Lulu and the Brontosaurus, written by Judith Viorst, illustrated by Lane Smith, Atheneum Books, $15.99, ages 4-10, 128 pages. A little smarty named Lulu finally asks her parents for something they won't give her, then storms off to get it for herself in this wry book about the follies of being high and mighty. Up until now, Lulu has gotten whatever she's wanted (tons of toys and cartoon-viewing time). Even on those rare occasions when Mom and Dad have said no, she's worn them down with her screeching. (After a good lung blast, then flopping onto the floor and flailing around her limbs, one or the other parent always caved in, saying, "Well, just this once.") But this time, Lulu's request, an enormous dinosaur for her b-day gift, is going nowhere. Fighting mad, she says, "Foo on you," to her parents and runs off to the forest to track one down for herself. Along the way, she sings a brontosaurus song at the top of her lungs and startles awake three creatures who are now so grumpy they try to do her in. But being such a pain, Lulu knows how to hurt them worse.
When a snake wraps itself around her, she squeezes him "deader." When a tiger pounces, she whacks him with her polka-dot suitcase. And when a bear bares its teeth, she stomps on his paw until his toenails break off. Finally, after trudging into the deepest part of the forest, Lulu pulls out a sleeping bag from her suitcase and sings herself to sleep.The next morning, Lulu wakes to find the brontosaurus she's wants so badly, looming over her like a mountain. But who's really found whom? And will she ever regret saying, "Foo on you," to her mom and dad? Lane's pictures of the ferociously pouty Lulu share equal billing with Viorst's deliciously wry text, and tickle you at every turn. Like a well-timed comedy act, Viorst sets up the scene with short, pithy chapters and Lane follows with hilarious pictures of Lulu acting hoity-toity or wrestling down a wild animal. My favorite: the opening picture of Lulu, glaring at readers with her arms crossed and face pinched into a frown.
When a snake wraps itself around her, she squeezes him "deader." When a tiger pounces, she whacks him with her polka-dot suitcase. And when a bear bares its teeth, she stomps on his paw until his toenails break off. Finally, after trudging into the deepest part of the forest, Lulu pulls out a sleeping bag from her suitcase and sings herself to sleep.The next morning, Lulu wakes to find the brontosaurus she's wants so badly, looming over her like a mountain. But who's really found whom? And will she ever regret saying, "Foo on you," to her mom and dad? Lane's pictures of the ferociously pouty Lulu share equal billing with Viorst's deliciously wry text, and tickle you at every turn. Like a well-timed comedy act, Viorst sets up the scene with short, pithy chapters and Lane follows with hilarious pictures of Lulu acting hoity-toity or wrestling down a wild animal. My favorite: the opening picture of Lulu, glaring at readers with her arms crossed and face pinched into a frown.
Olivia Goes to Venice, written & illustrated by Ian Falconer, Atheneum, $17.99, ages 3-7, 48 pages. What happens when a precocious pig helps herself to a piece of one of Venice's most recognizable towers? Well, if you're Olivia, you never really know because you're too busy wondering if the city will remember you after you leave. In this delightful sixth book in the Olivia series, our favorite porcine hero rattles the bell tower of St. Mark's Basilica for only the second time in 1,000 years after a gelato-fueled romp through the streets of Venice. While on a family vacation in the legendary city that sits in the Venetian Lagoon, Olivia works herself into a dither over everything she sees, blurting out hyperboles whenever the family stops to take in a view, then feigning exhaustion to get her mom and dad to stop for gelato. After criss-crossing bridges that serpentine over canals, she panics that her blood sug
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, JUDY SIERRA, 2010, Beatrice Rodriguez, The Chicken Thief, misunderstood villains in fairy tales, Tell the Truth B.B. Wolf, J. OTTO SIEBOLD, Add a tag
The Chicken Thief, written & illustrated by Beatrice Rodriguez, Enchanted Lion Books, $14.95, ages 4-8, 32 pages. A red fox bounds out from a bush and sweeps a hen off her bony feet in this adorable wordless book that has fun with us as it goes. One lovely day, Hen is pecking about in the back of Bear, Rabbit and Rooster's cottage when a crafty fox plucks her off the ground as brazenly as if raiding a chicken coop. As the fox takes off into the woods with the white hen pressed to his chest, the Bear, Rabbit and Rooster charge after him, one piled on top of another (Rabbit riding Bear's shoulders and Rooster standing on Rabbit's head). At first, the fox holds the chicken's beak closed to calm her squawking, but as night falls and all of the parties tire, he releases his paw, and her chin falls sleepily onto his shoulder.
Bedraggled as well, Fox nuzzles his chin down on her and forges ahead. That night, rather than devouring her, Fox holds Chicken in his arms, as they snooze in the crook of a tree. When the sun rises the next day, the chase resumes, but Fox, being the wily fellow he is, steals into a den to shake his scent at the end of a circuitous mountain tunnel. Turning the page, we see Bear stuck in the tunnel entrance and Rabbit straining to pull him out by his paw. Deep in the tunnel in a candle-lit cave, Fox and Chicken sit across from each other playing chess. What sort of jackal entertains his prey before eating it? Bear, Rabbit and Rooster will have to chase the fox across an undulating sea and drag themselves onto shore before any of this makes a morsel of sense. But one thing's for sure, readers will be tilting their heads and letting out a long "Aw" by story's end.
Bedraggled as well, Fox nuzzles his chin down on her and forges ahead. That night, rather than devouring her, Fox holds Chicken in his arms, as they snooze in the crook of a tree. When the sun rises the next day, the chase resumes, but Fox, being the wily fellow he is, steals into a den to shake his scent at the end of a circuitous mountain tunnel. Turning the page, we see Bear stuck in the tunnel entrance and Rabbit straining to pull him out by his paw. Deep in the tunnel in a candle-lit cave, Fox and Chicken sit across from each other playing chess. What sort of jackal entertains his prey before eating it? Bear, Rabbit and Rooster will have to chase the fox across an undulating sea and drag themselves onto shore before any of this makes a morsel of sense. But one thing's for sure, readers will be tilting their heads and letting out a long "Aw" by story's end.
Tell the Truth, B.B. Wolf, written by Judy Sierra, illustrated by J. Otto Siebold, Alfred A. Knopf, $16.99, ages 4-8, 40 pages. Facing up to what you did and saying that you're sorry is hard, especially if you've become a legend for how awful you've been. So when the Big Bad Wolf (B.B.) is asked to come to circle time at the library and share the story of the Three Little Pigs, his first impulse is to spin the tale in his favor and make everyone think it was all a big accident. Sure, he blew down the straw house, but he was only trying to blow dandelion fluff to make a wish. His breath just traveled too far, that's all, he told the crowd. And the fire? Well, he was just minding his own business when he saw a piggy playing with matches, so being the good Samaritan that he is, he tried to blow out the flames and, well, things kind of spread. Was the piggy grateful? Of course not, B.B. grumbled. But in a roomful of goody two-shoes, among them Gingerbread Boy, the Little Engine that Could and a reformed Pinocchio, not to mention the three pigs themselves, it's not easy to keep up a lie. Hammered by yells of, "Tell the truth, B.B. Wolf!," B.B. finally breaks down, and huffing and puffing, sings out the truth. But can a former menace ever make amends? This cheery, fun tale shows a child that even if
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: books about growing up, books about stuffed toys, Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion, Mo Willems, Christmas books, 2010, letting go of a toy, Add a tag
Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion, written & illustrated by Mo Willems, HarperCollins, ages 4-8, 52 pages. Letting go of a pal who's been in your arm as long as you can remember is tough. But maybe, after awhile without him, moving on isn't so impossible after all. In this final, heart-melting book in Willems's epic, Caldecott-winning love story, Trixie takes Knuffle Bunny on a trip to Holland with her parents and loses him like she's never lost him before. This time, her parents can't go back to a laundromat or call up a classmate's parents to get him. In her excitement to leave the airport and see her grandparent's, "Oma" and "Opa," Trixie forgets Knuffle Bunny on the plane, but not just any plane, a plane that's only half-way to somewhere else. At first Trixie is so distracted by all that's new that she doesn't realize that she's left him behind. Then, sitting in a yard chair at her grandparent's home with a glass of chocolate milk, she notices that something doesn't feel right. That part of her that's always snuggled up close to a pal is empty, and it hits her. Knuffle Bunny is gone.
Trixie drifts into her grandparents' kitchen with huge saucer eyes and her daddy knows immediately what's wrong. Daddy, who's been there so many times before, goes into emergency mode and calls the airline. But before anyone can even look on the plane, the plane's taken off to China. Trixie's mommy pulls Trixie to her lap and asks her to be brave and her daddy tries to comfort her with a story about the "Special Lamby" he once gave up. Then Oma offers Trixie another glass of chocolate milk and marvels at how big Trixie's getting. She's right, Trixie thinks to herself, and though she's still sad inside, she'll try to be happy. But then Oma and Opa surprise her with a walking, talking, Dutch-speaking pink bunny, the top-of-the-line Funny-Bunny-Wunny-Doll Extreme, and Trixie feels as sad as ever. It isn't until Trixie dreams that night about Knuffle Bunny and all the children he might meet on his travels that she starts to feel better. Buoyed by the thought of Knuffle Bunny being cared for, Trixie is suddenly cast free of having to have him. The next day is a great day and by the time the trip's over, Trixie's thinking more about how much she'll miss Oma and Opa. But funny things happen when you least expect them and that day when they get on the plane to go back to New York, guess who's waiting in the seat pocket in front of her? Of course, the second that Trixie sees Knuffle Bunny, she shouts his name with joy. But what's all the crying about in the seat behind her? It's hard to be happy when someone else is so sad. Doesn't that sweet little baby have a Knuffle Bunny of his own? Tender and sweet, this last book shows that's its OK to let go of a special toy, and sometimes, knowing that another child needs your pal even more than you do, makes it just a little easier to say goodbye.
Trixie drifts into her grandparents' kitchen with huge saucer eyes and her daddy knows immediately what's wrong. Daddy, who's been there so many times before, goes into emergency mode and calls the airline. But before anyone can even look on the plane, the plane's taken off to China. Trixie's mommy pulls Trixie to her lap and asks her to be brave and her daddy tries to comfort her with a story about the "Special Lamby" he once gave up. Then Oma offers Trixie another glass of chocolate milk and marvels at how big Trixie's getting. She's right, Trixie thinks to herself, and though she's still sad inside, she'll try to be happy. But then Oma and Opa surprise her with a walking, talking, Dutch-speaking pink bunny, the top-of-the-line Funny-Bunny-Wunny-Doll Extreme, and Trixie feels as sad as ever. It isn't until Trixie dreams that night about Knuffle Bunny and all the children he might meet on his travels that she starts to feel better. Buoyed by the thought of Knuffle Bunny being cared for, Trixie is suddenly cast free of having to have him. The next day is a great day and by the time the trip's over, Trixie's thinking more about how much she'll miss Oma and Opa. But funny things happen when you least expect them and that day when they get on the plane to go back to New York, guess who's waiting in the seat pocket in front of her? Of course, the second that Trixie sees Knuffle Bunny, she shouts his name with joy. But what's all the crying about in the seat behind her? It's hard to be happy when someone else is so sad. Doesn't that sweet little baby have a Knuffle Bunny of his own? Tender and sweet, this last book shows that's its OK to let go of a special toy, and sometimes, knowing that another child needs your pal even more than you do, makes it just a little easier to say goodbye.
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: Immi's Gift, Julia Rawlinson, Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas, children's books about giving, Christmas books, 2010, Tiphanie Beeke, Karin Littlewood, Add a tag
Immi's Gift, written and illustrated by Karin Littlewood, Peachtree, $15.95, ages 4-8, 32 pages. In a frozen white world, an Inuit girl casts her fishing pole into an icy hole and pulls out magical treasures tossed into the surf by a boy faraway. First, she lands a wooden bird, then a red flower, orange starfish and green leaf, and soon her igloo is trimmed with tropical wonders every color of the rainbow. Polar bears, Arctic foxes and hares, a seal, a wolf, a walrus and magpies flock to her happy home and share stories, making Immi's world a brighter, more joyful place. Then as spring comes and the igloo melts, Immi drops her polar bear necklace into the hole as a thank you to the boy she never met. Touching and spare, Immi's Gift is a gift in itself, and makes you want to craft a garland of your own from nature's flotsam.
Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas, by Julia Rawlinson, pictures by Tiphanie Beeke, Greenwillow Books, $16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. A little fox with a big heart inspires his woodland friends to help a family of rabbits in need in this adorable third picture book in the Fletcher series. While bouncing through the forest, Fletcher is struck with a terrible thought, that Santa Claus won't be able to find his rabbit friends' new burrow, so he begins to lay sticks from one burrow to the next to point the way. As he scuttles back and forth, other animals scamper over and fly down to help, first a squirrel, then a flock birds and a family of mice. All lend a paw or a wing, and just as the sun slips out of sight, they arrive at the rabbits' new burrow. Delighted by their kindness, the rabbits invite them in to thaw out their noses, nibble on pie and sing carols. But as the merriment grows, snow begins to fall and soon very stick is covered. Blinking back tears, Fletcher turns to his rabbit friends and wonders, "What will happen to your presents now?" But Fletcher has an idea. He and his friends will stay awake all night so that when Santa comes to their homes, they can point the way. But cozy and warm in their beds, each drift off to sleep. Does Santa need a trail after all? Rawlinson's words patter on the page like delicate steps. Listen in as she sets the scene for the story: "Every tree in the forest was frost-sprinkled and sparkling, and frozen puddles creaked and crackled under Fletcher's paws." And later, "Fat white flakes tumbled softly from a heavy sky. They landed light and whisper quiet on the frozen ground."
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: Muthr, fantasy novels about robots, Eva Nine, books with walking trees, Christmas books, Tony Diterlizzi, 2010, The Search for Wondla, Add a tag
The Search for Wondla, written and illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi, Simon & Schuster, $17.99, ages 10 and up, 496 pages. In her 12 years, Eva Nine has never seen sunlight or even stepped above ground. As far back as she can remember, a robot guardian named Muthr has been caring for her and training her, so that one day, if she has to, she can leave their Sanctuary, a high-tech home underground, and defend herself against danger. All Eva knows is that there are bad people who would hurt her if they could and that the truth of her past has something to do with four letters "W-o-n-d," which she found on scraps of panel left in a secret tunnel in the Sanctuary. When glued together, the scraps show an image of a little girl holding hands with a robot and an adult, as if they're heading off to explore. To Eva, it's a strange yet happy thought, as she's never even been allowed to explore underground, even though other sanctuaries connect to their own. Instead, Muthr simulates what the real world might be like through Holograms and other devices. Then one day, everything Eva knows changes forever.
After a tremendous bang, her home implodes around her. A brutal huntsman, sent to track her down, attacks the Sanctuary and sends Eva fleeing above ground for her life. In this strange, unfamiliar world of walking trees that catch birds and air-whales that prey on flying crabs, Eva races to find others like herself and encode the meaning of those strange letters which she now lengthens to "Wondla." Along the way, she helps rescue Muthr and befriends Rovender, a lanky blue creature, running from his own past, and Otto, a giant armored water bear who watches over her like a guard dog. But this is not a world of humans and as the huntsman closes in, it will take all of Eva's training -- and the help of friends -- to get her through. A joy to read, the first book in DiTerlizzi's new adventure trilogy is so imaginative, you feel like you've been beamed into his head for a look around. At every turn, a new bizarre and fun adventure awaits. And all the while, you read about high-tech toys you wish you had. My favorite: an infuser that sucks water from the air for drinking. Adding to the fun, every book is imbedded with a 3-D map that allows readers to follow the sights and sounds of Eva's journey at Wondla.com. Give this to a child and she'll begging for the next book the following year.
After a tremendous bang, her home implodes around her. A brutal huntsman, sent to track her down, attacks the Sanctuary and sends Eva fleeing above ground for her life. In this strange, unfamiliar world of walking trees that catch birds and air-whales that prey on flying crabs, Eva races to find others like herself and encode the meaning of those strange letters which she now lengthens to "Wondla." Along the way, she helps rescue Muthr and befriends Rovender, a lanky blue creature, running from his own past, and Otto, a giant armored water bear who watches over her like a guard dog. But this is not a world of humans and as the huntsman closes in, it will take all of Eva's training -- and the help of friends -- to get her through. A joy to read, the first book in DiTerlizzi's new adventure trilogy is so imaginative, you feel like you've been beamed into his head for a look around. At every turn, a new bizarre and fun adventure awaits. And all the while, you read about high-tech toys you wish you had. My favorite: an infuser that sucks water from the air for drinking. Adding to the fun, every book is imbedded with a 3-D map that allows readers to follow the sights and sounds of Eva's journey at Wondla.com. Give this to a child and she'll begging for the next book the following year.
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, Peter Paul and Mary, 2010, Clement C. Moore, The Night Before Christmas, Eric Puybaret, Add a tag
The Night Before Christmas, performed by Peter, Paul and Mary, written by Clement C. Moore, paintings by Eric Puybaret, Peter Yarrow Books, $19.95, ages 4-8, 26 pages. Enchanting to look at and joyous to listen to, this stunning remake of Moore's classic poem brings together the magical art of Puybaret and the stirring voice of the late Mary Travers, reading the poem aloud on CD. Performed at Travers's house just before her death in 2009, the reading is the singer's last recording and is sure to leave you tingly inside. As the lead singer of the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, Mary got the nickname, "One take Mary," and befitting that, the trio agreed that her first run-through was her best, and chose that one for the CD. In this wondrous adaptation, Santa is an elegant, bell-shaped fellow with a long tapering hat that flows behind him like a wisp of smoke and his reindeer are dashingly draped in green cloaks with top-hats balanced on their heads. Scenes have a clean, bright Scandinavian feel, and sparkle with spare, whimsical details that hint at the magic unfolding.
Round little faces with top hats peak out from vases on a mantel and the arm posts of a couch look like wintery dolls, with smiling fir-lined faces and green coats with pearl buttons. On a nightstand beside the children nestled in their beds, a toy fisherman with wire arms and a banana shaped body happily slumps against a lighthouse dangling stars. Though it's deep into night, the house glows. Stardust and candies sparkle and float above the sleeping children, starlight pours through big windows around the living room and warm lights suggestive of candles give every page a cozy feel. There is magic in the air and as Santa carries over his brown sack to the tree, you'll feel the anticipation building. On the next spread, every toy is lovingly arranged and looks like it was crafted by hand from the richest materials, wool felt, wood and angora-like yarn. A marionette in bright pink pantaloons and a silky, yellow ascot dangles from fine string and below him an elephant looking as soft as cashmere sports a whimsical green circle around his eye that matches the pattern on his jumper. Every page is so magical, you almost expect magic dust to float off the page and spritz you in the face. Just a delight, this is a book to buy in twos, one to give and one to keep. (One of the best surprises in the book comes at the end in a note written by Peter and Paul about Mary's recording: "With a habitual loss of her hair and a smile of delight, though without her long golden locks that had become so famous, she began reading to an imaginary child seated before her," they write. "She whispered, as if telling the child a secret or intimating that it was almost bedtime. When she finished, we were breathless…" ) Preceding Mary's reading on the CD is a whimsical rendition of the poem sung by Paul, and following it, a recording of "A'Soalin" by the trio.
Round little faces with top hats peak out from vases on a mantel and the arm posts of a couch look like wintery dolls, with smiling fir-lined faces and green coats with pearl buttons. On a nightstand beside the children nestled in their beds, a toy fisherman with wire arms and a banana shaped body happily slumps against a lighthouse dangling stars. Though it's deep into night, the house glows. Stardust and candies sparkle and float above the sleeping children, starlight pours through big windows around the living room and warm lights suggestive of candles give every page a cozy feel. There is magic in the air and as Santa carries over his brown sack to the tree, you'll feel the anticipation building. On the next spread, every toy is lovingly arranged and looks like it was crafted by hand from the richest materials, wool felt, wood and angora-like yarn. A marionette in bright pink pantaloons and a silky, yellow ascot dangles from fine string and below him an elephant looking as soft as cashmere sports a whimsical green circle around his eye that matches the pattern on his jumper. Every page is so magical, you almost expect magic dust to float off the page and spritz you in the face. Just a delight, this is a book to buy in twos, one to give and one to keep. (One of the best surprises in the book comes at the end in a note written by Peter and Paul about Mary's recording: "With a habitual loss of her hair and a smile of delight, though without her long golden locks that had become so famous, she began reading to an imaginary child seated before her," they write. "She whispered, as if telling the child a secret or intimating that it was almost bedtime. When she finished, we were breathless…" ) Preceding Mary's reading on the CD is a whimsical rendition of the poem sung by Paul, and following it, a recording of "A'Soalin" by the trio.
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, 2010, children's books about snow, Wilson A. Bentley, Yevgeniya Yeretskaya, Snowflake A Pop-Up, Jennifer Preston Chushcoff, Add a tag
Snowflake: A Pop-Up Book, written by Jennifer Preston Chushcoff, illustrated and engineered by Yevgeniya Yeretskaya, Jumping Jack, $24.99, ages 3 and up, 14 pages. Snowflakes spin and do loopy-de-loops on the page of this magical tribute to one of nature's most dazzling creations and the photographer who first captured them on film. Wilson A. Bentley, also known as "The Snowflake Man," discovered that no two snowflakes look exactly the same, and just as in real life, every snowflake in the book looks unique -- and as sparkly and perfect as you'd hope for. Dusted with glitter, the snowflakes fall against backgrounds of cool-weather blues and grays, as Chushcoff describes their playful descent. "They look like lace and fine cut jewels falling. They tickle your tongue and land on the snowman's nose," she writes, as images of red mittens and a snowman appear off to the side. Then, just as quickly, the air can warm and the tiny masses of ice crystals disappear. "Watch the miracle before they melt," she urges from the page.
On one page, cutouts of snowflakes open against turning discs printed with their likeness, creating a sensation that snowflakes are tumbling head-over-heels from the clouds. On another page, a snowflake as ornamental as a doily opens in the book's fold and blossoms like a peony, as other flakes, some as small as sequins, fall about white trunks of trees. Most of the book's seven displays include smaller fold-outs with their own moving snowflakes, where Chushcoff elaborates on Bentley's legacy and the challenge of capturing such a fleeting little design. Any child who loves to snip and fold paper into cutout snowflakes will be hopping up and down to see every pop-up unfold.
On one page, cutouts of snowflakes open against turning discs printed with their likeness, creating a sensation that snowflakes are tumbling head-over-heels from the clouds. On another page, a snowflake as ornamental as a doily opens in the book's fold and blossoms like a peony, as other flakes, some as small as sequins, fall about white trunks of trees. Most of the book's seven displays include smaller fold-outs with their own moving snowflakes, where Chushcoff elaborates on Bentley's legacy and the challenge of capturing such a fleeting little design. Any child who loves to snip and fold paper into cutout snowflakes will be hopping up and down to see every pop-up unfold.
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, 2010, Maxine Kumin, picture books about dogs, What Color is Caesar?, children's books about being happy, Alison Friend, Add a tag
What Color is Caesar?, written by Maxine Kumin, illustrated by Alison Friend, Candlewick, $16.99, ages 4-8, 56 pages. A gangly Dalmatian with big, melty eyes tries to figure out if he's white with a great many black spots or all black with even more white ones in this darling book about learning to love who you are. None of the humans in Caesar's house seem to care what color he is. Petunia, the family cat, who is all black with four white feet, tells Caesar that it shouldn't matter, and his doctor, a black-and-white woodpecker, says Caesar's basically the color he thinks he is. But Caesar can't stop worrying about what he looks like and the next morning, leaves home to find the answer. As he patters along, he questions every animal he meets with similar patterns to see what color they think they are. Each is quite self-assured and tells him something different. A cow says that deep down, she's the color of milk, a pony says that he's basically green because everything he knows and eats is green, and a zebra says that he's yellow, like the sun of Africa that shines down on his native land. But Caesar doesn't understand how they can see themselves so differently and sets off to ask a circus guru if he can divine Caesar's true color.
Though a make-believe sage, the guru is wise about himself and asks Caesar to scrunch his eyes closed, clear his thoughts and tell him what color he sees. But what could all these bright little boxes floating around in Caesar's mind really tell him? Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet Kumin steps away from the poetic form, yet fills our heads with the very thing poetry strives for: to bring us closer to truth, in this case, the wonder of who we are. (Sneak a peek at your little ones after reading this gem and maybe they'll be squishing their eyes closed too.)
Though a make-believe sage, the guru is wise about himself and asks Caesar to scrunch his eyes closed, clear his thoughts and tell him what color he sees. But what could all these bright little boxes floating around in Caesar's mind really tell him? Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet Kumin steps away from the poetic form, yet fills our heads with the very thing poetry strives for: to bring us closer to truth, in this case, the wonder of who we are. (Sneak a peek at your little ones after reading this gem and maybe they'll be squishing their eyes closed too.)
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: paper toy directions, Christmas books, Marilyn Scott-Waters, 2010, books about making toys, The Toymaker's Christmas Paper Toys You Can Make Yourself, Add a tag
The Toymaker's Christmas: Paper Toys You Can Make Yourself, by Marilyn Scott-Waters, Sterling, $7.95, ages 9-12, 48 pages. Being a toy maker is often one a child's greatest fantasies and now thanks to this all-inclusive craft kit, yours can be an elf at home. In this utterly charming paperback, Scott-Waters shares 11 of her whimsically painted paper toys for children to punch out, fold and glue together, culminating with a magical display of Santa on his sleigh pulled by one of his reindeer. Among her designs, the "Happy Snowman," a 3-D fellow with stick arms and a blue felt hat, "The Nutcracker" with curving body parts and a jaw attached with a spindle, and "Star Elves" you stack by connecting slots on their heads, hands and feet. One of my favorites is a decorative card with a built-in wheel to count down the days to Christmas. Each day, turn the card over to read a new, Christmasy thought, like "Do Good" or "Be Happy." I've been a Scott-Waters fan every since our boys were wee. Her website, TheToymaker.com, is one of the best kept secrets in cyberspace, with oodles of paper toy patterns designed for children to print out and make for just about any holiday. And every one is free! (Look there for a sweet selection of Chanukah, Kwanzaa and New Year's projects.) To go there now, click here. (You might just think you've been transported into Santa's workshop.)
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Bruce Foster, Mark Salisbury, Christmas books, 2010, Tim Burton, Disney's Alice in Wonderland A Visual Companion, Will Ferrell, Richard von Busack, The Art of Megamind, Harry Potter Pop-Up, Add a tag
Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book Based on the Film Phenomenon, illustrated by Andrew Williamson, paper engineering by Bruce Foster, Insight Editions, $34.95, all ages, 12 pages. Flying off shelves since its November release, this lush pop-up puts the drama of Harry Potter films into 3-D scenes you'll want to get lost in. Illustrated by the lead concept artist on all eight Harry Potter films and engineered by the creator of this year's A Christmas Carol: A Pop-Up Edition, the book feels not only wonderfully familiar -- matching up with film footage we've grown to love -- but has a cinematic quality that doesn't often appear into pop-ups. Warm, glowing colors and deep shadows replicate the lighting effects around Diagon Alley and Hogwarts (one of the most dramatic pop-ups, towering above the book with spires and minarets). You feel instantly swept into the drama and want to stick your head down into the locations of Hagrid's Hut and the Forbidden Forest, as if somehow you could shrink to fit inside.
There's also a sense of the impending in every scene. As you open pop-ups for the Triwizard Tournament and a clash between Harry and Lord Voldemort, you feel like the action is only on pause and could start all over again. Sprinkled among five main pop-up are smaller, charming surprises: lift one flap and the red jaws of a howler open to deliver a message or peer into a cage to see Harry's snowy owl, Hedwig. Fun movie facts and three small movie posters add to the magic and by book's end, you're ready to look at it all over again. This is a book you'll be tempted to display open on a shelf.
There's also a sense of the impending in every scene. As you open pop-ups for the Triwizard Tournament and a clash between Harry and Lord Voldemort, you feel like the action is only on pause and could start all over again. Sprinkled among five main pop-up are smaller, charming surprises: lift one flap and the red jaws of a howler open to deliver a message or peer into a cage to see Harry's snowy owl, Hedwig. Fun movie facts and three small movie posters add to the magic and by book's end, you're ready to look at it all over again. This is a book you'll be tempted to display open on a shelf.
Disney's Alice in Wonderland: A Visual Companion, by Mark Salisbury, with a foreword by Tim Burton, Disney Editions, $50, ages 9 and up, 256 pages. Fans of renowned director and producer Tim Burton won't want to miss this spectacular inside look at the making of the movie, Alice in Wonderland. Packed with every snippet of artwork you could imagine, the book shows not only stills from the movie, but behind-the-scenes footage, concept artwork, movie stills marked with editing notes, set and costume designs as they evolve, and interviews with Burton and The Mad Hatter himself, Johnny Depp. Every so often, eye-popping photographs are overlaid with quotes by the movie's creators and actors talks about scenes or each other. The most intriguing part of the book is all the artwork that was created to guide the animation -- gorgeous sketches and paintings that never appeared in the film, for which, without this book, we might never see. One of my favorite photographs shows a series of clay heads used to make the prosthetics that give the king's court its facial distortions. Though pricier than most books, this is one that will be treasured long after your child grows up.
By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: PETER H. REYNOLDS, Christmas books, Bob Raczka, Marjorie Winslow, 2010, Mud Pies and Other Recipes, Guyko, Add a tag
Mud Pies and Other Recipes, by Marjorie Winslow, with illustrations by Erik Begvad, The New York Review Children's Collection, $14.95, ages 4-8, 56 pages. Two little hands sift, sort and pat a buffet of make-believe dishes that any doll would love in this charming little cookbook, originally published in 1961 and now reissued. Narrated as if by a girl who is perfectly sure of herself, the book happily skips along from one adorable recipe to the next, rounding out with my favorite, Dollypops. "Pick a dandelion from the lawn carefully, so as not to disturb the fluff," Winslow instructs. "Hand it to your doll and tell her to lick." Organized by course, the cookbook goes from appetizers to menu lists, and also includes baking tips. In the foreword, you'll find advice about utensils and pans (empty egg cartons make handy muffin tins), clean-up (a puddle makes a nice sink) and cooking times: "Doll cookery is not a very exacting art," Winslow explains -- as you imagine a twinkle in her eye. "The time it takes to cook a casserole depends upon how long your dolls are able to sit at a table without falling over. And if a recipe calls for a cupful of something, you can use a measuring cup or a teacup or a buttercup."
Other recipes include, mud puddle soup, corn silk spaghetti, chalk shake and gravel casserole (For the latter, fill a pie tin with gravel, brush on melted ice cube, sprinkle on crushed dry leaves then bake in the sun until bumpy on top.) Every page includes whimsical pen-and-ink drawings of girls and boys at play, and the ingredients they come up with. If Santa asks you for a suggestion for a little girl's stocking, grab his lapels and show him this. Then listen for the giggles on Christmas morning.
Other recipes include, mud puddle soup, corn silk spaghetti, chalk shake and gravel casserole (For the latter, fill a pie tin with gravel, brush on melted ice cube, sprinkle on crushed dry leaves then bake in the sun until bumpy on top.) Every page includes whimsical pen-and-ink drawings of girls and boys at play, and the ingredients they come up with. If Santa asks you for a suggestion for a little girl's stocking, grab his lapels and show him this. Then listen for the giggles on Christmas morning.
Guyko: A Year of Haiku for Boys, written by Bob Raczka and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, Houghton Mifflin, $14.99, ages 4-6, 48 pages. How do you put in words what makes a boy a boy and not lose his attention? Take every marvelous little moment that captures who he is and put it into the thrifty form of Haiku, three unrhymed lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables, which from this book forward is known as the poetic form of "Guyko," guy + haiku. In this delightful book, Raczka shares 24 quintessential moments of being a boy as Reynolds illustrates each vignette with humor, gusto and a touch of poignancy. From spring through winter, boys are on the go, making fun out of whatever they find. Some get into mischief, lose themselves in play or wonder about the world around them. In one Guyko, a boy lolls about on his belly on a swing, then suddenly looks up, startled by what he no longer hears: "Hey, who turned off all / the crickets? I'm not ready / for summer to end." In another, a boy twiddles his fingers with a mischievous grin as a big, lofty tree awaits his ascent: "Pine tree invites me / to climb him up to the sky / How can I refuse?" And my favorite, a magical moment when a boy by himself believes anything is possible. He stands before a campfire, his shirt
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, 2010, penguin books, Jean-Luc Fromental, Joelle Jolivet, alphabet pop-ups, Mike Haines, Julia Frohlich, Wild Alphabet An A to Zoo Pop-Up, 10 Little Penguins A Pop-Up, Add a tag
Wild Alphabet: An A to Zoo Pop-Up Book, by Mike Haines and Julia Frohlich, Kingfisher, $19.99, ages 3 and up, 52 pages. Twenty-five animals and one little insect play peek-a-boo with readers in this delightful alphabet pop-up that's small enough for a child to hold. Every letter is paired with a creature whose name starts with the same letter. On the right of each spread is an image of the letter and the creature popping up or sliding around each other, and to the left is a photograph of the same creature and a brief write-up about its behavior. Each description is written to sound like it's coming from the animal itself and highlights a word in playful type that epitomizes what this animal does best. For Hippopotamus, the word is "wallowing," and the type waves about on the page. Every page brings a fun and unexpected surprise sure to widen eyes, beginning with A for Antelope. As you open this spread, a bold letter A splits opens from its center like a door and the head of this long-legged beauty rises to you.
In another spread, a chinchilla scrambles around an exercise wheel, revealing a C behind the rungs, and in my favorite, J is for Jaguar, a sleek black cat slinks out from behind the J, just far enough to look sneaky, and make your insides tingle (and giggles spill).
In another spread, a chinchilla scrambles around an exercise wheel, revealing a C behind the rungs, and in my favorite, J is for Jaguar, a sleek black cat slinks out from behind the J, just far enough to look sneaky, and make your insides tingle (and giggles spill).
10 Little Penguins: A Pop-Up Book, written by Jean-Luc Fromental, illustrated by Joelle Jolivet, engineered by Bernard Dulsit, translated by Amanda Katz, Abrams, $17.95, ages 4-8, 24 pages. From the French team that created the hilarious, oversized picture book, 365 Penguins, comes an adorable pop-up countdown. Ten penguins playing on the ice disappear one by one, but no worries, this isn't because their home is shrinking. Each is slipping out of the scene just for kicks and will reappear under an iceberg at book's end. Fromenthal's rhymes are a delight as he takes readers through playtime mishaps, beginning with penguin # 10 who's bowled off the ice into the brine and continuing to #1, who (chilled to the bone) hops a bus for Valparaiso. Jolivet and Dulsit punctuate each humorous verse, first setting up each playful scene then bringing on the mishap with a quick turn or pull of a tab, like penguin #9 getting swept into the water by a whale's tail and penguin #5 twirling under the ice while making figure eights. This is a book to be read and viewed sideways, again and again and again. "Please, Mom, just once more?"
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, Emily Gravett, 2010, The Rabbit Problem, funny books about problem-solving, children's books about rabbits, Add a tag
The Rabbit Problem, written and illustrated by Emily Gravett, Simon & Schuster, $17.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. Here's a problem that will overflow your kids' minds and get them imploring, "Please, please, please, can I have that problem too?" The book's cover sets up the problem. It's one big blackboard and there's a rabbit with chalk in his paw, pondering the greatest question known to rabbits: How many of us can we get from just two of us in a calendar year? I.e. The Rabbit Problem. "If a pair of baby rabbits are put into a field, how many pairs will there be: 1) At the end of each month? b) After one year?" Gravett asks in the book's front end paper. Well, let's see. First we'll have to jump into the rabbit hole that Gravett has thoughtfully cut out on the back of the first page. And then, we'll have to watch and see. In this charming ode to rabbit fertility, whimsically set up like a calendar (with actual holes for hanging the book right through its hard covers), Gravett takes us through each of the 12 calendar months to find the answers.
We begin in January with one lonely rabbit -- who luckily has had the smarts to pencil an invitation to any bunny who will read it. Pasted to the table of days, it reads, "Join me! Where? The Field Why? To be my friend. When? Right now!" As luck would have it, by February this forward little fellow has found a friend to snuggle up with; they're even knitting matching tops in carrot orange and cream wool. Come March, as you might expect, the first two bouncing bunnies arrive, and as the months roll by, well, the rabbits multiply like rabbits. But how will they deal with inclement weather, hunger, marauding crows, the heat, a bumper crop of carrots, bulging tummies and that nagging issue of overcrowding?And where's that rabbit hole when you need it? Every calendar page is marked with important rabbit reminders, and every other has a handy little pamphlet for dealing with their growing problem.
We begin in January with one lonely rabbit -- who luckily has had the smarts to pencil an invitation to any bunny who will read it. Pasted to the table of days, it reads, "Join me! Where? The Field Why? To be my friend. When? Right now!" As luck would have it, by February this forward little fellow has found a friend to snuggle up with; they're even knitting matching tops in carrot orange and cream wool. Come March, as you might expect, the first two bouncing bunnies arrive, and as the months roll by, well, the rabbits multiply like rabbits. But how will they deal with inclement weather, hunger, marauding crows, the heat, a bumper crop of carrots, bulging tummies and that nagging issue of overcrowding?And where's that rabbit hole when you need it? Every calendar page is marked with important rabbit reminders, and every other has a handy little pamphlet for dealing with their growing problem.
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, Taro Gomi, 2010, Becky Baines, This Book Made Me Do It, children's books for play, John Woodward, Play All Day, fun activity books, kids journals, Action Journal, Add a tag
Play All Day: A Really Giant Book of Punch-Out-and-Play Games, Toys, Finger Puppets, Boxes and More!, by Taro Gomi, Chronicle Books, $19.99, all ages, 116 pages. Opening this book is like entering a wonderland of possibility, but where does a child ever begin? Watching your child figure that out is part of the magic of Gomi's clever new book of toys. Every folded page is so packed with playthings waiting to be made, little eyes will be darting about just trying to take it all in. Then once they land on the thing they just have to do first, clear the table and stand back. Will it be a garland strung with monkeys and a few long-tailed friends? Or a game of ring toss made from a Parisian themed punch-out -- three hot pink rings and a fold-together black cone? Or maybe a troupe of finger puppets that are sure to inspire a bigger project, such as a cardboard stage? By day's end, don't be surprised if Play All Day is all punched out, though with more than 60 playthings that slide together, fold and/or hang, your child is sure to be amused for days time to come.
As with her wildly popular Scribbles and Doodles coloring books, Gomi keeps instructions spare, as if to say: Be spontaneous and self-inspired! Yet the toy projects are all so straightforward that only the youngest crafters will need a helping hand, perhaps to slide in tabs to make a box, slip buildings into a cityscape or string their ornaments for the tree. Need an all-in-one activity to keep your child happy on a slow day? This is it! Now all we need is a Taro original, punch-out toy box.
As with her wildly popular Scribbles and Doodles coloring books, Gomi keeps instructions spare, as if to say: Be spontaneous and self-inspired! Yet the toy projects are all so straightforward that only the youngest crafters will need a helping hand, perhaps to slide in tabs to make a box, slip buildings into a cityscape or string their ornaments for the tree. Need an all-in-one activity to keep your child happy on a slow day? This is it! Now all we need is a Taro original, punch-out toy box.
Action Journal, by Becky Baines, art by Neal Ashby and Patrick Donohue, National Geographic, $12.95, ages 7 and up, 176 pages. The first thing you'll notice about this journal is that it has a mind of its own. On the first page, the book tells you to answer a simple question: Are you boring? If you are, you have no place in this book: "Do not," the journal warns. "I repeat, do not proceed past this page." OK, it got you, but what could be so exciting about an "action" journal? Well, for one, it's got a hip narrator. The journal doesn't mince words and it also assumes you don't want to go on and on about your day or your deepest thoughts. Every page is a silly, fun exercise in being yourself. One page allows you to smear on your favorite scent. Another asks you to go around your house and write down what you think a Barcalounger and other voiceless items might say. And one gives you four categories of words so you can string together a name for the band you're now going to form (now that you've been asked to come up with a name and all). Not every page of the journal is meant to stay put for future reflection. On one page there's a sign to cut out and hang on your history teacher's door, no-boring people allowed inside, and on another, there's a blank space for you to write a note to a stranger, then cut it out and stick it somewhere so
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: Matthew J. Kirby, Christmas books, 2010, mystery novels for kids, The Clockwork Three, Add a tag
The Clockwork Three, by Matthew J. Kirby, Scholastic, $17.99, ages 9-12, 400 pages. Three children desperate for a better life are mysteriously drawn together and, in a frantic quest to help one another, bring a clockwork man to life and save a great woodland hall. In this wondrous debut, an orphaned 11-year-old busker, Giuseppe, sets in motion a mystery adventure that will require all three of them to put their trust in each other. One day after a ship is lost at sea, Giuseppe finds an enchanted green violin that's washed into the harbor. He begins playing it on the streets behind his padrone's back so he can put away money to buy passage home to Italy. Knowing his padrone would put him in a rat cellar or beat him if he found out, Giuseppe hides the violin and the money in a cemetery crypt. One day after leaving the crypt, he sees a strange sight at the docks, a rope holding a crate breaks and a round bronze head rolls out. Little does he know, it's the head of a legendary automaton, and the magician who made it claimed the head could talk.
Then, as Guiseppe heads back to his padrone's, he stumbles upon two gang runners beating up a boy and fools them into letting the boy go. The boy, Frederick, is a clockmaker's apprentice, and has secrets of his own. Rescued from a workhouse by Master Branch, he fixes clocks by day and sneaks into the basement to build a clockwork man at night. The man, an automaton, is now nearly finished, but it still needs a head and an engine to drive it, and if he can make them, the automaton could be his ticket to independence. Instead of being just an apprentice, he could be a journeyman and open his own shop. Though driven, Frederick is also haunted by his past, by the cruelties he faced at the orphanage at the hands of the wicked Mrs. Treeless and by questions about how he came to the orphanage. He meets a 12-year-old Hannah, first in passing on the street and again when her employer commissions a work from the clock shop, who reaches out to him. Hannah asks him if he ever thought of looking for his mother, who left him at the orphanage years ago, and offers to help him search for her. But she too has the weight of the world on her shoulders. Forced to quit school and support her family as a maid after her papa, a stonemason, lost his speech and strength in an accident, Hannah is desperate to help her family. One day, she overhears her supervisors talk about a treasure in the top-floor suite of the hotel where she works and before she knows it, she's being sent up there to attend to a peculiar guest, a spiritualist named Madame Pomeroy. Madame Pomeroy claims to speak with the dead, refers to her bodyguard Yakov as her "golem," and immediately takes a liking to Hannah and hires her as her assistant. She tells Hannah that Hannah's at a balancing point, and there is conflict in her future that could reverse the order of things in her life, and soon Hannah has more trouble than she knows what to do with. One day Hannah returns home to discover that her father's leg has become gravely infected and he needs medicine they can't afford, so Hannah makes a desperate choice. She steals a diamond necklace from Madame Pomeroy to pay for the medicine, only to get caught when she tries to sell it off. Now her only chance to help her father may be to search McCauley Park, the last wild place in the city for the treasure. But why is the fiddler Giuseppe hiding in the park? And what's this about the park's charter expiring? Could Hannah, Giuseppe and Frederick work together to find the things each needs most? This is a marvel
Then, as Guiseppe heads back to his padrone's, he stumbles upon two gang runners beating up a boy and fools them into letting the boy go. The boy, Frederick, is a clockmaker's apprentice, and has secrets of his own. Rescued from a workhouse by Master Branch, he fixes clocks by day and sneaks into the basement to build a clockwork man at night. The man, an automaton, is now nearly finished, but it still needs a head and an engine to drive it, and if he can make them, the automaton could be his ticket to independence. Instead of being just an apprentice, he could be a journeyman and open his own shop. Though driven, Frederick is also haunted by his past, by the cruelties he faced at the orphanage at the hands of the wicked Mrs. Treeless and by questions about how he came to the orphanage. He meets a 12-year-old Hannah, first in passing on the street and again when her employer commissions a work from the clock shop, who reaches out to him. Hannah asks him if he ever thought of looking for his mother, who left him at the orphanage years ago, and offers to help him search for her. But she too has the weight of the world on her shoulders. Forced to quit school and support her family as a maid after her papa, a stonemason, lost his speech and strength in an accident, Hannah is desperate to help her family. One day, she overhears her supervisors talk about a treasure in the top-floor suite of the hotel where she works and before she knows it, she's being sent up there to attend to a peculiar guest, a spiritualist named Madame Pomeroy. Madame Pomeroy claims to speak with the dead, refers to her bodyguard Yakov as her "golem," and immediately takes a liking to Hannah and hires her as her assistant. She tells Hannah that Hannah's at a balancing point, and there is conflict in her future that could reverse the order of things in her life, and soon Hannah has more trouble than she knows what to do with. One day Hannah returns home to discover that her father's leg has become gravely infected and he needs medicine they can't afford, so Hannah makes a desperate choice. She steals a diamond necklace from Madame Pomeroy to pay for the medicine, only to get caught when she tries to sell it off. Now her only chance to help her father may be to search McCauley Park, the last wild place in the city for the treasure. But why is the fiddler Giuseppe hiding in the park? And what's this about the park's charter expiring? Could Hannah, Giuseppe and Frederick work together to find the things each needs most? This is a marvel
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, 2010, Brett Helquist, The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic, novels about heroic girls, Jennifer Trafton, wondrous novels, novels about giants, Add a tag
The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic, by Jennifer Trafton, art by Brett Helquist, Dial Books, ages 9-11, 336 pages. Feisty 10-year-old Persimmony Smudge dreams of being heroic but to everyone else on the Island at the Center of Everything, she's just a poor, forgettable girl. Then one dark and stormy night, Persimmony strays from a path in the Willow Woods to chase her hat and is pulled into a fantastical adventure to save her island home and find her missing father. That night, after running after the hat, Persimmony discovers she's lost her way and starts to dance off her frustration in the pouring rain. While wildly twirling about, she falls into a willow tree, the home of poison-tongued tortoise, and is chased by the tortoise into the hollow of a log. While inside, Persimmony overhears two Leafeaters plotting to get back at the king for cutting down their woods. They will dig out the king's gold from under the mountain and hold it hostage until the king does what they say. The next day, after crawling out of the log, Persimmony meets a forlorn potato-faced man named Worvil and runs into an elderly potter friend Theodore, and together they agree that the king must be warned. But what's all this talk at the castle of a giant belt buckle being uncovered under the castle?
Rumor has it that their island mountain, Mount Majestic (which has risen and fallen once a day as longs as anyone can remember) is actually a sleeping giant covered with dirt. The king, an indulged, pepper-crazy 12-year-old, will hear nothing of it, but Persimmony is intrigued by the rumors and, after being dispatched to a cave, discovers the giant's enormous sleeping face. But how will she ever convince the island's inhabitants, the Leafeaters, Rumblebumps and especially King Lucas, that he's real? Unless she can get them to stop quarreling, the giant could wake up and cause the whole mountain to tumble down. Fantastic and fun, Trafton's debut is for anyone who loves to let their imagination run loose. (Recommended reading position: on your back with a toy building -- such as a Monopoly hotel -- balanced on your stomach.)
Rumor has it that their island mountain, Mount Majestic (which has risen and fallen once a day as longs as anyone can remember) is actually a sleeping giant covered with dirt. The king, an indulged, pepper-crazy 12-year-old, will hear nothing of it, but Persimmony is intrigued by the rumors and, after being dispatched to a cave, discovers the giant's enormous sleeping face. But how will she ever convince the island's inhabitants, the Leafeaters, Rumblebumps and especially King Lucas, that he's real? Unless she can get them to stop quarreling, the giant could wake up and cause the whole mountain to tumble down. Fantastic and fun, Trafton's debut is for anyone who loves to let their imagination run loose. (Recommended reading position: on your back with a toy building -- such as a Monopoly hotel -- balanced on your stomach.)
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, 2010, Oleg Lipchenko, the best Mother Goose books, Humpty Dumpty and Friends Nursery Rhymes for the Young at Heart, Salley Mavor, Pocketful of Posies A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, Add a tag
Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, arranged and illustrated with needlework by Salley Mavor, Houghton Mifflin, $21.99, ages 4-8, 72 pages. With needle and thread, snippets of felt, and objects from the craft drawer, Mavor sews to life the enchanting world of nursery rhymes. Embroidered scenes illustrate 65 poems, from the familiar, "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe," to the lesser known "Rain on the Green Grass." Designed like intricate folktale art, every scene leads the eye around the page to find little treasures, a bean stalk twirling up from the grass around a roof awning or a wheel barrow that rolls on a button and is brimming with tiny felt pies. In many scenes, felt dolls with wooden bead heads are laid down and placed just-so, making pages look like something a child would arrange in casual play. (Readers may even be tempted to try to lift one off the page.) At times the scenes are almost painterly, as in a poem about a wise old owl who lived in an oak. An owl sits perched on a sprawling oak, its plumage sewn in Vs of tans, purples and blues. On every branch hangs a tiny acorn or two, as leaves in greens and blue appear to flutter in a breeze.
In my favorite scene, sewn for "Ring around the Roses," dolls hold hands around a green doily stitched with roses, their bodies poised as if frozen in dance. Mavor's details astound the eye: delicate stitches swirl around clothing or a couch to suggest intricate textiles. Others are knotted, coiled, chained or sewn in rows to suggest textures on rock, dirt or plants. She sews in details that suggest the literal as well as the imagined. In a poem about two sisters who disagree whether coffee or tea is better, the two stare sidelong at each other under leafy trees, which at the top morph into a cat and bird who are bickering too. No rhyme is modestly illustrated, making this as much a treasury of art as of rhymes.
In my favorite scene, sewn for "Ring around the Roses," dolls hold hands around a green doily stitched with roses, their bodies poised as if frozen in dance. Mavor's details astound the eye: delicate stitches swirl around clothing or a couch to suggest intricate textiles. Others are knotted, coiled, chained or sewn in rows to suggest textures on rock, dirt or plants. She sews in details that suggest the literal as well as the imagined. In a poem about two sisters who disagree whether coffee or tea is better, the two stare sidelong at each other under leafy trees, which at the top morph into a cat and bird who are bickering too. No rhyme is modestly illustrated, making this as much a treasury of art as of rhymes.
Humpty Dumpty and Friends: Nursery Rhymes for the Young at Heart, selected and illustrated by Oleg Lipchenko, Tundra Books, $17.95, ages 3-6, 24 pages. Four and Twenty tailors parade around a snail shell, carrying pincushions on their backs, spools in their hands and sewing needles like batons in this brilliantly crafted redo of 20 Mother Goose rhymes. Lipchenko, who illustrated last year's quirky Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, fills the pages with so many imaginative details, from birds holding spectacles to a drummer boy wearing a colander hat, that you find yourself lingering long after the rhyme is read. Every rhyme is told in its traditional verse, but is illustrated in new and fantastical ways -- the giant Robin the Bobbin who ate all the good people of his town is shown plopped on his bottom in the town's courtyard, holding a plate filled with a butcher, church and cow, as he plucks another cow off the ground to eat. In some illustrations, characters from different rhymes are brought together into one whimsical scene. One of my favorites mixes "What Little Boys Are Made Of?" with "Fishes Swim." In this picture, you see a girl and
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, Emma's Journey, 2010, books about New York City, picture books about sparrows, Claire Frossard, children's books about travel, Etienne Frossard, Add a tag
Emma's Journey, written & illustrated by Claire Frossard, photographs by Etienne Frossard, Enchanted Lion Books, $17.95, ages 4-8, 56 pages. Little Emma may not have the wing strength to fly long distances, but every time she rides Duckyduck's back in New York City's Central Park, she hankers to hoist a sail and see how far a boat would take her. Now Duckyduck, her best friend, is about to migrate for the first time, and as Emma watches Duckyduck flap her wings in anticipation of resting down on warmer waters, the little sparrow begins to feel left out. "What about me?" she harrumphs. To get Emma's mind on other things, her mother sends her to see old Uncle Bob, who chirps about ancestors who crossed the Atlantic from France to Central Park, and before long Emma can think of nothing else than to journey to Paris. With a beret on her head, polka-dot boots on her feet and a supply of seafaring supplies, including a fisherman's sweater and a jar of worm jam, she hugs her parents good-bye and goes in search of her Uncle Bob's rat cousin Old Joe to take her there. But getting to his home under the Brooklyn Bridge is an adventure in itself, and will require Emma to slosh through snowy streets in Manhattan passed Radio City Music Hall, fly this way and that, and be wary of cats in between.
Then one day she flies into a billowing cloud of steam and fog and almost loses her way until a family of sparrows living on a street light invite her to warm her wing tips then point her way to the bridge. Emma's now so hungry, a building reminds her of a slice of cake, and though she tarries for awhile to listen to a band of birds on a wire, she hurries to race the setting sun. Finally, Emma reaches the East River where Old Joe is supposed to be, but she's so cold and homesick, her eyes flood with tears. Suddenly, she hears an accordion and spots a little shack on the girders. She's found Old Joe, but will the two shipmates be ready to sail by spring? Illustrations of Emma and the other creatures are imposed on sweeping photographs of New York City to create a sense of the epic and in doing so, elevate this simple tale into something utterly charming. Forty city spreads later, readers come away feeling like they've flown the city and with the Statue of Liberty to their backs, have taken to the high seas.
Then one day she flies into a billowing cloud of steam and fog and almost loses her way until a family of sparrows living on a street light invite her to warm her wing tips then point her way to the bridge. Emma's now so hungry, a building reminds her of a slice of cake, and though she tarries for awhile to listen to a band of birds on a wire, she hurries to race the setting sun. Finally, Emma reaches the East River where Old Joe is supposed to be, but she's so cold and homesick, her eyes flood with tears. Suddenly, she hears an accordion and spots a little shack on the girders. She's found Old Joe, but will the two shipmates be ready to sail by spring? Illustrations of Emma and the other creatures are imposed on sweeping photographs of New York City to create a sense of the epic and in doing so, elevate this simple tale into something utterly charming. Forty city spreads later, readers come away feeling like they've flown the city and with the Statue of Liberty to their backs, have taken to the high seas.
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, 2010, Star Wars books for kids, Ryder Windham, Chris Tevas, Dwell Studio, Chris Reiff, bibs for babies, Star Wars Millendium Falcon YT-1300: A 3-D Owner's Guide, Bibs to Go, Add a tag
Star Wars Millennium Falcon YT-1300: A 3-D Owner's Guide, written by Ryder Windham, illustrated by Chris Trevas and Chris Reiff, Scholastic, $21.99, ages 9-12, 24 pages. An owner's manual might seem like a dud as a gift, but not this one. Readers will be pouring through every note and diagram, trying to decide if they want to upgrade to a Class 0.5 hyperdrive, revamp the cockpit to fly solo or take the ship off of autopilot. In this cleverly designed user's guide to the Millennium Falcon, would-be pilots go to the heart of the starship and peel away 10 cross-sections, beginning with weapons, sensors, defense systems, propulsion units and pilot controls, and moving on to crew quarters, life support systems, cargo holds, the main computer and the hull. Within each cross-section are detailed renderings of everything from a twin-gun laser canon used to track fast-moving objects to a tractor beam that can lift objects weighing 100 metric tons.
Pilots are told to keep an eye out for updates as new features will appear as they become available. There's also a guarantee that every falcon is state-of-the-art, though by the looks of a few messages blinking on the book's paperboard pages, there's a glitch or two in the system. L. Calrissian points out that computer droid brains tend to bicker and muck things up, and when the guide concludes it's review with an assurance that all falcons are fast, durable and easy to pilot, Solo responds with a disgruntled, "Ha!" Really, Hans? What was all that in the movie about the falcon going "point five past lightspeed"? Even if the falcon is a hunk of scrap, your fans will be so giddy, they'll be asking you to roll it out by Christmas dinner. …There is a falcon that comes with this guide, right?
Pilots are told to keep an eye out for updates as new features will appear as they become available. There's also a guarantee that every falcon is state-of-the-art, though by the looks of a few messages blinking on the book's paperboard pages, there's a glitch or two in the system. L. Calrissian points out that computer droid brains tend to bicker and muck things up, and when the guide concludes it's review with an assurance that all falcons are fast, durable and easy to pilot, Solo responds with a disgruntled, "Ha!" Really, Hans? What was all that in the movie about the falcon going "point five past lightspeed"? Even if the falcon is a hunk of scrap, your fans will be so giddy, they'll be asking you to roll it out by Christmas dinner. …There is a falcon that comes with this guide, right?
Bibs to Go, designed by Dwell Studio, Blue Apple Books, $12.99, 20 bibs. Bib your babe wherever you go in these adorable coverups that look like designer textiles. Now, you'll not only keep food stains at bay but be fashionable too. Every bib features playful images in simple silhouettes, from zoo animals to cars to carrots, and comes in threes, so you have more than one chance to use a design. Designed as a carry-along, the pad has 20 water-resistant, disposable bibs (which also may be recyclable) and is as light as a rectangle of styrofoam. Tuck the pad between the seat of your car for those spontaneous feedings or for nights when you dine out. Simply tear off the bib your babe wants from a perforated line at the top and place it around your his/her neck. Push together interlocking slits at the ends, then secure it with an enclosed sticker. Then listen to the people seating around you "ooh" and "ahh."
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Daniel Pinkwater, Christmas books, 2010, Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl, a cat-whiskered girl, funny fantasy novels, Add a tag
Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl, by Daniel Pinkwater, Houghton Mifflin, $16, ages 9-12, 288 pages. In this wacky-fun followup to Pinkwater's The Neddiad and The Yggyssey, Big Audrey says good-bye to her L.A. friends Iggy, Neddie and Seamus, and the shaman Crazy Wig, and embarks on a quest of self-discovery that has you reading up words as if they were candy. Through a chain of wildly entertaining and serendipitous encounters, Big Audrey, a 14-year-old girl with cat whiskers, gets closer to solving her parents' disappearance -- a mystery she hadn't even thought about solving until a telepathic loony in Poughkeepsie named Molly read her mind and told her she should. With the help of Molly and a sacred stick, Big Audrey finds her true self and dances her way into understanding what she's looking for. Along the way, she jumps into another plane of existence and runs into other colorful characters who reach out to her the moment they meet her. Among them, a loco Marlon Brando who gives her a ride -- as he drums bongos, and downs cakes and carrot juice --, and a Vassar professor who divides his time between teaching classes and going crazy.
(Once a year, Professor Tag is admitted into Poughkeepsie's insane asylum for wearing a dress and for thinking he's an earl.) For those who are new to this crazy good series, Big Audrey arrived on Earth as we know it from another plane of existence in the second book, The Yggyssey, and became fast friends with Iggy, Neddie and Seamus in L.A., -- rooming together in a ghost hotel while she worked at an all-night doughnut shop. Irreverent, fun and breezy to read, Pinkwater's third book is like nothing else -- strange and wonderful, like a stream of consciousness that comes out perfectly. If you ever wondered if a book could be a blast, read this book, and the two before, though thanks to a quick synopsis at the beginning of this one, you could easily read this one by itself. To read my favorite quote from Audrey, scroll down to my quotation feature -- a few clicks of the return button and to the right of this post
(Once a year, Professor Tag is admitted into Poughkeepsie's insane asylum for wearing a dress and for thinking he's an earl.) For those who are new to this crazy good series, Big Audrey arrived on Earth as we know it from another plane of existence in the second book, The Yggyssey, and became fast friends with Iggy, Neddie and Seamus in L.A., -- rooming together in a ghost hotel while she worked at an all-night doughnut shop. Irreverent, fun and breezy to read, Pinkwater's third book is like nothing else -- strange and wonderful, like a stream of consciousness that comes out perfectly. If you ever wondered if a book could be a blast, read this book, and the two before, though thanks to a quick synopsis at the beginning of this one, you could easily read this one by itself. To read my favorite quote from Audrey, scroll down to my quotation feature -- a few clicks of the return button and to the right of this post
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, 2010, Angela Dominguez, Christmas around the world, Antonio Sacre, Lidia Bastianich, Nonna Tell Me a Story, La Noche Buena A Christmas Story, Lidia's Christmas Kitchen, Laura Logan, Add a tag
Nonna Tell Me a Story: Lidia's Christmas Kitchen, by Lidia Bastianich, illustrated by Laura Logan, Running Press, $15.95, ages 4-8, 56 pages. In this joyful book, beloved TV chef Bastianich draws grandchildren to her lap to hear the story of her childhood Christmases and along the way, becomes the Italian grandma we all wish we had. Simple, unaffected narrative brings out Bastianich's true voice, as she recounts the magic of holidaying with her grandparents in the Italian countryside. Among her memories: the aroma of drying orange peels mingling with the scent of a juniper bush they'd cut for their Christmas tree and afternoons stringing dried figs and bay leaves into wreaths, then hanging them with leafy-stemmed tangerines and cookies looped with ribbon. Everything about this book glows, from the cheeks of the characters to the tender way Bastianich's grandchildren embrace her traditions.
At the back, Bastianich shares 15 traditional dessert recipes and describes how to decorate an old-fashioned Italian tree. The most popular chef on public television, Bastianich hosts the award-winning show, Lidia's Italy, and is a world-famous restaurateur and cookbook author. Born in Croatia, she emigrated to Italy when she was 10 to escape the socialist dictatorship of Josip Tito.
At the back, Bastianich shares 15 traditional dessert recipes and describes how to decorate an old-fashioned Italian tree. The most popular chef on public television, Bastianich hosts the award-winning show, Lidia's Italy, and is a world-famous restaurateur and cookbook author. Born in Croatia, she emigrated to Italy when she was 10 to escape the socialist dictatorship of Josip Tito.
La Noche Buena: A Christmas Story, by Antonio Sacre, illustrated by Angela Dominguez, Abrams, $16.95, ages 4-8, 32 pages. Being swapped from one home to another at Christmas isn't easy for a child, but if she's as lucky as Nina, she finds love waiting for her wherever she's sent. When Nina is told she's going to her dad's home in Miami for Christmas, she only imagines what she'll miss. Though she loves seeing her paternal grandmother abuela Mimi, Nina yearns for the holiday she knows, with her mother in snowy New England. But it's Dad's turn to have her and though he won't be back to abuela's until the following day, he's promised that La Noche Buena, the Cuban Christmas Eve, with Mimi in Little Havana is the best night of the year. At first, Nina wonders how Santa can land a sleigh in a place so hot, but by the next day, there's so much to do and see, she doesn't give it another thought. Nina is enveloped in a flurry of preparations for the La Noche Buena feast. She helps the women make pots of marinade to pour into a bathtub in Uncle Tito's backyard, while the men prepare a spit for roasting a pig. Everyone smells of campfire and garlic, and laugh so hard over the three-day celebration that Nina asks Mimi is she can come next year and bring along her cousins from the north.
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: OLIVER JEFFERS, Christmas books, Up and Down, 2010, best friend books, picture books about pals, Jennifer Satler, Chick 'n' Pug, Add a tag
Up and Down, written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, Philomel, $16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. A boy and a penguin return from the South Pole the best of friends and for a time do everything together until one day the penguin decides he has to do something by himself: fly. Though everyone knows penguins can't fly, the penguin does his best to make it happen. He even climbs onto a chair on top of the boy's dresser and plunges off. (Luckily the boy is waiting below with a pillow.) But nothing seems to work. The boy even offers to take the penguin for a ride in his plane, but the penguin is determined to do this alone. Still, the boy wants to help and together they head to the zoo for answers. But soon after arriving the penguin sees a want ad for a living cannonball and in his excitement, rushes off to apply without telling the boy where he's headed.
The boy searches the zoo, even tries to sort out his friend from penguins in an enclosure, but is unable to find him. That night, the boy stands in the moonlight of his bedroom window, worrying about his friend. The penguin, as it turns out, has found the traveling show he was looking for and is immediately hired, but when night comes, he too is out of sorts. He wonders where the boy is and how to get home, and realizes he might not be so big on flying after all. The next day, the boy goes everywhere he imagined the penguin could be, when a poster at the airport catches his eye. Will the boy get to the penguin in time to catch him zooming out of the cannon? Beguilingly mellow, beautifully tender and spare, Jeffers's story leaves you feeling that all is good in the world. If you don't already know about the boy and penguin from Jeffers's wondrous 2006 picture book Lost and Found, you're in for a delight.
The boy searches the zoo, even tries to sort out his friend from penguins in an enclosure, but is unable to find him. That night, the boy stands in the moonlight of his bedroom window, worrying about his friend. The penguin, as it turns out, has found the traveling show he was looking for and is immediately hired, but when night comes, he too is out of sorts. He wonders where the boy is and how to get home, and realizes he might not be so big on flying after all. The next day, the boy goes everywhere he imagined the penguin could be, when a poster at the airport catches his eye. Will the boy get to the penguin in time to catch him zooming out of the cannon? Beguilingly mellow, beautifully tender and spare, Jeffers's story leaves you feeling that all is good in the world. If you don't already know about the boy and penguin from Jeffers's wondrous 2006 picture book Lost and Found, you're in for a delight.
Chick 'n' Pug, written and illustrated by Jennifer Satler, Bloomsbury, $14.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. Chick marches out of his coop in search of adventure and runs into a dog he assumes is his storybook hero, Wonder Pug. The only problem is, the dog, who is called Pug, acts nothing like Super Pug, though Chick (who sees what he wants to see) is smitten. When they first meet, Pug is laying on his side, with two paws dangling in the air. He's snoozing and in no time, Chick is swooning. Though Chick tries to be patient, he's anxious to meet his hero, and after a valiant effort of twiddling his paws, Chick grabs a bull horn and yells, "Hi," in Pug's sleeping face. Though it doesn't startle Pug, it's enough to get an eyelid open and as Pug stretches his paws and scratches his jowl with his hind leg, Chick proclaims his adoration. "I think you are magnificent," he declares, looking skyward, with one wing grandly swept across his chest. "I am going to be a Wonder Pug when I grow up." Immediately afterward, Pug hunkers back down and resumes his nap. Of course, Chick can explain all of this: Pug is saving his energy for a heroic deed. But what's this? Pug is miraculously starting to stir and what's that? A yawn? Chick is now all atwitter about what will happen next and flits about Pug, urging him
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, counting books, alphabet books, 2010, Harriet Ziefert, Gyo Fujikawa's A to Z Picture Book, Gyu Fujikawa, Flensted Mobiles, Counting Chickens, Add a tag
Gyo Fujikawa's A to Z Picture Book, written and illustrated by Gyu Fujikawa, Sterling, ages 4-8, 72 pages. Fujikawa's 1974 classic returns to delight a new generation of learners ready to leap into life and embrace their imagination. A joy to look through, no matter how many times you've seen it, this charming book teaches the alphabet while celebrating the innocence of childhood. Every letter of the alphabet receives a grand, happy welcome -- first, with a softly painted illustration spanning two pages and short sentence or bouncy poem about the letter, then with another spread of delicate ink drawings of dozens of things that start with that letter. Crosshatching and finely drawn lines and dots make every picture in here a delight to look at, though it is the larger-scale illustrations that make your heart soar. One of my favorites is for the letter M. To the left, furry beasts with three-toed claws and snarling mouths reach out to scare a little red-headed boy. To the right, the boy lays on his tummy in the grass with his chin in his hands, staring at his imagined beasts with wonder. "M is for / my mean / and marvelous / monsters," reads a poem above him.
Perfect for giving to a grandchild, niece or nephew, the book includes a whimsical nameplate designed with sticks to write the child's name. Fujikawa, who passed away in 1999, also wrote the darling book, Babies, published in 1963 -- a book I still have from my childhood with all the nibble marks of my mother's teething babies.
Perfect for giving to a grandchild, niece or nephew, the book includes a whimsical nameplate designed with sticks to write the child's name. Fujikawa, who passed away in 1999, also wrote the darling book, Babies, published in 1963 -- a book I still have from my childhood with all the nibble marks of my mother's teething babies.
Counting Chickens, written by Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Flensted Mobiles, Blue Apple Books, $16.99, ages 4-8, 36 pages. Sunny, simple graphics hanging peacefully off mobile strings make this book a must for any little child who loves to count, whether it's with Count Dracula or alone on her fingers and toes. Birds, fish, mammals, a clown with juggling balls and even mice and a slice of cheese take turns being counted as readers tackle simple problems of increasing difficulty. The book charms first with its cover, which shows three colorful silhouettes of chickens, each with an egg still in their tummies. Each of the eggs is printed on see-through plastic that can be see on the other side. As you open the cover, the endpapers reveal all of the chicks that were born on a two-page mobile, along with the three from the cover, which are still in their eggs and look almost like yolks in whites. With beaks wide-open, they appear to be chirping or chipping away at the shell. My favorite spread covers two pages, each with its own mobile. On the right is a mobile with a large black fish and three tiny fish in red, yellow and blue in its stomach. On the left, is the other mobile with eight black fish scattered about. The creators asks readers to count how many fish the big fish ate and for "extra credit," how many of the little fish got away. The book, appealingly crisp, clean and fresh looking, is the creation of Denmark's Fl
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
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JacketFlap tags: 2010, aerial photography, children's books about nature, Christmas books, I Dreamed of Flying Like a Bird, Robert B. Haas, Add a tag
I Dreamed of Flying Like the Bird, written and photographed by Robert B. Haas, National Geographic, $17.95, ages 9-12, 64 pages. As Haas leans out of the doorless opening of his aircraft with a camera lens to his eye, he snaps wild moments that only a bird flying by would normally see. In this inspiring journey across the surface of wild places, photographer Haas shares pictures of animals in herds and hunting for prey that he took from helicopters and small planes over remote parts of the world. In one outing, the National Geographic photographer captures flamingos on a mystical run across the water. As they prepare to take off like planes, they run faster and faster until their feet seems to barely touch the surface.
In another stunning moment in the shallow waters off the coast of Mexico, thousands of pelicans unwittingly flock together into the shape of bird, only to sweep into another pattern seconds later. Throughout this stunning collection of photographs, Haas chats with the reader about every shoot, and shares some of the thrills and challenges of photographing from low-flying aircraft. Typically he shoots from aircraft with the door removed. Strapped into a harness so he can hang out of the opening for a shot, he has the sensation that he's gliding over a herd or is right on top of the birds he's shooting. Photographing from this vantage point has allowed him to capture deserts, swamps, glaciers and jungles that few people have ever seen, as well as new ways of looking at wildlife and understanding their behavior. In one amazing picture taken over Alaska, Haas photographs a bear's first steps out of its den after hibernation and in another in Botswana, he snaps a rare scene of a crocodile swimming away with his prey. For Hass, aerial photography is a boyhood dream come true. In one of the book's final photographs, a once-endangered white-tailed eagle patrols the air around an Arctic glacier. "While I stop to think about it," Haas writes. "I realize I am a lot like that white-tailed eagle. We both glide above the Earth searching for something to capture."
In another stunning moment in the shallow waters off the coast of Mexico, thousands of pelicans unwittingly flock together into the shape of bird, only to sweep into another pattern seconds later. Throughout this stunning collection of photographs, Haas chats with the reader about every shoot, and shares some of the thrills and challenges of photographing from low-flying aircraft. Typically he shoots from aircraft with the door removed. Strapped into a harness so he can hang out of the opening for a shot, he has the sensation that he's gliding over a herd or is right on top of the birds he's shooting. Photographing from this vantage point has allowed him to capture deserts, swamps, glaciers and jungles that few people have ever seen, as well as new ways of looking at wildlife and understanding their behavior. In one amazing picture taken over Alaska, Haas photographs a bear's first steps out of its den after hibernation and in another in Botswana, he snaps a rare scene of a crocodile swimming away with his prey. For Hass, aerial photography is a boyhood dream come true. In one of the book's final photographs, a once-endangered white-tailed eagle patrols the air around an Arctic glacier. "While I stop to think about it," Haas writes. "I realize I am a lot like that white-tailed eagle. We both glide above the Earth searching for something to capture."
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By: Jenny Miller,
on 12/10/2010
Blog: Where The Best Books Are! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Christmas books, 2010, Tony Mitton, The Teddy Robinson Storybook, storybook collections, The Storyteller's Secrets, Joan G. Robinson, Add a tag
The Teddy Robinson Storybook,written and illustrated by Joan G. Robinson, Kingfisher, $13.99, ages 4-8, 240 pages. First published in 1953, Robinson's delightful stories about a big, comfortable teddy bear and his adoring little girl are as cozy to read aloud as a Winnie the Pooh tale. In this newly published collection, Teddy loves to do anything Deborah positions him to do, whether it's bending over a book pretending to read words or trying to count blossoms on an almond-tree after she lays him on his back for a nap. Being a bear and a stuffed one at that, Teddy can only do what he can and often his thoughts get muddled, such as when he tries to count almond blossoms but can't quite figure out how. "He couldn't count more than four because he only had two arms and two legs to count on, so he counted up to four a great many times over, and then he began counting backwards, and the wrong way round, and any way round that he could think of…"
Robinson's daughter, the original Deborah and the owner of the real Teddy Robinson, selected 15 of her favorite Teddy Robinson tales for the book as a tribute to her late mother, the author of many delightful books, including the Mary-Mary series and When Marnie Was There. Give this collection to any small child who has a teddy and her parents will be giddy to thank you. What a sweet way to end a day of play and to nurture all of the innocence of being little -- that magical outlook we protectively guard in our own children, in hope that they never have to grow up before they're ready.
Robinson's daughter, the original Deborah and the owner of the real Teddy Robinson, selected 15 of her favorite Teddy Robinson tales for the book as a tribute to her late mother, the author of many delightful books, including the Mary-Mary series and When Marnie Was There. Give this collection to any small child who has a teddy and her parents will be giddy to thank you. What a sweet way to end a day of play and to nurture all of the innocence of being little -- that magical outlook we protectively guard in our own children, in hope that they never have to grow up before they're ready.
The Storyteller's Secrets, by Tony Mitton, illustrated by Peter Bailey, David Fickling, $15.99, ages 9-12, 128 pages. One day while sitting at their favorite bench under a chestnut tree, twins Toby and Tess see the silhouette of a raggedy man with a twisty old staff walking toward them in the distance. Before they know it, the figure has flumped down on the bench next to them and let out a grateful sigh. The old wanderer introduces himself as Teller, and his eyes twinkle with mystery and mischief. He tells them that squirrels snatched his lunch, and the twins immediately offer to share what their mother packed for them. In return, Teller tells them a story in ballad form about a woodcutter's daughter. From that day on, the twins encounter him many times, often when they least expect it, to hear short tales and receive five magical tokens that Teller says have "story power." One time it's a berry; another time, a scrap of cloak, another, string from a net. They look like rubbish, but Teller assures them they're more precious than gold. If they forget a story, he tells them, look at these treasures, feel them or smell them, and the story will come flooding back. Then one night, Tess has a dream that jewels are buried under the chestnut. When the twins go to the tree
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