Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City (2008)

 

PaleMale: Citizen Hawk of New York City by Janet Schulman is the true story of a famous red-tailed hawk.  Pale Male, named because of his unusual beige color, flew into Central Park in 1991. After two failed attempts to build a nest, his third choice would turn him into a celebrity--the ledge above a window on an exclusive Fifth Avenue residence. Before long, Pale Male’s fan club grew. Crowds gathered to witness his chicks mature into fledglings that flapped their way into Central Park.  The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 protected Pale Male’s nest until 2003 when the treaty changed.  Removal of the nest made international news,  and his admirers came to the rescue.

MeiloSo’s vibrant watercolors add joy to this dramatic story.

This book is read aloud online by Creating Smart Readers.

My Picture Book Talk for this story is here. 

Gregory's Shadow (2000)

 

 Gregory's Shadow by Don Freeman is about a groundhog who loses his shadow. Shadow, with a capital S, is  a blue-gray color against snow-covered farmland on a sunny day. Gregory sees his shadow on sunny days and in bright moonlight (Shadow's blue gives him visible presence in a very dark barn midway through the story). Gregory and Shadow are shy individuals but brave as a pair. So, when they accidentally separate, each must courageously trek through a snowstorm on their own. When they reunite, Gregory takes great care to keep Shadow close. How will Gregory hold on to his shadow while also showing the farmers that spring is on the way?

Oh Bother! Someone's Jealous! (1994)

 Oh, Bother! Someone’s Jealous! by Betty Birney  can help children learn the words for feelings. They can  learn how feelings influence behavior. Tigger loves hill-bouncing because “that’s what Tiggers do best!” When he is not the best hillbouncer, we learn about jealously. Four friends are enjoying a Spring day when Tigger wants them all to play hill-bouncing.  This game is competitive: boing to the top of the hill in only six bounces. This game is not easy or fun for Pooh and Piglet. It is fun for little Roo, who can reach the top of the hill in only four bounces. Tigger feels something ‘bad’ about Roo’s achievement. He no longer feels very bouncy and this feeling prompts him to say the game is stupid and to walk away. Roo is young and confused but Piglet understands that Tigger is jealous. Eeyore provides Tigger with a reality-check. Different friends have different abilities.  Christopher Robin mediates the misunderstanding, just as parents need to do for children. Christopher Robin teaches Tigger that a he doesn’t have to be the best at something to be considered a fun friend. Many children will appreciate this message in the highly competitive culture in which we live. This book teaches children to respect and appreciate others, regardless of ability or skill.

Turquois Boy (1990)

 

TurquoiseBoy: A Navajo Legend is written and adapted byTerriCohlene. It’s a story of how a divine youth earned the gift of horses for the Navajo People.  Turquoise Boy draws curious readers of all ages  into a complex legacy of this Native American community. There is information about the Navajo at the back of the book. Because Turquoise Boy was published in 1990, we wonder -- "What about the past three decades?" For example, on page 40, "Others have jobs in tourism, oil or other modern careers." sidesteps the exploitation of sacred lands by businesses and vacationers.

Charles Reasoner's illustrations are crisp and reverent. 

Turquoise Boy is only a glimpse into Navajo culture, so I must write this disclaimer: I wrote this lesson because Turquoise Boy is a beautiful story. I do not have any personal experience with Navajo culture and do not claim to understand it. Please read this picture book with respect and humility.

This book is read aloud online by 2A Days Park.

Late for School (2010)

 Late for School by Steve Martin is about what happens to a boy who moves very fast, I mean VERY fast. When he wakes up one morning, his first thought is about getting to school on time.  Quick, quick he puts on his shirt and pants, flies downstairs, bumps into his grandmother, and creates chaos. Similar silliness follows him all the way to the school building. It's closed. It's Saturday. C.F. Payne's illustrations match Martin's absurdity. Steve Martin's comedy is physical and linguistic. This large book has a big presence. 

A Chair for My Mother (1982)

 A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams Vera B. Williams shows more than saving money to buy a chair. It's a story about beloved family and compassionate community. Written in the first person, the main character does not have a name nor any gender reference in the text.  Readers learn that saving a small amount of money every day adds up over time. Adventurous adults can turn this family's trip to the bank into a math lesson with hand-made manipulatives; for example, how many quarters  equal a dollar bill?

 A lengthy flashback,  a devastating story within a story, challenges children’s sense of time. Adults should be mindful that some readers may recall traumatic events from their own pasts. Ms. Williams' brightly colored illustrations radiate hope. The ending promises a safe and loving present. This book reveals a complex tale based on the pleasure of a chair, “A wonderful, beautiful, fat, soft armchair.”

This book is read aloud online by Story Time for All Kids.

The Biggest Snowman Ever (2005)

 

TheBiggest Snowman Ever by Steven Kroll is a quick and easy story about the power of partnership.  The Mayor of Mouseville announces a snowman contest,"Whoever makes the biggest snowman will win a prize!" Clayton and Desmond earnestly work to build a snowman bigger than the others'. Then, the youngsters break the unspoken rules of traditional competition. They combine enthusiasm, effort, and snow to build the biggest snowman ever. Jeni Bassett illustrates this with playfulness perfect for this story.

This story uses binary gender pronouns. The narrative also implies that biggest is best. and since the friends break the rules of the competition, should they receive the prize? A teacher or parent may choose to accept or challenge these assumptions in conversation about this simple tale of cooperation.

Where the Wild things Are (1963, 1991)

 

Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak, plays with the word "wild." Wild describes behavior. We meet Max acting like a wild thing within claustrophobic indoor spaces. Wild also describes place. Max imagines a natural habitat for himself, a wild outdoors of forest and ocean. And wild also describes creatures that live in nature. Dressed as a wolf, Max discovers a land of fantastic wild creatures with terrible roars and terrible teeth. Then Max shows us how to confront wild things head on. He stares into all their yellow eyes. How fun it is to romp in the wild with the wild things! Yet, Max only wears a costume. Beneath the costume is a little boy with a forgiving mother and loving home. This masterpiece of only twelve sentences still speaks to young children who experience both a wild imagination and the security of home.

 

I Want a Dog (1987)

 

In I Want a Dog by Dayal Kaur Khalsa, it’s May who wants a dog and her parents who don’t, at least not right now. May is creatively persistent in her request. She recalls that learning to roller skate was difficult, but she succeeded by trying and trying and trying again. So, each time her parents say “no” to getting a dog, May tries again with a cleverer plan. In a moment of furious frustration, May discovers that her roller skate can substitute for a little white dog. Pulling her roller skate on a rope feels like walking a dog on a leash. First she practices walking the skate inside, then she takes it to the playground. Soon, everyone wants to walk her roller skate. She doesn’t change her parents’ minds. It’s a couple more years before May gets a dog. In the meantime, she—and her friends—practice.

My Picture Book Talk for this story is here. 

Froggy's Sleepover (2007)

In  Froggy’s Sleepover by Jonathan London, Froggy is sleeping at his friend Max's house on a Friday because there's no school the next day. I love the idea of chocolate fly cookies! Packing for the sleepover is part of the fun.  Fun onomatopoeia represent sounds as Froggy packs: slam! sloof! poof! pum!  Froggy's "huggy" is a person toy! 

 Froggy discovers that his friend is a challenge. He calls Froggy a baby for brushing his teeth. He scares Froggy with ghost stories. Froggy wants to go home where he'll feel safe.  Froggy's mother tries to help the friends have a fun night by making popcorn. Froggy seems not to want to admit he was afraid at Max's house. He says he's hungry instead.The kids are having fun but keeping the parents awake. 

When the parents fall asleep, it’s Max who wants to go home.  Back and forth they go, each missing the comfort of their own home. By the time they fall asleep, it is Saturday morning.

Song and Dance Man (1988)

 

Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman is a door into history, literally. Three children walk through the attic door of their grandparents' home and pretend it's the turn of the century.  Everyone plays dress up with grandpa's old clothes—especially grandpa.  He was a song and dance man who performed in vaudeville shows. His vest doesn't fit, but his tap shoes do. As the grandchildren listen to "his tap shoes make soft, slippery sounds like rain on a tin roof ", we wonder what images arise in the elderly gentleman's mind. Grandchildren make a kind, attentive audience: "We've heard that joke before, but the song and dance man slaps his knee and laughs until his eyes water." The children laugh too, clap, and shout for more. But grandpa's out of breath following his grand finale. Besides, it's dinnertime. This story encourages generations to share their lives. When grandpa turns off the attic light and glances back up the steps, we infer that he's relishing both the past and the present. 

Stephen Gammell breathes visual joy into the story.

The Story of the Little Black Dog (1994)

 The Story of the Little Black Dog by J.B.Spooner is another example of a pragmatic adult won  over by a dog. This one is based on a true story. Dog and owner are in a photograph on the jacket cover. This  a  famous dog. She became the mascot of a restaurant called The  Black Dog. You may have seen her profile  on merchandise.

The setting is Martha’s Vineyard, and the reluctant adult is Captain Douglas. He lives alone by choice. One day, a friend drops off an abandoned puppy. And the stage is set for the puppy to wreak havoc in Captain Douglas’  neatly organized home. Specific to this situation is Captain Douglas’ lengthy stays on his topsail schooner, the Shenandoah. Turns out, this puppy loves the boat. It’s not a house dog—it’s a sea  dog. The dog is not a problem on the boat. 

But then, a neighbor takes the dog in an honest attempt to help. She’s on her way to the ferry, so Captain Douglas must run to the ferry as  it pulls away from the dock. The two are reunited in dog owner  bliss.

Terre Lamb Seeley’s paintings have the tastefully muted colors of a New England sea  town. They show a fun loving puppy searching for her place in an established locale.

James Goes Buzz Buzz (2004)

 

Introduce your young readers to onomatopoeia with this Step into Reading, STEP 2 picture book, James Goes Buzz, Buzz. In English, onomatopoeia means the imitation of a sound. The many sounds in this story include Chirp! Chirp!, Buzz! Buzz!, Hmmmph!, BUMP! and more. Alliteration also appears as in, "He saw boxes and bundles and bags. And there was the beehive!" Several phrasal verbs in this story will help readers consider multiple meanings.  This Thomas and Friends picture book has times to talk about James' facial expressions. James looks happy when talking with Trevor, frightened when a beehive breaks, angry when bees swarm around him, and hurt when he is stung. Trevor warns James to be careful with bees, but James must learn this lesson on his own. This is true for children and adults – we may brush off advice we must later learn with experience. High potential learners could enjoy researching the vital role bees play in our environment.

I Love My Hair (2011)

 

 Emily, the main character in I Love My Hair by Anne Matheson, begins each day with gratitude. Her hair is just one of the many things she loves about her life.   A happy-go-lucky tale, there is no problem to be solved, no conflict, and no drama. Amanda Savo's illustrations are light and airy with a pink theme. 
"Every morning Emily gets up early, looks in the mirror and sings, I love my hair!" Adults who keep a gratitude journal will recognize that Emily is practicing a positive outlook. Alongside a list of loves, the refrain recognizes how Emily is unique: "…and no one else has a ___________ like me." The pages feature hearts, flowers, colorful birds, and pink-pink-pink. The illustrations look like a child's coloring book - line drawings colored in with crayon. Therefore, it's easy to suggest that young readers draw their own books of gratitude after reading this story.

Millions of Cats (1928, 1956)

 

Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág is the story of an old man who set out to find a cat for his wife. He finds a hill covered with cats and brings them all home. This is becasuse after he chooses one cat he thinks is the prettiest, he sees another one that’s also very pretty, and then another, and another. His wife says it's impossible to keep them all.When he asks the “hundreds of cats, Thousands of cats, Millions and billions and trillions of cats” which one is the prettiest, they fight amongst themselves. The disappearance of all these cats is a bit ambiguous. However, one kitten remains. It survives because it believes it is “a very homely little cat”. This is a lesson in modesty? I don’t know, but it’s a fun story. The illustrations look to be pen and ink drawings, and they are charming.

I picked up this book because Giuseppe Castellano mentioned it in an episode of The Illustration Department Podcast. Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág won a Newberry Honor Award in 1929.

More More More (1990)

 

More More More by VeraB. Williams is alive with color. Multicolored text and a decorative border brightens every page . There is no story. This book is a collection of three scenarios in which adults chase down toddlers. Two are active children and one is sleepily rolling off a couch. The emphasis is on safe, physical play with caring adults. Is it OK for me to wonder why the little brown child appears to have a white grandma? The text is repetitive but not rhyme. Maybe I’m too far away from those years of parenting a toddler to enjoy this book. Maybe I’m unfamiliar with the kind of play pictured. It feels too aggressive for me. Nevertheless, it is visually beautiful.

This book won a Caldecott Honor. 

 

Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane (2008)

Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane is a soulful introduction to the childhood of a jazz legend. Carol Boston Weatherford focuses on the  auditory. Her pages describe the sounds in John Coltrane's world: the ukulele, steam engine, dance, big band, and more. These references invite—demand—that the reader learn relevant  history to fully appreciate this succinct text. Her story rewards those who expand their background knowledge about John Coltrane and the 1930s. 

The lengthy Author's Note, Selected Listening, and Further Reading references at the end of the book will appeal to the middle grade reader. Sean Qualls succeeds in representing sound.  His illustrations are not childish and so respect the older reader. 

My Picture Book Talk lesson is here.  This lesson includes several links to YouTube videos to whet the appetite of children curious about John Coltrane's music. I watched the documentary Chasing Train on a streaming service; however, it is also available through my library network. 

This story is read aloud online by INDY E.C.H.O. OURStory Time. 

Bathtime for Biscuit (1998)

 

In Bathtime for Biscuit by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, Biscuit likes to play, dig, and roll. Biscuit even enjoys water play. When a young girl tries to give Biscuit an outdoor bath– surprise! She falls into the soapy water. This girl is kind and does not get angry at Biscuit and friend Puddles. This story may encourage dialogue about how play can have unintentional consequences. Everyone in this story is patient and understanding. Pat Schories' illustrations remind me of the Dick and Jane books I read as a child. 

Button (1994)

 

Button by Sara Fanelli (1994) is a quirky book. I love that the illustrations and layout are so unexpected. I picked up a used copy and later learned it was missing a very large round red button that had been attached to the cover. This button is the first of a cast of characters depicted in the first pages of the book even before the copyright page. The text circles the order of each page. Close examination reveals that the text and subsequent pages begin with a text from where the previous page left off. For example, the first two pages of text is a single line that runs across the top and continues down the right hand border. This means that when we turn the page the text is printed upside down along the bottom border. When we turn the page again, the text runs along the left-hand border and then begins across the top.

 The illustrations appear to be in part collage. I don’t have the dust jacket to explain the mixed media. The button begins on a beautiful coat, “ once upon a time there was a man who had a coat with beautiful red buttons that he liked very much. But one button decided to see the world. He pulled and stretched and pulled and ping, he was free.” We read about the button's journey. It became a play thing for a little girl, fell into a farmers field and became a wheel on his cart, served as a plate for a wolf, and more.  Perhaps it’s the color palette or the composition that makes this book so darn appealing despite its unusual characters. This is a unique and delightful story that will stay in my own library.

 

 

 

The Relatives Came (1985)

 

Love and family emanate from every page of The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant (1985). I recall talking about this book in a welcome statement I wrote for a Sunday church service. I laughed at the awkwardness of distant relatives staying for weeks and weeks, a discomfort I projected onto the story. The Relatives Came feels different as I read it many years later. This is a story of family warmth I did not know as a child. My parents groaned when relatives came to visit. Uncles, aunts, and cousins sometimes showed up unannounced for dinner. And they stayed a very long time—three hours! So, I reread Rylant’s story envious of relatives who brought with them lots of hugs. They helped with the garden and fixed broken things. They played games. They played music. They had fun. Stephen Gammell’s pictures show their joy. 

Annie and the Old One (1971)

 

Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles (1971) was a difficult read for me. About the title: does a Navajo family name a child Annie? And about the first sentence: the Navajo world was good? I wouldn’t have had these questions in 1971. More than 50 years later, I have questions about reservation life. In the last 10 years, I’ve been told that my ancestors decimated the Native population. The expansive white population took ownership of what would become the United States, and corralled Native Americans into desolate deserts. Later, whites returned to mine and pollute the countryside. I find it difficult to separate the important story of family from this context, but I will try to comment on Annie’s struggle with death. 

Annie’s grandmother, the Old One, states that she will return to the earth when Annie’s mother finishes weaving a blanket. Annie tries to prevent both. Her attempts remind us that a child’s behavior can have hidden motives. Annie accepts her grandmother’s passing by learning to weave. I hope that’s not all she does. I hope her school bus brings her additional alternatives. 

Peter Parnall’s art won the book a Caldecott Honor. 

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992)

 

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka this book is both silly and surreal. Well known children’s stories are retold with a healthy and hilarious irreference. Chicken Liken is frantically warning friends that the sky is falling.  Unfortunately, she ignores Jack the Narrator who has interrupted the story with a warning of his own. Turns out the sky is not falling but the table of contents was. “it fell and squashed everybody.“ We read about the Princess and the BowlingBall, The Other Frog Prince, Little Red Running Shorts, Jack’s Bean Problem, and more. Lane Smith’s illustrations are as bizarre as the stories. Humor prevails despite the ways in which this book goes off the rails. I remember my own child laughed and laughed at this Caldecott Honor winner.