The Dot
Peter H. Reynolds
ISBN: 0763619612
School-girl doesn't think she is artistic until she's encouraged, then passes the gift along.
Vashti can't draw, but at her teacher's gentle urging, she smacks an angry dot down on a page during art class. Her teacher has her sign it, and then the next day the page is framed and hanging behind the teacher's desk. Now Vashti's on her mettle; she can make a better dot than that! So she does, and learns about different artistic principles (my colleague and I discussed how every book about colors or painting feels incontrovertibly bound to have a section on blending primary colors to make secondary colors) and even art styles. At the end, during a school art exhibit featuring her extensive works, she encounters another young boy who "can't draw." Vashti gets him to produce a signed squiggle, and the cycle begins again. A great storytime choice, but I do wish the book (or the pictures inside the book) were larger.
Duck! Rabbit! (boardbook)
Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
ISBN (boardbook format): 9781452137339
Hinged on the "duck/rabbit" optical illusion, and a set of offscreen narrators.
CUTEST BOOK EVAR! I love the arguments for the duck and rabbit, and the various pages where essentially the same picture is repeated over and over and over again with different backgrounds or verbal contexts forcing it to change what it is. Totally went over the little kids' heads, but the adults were hooked. A funny "twist" ending made them all crack up, and prompted a question about brachiosaurus. Superb choice. Nice and short and funny.
The Adventures of Beekle, the Unimaginary Friend
Dan Santat
ISBN: 9780316199988
An imaginary friend gets sick of waiting to be imagined, so he sets off to find a friend.
This is the first book that has been one I would not choose myself. See my initial impressions here if you like (I was unimpressed for various reasons) but I'll talk about it from a storytime perspective here. Firstly, I initially thought it was too long, and I still think that. If I had been using it, I would have placed this one first, and used The Dot as my last story. There was a lot of squirming and a lot of kids wandering off. That's something you pick up with experience tho - no way to really teach that juggle between stretching attention spans and keeping interest in the majority. That aside, the kids seemed to like the illustrations and the language was smooth and flowing. I don't know how much they understood the story, but there was a section in the middle that really dragged - the voyage and the initial foray into the city was just SLOW and ponderous. Lots of lost attention during that bit. Overall, not a bad storytime use, discounting the reservations I have about content that are mentioned in my own review.
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