Feeling Sad by Sarah Verroken - review

Feeling Sad by Sarah Verroken
Add this to your arsenal of 'feelings' books. Do it right away.

Duck is sad, and it's a gloomy day. Why? Doesn't really matter. It happens, right? Nothing to be alarmed about or belabor - best to just find a way past it and see if we can brighten things up a bit. Which is exactly what Duck does, inspired by a friendly frog who suggests merely, "Cheer up. Look ahead!"

Duck looks around and finds one small bright spot. Then she takes action, calling to the clouds to help her find the sun. This is good stuff. This is the kid participating in and taking control of her mood. This is also not demonizing sadness. By the way, this is also not about grief, which is a different sadness, and is addressed in other books.

I want to draw special attention to the art. Big and textured, starting out scratchy and dark and then, as Duck's mood lightens, getting brighter and more colorful. I want to say these are monoprints, but there is certainly some digital alteration in there, and maybe a little collage. Sarah Verroken's blog showcases more of her work. Looking forward to seeing more from her.

Trouble Gum by Matthew Cordell - review

Trouble Gum by Matthew Cordell
Here is a book. A book with gum. A book with two brothers. A book with two brothers stuck inside on a rainy day who aren't usually allowed gum because - oh my god gum! Gum on the furniture! In the carpet! Gum in the hair! Swallowed gum! Gum on the wee little faces! NO GUM!

My colleague La Mirabile (also the mother of boys) is sitting next to me cackling over this book. Seriously, she's laughing so hard I'm worried she's going to swallow her own gum.

Matthew Cordell illustrated one of my favorite picture books about brothers, Righty & Lefty. Maybe he has sons. Maybe he has brothers. But he sure as heck knows how funny it is when a little boy jumps off the couch and into a pile of cushions and momentarily stuns himself.

One K-5 school library, coming up! The 000's

Checking out the picture books

Late this summer an entire library of books was delivered to a new school in Baltimore. I should know - I picked all 2,254 of them. It was what you might call a labor of love. Emphasis on the "labor". Actually, emphasis on the love.

As we shelved what amounted to thirty thousand dollars worth of brand-new beautiful books, one of our parent volunteers said, "I bet you've read half the books in this room!" I did a quick scan of a few shelves and admitted that actually, I have read probably upwards of 75% of them. Most of the fiction, all of the picture books, and one heck of a lot of the nonfiction. Wow. I am either really really sad or really really dedicated.

You may hire me to create or maintain your school library collection, and I will certainly not object, but I thought it might be nice to share some of the lists I created. I'll do a series of about a dozen posts, at least the nonfiction, starting with the 000's. This will be my own version of School Library Journal's Series Made Simple issue (which is a great resource, by the way).

The 000's are kind of a weird little miscellany area of a school library. Every school should have a set of the World Book, and please do buy an almanac every year, but if you have the bucks, try to get a few "strange but true" reference books in there. Some kids really respond to Ripley's Believe It Or Not and Guinness World Records. Books like these have a sneaky added benefit - the indexed entries introduce kids to a nonlinear method of approaching a book, important when they're doing real research later.




Gee, Joshua. Encyclopedia Horrifica: The Terrifying Truth About Vampires, Ghosts, Monsters, & More. A kind of weird book to start off with, but, as the kid says in Beetlejuice, "I myself am strange and unusual."

Teitelbaum, Michael. Bigfoot Caught on Film: And Other Monster Sightings!. The 24/7: Science Behind the Scenes series from Scholastic is... it's ok. Little niblets of info, good for hooking readers, but it's nice to have something with a little more depth to back these books up, in case your readers do get interested in the subject. I picked carefully through this series and selected just a few titles.

Prieto, Anita C. B Is For Bookworm: A Library Alphabet. These alphabet books from Sleeping Bear Press are a bit uneven. This one is pretty dry, but I wanted to fill out a small suite of library-themed books. If you're tempted by the ABC book for your state, or about a particular subject, be sure to get your hands on it and read it through first. Some of the words can be awfully obscure.

Ruurs, Margriet. My Librarian Is A Camel: How Books Are Brought To Children Around The World. How people live around the world is a particularly important theme in this school, and one that I personally find important. Kids find the juxtapositions fascinating, too. The pictures in this book are very nice.

Farndon, John. Visual Encyclopedia (DK). I keep buying and buying this book, and they keep loving and loving it until they love it to pieces. I'm not the world's be-all end-all fan of Dorling Kindersley - I don't think they fact-check hard enough - but this single-volume encyclopedia + elementary school kids = LOVE.

Aronson, Marc. For Boys Only: The Biggest, Baddest Book Ever. Frankly? I bought this on Jon Scieszka's recommendation. More graphically interesting and up-to-date looking than that other "dangerous" book, which I swear was written for parents.

Farndon, John. Do Not Open. Irresistable, full of fun facts about freaky stuff, several activities and suggestions for bringing the info in the book to life. Worth the few extra bucks. My 8 year old got a copy of this for his birthday and was enraptured. His little brother is learning to read just as fast and as hard as he can so he can have a turn with it.

Macdonald, Guy. Even More Children's Miscellany: Smart, Silly, and Strange Information That's Essential to Know. Same stuff, but for smaller kids.

McDonald, Megan. Stink-O-Pedia: Super Stink-y Stuff From A To ZZZZ. I like Stink Moody. I like him better than his sister, Judy. I buy Judy Moody, but I buy Stink too. He's funny, he's good-hearted, he's a 'second chapter book' for boys who think fantasy is pointless. Stink reads encyclopedias in his spare time, so I thought I'd offer his fans Stink's very own encyclopedia.

Murrie, Steve & Matthew. Every Minute On Earth: Fun Facts That Happen Every 60 Seconds. I never can seem to find enough books about time. Time is hard to explain. So when this book arrived at the public library, I snatched it. I stood and read it between customers at the information desk and I figured if I was fascinated enough to read it all the way through, surely somebody in that school would be too.

Mark, Jan. Museum Book: A Guide To Strange And Wonderful Collections. This is Baltimore, baby. We've got a light bulb museum and a teeth museum and we used to have a dime museum. We are to strange and wonderful as Paris is to lovely and inspiring.

Marcus, Leonard S. Side by Side: Five Favorite Picture-Book Teams Go to Work. Marvelous funny anecdotes, lots of illustrations showing all steps of the creative process, a very nice introduction to the concept of collaboration. Terrible cover though.

Creature ABC by Andrew Zuckerman - review

Creature ABC by Andrew Zuckerman

Andrew Zuckerman has made an entire little industry out of the images from his big fat Christmas-present book Creature. There are notecards and floor puzzles and a calendar, and now there's an ABC book.

I kind of can't fault the guy for it, either. When I swung open the cover of Creature abc, I gasped. His pictures of animals great and small - details, portraits, and full-length shots - are lit so brightly I worry for their fur, and shot (and printed) at such a high resolution as to appear three-dimensional. I just looked through the portraits (of humans) on his web site, and I didn't actually want to be that close to Nick Nolte.

The big bold black sans-serif text is easy to read. The little fact boxes about each animal that appear at the end are easy to digest. And there is just nothing funner than turning each thick page with a three year old. "What is that animal? It's a LION, you're right! Is that lion gonna eat you? NO! You eat that lion up first!"

Definitely my new favorite present for two- and three-year-olds.

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney - review

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Jerry Pinkney is a god. I think that's my whole review. No, wait, I have to mention that this book is wordless (except for beautifully lettered onomatopoeia incorporated into the paintings).

In a year when Jerry Pinkney also illustrated The Moon Over Star, I think he is his own stiffest competition for a Caldecott.

Call Me Gorgeous by Giles and Alexandra Milton - review

Call Me Gorgeous by Giles and Alexandra Milton
I have the eyes of a lemur and the beak of an octopus, the skin of a monitor lizard and the broken toes of an unfortunate debutante.

Actually, none of that is true. What I have are the eyes of a Scots-Irish Protestant and the posture of a Hungarian peasant - my fractious temperament is like that of my New England ancestors and my ability to tan comes from generations of watermen on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Pieces of various creatures (eye of frog, feet of chicken) lead the reader of the happy, beautiful Call Me Gorgeous! to expect a monstrous chimera, when instead, the creature at the end of this book is quite fabulous - and she knows it! Colored pencils and collages of handmade paper make the teeth of the alligator look sharp and the ears of the pig soft, the chameleon's tail scaly and the bat wings veiny.

We are all hybrids, and this book exalts our stitched-together-ness without whomping the reader over the head with bullhorned messages about DIFFERENCES! CHERISHING THEM! and LABELS! BOO TO LABELS! Would make a fun read-aloud.

Endpaper bonus: each animal shown in its entirety.

Always lots of heinies at the zoo, written by Ayun Halliday, illustrations by Dan Santat - review

Always lots of heinies at the zoo, written by Ayun Halliday, illustrations by Dan Santat
The author of the zine East Village Inky has written a picture book. That's it, my world just exploded.

I read Ayun Halliday's account of new motherhood, The Big Rumpus, when my older son was just a few months old. In that book, Ayun carted her daughter India around the East Village in a sling, wondering if her Dead Kennedys t-shirts were ever going to shrink back to normal after having worn them over her pregnant belly. Or something like that. As Ayun listlessly swiped at crusty wads of mushy peas on the kitchen floor and speculated over random puddles (apple juice? or pee?), I laughed the laugh of the unbelievably sleep-deprived. Good times.

Good times at the zoo, too, I'm happy to report. "No one tries to hide his heinie at the zoo." Like Chicken Cheeks (reviewed earlier), we get lots of fun heinie synonymy: tushy, glutes, can, and even caboose. Unlike Chicken Cheeks (reviewed earlier), we have an elephant with "junk in her supplemental trunk" - kind of steep slang for the K-3 set, and I think they're going to love it.

The vaguely Adam Rex-y, J.Otto Seibold-y illustrations are fine, not super-noteworthy (although, gotta say, GOOD MONKEYS), but composed very well. I love the portraits of Ayun and her husband Greg on the dedication page.

By the way, Ayun, if you're reading this: my colleague Dances with Chickens thinks this book would make a terrific little song. Maybe Greg can run something up.

Hat by Paul Hoppe - review

Hat by Paul Hoppe
This spring, I bought a hat. My husband, who suffers in the sun, had bought a broad-brimmed khaki hat a few years ago, spent actual money on it (rather than getting it free from a vendor or a TV station), which I considered a waste, because this man is a man who will misplace anything not permanently attached to his body, and at least one thing that is, if I have anything to say about that one mole on his hip. But his devotion to his hat is phenomenal, and he has only lost it once.

I have eyed that hat appraisingly for years now. The hat keeps the rain off, shields one from both glare and UV rays, keeps the head cool, and floats, much like the hat in Hat (and you knew we'd come around to the book at some point didn't you?). But my husband's hat does not belong to me, as the hat in Hat does not belong to young Henry, who spies it left behind on a park bench. So Henry - and I - are left to fantasize about the ways our lives would be improved were we to be the owners of the hat.

The marketing drivel that accompanies my husband's hat verges on mystique. The Peterman-esque "owner's manual" implies that wearing this hat will lead to everything from boat ownership to exciting encounters with members of the opposite sex. It says, "Interesting things happen to you when you're wearing a ______ hat." Luckily, the hat in Hat does not tootle its own horn so brashly. Luckily, Henry in Hat can dream up exciting encounters with tropical beasts all on his own.

In the end, I bought my own _______ hat, despite the obnoxious marketing. It stays on when you're flying a large kite in strong wind, what can I say. The other day, some old British dude in line behind me called out, "Be careful, young lady! 'Interesting things happen to you when you're wearing a ______ hat!'" What I called back to him was, "Don't I know it! I'm buying a caulk gun at Home Depot in the rain, how much more interesting could it get?!" but what I thought was, "Bite me, British guy - interesting things happen to me no matter what hat I'm wearing!"

And in the end of Hat, Henry is persuaded by his mom to leave the hat on the bench, in case its owner should return, frantic at the loss of his or her perfect hat. I like to think that Henry's mom knows that, with an imagination like his, interesting things will happen to Henry no matter what hat he's wearing.

1000 Times No by Tom Warburton - review

1000 Times No by Tom Warburton
I was on the desk in the children's department earlier tonight, and a lady had a baby and a little girl. When she got the call from her husband: "Come on home, dinner's almost ready," the baby started fussing and the little girl lost it. "NO!" she wailed. My kids are 20 months apart, and boy I remember that sinking feeling when you realize just how far it is to the exit, and how long your walk of shame will be, escorting not one but two shrieking bundles of raw nerves.

So on their way out I asked the little girl if she'd like a brand new book to check out, if that would make leaving the library any easier. With the tears still on her face and her breath hitching, she accepted the book solemnly. (It's the pink hair, folks, I don't kid myself)

But when the mom saw the title, she cracked up. Me too, I have to say. Noah doesn't want to leave when mom (wearing very sassy boots, I note appreciatively) says it's time. On each page he communicates "NO!" in a different way - via text message and tin can telephone, in Mongolian, Zulu, Tagalog and Robot, through heiroglyphics and by means of a vigorous head-shake. Noah is accessorized or contextualized appropriately for each utterance, until, on one page, a thousand Noahs sit in the seats of a boisterous U.N., all voicing their disapproval.

Endpaper bonus: Noah a thousand times (not really), in all his different hats.

Internet bonus: spacedlaw pointed me to the book trailer on YouTube. Even cuter!

Life-size zoo by Teruyuki Komiya - review

Life-size zoo by Teruyuki Komiya
Quivering, wet noses. Fluffy red panda fur and coarse capybara hair. Soft brown anteater eyes. Sharp tiger teeth. These oversized, luscious photographs of many of our favorite zoo friends show ever aardvark whisker and elephant eyelash in bright, sharp detail. Yum!

As advertised, each animal is shown life-sized. Majiron the armadillo takes up about half a page, while Lulu the giraffe gets a double fold-out. The right-hand border of each page gives information about the animal: name, age, interesting facts (tapirs can open and close their nostrils!), and details to look for in the photo.

Gonna be a storytime favorite and a very popular item in the school library. It might even end up my default birthday present for the summer.

Tillie Lays An Egg by Terry Golson with photography by Ben Fink - review

Tillie Lays An Egg by Terry Golson with photography by Ben Fink
Chickens, like penguins, are always funny. When I had chickens, and, yes, I had chickens in my city backyard, I used to go out a couple times a day to just sit and watch them bumble around and giggle to myself. Chickens - well I don't think I'm going to offend them by saying this - chickens are... not bright. My chickens, for example, were dumb enough to get themselves eaten by anything with teeth, and at least one thing without teeth. I've sworn off keeping chickens because I can't endure the heartbreak of losing any more. Hawks, foxes, raccoons, a dog, and I think possibly a family of possums consumed a total of eleven chickens at my house.



So I dedicate my review of this darling book in loving memory of Micker-Micker and Mrs. Miller, timid Penguin, big beautiful Barge, rock star Lou, Lou Two, three pullets that the kindergarten had raised from chicks, and two bad-tempered Polish hens whose names I can't remember. The funny, fun, beautiful photographs in Tillie Lays an Egg made me heave a wistful sigh thinking of how wonderful it was for my kids to have a chance to observe the life cycle firsthand, to think about food and where it comes from, and how nice it was to pet those gorgeous girls.

As you can probably tell from my photos, taking pictures of chickens is not easy. Either they are curious about the camera, and you get freaky close-up pictures of beaks and eyes - not the most attractive aspect of a chicken - or they are terrified of the camera, and run like idiots as soon as they see it. So the photographs in Tillie Lays an Egg, which are well-lit, in focus, and STAGED, for goodness sake! are not only entertaining, but really impressive.

As is the concept as a whole. Tillie, a chicken who thinks outside the coop, prefers wandering in search of worms to waiting for her turn in a nesting box. Every day she explores a different corner of the farm, and every day she lays her egg in an unexpected place. Children and adults have been observed enjoying the hunt for Tillie's eggs in each day's picture, and chuckling over the vintage chicken-themed items that pop up here and there - a chicken doormat, board games, table linens, and a juice glass that I covet.

I can't think of a more lovely hommage to these sometimes underappreciated farmyard friends, and I was so pleased to read that the chickens in the book - and all the chickeny props - are the author's own. I look forward to the further adventures of Tillie.

Chicken cheeks by Michael Ian Black, illustrations by Kevin Hawkes - review

Chicken cheeks by Michael Ian Black, illustrations by Kevin Hawkes
It's a fact, I'm a sucker for the bold, chewy acrylics of Kevin Hawkes. His love of orange and blue is apparently nearly as ardent as mine own. The guy's color contrast always puts me in mind of Maxfield Parrish. And in Chicken cheeks, his slightly just-past-normal expressions and colors are perfectly tuned to the subject matter.

And the subject matter is butts.

Yes, butts. But cute butts, not crass butts. Rhyming, alliterative, clever butts. Sure, it'll have the kids rolling on the floor (because - look - it's butts!) but it won't set parents to wincing, unless said parent is the type that thinks "caboose" as a term for "butt" is offensive. Or "patootie". Myself, I'd be thrilled if my children started using more creative terms, and I didn't have to hear "butt butt butt" all day.

I wonder where they picked that up?

All in a day by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Nikki McClure - review

All in a day by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Nikki McClure

I could not help thinking of Jonathan Bean when I took up this book. Nikki McClure's virtuoso cut-paper illustrations resemble woodcuts in much the same way his do, and she too can make a palette of black and white plus one color conjure whatever she wants. Here's the book: a little boy on a farm wanders through his day, climbing trees and watching clouds and whatnot, with measured, gentle text that conveys a peaceful message that you don't get all that often in picture books:

This day will soon be over
and it won't come back again.
So live it well, make it count,
fill it up with you.
The day's all yours, it's waiting now...
See what you can do.

This is maybe not the best quote - the book is not at all dire. I love the images too: chickens and eggs and seeds, birds on the wing. Kind of inspiring, and I'm not just saying that because the children and I planted our peas this week.

A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis - review

A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis
Edna's whole world is white and black and blue, and she yearns for something else.

"'There is white ice for sliding,' says Edna. 'There is black night for seeing stars. There is blue sea for hunting fish. But there must be something else.'"

She is not Lost, or gay, or afraid to swim, or an unusual color (Not that I am saying there are too many penguin books out there - hey man you can NEVER have too many penguin books. Penguins are perfect for picture books - they are graphically interesting and inherently funny. My dad says they're pesty, but more on that later. I think they're funny - they waddle.)

I could quibble and say that Edna, living as she does in an environment wholly populated by carnivores, is surely acquainted with the color red, in addition to white, black, and blue, but really, how is Antoinette Portis going to work that in? "There is red blood when the seals come to visit." Yeah, no.

So anyway, Edna goes looking. And do you know what she finds? MY DAD, circa 1963! (or my uncle, circa 1961-1963, or my brother in 2001) Edna stumbles upon a detachment of scientists from USAP (formerly the United States Antarctic Research Program), who have been wearing the same shade of orange (cosmonaut orange, for high visibility on the ice) for more than fifty years.

Oh, wait, you wanted to know about the book? Well come on, it's Antoinette Portis. Not a Box is one of the most genius kid books of ALL TIME, and A Penguin Story is both different - doesn't have that empowering kid-is-the-one-who-gets-to-say-no thing going on - and the same - same terrific, simple drawings, excellent use of a limited color palette. Also, one strong, determined, curious, creative kid with a lot going on upstairs.

Further endorsement: immediately after reading A Penguin Story, the men in my family (aged 5, 7, and 44; none of whom have been to Antarctica - yet) grabbed the sidewalk chalk and drew portraits of Edna on our front walk. See if you can guess which man drew which picture:

Sheep Blast Off! by Nancy Shaw, illustrated by Margot Apple - review

Sheep Blast Off! by Nancy Shaw, illustrated by Margot Apple
Sheep in a Jeep was one of the first little-kid books we had after our first child was born - a worn book-fair paperback that I took little notice of... until I started reading aloud to said kid. "Sheep in a jeep on a hill that's steep," man, there is very little more pleasurable than reading fun, rhythmic rhymes like that.

Nancy Shaw followed up the success of that charming book by sending her sheep into a Shop, onto a Ship, Out to Eat, on a Hike, and now, into SPAAACE. And we may not review every entry in a series like this, but sometimes it's nice to revisit, see how things are doing, check if things have gotten stale.

Aaand, ok, well, they haven't. Margot Apple's colored pencil illustrations, are, if anything, more vibrant and expressive than ever before, with that luxurious depth of color and toothy quality you only get from colored pencil, and Nancy Shaw is still writing bouncy, metered lines that awfully fun to read aloud. "Around the world the rocket zips. Weightless sheep do jumps and flips." And you have got to love four-armed, green, suspiciously sheepy aliens.

What a Good Big Brother! by Diane Wright Landolf, paintings by Steve Johnson & Lou Fancher - review

What a Good Big Brother! by Diane Wright Landolf, paintings by Steve Johnson & Lou Fancher - review

Here is a sweet little structured story about the baby, Sadie, and her big brother Cameron. Cameron watches and helps as his parents diagnose and treat Sadie's diaper cry, her tired cry, her hungry cry, and her who-knows-what cry. He pats her head, hands Dad the wipes, rubs her tummy, kisses her toes. He's a good big brother, there's no doubt.

The art here is wonderful. Somehow, backgrounds executed in an almost unbelievably zingy color palette and range of patterns perfectly complement the sensitive, naturalistic paintings of Cameron and his family. Little collage elements, visible paint and ink textures, and outlines of baby feet and hands give each page an organic, tactile quality.

And the words are wonderful too. When it comes to that sometimes-babies-just-cry cry, Cameron is patient and gentle. He murmurs, "Poor Sadie. Poor little lady," as he pats her head, and I've read the book twice now and both times I welled right up. Everyone should have a child that is at one time in his or her life as sweet and gentle as Cameron is on that page. It might be worth reading this book to every kid you know, just so that kid can see how touched a grownup can be by a child's sensitivity.

Extra points for giving us a nursing mom and not hammering us over the head with her.

LOVE is a good thing to feel, written by Barbara Joosse, illustrated by Jennifer Plecas - review

Love is a good thing to feel, written by Barbara Joosse, illustrated by Jennifer Plecas
My mom knows Barbara Joosse somehow, I should say that. Hasn't influenced me unduly so far: in fact, I've never reviewed any of her books before, and she's written plenty. Seems like a nice lady though.

And she sure does know about LOVE. THIS adorable thing I'm holding in my hands is all about Harriet, who is frizzy-haired and wears striped tights and stomps in puddles and tap dances. Harriet tells us about the ways to say I love you, and what love does for you (it can "make bad better") and how anger and jealousy and sorrow can exist at the same time as love. We need to explain this to kids every chance we get. Harriet also tells us that sponges don't have hearts but worms have five.

And then she sings a song. Now I will sing a song:

Ohhh... you beautiful readers of Pink Me
You are smart and funny and I love your sweaters!
The way you put up with my silly crap
It's like a bubble bath on the Internet!
Happy Valentine's Day, you sweetly-scented shiny and bouncy PEEOPLE!
(And thanks especially to mamele, who called me "mouthy")

Chocolate covered whatevers and ice-cold cocktails for everyone!!

Lazy Little Loafers by Susan Orlean, illustrated by G. Brian Karas - review

Lazy Little Loafers by Susan Orlean, illustrated by G. Brian Karas
Here's a question for you: Can we forgive Susan Orlean for being a gorgeous redhead who travels the world writing witty, insightful essays for sparkly, smart, classy publications? Can we forgive her the spectacular house in the Catskills made of native stone and glass? Does it seem like an embarrassment of riches that Meryl Streep played her in the movie? Is it completely unfair that she got to wear a matador outfit for one of her book covers? Well, maybe. She even has a cute dog. But she's talented and funny, so all these things we can forgive.

But now she's written a children's book, and when grownup authors and celebrities (even quasi-celebrities) do that, we sharpen ALLL the knives. Atwood's book? Preachy. Steve Martin's ABC book? Too smarty-pants. Updike's? Unexpectedly charming! (R.I.P., old man, I hope the afterlife looks like Cape Cod for you)

The book opens with our, oh, second-grade protagonist sitting at a desk under an anglepoise lamp, dark circles under her eyes as she copes with stacks and stacks of homework. She looks up from her work to pose the question, "Why don't more babies work?"

Typical New Yorker, this kid.

She then spends her day observing the behavior of several of the little freeloaders, one of which is apparently related to her. There is a certain amount of grownup humor here, as when she posits that the habitual uneven gait of the baby is a result of a "three-bottle lunch". But overall, the concept of babies getting jobs works as a good long joke. It's a fine take on the semi-resentful sibling thing.

Brian Karas's illustrations, by the way, are absolutely terrific. The little girl's deadpan stares, the happy, inscrutable baby - anyone who has stared at a baby and tried to imagine what he is thinking will recognize those faces. Backgrounds done in collage give the book a strolling, cinematic feel, as Mom, baby, and little girl travel from what looks like Greenwich Village, up 6th Ave, into Central Park, and to school on Central Park West. I do love a book that you can map.

So ok, one more point for Susan Orlean. But I'm sure she dyes her hair.

Oink, Oink Benny by Barbo Lindgren and Olof Landström - review

Oink, Oink Benny by Barbo Lindgren and Olof Landström
Benny and his brother go outside. They play. They get muddy. They see their friends. They do some other stuff. They come home.

Oh yeah? Not jazzy enough for you? How about: "Max gets mad, is sent to his room, later eats dinner" for a plotline? Uh-huh that's what I thought. All Time Classik.

So tromp not on this simple simple funny funny might-have-been-actually-written-by-a-six-year-old book. Look for it. The illustrations are expressive and skillfully done, and cartoony and kind of Steig-y. Interesting dusty colors too.

Plus, this is translated from the Swedish, which is how I now know that pigs say "nöff nöff" in Swedish, which is not only a more accurate piece of onomatopoeia than "oink" but also easier to say without stripping your uvula.

Early Valentine to Carolyn - Best books for Kindergarten, early 2009 edition

I love my son's kindergarten teachers. Ms. Burlin asked for a list of recent books for kindergartners that I thought were standouts. Here goes:




The Pencil written by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Bruce Ingman. Sort of a prequel to the Tom Waits-y The Runaway Dinner, The Pencil is meta, is magic realist, is funny, but does not read like Tom Waits lyrics. Can't have everything.




BEWARE OF THE FROG by william bee. Reviewed earlier. It's going to take a skilled storyteller to get the surprise ending past a whole batch of little kids, but I have faith.




The Big Bad Bunny written by Franny Billingsley, illustrated by G. Brian Karas. A loud little book with an unexpected twist.




Wolfsnail by Sarah C. Campbell. Reviewed earlier.




Tadpole Rex by Kurt Cyrus. Reviewed earlier.




Tyrannosaurus Drip by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by David Roberts. Reviewed earlier.





Forever Young written by Bob Dylan, illustrated by Paul Rogers. I can't swing this - I can't sing along - but I bet Ms. Burlin can. An awful lot of adult Easter eggs in the illustrations, but that doesn't make it less good for kids.




Fanny by Holly Hobbie. Reviewed earlier.




Garmann's Summer by Stian Hole. Reviewed earlier. About fear.




Mattland, story by Hazel Hutchins and Gail Herbert, art by Dušan Petričić. Reviewed earlier.




The Way Back Home written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. I love everything Oliver Jeffers has ever breathed near, including this lovely, sweet book.




Fartiste by Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer, illustrated by Boris Kulikov. Reviewed earlier. Danger, Will Robinson!




Marveltown by Bruce McCall. Reviewed earlier.




We're Off to Look for Aliens by Colin McNaughton. Reviewed earlier.




Who Made This Cake? text and English translation by Chihiro Nakagawa, illustrations by Junji Koyose. Reviewed earlier. Super birthday book!




Mrs. Muddle's Holidays by Laura F. Nielsen, pictures by Thomas F. Yezerski. Reviewed earlier. Could be "Ms. Burlin's Holidays." So nice.




I Feel a Foot! written by Maranke Rinck, illustrated by Martin Van Der Linden. The tale of the blind men and the elephant, except the blind men are nice little animals with personalities, and they're not blind (it's just night time). It's the art here, the art - beautiful patterns and glowing colors done in what looks like oil pastels, dry brush, heavy inks. Mmmm. Plus, the little striped bat is wearing pink socks - I love that.



Amadi's Snowman written by Katia Novet Saint-lot, illustrated by Dimitria Tokunbo. About literacy, about gender roles, set in Nigeria.



What the Rat Told Me: A legend of the Chinese zodiac by Marie Sellier, Catherine Louis, and Wang Fei. A little repetitive, but the big, sticky, bold ink illustrations make up for it, and figuring out what zodiac year each kid is.




Too Many Toys by David Shannon. Reviewed earlier.




Dinosaur vs. bedtime by Bob Shea. Reviewed earlier.




I'm the best artist in the ocean by Kevin Sherry. Reviewed earlier.




Korgi by Christian Slade. Watching little kids pore through this longer wordless book is so satisfying to those of us who know them well. Sophisticated narrative is not beyond their grasp - reading is.




The Sea Serpent and Me written by Dashka Slater, illustrated by Catia Chien. This was so nice, I wonder why I didn't review it. Little girl's sea serpent quickly outgrows the bathtub, and she is torn when it is time to release it into the sea. Nice little independent girl, not too gooey.




Ladybug Girl by David Soman and Jacky Davis. Reviewed earlier. Sequel, Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy, coming in March.




Jack and the Box by Art Spiegelman. An easily-memorized dialogue book, the surreal plot delights kids. Great for sharing.




Lester Fizz, Bubble Gum Artist written by Ruth Spiro, illustrated by Thor Wickstrom. Really neat. Explains the urge of art ("What do you see?" "What don't you see?" "What do you want to see?") and provides dozens and dozens of famous (and diverse) examples, all within a cute story.




Cesar Takes a Break written by Susan Collins Thoms, illustrated by Roge. Classroom pet's horizons expand when the kids go on spring break.




Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems. More dialogue, very funny. First readers - may be more of a first-grade book in schools that don't teach reading in K.



Last Night by Hyewon Yum. Wordless. Easily interpreted. Full of expression. Lino printing at its very very best. Wow.