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Greenby 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.
Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Paradeby Melissa Sweet
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, on shelves November 1, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher
There's so much to love about BALLOONS OVER BROADWAY for a nonfiction read aloud!
It is a true story that needs to be told. Tony Sarg, while famous to puppeteers (one of Sarg's apprentices was Bill Baird, who did the goatherd scene in The Sound of Music, and one of Baird's apprentices was Jim Henson), has fallen through the cracks of history when it comes to his association with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And yet, his creation lives on. I think a read aloud of this book would be a great opportunity to talk with kids about all the amazing things they might accomplish in their lifetimes...that will touch lots of lives, but never result in celebrity fame.
It is inviting. In the classic Melissa Sweet style, there are large, bright, engaging parts of each illustration to be seen from afar, AND there are lots of fun details to be examined on a close-up rereading. Plus, it's about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which has been known to (and loved by) generations of Americans. How many memories do YOU have of that parade?!?
It celebrates tinkering. Tony Sarg was lucky. He grew up in a day and time when toys were mechanical, and he could take them apart to figure out how they worked. Kids these days need experiences with tinkering. I was reminded of this recently when a wave of "fortune teller" making passed through my class. (You know -- those origami devices that you stick thumbs and forefingers into and pinch this way and that, giving the player the option to make several choices before you lift the flap that tells their fortune?) Nearly everyone learned to make them, then improved on the design in their own ways, either with innovative fortune choices, or by making the largest or smallest ones possible.
In our science curriculum, "tinkering" is know as
The Design Process. As long as you PROMISE to make sure your students have the chance to USE the design process to create their own invention and then find ways to make it better, I will suggest that you read this book aloud in your science time in order to discover how Tony Sarg utilized the design process in the development of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. One more stipulation -- you are not allowed to do a first read of this book in science. You must first read it for enjoyment! Okay...pinky promise? Pinky promise. Now go get a copy of this book and share it with your class!
* * * * * *
See and hear Melissa Sweet tell the story of writing this book
in this video.
Jama Rattigan has a FEAST of a review, with an interview, images from the book, photos, links, and a give-away. Check it out!
There are so many great books from 2010, that I can't possibly choose the one book I hope to win the Caldecott and Newbery medals. This is a list of books I've loved that seem like contenders. I'd be happy if any of these books won an award. They are all deserving. There are others too but these are the ones that come to mind first.
Caldecott
Chalk
A Fabulous Fair Alphabet by Deborah Frasier
City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems
All Things Bright and Beautiful by Ashley Bryant
Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli
Mirror by Jeannie Baker
Mirror, Mirror by Marilyn Singer
A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Phillip Stead
Newbery
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Keeper by Kathi Appelt
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord
As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins
Countdown by Deborah Wiles
The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt
Penny Dreadful by Laurel Snyder
As Franki reminded us all last week, predicting the Newbery was the reason this blog was born 4 years ago.
We started by trying to predict the winner.
That devolved to having read the winner.
Then we decided that it was good enough to have the winner in our Amazon shopping cart.
This year, Bill and Karen at
Literate Lives are putting us to shame with their series of Newbery posts.
Here are my favorite books of 2009. I'd be happy if any of them won!
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
Crossing Stones by Helen Frost
The Sweethearts of Rhythm by Marilyn Nelson
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg
Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graf
The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan (I'm glad it already won a shiny sticker!)
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
Mare's War by Tanita Davis
Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes
Wild Things by Clay Carmichael
Last year was the first year I ventured into Caldecott territory, when I was cheering for River of Words from the moment I set eyes on it. Because of that one "honorable" pick, I'll give it a try again this year. Here are some of my favorite picture books for 2009:
The Lion and the Mouse, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
14 Cows for America, illustrated by Thomas Gonzales
All the World, illustrated by Marla Frazee
Day is Done, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Tsunami, illustrated by Ed Young
The Lion & the Mouse
by Jerry Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 2009
review copy provided by the publisher
You've really got to see this book, to hold it in your hands and look closely at the illustrations for yourself.
First you'll look at the lion on the title-free front of the dust jacket. You'll follow his eyes to the back of the dust jacket and smile at the mouse you find there. Next, you'll open the book and look at the endpapers. In the front, they'll speak to you of the African setting of the story. Flip to the back, and you'll be thinking of the importance of family. Just for fun, you'll take the dust jacket off and be delighted to find two different paintings on the front and back covers of the book. (How on earth are libraries going to make all of these before-you-open-the-book parts of the book accessible to patrons?!?)
This wordless retelling of Aesop's fable of the Lion and the Mouse begins with the mouse escaping by a whisker from an owl. In her distracted state, she runs up the back of a lion who uncharacteristically allows her to go free. When she hears the roar of the lion captured in a rope net, she doesn't think twice. She runs to his aid and chews the ropes until he's freed. Watch for the mouse (and her whole clan) on the back of the lion again at the end of the book. And make sure you save a giggle for the lion cub holding onto dad's tail as they walk.
In the artist's note, Pinkney writes about the big hearts of both of these characters, about the power of both the life-changing decisions of the lion to free the mouse and of the mouse to reciprocate and free the lion. He writes of the importance of the setting, the African Serengeti of Tanzania and Kenya, for which he has curiosity, reverence and concern, and of family (so obvious in the endpapers).
I'll be surprised if this book is passed over by the Caldecott committee...
Mary Lee,
You make me want to read this book right now! It sounds inviting. Like you, I've been pondering endings so I now want to know how it ends. I'm going to avoid the trailer until I read the book. Putting it on the top of my list.
Cathy
That book trailer almost made me cry. What a gorgeous surprising and amazing book. Thank you, Mary Lee! a.
wow, can't wait to read this one. Love your gush alert! Long ago Arnold Adoff did a poetry book titled Green - it would be interesting to use the two in tandem. I realize they are extremely different books!
One question: Why do your blog posts always make my book cart grow? Answer: because you write the BEST reviews in the world! Thanks friend!!
I can't believe my eyes, I just fingered through this book at the library not two hours ago! It is beautiful and I am so glad you featured it here today.
Beth just handed me this book when I was at CTC last week. It is incredibly gorgeous, so I can totally relate to your gushing. But I didn't buy it, and now I could kick myself for not doing more than one reading of it. I missed many of the things you have pointed out. Thanks for the heads up. Gushing is well deserved.
Thanks for this post, it led to my post for tomorrow - I hope you catch it!