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My official swap partner for Perfect Picture Books by Post was Beth and her homeschooling family in New Hampshire. They chose to send us a Caldecott medal winning picture book set in their home state, Ox-cart Man by Donald Hall, illustrated by Barbara Cooney.

Photo: VinothChandar

Beth couldn’t have known that right here, right now this is the perfect picture book for us – I’m currently reading M Little House on the Prairie, and as soon as we’d finished reading Ox-cart Man she immediately made a connection between the two. Somehow seeing the life she’s listening to shown in another book really thrilled her and ever since it has been inspiring hours and hours of role play.

Ox-cart Man depicts the rhythm of a year in the life of a New England farmer and his family in the early to mid 1800s. Opening with the farmer packing up his ox-cart with goods he and his family have grown, made and prepared throughout the preceding 12 months, we follow his journey through russet and gold autumnal countryside to Portsmouth Market, where he sells his wares, right down to his ox and cart. Using his earnings to buy a few store goods for his family he returns home to start preparing for the following year’s market, with his first task being to build a new yoke and cart.

Photo: sskennel

The tale is told in a sparse and unadorned manner (for example, barely any adjectives are used), mirroring the family life being depicted. But in the eyes of a 21st century girl it is a tale full of wonder. I think M found it both slightly baffling and rather thrilling to see how much the family makes and grows for itself (even though we make and grow quite a lot ourselves, at least by urban, British standards). Baffling because of the simple lack of “stuff” and the value placed on nowadays seemingly almost valueless items like a single needle, and thrilling because it appeals to every young child’s sense of independence and belief that they can do everything themselves.

Barbara Cooney’s illustrations match the simplicity of the text. They are unfussy, yet full of historical detail and

Took a sweet side trip up to Bowdoin College Museum of Art to see the final days of the Barbara Cooney Exhibit. Oooed and awed my way through the minute details of her work alongside the beatific illustrator, Jamie Hogan.

We stood dumbfounded by a group of tiny birds gathered in the gutter in an out-of-the-way corner of Cooney's picture book, Eleanor. Watch for the attentive, busy animals in almost every single spread she creates.

Was also enamored with the lupines painted on Chinese silk for Miss Rumphius. Proud to say, I have worked with Penguin USA and Raising Readers to include Miss Rumphius in an anthology of picture books by Maine authors and illustrators that will be distributed to Maine five-year-olds in 2010. Cooney's lupines grace the end papers of a collection that also includes Robert McCloskey, Amy MacDonald, Lynn Plourde, and Scott Nash.

It was one thing to see this exhibit and another to see it alongside the ever-curious-eye of Jamie Hogan. She finds wonder and inspiration in every detail of life. If you have not spied her Blog, JamiePeeps, you must. It is a perfect reflection of her creative life, mindset, and process.

Thanks to Jamie for this sketch of me made while I was sketching a wall carving from Iraq circa 859 BC. Under Jamie's pencil, I need not go on a diet.

Guest blogger Tina Chovanec is the manager of Reading Rockets.org: the authoritative online source for comprehensive and accessible information about teaching young children to read and helping those who struggle. Reading Rockets is one of four multimedia educational websites created by Learning Media, a division of WETA, the PBS affiliate in the Washington DC area. Tina is the mother of two grown daughters, both enthusiastic readers and Scrabble players. She volunteered at Hoover School (Corvallis, Oregon) throughout their elementary school years, and just started as a reading tutor at Drew Model School in Arlington, Virginia.

Last month I made the trek up to Rangeley, Maine (“midway between the Equator and the North Pole”) with my daughters for a family reunion at Gull Pond – the place where I spent many growing-up summers. The Maine air still feels diamond-clean and the geography of the water’s edge looks remarkably unchanged after 20+ years.

Emily, Nora and I walked the logging road into town. I wanted to visit the old stone library – my favorite place on a rainy summer day. The welcoming stone facade is still there, but wow it’s changed inside. No longer small and Hobbit-like, it’s now spacious, with a light-filled atrium, bustling media center (of course), expanded book collections – and lots of visitors. (It seems that libraries everywhere are thriving!)

We made a bee-line to the young reader’s section, all three of us drawn to the books of our childhoods. In a place of honor on the “you-must-read-this” display was my all-time favorite children’s book, Miss Rumphius.

This children’s librarian knew something! With Miss Rumphius, author Barbara Cooney created a timeless and evocative picture book about some of life’s big questions: What is my place in the world? Can I envision a better world and then act to make something positive happen?

In Miss Rumphius, the adventurous Alice Rumphius settles by the sea in Maine after a full, rich life of traveling and making friends around the world. Keeping a promise made to her grandfather when she was a young girl to “make the world more beautiful,” Miss Rumphius does just that, by becoming the eccentric old lady who scatters lupine seeds everywhere.

This is a wonderful read-aloud, a book that prompts many questions and opportunities to learn. Here are a few:

Vocabulary development. Miss Rumphius is filled with rich words: ‘bristling,’ ‘conservatory,’ ‘figurehead,’ ‘jasmine,’ ‘masts,’ ‘prow,’ ‘stoop’). Learn more about building a child’s vocabulary through books and conversation in this Reading Rockets article, “Taking Delight in Words.”

Background knowledge. What is lupine and why does it bloom year after year? Miss Rumphius travels to faraway places. Map her journeys to learn more about the world and its people. When Cooney writes about the Land of the Lotus Eaters or cigar store Indians, what does that mean?

Plot structure: the flashback. Talk about the present, past, and future as you read this book with a child. Can they identify the shifts in time? Have they read other flashback stories? Could they tell their own story in flashback? Learn more about teaching plot structure with picture books.

Making a difference in the world. This is a great discussion topic for children. Ask if they have ideas about how they might make their community a better place. Do they know people who stood up for something they believed in and showed great courage? For a selection of other wonderful stories dealing with these same themes, browse this Reading Rockets booklist.

Roots and wings. Miss Rumphius raises other themes worth talking about, even with very young children. What does “home” mean to you? Is it important to see and experience different parts of the world in order to understand your own place in it? Books are a great way to travel the world.

The central themes in Miss Rumphius are powerful and enduring. The International Reading Association even coined a term, the Miss Rumphius Effect, to describe “a phenomenon taking place on the Internet as teachers enact new visions for literacy and learning through the curriculum they create and share with others.” They established the Miss Rumphius Award, which recognizes educators committed to spreading their innovative teaching ideas (like lupines…) to the world.

The Horn Book published a fascinating article by Barbara Bader in 2000 about Cooney, the evolution of her illustration and storytelling style, and her instinct to write stories about “determined, creative women, like Cooney herself.”

I had the chance to meet Barbara Cooney years ago when my daughters were small. Our local independent bookstore, Narnia Books, had invited Cooney to visit and there we were: first in line, holding an armful of books awaiting a signature, excited to meet this woman we so admired. She was very kind and genuine, and she asked Emily and Nora about their favorites places to read. I was enchanted: she looked just like Miss Rumphius.

Author: Michael Bedard
Illustrator: Barbara Cooney
Published: 1992 Dell Dragonfly Books (on JOMB)
ISBN: 0440417406 Chapters.ca Amazon.com

Warm, evocative illustrations and beautifully worded, thought provoking narration make this fictional encounter with poet Emily Dickenson a stirring introduction to poetry, eccentricity and the power of understanding.

You can read more about social anxiety in children’s book here.

By: Teaching Tips Contributing Editor, Renee Kirchner

It is important for elementary aged children to understand the concept of compare and contrast. This concept can be applied to many areas of the curriculum including math, science, and literature. When a child is asked to compare and contrast two different things, they are supposed to tell how they are alike and different. Comparing shows the similarities between two objects and contrasting shows the differences. Children will use words such as both, like, also, and similar when comparing. Words such as unlike, however, and but might be used when contrasting two objects.

Children’s books, both fiction and nonfiction, can be useful tools for teaching the concept of compare and contrast. Select one book with two different characters or choose two books with similarities and differences in character or plot. Nonfiction books will also work well. For example, you could choose a book on reptiles and compare and contrast two different types
of reptiles.

There are two useful tools that teachers use as prewriting activities when teaching compare and contrast: the Venn diagram and the T-chart. The Venn diagram is made up of two or more overlapping circles depending how many objects you are comparing. Each circle contains different information about the objects and the overlapping portion in the middle contains the
similarities.

For example if I was comparing a rabbit with a wolf, the rabbit circle might have herbivore and the wolf circle would have carnivore. The overlapping portion in the middle might contain the word mammal, since both animals are mammals. Of course your student would put more than one descriptive word in each circle. The more detail they use, the better. The T-chart is organized differently than the Venn diagram. If we use the example of the rabbit and the wolf the chart would look like this:

Characteristic Rabbit Wolf
Diet Grass Meat
Animal group Mammal Mammal

Here are some examples of picture books that would work well for studying the concept of compare and contrast:

One Picture Book with Two Characters

Bubba and Beau: Best Friends by Kathi Appelt

Bubba is a Texas baby and Beau is a Texas puppy and they are best friends. They have adventures together and both of them become very upset when their pink blanket gets washed.

Similarities between Bubba and Beau:

Both of them are keen on chewing, neither one is housetrained, and they both disdain soap.

Differences between Bubba and Beau:

Bubba loves the pinky pinky blankie because it smells like Beau and Beau likes the pinky pinky blankie because it smells like Bubba.

Two Picture Books with a Similar Main Character

Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella by Susan Lowell

Chickarella by Mary Jane Auch

Similarities between Cindy Ellen and Chickarella:

Both of them have an evil stepmother or step-chicken, a fairy godmother or fairy fowl mother, and both have a prince or a princely rooster.

Differences between Cindy Ellen and Chickarella:

Cindy Ella can wrangle, rope and gallop. Chickarella starts a high fashion business that grows out of making clothes for the ball.

Children can use the examples above to create a Venn diagram or a T-chart and then write a compare-contrast paper about the different characters.

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Note: Although school is out for summer vacation in most places across the country, parents can still read with their children this summer and use activities like this one to have fund with their children as they help them become better readers.