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Wow, this week totally got away from me. Between applying for just about every full time job available, having two sick dogs, only one car, and attempting to get the yard in somewhat of an attractive state, reading and blogging were definitely put on the back burner. I'm sure I'm not the only one in this boat! I had thought about just skipping my regular Picture Book "Saturday" post this week, but I had some great choices planned and as you'll see, they're all good choices for this time of year. Maybe I'm just hoping that fall is coming around the corner faster than it may seem in early August :) And school is about to start...and I'm sure you parents like that part of fall! These are some nice choices for first timers to school or just in anticipation of the fall reading season.

Count Down to Fall, written by Fran Hawk and illustrated by Sherry Neidigh, is a great introduction to all the great things about fall, from the very end of summer to the very beginning of winter.

Counting backwards from ten to one, readers will get to watch and learn as animals, trees, and all of nature readies itself for the cold weather. Chipmunks are storing food, leaves and pine needles are falling, and two children are witness to it all. The rhymes are great, allowing the numbers to stand out and be learned, and the illustrations are done in the beautiful colors of fall.

There are also fabulous activities included after the story is over, which will truly bring the story to a real-life perspective. Count Down to Fall is a great choice for libraries, classrooms, homeschoolers, or just as a gift!

Count Down to Fall
Fran Hawk
32 pages
Picture Book
Sylvan Dell Publishing
9781607180395
June 2009

Marley Goes to School, another extension of the beloved Marley series that all began with Marley and Me, is written by the original memoir author, John Grogan, and is illustrated by Richard Cowdry. Featuring the adorable, yet trouble-making Lab on a mission to find his best friend at school on her first day, all sorts of crazy antics take place from eating hot dogs in the cafeteria to setting mice loose and completely disrupting the library, this new favorite character is filled with energy and guaranteed to make kids giggle.

I do feel that the Marley picture books are a bit over the top at times, which is certainly not a bad thing for kids, the more over the top the better with them! More over-the-top in the "too much of a good thing" sense. I read Marley and Me, loved it, and now feel the author is just taking every single avenue he can to continue to bank on his crazy dog. That being said, my opinion on why the picture books are being written is certainly not going to take away from kids loving the stories and laughing out loud at Marley!

A great one to read aloud to your kids just before school is starting. It might help to take away some of those jitters, with them watching Marley get into all sorts of crazy trouble.

Marley Goes to School
John Grogan
40 pages
Picture Book
HarperCollins
9780061561511
July 2009


An Anaconda Ate My Homework!, written by Alice Schertle and illustrated by Aaron Renier, is another way to "make fun" of school and homework, hopefully easing some of those first day jitters little ones often have. The ultimate "what if a....ate my homework?" story.

Digby is pretty upset when a Gigantic Repulsive Raptor came down from the sky and stole his homework. Well, really, the Raptor stole Digby...and that's the just the beginning of his trouble. Finding himself in a Raptor's nest, then being dropped into a crocodile and anaconda infested river, played with by a gorilla, and then sitting on a rogue elephant's head (eventually to be discovered by the news crew that happened to be scouting the jungle for breaking news), Digby has a quite a journey on his way home from school!

Completely ridiculous and utterly silly, imaginations run high in this picture book! You parents will be shaking your heads, but kids will be loving Digby's story of homework.

An Anaconda Ate My Homework!
Alice Schertle
40 pages
Picture Book
Hyperion
9781423113546
July 2009

To learn more about any of these titles, or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.

Grandparents Day (September 9) in the U.S., along with a family cross-country move that will separate two adored young grandchildren from their grandparents, started me thinking about the role of parents’ parents in the multicultural families, where children are sometimes separated even farther from this precious family resource. Aline’s review of grandparent stories on PaperTigers offers a great survey of relevant resources. Regan McMahon’s San Francisco Chronicle review of Grandma stories celebrates maternal grandmothers and cross-cultural grandparenting.

The Philippines has a sort of mythical national grandmother in Lola Basyang, the early 20th-century creation of writer Severino Reyes. Christine Bellen, a present-day authority on Reyes’ work, received a Special Citation from the Manila Critics Circle for her ten-title English series retelling the stories. Here’s an interview with her by Anvil Publishing, which publishes her series in Tagalog and English. The Best of Lola Basyang is a 1997 selection of the tales in English by Tanahan Press. For more books from and about the Philippines, San Francisco’s Arkipelago Books is a great resource. Click here for their .pdf online catalog and scroll down to page 14 to browse their children’s book list.

Books are no substitute for the warmth of a grandparent’s lap, but they can bring that experience to life, across generations and cultures.