The Big Wet Balloon

I didn't intend to go two months without a blog post.  I'm sure no one ever does.  I started to write this post two months ago, got stuck, and stopped.  Then life got in the way.  So if you are still reading, THANK YOU.  I promise I have a backlog of great books to review, along with some other exciting things!  2014 is going to be my year.

I'm not sure what spurred me to request The Big Wet Balloon from TOON Books.  I suspect that I requested it because Liniers is a famous Argentinian cartoonist, and I was curious to see how his work translated to English.  I also knew that it had to be a terrific book, as TOON Books has amazing and innovative taste.  I was not disappointed.

The book begins with a little girl waking up her baby sister, announcing boisterously that it is SATURDAY!  The day is full of opportunities - they can have a picnic! They can pick flowers!  It doesn't matter what they do because today (or TA-DAY as the younger sister pipes up from her crib) is full of choices and chances for fun.  That is, until they go to the window and see the rain pouring down.  But Matilda (the older sister) knows that a rainy day can still be fun "We just have to dress for it." (p. 9).  Her relentless cheer and enthusiasm gets Clemmie (the younger of the two) onto the porch, but no farther. 

Matilda, always the wise one, informs Clemmie "You have to TRY things, Clemmie.  If you TRY something, you'll see that you LIKE it." (p. 14).  Clemmie still won't budge until Matilda bounds off into the rain without her.  Then she finally works up her courage and takes a risk, venturing out into the rain where the sisters do spend a fun-filled day.  They have made the most of their Saturday.  Even better, Matilda promises "Tomorrow is Sunday...and Sundays are FUN too!" (p. 30).

I know you've all read about my little girls, Frances and Gloria.  They are wonderful sisters, mostly playing together, experiencing things together, learning about the world together.  They are a pair, and while they both give each other the freedom to play by themselves (sometimes Gloria's preference), or with other friends (Frances' preference), they are rarely divided.  Frances and Gloria are 18 months apart, which seems like nothing now.  When they were a toddler and an infant, they seemed very different, and there didn't seem to be much hope of them ever being interested in each other.  But as I write this, they are both in their beds, reading books aloud and sharing them.  Don't worry, while it sounds idyllic, I'm sure a fight will start up soon!

But everything I ever learned about being a sister, I learned from the best.  My own sister, Katie, is 20 months younger than me.  We have (almost) always been close.  I treasure my sister, and our relationship helps me keep Frances and Gloria's highs and lows in perspective.  I know that sometimes they will be incredibly annoyed with each other, possibly for weeks on end, and then suddenly it will dissipate and they will be close again.  My relationship with Katie growing up was almost the opposite of Matilda and Clemmie's.  My sister is far more extroverted and daring than I am.  I have always been content to let her lead the way in everything.  There are family stories about how I never tried to get out of my crib until Katie did it first.  I vividly remember cringing when Katie (who was then 8) rode her bike for the first time.  I grumbled because while I had a new pink Huffy bike at that point (I was 10), I had had no interest in trying something new.  I knew now that she had been successful, I would have to figure it out, and fast.  She has always smoothed the way for me - with friends, with new activities, in our lives.  And she continues to be my best friend and show me the way all these years later.

In this story, it is the older sister, Matilda, who shows the way.  She begins the book, instantly awake and alert.  Matilda sees the potential in a Saturday and guides Clemmie into excitement.  "This is how you wake up on Saturday...HOOORAAYY! HOOOORAAAY! FOR ALL DAY TODAY IS SAAAATURDAAAAY!" (p. 2).  This is all said with her arms thrust above her head, in excitement and delight.  When Clemmie is worried about the rain, Matilda soothes her fears of getting wet "We just have to dress for it." (p. 9).  Matilda fearlessly leads the way, dashing out to dance in the rain.  But sometimes Matilda's impulsive excitement hurts her younger sister.  The title balloon belongs to Clemmie.  Matilda decides to send it to the rainbow, because the rainbow needs something colorful.  It devastates Clemmie.  But like any good big sister, Matilda tries to make it right in the end.

One of the things I like best about this book (which by the way was named the Best Early Reader by Parents Magazine) was how appealing it was to everyone in our house.  I saw it as Liniers' love letter to a moment in his own daughters' lives (and friendship).  I watched the tenderness in how closely he observed their interaction.  This story depicts one of those moments that all parents treasure.  But both Frances and Gloria requested and read this book over and over again.  They loved the humor in the girls' relationship, as well as both relating to the sisters and their feelings.  Frances and Gloria share a room, just like Matilda and Clemmie do, which makes concocting adventures together very easy.

Liniers' illustrative style also makes this book fun to read.  The colors are perfect - sometimes muddy and gray as the rain comes down, bright pure pastels in the girls' room and after the rain subsides.  Matilda and Clemmie have small eyes and button noses, and it is most often their mouths that carry their expressions.  There are grins, grimaces and outstretched tongues.  It is a fun book to look at, as the girls' emotions are readily apparent - and Matilda's enthusiasm is matchless.  Liniers has even created a scrapbook feel to the pages with rain spatters across some of the panels, just as if the book had been outside on the porch with Clemmie.

The final thing I love about this book is that it is simple.  There is nothing fancy about this particular Saturday - there isn't a gadget or a piece of technology to be seen.  It's two little girls engaging with the outdoors and using their imaginations.  While Matilda and Clemmie's parents (we assume) wait safely out of our line of vision, the girls are free to explore their yard and the storm.

One of the things I have always loved best about TOON Books is their assessment of quality and the way they help parents and teachers introduce comics to new readers.  The Big Wet Balloon is a level 2 book, which TOON defines as being between 300-600 words, using short sentences, and a story arc with few characters in a small world.  This is a perfect level 2 book, as with initial  guidance, eventually both Frances and Gloria could read it unassisted.  There are also guidelines to reading comics with kids in the back of the book.  One of my favorite recommendations is "Use your finger to show your place in the text, but keep it at the bottom of the speaking character so it doesn't hide
the very important facial expressions."  I think this shows the difference between using picture books or traditional early readers with your children and these comic books.  Facial expressions help add so much to the text, and TOON is smart to point it out to readers who may not be familiar with this style of reading.  Another recommendation is to talk with your reader about pacing and how the panels can indicate pacing of the story  This isn't something we've talked about before with Frances and Gloria, but we definitely will!

TOON Books also provides lots of literacy resources on their website.  We received a poster about the questions kids should ask while they read (which I will be sharing with Frances' school librarian).  It includes questions about the main idea (what is this story about?) and is this story fiction or nonfiction?  This poster is another example of how hard TOON Books works to promote literacy through comics.

The Big Wet Balloon is a charming story that we can't get enough of.  It celebrates weekends and sisters - two things that are dear to our hearts!  I can't wait to read more of Liniers' work.

The Big Wet Balloon.  Liniers.  TOON Books, 2013.

sent by publisher for review consideration.

Eleanor & Park

This was my second time reading Eleanor & Park.  Usually I read the books I'm going to blog about twice - that way I can mark quotes I'd like to use in my review.  But I usually read books twice in a row, pretty quickly, so that I can remember all the things that struck me the first time.  This time, however, I had to read it the first time and return it - there were holds on it.  And that's fairly unusual - even though my public library is small, there are rarely holds lists there for more than the most popular titles.  I was gratified to see the long holds list.  I love when someone else in my town sees how great a book is without me having to shout it from the rooftops!  When I finally got it back, I dog-eared many, many pages with quotes I wanted to share.

Eleanor & Park would have been a sure win for me, no matter what.  It combines school (I love books set in schools, for whatever reason) and romance.  But the icing on the cake is that Rowell chose to set this in the '80's.  Without dating myself too much (yeah, right!), I grew up in the '80's.  So reading this didn't feel like a blast from the past, it felt like the way things were for me.

A side note about the time period - at my old library, they started putting historical fiction genre labels on books set in the 1980's.  While I technically agree that books set more than 20 years ago are historical fiction, boy, does that make me feel old!

Now back to Eleanor & Park.  It begins on the day Eleanor first gets on the bus.  It's a bus full of high school students, and like any group of students who have been riding the bus together for any length of time, they have created a stratification.  The coolest (and most obnoxious) kids sit in the back, freshmen in the front, and everyone else somewhere in the middle.  When Eleanor first stands tentatively in the front of the bus, Park notes that she is "not just new - but big and awkward.  With crazy hair, bright red on top of curly...She had on a plaid shirt, a man's shirt, with half a dozen weird necklaces hanging around her neck and scarves wrapped around her wrists.  She reminded Park of a scarecrow or one of the trouble dolls his mom kept on her dresser." (p. 8).  Eleanor looks so different from everyone else, and she is harassed from this very first moment.  By the time she has reached the seat where Park slumps down, she has been told she can't sit in multiple seats.  So Park tells her to sit next to him.  And not in a nice way, either.  Having grown up with these kids, he knows the comments he is in for even by sitting next to her.

And yet, from that small action, something huge grows.  They very slowly develop a friendship based first on the comics Park reads on the bus.  Then they begin listening to and sharing music.  One of my favorite pieces in the book was when Park gives Eleanor a Smiths tape - the album "How Soon is Now?" Park hears the lyrics as "I am the son... and the heir."  When Eleanor listens to it again, she hears "I am the sun...and the air." (p. 54)  It is one of those little moments where you see how different, how separate they each are.  And it makes their eventual romance that much sweeter.

Eleanor's life is very,very difficult.  She has just recently returned to her mom, siblings and stepfather.  She was living with another family for a long time after her stepfather kicked her out.  He's a drinker, a druggie, and has a temper.  Richie is just skeevy, and I can only imagine how exhausted Eleanor's mother is with the effort of keeping them all out of Richie's way.  There is no money.  The children don't have shampoo, toothpaste, clothes that fit.  Eleanor's daily reality is heartbreaking and the courage and grace that she carries is amazing.  She purposefully dresses in wild colors so people won't notice she's worn the same jeans three days that week.  That way, Eleanor feels like she can control what people say about her.

Eleanor lives in a carefully constructed house of lies and half-truths.  Her stepfather is fairly out of control, but no one can know about it.  They all live with an excruciating amount of tension.  And Park's life is almost the polar opposite.  His mother is Korean, and she met Park's father while he was serving in the military there.  Eleanor is astonished by Park's family - so content, so put together, so different.  "Eleanor imagined Park's dad, Tom Selleck, tucking his Dainty China person into his flak jacket and sneaking her out of Korea." (p.126).

Park sees how Eleanor looks to everyone else: "Eleanor, today, was wearing her sharkskin suit jacket and an old plaid cowboy shirt.  She had more in common with his grandpa than with his mom." (p. 122).  But he genuinely loves her, too.  "As soon as he said it, she broke into a smile.  And when Eleanor smiled, something broke inside him.  Something always did." (p. 163).  He loves her at first in spite of his wanting to fit in with everyone else.  Then, as their romance continues, he loves those things that stand out about her best of all.

Rowell has constructed an amazing book.  Of course, I love the music, but I also love many other things  about this book.  The romance is tender, juxtaposed against the suspense of Eleanor's family life.  I physically hurt for the whole family - their desolation is piercing.  Park's family is fascinating.  They are quirky, endearing, but not perfect.  Once Park's mother knows more about Eleanor's life, she tells Park "' In big family,' she said, 'everything, everybody spread so thin.'...'Nobody gets enough.' she said.  'Nobody gets what they need.  When you always hungry, you get hungry in your head.'" (p. 189).    This is such a strong description of Eleanor's family.  Eleanor often feels like whatever she might have comes at the expense of her siblings or her mother.

I also love that Eleanor and Park are not your typical romance characters.  I just read another teen romance (which shall remain nameless) where both of the main characters were gorgeous, blond and tanned.  It is a relief to have characters who aren't perfect.  They are originals.

Finally, Rowell's writing is extraordinary.  I said at the beginning of the post that I dog-eared lots of quotes.  I probably marked thirty quotes in this book - that moment of recognition happened over and over again for me.  There were places where truth shines, where romance shows its face, moments of breathtaking cruelty, moments of sheer perfection.  Teen romance feels like something to smile at, to marvel at.  And this book is no exception.  I can hardly wait to read Rainbow Rowell's next book!

Eleanor & Park.  Rainbow Rowell.  St. Martin's Griffin, 2013.

borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library

The Fire Horse Girl

I am sure that I have written here before about my feelings about historical fiction.  I'll read it, but I usually feel like I'm getting a history lesson, and it is hard to get through the story.  I find myself drifting off, picking up and then finishing other books...that's not a good sign.  But The Fire Horse Girl had me from the very first paragraph.  In fact, the writing was so good that it made me want to improve my writing too.  So before I published this post (and hopefully my posts going forward), I used Grammarly to check my spelling and grammar. It was easy to use and made cleaning up my own post simple. It also offers an online plagiarism checker too.  I still can't compete with Kay Honeyman though!

The book begins this way:

"In Chinese astrology, the Year of the Fire Horse is a bad year for Horses.  All of their worst traits - their tempers, their stubbornness, their selfishness - burn with increased strength.  Girls should never be born in the year of the Fire Horse; they are especially dangerous, bringing tragedy to their families.

But desperation flowed fast and thick through my mother's veins..." (p. 1)

In Jade Moon's village, she was marked from her very first breath.  She's a girl in a culture that reveres males, her mother died giving birth to her, she's the last of her line, and worst of all, she is a Fire Horse.  The entire village judges her every move and Jade Moon feels their scrutiny.  It is a heavy burden.  When she meets a neighbor, Jade Moon "...quickly shifted my gaze to a point in the air just in front of [the neighbor's] forehead.  This was a technique I used often.  It blurred people's faces and kept me from seeing the disdain in their eyes." (p. 7)

Jade Moon isn't stupid, despite what the other villagers believe.  She just doesn't feel like she can fit into their traditions, into the way things have always been.  That isn't who Jade Moon is.  The village blames this on her being a Fire Horse.  Jade Moon already knows "my mind constructed ideas that no one seemed to understand, and my heart held hopes that were far beyond my reach." (p. 8)  She is viewed as an oddity, and her father is having a difficult time finding a match for her.

Until Sterling Promise arrives.  This young man comes to their home with news of Jade Moon's only uncle, who has recently died.  Before he died, he sent Sterling Promise with papers to allow both Jade Moon's father and Sterling (masquerading as his son) to America to earn their fortunes.  Surprisingly, Jade Moon's father tells her she will be traveling to America along with them.  Jade Moon sees America as a place where she can grab her destiny, where she can shake off other people's expectations and become fully herself.  This trip is an unexpected gift, and she isn't quite sure why it has been given to her.

Sterling Promise is an enigma as well.  He is a smooth talker, someone who can talk business with her father and grandfather.  Yet there is emotion below the surface.  And it seems Sterling Promise (how can you call him anything but his full name??) feels the same desperation Jade Moon feels - that need to grab onto the chance to start anew.  It is intriguing, and she knows there is more to his story than he is willing to share.

I really don't want to ruin this story for those of you who will read it.  Suffice to say that I learned many new facts about immigration to America in the 1920's.   I was raised in California, but most of what I read about Angel Island, where Jade Moon starts the immigration process, was new and very stark.  Immigrants much like Jade Moon stayed there for weeks on end.  We all know about Ellis Island, of course, but on Angel Island conditions were very different.  I found this part of Jade Moon's story fascinating.  It is also very painful.

As the immigrants wait for permission to enter the United States, or for someone to come and get them, they spend a lot of time together.  The women's bunk has its share of anger, frustration, and sadness.  So when Jade Moon is asked to tell a story to the others, she knows: "These women needed a story about people trying to get somewhere impossible.  They needed a story about promises kept and broken, a story about sacrificing everything at a chance for something beautiful." (p. 113)

Eventually, Jade Moon finds a chance to get off Angel Island and the story twists again.  In each of the twists of this narrative, there are interesting people, people who you want to get to know further.  But the key to the whole novel, of course, is the Fire Horse girl, Jade Moon.

It is Jade Moon who kept me glued to each page.  All of the things she has believed about herself throughout her life in China - that she is selfish, stubborn, full of temper - are in reality strengths.  She is smart, savvy and a shrewd judge of character and emotion.  Jade Moon isn't afraid to say what she thinks but can also play the game if it is necessary to get what she wants.  America is her destiny.  She asks another character in the novel where stories come from.  Spring Blossom tells her they come from "deep inside me, where we must bury what we desire in order to protect it."  (p. 105).  Jade Moon has always tried to bury her dream of freedom deep inside, but it cannot stay there any longer.  This is her one chance to change the life she has always been expected to lead, and she takes it.  The journey changes her in unexpected ways.

I've quoted liberally from the text because I think Honeyman's writing is so beautiful.  There are gorgeous turns of phrase on almost every page.  Honeyman describes characters by how they look, but also by how they seem and who they are.  For instance: "She looked like a woman who decided things, who molded the world around her instead of letting it push against her. (p. 264)  What does that look like?  This character would most likely look different to each of us, depending on which women we had known.who had that same determination Honeyman describes.  But her assessment is so well-crafted and correct.

The book is a smart use of historical fiction where it doesn't feel like the history gets in the way of the story.  Instead, it is a vehicle for the story - Jade Moon would not be the same in any other decade or even if she had stayed in China.  She becomes more herself through this experience.  And by the end, being a Fire Horse is something to be celebrated, not reviled.

The Fire Horse Girl.  Kay Honeyman.  Arthur A. Levine Books: Scholastic, 2013.

borrowed from Lewis & Clark library
post sponsored by Grammarly

Alphabet Trucks

I am sure I've written before about Gloria and her love of cars and trucks.  She loves the movie Cars and the book I Stink!, and many, many other books about vehicles (like Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site).  On the day I opened a package from Charlesbridge and found the promised copy of Alphabet Trucks, Gloria quickly ripped it out of my hands.  We had stopped home briefly before swim lessons, and she took the book to the car with her and read it the whole way there.  Frances was the only one participating in swim lessons that session, and so Gloria spent the entire 45 minutes looking at Alphabet Trucks.  It had been sent to me for review, but I actually couldn't read it for a few days because Gloria wouldn't let me.  We are all big Samantha Vamos fans in our house, and this book was no exception.

  There are twenty-six different kinds of  trucks in this book.  Vamos has carefully constructed a rhyme for each type of truck.  It is tricky to come up with twenty-six different kinds of trucks, much less rhyming text that describes their function.  And Vamos packs a lot of information about each of the trucks into two short lines.  One of my favorite trucks is the zipper truck, which I didn't know existed before this book.  "Z is for zipper truck, lifting barrier walls."  But there is also "T is for tow truck, with a hook, chain and boom."  When I read that line, I realized I had never known what the boom was called.  I learned quite a lot about trucks through this book!

A pitfall of alphabet books is what I like to call the "infamous problem letters".  You know the ones - most often, they are the letters Q,U, V, and sometimes Z, depending on the book's subject.  We've all read alphabet books where the author dodges these letters (using the U as the second letter, or coming up with some way to use the Q without really tying it back to the concept) or their rhyme scheme falls apart around those letters because they are hard to incorporate.  Vamos stays strong through the Quint truck (a fire truck), a U-haul, Vacuum truck, and the Zipper truck I already shared.  There are plenty of trucks to go around!

Another pitfall I sometimes see in alphabet books is when the rhyme scheme becomes shaky - sometimes an author has a set rhyme scheme, and then has to contract words or use less familiar words just to fit the rhyme scheme.  This book scans well throughout.  To continue the smooth rhyme through 26 trucks is no easy feat!  I think of trucks as bumpy, choppy and a little teeth-chattering.  But Alphabet Trucks doesn't sound or feel like that at all.  It isn't forced, and is a great read-aloud.

The illustrations extend the text in a natural and clever way.  O'Rourke uses the letters of the alphabet in consistent ways throughout the book, which also helps reinforce the concept.  Each truck has the letter on its side, marked clearly and in capital letters only.  This choice helps extend the text.  If a young reader weren't sure what a quint truck was, they could match the capital Q at the beginning of the text to the capital Q on the truck.  This information, along with the  text's explanation that there are ladders, a hose, a tank and pump, helps the reader make the connection between the quint truck and the fire truck that is pictured.

There are so many cool trucks in this book, and the individual illustrations are one place where O'Rourke plays with letters again.  One of the trucks I like best is the ore truck.  Vamos writes "O is for ore truck, carrying tons in weight."  The ore truck is enormous, dwarfing the pickup truck next to it.  The tons of weight that Vamos cites are actually O's - big O's, little o's, in all sorts of fonts.  It adds a twist of whimsy to the illustrations once you start noticing all the ways O'Rourke has used the mentioned letter.  I am also fond of the tow truck, where t's make up the tow truck's chain.  It is a simple thing, but it adds so much to the illustration.

This book will be popular with many different audiences, but the truck-lovers in particular will pore over it repeatedly.  And the brief text means that parents will remember information about all the different kinds of trucks long after the book is finished.  Vamos is already at work on Alphabet Trains, and I can't wait to see it when it is published!  I know it is going to fill a need at our house, since I know even less about trains than trucks.  I hope Alphabet Trucks fills a need at your house too!

Alphabet Trucks.  Samantha Vamos; illustrated by Ryan O'Rourke.  Charlesbridge, 2013.

sent by the publisher for review

Yoo-hoo, Ladybug!

I had my weekend all planned out.  Friday: write a blog post, read a book.  Saturday: finish another book.  Sunday: finish the weekend strong by reading TWO books.  Here it is, Sunday night, and I only read one book (Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong).  And I'm just now getting around to writing that blog post!  Winter is approaching fast in Montana.  The wind is picking up, and snow is in the forecast for Wednesday!  That's right, snow.  I ended up pulling out all of the girls' winter clothes this weekend to prepare.  Plus I had to do some cooking to use up all the produce we are harvesting to get ready for frost.  Yikes! I've got a freezer full of shredded zucchini, pizza sauce, and tomato coulis.   But I'm not here to lament my busy weekend.  I'm here to talk about one of Gloria's most recent favorite picture books, Yoo-hoo, Ladybug!.

Maybe I should start out by saying that Mem Fox is a literacy genius.  She has been writing books for years - such great ones as Time for Bed, Koala Lou, and Where is the Green Sheep?.  All of these books put the principles into play that she discusses in her book Reading Magic: Why Re.ading Aloud to our Children Will Change their Lives Forever.  I saw her speak about literacy at the Glendale Public Library a few years ago, and she was wise and amazing.  Fox has studied literacy and pre-literacy for many years, and she has come up with a natural, fun way to introduce concepts to children.

Yoo-hoo, Ladybug! is her latest, and is a collaboration with Laura Ljungkvist.  The book is a very simple look-and-find book.  On each page, the narrator calls "Yoo-hoo, Ladybug!  Where are you?"  Then the narrator announces "There you are..." and uses some rhyming text to help the viewer find the ladybug in the illustrations.  The first illustration is a wide-angle shot.  There is plenty to look at - although Ljungkvist includes many of the same toys on each page, they are in new places and positions each time.  The first illustration in the book is of a filled bathtub, with toys galore.  In the tub is a long-legged giraffe, a fish, a rapidly sinking VW bug, and the ubiquitous rubber duckie.  When you peer at the duck closely, you can see the ladybug's side just behind the duck.  The text continues "..afloat in the bath with Duck and Giraffe!"

This is definitely a first look-and-find book, and it suited almost 5-year-old Gloria perfectly.  A few weeks ago, we checked out Can You See What I see: Out of this World, and Frances loved it, but Gloria found it difficult and a little frustrating.  There were too many things to find on each page, and they weren't easy enough for Gloria to spot without prompting.  This book, though, is very different.  The first illustration in each set, as I mentioned, is wide-angle.  It lets readers pore over the illustration, looking for Ladybug.  But it's not overwhelming.  The lines are simple and clear, to help guide the reader's eye.  There are plenty of patterns and textures in each illustration, but they soothe the eye instead of distracting.  And if the reader doesn't spot Ladybug on their first try, they can always turn the page to see where she is.  She's the focus of a spot illustration on the next page, which allows the reader to train their eye on where she is.  They can flip back and locate her more effectively in the bigger illustration if they have trouble.

Several pre-literacy skills are used successfully here.  Fox rhymes the text so new readers can predict what animals Ladybug is hiding near.  For instance, in another illustration, the reader finds Ladybug "tucked in a box with Rabbit and Fox".  They can guess who she might be near in the bigger illustration.  The repetitive text throughout the book also helps new readers feel in control of what is happening.  They know that the first page will include the narrator calling for Ladybug and they can call for here as well.  There has been a lot of enthusiastic hollering for Ladybug in my house lately!

One of the things Ljungkvist contributes to this is a remarkably detailed, yet simple, set of toys.  Each illustration contains the same toys, just set up differently.  That way readers don't have to spend a lot of time identifying the individual objects once they've seen them.  If they spend a lot of time looking at the first illustration of Ladybug hiding in the bath, they'll be able to see the boats, ball, car, and giraffe in the other illustrations.  Even better, this technique rewards repeated viewings.  It's only after you stop searching so intently for Ladybug that you can appreciate the bee buzzing wildly, or the positioning of the robot (usually teetering almost out of control).

The toys also add to a retro feel for this book - there are no Polly Pockets or Squinkies here.  There are modern cars (a Volvo station wagon for one), but even those feel antique.  Ljungkvist's digital illustrations are mostly in a candy-colored palette, and some pieces look collaged, like the black and white chicken.  It adds up to a feast for our eyes.  The animals all express personality through their charming faces, too.  There are blocks in each illustration to help spell out Ladybug's name, again emphasizing the spelling of her name to readers.

This book is a lot of fun, but it also helps start young children on the road to more successful seek-and-find books.  Gloria can read this one all by herself now, and we'll be sorry to return it to the library.  But I'm sure another family will love Ladybug as much as we have.  Now I'm off to do more chores... goodbye, weekend!

Yoo-hoo, Ladybug!  Mem Fox; illustrated by Laura Ljungkvist.  Beach Lane: Simon & Schuster, 2013.  (borrowed from the library)

Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to our Children will Change their Lives Forever.  Mem Fox.  Harcourt, 2001.  (personal collection)

Can You See What I See?: Out of this World.  Walter Wick.  Cartwheel Books, 2013.  (borrowed from the library)

Eggs 1,2,3: Who Will the Babies Be?

Summer sped by for me - how about for you?  Some things in our lives stay the same all summer.  Gloria is in a year-round preschool/daycare, and obviously our general schedule each week stays the same.  But in Montana, summer is so short, and we took advantage of it this summer by packing in swim lessons, tending our vegetable garden, and outdoor time.  One thing we have enjoyed doing each summer is taking part in our local library's summer reading program.  It's called "Four to Score", and we record the titles and what we liked best about four books to earn a prize.  The sheet asks for three fiction books and one nonfiction title.  The librarians tell us that young children don't actually have to read nonfiction.  But you know me - I am such a nonfiction lover, and I want to read nonfiction with the girls.

It isn't always easy to find nonfiction that appeals to Gloria, though.  At 4 1/2, she is doing some reading on her own (Dinosaur vs. the Library was one she read to her preschool class recently), and she has pretty limited interest in the subjects Frances wants to read about.  Also, much of the nonfiction that Frances checks out is too long and detailed for Gloria.  So when Eggs 1,2,3 came up in my blog pile last week, I was really excited to share it with both Frances and Gloria.

When I first got Eggs 1,2,3: Who Will the Babies Be? as a nomination for the Cybils last year, I couldn't wait to read it.  I had reviewed Janet Halfmann's previous Cybils nomination, Star of the Sea  and all of us loved it.  So I had a feeling that we would all like this one too.  And the rest of the Nonfiction Picture Book panel agreed, making this a finalist for the Nonfiction Picture Book award.  Sadly, it didn't win, but I'd like to focus on why this is a perfect preschool-level book.

Eggs 1,2,3: Who Will the Babies Be? combines several ways of looking at information in a format that's very accessible for young children.  First of all, the book is a counting book.  Each double-page spread has an enormous number on the left-hand side of the page, corresponding to the number of eggs on that spread.  On the first page, Halfmann sets the tone.  There is a sentence describing the egg and its habitat.  Then she asks the reader to guess "Who will the baby be?"  Young readers can look at the illustration on the opposite page for clues.  Again, Thompson has carefully considered the readers and given fairly obvious indications of the answer.  Then they can open a sturdy flap to reveal the answer.  The number is repeated inside the flap: "5 wiggly glowworms, their tiny tails shining, growing up to be fireflies."  The eggs increase in number from 1 to 10.  And the number of eggs is appropriate for each animal, bird or reptile, which is no easy feat.  At the end of the book, there is one last chance to count all the eggs, and inside the flap, all the babies.

The book seems deceptively simple.  But Halfmann and Thompson are working some real magic here.  First of all, the sentence that gives clue to the egg's inhabitant including important information for the reader.  Those sentences might divulge details about the creature's habitat "a land of ice and snow", what the egg looks like "tiny and round", and whether the parents are involved.  The illustrations are crucial to helping readers identify the baby, and those might include details of the parents or habitat as well.  The eggs, too, are always prominent.  Once the flap is opened then readers see the babies once they hatch, as well as learning their identity and the specific name of the baby, if applicable: "6 babies called fry, eating, eating, eating, and soon they are fish".

There are many things I like about this book, and one of those things is its suitability for many audiences.  It's a natural learning tool whether used in small groups or read with a parent. But it comes alive when used in a storytime.  Listeners can participate by giving the numbers, counting the number of eggs and babies and guessing who might be inside the egg.  It is also a nonfiction book that reads more like a story.  The information has been incorporated into this format so seamlessly, which makes me appreciate the effort that must have gone in to writing this text.  

Finally, one of the best things about the book is the design.  The flaps are extremely sturdy and will hold up to repeated (and rough) readings.  The flaps also open in different directions to keep the experience interesting and fresh.  

One other thing I'd like to mention about this book is that there is no back matter in this title.  While I usually look very carefully at the back matter, this is one title where it is appropriate not to have back matter.  Halfmann has included enough detail for preschoolers in the actual text.  Young children don't need to use a bibliography as a jumping-off point for additional research.  They've been given everything they need already, and I admire the simplicity here.

The illustrations are collaged, with textured papers and layered cut-paper assemblies.  The art walks a fine line between realism and collage very successfully.  The collaged elements add depth to the pictures, but Thompson is careful to use natural colors and replicate the creatures exactly.  The eggs look very real as well, and you can almost feel their exteriors as you look at the pages.  The turtle eggs look tough and leathery; the tadpole eggs really seem encased in shimmering jelly.

This is such a terrific book.  The eggs are fascinating, and so are the animals that lay them.  Halfmann and Thompson have done a masterful job bringing the topic to life for the youngest readers.  I highly recommend it!

Eggs 1,2,3: Who Will the Babies Be? Janet Halfmann; art by Betsy Thompson.  Blue Apple Books, 2012.

Note: I am on the Cybils Nonfiction Picture Book panel, but this blog post does not represent the committee's thoughts about the book.  It only represents my personal ideas and thoughts.

sent by the publisher in consideration for the Cybils

The Night Before First Grade

I was invited to take part in Natasha Wing's Back-to-School blog tour this year.  It was a perfect fit for us, since Frances just started first grade last Wednesday.  We were lucky enough to receive The Night Before First Grade from Natasha (and you can too! - details at the end of the post).  I was amazed at how many of the details of the book felt like they came right  from Frances' experiences, and I can't wait to tell you about her review of the story.  But first, a summary of the plot so you can see why it fits Frances so well.

The night before school starts, Penny is so excited she can hardly stand it.  She is packing school supplies and her lunch and planning her outfit.  Penny and her best friend Jenny have matching outfits already picked out, and neither of them can wait to start the new year.  But when the day dawns, and the girls scurry off to school, there's a problem.  "The principal told us that some changes were made. 'We have some new students.  So we split the first grade.'"  You might predict the outcome - the best friends have been split up.  This sudden, unexpected change might make the day terrible for some first graders.  But Penny realizes "I had to be brave because I'm a first-grader."  And it turns out her new class isn't all that bad - she knows most of the other students already, and her teacher, Mr. Barr, is great.  Penny plucks up her courage and goes to say hello to someone she doesn't already know.  It turns out that the new girl and Penny have things in common - favorite colors and pet turtles.  When Penny and her new friend, Nina, join the crowd going to the lunchroom, looking for Jenny, there is one more surprise in store for Penny.

There are seventeen books in The Night Before series.  We read The Night Before Kindergarten last year too.  So many of the books in this series have to deal with everyday worries and events that I could have requested any title, and they would have all resonated with Frances and Gloria.  Wing really knows what this age child is interested in.  There's The Night Before the 100th Day of School, The Night Before the Tooth Fairy, and we even could have read The Night Before Preschool since Gloria's preschool started last week too.  Since all the books are based on Clement Moore's "Twas the Night Before Christmas", the poetry is familiar.  Wing does a great job of adapting it to her themes without making it wholly unrecognizable.  There is the twinkling and wondering of eyes, just like in the poem.  Impressively, the rhymes also never seem forced into this artificial structure, which is very tricky to do.

Now for our personal experience reading this story with Frances (I feel obligated to say that Gloria was there too, even though her opinion doesn't matter as much this time).  Frances was very surprised at how much Penny's experience on the first day of school echoed her own.  Some of this is because many first grade experiences are alike - for instance, the classroom routines or the bus ride.  Then there were some things that were just luck - the fact that Frances, too, has a male teacher.  But there were a couple of things that really spoke to Frances.

This year, Frances' school, unlike many of the other district schools, didn't tell students who their teacher would be next year at the end of the previous school year.  Many of our friends spent time in the classrooms and knew what they were in for, and we spent the summer jealous of them.  Frances wondered all summer who her teacher would be.  There was a perfectly reasonable explanation for the school's decision not to announce teachers, and it very much like what happens to Penny.  There is quite a bit of mobility in Frances' school, and the school could not be sure how many students there would be or in which first grade classroom children would end up.  When the teaching assignments were made, and the letter came in the mail, Frances had gotten the teacher she wanted.  On the downside, much like Penny, only a few of her friends were in her class.

Frances handled this change in much the same way Penny did.  She has become closer with other friends during the school day, and looks forward to spending recesses with a whole large group of  girl friends.  The Night Before First Grade definitely helped with this transition, as Frances realized that there were opportunities in her new class, and that she didn't have to be nervous about meeting new friends.  Just like the Girl Scout song, she can "Make new friends, and keep the old."

One of the other things that I liked about this book was the bus ride.  Frances took the bus last year, but didn't love it.  The district rule is that kindergarteners and first graders sit in seats with five-point harnesses for safety.  Frances felt that this was babyish, and she was frustrated with the amount of time it took her to get buckled and unbuckled.  Even in the last few days before school started, Frances didn't want to take the bus again this year.  But her bus experience has improved - maybe it's because a close friend is now riding the bus with her, maybe she's figured out how to buckle faster.  Regardless, she has adopted the attitude that Penny's dad celebrates in the book "What a big girl you are to be taking the bus."  Frances is enjoying the bus now.

I loved the book because it also recognizes the strange gap between kindergarten and first grade.  There is only one year's difference between them, but first graders seem so much older.  Penny sees kindergarteners in the hall and wonders "They all looked so young, were we ever that small?"  Frances is still my little girl, but this book celebrates how first graders have become older and wiser.  Our transition to school went so much more smoothly this year because Frances knew the ropes.  She knew where the bathroom was, the gym teacher's name, and where the library is.  Just like The Night Before First Grade, her night before school started was full of anticipation, not nerves.  Thank you, Natasha Wing, for sharing this with us.  I think the surest sign of the popularity of this book is that both Frances and Gloria continue to read it on a daily basis.

We are lucky enough to be hosting a giveaway for an autographed copy of The Night Before First Grade.   a Rafflecopter giveaway
But you should also go to Natasha's website for more titles in the series.  I also want to point out a reading of this book on YouTube here .  

Happy back to school to all of you whether you are a parent or a teacher, librarian or school employee.  Enjoy this book and the giveaway!  Good luck!  The giveaway closes next Friday night, September 13th.

The Night Before First Grade.  Natasha Wing; illustrated by Deborah Zemke.  Grosset & Dunlap, 2005.

The author sent this book to me as part of an organized blog tour for review.