Childrens Books

Lynn:  It’s pretty exciting when a new baby first comes home but for a toddler, that magic often diminishes as reality sets in and the baby gets a lot of attention.  Phoebe & Digger (Candlewick 2013) is a wonderfully funny, nuanced look at that common situation from the toddler’s point of view.  In our story there has been some parental planning at work here: “When Mama got a new baby… Phoebe got a new digger.” Phoebe loves her new toy but it’s clear that she is less than enchanted with the new baby.  One afternoon, Mama is very busy with the baby and Phoebe is equally busy with Digger.  Jeff Newman’s funny illustrations show what Phoebe and Digger are up to and it is no wonder that Mama decides a trip to the park is in order.  All is fine for a while until Phoebe tries to explain a perfectly reasonable situation to a “crybaby boy” and ends up in time out.  Released, Phoebe next has an encounter with a “big girl with mean teeth” who takes Digger away from her.  Happily, in steps Mama and much is resolved in an ending that is sweetly reassuring. This little slice of life is a delight – as much for the little ones adjusting to a new sibling as for the adults also adjusting.  I adore Newman’s illustrations that reveal the reality behind the toddler-perception of the story.  I’ll leave more about that to Cindy and will just say that my favorite illustration is of Phoebe in time-out. This is the perfect book for little ones and families!   The spacious pages and large illustrations make it great for a story-hour as well as being a lap-time treasure for parents and toddlers to read while a new baby sleeps.  I’ve already ordered this for the youngest member of our focus group, Henry, who is going to be a big brother in a few months! Cindy: Digger is quite the expressive construction toy with facial moves that are sure to elicit laughter and Phoebe’s imagination doesn’t hurt. Earthworms become boa constrictors and the sandbox holds mountains. The day is full of adventure…and conflict. When confronted with the bully, Phoebe tried using her words (oh, did I say that a lot over the years…”use your words!”) But that doesn’t work this time…nor does her knuckles (just a little) or her foot (not too hard). Sometimes the presence of an adult can smooth things over. Mama might seem preoccupied with the new baby, but she has eyes everywhere and she sizes up situations all throughout the story in subtle ways, ones that will surely amuse the adults reading this book to young children. Thank you for a family with brown skin. For a girl who plays with toy trucks. For a story that shows acceptable limits of behavior with enforced consequences. For a funny but reassuring story about new babies. For the simple but dual look at bullying behavior. Rarely do we see a character who is both bullied and bully in books for the very young. This is a story with love at its heart, expressed in words and art on every page.

Today is Armed Forces Day, the day on which we honor our fellow Americans currently serving in the five branches of the U.S. military—Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. The holiday was first observed in 1950, shortly after command of the five branches of the military was centralized under the Department of Defense. Despite this, Armed Forces Day didn’t become an official holiday until 1962. Many of us have friends and family who are in the military, and most people probably know at least one person with a friend or family member in the military. While every day is likely Armed Forces Day for those with loved ones serving overseas, today is the official day when we all band together to show our support of, and respect for, the members of the U.S. Armed Forces. So to all those brave men and women who make the choice to wear the uniform and potentially risk their lives in order to protect ours: thank you. You can find some great Armed Forces–themed reads below. Military Branches Pack Available in SeeSaw May 100 Days and 99 Nights by Alan Madison Available in Arrow May An Inside Look at the U.S. Navy SEALs by Joe Funk Available in Storia eBooks Military Machines Pack Available in SeeSaw June No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen Available in BookBeat Dogs on Duty: Soldiers’ Best Friends on the Battlefield and Beyond by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent Available in Club Shop

BLACK BLOP WHITE BLOP !POLB REVOCSIDBLOP is a blob--a four-lobed blob, a shape that can be almost anything the mind can imagine--a flower, a cloud, a butterfly, a Blop family, a classroom of blops in neat rows, what-ever-you-want blops.Herve' Tullet's latest, I am Blop! (Phaidon, 2013) explores what can be done with a faithful shape like the blop. Blue blop teaches colors with an acetate overlap of yellow which yields a green blop which works both ways, forward and back. Pink and purple overlays play with a touch of red.There are blops with faces, blops becoming animals, broken blops, measled blops, even invisible blops, blops as famous paintings, blops seen on a mirrored page. There are fill-in-the-blank blops and even punch-out blops that kids can take away to put into their own blop stories.Herve' Tullet's books play with the very idea of the book, extending the two-dimensional page into the non-dimensional world of the imagination, as he did in in his 2011 best-seller Press Here (see my review here) and his equally imaginative The Book with a Hole. Tullet's little books have broken new ground--genre-breaking, interactive books with deceptively simple art on traditional white pages which nevertheless become interactive when mixed with the imagination of the child. This one is no exception. Publishers Weekly puts in "... even the format is a novelty," and Kirkus Reviews quips "Tullet will intrigue children and encourage them to think outside the blop."

Submitted by Ethan, Age 11 from Rhode Island Rating: 5 out of 5 stars In the book Beasts and Monsters there is a legend called ”The Spotted Egg”. There is magic in the air. Two Cheyenne indians are lost and they find the spotted egg,but it has special powers and it doesn`t end well.The best part is the end of this legend. Any one who likes mythes and legends will love this book

I've read embarrassingly little for the Bout of Book Readathon....I was actually too sick to want to read in the middle of the week (the horror!) and work does get in the way something fierce...But for what it's worth, here's what I've read in the past five days:3 Terry Pratchett books--Small Gods, Lords and Ladies, and Soul Music, plus 104 pages of Hogfather (there's a reason why I am reading Pratchett straight through....but I'm not quite convinced its going to happen, so more later on that score....)The Secret of the Ginger Mice, by Frances Watts197 pages of The River of No Return, by Bee Ridgeway89 pages of The Bank of Bob, by Bob Harris (a nonfiction book about Kiva loans)56 pages of Penelope, by Penelope Farmer

WOOBY LOVED HIS GOLDFISH WENDY AND HIS HUMBLE HOME.HE LIVED ON A QUIET STREET WHERE THE NEIGHBORS MINDED THEIR OWN BUSINESS.UNTIL ONE DAY....Wooby and Wendy are happily living in Dullsville until Peep, the new next-door neighbor, blows into town like a tropical storm.Peep is Wooby's opposite number. Her pet is Ricardo the iguana. Her lifestyle is loud and rowdy."WOW, RICARDO! I HOPE THE NEIGHBORS WON'T MIND MY SOUND SYSTEM!"But it's not just her bass and tweeter that have even the backyard squirrel exclaiming "Oh, nuts!" Peep's idea of ingratiating herself with the neighbors is inviting everyone to her high-decibel housewarming:"ALL-DAY PAR-TAY!"All the neighbors nix the event. Sheep says "Bah!" Panda has to practice Zen meditation. Kangaroo has a boxing match, and Cow remembers she has a moo-sic lesson. . Wooby wants to stay away from the par-tay, too, but he's too polite to take a pass and finds himself the unfortunate only guest at Peep's festivities. Peep tries to be the life of the party and winds up spilling Wendy's goldfish bowl, knocking down Wooby's 547-year-old shade tree, and, trying to make amends, she finally brings down the house--Wooby's house--all by herself. Oops.Not an auspicious start for a friendship, but two lonely people find a way in Cynthia Liu's Wooby & Peep: A Story of Unlikely Friendship (Sterling, 2013). How Wooby and Peep become a "party of two" is a sweetly comic story that will charm kids completely, thanks in part to Mary Petersen's appropriately silly illustrations and Liu's light touch with her theme of friendship found in funny places. "Surprisingly affectionate," says Kirkus Reviews.

So this is what happened. On the first leg of my flight out west back in March, I started writing a response to Brandon grading us on our quizzes (Remember that back in the olden days?), but then I got stuck overnight in Detroit, which goofed up the beginning of my trip and derailed all my bloggy plans. A quick note now: Brandon, I loved that you graded us on our posts, and you are so right that I also read Manohla Dargis in the NYT. I always forget things when I try to make lists. You guys are all way better at that than I am. Also, you guys all saw and talked about Spring Breakers when I was on that trip. I have no interest in seeing that movie, but I wanted to mention how much I enjoyed John’s post about it. I suspect it’s better than the film itself. But, seriously, who watches movies anymore? Let’s talk about TV. On the aforementioned trip out west, my friends Tanita and David introduced me to The Middleman, which is an ABC Family show that only ran for one season. I know that makes it sound like it would be lame, but it is one of the funniest shows I’ve watched in a long time–sharp and witty and fast-paced. I’ve watched the whole run and am still attempting to deal with my grief over the severe lack of a second season. It all feels very Firefly to me. Then there’s all the TV I’ve been watching with Amy and Arthur. We finally got through season one of Game of Thrones, which I enjoyed–not as much as the book, but still. Some moments play out better on film than they do in the book, like Ned’s death, which almost made me cry when we watched it, even though I knew full well it was coming. We aren’t going to watch season 2 until Amy and I are done reading the second book. (Arthur’s already read all the books and watched all the shows because he’s kind of an overachiever that way.) Now that we’re on a GoT rest break, we’re watching three shows concurrently: Maron, season 3 of Louie, and Soap. You all know I’m a crazy Marc Maron fan, and so I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that I’ve already heard a lot of what I’ve seen in the first two episodes of Maron. Still, I think the thing has promise. The second episode is notably better than the first, and I like a lot of the details on the show. The set design is particularly good, and, you know, I like Marc. Speaking of which, John, no more Mehroning out of you over there. Louie continues to be brilliant, my current favorite show. When I was about five years old, my favorite TV shows were Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Little House on the Prairie, and Soap. So I was super-excited to see that Arthur had discovered Soap and obtained it on DVD. We’ve watched two episodes so far. The last time I rewatched the series was probably about 20 years ago, when I was in college and made my late husband watch it (he wasn’t late then), and it still makes me laugh a lot. Maybe even more than Louie. All this is making me think I should make a list of my all-time favorite TV shows, but maybe we did that at some point? I was going to say that we’re the most disorganized Film Club That Seems to Have Turned Into a TV Club ever, but, really, it might just be me who’s disorganized. About this, anyway. Now I have to get back to Clash of Kings.

I was able to get my hands on an advance copy of their new book, and it sure is awesome! Here is an excerpt from one of their stories, “Beware the Hidden Island” by Kevon McKenzie: “Our ship was under attack, but my sailors fought bravely. After a fierce battle, our ship sank, and we had to abandon it. I was the only survivor to reach the shore of a deserted island; everyone else was lost.…” Check back daily to find out how to purchase your very own copy of Beware the Mysterious Island by the students of P.S. 279—and find out how this brave soul survives the hidden island without his shipmates! Author Bio: Allister Edwards is an administrative coordinator for Scholastic Book Clubs.

Book: Splish, Splash, Splosh!Author: David Melling (@DavidMelling1)Pages: 22Age Range: 2-5  Splish, Splash, Splosh! by David Melling is a medium-sized board book with padded cover (part of a series from Tiger Tales Books). It's an appealing counting book featuring Splosh the duck (a character first introduced in a book published in the UK) and his nine duck friends.  The text is bouncy and read-aloud-able, with rhymes for each pair of numbers. Like this (across two page spreads): "ONE fluffy duck goes waddling one day. TWO fluffy ducks have founda place to play!  It's a fun book to read aloud. But it's Melling's illustrations that will delight toddlers. We see Splosh in an inner tube, hesitating to jump in to the pool. We see the other ducks, in swim caps, goggles, and even flippers bouncing around, bumping into one another. We see Splosh balanced in his inner tube, which hangs from a tree (after a diving board mishap), and a clearly irritated bird poking a hole in said inner tube. The illustrations are just the right mix of silly and simple. There's a plain white background, and little texture to the illustrations. Melling's focus is all on the ducks, their swim paraphernalia, and the pool. And, on the last page, water splashing everywhere. Splish, Splash, Splosh! would be a great bathtime book for two-year-olds, or just a fun counting book for slightly older preschoolers. The padded cover and brightly colored letters in the title will catch the eye of young children, who sense immediately that this is a book for them. The sturdy construction, not to mention the quiet humor, will appeal to parents and librarians.  Publisher: Tiger Tales Books (@TigerTalesBooks)Publication Date: March 2013Source of Book: Review copy from the publisher FTC Required Disclosure: This site is an Amazon affiliate, and purchases made through Amazon links (including linked book covers) may result in my receiving a small commission (at no additional cost to you). © 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

E. B. White, renowned author of Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and other classics, once said: “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” We think you can do both—enjoy the world and improve it too! Taking Care of Our Earth (Grades PreK­–K) and the other Knowledge Quest! Read-Aloud Collections on ecology for grades K–3 inspire kids to enjoy the outdoors during spring and summer, learn about our natural environment, and care for the earth. We’ve got a plan to help you easily incorporate Common Core skills as you motivate young children to take care of the earth and learn how it takes care of us. Read Aloud Every Day: - Research has shown that children’s ability to understand content through listening outpaces their comprehension through reading from infancy to middle school age. By reading aloud to children daily—without burdening them with decoding words on a page—you’re able to help them learn more about interesting topics and increase their in-depth knowledge. We love Maureen Wright’s Earth Day, Birthday! as a great introduction to the ideas of recycling and reusing. Start with Questions: - What do children already know? What do they want to know? To help introduce the read-alouds and frame the learning goals, our team of experts has created “Quest Questions” for each collection. The Quest Questions for Taking Care of Our Earth are: - How does the earth take care of us? - Why should people take care of the earth? - How can I take care of the earth? - Where does trash go? - What is recycling? Build Vocabulary: Reinforce the vocabulary from the Taking Care of Our Earth read-alouds in your discussions and related activities. The selected vocabulary words target essential concepts from each book and the collection as a whole. Enjoy the Activities: The activities that come with each guidebook not only extend the learning of the collection’s content, they are built to meet Common Core State Standards. Most importantly, they’re fun and easy for both parents and teachers to use. We’re not claiming to have all the answers for taking care of our earth, but we hope this collection will encourage adults and children alike to enjoy our world and improve it! For additional activities and ideas about reducing, reusing, and recycling, check out: Recycle Creatively with This Sunny Scavenger Hunt Winning Ideas for Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling in the Classroom Helpful Resources for Taking Care of Our Earth Taking Care of Our Earth (Grades PreK–K) is available in Firefly April and June. Buy Now [Teachers | Parents] Author copy: Blog author Sue Rosenthal is a freelance writer and website producer. She works closely with an amazing team of editors and educational experts at Scholastic Book Clubs and the Knowledge Quest! program.