Tuesday Storytime: Helpful Friends

Another set of books pulled very long ago, and finally getting used. These all feature friends trying to do the right thing and help out in tough situations. Sometimes it works - sometimes it doesn't, but it's the thought that counts.

Peace, Baby!

Linda Ashman, illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff

ISBN: 9781452106137

Pastels and scribbly open-edges make for a welcoming and lively set of vignettes and single-page spreads of before/after scenarios. In loose verse, diverse kids are shown encountering "difficult" situations; a sibling or friend accidentally hits them while roughhousing, a child cheats or grabs at shared toys, difficulties sharing, messes, bumps, and general life. Each time the scenario is presented, the option is shown to have "peace, baby" and this child is shown choosing a pro-social coping method. "Dress up time: You grab the gown, but Phoebe snags the sparkly crown. Would a princess push her down?" with this text we have a set of girls with angry faces arguing over a trunk of dress up clothing. Facing page shows the same girls happily bowing to each other as before a courtly dance, with smiling faces, and each with one item from the trunk. "No! Peace, baby!" Admittedly preachy, but sweet and basic.

Boo Hoo Bird

Jeremy Tankard

ISBN: 9780545065702

Tankard's "Bird" features in a lot of stories, but this one is especially cute. When a game of catch results in Bird getting bonked on the head, he cries and cries and cries as his friends try to console or help him. At the end, they're all discouraged and crying when Bird realizes that perhaps the bonk wasn't so bad after all, and everything is back to fun and games again (until the endpapers, where we see that they're playing catch again, with unfortunate results).

ouch!

Ragnhild Scamell, illustrated by Michael Terry

ISBN: 9781561485116

Hedgehog has just finished her cozy winter nest, but then an apple plops down and sticks in her spines, and she can't fit into her house any more. Her friends try to help, but they only make things successively worse, getting more and more descriptive items stuck in her spines as the book goes along, until she desperately pushes through a hedge and meets a final friend; Goat. He's got the right idea, and Hedgehog can finally fit into her snug home.

 

Tuesday Storytime: Grumpy Animals

Now that summer's over, our "trainee" has graduated to full storyteller status, and this is a delightful set of books this time around.

The Grumpy Pets
Kristine A. Lombardi
ISBN: 9781419718885
Billy is a grumpy kid, and he doesn't have anything in common with the desperately sweet and happy pets in the front of the pet store. But when he wanders into the back there's a new world of grumpy antisocial pets; just perfect for his personality! A cutely moody story illustrating that there's usually someone for everyone if you look long enough. Love this one.

Lazy Daisy, Cranky Frankie
Mary Ellen Jordan and Andrew Weldon
ISBN: 9780807544006
This farm is full of animals who really are just totally out of sorts, or simply uninterested in their normal farmyard functions. A bit surreal, but totally silly, and the animals' faces are delightful.

Grumpy Bird
Jeremy Tankard
ISBN: 9780439851473
Grumpy Bird is in a mood, and he's stalking through the forest being peevish, but his friends are there to help out, as annoying as that might be; until finally they manage to get through Grumpy Bird's grump and all have a good time. This is one I suggested, and while I'm delighted with the match-up choices, I am a bit sad to not get to read it myself.