These three adorable stories were chosen by my coworker.
Dandy
Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Charles Santoso
ISBN: 9780316362955
Adorable. A dedicated lion daddy tries to keep his lawn beautiful in the face of fierce competition and judgement from the other neighborhood daddies, but he's thwarted when his baby daughter finds and adopts the one dandelion in the whole yard. He tries to decapitate it sneakily, but fails until the very last moment, when he (and the neighbor guys, who are also daddies too) realize what's truly important. So adorable and cute.
The Carrot Seed
Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Crockett Johnson
ISBN: 0060233516
A classic for a reason. The value of persistence, of knowing something in your heart, and keeping the faith in the face of everyone telling you to give up. All in a cute little minimalist story about a kid growing a carrot.
Lola Plants a Garden
Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw
ISBN: 9781580896948
I Love the Lola books (and their baby brother set, the Leo books). They're an import from Great Britain, so there's a few small anachronisms, but this lovely Black family is a perfect showcase for lots of great stories about childhood, sibling-hood, and just general life from a kid's perspective. In this installment, Lola and her mom learn about gardens, and head off to the store to try their hands at a garden themselves. Mom plants more responsible things, but Lola is off to the races with lots of fun plants. At the end Lola and mom plan a garden party to introduce Lola's friends to all her new amazing plants.
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Tuesday Storytime: Gardening
Well, MOSTLY gardening. I thought I had a third gardening book already set aside for this week, but turns out I didn't, so we used a new arrival (Summer Days and Nights) instead, and it worked out fine. Next time around I'd like to have it more specifically gardening, but que sera and all that.
Summer Days and Nights
Wong Herbert Yee
ISBN: 9780805090879
A generic "Asian" family spends an idyllic day and evening with traditional summer activities.
Yee is best known to me because of his sweet and simple Fireman Small, which I use with nearly alarming frequency when I do firefighter or local hero storytime themes. It's just so sweet and kind and endearing. This book is a little more generic, but it's still a lovely story, nice and gentle and just perfect for bedtime. Perhaps a bit too sweet and slow for storytime (especially with the size - this is a SMALL book: 6 inches tall and only about 8.5 wide, and most of the pictures aren't even the whole size of the pages. Our unnamed and un-gendered child wanders through a summer day, with requisite mentions of cats napping in the sunlight, iced lemonade, splashing in pools, picnics in the park, and catching butterflies. What makes it slightly more interesting is the inclusion of nighttime scenes, and here is where the sub-theme of summertime life (most especially insect or small-animal life) is most pointed, as we see a mouse, owl, fireflies, crickets, and frogs outside in the evening before finally it's bedtime.
Lola Plants a Garden
Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw
ISBN: 9781580896948
Lola is a sweet Black child with a new and growing series of books about central child life topics.
McQuinn's Lola and Leo stories are generally very good for topical and child-interest storytimes. As an aside, Lola is Lulu in the UK, where they're originally published. For Lola, we have books about reading, and about interacting with baby siblings, and now about gardening, and we also have two featuring her little brother Leo (Zeki in the UK): Leo Loves Baby Time, and Leo Can Swim, for another set of important kid-friendly subjects. I admit to being biased towards these simply because they feature Black children and families, and there are still too few of those books, and too few done by GOOD storytellers with GOOD illustrators. I want people to know that just like girls and people of color learn to identify with all the millions of little white boys that feature as the heroes of stories, little white boys can do the same with a hero who is a girl, or a person of color. It's a long slow slog, but I really feel like it's important to do as much as I can. Soapbox over. Lola is inspired by the nursery rhyme Mary Mary Quite Contrary, and with the help of her mom and dad, plants a flower garden, waits for it to grow, and then hosts a party for her little friends. Simple, sweet, solid logical realistic activities.
If You Plant a Seed
Kadir Nelson
ISBN: 9780062298898
Previously reviewed here.
It worked out very well for storytime! The little ones loved the bright active vibrant paintings, and the older kids were very intent on the story slowly unfolding with the turns of the pages. I was very satisfied.
Summer Days and Nights
Wong Herbert Yee
ISBN: 9780805090879
A generic "Asian" family spends an idyllic day and evening with traditional summer activities.
Yee is best known to me because of his sweet and simple Fireman Small, which I use with nearly alarming frequency when I do firefighter or local hero storytime themes. It's just so sweet and kind and endearing. This book is a little more generic, but it's still a lovely story, nice and gentle and just perfect for bedtime. Perhaps a bit too sweet and slow for storytime (especially with the size - this is a SMALL book: 6 inches tall and only about 8.5 wide, and most of the pictures aren't even the whole size of the pages. Our unnamed and un-gendered child wanders through a summer day, with requisite mentions of cats napping in the sunlight, iced lemonade, splashing in pools, picnics in the park, and catching butterflies. What makes it slightly more interesting is the inclusion of nighttime scenes, and here is where the sub-theme of summertime life (most especially insect or small-animal life) is most pointed, as we see a mouse, owl, fireflies, crickets, and frogs outside in the evening before finally it's bedtime.
Lola Plants a Garden
Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw
ISBN: 9781580896948
Lola is a sweet Black child with a new and growing series of books about central child life topics.
McQuinn's Lola and Leo stories are generally very good for topical and child-interest storytimes. As an aside, Lola is Lulu in the UK, where they're originally published. For Lola, we have books about reading, and about interacting with baby siblings, and now about gardening, and we also have two featuring her little brother Leo (Zeki in the UK): Leo Loves Baby Time, and Leo Can Swim, for another set of important kid-friendly subjects. I admit to being biased towards these simply because they feature Black children and families, and there are still too few of those books, and too few done by GOOD storytellers with GOOD illustrators. I want people to know that just like girls and people of color learn to identify with all the millions of little white boys that feature as the heroes of stories, little white boys can do the same with a hero who is a girl, or a person of color. It's a long slow slog, but I really feel like it's important to do as much as I can. Soapbox over. Lola is inspired by the nursery rhyme Mary Mary Quite Contrary, and with the help of her mom and dad, plants a flower garden, waits for it to grow, and then hosts a party for her little friends. Simple, sweet, solid logical realistic activities.
If You Plant a Seed
Kadir Nelson
ISBN: 9780062298898
Previously reviewed here.
It worked out very well for storytime! The little ones loved the bright active vibrant paintings, and the older kids were very intent on the story slowly unfolding with the turns of the pages. I was very satisfied.
Saturday, April 23, 2016
New Arrival: Picture Book: The Night Gardener, by the Fan Brothers
The Night Gardener
The Fan Brothers (Terry Fan & Eric Fan)
ISBN: 9781481439787
Haunting beautiful pencil-shaded textured pages and spreads of a full detailed world.
This book is just so pretty. I saw the cover and was hooked instantly, and the progression of sepia-toned drawings (with flashes of bright colors as highlights or grace notes) only served to keep me entranced and delighted until the end. It's just so pretty. The story is simple but mythic: a grim and depressing lane is changed by the mysterious development of topiary sculptures, made from all of their trees over the course of a spring and summer. The topiary begins with an owl (the cover image) outside the orphanage, slowly moves down the street, and by the time it reaches the park, our boy protagonist notices the old gardener, who kindly "needs" the boy's untrained help to complete the trees in the park. The next morning the park is transformed, the boy is hooked, and the gardener is gone, but he's left a pair of pruning shears as a gift.
Did I mention how beautiful this whole thing was? The story is so sweet that in the wrong hands it could be saccharine and nauseating, but the solemn and proud drawings keep it grounded. The flat-out gorgeous spreads and pages could overwhelm a lot of stories, but by keeping this story mythic and a little haunting, a little mysterious, it holds up because of the tone and the pacing.
A beautiful collaboration, and a brilliant first picture book for this talented duo.
The Fan Brothers (Terry Fan & Eric Fan)
ISBN: 9781481439787
Haunting beautiful pencil-shaded textured pages and spreads of a full detailed world.
This book is just so pretty. I saw the cover and was hooked instantly, and the progression of sepia-toned drawings (with flashes of bright colors as highlights or grace notes) only served to keep me entranced and delighted until the end. It's just so pretty. The story is simple but mythic: a grim and depressing lane is changed by the mysterious development of topiary sculptures, made from all of their trees over the course of a spring and summer. The topiary begins with an owl (the cover image) outside the orphanage, slowly moves down the street, and by the time it reaches the park, our boy protagonist notices the old gardener, who kindly "needs" the boy's untrained help to complete the trees in the park. The next morning the park is transformed, the boy is hooked, and the gardener is gone, but he's left a pair of pruning shears as a gift.
Did I mention how beautiful this whole thing was? The story is so sweet that in the wrong hands it could be saccharine and nauseating, but the solemn and proud drawings keep it grounded. The flat-out gorgeous spreads and pages could overwhelm a lot of stories, but by keeping this story mythic and a little haunting, a little mysterious, it holds up because of the tone and the pacing.
A beautiful collaboration, and a brilliant first picture book for this talented duo.
Monday, August 31, 2015
New Arrivals: Picture Book: A Leaf Can Be... by Laura Purdie Salas & Violeta Dabija
A Leaf Can Be... ("sequel" to the beautiful A Rock Can Be... reviewed earlier in the year)
Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Violeta Dabija
ISBN: 9780761362036
Soft-edged watercolors with bright splashes of natural colors, and lots and lots of green.
I have to admit up front that I didn't like this one as much as I loved A Rock Can Be, but it's still a really lovely book. I wish it had shown up a week earlier, as I would have used it in my most recent storytime.
Like the previous installment, we're looking at quirky (and rhyming!) uses of leaves, benefits of leaves, characteristics of leaves, and even emotional resonances of leaves. It's quite lovely, and reminded me strongly of the simple feel of A Tree is Nice.
Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Violeta Dabija
ISBN: 9780761362036
Soft-edged watercolors with bright splashes of natural colors, and lots and lots of green.
I have to admit up front that I didn't like this one as much as I loved A Rock Can Be, but it's still a really lovely book. I wish it had shown up a week earlier, as I would have used it in my most recent storytime.
Like the previous installment, we're looking at quirky (and rhyming!) uses of leaves, benefits of leaves, characteristics of leaves, and even emotional resonances of leaves. It's quite lovely, and reminded me strongly of the simple feel of A Tree is Nice.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Tuesday Storytime: Growing Green
A fun trio of books today - all about green growing things.
Weeds Find a Way
Cindy Jenson-Elliott, illustrated by Carolyn Fisher
ISBN: 9781442412606
Mixed-media digital collage, very busy, very organic. Lilting poetic wording.
This is a lovely poem to weeds; how their seeds and roots and flowers are tenacious and enduring and persistent and deep-rooted, and also beautiful and practical and natural and free. This is another serendipitous delivery-discovery, and I'm glad to add it to my repertoire. It will probably come up in garden or green-thumb storytimes with On Meadowview Street or The Curious Garden or Sarah Stewart's The Gardener.
Green
Laura Vaccaro Seeger
ISBN: 9781596433977
Beautiful messy splotchy painterly spread-page scenes with cute little cut-outs revealing snatches of upcoming and previous pages.
This is a lovely book. It technically only very loosely fits the theme, but most of the scenes are natural ones, and several others are of fruits or vegetables, so it totally fits. Very little wording, but the word "green" is on every page, surrounded by all the different shades of greens that can be found. Lovely concept book, and very beautifully done.
A Tree is Nice
Janice May Udry, illustrated by Marc Simont
ISBN: 0060261560
Early propaganda, illustrated in classic "Dick and Jane" style, half b&w and half in color. Caldecott.
Trees are nice, and this sweet simple Arbor-day-ish book illustrates a variety of reasons in sweet and simple language, and in ways that appeal to kids. Trees are nice because of leaves rustling in the wind, and shade that the baby sleeps under, and tall trunks and limbs to play pirate ship on, and apples to eat and shelter for the house. All of this and more, in simple persuasive speech, surrounded by simple, old-fashioned, nostalgic illustrations. A solid read, and a bit longer in the telling than I expected, but still well within the age-range for me. I think this might be the first time I've actually used it in storytime, and I'm glad I took the chance.
Weeds Find a Way
Cindy Jenson-Elliott, illustrated by Carolyn Fisher
ISBN: 9781442412606
Mixed-media digital collage, very busy, very organic. Lilting poetic wording.
This is a lovely poem to weeds; how their seeds and roots and flowers are tenacious and enduring and persistent and deep-rooted, and also beautiful and practical and natural and free. This is another serendipitous delivery-discovery, and I'm glad to add it to my repertoire. It will probably come up in garden or green-thumb storytimes with On Meadowview Street or The Curious Garden or Sarah Stewart's The Gardener.
Green
Laura Vaccaro Seeger
ISBN: 9781596433977
Beautiful messy splotchy painterly spread-page scenes with cute little cut-outs revealing snatches of upcoming and previous pages.
This is a lovely book. It technically only very loosely fits the theme, but most of the scenes are natural ones, and several others are of fruits or vegetables, so it totally fits. Very little wording, but the word "green" is on every page, surrounded by all the different shades of greens that can be found. Lovely concept book, and very beautifully done.
A Tree is Nice
Janice May Udry, illustrated by Marc Simont
ISBN: 0060261560
Early propaganda, illustrated in classic "Dick and Jane" style, half b&w and half in color. Caldecott.
Trees are nice, and this sweet simple Arbor-day-ish book illustrates a variety of reasons in sweet and simple language, and in ways that appeal to kids. Trees are nice because of leaves rustling in the wind, and shade that the baby sleeps under, and tall trunks and limbs to play pirate ship on, and apples to eat and shelter for the house. All of this and more, in simple persuasive speech, surrounded by simple, old-fashioned, nostalgic illustrations. A solid read, and a bit longer in the telling than I expected, but still well within the age-range for me. I think this might be the first time I've actually used it in storytime, and I'm glad I took the chance.
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