Category: Uncategorized

Posted in picture books, Uncategorized

Tyrone O’Saurus dreams of dancing!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Tyrone O’Saurus Dreams, by James Howe/Illustrated by Randy Cecil, (March 2021, Candlewick Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781536210873

Ages 4-8

The companion to James Howe and Randy Cecil’s 2013 Brontorina is here! Tyrone is a T-Rex with big dreams. Dreams of becoming a dancer. But everyone else in his family has dreams for Tyrone, too: a dentist? A lawyer? A professional football player in the Dinosaur Football League? None of these are even close to what Tyrone wants to do with his life, but he doesn’t want to let anyone down, so he tries his hand… er, his small, arms… at football. As much as his brother tries to encourage him, it’s just not working. Luckily for Tyrone,a chance encounter with a dancing dinosaur gives him the courage to admit that his heart (and those tiny arms) are just not in football. His brother is right there with support: a dancer he wants to be, so a dancer he will be! He brings Tyrone to Madame Lucille’s Outdoor Dance Academy for Girls and Boys and Dinosaurs and Cows, where he sees Brontorina – the dino he met earlier – and is welcomed into the dance academy with open arms. James Howe and Randy Cecil inspire readers to defy expectations and chase their dreams. A scene in the gym where Brontorina tells Tyrone that she’s working out to be a better dancer reminds readers that not everything is as easy as it may seem on the outside, and reinforces that hard work and a love of what you do help one succeed. The adorable contrast between the giant dinos and the tiny humans will tickle readers’ funny bones, and dappled artwork gives texture to the pages. It’s been a wonderful return to Madame Lucille’s… I wonder if she’ll be accepting any more students?

Downloadable Teacher Tips at publisher Candlewick’s website give teachers talking points and activity ideas. Author James Howe’s website has a wealth of information for parents, caregivers, and educators, as does illustrator Randy Cecil’s website.

Posted in Early Reader, Uncategorized

Women to Know: The Statue of Liberty – Let Liberty Rise!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Let Liberty Rise! How America’s Schoolchildren Helped Save the Statue of Liberty, by Chana Stiefel/Illustrated by Chuck Groenink, (March 2021, Scholastic Press), $18.99, ISBN: 9781338225884

Ages 5-9

The Statue of Liberty is an American icon now, but back when she was first gifted to the U.S. from France, things were quite different. America needed to build a pedestal in order to hold up all 350 pieces of Lady Liberty, once she was assembled, but money was tight and the American people weren’t happy about ponying up the cash for it. Newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer caught wind of Lady Liberty’s dilemma, and used his newspaper, the New York World, to make an Americans an offer they couldn’t refuse: every donor to the pedestal fund would get their name printed in The World. Every. One. Donations began pouring in, many from schoolchildren who took up collections, saved candy money, and found ways to put aside a penny, a nickel, or more. On August 11, 1885, The World‘s headline announced that 120,000 donors raised $100,000, and the pedestal was built, allowing Lady Liberty to be freed from her crates and put together, in New York Harbor, where she stands today. Chana Steifel is straightforward yet fun in her storytelling, concentrating on how Americans – particularly schoolchildren – came together in a joint effort to accept France’s gift in style. Chuck Groenink’s light-hearted illustrations are show groups of children gathered together alongside quotes from actual letters received with donations; he makes Lady Liberty resplendent in her shining bronze glory. Comprehensive back matter includes a Statue of Liberty timeline, facts about the Statue, a bibliography, and photos from Lady Liberty’s construction. A necessary inclusion to your history collections!

Let Liberty Rise! has a starred review from School Library Journal. Chana Stiefel has a free curriculum guide available on her author webpage.

Posted in Uncategorized

Women to Know: Dovey Johnson Roundtree

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

We Wait for the Sun by Dovey Johnson Roundtree & Katie McCabe/Illustrated by Raissa Figueroa, (Feb. 2021, Roaring Brook Press), $18.99, ISBN: 9781250229021

Ages 4-8

A young girl and her grandmother enjoy each other’s company in the time before dawn. Civil rights activist, attorney, veteran, and minister Dovey Johnson Roundtree collaborated with author Kate McCabe on this, a favorite childhood memory, before her death in 2018 at age 104. We Wait for the Sun is a moment in time between child and grandparent, engaging every sense through Ms. Roundtree’s, Ms. McCabe’s and enjoying each other’s company in the early hours before dawn. Every sense is engaged: readers will hear the swish of Dovey’s grandmother’s skirts; smell the damp earth and feel the dewy air; hear the perfect, pre-dawn silence with the sounds of nature as a backdrop, and taste the explosion of berries on their tongues and Dovey samples the berries she, her grandmother, and her grandmother’s friends pick them together. Raissa Figueroa’s artwork is lush, splendid, filled with joy in the present and anticipation of the dawn. Endpapers show juicy blackberries in the pre-dawn darkness, moving toward the sunlight, in four gorgeous panels. Comprehensive back matter includes a note from Katie McCabe on the importance of Dovey Johnson Roundtree’s relationship with her grandmother, biographies on both Dovey Johnson Roundtree and her grandmother, a timeline of her life, and a bibliography.

We Wait for the Sun has starred reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus, and Publisher’s Weekly.

Posted in Uncategorized

The Wrong Fairy Tale is a side-splitting new fractured fairy tales series!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Jack and the Three Bears (The Wrong Fairy Tale), by Tracey Turner/Illustrated by Summer Macon, (Jan. 2021, Kane Miller), $12.99, ISBN: 978-1-68464-161-1

Ages 4-7

Once upon a time, in the Land of Fairy Tales, three bears go out for a walk while they wait for their porridge to cool down. But there’s a giant beanstalk outside, and Baby Bear scampers up to explore! He discovers a castle, and a little boy named Jack, making off with a hen that lays golden eggs and is on the run from a mean giant… but WAIT! The Bears are in THE WRONG FAIRY TALE! Can Jack and the Bears elude the giant, keep the hen, and save themselves, or are they all destined to be Giant Food? Kids will love this new twisted take on two favorite fairy tales – invite them to point out what’s wrong when you start reading! The artwork is loaded with fun little details: the giant’s kitchen has a full shelf of cookbooks, and he’s got some cookies and muffins in the oven, which makes you wonder, when you consider what he normally uses for flour. It turns out, Mama Bear is pretty good with a chainsaw, too. A hoot to read with your fairy tale fans – if you have fans of Josh Funk’s “It’s Not…” series, they’ll love this new series.

 

Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs (The Wrong Fairy Tale), by Tracey Turner/Illustrated by Summer Macon, (Jan. 2021, Kane Miller), $12.99, ISBN: 978-1-68464-160-4

Ages 4-7

So we just read about the three bears, but where was Goldilocks? Glad you asked! In this adventure, Goldilocks – a cute little blonde girl with wild ponytails and a bear sweater dress and leggings – spots a brick house with a sign out front that says, “Notice to Wolves: GO AWAY”. Well, not being a wolf, she decides to pop in and say hello, and that’s how she meets the Three Pigs, who are hiding in a cupboard from who they think is a wolf. As she digs into the porridge they have out on the table, the three pigs put their heads together and realize that Goldilocks is IN THE WRONG FAIRY TALE – just as the Big Bad Wolf shows up! Well, he can’t blow the brick house down, but he’s going to try and come down that chimney, so Goldilocks grabs some straw left over from one of the other pig’s homes, and uses it to start a fire in the fireplace. Day saved! Cartoony, colorful artwork and frenetically paced storytelling make this too much fun to read, and more fun to listen to. Fractured fairy tales fans will love this.

Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs has a starred review from Kirkus.

Posted in Middle Grade, Non-fiction, picture books, Tween Reads, Uncategorized

Great Rivers of the World teaches geography, history, and culture

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Great Rivers of the World, by Volker Mehnert/Illustrated by Martin Haake, (March 2023, Prestel Junior), $19.95, ISBN: 9783791374703

Ages 8-12

A companion to Prestel Publishing’s Great Ports of the World (2018) and Great Streets of the World (2019), Great Rivers of the World is a picture book tour of 18 of the world’s greatest rivers, from the Danube in Germany, to China’s Yangtze River, to the Egyptian Nile. Beautiful full-color spreads combined with informative facts about the rivers, with special attention to conservation efforts: the rain forests of the Congo, for  instance, are threatened due to environmental encroachment, mining of natural resources, and hunters. A foldout section on the Nile River discusses the environmental impact the citizens of Egypt face by polluting their river. There are great historical facts that would flesh out geographical and historical reports. A great additional nonfiction resource!

Posted in Uncategorized

Hats, Hats, Hats!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Now That’s a Hat!, by Heath McKenzie, (Jan. 2021, Kane Miller), $12.99, ISBN: 9781684642212

Ages 3-6

A customer strolls into a hat store and would like a new hat. But that one’s too big, and that one’s too small… the proprietor is showing off everything he’s got, will they be able to find the just right hat? Hilariously manic, with a rhyme scheme that gets progressively more frantic with each outrageous hat. The story is almost Seuss-like, with a dog and a goat going back and forth on presenting and refusing the wild headgear: stripes, Roman helmets, potties, tacos, nothing is too wild for this hat store! The twist ending will make readers gleefully giggle as they imagine events happening all over again. Artwork and endpapers are bright, bold, and feature hats of all shapes and sizes. A fun readaloud that should definitely lead to silly hat making. Get your construction paper out!

Posted in Uncategorized

Books about love for Valentine’s Day

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Ah, love is in the air. Just keep it masked, socially distant, and send Valentines. And read these books.

 

See, Touch, Feel: Love, by Roger Priddy, (Nov. 2020, Priddy Books), $7.99, ISBN: 9781684490820

Ages 0-3

This adorable Priddy book is a perfectly snuggle-able book for Valentine’s Day and beyond! Photos of snuggly babies, puppies and kittens pair with illustrations and artwork for a rhyming story of love. Textures bring the pages to life, and the handprint artwork is a great inspiration for little Kiddos: make your own flamingos and elephants, or fingerpaint your own shooting star! Read, snuggle, and repeat.

Visit the Priddy Books downloads webpage for printable pictures, puzzles, and early learning resources.

 

The Boy Who Loved Everyone by Jane Porter/Illustrated by Maisie Paradise Shearring, (Jan. 2021, Candlewick Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9781536211238

Ages 3-6

Preschooler Dimitri has a lot of love to give. “I love you”, he tells his friends at preschool. “I love you”, he tells the trees, ants, class guinea pig, paintbrushes, cafeteria lady, and his teacher. He even tells the old man on the park bench that he loves him, but no one tells him they love him back, which hurts his feelings until his mother tells him that people have different ways of showing how they feel: the man on the park bench feeds stray cats, for instance. When he sees his friends the next day, his kindness is returned by his friends and his teacher, who tells the whole class that she loves them. A tender story that will resonate with sensitive and emotional children, The Boy Who Loved Everyone is a solid addition to socio-emotional learning books. Mixed media artwork shows a group of children with different shades of skin color; colors are vibrant and warm.

The Boy Who Loved Everyone has a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

Posted in Uncategorized

Another post about Bears…

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

(It’s a joke, based on one of the book’s titles. Keep reading.)

Who loves bears? We love bears! Teddy bears, polar bears, brown bears brown bears, bears are children’s book gold. I’ve got three books about bears to crow about today, so let’s start with the inspiration for this post’s title.

Another book about bears., by Laura & Philip Bunting, (Jan. 2020, Kane Miller), $14.99, ISBN: 978-1-68464-084-3

Ages 3-7

I love a story that breaks the fourth wall! Have you ever thought about how many books there are about bears? Did you ever consider that every time a bear stars in a story, that bear may have been in the middle of something “really good – like sleeping, or snoozing, or napping”? Well, the bears have had it and are going on strike! This hilarious book is all about one bear’s fight for justice. The omniscient narrator tries their best to nudge the bear into compliance in a silly series of moments like dressing it up in a tutu or suggesting the bear kiss a frog, but Bear stands firm, even calling up other animals to serve as a proper stand in. Kids will laugh out loud at the deadpan humor, and the ultimate solution that works for everyone is priceless. Originally published in Australia in 2018, Another book about bears is storytime hilarity just waiting to be revealed.

Visit Philip Bunting’s webpage for free, fun downloadables for kids, too!

 

A Polar Bear in the Snow, by Mac Barnett/Illustrated by Shawn Harris, (Oct. 2020, Candlewick Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781536203967

Ages 3-6

Gorgeous cut paper and ink artwork presents a polar bear’s meandering through a brilliant white world and a deep blue sea. A polar bear wakes up in the snow and begins walking… but where is he going? What does he want? Award-winning author and illustrator Mac Barnett builds curiosity and excitement as readers follow the bear past seals, through a storm, and as he rebuffs a human in a very polar bearlike fashion, to end up at his destination. Shawn Harris’s illustrations give such texture and motion, layering shades of white upon white and blue upon blue, giving us a feeling of purpose and joy. Simple sentences and facts about polar bears (he clearly eats seals, but he’s not hungry right now; his coat protects him from the snowstorm; he likes to swim) are a wonderful introduction to young readers about the natural science of bears and the Arctic. A final question leaves much open to discussion. There’s so much presented in this book, so beautifully, and respects its youngest readers in its presentation. Teacher Tips are downloadable from Candlewick’s website.

A Polar Bear in the Snow has starred reviews from Kirkus, School Library Journal, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly.

 

Can Bears Ski?, by Raymond Antrobus/Illustrated by Polly Dunbar, (Nov. 2020, Candlewick Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9781536212662

Ages 3-7

Little Bear can feel the world around him – all its rumbles and shakes, trembles and wobbles – but hearing his world is a little more difficult. He doesn’t hear things clearly, and thinks he hears everyone asking him, “Do bears ski?” Dad takes him to an audiologist one day, and is fitted for hearing aids that make his world way too LOUD. He resists them at first, hiding them around the house, but with his dad’s love and support, he understands that it’s just something new to get used to – and he also learns that everyone has been asking him not whether or not bears can ski, but “Can you hear me?” A touching story about self-discovery, Can Bears Ski? is essential for bookshelves and can start many conversations with children. Author Raymond Antrobus is a Ted Hughes award-winning deaf poet and teacher who wrote Can Bears Ski because “It’s the book I could see myself reaching for as a child, and I can’t wait to have it exist in the world.” Colorful ink and paint artwork made this a gentle, comforting story about a big topic. The CDC’s Kids Quest webpage has helpful facts for kids on hearing loss.