It's been so bloody warm lately that I just felt like I had to.
Surf's Up
Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Daniel Miyares
ISBN: 9780735842205
Orange and Green frog are headed to the beach, but distracted by the tale of Moby Dick. A celebratory look at reading and of the beach.
Beach Baby
Laurie Elmquist, illustrated by Elly MacKay
ISBN: 9781459809543 (board book format)
Sweet, soft, gentle, soothing. Spreads of gentle beach scenes paired with comforting assurances that baby won't miss anything while asleep. A bit on the quiet side for my group today.
Beach Day!
Patricia Lakin, illustrated by Scott Nash
ISBN: 0803728948
Repetitive and simplistic (large) type indicate it's mostly for beginning readers, but past the repetition, Sam and Pam, Will and Jill have a lovely full day trying (and mostly failing) to get to the beach.
Showing posts with label beach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beach. Show all posts
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Tuesday Storytime: Beach Reads
I was off on vacation this past week, so I had a fellow librarian give my storytime, and I treated everyone to a collection of "beach reads" so they'd all be properly jealous of me. :)
The Twelve Days of Summer
Elizabeth Lee O'Donnell, illustrated by Karen Lee Schmidt
ISBN: 0688082025
Cartoonish illustrations with vibrant colors and careful plotting to get the numbers all counted in.
Our protagonist character is a cute little girl visiting the beach with her family, and she counts up from "a little purple sea anemone" along with the tune from The Twelve Days of Christmas. The rhymes are cute, the meter is solid, and the illustrations are adorable. An excellent silly summer read.
An Island in the Sun
Stella Blackstone, Nicoletta Ceccoli
ISBN: 1841481939
Dreamy fanciful illustrations (think Kinuko-Craft-light) are the star of an "I spy" building rhyme.
Another co-opted rhyme sequence, this one based on the old "I spy with my little eye" format mixed with the "the house that Jack built" cumulative concept. Despite the cumulative nature, this one is still easily short enough to be the middle book, and to flow quickly and nicely with few tongue-twisters or trip-up meters.
Three By the Sea
Mini Grey
ISBN: 9780375867842
Mini Grey's trademark faux-collage and quirky cartoon detailing.
The "three" of the title are a dog, cat, and mouse, who all live together in a shack by the sea, and have worked out an arrangement of chores and labor that all are happy with - until a slick foxy salesman stops by and insidiously manages to get everyone thinking they do more work, and their housemates are slackers or incompetent. After a heated argument, things get sorted out (mainly through the ejection of the slick fox) and while things do change, they do so organically, and with goodwill and mutual appreciation. I'm tempted to give this book to college students in shared housing.
Just one more regular storytime before our official start of Summer Reading Themes - it was a patchwork mess this year, making it difficult for me to find any extra titles to start at the top of June like I usually try to do. Oh well - gives me a chance to use some of the beach/summer titles that I rarely get to showcase.
The Twelve Days of Summer
Elizabeth Lee O'Donnell, illustrated by Karen Lee Schmidt
ISBN: 0688082025
Cartoonish illustrations with vibrant colors and careful plotting to get the numbers all counted in.
Our protagonist character is a cute little girl visiting the beach with her family, and she counts up from "a little purple sea anemone" along with the tune from The Twelve Days of Christmas. The rhymes are cute, the meter is solid, and the illustrations are adorable. An excellent silly summer read.
An Island in the Sun
Stella Blackstone, Nicoletta Ceccoli
ISBN: 1841481939
Dreamy fanciful illustrations (think Kinuko-Craft-light) are the star of an "I spy" building rhyme.
Another co-opted rhyme sequence, this one based on the old "I spy with my little eye" format mixed with the "the house that Jack built" cumulative concept. Despite the cumulative nature, this one is still easily short enough to be the middle book, and to flow quickly and nicely with few tongue-twisters or trip-up meters.
Three By the Sea
Mini Grey
ISBN: 9780375867842
Mini Grey's trademark faux-collage and quirky cartoon detailing.
The "three" of the title are a dog, cat, and mouse, who all live together in a shack by the sea, and have worked out an arrangement of chores and labor that all are happy with - until a slick foxy salesman stops by and insidiously manages to get everyone thinking they do more work, and their housemates are slackers or incompetent. After a heated argument, things get sorted out (mainly through the ejection of the slick fox) and while things do change, they do so organically, and with goodwill and mutual appreciation. I'm tempted to give this book to college students in shared housing.
Just one more regular storytime before our official start of Summer Reading Themes - it was a patchwork mess this year, making it difficult for me to find any extra titles to start at the top of June like I usually try to do. Oh well - gives me a chance to use some of the beach/summer titles that I rarely get to showcase.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Tuesday Storytime: Going to the Beach
Posting late this week, can you tell summer is coming? O.o
The Twelve Days of Summer
Elizabeth Lee O'Donnell, illustrated by Karen Lee Schmidt
ISBN: 0688082033
Whimsical colorful drawings of a beach, with clever uses of borders for the increasing menagerie.
Instead of the twelve days of christmas "fiiiiiive golden rings" and etc., here we have the days of summer, notated by increasing amounts of various beach animals (plus waves, oddly enough). It's well-written, the lines scan, the wordplay is interesting without being tongue-tying (six squid a-swimming) and the scenes depicted continually get zanier and zanier as the animal numbers grow. As a bonus, our "little purple sea anemone" (which I've been humming since Tuesday, thanks ever so) is hidden on each page, regardless of the scope of the composition. Well played.
Penguin on Vacation
Salina Yoon
ISBN: 9780802733979
Cute blocky "newsprint comic" style artwork enlivens a slender tale of a Penguin and Crab.
Penguin is sick of snow. Snowballs, snow forts, snowskiing, snowsledding, all of it. He's headed somewhere tropical! Sadly, he's not exactly prepared for the reality of the beach - you can't skate on sand, after all. A helpful crab wanders in to the story, teaches some good beach games, and then heads off to the pole for his own winter vacation. The ending is strangely done - Crab visits the pole, leaves, then comes back again a year later for another visit, while Penguin doesn't travel back to the beach. Kids won't notice, but I did, and wondered why the story was structured like that? Regardless, adorable and a very short read.
The Seashore Book
Charlotte Zolotow, painted by Wendell Minor
ISBN: 0060202149
Beautiful paintings of serene seascapes adorn a sweet but slow narrative.
I really hesitated over this one, and I'm glad I had a smaller, more sedate group for Storytime, because with a larger crowd, or with some of my more energetic kids, this would have gone over like a lead balloon. It's beautiful, and descriptive, and not actually very long, but it's all essentially a dream sequence, and it's simply not very exciting - it just narrates a stereotypical "platonic ideal" of a day at the beach, from before sunrise to after dark. It worked, and everything was lovely, but it very easily could have been simply too sedate.
The Twelve Days of Summer
Elizabeth Lee O'Donnell, illustrated by Karen Lee Schmidt
ISBN: 0688082033
Whimsical colorful drawings of a beach, with clever uses of borders for the increasing menagerie.
Instead of the twelve days of christmas "fiiiiiive golden rings" and etc., here we have the days of summer, notated by increasing amounts of various beach animals (plus waves, oddly enough). It's well-written, the lines scan, the wordplay is interesting without being tongue-tying (six squid a-swimming) and the scenes depicted continually get zanier and zanier as the animal numbers grow. As a bonus, our "little purple sea anemone" (which I've been humming since Tuesday, thanks ever so) is hidden on each page, regardless of the scope of the composition. Well played.
Penguin on Vacation
Salina Yoon
ISBN: 9780802733979
Cute blocky "newsprint comic" style artwork enlivens a slender tale of a Penguin and Crab.
Penguin is sick of snow. Snowballs, snow forts, snowskiing, snowsledding, all of it. He's headed somewhere tropical! Sadly, he's not exactly prepared for the reality of the beach - you can't skate on sand, after all. A helpful crab wanders in to the story, teaches some good beach games, and then heads off to the pole for his own winter vacation. The ending is strangely done - Crab visits the pole, leaves, then comes back again a year later for another visit, while Penguin doesn't travel back to the beach. Kids won't notice, but I did, and wondered why the story was structured like that? Regardless, adorable and a very short read.
The Seashore Book
Charlotte Zolotow, painted by Wendell Minor
ISBN: 0060202149
Beautiful paintings of serene seascapes adorn a sweet but slow narrative.
I really hesitated over this one, and I'm glad I had a smaller, more sedate group for Storytime, because with a larger crowd, or with some of my more energetic kids, this would have gone over like a lead balloon. It's beautiful, and descriptive, and not actually very long, but it's all essentially a dream sequence, and it's simply not very exciting - it just narrates a stereotypical "platonic ideal" of a day at the beach, from before sunrise to after dark. It worked, and everything was lovely, but it very easily could have been simply too sedate.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Tuesday Storytime: Going to the Beach
Back to picking my own topics for storytimes again!
August is pretty much the height of summer here in SC, so I'm celebrating my free choice of topics by spending some time focusing on boats, beaches, and swimming.
Today, the beach!
A Beach Tail
Karen Lynn Williams, illustrated by Floyd Cooper
ISBN: 9781590787120
An expressive black boy explores a beachfront, tethered to his dad by the long tail of a "sandy-lion" he's drawing in the sand.
Gorgeous illustrations, and a great story, and always so very nice to see POC in picture books without that being made a part or a focus of the story. Gregory and his dad (just the two of them) are at the beach, and while dad rests in the shade of an umbrella, Greg draws a lion in the sand. Dad warns him not to leave "Sandy" behind, and Greg complies by drawing the lion a long tail as he wanders along the beach. Eventually the boy realizes he's gone too far from home base, but his "tail" is right there to guide him back, where his dad gently chides that "Sandy has a long tail" before they both head out for a swim. This is my first read of this lovely book, but it certainly won't be the last.
All You Need for A Beach
Alice Schertle, illustrated by Barbara Lavallee
ISBN: 0152167552
Roly-poly people with odd profile outlines populate a slowly-developing beach along with rollicking rhymes.
This is a fun one because of the language. The rhymes and rhythm are so much fun to play with, and the conceit of only needing one simple thing for a beach - a grain of sand - AND a few trillion more AND some trees AND birds AND ocean... really makes the pages fly. I've done this one a few times before, and it's always been a hit.
One White Wishing Stone
Doris H Gayzagian, illustrated by Kristina Swarner
ISBN: 0792251105
A National Geographic book, with a doll-like girl playing on a soft-edged, muted, calming beach.
This one is a very beautiful, and very soothing book. A girl plays on the beach, collecting items starting with One white wishing stone, then Two periwinkle shells, and so on, until she has enough collected to build and decorate a sandcastle. Once the waves reclaim her treasures, she keeps the periwinkles and the wishing stone and uses them as talismans that night to recall a beautiful day and anticipate others like it. I love that it ends with the people home and remembering a happy time, and that it shows her leaving most of her collected treasures at the beach where they belong.
August is pretty much the height of summer here in SC, so I'm celebrating my free choice of topics by spending some time focusing on boats, beaches, and swimming.
Today, the beach!
A Beach Tail
Karen Lynn Williams, illustrated by Floyd Cooper
ISBN: 9781590787120
An expressive black boy explores a beachfront, tethered to his dad by the long tail of a "sandy-lion" he's drawing in the sand.
Gorgeous illustrations, and a great story, and always so very nice to see POC in picture books without that being made a part or a focus of the story. Gregory and his dad (just the two of them) are at the beach, and while dad rests in the shade of an umbrella, Greg draws a lion in the sand. Dad warns him not to leave "Sandy" behind, and Greg complies by drawing the lion a long tail as he wanders along the beach. Eventually the boy realizes he's gone too far from home base, but his "tail" is right there to guide him back, where his dad gently chides that "Sandy has a long tail" before they both head out for a swim. This is my first read of this lovely book, but it certainly won't be the last.
All You Need for A Beach
Alice Schertle, illustrated by Barbara Lavallee
ISBN: 0152167552
Roly-poly people with odd profile outlines populate a slowly-developing beach along with rollicking rhymes.
This is a fun one because of the language. The rhymes and rhythm are so much fun to play with, and the conceit of only needing one simple thing for a beach - a grain of sand - AND a few trillion more AND some trees AND birds AND ocean... really makes the pages fly. I've done this one a few times before, and it's always been a hit.
One White Wishing Stone
Doris H Gayzagian, illustrated by Kristina Swarner
ISBN: 0792251105
A National Geographic book, with a doll-like girl playing on a soft-edged, muted, calming beach.
This one is a very beautiful, and very soothing book. A girl plays on the beach, collecting items starting with One white wishing stone, then Two periwinkle shells, and so on, until she has enough collected to build and decorate a sandcastle. Once the waves reclaim her treasures, she keeps the periwinkles and the wishing stone and uses them as talismans that night to recall a beautiful day and anticipate others like it. I love that it ends with the people home and remembering a happy time, and that it shows her leaving most of her collected treasures at the beach where they belong.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey, Mini Grey
Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey
Mini Grey
July 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0375869525
Oh, My, God.... I love Traction Man! How did I miss this for over two months!
This one is not as good as Traction Man is Here! (Mini Grey, ISBN: 9780307931115), but better than the second: Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog (ISBN: 9780375855832). I swear I will re-read or use these for storytime and review them both. Until then; taken as a collection, Traction Man is AMAZING!!
Now, off to the beach. I'm easily swayed by beaches and oceans, and I also have to say that the "Brown and Sticky" joke (one of my husband's favorites) popsicle stick did me in.
Now, off to the beach. I'm easily swayed by beaches and oceans, and I also have to say that the "Brown and Sticky" joke (one of my husband's favorites) popsicle stick did me in.
I also must say that Traction Man(tm)'s creators are clever sorts
to make his clothes disintegrate so quickly. He looked quite the
Robinson Crusoe by the time he was "rescued."
Facial expressions are just killer, as always.
Especially liked the ladies roughing it in the borrowed clothes, getting all up into the excavating. Hell yes!
Win all around.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Previously Published Review: One White Wishing Stone, Doris, K. Gayzagian
Most counting books are fairly mundane - you count to ten. Sometimes people get freaky and you count DOWN to one, or you count by multiples, or you get the overachiever counting-book authors who go up to ten (or sometimes higher) and then all the way back down. Regardless, while a good educational lesson, they're not precisely emotionally stimulating.
This book jumps way past simple counting text (which, incidentally, itself winds down at about the half-way mark to make way for more lively situational rhymes) by virtue of the beautiful, hauntingly simplistic impressionistic page-spreads. The little girl is simply and classically drawn, and her environment is correct without being overly detailed. (Check the "skate egg cases" page for a perfect example, although we always called them 'devil's purses.')
The day of simple isolated enjoyment of nature and imagination (there's no one else around but mom and little girl) finishes off sweetly with a focus on sleepy memories and fond recollection of good times, both excellent lessons for young children (and sometimes their parents) about a time-tested way to find simple pleasures in life where you can find them.
As a former beach resident (I miss it so!) this story is a treasure, reminding me of many good times in the past, and hopefully in my future as well!
This book jumps way past simple counting text (which, incidentally, itself winds down at about the half-way mark to make way for more lively situational rhymes) by virtue of the beautiful, hauntingly simplistic impressionistic page-spreads. The little girl is simply and classically drawn, and her environment is correct without being overly detailed. (Check the "skate egg cases" page for a perfect example, although we always called them 'devil's purses.')
The day of simple isolated enjoyment of nature and imagination (there's no one else around but mom and little girl) finishes off sweetly with a focus on sleepy memories and fond recollection of good times, both excellent lessons for young children (and sometimes their parents) about a time-tested way to find simple pleasures in life where you can find them.
As a former beach resident (I miss it so!) this story is a treasure, reminding me of many good times in the past, and hopefully in my future as well!
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