How to use this Page

I love dogs and I LOVE David Catrow, so my first selection this week just had me at hello! Doggone Dogs!, written by Karen Beaumont and illustrated by David Catrow is an adorable, laugh-out-loud silly book about ten dogs and their rather rambunctious activities.

Also including counting from one to ten and back again, not to mention some great dog names and absolutely amazing illustrations, Doggone Dogs is one great read aloud for story time and the book your children will be pulling off your shelves to read, over and over again. I especially love the old man squinting between the dogs at the obedience school...SO funny!

Doggone Dogs
Karen Beaumont
40 pages
Picture Book
Dial
9780803731578
October 2008

Gone with the Wand, written by Margie Palatini and illustrated by Brian Ajhar, is a perfect title for that little princess in your life! A hilarious storyline with adorable illustrations, it's sure to please all those little girls that love Disney Princesses, dressing up, glitter, and girly fun.

When the best fairy godmother in the land has a slight wand mishap...well, a big wand mishap, things are starting to look verrrry bad for her, until the tooth fairy takes her under her wing and offers up friendship, kindness, and some pretty silly antics!

The entire book is one big girl-fest. Not my first choice for a boy's read aloud, but it's silly enough that they may just enjoy it too!

Gone with the Wand
Margie Palatini
40 pages
Picture Books
Orchard Books
9780439727686
April 2009

My Brother Bert, written by Ted Hughes, with illustrations by Tracey Campbell Pearson, is a perfect storytime book that will have the kiddos giggling all over the floor!

Presented with cute, rhyming text, we learn from his little sister that Bert has a rather unusual. He has been so secretive and mysterious, that she simply can't take it anymore and opens his door, letting loose almost an entire zoo of silly, zany animals!

Complimented by bright illustrations with a storyline that's a whole lot of fun, this one is great for read alouds and for both library and home shelves. A great toddler gift book!

My Brother Bert
Ted Hughes
40 pages
Picture Book
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
9780374399825
March 2009

What Really Happened to Humpty? is written by Joe Dumpty (as told to Jeanie Franz Ransom) and is illustrated by Stephen Axelsen and presents the ultimate crime case for little kids to solve.

Joe Dumpty, Humpty's younger brother,is definitely not the popular brother. Mother Goose much preferred Humpty, and thus built all the stories around him. When Humpty takes his infamous fall, the rumor on the street is that he was pushed! Joe just happens to be an investigator and sets out to solve the crime of who pushed Humpty off the wall!

A very cute concept, your kids will love that their beloved nursery rhyme might just have a little backstory going on. The characters are a lot of fun, with appearances by Little Miss Muffet, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, and others, this one is a lot of fun for a read aloud with the family.

What Really Happened to Humpty?
Jeanie Franz Ransom
32 pages
Picture Book
Charlesbridge
9781580891097
February 2009

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

I gave a talk today at the Michigan Library Association: What Works: More My Library Less MySpace.

It was an all new from-the-ground-up talk about appropriate social technologies with some decent (and local!) examples of libraries that are doing Library 2.0 stuff, especially Twitter. I almost always rewrite my talks somewhat, but using the excuse that I wanted to learn to use Keynote, this time I started from scratch. Unfortunately I don’t have a sleek 150K html page to share with you, but I do have the slides in PDF or flash format. The librarians in Michigan are always excellent to talk to and with, and have a great sense of humor about forever being compared to Ann Arbor District Library in things technological. They liked my John Blyberg joke. I heard that Kevin Yezbick was supposed to be live Twittering my talk but blogocoverage seems to be thin. I have gotten a few Facebook friend requests, Twitter adds, and one really nice MeFiMail (MetaFilter’s in-house mail system) from a member who came to my talk and enjoyed it.

This morning I wandered around downtown Lansing and marvelled at some of the lovely buldings including the downtown library. I’d show you some photos but despite all my blabbing about 2.0 Tech, I left my USB cable at home. I get back to New England tomorrow and will be chatting Scriblio with Casey before heading home to a snowy Vermont and a sock sale. Thanks very much to everyone in Michigan for making me feel so welcome.