Picture Book Friday
Had to come up to the office for a couple of meetings before Spring Break, so I am trying to get the threatening-to-become-an-avalanche stack of picture books down to a more manageable level before I leave. Here are a few of the highlights.
Could I just say that I adore Emily Gravell and leave it at that? BLUE CHAMELEON (Simon and Schuster 2011) is a terrific story about a lonely chameleon who meets many things as he searches for a friend. He not only manages to change colors, but his shape suggests those things he encounters including a boot and a snail. The art is, of course, exquisite. The story is spare which allows the illustrations to speak volumes. <116>
What kid does not secretly think this: MY MOM IS TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE (Simon and Schuster 2011)? Kate Feiffer and Diane Goode team up for this funny tale of a girl determined to distance herself from her mother AND her father. However, she decides that, perhaps, parents can come in handy. <117>
NOODLE AND LOU (Beach Lane 2011) are certainly unusual friends. Thankfully, despite Noodle's rather poor self-esteem (he is a worm), Lou is always there to lift him up literally and figuratively. Lou, the bird, is the best friend a lowly worm could have. Liz Garton Scanlon and Arthur Howard have created an interesting examination of how friends love and support one another. <118>
Lisa Wheeler and Sophie Blackall's SPINSTEDR GOOSE: TWISTED RHYMES FOR NAUGHTY CHILDREN (Atheneum 2011) takes some familiar characters and rhythms and twists and turns and tweaks them into something new and hilarious. Margery Daw is a gum chewer who learns an important lesson at the hands of Spinster Goose; Georgie Porgie is a bully who gets his comeuppance; and Peter (of the pumpkin eating fame) is a cheater who is caught and punished. Here is a collection that should be read aloud to older readers and enjoyed as something more than simple parody. <119>
Could I just say that I adore Emily Gravell and leave it at that? BLUE CHAMELEON (Simon and Schuster 2011) is a terrific story about a lonely chameleon who meets many things as he searches for a friend. He not only manages to change colors, but his shape suggests those things he encounters including a boot and a snail. The art is, of course, exquisite. The story is spare which allows the illustrations to speak volumes. <116>
What kid does not secretly think this: MY MOM IS TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE (Simon and Schuster 2011)? Kate Feiffer and Diane Goode team up for this funny tale of a girl determined to distance herself from her mother AND her father. However, she decides that, perhaps, parents can come in handy. <117>
NOODLE AND LOU (Beach Lane 2011) are certainly unusual friends. Thankfully, despite Noodle's rather poor self-esteem (he is a worm), Lou is always there to lift him up literally and figuratively. Lou, the bird, is the best friend a lowly worm could have. Liz Garton Scanlon and Arthur Howard have created an interesting examination of how friends love and support one another. <118>
Lisa Wheeler and Sophie Blackall's SPINSTEDR GOOSE: TWISTED RHYMES FOR NAUGHTY CHILDREN (Atheneum 2011) takes some familiar characters and rhythms and twists and turns and tweaks them into something new and hilarious. Margery Daw is a gum chewer who learns an important lesson at the hands of Spinster Goose; Georgie Porgie is a bully who gets his comeuppance; and Peter (of the pumpkin eating fame) is a cheater who is caught and punished. Here is a collection that should be read aloud to older readers and enjoyed as something more than simple parody. <119>