There are SO MANY monster books out there now! It's awesome!
My Monster Mama Loves Me So
Laura Leuck, illustrated by Mark Buehner
ISBN: 9780688168667
A monster child narrates roughly over a day explaining how the mama monster does things to show her love. Touching and silly-gross at the same time.
Creepy Monsters, Sleepy Monsters
Jane Yolen, illustrated by Kelly Murphy
ISBN: 9780763642013
A pair of school-age monster (siblings?) race home from school and run through their monstrous bedtime routine before settling down to sleep at the end.
Goodnight Little Monster
Helen Ketteman, illustrated by Bonnie Leick
ISBN: 9780761456834
A VERY CUTE toddler monster goes through an exhaustive and inclusive bedtime routine, this time from the mama's perspective. Really seriously adorable, but man those spiders on the end-papers are gonna be the death of me.
Showing posts with label Mark Buehner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Buehner. Show all posts
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Tuesday Storytime: Christmas
It's our last storytime before Christmas, and our last of 2015, so I picked a lovely trio to end us on. We'll start up in January with lots of books about snow, and hope that Mother Nature gets the hint.
Snowmen at Christmas
Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by Mark Buehner
ISBN: 0803729952
Luminous but cheerful and lighthearted spread paintings of animated snowpeople all festive.
This is actually a sequel to Snowmen at Night, but I like this one better as a Christmas story. That said, I do have, and might read Snowmen at Night in the next couple of months with all the snowy themes. This one is nice for Christmas for several reasons:
1) rhyming text means I can get through a slightly more substantial story in much better time.
2) this is one of the least-Christmassy Christmas books out there (only one veiled religious reference)
3) snowman party.
A Short History of Christmas
Sally Lee (consulting editor: Gail Saunders-Smith)
ISBN: 9781491460955
Very primary-grade juvenile nonfiction explaining the historic basis for Christmas traditions.
Really loving this series, and very happy to see them on the shelves. This one is just as factual as Thanksgiving, and very straightforward, starting with the December festival of Saturnalia, the birth of Jesus, choosing of December 25th by church leaders, Saint Nicholas into Santa Claus, the tradition of caroling, Queen Victoria's German Christmas tree, and modern traditions of charity. Not bad for just under 250 words total. I just really wish there were similar books for the less-recognized holidays of the season: Hanukkah, Eid, and Solstice.
Bear Stays Up for Christmas
Karma Wilson, Jane Chapman
ISBN: 0689852789
Bear and Friends series, Bear's friends help him stay awake for Christmas Eve and Morning.
I adore this Christmas book. It's so sweet and perfect and has just about everything you'd want out of a Christmas book - including the difficulties that children have staying awake for the fun! Bear is the perfect sleepy focus, and all his friends are genuinely helpful and caring. This entire series is beautiful, but this one is perfect for Christmas in a way that is deeply satisfying. I personally would have been fine without an appearance by Santa as well, but that's not a battle I feel motivated about - it's just a slight preference.
Snowmen at Christmas
Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by Mark Buehner
ISBN: 0803729952
Luminous but cheerful and lighthearted spread paintings of animated snowpeople all festive.
This is actually a sequel to Snowmen at Night, but I like this one better as a Christmas story. That said, I do have, and might read Snowmen at Night in the next couple of months with all the snowy themes. This one is nice for Christmas for several reasons:
1) rhyming text means I can get through a slightly more substantial story in much better time.
2) this is one of the least-Christmassy Christmas books out there (only one veiled religious reference)
3) snowman party.
A Short History of Christmas
Sally Lee (consulting editor: Gail Saunders-Smith)
ISBN: 9781491460955
Very primary-grade juvenile nonfiction explaining the historic basis for Christmas traditions.
Really loving this series, and very happy to see them on the shelves. This one is just as factual as Thanksgiving, and very straightforward, starting with the December festival of Saturnalia, the birth of Jesus, choosing of December 25th by church leaders, Saint Nicholas into Santa Claus, the tradition of caroling, Queen Victoria's German Christmas tree, and modern traditions of charity. Not bad for just under 250 words total. I just really wish there were similar books for the less-recognized holidays of the season: Hanukkah, Eid, and Solstice.
Bear Stays Up for Christmas
Karma Wilson, Jane Chapman
ISBN: 0689852789
Bear and Friends series, Bear's friends help him stay awake for Christmas Eve and Morning.
I adore this Christmas book. It's so sweet and perfect and has just about everything you'd want out of a Christmas book - including the difficulties that children have staying awake for the fun! Bear is the perfect sleepy focus, and all his friends are genuinely helpful and caring. This entire series is beautiful, but this one is perfect for Christmas in a way that is deeply satisfying. I personally would have been fine without an appearance by Santa as well, but that's not a battle I feel motivated about - it's just a slight preference.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Tuesday Storytime: Mother's Day
Shocked and amazed that there were still Mothers' Day books to choose from on the shelves, so I took it as a mandate to actually correspond with a day of celebration for once.
Bedtime for Mommy
Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
ISBN: 9781599903415
Vibrant expressive watercolor-and-sketch faces and postures.
I can't believe I haven't done this book for storytime for so long. I discovered it when it came out, fell in love, and bought it for myself immediately (that happens with me and picture books sometimes). I've used it for storytimes before, but it must have been a while back. It's short, adorable, nearly wordless, and made of little vignettes. Roles are reversed for a whole night while the young girl puts Mommy to bed - with the whole process chronicled, from the inevitable "5 more minutes" to the selecting and reading of the bedtime story (Anna Karenina) to the precise adjustment of the width of the door opening. And of course the coda is that now it's time for the same process with Daddy. Just simply adorable.
Bee Frog
Martin Waddell, illustrated by Barbara Firth
ISBN: 9780763633103
Cute perky watercolor frogs in a cute and very short story.
If it weren't for the illustrations, I don't think I'd bother with this slight tale of a baby frog who pretends she's a dragon, gets ignored by her family when she tries to play pretend with them (they're working or reading or sleeping) so she runs away to play by herself, gets bored, and her family comes looking for her. But, the illustrations are so adorable, the story gets away with being a little twee. Besides, it's a nice very young-focused entry on the "nobody loves me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms" impulse that young ones get when they're feeling unjustly treated by the universe at large.
My Monster Mama Loves Me So
Laura Leuk, illustrated by Mark Buehner
ISBN: 9780688168667
Bright dayglow highlight colors and rich saturated dark pages. Very "Monsters, INC."
A cute little green monster narrates what his Mama does for him, from baking cookies with bugs in, to taking him to the swamp to swim, to teaching him to brush his fangs, all of which shows how she loves him. Very cute introduction to "scary" monster tropes like bats and spiders and dark nights, all talked about as comforting or lovable.
Bedtime for Mommy
Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
ISBN: 9781599903415
Vibrant expressive watercolor-and-sketch faces and postures.
I can't believe I haven't done this book for storytime for so long. I discovered it when it came out, fell in love, and bought it for myself immediately (that happens with me and picture books sometimes). I've used it for storytimes before, but it must have been a while back. It's short, adorable, nearly wordless, and made of little vignettes. Roles are reversed for a whole night while the young girl puts Mommy to bed - with the whole process chronicled, from the inevitable "5 more minutes" to the selecting and reading of the bedtime story (Anna Karenina) to the precise adjustment of the width of the door opening. And of course the coda is that now it's time for the same process with Daddy. Just simply adorable.
Bee Frog
Martin Waddell, illustrated by Barbara Firth
ISBN: 9780763633103
Cute perky watercolor frogs in a cute and very short story.
If it weren't for the illustrations, I don't think I'd bother with this slight tale of a baby frog who pretends she's a dragon, gets ignored by her family when she tries to play pretend with them (they're working or reading or sleeping) so she runs away to play by herself, gets bored, and her family comes looking for her. But, the illustrations are so adorable, the story gets away with being a little twee. Besides, it's a nice very young-focused entry on the "nobody loves me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms" impulse that young ones get when they're feeling unjustly treated by the universe at large.
My Monster Mama Loves Me So
Laura Leuk, illustrated by Mark Buehner
ISBN: 9780688168667
Bright dayglow highlight colors and rich saturated dark pages. Very "Monsters, INC."
A cute little green monster narrates what his Mama does for him, from baking cookies with bugs in, to taking him to the swamp to swim, to teaching him to brush his fangs, all of which shows how she loves him. Very cute introduction to "scary" monster tropes like bats and spiders and dark nights, all talked about as comforting or lovable.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Tuesday Storytime: Wheels in the City
Got a fun new rhyming book in, and made an easy match with some of my perennial favorites.
Zoom! Zoom! Sounds of Things that Go in the City
Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Tad Carpenter
ISBN: 9781442483156
Personified objects and busy, sharp-edged, primary-color illustrations.
The main stanza rhymes are easy to find on each spread in a blocked-out section of the busy pages, but the same can't be said for the "sound effects" - which is my only quibble. The sounds are actually illustrated into the spread, and share the same saturation and color and design as the page around it - making them a little hard to find during a busy storytime.
Not too long, not too complicated, and a nice mix of types and varieties of vehicles - from skateboards to subways to concrete mixers - all experience a day in the busy city, from earliest morning of joggers and delivery trucks to latest night of home-going partiers and tired subway riders.
My Car
Byron Barton
ISBN: 9780060296247
Bright blocky childlike shapes, in vivid contrasting colors.
Sam tells the reader directly all about his car, which he loves, washes, cares for, fuels, and drives carefully into town to begin his work as a bus driver. (In our delivery this morning, we got a new Byron Barton book that has a bus on the cover. If this is a sequel to My Car, I'm going to be really happy.) Short, direct, straightforward, and still has lots of fun details - a breakdown of the parts of a car (body, chassis, wheels, steering wheel, engine) a nice snapshot of a gas station (with a really amusingly dated price tag for the gas), and a collection of street-signs to identify.
The Adventures of Taxi Dog
Debra and Sal Barracca, illustrated by Mark Buehner
ISBN: 0803706715
Reading Rainbow Book: illustrations are thick vivid oils over acrylic in grimy but vibrant colors.
This book has an ulterior motive - it's written to raise awareness of the plight of city strays. However, that simply forms the origin story of Maxi the Taxi Dog, and at about the halfway point, it moves from being the story of his rescue into the story of his life working the streets with his taxi-driver owner Jim. They pick up interesting fares: from the opera singer to the requisite wife having a baby to the even more requisite how-many-clowns-can-fit in the taxi scene. The story is written in delightful rhyme that I personally find super-easy to read with feeling and humor. There are sequels, but none are quite as good as the original.
Zoom! Zoom! Sounds of Things that Go in the City
Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Tad Carpenter
ISBN: 9781442483156
Personified objects and busy, sharp-edged, primary-color illustrations.
The main stanza rhymes are easy to find on each spread in a blocked-out section of the busy pages, but the same can't be said for the "sound effects" - which is my only quibble. The sounds are actually illustrated into the spread, and share the same saturation and color and design as the page around it - making them a little hard to find during a busy storytime.
Not too long, not too complicated, and a nice mix of types and varieties of vehicles - from skateboards to subways to concrete mixers - all experience a day in the busy city, from earliest morning of joggers and delivery trucks to latest night of home-going partiers and tired subway riders.
My Car
Byron Barton
ISBN: 9780060296247
Bright blocky childlike shapes, in vivid contrasting colors.
Sam tells the reader directly all about his car, which he loves, washes, cares for, fuels, and drives carefully into town to begin his work as a bus driver. (In our delivery this morning, we got a new Byron Barton book that has a bus on the cover. If this is a sequel to My Car, I'm going to be really happy.) Short, direct, straightforward, and still has lots of fun details - a breakdown of the parts of a car (body, chassis, wheels, steering wheel, engine) a nice snapshot of a gas station (with a really amusingly dated price tag for the gas), and a collection of street-signs to identify.
The Adventures of Taxi Dog
Debra and Sal Barracca, illustrated by Mark Buehner
ISBN: 0803706715
Reading Rainbow Book: illustrations are thick vivid oils over acrylic in grimy but vibrant colors.
This book has an ulterior motive - it's written to raise awareness of the plight of city strays. However, that simply forms the origin story of Maxi the Taxi Dog, and at about the halfway point, it moves from being the story of his rescue into the story of his life working the streets with his taxi-driver owner Jim. They pick up interesting fares: from the opera singer to the requisite wife having a baby to the even more requisite how-many-clowns-can-fit in the taxi scene. The story is written in delightful rhyme that I personally find super-easy to read with feeling and humor. There are sequels, but none are quite as good as the original.
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