenomenon they're actively trying to figure out.

I overthink things sometimes.  

Three lovely Christmas books.

Christmas in the Country

Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Diane Goode 

ISBN: 0439073340

Narrator remembers a long-ago Christmas with her grandparents.  Less country and more old-fashioned.

Likes: narrator lives with grandparents, Christmas is shown as secular (trees and Santa and presents) and religious (two different church services), and it deals with the END of Christmas and the associated rituals that make the post-event process go smoothly (taking out the tree, putting away ornaments, a special snack).

Dislikes: no PoC, slightly too long for my wiggle-worms today, and the illustrations aren't my favorites - very cartoony and loose.  

Christmas Wombat

Jackie French, illustrated by Bruce Whatley

ISBN: 9780547868721

Australians celebrate Christmas too, and so does this very greedy wombat.

Very few words here, and sequential illustrations.  I narrated a bit more than the actual text, and asked leading questions as the book progressed, and the caregivers got a kick out of the humor, and the kids were impressed at the sheer number of carrots eaten by this roly-poly furball.  Short and funny - a perfect fit.

A Short History of Christmas

Sally Lee, with Gail Saunders-Smith (consulting editor)

ISBN: 9781491460955

A bit scattershot, but very basic and clearly laid out description of Christmas themes and traditions.

This is my second Christmas reading this book (I discovered it a bit over a year ago and was delighted with it) and while I'm still very pleased with it, I will say that the ending is a BIT sharp.  I would have liked to see more time spent on modern traditions and approaches to Christmas (we only get a single spread before it turns abruptly to the glossary).  The only other quibble I have is that the language presents the existence of Mary and Joseph and the timing of Jesus' birth as historical facts, when it could very easily have been phrased to indicate that this is considered truth for Christians, and not necessarily by others with different belief systems. The scattershot approach isn't actually a negative for me, considering the attention spans of my little ones, and the one-topic-per-spread approach means that they constantly have something new and interesting to re-engage with.  (And engage they did - lots of audience participating on this book as they showed off all that they knew about Christmas and Saint Nicholas and traditions.     

Nonfiction: The Harvey House Cookbook, George H. Foster, Peter C. Weiglin

The Harvey House Cookbook: Memories of Dining along the Santa Fe Railroad
George H. Foster & Peter C. Weiglin
ISBN: 1563520338
A combination capsule-history and cookbook, with facts and recipes from Harvey House rail stops.
Read Fall 2016

I think I would have enjoyed the book a bit more if it were simply a history of the Harvey Houses, but I do think people will be interested in the recipes.  I would have rather seen more of the menus and the organizational documents (if any of them survive) but I know I'm a bit weird compared to most people.

The only thing that really bugged me about this book was the layout: each very short nonfiction section was sandwiched in between the larger chapters of recipes, and thus it was hard to create any sort of narrative momentum.  It made the history sections seem disjointed and fragmentary, which, when dealing with a portion of history that has perhaps not been recorded as well as it might have been, isn't really the optimal impression to leave.

Other than that, the nonfiction information presented was clear, chronological, decently-organized, and topical.  I think the recipes either seem painfully normal, or strangely dated, but as I don't cook, I have no basis for informing whether they're good or useful for modern cooks.

An interesting donation that showed up at random and fulfilled a passive sort of interest I've had for a while in the concept of the Harvey Girls, so I was very glad to see it.

Tuesday Storytime: Winter Snows

And finally caught up to this week!  We have had persistent rumors of snow this weekend, so I felt that was the best time to start my snowy series of reads.  I'll do a bit of Christmas intermission, and then pick the snow-and-cold theme back up in January.

Blizzard

John Rocco

ISBN: 9781423178651

Rocco engagingly recounts and illustrates his adventures in the New England blizzard of 1978,

This book is a lovely slice of Americana.  Rocco's character is thrilled at first as the giant storm shuts everything down under a thick blanket of snow, but after five days, facing the dire straits of cocoa made with WATER, he undertakes a perilous voyage that only he is qualified to complete (because he's the only one small enough to use tennis rackets for snowshoes and not sink into the chest-high powdery snow).  He sets off with good intentions, a grocery list, and a set of neighbors to check in on, and eventually (a four-page-fold-out-spread later) he makes it to the store to collect the necessary provisions.  A cute story of unexpected snow and sweet innocent playful fun.

Mimi and Bear in the Snow

Janee Trasler

ISBN: 9780374300937

Relatively new, and absolutely adorable.  Mimi Bunny loses Bear while playing in the snow, and the next morning finds everything melted away.

Bear does everything with Mimi.  Ice-skating, building snow hats, building snow monsters... but then Bear disappears, and he doesn't even re-appear by bedtime!  Something has gone wrong, but when Mimi retraces her steps the next morning, all the snow is gone too!  Will she be able to find Bear?  I like this story because the concept of snowfall that vanishes totally by the next morning isn't one that you see in a lot of children's books, but it's the reality for most of us down here.

Polar Bear Night

Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Stephen Savage

ISBN: 9780439495240

Absolutely stunning illustrations elevate this slight story about a polar bear venturing out into the starry, snowy, night alone.

Sweet, lyrical, short, simple.  If it weren't for those amazing lush thick spreads, I don't think I'd be excited to read this as often as I am.  The polar bear cub is sweet and the story is cute, but it really is the illustrations that keep this one moving along.  It is different enough from most other picture book illustration styles that the adults and the kids just can't stop staring at it.  Really a knockout visual treat.

 

Tuesday Storytime: Nighttime Noises

I'd been holding on to Bear Feels Scared since October when I didn't manage to fit it into the Halloween roster, so I snagged a couple of other "scary nighttime" books to offer a creepy-but-reassuring night-time themed storytime.

Creatures of the Night
Stephen Brooks, illustrated by Rodger Wilson
ISBN:  9780976901716
A catalog of the various animals that live nocturnally, with very little plotline.

I started out on this one because it's a straight call-and-response with the kids.  I flip the pages and they tell me what animal that is, and they all feel very competent and smart and adult.  The animals are a straightforward bunch, and the artwork isn't much past competent, but it flows smoothly and reads easily.  If it werent for bookending the scary part, I would have put this one in the middle because of the length and speed of reading.

Bear Feels Scared
Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman
ISBN:  9780689859861
Bear stays out a bit late as a storm blows in, and gets disoriented and scared in the dark.  Friends rush to help out.

This one spends most of the time on the bear's big feelings of being scared and lost and worried, interspersed with bear's animal friends searching.  The comforting ending is a bit pat and quick, but no-one cried on me, which is what I worried about.

The Night World
Mordecai Gerstein
ISBN: 9780316188227
A boy is wakened by his cat and they venture through the dark of pre-dawn outside to see animals and plants in a strange new way.

This is a beautiful book and I really wish it didn't start off with practically three spreads of wordlessness.  That's just a rough hurdle for a storytime book, and while the payoff of the book is worth it, it does make for a challenge to the storyteller.  The boy and the cat wander through a confusing-dark house, where familiar objects seem odd and out of place, into a dark yard where plants and flowers are strange without color from the sunlight.  The animals begin to get excited about an upcoming event, and when the nighttime animals begin to leave, the astute reader realizes the sun is rising, as the skyline changes from blackness to greys to beautiful sunrise colors and sky blue.  Very pretty, and strangely-powerfully done considering the slim concept.

Tuesday Storytime: Road Work

Ok, the dinosaurs aren't building a road, exactly, but all the same equipment is in play, and I can't help it: DINOSAURS using giant earthmovers! It's close enough.

Dinosaur Dig!
Penny Dale
ISBN: 9780763658717
A varied crew of dinosaurs (pre-feathered, sadly) work with a varied set of earthmoving equipment on a mystery structure.

Our endpapers give us a nice listing and illustrative catalog of our dinos and our machines, and the story inside is quick and rhythmic, with lots of onomatopoiea and big construction noises as the dinos work tirelessly on their strange wavy, undulating concrete pit in the ground.

Easy Street
Rita Gray, illustrated by (model-maker and diorama-creator) Mary Bono
ISBN: 9780525476573
Adorable chubby diverse road-worker dolls inhabit a layered diorama "slice of street."

I think this book would never have impressed me as much as it does if it weren't for the illustrations.  Those dioramas are simply amazing, and the textures involved in the creation of the in-progress street and background layers are simply unbelievable.  I love looking at it.  I really wish I could have access to the original: lots of those layers look like they're made from sandpaper and I would LOVE to have that textural grounding available to the kids as well.  Anyway, the rhyming is short and direct, very repetitive, and covers the basics in workmanlike language.

Work, Dogs, Work: A Highway Tail
James Horvath
ISBN: 9780062189707
Horvath's crew of worker dogs tackles a highway construction job in this cute rhyming tail-er, tale.

This book is probably way too close in content to Easy Street to really do together, but I'm calling it purposeful repetition to build conceptual awareness, and running with it.  These lanky energetic dogs are building the world's most complicated highway, with bridges, overpasses, tunnels, and quagmires to overcome before they connect the city to the ultimate destination: the beach.

Tuesday Storytime: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving books are unusually tragic, and really unsuitable as a whole for storytimes for younger kids.  This lack really makes it hard to find a trio that doesn't have something smarmy or treacly, just because that's leagues better than the alternatives.  I wasn't unhappy with my choices here, but I do wish I had more quality to select from.

I Go With My Family to Grandma's
Riki Levinson, illustrated by Diane Goode
ISBN: 9780525442615
Several branches of a big-city family converges on the grandparent's place for a family photo.

An old but sweet book from Levinson, with exceptional old-timey documentary-style artwork by Goode.  A cumulative/repetitive book: each branch of the family has a different color, travels via a different type of conveyance, and comes from a different borough of New York to Grandma Central, where they all meet and mingle before everyone's together for a great big family portrait.  The familiar family get-together balances the utterly unfamiliar cityscapes and transit modes to make it just the right amount of different but understandable.

Thanksgiving Cats
Jean Marzollo, illustrated by Hans Wilhelm
ISBN: 9780606172820
Adorable cats in mid-1990s style "scholastic book art" run through a cutesy rhyme.

Ok, I know this is trite and cutesy, but it was either these cats or one of the dozens of insufferable "Thanks for Thanksgiving" style books where the whole thing is simply a very slightly disguised (or not at all disguised) prayer of thanks.  No thank you.  Cats it is then.  There are Thanksgiving Cats and Thanksgiving Kittens, and the Cats do farming and kitchen work (there are visually-gendered cats doing both farming and kitchen tasks, which I heartily approve) and the Kittens play, perform a simple task, or simply get in the way.  The only weird thing is "apple pie with cheese" which I can't figure out if it's merely inserted to scan the necessary rhyme, or if that's actually a thing.  

Duck for Turkey Day
Jacqueline Jules, illustrated by Kathryn Mitter
ISBN: 9780807517345
Tuyet is disturbed by her family's chosen "Turkey Day" tradition when it doesn't match up.

A lovely book covering cultural differences, adapting traditions to fit your own family needs, and the really intense and often overlooked desires of all children to simply fit in and be "just like teacher" or "just like everyone else."  Tuyet's family maybe could be a bit more understanding and explain things, instead of letting her teacher do all the heavy lifting, but it is what it is.  The schoolroom is purposefully diverse, but it gets the point across neatly.

Tuesday Storytime: November Days

It finally is starting to feel like fall outside, so I picked a quick trio of seasonal books for this week.

Hibernation Station
Michelle Meadows, illustrated by Kurt Cyrus
ISBN: 9781416937883
A crew of bear "conductors" sorts out the "passengers" in the hollow log "train" they all hibernate around.

The concept is a bit hokey on initial presentation, thus the liberal use of quotation marks: I know it sounds corny, you guys.  But the illustrations are fantastic, the story is solid, and the cadence and rhymes are delightful to speak.  We've got all sorts of hibernating animals boarding the hollow log train into winterland, and the bear conductors are clambering all over trying to get everyone into their jammies and settled down, but NOTHING is going right.  The log's sprung a leak, bunkmakes are snoring, and someone's afraid of the dark.  A quick re-arrange to dry rumpled fur, switch roommates around, and soothe fears makes everything peaceful again, just in time for the pyjama-clad conductors to drift off themselves as the winter snow piles up against the solid log.


Listen to the Rain
Bill Martin Jr., illustrated by John Archambault
ISBN: 9780805006827
A soft whispery onomatopoeic breathy book.

I don't use this book often, but I think about it quite a lot, and I really adore the language and the whispery calm unhurried nature of it.  I do think it's probably not entirely suited for storytimes, but kids are going to have to learn to appreciate (or at least suffer politely through) quieter books and less-interactive books, and less visually-aggressive books, and this is a beautiful and almost musical example to practice on.


In November
Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Jill Kastner
ISBN: 978015201768
A beautiful lyrical narrative that segues easily from nature to community Thanksgiving.

Rylant is so talented at her narratives.  Every year when I look at this book, I wonder how she goes from unabashedly nature-centric in the impact of the changing of the seasons, to a close-up examination of the communal and comforting underpinnings of most families' celebrations of Thanksgiving.

Tuesday Storytime: Election Day

Presented after the fact without commentary.

Grace for President
Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
ISBN: 9781423139997

We Came to America
Faith Ringgold
ISBN: 9780517709474

Monster Needs Your Vote
Paul Czajak, illustrated by Wendy Grieb
ISBN: 9781938063633

Special Program Review: School Tour: Community Helpers

We had a school tour scheduled for this fall that asked at the last minute for a dedicated storytime with the theme of "Community Helpers" and I came up with a small program for them with some books we had on-hand.  This is my regular reminder to be grateful for a library system that keeps the branch locations well-stocked with new and updated children's nonfiction and picture books that can be used (by patrons or staff) on a moment's notice.

All of these were EXCELLENT books, and I was so proud of our library selectors that I could just swoop in and grab them immediately when they were needed.

Officer Buckle and Gloria
Peggy Rathmann
ISBN: 9780399226168

Show Me Community Helpers: My First Picture Encyclopedia
Clint Edwards
ISBN: 9781620659182

Helpers in My Community
Bobbie Kalman
ISBN: 9780778794882

Whose Hands Are These? A Community Helper Guessing Book
Miranda Paul, illustrated by Luciana Powell
ISBN: 9781467752145   

Special Program Review: Agricultural Nonfiction

This fall, I teamed up with a local historic agricultural museum to work with their volunteers to create a STEAM*-based reading program for kids in K4-3rd grade, to introduce them to basic concepts in natural history, agricultural and farm life, and animal husbandry.  We had three programs over the course of the fall, and focused on different topical themes each time.

*Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math

In October we covered harvest and orchards/farm-keeping with "Apples and Pumpkins."
In November we moved on to discussing farm chores and the water cycle with "Pumping Water."
In December we finished with a discussion of farm animals and winter changes "Chickens and Changes."

I'm not going to offer reviews of all of these, but I will specify whether I used them as display/take-home/reference materials (we made bookmarks with the titles listed for the kids to guide later check-outs at the library for further interest or research) or actually read them during the program.  Like my storytime, I tried to present at least three books during each program, and managed to get four read each time, which was gratifying.  

Reading List and Program Books for "Apples and Pumpkins"

During the program, I read the following:
Apple Farmer Annie, by Monica Wellington
Strega Nona's Harvest, by Tomie dePaola
Pumpkin Cat, by Anne Mortimer
Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie, by Jill Esbaum.

On display, in addition to those books, I had the following:
Picking Apples and Pumpkins, by Hutchings
Apples and Pumpkins, by Rockwell
The Apple Pie Tree, by Zoe Hall
Apple, by McClure
Pumpkins, by Jacqueline Farmer

Reading List and Program Books for "Pumping Water"

During the program, I read the following: 

It's Fall, by Linda Glaser

The Leaves on the Trees, Thom Wiley

Pilgrim Children Had Many Chores, Lem-Tardif

All the Water in the World, by George Ella Lyon

On display, in addition to those books, I had the following: 

The Water Cycle, by Purslow

How Did That Get to My House? Water, by Masters

How Things Work in the Yard, by Ernst

Historic Communities: Tools and Gadgets, by Kalman

Awesome Autumn, by Bruce Goldstone

Farming, by Gail Gibbons

Tap the Magic Tree, by Matheson

Reading List and Program books for "Chickens and Changes"

Pumpkin Jack, by Will Hubbell

A Chicken Followed Me Home, by Robin Page

Big Red Barn, by Margaret Wise Brown

On the Farm, a book of poems, by David Elliot

On display, in addition to those books, I had the following:

Working Animals: Farming, by Martin

Hello, Harvest Moon, by Ralph Fletcher

A Chicken's Life, by Nancy Dickmann

Leaf Man, by Lois Ehlert

Fall Leaves, by Loretta Holland

While I'm not going to give specific reviews for all these (mainly because I'm still trying desperately to catch up from all the fall books I have to cover) I do want to give specific recommendations for a few of them:

Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie is a delightful nonfiction that would be perfect for a storytime program.  It's clear, beautifully photographed, and short enough for the youngest audiences.  Please use more nonfiction in storytimes and programs: it's really good quality now, and it really begs to be used and brought to caregivers' attentions.

Tap the Magic Tree didn't make the cut as one of the books that I read, because we wanted to focus more on actual naturalist and reality-based representations of nature, but it's a really lovely interactive book in the same vein as the equally delightful but more abstract Press Here, by Herve Tullet.  I really enjoy reading this type of book with a small audience or even one-on-one, and watching the child really feel like they're influencing the outcomes of the page-turns.

Pumpkin Jack is one of the best stories about the circle of death and life that I have ever found, and I will recommend it until I am dead myself.  It's simple, it's sweet without being treacly or maudlin, and it's beautifully illustrated.



 

Tuesday Storytime: Halloween Cats

I really love cats, and when I found that I had enough books (pulled to find a suitable candidate for the Edgar Allen Poe storytime) I decided that even though it was the day after Halloween, I'd do one last Halloween storytime featuring the best of the bunch.

I Am a Witch's Cat
Harriet Muncaster
ISBN: 9780062229144
Adorable girl-child in a cat costume in spreads of miniature-created doll-house like environments.

The setting and storyline seem very British to me, but that just adds to the charm.  A delightfully precocious narrator "witch cat" girl explains seriously why her mother is a witch, because of all the (totally mundane) activities that the girl has imagined into a more interesting reality.  The story progresses beautifully through mom's coven meeting (book club or coffee klatch) until the end, where we see mom soaring off on a broomstick.  Maybe the little girl was right after all?  DELIGHTFUL.

Black Cat Creeping
Teddy Slater, illustrated by Aaron Boyd
ISBN: 9781402719790
Cute little black kitten has no home, but he follows his nose (and some trick-or-treaters) and finds the best treat of all at the end of the road.

I love stories where sweet cute little animals get adopted at the end, but this is where I feel obligated to issue the public service warning to spay and neuter your pets, don't let them wander free (unless they're microchipped and collared) and to be careful with your own black cats and dogs around Halloween night so that bad things don't happen to helpless animals who rely on us for their entire lives.


Boo to You
Lois Ehlert
ISBN: 9781416986256
Ehlert's story isn't Halloween themed, but her signature cut-out and layered collages are certainly creepy enough to qualify.

Ehlert is always stunning.  Her collages are textural and layered and so interesting to look at.  This one is no different, but I have to say her grotesque cat even gives me pause.  That grimace on the cover - yow.  From a mouse's perspective, probably fairly accurate.  If a kid likes this story and have pretty good tolerance for mayhem, might I suggest a bedtime read of The Rescuers by Margary Sharp (yes, what the Disney movie was based on, and YES the book is a lot better, and nearly nothing like the movies at all).  If the kids like that one, there's about six more, all in the same vein of brave mice, scary cats and dogs, and suuuuper evil villains who don't actually do much on-screen.

Tuesday Storytime: Edgar Allen Poe

Our library decided to host a county-wide celebration of Edgar Allen Poe, and there were events across the entire system and in various other locations through the month of October.  We were asked to tie as many existing library programs into the event as possible, so I challenged myself to come up with toddler-friendly books that were both Halloween appropriate and which somewhat referenced Edgar Allen Poe or his thematic legacy.  I think I did pretty well, all things considered.  I chose to hit on gothic architecture and creepy suspense with Eve Bunting's amazing Night of the Gargoyles, I referenced the ubiquitous Raven with the sweetly translated Rosie the Raven, and double-teamed Poe's own pet cat (Catterina, because OF COURSE) and the creepy (and very child-UNfriendly) story The Black Cat with Cynthia Rylant's Moonlight the Halloween Cat, and finished off with a slightly expurgated and modernized rendition of Poe's courting poem about self-esteem and beauty.  Programming readers's advisory level: awesome.

Night of the Gargoyles
Eve Bunting, illustrated by David Wiesner
ISBN: 9780395968871
Gargoyles on a public building creep about and play tricks as they come alive at night.

Wiesner's illustrations really carry the story here, no offense to Bunting.  The graphite work is amazing, and the expressions on the various gargoyle and human faces is a master-class in showing, not telling.  Bunting's perfectly-honed slightly laconic and dry wit keeps the whole thing from imploding into a grotesque macabre sentiment.  Gargoyles have very simple, childlike pleasures: scuttling around the building and peeking into windows, playing in water fountains, and mildly tormenting helpless creatures (the hapless custodian who is the only one who believes they come alive).  It's beautiful and slightly creepy and subversively funny (jokes about bird poop appear well-received by all ages).  A perfect reference to Poe.  

Rosie the Raven
Helga Bansch
ISBN: 9781554518340
Rosie doesn't look like all her siblings, but she is self-confident and loved by her raven parents.

There is a real dearth of decent books about ravens in the picture book arena, and I find that a crying shame.  This is one of the few that I entirely enjoyed, and I decided it would represent all the sweet and innocent (or prosaic) writing that Poe did, most of which is largely forgotten.  Rosie is a miniature human child born to a family of ravens.  When her siblings grow up and leave the nest, her parents realize that Rosie isn't going to be able to do the same, and will need to migrate south with them.  The family works together, and Rosie learns to accept herself and her non-bird limitations with grace and courage.

Moonlight the Halloween Cat
Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
ISBN: 9780060297114
Moonlight is a black cat, and she loves the lights and noises and creepy creatures out on this particular night.

Moonlight stalks around, a black cat with gleaming, almost day-glow green eyes peering out from the various spreads and pages.  She's a black cat, a Halloween cat, and she knows this night from all the other nights because of all the Halloween things that she encounters; trick-or-treaters, jack-o-lanterns, strange lights, bright moonlight.  A sweet and VERY short story.  I probably should have stuck this one in the middle here.

Bonus Poe Poem:
"Thou would'st be loved?  Then let thy heart/"
from Poetry for Young People: Edgar Allen Poe  (2008 edition)
Brod Bagert & Carolynn Cobleigh
ISBN: 9781402754722
A curated collection of child-appropirate poems (and oddly enough some fragments of stories) by Poe.

Even in a collection of poems designed to be available and intelligible to young people, I only found one poem I felt like the kids would even slightly be able to understand, and that's Poe's untitled poem that he would send to girls that he fancied.  The poem itself is chaste enough, and I only slightly modernized and altered the wording to make meanings clear for a very young, very modern listening group.  It's good advice for all ages, and a nice positive note to end on.

Tuesday Storytime: Halloween Prep

It was a couple of weeks before Halloween, and I was still working my way through my tons of lovely Halloween and monster books.  This time around I focused on fears of Halloween (either parental or kid-centric) and picked a trio of reassuring monster mashes.

Me and My Dragon: Scared of Halloween
David Biedrzycki
ISBN: 9781580896597
The cute duo from Me and My Dragon handle big Halloween fears.

This one is more fun if you're familiar with the Me and My Dragon book, but even so, it's pretty obvious that the dragon isn't really the one who's apprehensive about Halloween.  Friends and family are reassuring, and the boy uses psychologically-appropriate positive self-talk to encourage himsel-SCUSE ME, his dragon, and everything turns out to be fun and enjoyable.

Where's My Mummy?
Carolyn Crimi, illustrated by John Manders
ISBN: 9780763631963
A baby mummy starts to play hide-and-shriek with his Mommy mummy, but gets lost.

I think I'll probably be reading (or suggesting) this book for my whole career.  Baby mummy is playing hide-and-shriek before bed, but now he can't find Mommy mummy anywhere.  He wanders the graveyard, swamp, and woods searching for her, and finding creepy (but helpful and caring) grownup neighbors instead, all prepping their own selves for bed in various ways, and eventually ends up in the woods, scared by something truly terrifying - a mouse!  Mommy mummy is instantly there to save the day and provide reassurance and a return to the bedtime routine.  Really really really cute.

Not Very Scary
Carol Brendler, illustrated by Greg Pizzoli
ISBN:97803743551470
Melly counts up scary creatures on her walk over to a Halloween party, where she meets them again.

Melly is headed to her cousin's Halloween party, and she's a little bit nervous that it will be too scary for her.  As she heads down the street, the ever-increasing numbers of creepy Halloween creatures in this cumulative counting book make her more and more nervous, until she gets to the party and is reassured to realize they're not very scary after all.

S.A.D. is a pain in the bum.

Apologies for the long unscheduled break, but Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD: what a cutesy appropriate acronym) is a giant pain in the patootie, and it really beats me up every fall. For me, I always have a really nasty adjustment period in the early fall, but as of now, I'm fairly settled into my "new normal" for the winter.  Imagine if you took a hibernating bear and forced her to stay awake and go to work every day in the winter. Lots of grumping, lots of eating really unhealthy foods, and LOTS of sleep. That's me, just a lot less hairy.

I'm back up and running, and I want to stay caught up with the current crop of reviews and storytimes for y'all, but I also don't want to ignore all the work I did (by the skin of my teeth, some days, but I did it) over the fall while I wasn't able to blog about it.

So I'll be catching past reads up roughly chronologically.  Christmas break is coming up, but I'll set up a series of auto-posts and use that time away from work to help catch up.  If everything goes according to plan, I'll be caught back up by New Years!