*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. 

The Princess Who Lost Her Hair An Akamba Legend (1993)

 The Princess Who Lost Her Hair An Akamba Legend retold by Tololwa M. Mollel (1993) feels convoluted to me, as if the translation from East Africa to Troll Associates publishing lost significant context. This book is one of the Legends of the World Series. I struggled through Turquoise Boy: A Navajo Legend. I had so many questions about that story that I wrote to the author. She didn’t reply. I have little faith in any stories that are “retold.” This one has hints of Juan Bobo and the Horse of Seven Colors by Jan Mike (1998). Both books are illustrated by Charles Reasoner. In both stories is a princess in distress. In both stories the least likely young man comes to her rescue. Juan Bobo has seven strands of hair from a magical horse. A beggar named Muoma recovers the princess’s hair with the help of a magical bird. I think both stories end with a wedding and a happily ever after. 

*Bailey (2011)

 If you’re looking only to have fun reading Bailey by Harry Bliss, that's possible. Bailey is a dog. He wakes up early, chooses a collar, puts on a back pack, and rides the school bus to Champlain Elementary. Bailey is an enthusiastic student who does well academically in his own quirky way but struggles with behavioral expectations at school. Lets’ talk about that. We can chuckle when Bailey gives his teacher a bone, demonstrates his knowledge of math by writing dog bones on the chalk board, and chews the kickball at recess. But when another student comments that Bailey is “out of control”, the story asks readers to consider Bailey’s behavior more carefully. He shows surprise and remorse when his behavior is socially unacceptable. So, maybe he’ll try to change—but at what cost? The questions in this lesson invite a variety of interpretations; however, the links for background knowledge feature the gifted and talented.

This book is read aloud online by Ms. Rachel.

My Picture Book Talk for this story is here. 

Ian’s Pet (1991)

 Ian’s Pet (1991) by Delores Lowe Friedman is a clever way to teach a popular lesson, the transformation of a tadpole into a frog. I’m willing to guess you didn’t infer this surprise from the title. If you looked closely enough, you may have guessed it from the cover art. The story begins with a common theme, a child wants a pet. Ian’s class is writing, drawing, and talking about pets. Since Ian doesn’t own a pet, he writes, draws, and talks about the dinosaur he would like to have as a pet. Pretty standard fare so far. We’re still on autopilot when Ian catches a tiny fish from a pond and puts it into a bowl. He writes, draws, and talks about his fish. It’s a satisfying read when his fish turns out not to be a fish after all. Pictures by Susan Magurn are just right, especially Ian’s many drawings of his fish that grows legs.

Sara Raccoon and the Secret Place (1992)

 Sara Raccoon and the Secret Place (1992) by Margaret Burdick shows Sara Racoon shouting “Go away!” at her pesky siblings and then at her friend, Bobby Otter. Sara is craving some time alone. So is her mother when she tells all three of her children to play outside. Because the story begins, “It was another rainy day in Maple Forest”, we can infer the family is stressed by too much time indoors. Mother Raccoon tells Sara, “I need some peace and quiet by myself this afternoon.” Quite accidentally, Sara finds a hollow space inside a tree, and she transforms it into her special, secret place. Then Sara makes the mistake of treating her friend the same way she treated her siblings. I think this story is intended to teach sharing, but to my mind, it also teaches conversational skill.  Sara must mend her friendship before it fractures. A relationship with siblings is different. I enjoyed Burdick's busy illustrations of Maple Forest. 

Wild About Books (2004)

 Wild About Books by Judy Sierra (2004) is illustrated by Marc  Brown. Need I say more about how this large book looks and feels? On page one, a librarian drives the bookmobile, by mistake, to the zoo. She is apparently clueless because she stays there. On page two, she’s intent on getting the zoo animals to read. And so it is that rhyme tells the tale of animals stampeding to learn about reading. The text is atop Brown’s colorful two-page spreads. “Giraffes wanted tall books and crickets craved small books…”; you get the idea. But wait, there’s more. The animals need lessons in how to care for books. The boa constrictor squeezed its book and the termites ate their book. I smiled at what happened next. The animals began to write their  own stories. “…penguins wrote with their bills, And porcupines wrote with their very own quills.” The ending is even  better. I won’t ruin it by giving it away.