I was on vacation this week, so I left a nice simple bouncy storytime program for my replacement to run. I always feel so bad when I miss, partly because I really enjoy storytime and seeing the kids every week, but also because I feel honor-bound to leave a good program behind, so it often has really good stories that I wish I were reading myself!
Big Truck and Little Truck
Jan Carr, illustrated by Ivan Bates
ISBN: 0439071771
Dreamy pastel-bright watercolors of a little truck stretching to meet the requirements of a big-truck job.
Big Truck has been teaching Little Truck for a long time, and they do all the jobs together: go to the market, pull things out of ditches, haul veggies and compost, and everything else needed on the farm. But when Big Truck has to go to the shop for a while, can Little Truck manage everything alone for the first time? Sweet, satisfying, and re-assuring, all while being "trucky" enough for the most die-hard enthusiast.
Calling All Cars (boardbook)
Sue Fliess, illustrated by Sarah Beise
ISBN: 9781492638360
Bright poppy "modern" cartoon illustrations of all sorts of cars.
This is like a modern-day short version of a Richard Scarry's "Things that Go" sort of book. It's cute and quick and fun, and very modern (in the "wow this is really going to be dated in a couple dozen years" sort of way) in the artistic sense. The narrative roughly follows the course of a day, but it really is just a rhyme as an excuse to illustrate a whole lot of cars and trucks.
Zoom! Zoom! Sounds of things that go in the city
Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Ted Carpenter
ISBN: 9781442483156
Retro-pop illustrations in quad-tones (blue, red, yellow, black) and a fun swinging rhyme structure.
Catchy rhymes, cute retro cityscapes and cars, and a fun lighthearted set of rhymes, with onomatopoeic highlight words on each spread. Each one has the focus on a different type of cityscape: a morning scene with trash trucks and busses, a highway under construction, a metro train, ambulances, ice-cream trucks... This one does have non-cars: bicycles, joggers, skateboards, etc, but it's still very vehicle-oriented, so I kept it, just because it's so pretty and fun.
Showing posts with label Robert Burleigh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robert Burleigh. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Saturday, April 30, 2016
New Arrival: Picture Book Biography: Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea, Robert Burleigh & Raúl Colón
Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor
Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Raúl Colón
ISBN: 9781481416009
Read April 28, 2016
This is another lovely biography of an early scientist who happens to be a woman. Marie Tharp gets very little recognition now, but her passion to map out the ocean floor using sonar soundings and depth markers played a key part in forcing scientists to accept the theory of continental drift, by using the ridges and valleys on the ocean floors to prove that there really are continental plates bumping up against each other.Not bad for someone who got told there weren't any openings for file clerks (she was applying for the position as staff scientist) and got left behind on ocean voyages because women were bad luck on ships.Colón's illustrations are consistently gorgeous, and his depictions of Marie at different times throughout her life are lovely to see progress.
Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Raúl Colón
ISBN: 9781481416009
Read April 28, 2016
This is another lovely biography of an early scientist who happens to be a woman. Marie Tharp gets very little recognition now, but her passion to map out the ocean floor using sonar soundings and depth markers played a key part in forcing scientists to accept the theory of continental drift, by using the ridges and valleys on the ocean floors to prove that there really are continental plates bumping up against each other.Not bad for someone who got told there weren't any openings for file clerks (she was applying for the position as staff scientist) and got left behind on ocean voyages because women were bad luck on ships.Colón's illustrations are consistently gorgeous, and his depictions of Marie at different times throughout her life are lovely to see progress.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
New Nonfiction Picture Books: Ferris Wheels, Edward Hooper, the Holocaust, and Ocean Navigation
A varied set of books today, and all of these were notable, and beautiful.
All of these are technically biographies, but all of them are listed as nonfiction in their respective subject matters, which I prefer.
From the least to most profound:
Mr Ferris and His Wheel
Kathryn Gibbs Davis, illustrated by Gilbert Ford
ISBN: 9780547959221
Lovely light-infused spreads showcase the challenges and the glory of the first Ferris Wheel.
The illustrations here really are spectacular, but the story is well-paced and clearly presented. After the Eiffel Tower stole the show at the Paris World Fair, Chicago was in a panic to find something extraordinary to present the very next year that would not leave American reputations in the dust. After a failed contest to spark new ideas, the committee finally gave Mr Ferris permission (but no money) to attempt his monstrous wheel, which everyone expected to be a folly at best, and a hazard at worst. Everyone expected it to fail, but they underestimated the strength and utility of the newly produced steelworks. After months of labor (grittily illustrated in sepia) the wheel rose majestically into the sky, worked perfectly, entranced the nation, and inspired copies to be built across the county. A sources section gives the origins of specific quotations, but could have used a larger bibliography.
Dare the Wind: the Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud
Tracy Fern, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully
ISBN: 9780374316990
Beautiful watercolors in striking compositions enlivens a straighforward tale of sailing.
Ellen (Eleanor) Prentiss was trained by her sea-faring father in the arts of sailing and navigation, at a time when most women remained in the home. After marrying another sailor, the two joined forces as captain and navigator, which became useful when they purchased an experimental clipper ship (designed for speed at sea) and discovered an experimental "scientific method" of following better winds and ocean currents to achieve better travel times between far-flung ports. At this time, the only way to get from New York to San Fran by sea was to go alllllll the way around South America first. Ellen Prentiss and her husband shattered the record of roughly four months by making the same voyage in just under 90 days, then years later, cutting nearly another day off her own record. A beautiful book, with a fun, fast-paced story of an adventurer and scientist, pushing boundaries and making history in the process.
Edward Hopper Paints His World
Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Wendell Minor (How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow?)
ISBN: 9780805087529
Loving re-creations (and re-imaginings) of Hopper's work do a lot to add resonance to a narrative that strives a bit too hard for deeper meaning.
An excellent early biography of a famous American painter (Hopper's most generally-known work is Nighthawks, showing a pair of well-dressed patrons at a 24/hour diner with a white-clad cook, surrounded by the darkness of city streets at night) is straightforward and direct, but has a very odd, somewhat off-putting way of forcing the reader to consider things in a deeper way. Not content to present the life and paintings of the artist in context, the narration tries to force a connection between the artist and the subjects he painted, and the style of his paintings. Perhaps the background is there to support it, but it felt forced and slightly pretentious. Still, the paintings in the book are beautiful, and do a great deal to support and magnify the biographical information.
Gifts from the Enemy
Trudy Ludwig, illustrated by Craig Orback
ISBN: 9781935952978
Haunting oil-paintings and expressive faces carry this slim hopeful narrative of the Holocaust.
It is really hard to make a picture book about some subjects, but it is equally important that somehow we make difficult subjects and hard conversations in a way that children impacted by them can feel seen and justified. (Eve Bunting has been involved in many books of this nature, but even with her masterful touch, most of them are just way too haunting and shattering for me to feel comfortable presenting them to children) The Holocaust has always seemed like one of those topics that a picture book just can't handle effectively for smaller children. This book has changed my mind. Our narrator begins as an elderly man, recounting in clear but understated language how the persecution began, turned to oppression, and then to extermination. Still, in the midst of terror and hunger and persecution, he found an ally in a German woman who left him food daily, in defiance of posted orders. This act of compassion, and that gift of food, made him realize that the very stereotypes that allowed Germans to persecute Jews for their "differences" was making him hate all Germans for evil actions they may not have know about, or may be acting against to the best of their ability. The story ends on this note of hope and peace and compassion. A short Afterword uses much stronger language to present the deprivation and fear he faced, but reiterates the message of understanding and peace. A short paragraph explains the Holocaust itself, and a Vocabulary explains the concepts presented in the story. A final spread includes Questions for Discussion, and Recommended Activities for Young Readers.
All of these are technically biographies, but all of them are listed as nonfiction in their respective subject matters, which I prefer.
From the least to most profound:
Mr Ferris and His Wheel
Kathryn Gibbs Davis, illustrated by Gilbert Ford
ISBN: 9780547959221
Lovely light-infused spreads showcase the challenges and the glory of the first Ferris Wheel.
The illustrations here really are spectacular, but the story is well-paced and clearly presented. After the Eiffel Tower stole the show at the Paris World Fair, Chicago was in a panic to find something extraordinary to present the very next year that would not leave American reputations in the dust. After a failed contest to spark new ideas, the committee finally gave Mr Ferris permission (but no money) to attempt his monstrous wheel, which everyone expected to be a folly at best, and a hazard at worst. Everyone expected it to fail, but they underestimated the strength and utility of the newly produced steelworks. After months of labor (grittily illustrated in sepia) the wheel rose majestically into the sky, worked perfectly, entranced the nation, and inspired copies to be built across the county. A sources section gives the origins of specific quotations, but could have used a larger bibliography.
Dare the Wind: the Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud
Tracy Fern, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully
ISBN: 9780374316990
Beautiful watercolors in striking compositions enlivens a straighforward tale of sailing.
Ellen (Eleanor) Prentiss was trained by her sea-faring father in the arts of sailing and navigation, at a time when most women remained in the home. After marrying another sailor, the two joined forces as captain and navigator, which became useful when they purchased an experimental clipper ship (designed for speed at sea) and discovered an experimental "scientific method" of following better winds and ocean currents to achieve better travel times between far-flung ports. At this time, the only way to get from New York to San Fran by sea was to go alllllll the way around South America first. Ellen Prentiss and her husband shattered the record of roughly four months by making the same voyage in just under 90 days, then years later, cutting nearly another day off her own record. A beautiful book, with a fun, fast-paced story of an adventurer and scientist, pushing boundaries and making history in the process.
Edward Hopper Paints His World
Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Wendell Minor (How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow?)
ISBN: 9780805087529
Loving re-creations (and re-imaginings) of Hopper's work do a lot to add resonance to a narrative that strives a bit too hard for deeper meaning.
An excellent early biography of a famous American painter (Hopper's most generally-known work is Nighthawks, showing a pair of well-dressed patrons at a 24/hour diner with a white-clad cook, surrounded by the darkness of city streets at night) is straightforward and direct, but has a very odd, somewhat off-putting way of forcing the reader to consider things in a deeper way. Not content to present the life and paintings of the artist in context, the narration tries to force a connection between the artist and the subjects he painted, and the style of his paintings. Perhaps the background is there to support it, but it felt forced and slightly pretentious. Still, the paintings in the book are beautiful, and do a great deal to support and magnify the biographical information.
Gifts from the Enemy
Trudy Ludwig, illustrated by Craig Orback
ISBN: 9781935952978
Haunting oil-paintings and expressive faces carry this slim hopeful narrative of the Holocaust.
It is really hard to make a picture book about some subjects, but it is equally important that somehow we make difficult subjects and hard conversations in a way that children impacted by them can feel seen and justified. (Eve Bunting has been involved in many books of this nature, but even with her masterful touch, most of them are just way too haunting and shattering for me to feel comfortable presenting them to children) The Holocaust has always seemed like one of those topics that a picture book just can't handle effectively for smaller children. This book has changed my mind. Our narrator begins as an elderly man, recounting in clear but understated language how the persecution began, turned to oppression, and then to extermination. Still, in the midst of terror and hunger and persecution, he found an ally in a German woman who left him food daily, in defiance of posted orders. This act of compassion, and that gift of food, made him realize that the very stereotypes that allowed Germans to persecute Jews for their "differences" was making him hate all Germans for evil actions they may not have know about, or may be acting against to the best of their ability. The story ends on this note of hope and peace and compassion. A short Afterword uses much stronger language to present the deprivation and fear he faced, but reiterates the message of understanding and peace. A short paragraph explains the Holocaust itself, and a Vocabulary explains the concepts presented in the story. A final spread includes Questions for Discussion, and Recommended Activities for Young Readers.
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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