If potential authors of picture books are given one piece of advice when they’re first starting out, it tends to be, “For the love of all that’s good and holy DO NOT let your picture books rhyme!!!” And for good reason. Few things in life are quite as painful as poorly rhymed picture books. Too many folks think it’s a breeze but there’s a reason Dr. Seuss has never been adequately replicated.
Now there was an article back in June on the British blog Picture Book Den that took time to compare British picture books in a Waterstones to American picture books in a Barnes and Nobles. Here’s what the writer had to say on the subject of rhyme:
Rhyming picture books used to be much more popular with publishers in the US than UK. I suspect that was because the US internal market is huge and they didn’t worry about overseas co-editions and translations as much as UK publishers. So in the US there has always been a high number of rhyming picture books and Dr Seuss continues to remain far more prominent than in the UK. Meanwhile in the UK, rhyme is still growing on the back of the phenomenal success of Julia Donaldson.
Fascinating. You’ll certainly find no Donaldson on this list (I’d say Brits find America’s dismissal of Donaldson as baffling as we find their neutrality on Dr. Seuss) but you will find folks with a good ear and a clever pen. There may be a bit of repetition here with the previous Readaloud list since many are the readaloud that rhymes as well. Fortunately, there are some real gems as well.
2016 Rhyming Books
Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty, ill. David Roberts
Not that the book with its current standing at #1 on the New York Times Bestselling Picture Books listing needs any help. Still and all, do you think Ms. Beaty would be where she is today if she didn’t know how to make a proper rhyme? Her cadences click. Her rhymes are sublime. The woman knows what she’s doing and the evidence is right before your eyes.
Billions of Bricks: A Counting Book About Building by Kurt Cyrus
I’ve a two-year-old that loves construction. With that in mind I took home this book, thinking it might appeal. It does. The rhymes are subtle but there, and the art is incredible. Keep an eye on the guy with the ladder as you go through it. He’s like this little walking Easter Egg, like Anno or Waldo.
A Dark, Dark Cave by Eric Hoffman, ill. Corey R. Tabor
There was a time when I thought maybe this book could have Caldecott potential. I’m not sure it does (2016 is a shockingly strong year for contenders) but I still like it a lot.
88 Instruments by Chris Barton, ill. Louis Thomas
The two-year-old is also into instruments. I suspect you’re beginning to figure out how I know to remember that one book was rhyming this year vs. another. I pretty much just use my kids to sort through my memories. So far so good on that front.
The Forgetful Knight by Michelle Robinson, ill. Fred Blunt
It never hurts when a picture book rhymes AND is funny.
Hensel and Gretel Ninja Chicks by Corey Rosen Schwartz & Rebecca J. Gomez, ill. Dan Santat
Please see previous statement on how it never hurts when a picture book rhymes AND is funny.
One Day in the Eucalyptus Eucalyptus Tree by Daniel Bernstrom, ill. by Brendan Wenzel
Still one of my favorites.
Teeny Tiny Toady by Jill Esbaum, ill. Keika Yamaguchi
A little tiny toad rescues its oversized family members through smarts and cunning. A feminist metaphor picture book if ever I heard of one.
A Toucan Can, Can You? by Danny Adlerman, ill. Various
I tried not to include any songs on this list (it’s just not fair to include them) but I figured rhyming chants belonged. A toast then to rhyming chants! Huzzah!
You Belong Here by M.H. Clark, ill. Isabelle Arsenault
Of all the books on this list, this is undoubtedly the most beautiful. Arsenault drives me crazy. She’s Canadian so she’ll never win a Stateside literary award from ALA unless she takes the plunge and lives here for a while. Fortunately we can enjoy the fruits of her labors. This one’s a dreamboat of a book. Check it out if you don’t believe me.
You’re My Boo by Kate Dopirak, ill. Lesley Breen Withrow
I don’t go in for cutesy picture books, you know. They do nothing for me. That’s why this book was a bit of a surprise. It’s cute, sure enough, but it’s rather clever as well. Plus I read it to some kids and they really enjoyed it. That may have tipped the vote in the book’s favor as well.
Interested in the other upcoming lists of this month? Here’s the schedule so that you can keep checking back:
December 1 – Board Books
December 2 – Board Book Adaptations
December 3 – Nursery Rhymes
December 4 – Picture Book Readalouds
December 5 – Rhyming Picture Books
December 6 – Alphabet Books
December 7 – Funny Picture Books
December 8 – Calde-Nots
December 9 – Picture Book Reprints
December 10 – Math Picture Books
December 11 – Bilingual Books
December 12 – International Imports
December 13 – Books with a Message
December 14 – Fabulous Photography
December 15 – Fairy Tales / Folktales
December 16 – Oddest Books of the Year
December 17 – Older Picture Books
December 18 – Easy Books
December 19 – Early Chapter Books
December 20 – Graphic Novels
December 21 – Poetry
December 22 – Fictionalized Nonfiction
December 23 – American History
December 24 – Science & Nature Books
December 25 – Transcendent Holiday Titles
December 26 – Unique Biographies
December 27 – Nonfiction Picture Books
December 28 – Nonfiction Chapter Books
December 29 – Novel Reprints
December 30 – Novels
December 31 – Picture Books
photo by digitalART2 www.flickr.com
*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders
*A skateboarding cow and other critters as main characters
*Rating: A Crazy Day at the Critter Cafe is a fun, crazy read that will leave kids laughing and wanting more. Cute ending!
Short, short summary:
In rhyme and with super illustrations, Barbara Odanaka and Lee White tell the story of the critter cafe. The cook and the waiter are relaxing on a quiet morning when a bus full of critters breaks down and in walks five raccoons. You might think five raccoons are bad enough at a restaurant, but they aren’t even the half of it. There are elephants playing instruments and Skateboard Cow as well as macaws, turtles, lizards, lambs, and penguins (and more!). As you can imagine, all these animals are very demanding when they are hungry and make quite a mess of things at the Critter Cafe! How do the waiter and cook survive this onslaught of customers? You’ll have to read the ending to find out–and to find out what happens to Skateboard Cow!
So, what do I do with this book?
1. Let students choose their favorite animal from the cast of characters, draw a picture, and write two sentences about it–something it does in the book and something it does in real life. For older students who are starting to research, you can ask them to find three facts about the animal to share with classmates. These can be displayed on a bulletin board (or on your kitchen refrigerator if you home school) with the title: “Here’s Our Crazy Critter Cafe.” You can use a checkered tablecloth as the background paper for your bulletin board.
2. The rhyme in A Crazy Day at the Critter Cafe is wonderful, and some of the words aren’t usual, familiar rhyming words for your students or children. For example: tunes rhymes with raccoons, grub rhymes with Bub, and fritters rhymes with critters. Ask students to put their thumbs up every time they hear a rhyming pair. Make a list of rhyming pairs on chart paper. Ask students to add their own words to the list. Talk to students about why words rhyme. Older students can attempt their own rhyming poem with 4 to 6 lines.
3. This is a great book to talk with students about how to act at a restaurant, the dinner table, and/or a friend’s house for supper. The animals have TERRIBLE manners, so children can have fun correcting the animals’ behavior without the book seeming preachy or a guide to “This is what you are supposed to do. . .” Students can even draw pictures illustrating one half of their papers with a picture of an animal behaving rudely, and the other half of the picture with themselves using their manners.
This week’s teleclass for members of the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club will be presented by children’s author Margot Finke.
Here’s the scoop:
Time: Thursday, May 29th, at 3 pm Pacific Time.
Title: To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme
What the Workshop Will Cover: Margot’s May teleclass deals with the tricky business of weaving story, meter and rhyme into a wonderful picture book.
Bring two sample verses, and she will help you smooth your meter, and add rhyming words that really work wonders.
Join the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club here and take part in this fun and informative teleclass Thursday afternoon.
Childrens Writers Coaching Club,
Margot Finke,
rhyming picture books,
writing in rhyme
Tonight, my final holiday blog. I don’t mean to shortchange Canada, but since the trip there was mainly to visit the Webmeister’s wonderful relatives, not to mention the fact that we were kind of museum’d out, we kept sightseeing to a minimum.
But we did go to the Royal Ontario Museum , affectionately known as the ROM, with it’s new addition, “The Chrystal” designed by none other than Daniel Libeskind. It’s a beautiful space, but most of it wasn’t opened and the gallery that was open seemed to be an underutilization of the space. Not that I’m an art expert or anything. But that’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.
In the older part of the museum, they had a really cool exhibit of old typewriters. Can you imagine writing your novel on this?
Frankly, I love looking at the old typewriters but for writing I’ll take my MacBook any day.
Afterwards, I convinced the Webmeister that we should go see the new Harry Potter movie, as my kids had already seen it in the UK so I didn’t have to wait until they got back to see it myself. On the way to buy tickets, we stopped at Indigo Bookstore so I could buy HP7, because despite the fact I had my Amazon copy waiting for me at home, I just.couldn’t.wait. And yes. I’ve finished it. And I won the $5 bet I had with my son about whether Snape is good or evil. But I won’t say who bet what just inc case you haven’t read the book yet. I’m not one of those mean spoiler people. Well, except when it comes to American Idol viewers on the West Coast :>)
After I’d made my HP purchase, the Webmeister said, “You should check if they’ve got your book.”
“Nah,” I said. “They won’t.”
Fortunately, the Webmeister has more confidence in me than I do. He ran a check on the in-store computer and lo and behold:
Funny, you didn’t know that Confessions was written by David Lubar, did you?
Of course, I couldn’t block David’s book, which was the one that was really face out
So I left my book face out next to David’s blocking the spines out section of C.S. Lewis. I figured I need the sales more than he does (CS Lewis, that is) him being, you know…dead.
Liked the movie of HP5 more than the book, which seems like heresy for me but HP5 was my least favorite book of the series.
Across the street from our hotel was this amusingly named pub:
Oh no, you dirty minded Yanks! It’s not that…Spotted Dick is an English pudding made of suet which has caused much mirth to visiting friends from across the Pond. My cousin Paula caused mirth to the Brits, however, when the waitress came for the dessert order and she asked for “A spot of dick.”
Ok, enough of that. This is the clean blog, after all.
We also went to Pardi Gras at the Distillery District which as a real blast. Or at least it was till we went back to the garage where we’d parked the car to go to visit The Webmeister’s cousins and found this:
Fortunately, they only grabbed the Webmeister’s overnight bag, which was bad enough, but we both were having palpitations over the thought that they might have taken our computers, which were in the back along with the rest of the luggage, but weren’t immediately visible like his overnight bag was.
Anyway, we had a marvelous time visiting the relatives, and even went to Canada’s Wonderland for our last day. I sat and read HP7 while the Webmeister went on the barf-inducing roller coasters.
This officially ends my holiday blogalog. Now it’s back to my basement lair, which now that I’ve finished my freelance piece, I plan to take the time to finish unpacking and organizing. Pictures of that another day!
If potential authors of picture books are given one piece of advice when they’re first starting out, it tends to be, “For the love of all that’s good and holy DO NOT let your picture books rhyme!!!” And for good reason. Few things in life are quite as painful as poorly rhymed picture books. Too many folks think it’s a breeze but there’s a reason Dr. Seuss has never been adequately replicated.
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I’ve heard you say such good things about A Toucan Can, Can You? and I wanted to order it for my library, but I can’t find it on Baker & Taylor or even on Amazon! Any idea why I’m having such trouble finding it?
If you follow the link on the title to my review and then click on the title information there it should take you directly to the author’s website where you can purchase it.