Two Picture Books from France

Brief Thief
by Michael Escoffier
illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo
Enchanted Lion Books (April 12, 2013)
Review copy provided by the publisher

A pair of underwear left on a branch are swiped for a wipe and then discarded. A conscience engages and berates. The item is cleaned and re-treed. The owner returns, retrieves...and shocks the reader with a surprise ending!

Click here for two Dispatch Reader Kid reviews.

Me First!

by Michael Escoffier
illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo
Enchanted Lion Books (August 27, 2013)
Review copy provided by the publisher

By the same pair who wrote BRIEF THIEF, we have another fun character who is self-centered and impetuous. There is no conscience in this story, except maybe in the form of the Mother Duck, who seems to realize that a "business as usual" attitude on her part will allow circumstances to moderate her fourth duckling's bossy "Me first!" behavior. As with BRIEF THIEF, there is a very fun surprise ending.


Both of these books were originally published in France, and are brought to readers in the United States by Enchanted Lion Books.

The Hole

The Hole

by Øyvind Torseter

Enchanted Lion Books, coming August 27, 2013

review copy provided by the publisher

This was the 10th book I featured in my 10-for-10 Picture Books post on Saturday. It's too good to sit at the end of a list. It needs its own post.

As I said before, Enchanted Lion always has the most interesting books. They publish books from around the world. THE HOLE was originally published in Norway.

What you notice first when you pick up this book is that the covers of are heavy cardboard, the pages are stiff cardstock, and there's 

a hole 

punched 

all the way 

through the book.

When you open to the first page of this nearly-wordless book, you see that the hole is in the wall of an empty apartment. On the next pages, a mouse-ish creature moves into the apartment, carrying cardboard boxes of belongings. He opens the box labeled "kitchen," cooks himself an egg, and it's not until he sits down to eat (on a box-chair at a box-table) that he notices the hole in his wall. When he goes through the door that's beside the hole to see what it looks like from the other side, it's not there. It has moved to another wall. When he walks back into the first room, the hole is now on the floor and he trips over it. The hole keeps moving! He gets on his computer and calls someone to see if they will come look at this hole, but they tell him to bring it to them. He empties out one of his moving boxes, and spends several pages chasing down the hole until he finally has it in a box, which he tapes up securely.

Except when he leaves his apartment, the hole is part of his front door. And as he walks through the city, the hole is the mailman's whistling mouth, part of a sign, a wheel, a stoplight, an eye...

He winds up at some kind of high-security scientific place where he puts on shoe covers and gloves and takes the box with the hole into a sealed laboratory. The scientists run all kinds of test on the hole, but in the end, they just put it in a jar in a drawer. And the character goes home.

And the hole, of course, is still there, in the sky now. And then on his wall again. But he doesn't see it. But we do. And we wonder.

I can't wait to read this book aloud to my students. I can't wait for their surprise when the hole moves around. I can't wait to hear what they will say about the nature of the hole -- what it is...what it could mean.

I can't wait for all of those moments in a classroom that you want to put in a box or a jar or a drawer and save forever, but you can't because they're magic and cannot be captured and held.

My Dad Thinks He's Funny by Katrina Germein

I happened to see My Dad Thinks He's Funny  by Katrina Germein while visiting Cover to Cover around Father's Day. It isn't a new book but it looked fun.  I'm so glad I picked it up because it will be perfect for minilesson work in Writing Workshop. I love the format of this book to show young writers how authors let us get to know a character by telling details--not with adjectives necessarily but by telling stories. In this very predictable book, a child is talking about how his dad THINKS he is funny (with the implication that he really isn't:-). On each two page spread, there is a little example of this.  One such example is..."Whenever I say, 'I'm hungry,' Dad says, 'Hello, Hungry. Pleased to meet you.'" Kids will love the humor and the illustrations add to the fun. This is a perfect example to kids about including examples that let their reader really know their characters when writing. I can see using it early in the year for some notebook play.  This is a fun book that kids will remember.

THAT'S A POSSIBILITY by BRUCE GOLDSTONE

Bruce Goldstone is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.  I was thrilled during a recent visit to Cover to Cover when Beth shared his most recent book with me, That's a Possibility!: A Book About What Might Happen.   I love books that support concept development and understanding of difficult vocabulary. This book is a great picture book that does both things well!

Bruce Goldstone takes the idea of probability and explains it over and over in ways that kids can understand-flipping a coin, rolling dice, getting a certain prize out of a gumball machine. Using white background and amazing photographs, each page is an engaging visual with so much to think about.  And he embeds the confusing words that go along with probability and possibility throughout the book: possibility, probability, certain, impossible, possible, likely, odds, etc.

I'm thinking about using this somehow at the beginning of the year as part of some kind of interactive all display but I'm not sure--it certainly invites conversation and thinking.  I am sure this book will be read again and again by my students this year.

YOO-HOO LADY BUG by Mem Fox

Sooo sooo happy that Mem Fox has a new book out.  I have been waiting for it every since I heard it was coming months ago. The book is called Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug! and I fell in love with it immediately.

Mem Fox uses her brilliance as she always does in writing for young children. This is a simple I Spy type book. On each page of the book, the lady bug is missing, so each spread begins with "Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug! Where are you?"  As readers turn the page, he/she reads, "There you are.." alongside an illustration in which the lady bug is hiding.  After a bit of looking, the reader can turn the page to rhyming text showing where the ladybug was hiding.

This book is so perfect for young children--the predictable repeated texts, the rhymes, the unique illustrations and the active work of finding the ladybug on each page makes this book one that is perfect for K-1 classrooms.  It is also going on the top of my list for baby and toddler gifts that I need to buy soon.

Definitely a new favorite!

Bullies

Bully

by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Roaring Brook Press (A Neal Porter Book), July 2013

review copy provided by the publisher

Bull is a bully. He is mean to every single animal, and with every meanness, he gets bigger and bigger on the page. That is, until the goat stands up to him and calls him what he is: "BULLY!" 

This causes Bull to experience introspection, deflation, and happy resolution (after he apologizes). 

BULLY is a simple book, but even for older children, there is much to talk about, beginning with an illustration before the title page that hints at why Bull is a bully. Also, not enough can be said, in my opinion, about the power of standing up for yourself. So many students come to me on the playground at recess complaining about something another child did to them, and 9 times out of 10, they wouldn't have needed to come tattle to me if they had simply turned to the other child and asked, in an assertive voice, "Why did you do that to me?" This usually gives the other child a chance to A. realize they did something to cause offense, B. apologize before the child who's been "wronged" runs away to tattle, and/or C. deflate a bit because they've been called out for their behavior.

Tommysaurus Rex
by Doug TenNapel
GRAPHIX, 2013
review copy purchased for my classroom

TOMMYSAURUS REX is more about losing a dear pet than it is about bullies, but there is a really mean one who plays a key role in the story. (The bully is a boy whose dad has left his mom and him, and I'm getting a little tired of that over-simplified formula for a bully. But we'll set that irritation aside for now and continue with the review...)

Ely's beloved dog Tommy is hit by a car and killed, and to help him get over his grief, his parents let him spend the summer on his grandfather's farm. While there, Ely discovers a Tyrannosaurus Rex who escaped extinction, becomes fast friends with (**spoiler alert**) her, and then has to figure out a way to raise money to pay for the damages she causes and convince the town that he should be able to keep her as his pet. Randy, the bully, dashes Ely's every hope, but there are a couple of plot twists in the end that result in multiple happy endings.

Just like in BULLY, the ending is just a little bit too easy -- neither book is an accurate portrayal of real-life bullies and what it's like to deal with them. But both books (together or separately) will be great for classroom (and family) conversations about what's possible, and strategies that need to be attempted, whether or not they work the same way in life as they do in literature.

Think For Yourself (Part 2)

The Chickens Build a Wall
by Jean-François Dumont
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

Life in the barnyard was business-as-usual until the hedgehog showed up. No one had ever seen a hedgehog before. Rooster capitalized on the fear and suspicion of the stranger and rallied his hens to begin building a wall to protect them from the hedgehog. They worked and worked, built higher and higher.

Finally, when winter came and the wall was so high that they could just about not see the sky, Rooster declared the wall to be high enough to protect them.

Then, rustling out from under a pile of hay in the corner of the walled-in barnyard where he had been sleeping through the wall-building, came the hedgehog. And the hens discovered they had forgotten to build a door in the wall.

Can you guess what happened when the hens and the hedgehog had to spend time together and get to know each other? Can you guess what happened to the wall?

~~~   ***   ~~~          ~~~   ***   ~~~          ~~~   ***   ~~~

Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris are the amazing duo behind Burkins & Yaris (check out the Common Core (blog) and Early Literacy (Think Books) resources on their website) who have created LiteracyHead and WordEyes -- sites that teach, well, Literacy and Words (Vocabulary) through the arts. They have created a shiny new group of vocabulary words from The Chickens Build A Wall on WordEyes.

Click here to check out this freshly minted batch of vocabulary words-taught-through-art.

You'll see the word, with the definition hidden, but just a click away. Then below the word are four works of art in order from the most concrete representation of the word to the most abstract, with the fourth picture being a non-example. Click on the first work of art and it will come up in a hover-window that allows you to navigate directly to the next work of art.

Life has gotten complicated and busy in 5th grade this week, so I haven't shared either The Chickens Build a Wall OR the WordEyes words with my students. Stop by next week for a follow-up post about how my students reacted to/interacted with WordEyes and The Chickens Build a Wall.

Think For Yourself (Part 1)

This review is the first in a three-part series. All three books tackle the theme of "Think For Yourself" in very different ways. This first book is about a traditional character in Middle Eastern stories named Nasreddine. The historical note in the back of the book reads, "Stories about Nasreddine are told throughout the Middle East and beyond. They are often said to be based on a real man who lived in Turkey during he Middle Ages. The stories have been changed and added to over the years, but Nasreddine has never lost his ability to offer both wisdom and delight."

Nasreddine
by Odile Weulersse (translated from the original French by Kathleen Merz)
illustrated by Rébecca Dautremer
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

This story starts simply enough -- Nasreddine and his father load the donkey with dates to take to the market. Nasreddine's father rides the donkey and Nasreddine walks behind with his slippers off because the road is muddy from the last rain. In the city, someone comments that the father is lazy and irresponsible to let his son walk shoeless in the mud behind the donkey. Nasreddine's father, Mustafa, is unperturbed by the comment, but Nasreddine is embarrassed and wants to go home. The next week, when they take the wool to the weaver, Nasreddine convinces his father that his ankle is twisted so he can ride the donkey while his father walks behind. Some women they pass comment on the lack of authority of a father who lets his child ride while he walks.

Nasreddine continues to listen to what others say about the way he and his father and the donkey are traveling to market until finally he proposes to his father that they carry the donkey to market. At this point, Mustafa intervenes and guides Nasreddine to the understanding that he shouldn't listen to what others say. "It's up to you to decide if what you're hearing is wise, or if it's only a silly and hurtful remark." When Nesreddine declares, "I understand! You can't be afraid that other people will judge you or make fun of you," Mustafa (wryly? ironically?) expresses his pride in a son who can reason so well.

This may be an old story, but the message is timeless.

Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping

Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping
by Mélanie Watt
Kids Can Press, 2013

I know some people, actually, one in particular, who doesn't really like anything that has to do with nature. (I won't mention any names. You know who you are.)

And then there's me. I love the out-of-doors so much that I run our school's environmental club. For free.

Every kind of nature lover can relate to Scaredy Squirrel in his newest book. Scaredy decides that the best way to enjoy camping is "from a safe distance." He buys a TV.

But he has to find a way to plug his new TV in, and in the course of getting the extension cord to the outlet in the campground, he discovers the joys of the great out-of-doors.

He still plugs in his extension cord, but what he USES it for will surprise you! (No, I'm not telling. Go read the book. To children. Because they're a little like the out-of-doors -- scary at first, but once you get used to them, they're pretty fun!)

Fun With Dictionaries

Advice to Little Girls
by Mark Twain
illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky
Enchanted Lion Books, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

I glanced at this book when it came in the mail, but what really caught my attention was this article on Brain Pickings that told how this book came to be published in the United States. Go ahead and click over to take a look. You'll get to see several spreads from the book, which will give you a feel for the quirkiness of the illustrations and the archaic language of Twain's text.

How to share this book with modern children, though? Here's what I came up with:

There are eight bits of text in the book. Perfect for eight groups of three. I told my students a bit about the scrapbook-feel of the book, about when it was written, and about Mark Twain. Working with a dictionary, I challenged each group to "translate" their bit of text into modern English. When they were all finished, I read each page, followed by the group reading their translation.

I was pleased with how much of the humor my students were able to understand, once they'd plowed their way through the language! Fun with dictionaries!!

Perfectly Percy

Perfectly Percy
by Paul Schmid
HarperCollins, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

Can't you tell just by looking at the cover what will happen in a book about a porcupine who has a balloon?!?

The fun thing about this book is that even though you know what will happen, you have NO IDEA how it will all turn out in the end! Kudos to Paul Schmid for a perfectly delightful book that can be enjoyed on its own, or to lead students in thinking about making, confirming, and changing their predictions.

Bill The Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman

I am always looking for great picture book biographies. I especially like the ones about people who are not famous.  So I was thrilled to find Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman by Marc Tyler Nobleman. I recognized the author from another great picture book biography, BOYS OF STEEL which was quite popular in the library last year.

I am not a huge Batman reader but I do love popular culture and stories of creativity.  I loved this new picture book for so many of reasons and I can't wait to share it with kids.  The book is a good length-not too short and not too long. It is filled with the story of Bill Finger who co-created Batman as an anonymous writer. It is a fascinating story of a man who loved to create. Even more fascinating is the Author's Note in the back that gives even more information about Bill Finger and the research involved in publishing this book--the only book EVER that focuses on him.

I am excited to share this book with kids for lots of reasons. First of all, it is a great story and with so many comics/graphic novels fans, I am sure I will have kids who will be instantly interested in the topic. But it is also the story of writing and creating--how and where ideas come from and how storytelling is often collaborative.  The story is also a great example of someone who made a big difference in the world even though he was not famous. I worry about fame and our typical use of biographies. I want my students to know that there are many ways that people make the world a better place and you don't have to be famous to make a difference. And finally, the research involved in finding the story of Bill Finger life and the outcome of the research is worth sharing with students.  Research isn't so easy and it certainly is not the book research that kids often think of when we say the word research. Nobleman makes much of his research process public and that will be great for kids.

I totally enjoyed this book for lots of reasons. One of my favorite nonfiction books of the year for sure!

Jon Klassen Blog Tour #TeamFish

So, most people who read this blog know that Jon Klassen's I Want My Hat Back (E. B. White Read-Aloud Award. Picture Books) is one of my favorite books of the year. Actually, it is one of my favorite books of all time.  I love the book. It made my list of Books I Could Read a Million Times. It makes me smile every single time I read it and I love to find a person who has not heard of it so I can hand it to them and watch them read it.  Really, one that I would take to a desert island if I could only take a few favorite books. And really, who could tire of the book trailer? 

I had no idea how much I would love this book when I first mentioned it at the end of this post about upcoming books.  

And since that first mention, I have reviewed it, I Want My Hat Back, revisited it in a post called I Want My Hat Back, Revisited and decided to write my own persuasive essay on this year's 10 for 10 Picture Book Event:  10 Books in Which Characters Are Eaten. And thanks to some VERY GOOD FRIENDS, I have my own red hat and a set of Christmas ornaments of bear and rabbit. #teambear

So, you can imagine how happy I was when I heard that Jon Klassen had written ANOTHER book about hats, This Is Not My Hat .  I had no idea what to expect but I knew I would love it (and I do!). And, imagine how thrilled I was to be invited to be part of the blog tour and to interview Jon Klassen about his work.  Not only did I get to ask Jon some questions, I got an advanced copy of the new book and I loved it, loved it, loved it!

Now that you know you have to have both of these books -- for yourself and as gifts for everyone you know, here is what Jon Klassen has to say about his new book, hats, and his upcoming work:

Franki:  Did the idea for THIS IS NOT MY HAT come before or after the publication and response to I WANT MY HAT BACK?

Jon:  The idea came after the publication, and after it had already gotten a little bit of traction. I had wanted to get an idea sooner, just because you do worry that whatever the response is, it will affect how you work on the next one, but I had to get through some stories that didn't work before this one showed up.

Franki:  As a huge fan of I WANT MY HAT BACK, I was worried I’d be disappointed with the new book, but I loved it just as much!   What was your hope for this new book? What were you trying to give to readers?

Jon:  Thank you! It was tricky, because we didn't mind the idea of doing something that fit in with the previous book, but we wanted it to stand on it's own for people who hadn't seen I Want My Hat Back. I think more than anything that was the main goal. Also just personally I wanted something I was going to be interested in working on for its own reasons. I do like that, taken together, the two books sort of make the hat an abstract thing that just gets the story going. It's neat to just drop a hat on a character and suddenly there's implications to that.

Franki:  We get to know your characters so well in your books, even though they don’t always say much.  What’s the trick for that? Do you feel that it is the illustrations that let us know your characters or is it something else?

Jon:  I think there's something to making a character very simple-looking and calm and then giving that a lot of context. Someone looking sort of blank and calm can be a boring picture, but then if you say "this person just found out he's very sick," you start pouring all you know about what that would feel like onto him, and it becomes really personal and you're using your own experiences to make up for what he's not giving you visually. There are some decisions to be made on the illustration side about eye direction and things like that, but they are mostly symbolic. If a character looks behind him because he is guilty of something, you can't draw a guilty eye, at least I can't, but you can say that he's guilty, and then you look at the eye again and think "yeah, that is one guilty-looking eye."

Franki:  So, you write a lot about hats. Do you wear hats? Have you ever had problems with other people wanting to wear your hat?

Jon:  I do wear a baseball hat a lot. I wear it so much that it doesn't really appeal to people to want to wear my hat themselves. But as a kid, there aren't many things that get to you faster than someone taking your hat off of you. Maybe it's embarrassing because it sort of necessitates them being taller to actually get at the hat? I don't know.

Franki:  So, are you #teamrabbit or #teambear?

Jon:  I have to say, I was surprised to see those teams spring up. Not only because it's flattering, but because I'm not sure how you pick them. When I've talked to people who didn't think the book was great for kids because of how it ends, I've tried to make the case that, if the story has a point at all, it exists outside the characters themselves and what they might be aware of, and that it's up to the audience to take what happened as a whole and put it together. But I guess if I was made to choose, I'd choose the bear because, as far as I can see, the rabbit does nothing redeeming.

Franki:  Will we see the bear from I WANT MY HAT BACK in any future books?  His fans miss him and would love to see him star in another story.

Jon:  I don't have anything against him coming back if there's a good book for him to be in!

Franki:  What’s next for you? For those of us who are anxiously awaiting your next book already, can you tell us anything about it?

Jon:  So far all I've got are animals staring at each other. 

If  you haven't had time to stop by the blogs on the rest of Jon Klassen's blog tour, take time to do so. You will learn some very important things!

Mon, Oct 8: Playing by the Book 

Tues, Oct 9: 100 Scope Notes 

Wed, Oct 10: My Best Friends Are Books 

Thurs, Oct 11: Elizabeth O. Dulemba 

Fri, Oct 12: Wahm-Bam 

Mon, Oct 15: Lost in the Library 

Tues, Oct 16: My Little Bookcase 

Wed, Oct. 17: A Year of Reading

IT'S A TIGER!

I was thrilled when I found a review copy of IT'S A TIGER in my mailbox from Chronicle Books. The book is written by David LaRochelle and illustrated by Jeremy Tankard. I immediately recognized Tankard's illustrations as he is an illustrator whose work I love (Me Hungry!).

This is a fun book that would make a great read aloud, especially for primary students. In the spirit of WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT, the narrator takes us through a jungle. We don't go looking for a tiger, but soon into the journey, readers spot a one and must run from it.  Readers are instructed to follow the narrator past vines, up a ladder, and onto an island in order to escape the tiger.  But at every turn, the tiger seems to appear.

This book is due to be released in August.  Right in time for the beginning of the school year!  Young readers will love the surprise and the predictability of this book. The illustrations make it an enjoyable kind of scary and the ending is a treat.  Definitely a great read aloud for primary classrooms. Kids will be dying to join in this journey!

Go, Go, Grapes!

Go, Go, Grapes! A Fruit Chant

by April Pulley Sayre

Beach Lane Books, 2012

I said it last year when I reviewed Rah, Rah, Radishes!, and I'll say it again this year: April Pulley Sayre is the queen of chants!

She's chanting to the choir with both of these books, but a quick peek at my counter and refrigerator will show that I don't need ANY convincing on the subject of fruit! (How on earth am I going to eat a pint of blueberries, 2 mangoes, a pineapple and a bag of bing cherries before I leave on Friday?!?!)

As with Rah, Rah, Radishes!, Go, Go, Grapes! features vivid photos from farmer's markets and groceries around Ohio and Indiana, along with some guest appearances from a Vietnamese farmer's market in New Orleans for some of the most exotic fruits.

Word study? Check out these JUICY words!

Science? Use this book with your plant unit!

Writing workshop? Go gather up a collection of words on a topic and try writing your own chant!

WUMBERS by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

I was thrilled to receive a review copy of WUMBERS from Chronicle Books. I am a huge Amy Krouse Rosenthal fan and love the fun that she has with words. The heading of the press release says, "GR8 NEW BOOK IS 1DERFULLY SILLY".  The entire book is told using numbers as parts of words as in the press release heading.  Each page sets the scene and the words and numbers work together to tell the story.  Reading the book feels like solving a riddle and I can see kids having a great time playing with this kind of writing once they read this book.  The author/illustrator team say that the book was inspired by William Steig's C D B! book so it would be fun to pair these. This seems like a great time for a book like this because kids see so much of this kind of word play in their lives with texting, Twitter, etc.

One of my favorite parts of this book are the endpages. There are several talking bubbles with questions for readers using numbers/words to ask the questions. For example, one of my favorites is, "Are you usually prompt or do you 10d 2 be l8 and keep others w8ing?"  Even the dedication, the author bios and the title page include fun with word/number combinations!

I love the whole idea of this book and can't wait to share it with kids. I'll keep it with my word play books but I think it will be a good one to use early in the school year when we are learning about keeping a writer's notebook. Playing with words like this is a fun thing that I think lots of kids might want to try if given the invitation.  It will be fun to see what they come up with!

EGGS 1-2-3 by Janet Halfmann

I love when I find a great new nonfiction picture book that is perfect for young children. EGGS 1-2-3: WHO WILL THE BABIES BE? is my new favorite find in this category.  This lift-the-flap book is by Janet Halfmann.

This book is not only a nonfiction book--it has great, poetic language and it is also a counting book!  Each two-page spread gives readers a little question about eggs in the illustration. For example "Four eggs, of sky blue, in a nest of grass and mud on a branch in a backyard.  Who will the babies be?" When you lift the flap, you read, "4 robin chicks, with beaks open wide, begging for juicy worms.

The book goes from 1-10 with a fun last page of more counting. I like this book because it weaves in just the right amount of information about the eggs and the babies that hatch from them.  I love it for young readers and I also love it as a mentor for writing--a great format for nonfiction writers with information shared using great language.

GREEN by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (**gush alert**)

Green
by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Roaring Brook Press, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

If it's by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, I know I'm going to be surprised and amazed. This book takes surprise and amazement to a whole new level.

GREEN is an homage to the color green, to all of its shades and hues. Each spread is a painting that goes with the text, and each page has one or more cut-outs that include color from the next spread. The text seems to be a simple rhyming list, but as one who has worked really hard on the endings of my poems, I so admire the fact that her text is far from "simple" and her ending...perfect.

I read GREEN the first time for the language, barely noticing Seeger's signature cut-outs. I got to the end and said (aloud, to myself, in the still-sleeping house), "Wow."

Then I read it again and noticed the cut-outs. How the art in THIS page links magically to the art in the NEXT page. One page turn that makes me absolutely shake my head in wonder: The cut-out that describes the green of the jungle where the tiger is hiding says "Jungle" beside the text "green," but when you turn the page, the word "Jungle" disappears into the background of the salamander and the word "khaki" appears in the cut-out...wait a minute...that means the word khaki was hiding somewhere back in the tiger picture!!!

I read it a third time with my fingers. Finding every cut-out. Exploring what the exposed color means in this picture, turning the page and exploring what the color means in the next picture, and going back again.

This book is astonishingly, amazingly, delightfully BEAUTIFUL in every way.

I hesitate to even give you a link to the book trailer. It shows you the WHOLE book. I want you to hold the book in your hands and experience the surprises in the tactile way that only the real live book provides. But if you must...it's here.

CHOPSTICKS X 2!

What are the chances that I buy two books titled CHOPSTICKS on the same day?

CHOPSTICKS is a new book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Last year, when Amy visited our school, SPOON was a big favorite. Kids loved it!  Amy mentioned this companion book when she visited and it has been a long wait. (but well worth it!)  I picked up CHOPSTICKS at Cover to Cover this week.  It is a book full of fun. The story is about a pair of chopsticks who do everything together.  But then something happens and they have to separate a bit and explore the world on their own.  As with all of Rosenthal's book, there is lots of fun and subtle word play. For example, on the top corner of the cover, Spoon says, "Not exactly a sequel to SPOON. More like a change in place setting." Lots of other fun words spread throughout. Scott Magoon has done the illustrations for this one too so it is a great companion to SPOON. (And Spoon does make a few guest appearances:-)

This is a great story with a good message about friendship and life:-)

The other CHOPSTICKS I bought was a young adult novel. It is by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral.   I've read it once but need to reread it.  It is fascinating to me.  It not only looks like an amazing story, but the format is new and different. The story is told through photos and news articles and text messages and letters and more. It is different from any book I've ever seen and I am anxious for both the story and the experience of reading something in such a unique format.  There is also an app that is available which is another way to experience the books. The Youtube videos, etc. are embedded in the app. This was one of those books I have to reread.  I read reviews and saw some new insights and once I revisited a bit, I can see some new things. I am all about reading books with new formats so we understand what it is our kids are reading and what is possible, and that's why I picked this one up. But I loved the story and I loved Glory, the piano prodigy--the main character in the book.




You can see the trailer here:

Superhero Joe

Superhero Joe

written by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman

drawn by Ron Barrett

Simon & Schuster, 2011

review copy provided by the publisher

I could use a superhero in my life about now. Someone who could tame the piles of books and papers on (and around) my desks at school and home, someone who would organize the junk drawer in the kitchen. Someone who could pull hard enough on the spin of the earth to slow it down and make more hours in the day.

I need Superhero Joe.

Superhero Joe learned from comic book heroes how to face his fears. That's why he has a cape of confidence, a shield of invincibility, a torch of radiance, a helmet of invisibility and super gravity-defying boots.

Joe's parents are in peril, but when they plead for his help, he is able to don his superhero apparel and brave the darkness and monsters of the basement to fetch the Staff of Power (aka mop).

This picture book with graphic novel formatting/structures might inspire young comic artists to give Superhero Joe some new adventures and rescues.