So Many New Arrivals! 4/4: Planet Kindergarten

Planet Kindergarten

Sue Ganz-Schmitt, illustrated by Shane Prigmore

ISBN: 9781452118932

Blocky "space" graphics and fonts enliven this cutesy, funny rework of first-day-of-school anxiety.

I think my favorite part of this book is how the kindergarten students are all actually kids, but are designed and stylized to look like aliens in different ways.  My second-favorite is the comment about how gravity in kindergarten must be way different, because no one can stay in their seats properly.  Truth.

Overall, it seems a little "made-to-order" tidy and overdesigned, but it's cute, and I'm all for space-or science-themed anything, so I'm not really complaining.  Not as likely to use it in storytime just because most of the pages are so busy and stylized that I'd never keep my place while reading, and I worry that the kids would have a hard time following the action.  However, it's going to be a perfect book for display as soon as August hits! 

So Many New Arrivals! 3/4: Nana in the City & Lucky Ducklings

A pair of "life in the big-city" books for all of our small-town, small-city Southern kids.

Nana in the City
Lauren Castillo
ISBN: 9780544104433
Caldecott Honor: scratchy heavily-outlined figures navigate various locations in a lively big city.

We are in the shoes of a young boy visiting his Nana in the city, and he's not used to all the noise and bustle and chaos - he's decided that this place is no place for a Nana; it's scary and overwhelming.  The understanding Nana spends the night making a superhero cape for the boy, and then takes him around to all the places she loves in the city, showing that noise and bustle and chaos can be good, fun, interesting, lively things.  I love that the boy's feelings of unease and discomfort aren't negated, and that the Nana is shown as a lively active character who is part of the city.  I love that the scenes picked to show the life and happiness of the city are so varied, but I wish that all the people shown could have been more inclusive and varied.  Still, spunky and fun to look at, and short enough that I might could use it for storytime!


Lucky Ducklings (A True Rescue Story)
Eva Moore, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
ISBN: 9780439448611
Digital & charcoal artwork is simple; beautifully composed and framed.

A true account of a duckling rescue that happened in 2000 in Montauk, New York.  We're introduced to the Duck family, with matriarch (slightly on the overprotective side) and 5 baby ducklings.  On their outing, Mama makes it across the storm drain easily, but the ducklings aren't so lucky - being as tiny as they are, they slip through the cracks and fall down into the drain.  The repeated cadence "That could have been the end of the story.  But it wasn't, because..." encourages page-flips and reader/listener interest in the development of the story, and also helps hint that everything is trundling along to a nice ending,  Which of course it does, helped along by kind firefighters and clever truckers, and of course, one overprotective Mama Duck.  I know for a fact that this one will be in a storytime - possibly quite soon!

So Many New Arrivals! 2/4: Hannah's Night & Arto's Big Move

Two for gently explaining potentially-scary life events: moving, and waking in the night.

Hannah's Night
Komako Sakai (translated by Cathy Hirano)
ISBN: 9781877579547
Curiously-scratched and partially-effaced drawings (grease pencils?  charcoals?) are startling and enticing.

Hannah has woken in the night, and her sister and parents are all still fast asleep.  The translator uses British English (or perhaps New Zealander English?) instead of American English, which might give some people pause over phrasing or word-choice, but I thought was quaint and appealing.  Hannah's nighttime prowling may also upset some who prefer kids to immediately find parents for advice, but I liked that the self-sufficient little girl (and one self-important tabby cat) are unphazed by the darkness and solitude, and take care of their own needs quite handily before heading back to bed (but not before borrowing the sleeping sister's prized possessions.



 Arto's Big Move
Monica Arnaldo
ISBN: 9781771470667
Arto, from the cold North, is not thrilled when his parents move Southwest for a year.  A friendly fellow-traveling girl helps him adapt to changes.

Arto quite likes his winter routine of dressing in layers of socks, pants, coat, gloves, and hat, before going outside into the cold.  Now that he's in the hot, dry Southwest, his routine is not so useful, but he's having trouble giving it up.  A friendly girl comes by and over time, slowly gets him to adapt his dressing routine (and his attitude) about the Southwest, just in time for him to move back North again, and see if perhaps his routine there can't be adapted also.  Very sweet, and super useful for kids who are very attached to routines and consistent behavior patterns.

So Many New Arrivals! 1/4: Little Melba and Her Big Trombone & The Noisy Paint Box

A pair of lovely biographies to start us off:

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
Katheryn Russell-Brown, illustrations by Frank Morrison
ISBN: 9781600608988
Biography of Melba Doretta Liston, trombone and jazz prodigy.

An excellently plotted and illustrated tale of a plucky and amazingly talented young woman from the early days of jazz, who took to the trombone, played and composed for many much more well-known names, and worked until the 1990s.  A Coretta Scott King Award book, and deservedly so.


The Noisy Paint Box: the Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky's Abstract Art
Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mary GrandPré 
ISBN: 9780307978486
Lush illustrations with fantastic facial expressions show off Vasily Kandinsky's life to great impact. 
A fictionalized account of Kandinsky's childhood and his experiences with synesthesia that lead him to eventually create abstract paintings full of bright colors and dynamic movements.  GrandPré's illustrations really knock this one out of the park.  Beautiful and graceful biography of an influential painter, suitable for even the youngest.

New Arrivals: Wordless Picture Book: Quest, by Aaron Becker

Quest (sequel to Journey)
Aaron Becker
ISBN: 9780763665951
Wordless Picture Book

This follow-up to the beautiful Journey has our newly established duo thrust into an adventure when a King pops through a portal (drawn by his own bright orange magical wand) gives them a map, and is dragged back through by soldiers - dropping his wand in the process.  The map shows a rainbow of colors building as it passes through different locations, and now we're on a whirlwind quest to retrieve the magic color wands before the evil troops can get to them.

Beautiful and imaginative, and a lovely adventure story in fantastical locales with larger-than-life characters.  The ending especially makes me think longingly of how I would read and re-read Narnia as a child, wishing that it were real.

Simply stunning.  I truly hope he continues the adventure!

Tuesday Storytime: Penguins

Penguins are so cute.

One Cool Friend
Tony Buzzeo, illustrated by David Small
ISBN: 9780803734135
Reviewed here.

It's a little long, and I think the conceit goes waaaay over the heads of the little ones, but it's funny and cute and the pictures are inviting.  It's like a short illustrated Mr Popper's Penguins, with a funny twist at the end with the dad.


Polar Opposites
Erik Brooks
ISBN: 9780761456858
Reviewed here.

Still adorable.  I love how the story manages to deal with opposites, science facts, friendship, and the process of prepping/packing for a trip, without being long or cumbersome.  Just an amazing accomplishment.


If You Were a Penguin
Wendell and Florence Minor
ISBN: 9780061130977
Variety of penguins in soft-edged surroundings, very like the Karma Wilson "Bear" series.

Hey, a new penguin book!  Well, not new, exactly, but new to me!  This one is straighforward and sweet, although to me, the ending felt more like a transition than an end.  Lots of drawings of various types of penguins in action, with short snappy captions as to what they're doing (that presumably one would want to do if they were also a penguin).  Adorable, easy to read, and low-stress for a final story with a wiggly and noisy group.

Tuesday Storytime: Lions

Three fun lion books today, and a great length for my kids.

The Show-and-Tell Lion
Barbara Abercrombie, illustrated by Lynne Avril Cravath
ISBN: 9780689864087
Blurry watercolors and minimalist blocky backgrounds.

I can't believe I haven't used this book for storytime since I've been recording them here - it's a really sweet story, and I have used it for storytime, but it must have been a while back.  Matthew is on the spot for Show-and-Tell, but nothing interesting has happened, and he panics!  He invents a pet lion that lives at his house, and the story grows and grows over time, but he never quite gets up the courage to let his classmates in on the reality that it's really just a made-up lion.  With some help from his mom, and encouragement from his teacher, he figures out a way to "fess up" but still get to talk about his very interesting (imaginary) lion adventures.  It's a quick read, the emotions are explained and talked through (especially love the description accompanying the word "embarrassed") and Matthew isn't shamed or punished for his mistake.  Would also go well in a storytime about make-believe, or about telling the truth, or about differentiating reality from stories.


If I Were a Lion
Sarah Weeks, illustrated by Heather M. Solomon
ISBN: 0689848366
Watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations are then cut out and placed in collages to make very punchy graphics.  If Lois Ehlert and E. B. Lewis combined.

Super cute new discovery for my Lion theme.  A precocious red-haired feisty childling (most likely a girl due to pink shirt, but not specified) has been put into "time-out" for being WILD.  Well, that's just not true!  Wild lions and bears and wolves and raccoons do much worse things than this lovely child - they storm and break and growl and bite!  She's sweet and polite, don't you know.  Lots of great language and rhymes;  "absurd"  "ferocious" / "precocious"   "rummage."  Lovely cadence also - very easy to read, and not many words to a page to convey the story.  I'll be using this one again for sure.  Easy match for "wild animals,"  "bad kids," "making messes,"  "compare and contrast."


How to Hide a Lion
Helen Stephens
ISBN: 9780805098341
Reminds me of a slightly more colorful Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile in both illustration and storyline.

A lion has come into town for a new hat, but the frightened townspeople chase him off with pitchforks and torches.  He hides in a playhouse in the suburbs, owned by Iris, who isn't afraid of lions.  She keeps and hides him for a good while, until one night mom makes a startling discovery.  The plot progression then is a little abrupt, as the lion flees, impersonates a statue downtown, and foils a crime, bringing the adulation of the townsfolk at last - and perhaps a chance to finally get that hat!  For the amount of story involved, a very short read, and the pictures carry a lot of the story, with little broken-up paragraphs on many pages attached to smaller cameo pictures.  Very cute, but not a favorite like the other two.