Lemonade for Sale by Stuart J. Murphy (1998) is an introduction to small business. Murphy emphasizes the numbers, prioritizing the bottom line. More customers means more sales. Collaboration means even more income. Tricia Tusa’s pictures reinforce this simple, happy process. I don’t see mention of the cost of goods sold. Who bought the lemons, sugar, and cups? And how tired were the children after selling 30 cups versus 56 cups? Yes, I know, this is a math book, not a comprehensive manual on entrepreneurship. I had a small business, and I can tell you that the work load increases exponentially as the business grows. Overhead cuts into profits, for sure.
Thursday, July 31, 2025
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers (2011)
The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers by Lisa Campbell Ernst (2011) is a book for young children who love to memorize rhyme. I can imagine this story being read again and again for nursery school circle time. Children will join in when the teacher reads one of the many short rhymes in this book. For example, as a herd of animal crackers runs across a field, farmers hear “I’m strong and I’m fast, Though I smell like vanilla. You can’t catch me, I’m the cracker gorilla!” Each animal cracker has its own rhyme. There’s a refrain also: “We’re wild Animal Crackers, Hear our fierce roar. You can’t catch us, We’re off to explore!” Of course, they encounter the sly fox at the river. Luckily, the Gingerbread Girl catches up to them just in time. Ernst’s illustrations are simple and uncomplicated, very appropriate for this audience.
Sunday, July 27, 2025
What Do You Do, Dear? (1961)
*What Do You Do, Dear? by Sesyle Joslin (1961) illustration by Maurice Sendak. This silly story teaches everyday good manners in the context of ridiculous situations. When you get lassoed in the library by a cowboy the sensible thing to do is walk out quietly. If you’re an Indian Chief who accidentally swallows smoke from a peace pipe, what do you do? Cover your mouth when you cough, of course. What a fun book this is. The format reminds me of What Do You Do With a Shoe by Beatrice de Regniers and Maurice Sendak (1997).
Friday, July 25, 2025
*Magic Windows: An antique revolving picture book
*Magic Windows: An antique revolving picture book by Ernest Miller (1895, 1980) was a very special find at a library sale. It has only five pages. Each page and the back cover has a revolving picture. That is, an illustration within a circular frame changes when a tab is pulled about halfway around the circle. A new scene glides smoothly into place to cover the previous image. I’d only ever seen crudely made picture pull books in which the reader pulls on a tab to reveal another picture under it. The revolving pictures in Nester’s book are beautifully made. Credit for the book reads, “This book was reproduced from the original ‘In Wonderland’, first published in 1895 by Ernest Nister.”
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Sky Tree (1995)
Sky Tree by Thomas Locker (1995) is a gem for children who love art and the environment. Sky tree is a lone oak tree at the top of a hill. Locker paints the tree in 14 different contexts. Its leaves are a deep green in summer, radiant orange in fall, and scattered on the ground as winter nears. Locker fills the naked branches with migrating birds, white puffy clouds, snowfall, and evening stars. Each oil painting is accompanied by one or two sentences of description and a question. “Why is this painting so strange and startling?” is the question that accompanies the tree on a gray day. Each question has an answer at the back of the book. I hope readers are free to express their own perceptions.
Curious that coauthor Candace Christiansen’s name doesn’t appear on the cover. Christiansen is a science teacher who sprinkled a little science into this book.
Sunday, July 20, 2025
That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown (2006)
That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell (2006) is an adorably silly fantasy. Emily owns a well-worn stuffed rabbit toy. The two of them imagine launching into outer space, motorbiking across the Sahara desert, deep sea diving off the Great Barrier Reef, among other things. They are interrupted by a representative of “Her Most Royal Highness, Queen Gloriana” who wants Emily’s rabbit. Emily successfully defends her rabbit, Stanley, until one night he’s stolen. Emily “marched straight up to the Palace on the Hill and confronted the queen. The ending of this story will remind you of The Velveteen Rabbit. Illustrations by Neal Layton are well suited to this meaningful silliness.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Coming to America (1996)
Coming to America: The Story of Immigration by Betsy Maestro (1996) is the dream story, illustrated by Susannah Ryan’s sanitized pictures of a multicultural community. It describes every person in America as an immigrant or descendant of one. “American Indians, called ‘Native Americans’, are distant relatives of the ancient hunters who arrived in North America so very long ago.”
The story is a chronological description of the immigrants who arrived from different countries at different times. They tended to settle in communities of their own. Eventually, westward expansion drove out the Indians. I didn’t know that in the 1900s immigrants who had permanent health problems and could not work were sent back to their native countries. There’s a single page to acknowledge the arrival of African slaves. And a note that Chinese settlers helped build the transcontinental railroad. “It isn’t easy to start a new life in an unfamiliar country. . . The jobs they must take are often hard, with long hours. Sadly, new arrivals are often poorly treated by other Americans just because they look or act differently.”
Ryan begins and ends the book with two page spreads of multicultural events in which diversity is celebrated.
Sunday, July 13, 2025
*The Library (1995)
*The Library by Sarah Stewart (1995) is a well written story in rhyme made even more magical by David Small’s magnificent illustrations. His cover art foreshadows what we see when we turn the pages. Elizabeth Brown reads her growing collection of books in a way that creates comical mishaps. “She took the train one afternoon And promptly lost her way, So bought a house and settled down To tutoring for pay.” Elizabeth fills her house with books.
David Small shows us a home with little furniture and piles of books that gradually block windows and darken the interior. Each illustration is within a line drawn frame that fills about three quarters of the page. This is within a second, decorative, frame that encloses the text below the picture. There’s more. A small black and white line drawing accompanies the text! Sometimes, elements of an illustration extend beyond the confines of its frame. Details made me appreciate the large amount of time, work, and thought that must have gone into this artistic masterpiece. A bird doesn’t simply perch on a branch; it appears to be hanging on. A toy teddy stands on its head, mimicking Elizabeth doing exercises and sits on books throughout the story.
I checked a few more books out of the library that were illustrated by David Small. They were fine enough, but not as exemplary as his work for The Library.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Nutik, the Wolf Pup (2001)
Nutik, the Wolf Pup by Jean Craighead George (2001) was a little unsettling for me. A young boy named Amaroq helps care for an injured wolf pup. Amaroq’s sister warns him not to grow to love the pup, “‘...your heart will break when the wolves come and take him away.’” The pup’s name is Nutik and Amaroq grows to love it. Of course, he hides the pup when its pack comes for it. The pack returns, and Nutik joins his wolf family–until he doesn’t. A wolf as a pet? I’m not so sure about that. But then again, an Eskimo village is not my culture, so I don’t know what the norm is. Ted Rand's illustrations have an informality to them that was adequate for the story.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
*A Storm of Horses: The Story of Artist Rosa Bonheur (2022)
At the end of the story are four pages of additional information about Rosa Bonheur, an Author’s Note, Recommended Drawings Books, Sources, Image Credits, and locations around the world to view works by Bonheur. There are many online videos and resources about Rosa Bonheur.
Wednesday, July 2, 2025
*Echoes for the Eye: Poems to Celebrate Patterns in Nature (1996)
*Echoes for the Eye: Poems to Celebrate Patterns in Nature by Barbara Juster Esbensen (1996) is a clever title for this unusual book. A note from the author and illustrator at the beginning of the book explains. “A kind of natural geometry and a repetition of shapes exist in unexpected places in the world around us...We have both spent most of our lives noticing, learning about, and marveling at these patterns in the natural world, and in the universe that holds our planet Earth.” There are four sections of poems: spirals, branches, polygons, meanders/circles. Ferns and hurricanes are examples of spirals; trees and lightning have examples of branches; a bee hive and turtle shell are examples of polygons; a snake and river are examples of meanders. “Pouring over rocks, braiding and unbraiding pushing against each bank flattening itself into satin curves the shining river cuts its snake-way across the flowered land.” Ripples in water and the rings within the trunk of a tree exemplify circles. Helen K. Davie’s illustrations feature the geometry without distortion. The pictures are lovely.
*The Night Gardener (2016)
* The Night Gardener by The Fan Brothers (2016) is a story of hope and good will. There’s not much text, but it doesn’t need much. When you...
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Waiting for the Whales by Sheryl McFarlane (1991) earned the I.O.D.E. Canadian National Book Award. The beautiful paintings by Ron Lig...
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A Boy Like You by Frank Murphy (2019) is an example of how picture books have turned preachy, in my opinion. If you’re looking for a teach...