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Tiny Little Fly by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Kevin Waldron

British Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen has created another delight of a picture book.  Readers follow the adventures of Tiny Little Fly as he buzzes past some impressive animals.  Great Big Elephant tries to catch the fly, but even with all of his tramping and crushing, the fly flies away.  When Tiny Little Fly lands on Great Big Hippo’s ear, the hippo tries to catch him by rolling and squashing.  But the fly flies away.  Even Great Big Tiger, who swoops and snatches at the fly with his pay cannot catch the fly.  Told in a wonderful rhyme with plenty of noise and fun, this book will be right at home in any toddler story time.

Rosen’s verse here is filled with a sense of fun and playfulness.  The repetition in the book gives it a wonderful pace and gait that is a pleasure to read aloud.  Each large animal takes two winks at the fly, then tries in their own way to catch it with plenty of ruckus.  Thanks to the simplicity of the story and the attraction of the large animals, I can see this being made into a felt board story very easily.  It would also convert well into a little play acting with parents or teachers.

Waldron’s illustrations are simple but sophisticated.  They have a mix of timelessness and modernism that is charming.  His use of a natural-feeling background rather than stark white makes for a warm feel throughout the book.  Waldron combines several techniques in these illustrations from ink drawings to paint.  For reading aloud to a group, Waldron’s illustrations work well thanks to their large size.  Additionally, he allows children to guess what the next large animal will be, adding to the pleasure of sharing the book aloud. 

An ideal story time pick, get this one for any insect, tiger, elephant or hippo story time you are planning.  Heck, it’s good enough to use time and again for any reason at all.  A guaranteed hit with the toddler and preschool set.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Can I Play Too? by Mo Willems

If you are ever looking for a picture book or easy reader sure to pull a child in and get them adoring books, pull any of Mo Willems books off the shelf.  His Elephant and Piggie series is so simple, yet profound and funny.  This latest book in the series is one of the best in the bunch.  Here we see Elephant, the careful and more serious character, and Piggie, who is loud and enthusiastic.  The two of them are best friends, which alone has led to some great books.  Add Snake who wants to join them in playing ball.  Of course, that’s a problem because Snake can’t really catch since he doesn’t have arms.  But that doesn’t mean he can’t try and it certainly doesn’t mean that Piggie can’t figure out a solution that will have them all playing together.

Willems is the master of brevity, capturing entire scenes in a few words and his simple illustrations.  His book are perfection for early readers but also make great read alouds thanks to his skill in writing.  His characters are beautifully drawn, offering so much in so few words and images.  It is magic on a page.

In this book, Willem’s natural humor comes pouring forth into a vaudeville-like scene that will have children laughing aloud, guffawing even.  It is a special easy reader that will have my teenage son crowding us on the couch to be able to see.  But then, all he needed to hear was that it was a Mo Willems book and it was funny. 

Guaranteed success between two covers, this book is laugh-out-loud funny, wry and as always with Willems, big hearted.  Appropriate for ages 3-6 and the occasional thirteen-year-old.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by:

• Alison’s Book Marks
• Creative Literacy

Kelleys Island, 2 miles off the coast of the Marblehead peninsula, in Lake Erie's western basin, features the Kelley Island Circus every year. Thia little ferry boat shuttles the animals over to the Island and the kids on the dock wave and release balloons as the ferry approaches. Lottsa fun for the kids. (We did, however, take a little artistic license by taking them out of their cratesfor the

This is a late-edition Sunday 'extra' Elephant Parade to celebrate the summeriness of today... but don't miss out on Adele's marvellous Quilt blog from Saturday 22nd May.

Julie Morstad and her brother, Paul Morstad, teamed up for the fantastic animation on this video for Neko Case's "People Got a Lotta Nerve."



I especially love the elephants, maybe because I've just finished reading Kate de Camillo's The Magician's Elephant which was almost inexpressibly lovely.

And if you don't believe me, you can go and read an excerpt here. I used the opening of this novel as an example for my YA students the other day because it so beautifully and economically does exactly what it needs to do. Illustrations for the book are courtesy of Yoko Tanaka and are very lovely, but I would really like to see Julie and Kate Di Camillo work together one of these days.

The prompt for Illustration Friday this week is, “music.” I remembered a small elephant sketch I did a long time ago (I think it was with a crayon on a paper table cloth at a restaurant). I found the original sketch, which was okay, but I felt it needed a bit more. Here’s the sketch:

Original Trumpeting Elephant Sketch

Here’s my updated version (note – it looks small compared to the original sketch, but it’s actually 22″ long!):

Trumpeting Elephants

I had so much fun doing this and I like how it turned out. I’m going to put it in my portfolio the next time I update it.