Picture books

The Truth About My Unbelievable Summer by Davide Cali, illustrated by Benjamin Chaude

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Published by Chronicle Books

 

Summary:  When a boy’s teacher asks him, “So what did you do this summer?”, he spins an increasingly fantastic tale.  It starts with him finding a message in a bottle which turns out to be a treasure map.  He ends up on a pirate ship, in a submarine, scaling the Great Wall of China, being chased by mummies in Egypt, and much, much more.  He concludes the story by saying to his teacher, “So you probably don’t believe me…right?”  The next page shows his teacher busily drawing something at her desk, with the caption, “Three months earlier…”, and then [spoiler alert] tossing a bottle with a paper inside toward the boy at the beach. 44 pages; grades K-3.

Pros:  A fun story that could inspire kids to come up with their own tall tales.  The pictures are crowded with action.  Readers will laugh at the final plot twist.

Cons:  The small size of the book and the unappealing appearance of the protagonist turned me off from reading this for quite a while.

Just a Lucky So-and-So: The Story of Louis Armstrong by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by James Ransome

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Published by Holiday House 

Summary:  Louis Armstrong considered himself to have led a lucky life, but his early days weren’t always so auspicious.  Born in The Battlefield, a tough part of New Orleans, young Louis started working at an early age to help his single mother.  He was surrounded by music, and a pawnshop cornet allowed him to begin to make his own tunes.  After shooting off a gun on New Year’s Eve, Louis was sent to reform school, where he worked his way up to bandleader.  After his stint there, he returned to his old neighborhood and pursued his career in earnest.  The book ends with him newly arrived in Chicago, being cheered on by the crowd to come forward and blow his horn.  A full-page author’s note gives more information on Armstrong’s life, and another page has resources for further research, including places to visit.  40 pages; grades 1-4.

Pros:  The large, full-color illustrations nicely complement the somewhat spare lyrical text.  The end matter gives plenty of material for researchers.

Cons:  The large number of people and places in a relatively short story was a little confusing.  Also, the quotes from Armstrong throughout the text aren’t cited.

Be the Change: A Grandfather Gandhi Story by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus, illustrated by Evan Turk

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Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers 

Summary:  In this companion to Grandfather Gandhi, Arun Gandhi tells of his experiences as a child living in the ashram started by his grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi.  The ashram, devoted to living simply and nonviolently, had eleven vows.  The one young Arun struggled with the most was the vow not to waste.  One day, he threw away a stub of pencil and went to his grandfather to ask for a new one.  Big mistake. Grandfather told him he had to look in the tall grasses where he had thrown his away to find it.  His grandfather then had Arun create a tree on the wall where he would add “leaves” that were acts of passive violence, like wastefulness.  As the tree grew, so did Arun’s understanding of how his actions, even ones that seemed harmless, could create violence in the world.  Eventually, he came to see the truth of some of his grandfather’s most famous words, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”  A note from the authors explains more about not wasting resources, and there is a “Be the Change Pledge” for readers to make.  48 pages; grades 1-5.

Pros:  Difficult concepts are related from a child’s perspective, strikingly illustrated by Evan Turk.  With adult guidance, kids will come away from this book with new perspectives on what constitutes nonviolence and how they can help create peace in the world.

Cons:  There’s a lot for young readers to grasp.

How Much Does a Ladybug Weigh? by Alison Limentani

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Published by Boxer Books 

Summary:  “10 ants weigh the same as 1 ladybug.  9 ladybugs weigh the same as 1 grasshopper.”  And so this book goes, counting down from 10 to 1, with each page showing a progressively larger animal that weighs the same as that number of the animal from the preceding page.  The final, largest animal is a swan, which weighs the same as 362,880 ladybugs.  The last page shows all the animals with each one’s weight shown in ounces or pounds.  32 pages; ages 3-6.

Pros:  A fun introduction to weight and relative sizes for the youngest readers.  The simple, cute animal illustrations will make this an easy sell.

Cons:  You’ll need to look elsewhere for an introduction to units of measure and other information about weight.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak

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Published by Henry Holt and Company 

Summary:  A girl and her dog go for a walk through the fields and forests on a late summer day.  As they go, she greets everything she sees: “Hello, trees. Hello walking sticks and butterflies.  Hello, puddles.”  Each item responds to tell her how it is changing as summer turns into fall.  The trees are swaying in the breeze, the animals are looking for food, and the sun is setting earlier each evening.  After watching it set, the girl says goodbye to summer and goes into her house.  A wordless two-page spread shows a peaceful nighttime scene.  On the final page, the girl sits on her front step, the sun back in the sky, and greets the new season: “Hello, autumn!”  32 pages, ages 4-7.

Pros:  Perfect for this time of year, the text and the beautiful green and gold illustrations will get kids talking about the changes they see around them as summer moves into fall.

Cons:  That twinge of sadness I feel as the days shorten and the leaves start to change colors.

Rabbit & Robot and Ribbit by Cece Bell

~ Janet Dawson ~ 2 Comments

Published by Candlewick Press 

Summary:  When Rabbit goes to visit Robot, he’s dismayed to find that Robot has another friend over, a frog named Ribbit.  Ribbit’s vocabulary is limited to a single word, “Ribbit”, which Robot is able to understand using his frog translation software.  Rabbit starts feeling jealous, and pretty soon Rabbit’s and Ribbit’s emotions are running so high that Robot overheats himself trying to interpret them all.  When Robot collapses, Rabbit and Ribbit have to work together to learn how to revive him.  In the end, the three friends discover that three isn’t really a crowd and learn to play together.  48 pages; grades K-3.

Pros:  The sequel to Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover, this long easy reader/short chapter book with cartoon illustrations and silly dialogue is just right for emerging independent readers.

Cons:  Let’s hope Cece Bell doesn’t wait another 2 ½ years before writing another Rabbit and Robot book.

The Sound of Silence by Katrina Goldsaito, illustrated by Julia Kuo

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Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 

Summary:  Yoshio enjoys hearing the sounds of his Tokyo neighborhood: rain falling on his umbrella, his boots squishing in puddles, his own delighted giggles.  One day he hears a new sound, a woman playing a koto with twinkling, twangy notes.  When she’s through, he asks her what her favorite sound is.  She replies, “The sound of ma, or silence.”  From then on, Yoshio tries to hear the sound of silence, but at home, outside, or in school, there are always other sounds.  Finally, arriving early at school one morning, he sits down and begins to read.  Suddenly, in the middle of a page, he realizes that he is surrounded by silence!  He notices how peaceful it makes him feel, and realizes that the sound of silence has been there all along, running underneath all the other sounds.  An afterword explains the concept of ma and how it has influenced Japanese music and other culture.  40 pages; grades K-3. 

Pros:  A beautiful introduction to some aspects of mindfulness and meditation, and a way to help kids relax and focus on the present moment.  The illustrations show many details of a Tokyo home and neighborhood, and a note at the end explains how they were created using a combination of pen drawings and digital coloring. 

Cons:  This could be a tough concept for young kids to understand.

Guess Who, Haiku by Deanna Caswell, illustrated by Bob Shea

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Published by Harry N. Abrams 

Summary:  Ten haiku poems are offered as riddles for the reader to guess:  “new day on the farm/muffled mooing announces/a fresh pail of milk”.  The next page shows the cow, who has her own haiku to offer.  So it goes, until the final poem, “two hands hold a book/guessing animals’ puzzles/written in haiku…It’s YOU!”  The final page explains a little about haiku, including defining what a syllable is, and invites readers to explore the playfulness of the form.  24 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  An excellent introduction to haiku for the very young.

Cons:  The “riddles” aren’t particularly challenging.

I Am NOT a Dinosaur! by Will Lach, illustrated by Jonny Lambert

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Published by Sterling Children’s Books 

Summary:  Sure, we all know T-Rex, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops, but they weren’t the only vertebrates around in prehistoric times, not by a long shot.  The rhyming text introduces some of the other key players, like the familiar saber-tooth cat and woolly mammoth, and the less-well known dunkleosteus and glyptodont.  An introductory note from Dr. Mark A. Norrell, paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History starts things off, and a final author’s note puts the prehistoric eras into some perspective, comparing the 170 million years of dinosaurs with 200,000 years of modern humans.  There’s also a bit more information on each animal and a timeline showing the different geologic time periods and which of the animals lived in each one.  40 pages; grades K-3.

Pros:  There’s more to this book than meets the eye.  Young dinosaur fans will enjoy learning about some new animals, but the front and end notes add a lot more information.  If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you may know what a fan I am of cut-paper illustrations, and these are right up there with Steve Jenkins’ work.

Cons:  You might be sorry if you don’t glance at the pronunciation guides in the end matter before attempting a read aloud.

Rattlestiltskin by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Erin Camarca

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Published by WestWinds Press 

Summary:  The classic fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin is given a Spanish twist.  Senora Gonzales brags that her daughter Rosalia can make tortillas light enough to float.  When wealthy Don Ignacio challenges her to come make some for him, Rosalia fears she’s in trouble.  She gets to work, hoping for the best, but her tortillas don’t float.  Just when she is about to despair, a strange little man dressed in rattlesnake skins pops out of the oven.  He gives her the secret for making floating tortillas in exchange for Rosalia’s promise that she’ll do anything he asks, then disappears back into his oven.  Don Ignnacio is impressed enough to invite her to come live on the hacienda and cook for him.  All is well for a while, but one day the little man reappears and demands that Rosalia comes to work as a maid for him and his friends.  Just like in Rumpelstiltskin, the deal will be off if she can guess his name, and after two sets of three guesses, she manages to learn that his real name is Rattlestiltskin.  She gets it in three the next day, Rattlestiltskin self-destructs, and Rosalia, Don Ignacio, and even Senora Gonzales live happily ever after.  Includes a recipe for homemade tortillas.  32 pages; grades K-4.

Pros:  A fun compare and contrast with a classic retelling like Paul O. Zelinsky’s Rumpelstiltkin.  The mood of this version is definitely lighter, and the Spanish setting , characters, and language add an interesting twist.

Cons:  I missed some of the ominous bizarreness that characterizes more tradition versions.