Category: picture books

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Mr. Watson’s Chickens is shooby-doo, wonky-pow, bawka-bawka in da chow-chow!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Mr. Watson’s Chickens, by Jarrett Dapier/Illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi, (Oct. 2021, Chronicle Books), $17.99, ISBN: 9781452177144

Ages 3-6

Mr. Watson and Mr. Nelson are a happy couple who share their lives and their home with a couple of dogs, a few cats, and a handful of chickens. But Mr. Watson just loves his chickens so much, and acquires more and more, until he’s got 456 chickens! The chickens are everywhere and into everything, and one chicken, Aunt Agnes, has a habit of making up her own song that she sings all the time. Mr. Nelson loves Mr. Watson, but something has to give. Mr. Watson loves his chickens, but he loves Mr. Nelson more, so together, they decide to give the chickens away to loving homes at the county fair… but the chickens escape, and chaotic hilarity ensues! An hilarious Where’s Waldo-type spread invites kids to help find a missing chicken, and Aunt Agnes’s favorite song makes for an extra-fun interactive readaloud. Mr. Watson’s Chickens features an LGBTQ+ couple in a sweet story of love and chickens, and a richy diverse cast of characters throughout the story. Perfect for storytime reading, with a fun chick and egg peekaboo craft for after the story’s done.

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Awake… when creepy crawlies aren’t SO creepy

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Awake, by Mags DeRoma, (Oct. 2021, Roaring Brook Press), $18.99, ISBN: 9781250753199

Ages 4-8

A little girl gets ready for bed at night. She and her pup are so very sleepy… until she spies a SPIDER in her room! GAH! Stricken with fear, she goes on the offensive, her imagination going wild with thoughts of giant, spider-removing devices and huge spiders coming for retribution. When she finally traps the spider under a glass, she realizes that the spider? It’s rather itsy-bitsy after all. And it looks pretty terrified. Putting herself in the spider’s shoes, she realizes that the spider isn’t here to rain havoc down on her and her dog; it probably just wants to get back home, or make a home in a warm, comfortable spot. Author Mags DeRoma says that Awake is about coming face-to-face with ‘otherness'”; an idea more of our children (and adults, quite frankly) should sit down and take a minute to think about. When something – or someone – appears that isn’t within our usual realm of understanding or experience, we often react with fear and aggression. If we take a moment to put ourselves in someone else’s position, to see the world through another’s eyes, we may – like the little girl in Awake – rethink our initial, knee-jerk reactions. Awake is also about facing one’s fears and growing from the experience. The cut paper artwork gives depth and texture to the story, with fun details and character expressions, and gorgeous cityscapes, including a gatefold that brings home the true size of the little spider compared to the sprawling city outside the girl’s window. Endpapers bring the reader in, with heartwarming messages like “open eyes, open mind, open heart, to be awake”, and instructions on relocating a “surprise guest”.

This is Mags DeRoma’s debut picture book, and I’m excited to see where else she will bring us in the future. Visit her webpage for more artwork and a look at other books she’s illustrated. Add Awake to your social-emotional learning collections, and consider displaying with Jacob Grant’s Bear’s Scare and Bear Out There, and Bethany Barton’s I’m Trying to Love Spiders.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Blog Tour and Giveaway! A Home Again by Colleen Rowan Kosinski and Valeria Docampo

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

A Home Again, by Colleen Rowan Kosinski/Illustrated by Valeria Docampo, (Nov. 2021, Two Lions), $17.99, ISBN: 9781542007207

Ages 4-8

This book will tug at those heartstrings in the most delightful of ways. A home excitedly waits for its new family to arrive, and enjoys the warm, loving presence a growing family brings to its walls. But one day, the family packs up, waves goodbye, and… leaves. Devastated and confused, the home refuses to let anyone else look at it, swelling its doors shut, rattling its shingles, and creaking its stairs. Love always wins, though, and one day, two men manage to break through Home’s protective shell and start a life there. Afraid to love again, Home quietly observes at first; as the two set about making the house a Home once again, it warms to the thought of housing a family again. Told from the Home’s point of view, A Home Again captures the wonderful feeling that make us think of home: the smells, the sounds of a growing family as pitter patters become stomps and clomps; the comfort of having everyone existing in the same space. What we don’t think of, and what A Home Again shows us, is that our homes become part of our family; we breathe life into our homes by living, loving, and being within, infusing every wall, every floorboard, with laughter, tears, love… just everything. I love that this sweet story also illustrates that anyone can be a family.

Warm illustration invites readers into Home’s happiest moments. When left alone, the colors grow cool, even dark, until we see Home’s newest family arrive on the scene. Even empty, we know that Home is considering these two gentlemen; a lone chair is bathed in the warm sunlight coming in through a window, casting a long shadow behind it. One gentleman holds flowers, ostensibly from the area around the Home, seen through a window as the other kneels in the doorway, looking in, as their dog stands with him, surveying their new digs. It’s a spread filled with opportunity and possibility.

I love A Home Again, and you will too. Display with The House of Grass and Sky by Mary Lyn Ray and E. B. Goodale for a similar take on a home that needs a family to bring it to life. This is a great book for social-emotional learning collections, and a great book to read when talking about emotions and feelings, especially for younger learners who are still learning to identify their own feelings and to recognize those feelings in others.

 

The expert use of light and dark creates beautiful, emotional contrasts of warmth and isolation—a wonderful match of both verbal and visual tone…Heartfelt and filled with possible connections for families.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Sleekly rendered acrylic and colored pencil art…casts the house’s interior in rich chiaroscuro…in this familiar narrative of being left behind and learning to love again.” —Publishers Weekly
 
Colleen Rowan Kosinski is the author-illustrator of Lilla’s Sunflowers and A Promise Stitched in Time. She received her BA from Rutgers University in visual art, is an alumna of Philadelphia’s Moore College of Art, and spent many years as a successful freelance fine artist. Colleen calls New Jersey her home and resides there with her family. Learn more at colleenrowankosinski.com.
Instagram: @colleenkosinski
 
Valeria Docampo has a background in fine arts and has also been a teacher. She is the illustrator of many books for publishers around the world, including La Grande Fabrique de Mots, which has been translated into thirty languages. Originally from Argentina, she now makes her home in France with her family. Learn more at valeriadocampo.com.
 
Facebook: Valeria Docampo
Twitter: DocampoValeria
Instagram: @valeriadocampo
 
One lucky winner will receive a copy of A Home Again courtesy of Two Lions (U.S. addresses). Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway!

 

Posted in Non-Fiction, picture books

Simone Biles’ lyrical picture book biography: Flying High

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles, by Michelle Meadows/Illustrated by Ebony Glenn, (Dec. 2020, Henry Holt & Co), $18.99, ISBN: 9781250205667

Ages 4-7

A lot of ink has been spilled and a lot of newstime has been spent on Simone Biles, whose withdrawal from several Olympic events this summer has reopened important conversations about mental health. Simone Biles has started a worldwide conversation on performance pressure and anxiety, and, more importantly, the ability to speak up and own that anxiety.

Michelle Meadows and Ebony Glenn’s late 2020 picture book biography, Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles, touches on some of those moments within the greater story of the champion’s life so far. Told in rhyming verse, the story begins with Ms. Biles and her siblings being adopted by family members, and the moment a rainy day decided her future as a gymnast. It details the rise to her fame, but it also looks at moments like a disappointing defeat when she tried out for the national team: “Crushed by defeat, / she loses her spark. / What will it take / to rise from the dark?” The story doesn’t shy away from her sacrifices, like choosing homeschool over conventional, in-person learning, to make more time for gymnastics, and it returns, time and again, to her incredible drive to succeed. Written before Simone Biles’s Olympics withdrawal, Michelle Meadows had the understanding and the foresight to see and include moments like this in Biles’s story. Ebony Glenn’s digital artwork gives us expressive, photorealistic illustrations of Simone Biles, her family, and her teammates. She beautifully recreates the gymnast’s incredible skill, with Biles twisting, flipping, and landing with grace and style. Her facial expressions communicate volumes, whether it’s her focus, disappointment, worry, or sheer joy. Back matter elaborates on Simone Biles’s early childhood, includes fast facts about the gymnast, and sources for more reading.

Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles has starred reviews from School Library Journal and Shelf Awareness. Visit Simone Biles’s webpage for more information about the champion, and links to her social media. Her page on the US Gymnastics website lists career highlights, and her page on the Team USA website offers more about her Olympics experience.

Posted in picture books

The Over and Under series continues with Over and Under the Canyon

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Over and Under the Canyon, by Kate Messner/Illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal, (Sept. 2021, Chronicle Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9781452169392

Ages 5-8

The fifth book in Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal’s series on the world’s habitats, Over and Under the Canyon explores life in a desert through the eyes of a family on a hike. Mom and child hike through the desert, glimpsing hawks circle, hear stones crunch underfoot, and see any animal life scrambling, seeking relief from the sweltering sun. They squeeze through tight spaces and observe animals hunting for food: a jackrabbit is lucky, a rattlesnake is not. The boy joyfully dances in flowerbeds and marvels at the world around him. Back at camp, the family eats together; as the sun goes down, they hear coyotes howl and glimpse – thanks to mom’s special flashlight – a scorpion making its way through the dark. The son is biracial; his mother is a woman of color, and his father appears white. A lovely, nonintrusive look at both diurnal and nocturnal animals and desert life, the artwork is rich with browns and oranges during the day, cool blues at night. Kate Messner tells a beautiful story, describing the desert evening as a “desert-night lullaby of moonlight and shadows, insect song and stars”. Together, she and Christopher Silas Neal make an outstanding team. Great for early STEM/STEAM collections.

Posted in picture books

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star… Ada and the Galaxies

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Ada and the Galaxies, by Alan Lightman & Olga Pastuchiv/Illustrated by Susanna Chapman, (Sept. 2021, MIT Kids Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781536215618

Ages 4-8

Author and physicist Alan Lightman, together with author Olga Pastuchiv, create a story about stars, galaxies, and the natural world, perfect for stargazers and astronomy fans. Ada is a young girl visiting her grandparents, Ama and Poobah, in Maine. Ada is hoping to see a sky full of stars in Maine, because in New York,  where she lives, too much light pollution keeps her from seeing the night sky in all its beauty. Ama and Poobah take Ada all around, showing her the beautiful nature that Maine offers, but Ada is singularly focused: when will it be dark enough to see the night sky? When nature decides to intervene, Poobah turns to his astronomy books and shows Ada incredible photos of galaxies, all photographed by the Hubble telescope. Fascinated, Ada and Poobah talk about galaxies, space, and what we’re all made of: space stuff. Using watercolor, digital artwork, and actual Hubble telescope photos, Ada and the Galaxies is a breathtaking look at our night skies, a warm story of a little girl enjoying her grandparents, and a story about the incredible wonder of nature. It takes readers from a small moment – finding a crab on a beach – and expands to the size of our universe. A wonderful story about life and everything in it, with lovely illustrations that also wrap readers in the smallest of moments – reading a book with a grandparent – growing it into a story about the night sky, filled with stars, and, ultimately, the universe and its galaxies. There are beautiful details here, like Ada and Poobah sharing a rocketship ride together; the artwork of the rocket appears over a photo of a crab-shaped galaxy, NGC 1300, and a bright red crab adorns the rocket. A word on seeing the night sky informs readers about some of the numbers behind our world, and confirms that the numbers Poobah uses in the book to describe the size and distance of galaxies is scientifically accurate. Read and display with The Stars Just Up the Street by Sue Soltis and Marion Dane Bauer’s The Stuff of Stars.

Ada and the Galaxies has starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus.  Visit the Hubble Telescope website for news, images, and video; you can also follow the Hubble on Twitter and on Instagram for photos and updates. Educator John Williams on Teachers Pay Teachers has Hubble Star Cards, downloadable for free, that you can share with your library and school kids.

Posted in Non-Fiction, picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

A Laura Gehl two-fer!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I love Laura Gehl’s books: from Peep and Egg to One Big Pair of Underwear and beyond, her stories have been hits at my storytimes and they’re just fun to read. Now, I’ve got some nonfiction by Laura Gehl to rave about that’s every bit as fun and unputdownable as her fiction is. Join me!

Odd Beasts: Meet Nature’s Weirdest Animals, by Laura Gehl/Illustrated by Gareth Lucas, (Nov. 2021, Abrams Appleseed), $8.99, ISBN: 9781419742224

Ages 2-4

A very happy book birthday to Odd Beasts! This rhyming board book introduces readers to some of nature’s wildest citizens: an armored pangolin, a frog with see-through skin, and a fish that weighs a ton are just a few of the animals waiting inside. This board book has back matter: two spreads include photos of each animal mentioned, with a brief factual paragraph. The artwork is incredible, offering colorful illustrations of each of the eight animals; they’re the perfect mixture of kid-friendly, expressive illustration and realism, making this a book readers will pick up and enjoy again and again. Sturdy pages hold up to multiple readings and definitely pass the “mom’s bag” test; I carried this one around with me for a couple of weeks. Great for an animal storytime.

Visit Laura Gehl’s author webpage for more info on her books, and great educator/caregiver resources, including coloring sheets for Odd Beasts!

 

Who Is a Scientist?, by Laura Gehl, (Oct. 2021, Millbrook Press), $9.99, ISBN: 9781728441085

Ages 4-9

Scientists are people, too! Who Is a Scientist? humanizes the science providers by providing profiles on 14 different scientists; who they are, what they study and do, and what they like to do when they’re not science-ing. Isha is a meteorologist who studies the weather, and also enjoys dancing, playing volleyball, and eating chocolate. She’s photographed dancing in a flowing red skirt on one page and operating a weather balloon on another. Names appear in bright colors to personalize each scientist, and fun photos like Isha’s show readers that scientists like karate, surfing, cooking, and painting: just like they do. Each descriptive paragraph explains what the scientists study, introducing them to fields like astronomy, neuroscience, and mechanical engineering. The group is diverse, and really encourages kids to see themselves in this book, offering a QR code to learn more about the scientists, and a flow chart to help guide readers to a field of study that may be right for them, based on their own interests. What a great way to inspire the next generation of scientists, right? Who Is a Scientist? makes science playful and fun, like it should be. A guide to phonetic pronunciations at the end of the book help readers learn to pronounce Laura Gehl’s name, and the names of each scientist.

Visit Laura Gehl’s author page for a Who Is a Scientist? educator’s guide.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Uncategorized

Itch the Witch learns about real friends in The Twitchy Witchy Itch

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Twitchy Witchy Itch, by Priscilla Tey, (June 2021, Candlewick Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9780763689810

Ages 4-7

Itch the witch is having friends over to tea, but the worries are tickling her brain: is her house too twitchy? After some whirlwind housecleaning, her friends, Fidget and Glitch arrive, each with their own quirks, but Itch is too worried about her home’s appearance to enjoy herself. She casts another spell to get rid of the fidgets and glitches, only to discover that she’s banished her friends to the closet along with the itches, fidgets, and glitches! A humorous story about what really matters, Twitchy Witchy Itch shows readers – big and little! – that real friends don’t worry about appearances: they just want to spend time together.

Digital and gouache artwork gives feeling to the sensations described in the story: Itch has what looks like curly hair all over the house. As a proud pet mom, I feel Itch’s pain; my home is itchy, too. Fidget the witch appears blurred, in a constant state of fidgeting; she’s technicolor, and spreads her fidgets and colorful world to her surroundings. Glitch looks like a glitchy computer screen, with colorful, geometric smears that remind readers of a buggy video game. Like Fidget, she spreads her glitchiness around, but Itch doesn’t realize that these are her friends, sharing themselves with her; she immediately sees everything as a reflection on her and a need to be perfect. The rhyming text offers great opportunities for readaloud interaction, with knocks and amusingly worded spells for everyone to chant together.

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Let’s get ready for Hanukkah!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

You laugh, sure, but you know, Hanukkah isn’t that far off: it starts on November 28 this year. I’ve got some adorable Hanukkah stories for you here!

The Three Latkes, by Eric A. Kimmel/Illustrated by Feronia Parker-Thomas, (Oct. 2021, Kar-Ben Publishing), $16.99, ISBN: 9781541588912

Ages 3-8

The classic Gingerbread Man story (also an Eric A. Kimmel book!) gets an adorable Hanukkah retelling here as three latkes argue about who is the best latke. Gold Latke is made with golden potatoes and fried in peanut oil; Red Latke is made from red potatoes and fried in vegetable oil, and Yellow Latke is made from yellow potatoes and fried in schmaltz, so he’s got to be the best! No one is budging, so the three latkes ask the cat, Kitty, for her opinion. You can guess what happens, right? Adorable latkes sport little hats (or a headband, in Gold Latke’s case) and accessories, like Yellow Latke’s bow tie and Gold Latke’s gold medal, and have stick figure arms and legs attached to colorful latkes with cheery expressions. The dialogue takes place atop a table set for Hanukkah, with holiday details like a banner running across a fireplace, a menorah, and blue and white table settings. Kitty sports a navy blue bandana with white stars of David on it and is hilariously expressive, with sly smiles, a raised eyebrow, and a hungry tongue licking her chops communicating her intentions to the reader from the very beginning. A recipe for The Very Best Latkes at the end gives readers their choices of potatoes, oils, and toppings – just like the story! – to choose from. An adorable holiday story. Hand out latke coloring pages for readers to bring home and decorate, like this cute one from clker.com and this adorable set of pictures from Hug O’the Day.

Visit Eric Kimmel’s website for more about his books, and to watch recorded videos of him reading some of his books.

 

A Rugrats Chanukah: The Classic Illustrated Storybook, Illustrated by Kim Smith, (Sept. 2021, Quirk Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9781683692867

Ages 4-8

Can you believe the Rugrats Chanukah episode aired 25 years ago? In celebration of that first Chanukah episode of a children’s television series, Quirk’s Pop Classics released the book inspired by the special, A Rugrats Chanukah. We start out on the eighth night o Chanukah, and Grandma Minka is reading a story about the holiday to Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil, and Angelica while Grandpa Boris naps. As Grandma reads the story of Chanukah, the babies imagine themselves as characters in the story, but she doesn’t get to finish – they have to head to the synagogue, where Grandpa is acting in a Chanukah play. The babies misunderstand the “meaning of Chanukah” and think that the actor opposite their grandfather is the “meany of Chanukah”, and take to the stage to help save their Grandpa; meanwhile, all Angelica wants to do is watch her holiday specials!

Whether or not readers have seen the Rugrats Chanukah special, they’ll love the story. The story wraps the Chanukah origin around a classic Rugrats episode, with all the imagination, comedic mishaps, and loving family moments. Those of us who already loved Rugrats (thanks especially to my older kids) will love seeing Tommy dressed as a brave Maccabee, and uttering a take on Tommy’s famous “baby’s gotta do” statement, “A Maccababy’s gotta do what a Maccababy’s gotta do!”; endpapers mimic the opening and closing scenes of the story, just like an episode of the show. Add this to your holiday readaloud list.

 

Hello Hanukkah!, by Susan S. Novich, (Oct. 2021 Kar-Ben Publishing), $7.99, ISBN: 9781728403441

Ages 0-3

An adorable board book that illustrates counting and colors, Hello Hanukkah! shows how young Badger celebrates the holiday every day by doing one activity as he lights the candles. He opens a box of Hanukkah candles and lights one red candle; plays with a dreidel and lights two orange candles; all the way up through the eighth night. It’s Badger has a bird friend present to help him out on every spread, and the two celebrate with a banner and full menorah at the end. A very sweet way to introduce holiday vocabulary and concepts to the littlest learners.

 

Posted in Non-Fiction, picture books

Niki Nakayama’s blends cultures in her chef story

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Niki Nakayama: A Chef’s Tale in 13 Bites, by Jamie Michalak & Debbi Michiko Florence/Illustrated by Yuko Jones, (Sept. 2021, Farrar, Straus & Giroux), $18.99, ISBN: 9780374313876

Ages 4-8

Niki Nakayama, the master chef behind the California restaurant n/Naka, shares her story in this lovely picture book biography from children’s book authors Jamie Michalak, Debbi Michiko Florence, and illustrator Yuko Jones. Beginning with Ms. Nakayama’s childhood in California, the story gives us 13 “bites”: 13 defining moments in the chef’s life, to parallel her 13 course menus at n/naka. The Japanese-American chef developed a love of global cuisine as a child; her mother blended Japanese and American foods and flavors together to make meals like meatloaf with soy sauce, or teriyaki turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. Ms. Nakayama began creating her own recipes as a child, eventually traveling the world to sample cuisines from different cultures. When she returned to the United States, she apprenticed as a sushi chef, ultimately opening her own restaurant, n/naka, where she now creates 13-course tasting “storytelling” menus. Back matter includes a timeline of Niki Nakayama’s life, an explanation of terms used in the story, and the chef’s own childhood wonton pizza recipe. The story flows from moment to moment in the chef’s life, touching on frustrations like having her family dote on her brother, and having her family agree to finance her first restaurant, but agree to give up her dream if it was not successful. Spreads show Nakayama and her family gathering at their own table, and families gathering to eat at n/naka, illustrating the power of community that eating together brings. Spreads show colorful foods from all over the world sprawl across pages, and diners speaking different languages as they enjoy a creative master chef’s food.

You can visit n/naka’s website and see Chef Nakayama’s profile; you can see a promo for her Chef’s Table episode on Netflix below.