Jumanji (1981)

 Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg (1981) became a famous story. It’s a frightening story in which the black and white drawings create just enough distance from reality to also make it fun. Van Allsburg isn’t looking to scare readers; he’s into mystery and surprise. Judy and brother Peter find a board game in the park. They take it home to play while their parents are out. The messages on the squares of this game translate into real life scenarios, beginning with the attack by a lion. It’s an ingenious plot made perfect by Van Allsburg’s thoughtful illustrations. This book received the Caldecott Medal. In a YouTube video of a talk Van Allsburg gives for Politics & Prose, he recalls being genuinely surprised by the award. Here is a true artist who worked to express his own ideas. He was one of the lucky ones who also received popular acclaim.

*I Have a Sister, My Sister is Deaf

 I Have a Sister My Sister is Deaf  by Jeanne Whitehouse shows the impact of deafness upon a young child’s activities: talking with friends and family, playing outdoor games, and responding to environmental sounds. However, my resource focuses on the relationship of the sisters. For example, the older sister must adjust play to meet the needs of her young, hearing-impaired sibling. At the beginning of the book, she helps her sister learn single words. By the end of the book, she realizes that life entails a vast number of hearing experiences. Whitehouse’s implicit theme is the contrast in how these two girls experience the world.

Deborah Ray’s illustrations are black and white drawings. They capture the lives of these two sisters with minimalism and precision.  

There’s no mention of early intervention for hearing impairment. Whitehouse published this book as an adult in 1977; I wonder what was available for her sister when they were both young children.  When I post this resource on March 31, 2025, I don’t find any other lessons on TPT for this book.

This book is read aloud online by Read Alouds with Haruka.

My Picture Book Talk for this story is here.

*Probuditi! (2006)

 Probuditi! by Chris Van Allsburg (2006) is  more fun and less dark than the few other books I’ve read by him. The cover is a little creepy, but the story isn’t. This is a  story about the shenanigans that siblings play on one another. Calvin seems to enjoy tormenting his younger sister, Trudy. At  the beginning of the story, he gets scolded for putting a  rubber spider in her bed. It  happens to be his birthday and his mother gives him two tickets to a magic show. When Calvin and his  friend Rodney are stuck babysitting Trudy after the show, they decide to hypnotize her, just as the magician did to the woman in the cover art. Trudy behaves like a dog and the two boys can’t figure out how to release her from their hypnotic spell. That is, until a bucket of cold water causes her to cry just as mother returns home. Consequently, Calvin doesn’t get his birthday dinner. But this wouldn’t be a Van Allsburg story without a little mystery. So the ending is two pages later. It leaves you saying, “What?”

Market Day (2008)

Market Day by Carol Foskett Cordsen (2008) is a  story in rhyme. Every phrase begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, which prompted me to question the purpose of Cordsen’s  grammatical choices. I was slow to realize it  was poetry. Douglas B. Jones’ illustrations also confused me. When I saw the cover art, I anticipated a  story published many decades ago. Not so much; this book is only 16 years old. Surprises like this make me smile. They keep me rummaging through library book sales in search of the unexpected.

This story takes place in a single day. On  first page “Harvest sun up. Over bay. Over farmhouse. Start of day.” The Benson family of four fills their truck with apples freshly picked from their orchard. They drive to an open-air market to sell their apples alongside Mrs. Spencer’s pies, Gracie’s peas, Clayton’s bait, and other vendors. But  something is rumbling the  ground so  much as to  shake goods off farmers’ stands. It’s the Benson’s cow. If we return to the start of the story, we see that no one shut the barn door and no one fed the cow. “Bensons help with Market mess. Market open. Big  success.”

 

A River Dream (1988)

 A River Dream by Allen Say (1988) is a Paperback  Plus book by Houghton Mifflin Company. Allen Say’s story is the first of four sections in what, at first glance, looks like an typical picture book. I recently discovered a few of Allen Say’s intriguing stories, so I was happy to find this one.. What a surprise to find information about trout  fishing, including photographs of trout, streams, and tackle! There’s also a description of Fishing Dos Don’ts  written by Anne Civardi and Fred Rashbrook, drawings of clothing, and a comic strip. 

Say’s story has the magic one expects in a dream. His paintings are masterful. In Mark’s dream, his neighborhood transforms  into a river. A rowboat rests conveniently nearbyhis home. Mark rows a short distance and finds his Uncle Scott standing in the water reeling in a fish. Uncle Scott hows Mark  how to fish. The illustrations successfully communicate the thrill both characters experience. Say repeatedly says to return fish back to the river. I imagine some readers will dislike fishing simply or fun. But there it is. 

*Animals in the Snow (1995)

 *Animals in the Snow by Margaret Wise  Brown (1995) is a gorgeous early reader. There’s simply no contest between the luscious illustrations by Carol Schwartz and  the minimalist digital art I often see in current publications. I’ve wallowed in the lovely paintings of many dated children’s books, so perhaps I write these words about this particular book because it is representative. The cover art beckons: a puppy, squirrel, rabbit, and cat run through snow and a bird flies closely overhead. They are framed by evergreens decorated in snow. In the distance are bare brown branches. Falling snow dots the entire scene. We can imagine the joy of young children playing in the snow. The text is highly repetitive. Maybe proponents of the twenty-first century science of reading would modify it. But the text in this book is secondary to the pictures. It’s as if the publisher didn’t want a  wordless book, so  Brown gave them a little something. Thank goodness people share these older picture books and don’t throw them away.

*Dudley Bakes a Cake (1988)

 *Dudley Bakes a Cake by Judy Taylor (1988) is my favorite kind of story. The illustrations are wonderful. They complement the text with content and humor. Is this why Peter Cross appears above the author’s name—and in a larger font? The insides of the front and back covers are illustrated with moments from the story. Several pictures are framed with a decorative border.

Dudley is a dormouse who wakes up one day to the exciting prospect of attending the Shadyhanger Fair. When he learns that the winner of a cake contest will win a bicycle, he must enter. “Dudley wanted that bike very badly and although he had never made a cake in his life, he was certainly going to make one today.” I fell in love with this character instantly. He doesn’t have all the ingredients necessary, but this doesn’t stop him. Extra baking powder causes his cake to rise beyond the confines of his oven and “with an enormous bang, the oven burst apart”.

Of course, Dudley wins the bike, but the visual journey is hilarious.