Little Hoot

Read: May 7, 2009
Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Illustrated by Jen Corace

Little Hoot is a baby owl with a problem. His parents won't let him go to bed at a reasonable hour. They make him stay up late, because that is what Owls do.

The illustrations by Jen Corace are charming and sweet with a large clear picture of the characters on each page. Though the format of the book is somewhat small overall, the simplicity would make this a good story time candidate.

Maybe a Bear Ate It!

Read: May 7, 2009
Maybe a Bear Ate It! by Robie H. Harris, Illustrated by Michael Emberley

A little monster? cat? creature? is reading a book in bed. When he loses it under his covers, he starts to panic and begins a string of assumptions about what may have happened to his book.

Michael Emberley's illustrations and large, clear and colorful. This lends the book towards easy use for story time and with younger readers. The Bear (who gets a bum rap and is featured on the cover) is scary and endearing at the same time. The main character - the cat/monster/creature has on a cool stripe-y pair of pajamas and I love the expressions he gets while in such a state of despair!

One

Read: 4/28/2009

One by Kathryn Otoshi

Kathryn Otoshi packs a lot of meaningful content into a very simply written and illustrated picture book. This book introduces colors, numbers and standing up to bullies! Simple watercolor illustrations of simple circles of color make up the characters.

Red is a big bully who always puts Blue down. The other colors don't like that, but they don't stand up to Red. Finally, along comes a grey Number One who doesn't take Red's nonsense. All the other colors like that and become numbers able to stand up to Red too. Even Blue. I love this book!

Wave

Read: March 11, 2009

Wave by Suzy Lee

Wave is a delightful wordless picture book. The book is illustrated with charcoal drawing and watercolor paint.

A little girl (drawn in charcoal) visits the beach with her mother (and some seagulls!) The interactions she has with the waves are priceless and hilarious.

A really great book to "read" with a preschooler. The format is a little small for a storytime though.

There Are Cats in This Book

Read: 1/20/2009
There Are Cats in this Book by Viviane Schwartz

What a delightful book to read aloud to the youngest of children. Three high maintenance cats set about telling you how to interact with the book. Turn the page, lift the flap, etc.

Kids really enjoy the whimsical, bossy cats and the use of die-cut pages is on a par with Go Away, Big Green Monster!

Seriously- I'm putting this at the top of the books I've read this year!

Not A Stick

Read: 12/30/2008

Not A Stick by Antoinette Portis

A really simple story about a pig with a stick who uses the stick and his imagination to create a lot of fun games. Its not a stick, its a paintbrush, a fishing pole, a barbell and a sword.

The style reminds me of children's books from the 1950's and early 1960's - Harold and the Purple Crayon and It Looked Like Spilt Milk in particular.

This would be great to use with older preschoolers.

The House in the Night

Read: 12/19/2008

The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson, Illustrated by Beth Krommes

Caldecott Award Winner for 2009

A simple story about a girl in a house at night. The rhythm of the story is a lot like The House that Jack Built and the author does refer to that as an inspiration in the afterword. The story is simple and short, the illustrations (scratchboards in black and white and yellow) are detailed and calm.

This is definitely a bedtime story to read over and over again. Because of the detail level of the illustration, I wouldn't recommend it for storytime unless you used the story only and turned it into some sort of interactive story or maybe a flannelboard...I'm still thinking about that one.

The Retired Kid

Read: 12/14/2008

The Retired Kid - Jon Agee

What a fun book. A boy decides that being a kid is hard work and he is tired. In fact, he's ready to retire. His parents throw him a retirement party and then he actually flies to Florida to live in a Retirement Community. At first the retired life is great, but soon he grows tired of some of the down sides, like looking at hundreds of snapshots of someone's grandchildren and prune juice smoothies. So he comes out of retirement and goes back to being a kid.

The illustrations are fun and clear - a mix of crayon drawings with watercolor coloring. The look is simple, I wouldn't say it looks like a kid could do it - but there is a child-like sensibility to Agee's illustrations.

A Visitor for Bear

Read: 12/7/2008

A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker, Illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton

A charming story about a grumpy loner Bear who is drawn out of his solitude by a very cute and tenacious Mouse. Its a short, heart-warming story about friendship and visiting for a spot of tea.

The watercolor illustrations are full of detail and Mouse has a lot of facial expression for being so very SMALL in relation to Bear.

This one would be good to read to a child in your lap. The details might be lost on a story time crowd.

A Kitten Tale

Read: 12/3/2008

A Kitten Tale by Eric Rohmann

What a fun little book. Okay, the format is a normal picture book format, but the story is simple and so are the pictures. This would be great to read to 3 year olds.

Four kittens go through the seasons thinking about the snow that will fall in the future. Three of them are afraid of the idea of snow, the fourth welcomes it. When the snow eventually falls, the fourth kitten shows the others that playing in the snow is great fun.

I really like the illustrations, they are simple and clear, the kittens are appealing and not overly anthropomorphised.

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Very Hairy Bear

Read: 12/2/2008

Very Hairy Bear by Alice Schertle, Illustrated by Matt Phelan

What a great book for little ones! The descriptive language is great - full of rhymes and playful sound-alikes. The pictures are whimsical and very large- great for toddlers. This bear is not scary at all.

My favorite part? When he is eating blueberries and has a blueberry sticking on each of his claws. Awesome!

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