P (Part 2): (In Process)

Pomerantz

Prosek

Polacco

Priceman

*This school year I'm going on a Big (Picture) Book Tour. It's not a book tour to show off a book I've written. It's a trip through the children's section of our library. Here's how it works:

• Each week I give myself about ten minutes at the library to choose over a dozen books from one alphabetic section of the children's picture books, usually several of the same author. 
• This is not a comprehensive review of each artist. I limit myself to what is in the library that day.
• The objective is to share these with my kids and then I'll briefly review the authors here. 
• I don't give equal attention to the artists because the books aren't categorized that way, but I'll try to do that, too. 
• I'll highlight my favorites in case you're looking for recommendations.

P Titles: (In Process)

Partridge

Pittman

Paul

Perlman

Penn

Peet

Palatini

*This school year I'm going on a Big (Picture) Book Tour. It's not a book tour to show off a book I've written. It's a trip through the children's section of our library. Here's how it works:

• Each week I give myself about ten minutes at the library to choose over a dozen books from one alphabetic section of the children's picture books, usually several of the same author. 
• This is not a comprehensive review of each artist. I limit myself to what is in the library that day.
• The objective is to share these with my kids and then I'll briefly review the authors here. 
• I don't give equal attention to the artists because the books aren't categorized that way, but I'll try to do that, too. 
• I'll highlight my favorites in case you're looking for recommendations.

N Titles: (In Process)

Newberry

Ness

Napoli

Nathan

Nolen

Neubecker

Noble

Novak

Noyes

Numeroff

*This school year I'm going on a Big (Picture) Book Tour. It's not a book tour to show off a book I've written. It's a trip through the children's section of our library. Here's how it works:

• Each week I give myself about ten minutes at the library to choose over a dozen books from one alphabetic section of the children's picture books, usually several of the same author. 
• This is not a comprehensive review of each artist. I limit myself to what is in the library that day.
• The objective is to share these with my kids and then I'll briefly review the authors here. 
• I don't give equal attention to the artists because the books aren't categorized that way, but I'll try to do that, too. 
• I'll highlight my favorites in case you're looking for recommendations.

R Titles: (In Process)

Raschka

Rand

Ray

Rice

Rohmann

Rosen

Robertson

Ryan

Rylant

*This school year I'm going on a Big (Picture) Book Tour. It's not a book tour to show off a book I've written. It's a trip through the children's section of our library. Here's how it works:

• Each week I give myself about ten minutes at the library to choose over a dozen books from one alphabetic section of the children's picture books, usually several of the same author. 
• This is not a comprehensive review of each artist. I limit myself to what is in the library that day.
• The objective is to share these with my kids and then I'll briefly review the authors here. 
• I don't give equal attention to the artists because the books aren't categorized that way, but I'll try to do that, too. 
• I'll highlight my favorites in case you're looking for recommendations.

S Title: (In Process)

Say

Schachner

Schaefer

Scheer

Schoenherr

Scheffler

Schotter

*This school year I'm going on a Big (Picture) Book Tour. It's not a book tour to show off a book I've written. It's a trip through the children's section of our library. Here's how it works:

• Each week I give myself about ten minutes at the library to choose over a dozen books from one alphabetic section of the children's picture books, usually several of the same author. 
• This is not a comprehensive review of each artist. I limit myself to what is in the library that day.
• The objective is to share these with my kids and then I'll briefly review the authors here. 
• I don't give equal attention to the artists because the books aren't categorized that way, but I'll try to do that, too. 
• I'll highlight my favorites in case you're looking for recommendations.

M Titles (Part 2): A Sandy Island and A Very Special Birth Story

Maestro

Mahy

Martin

Morris

Morissey

Mull

Muller

Munsch

Murphy

If you haven't read Maestro/Maestro nonfiction books, check them out. They are a husband/wife author illustrator team that have written dozens of nonfiction books and some fictional ones, too. This month we read Taxi and Delivery Van which are great vocabulary building-books for young readers.

Margaret Mahy's books are all so very funny, but we like A Busy Day for a Great Grandmother.

Bill Martin's wester/cowboy books are for any boy who dreams of cowboys, Indians, and bull riders. The kids were surprised by Knots on a Counting Rope--it is the story of a blind boy whose grandfather tells him the special family story of the day he was born. I was so touched by it myself, and it reminded me again to tell my children the stories of their highly anticipated arrivals.

Jacqueline Briggs Martin's book Sand Island has such stunning illustrations, about the true story of the boat-building boy is just as amazing. Find that one at your library.

Dean Morrissey's books are fantastically imaginative dealing with a flying dream-delivering ship and a trap to catch a monster.

Also to locate at your library: Pingo by Brandon Mull about a boy and his imaginary friend. The ending made us smile and my kids asked for an immediate repeat reading.

Robert Munsch is a prolific producer of children's stories, so we read no fewer than ten of his stories this week. His stories cover just about every situation children experience.

Jill Murphy's two Five Minutes Peace and A Quiet Night In are great family books that involve cute children and tired parents. I'm pretty sure that description matches most families.

*This school year I'm going on a Big (Picture) Book Tour. It's not a book tour to show off a book I've written. It's a trip through the children's section of our library. Here's how it works:

• Each week I give myself about ten minutes at the library to choose over a dozen books from one alphabetic section of the children's picture books, usually several of the same author. 
• This is not a comprehensive review of each artist. I limit myself to what is in the library that day.
• The objective is to share these with my kids and then I'll briefly review the authors here. 
• I don't give equal attention to the artists because the books aren't categorized that way, but I'll try to do that, too. 
• I'll highlight my favorites in case you're looking for recommendations.

"L" Authors That Can Do No Wrong: Lyon, Lithgow, and Lasky

Katherine Lasky

Barbara Lehman

Helen Lester

John Lithgow

Susan Lowell

George Ella Lyon

First of all, this week I read two great books about brave children. Marven of the Great North Woods (by Lasky) is about a ten year old boy sent to a lumber camp to avoid the Spanish Flu of 1917. Cecil's Story (by Lyon) is about a boy who learns to run the farm when his father goes to war.

Barbara Lehman's wordless books are great conversation starters, perfect to "read" with all ages of readers. They contain a subtle visual puzzle of sorts. The Red Book won the Caldecott, I believe.

Katherine Lasky's stories She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head is a great piece of historical fiction telling the story of the origin of the Audobon Society. Her book about a girl named Sofie and her hand-me-down doll named Rose is a keeper, too. 

Helen Lester's book Hooway for Wodney Wat, about a lovable rat with a speech impediment, still has my kids giggling. I can quote lines from it and they bust up into laughter. It took two times for them to understand the story, but then it became hilarious.

John Lithgow's books about a artsy squirrel, a kangaroo with an identity crisis, and a multi-musically talented boy all came with a CD of the story, with Lithgow telling the stories himself. These are three stories for any family's libraries--they have wonderful illustrations and good messages. I think we loved Marsupial Sue just a little more than the others, but not by much.

Susan Lowell's two books The Three Javelinas (a clever southwestern retelling of the three little pigs) and The Elephant Quilt (about a girl going west on the Santa Fe trail to California) are so valuable in learning about regional history. Pictures books about the westward migration are emerging as a new favorite genre.

Finally, George Ella Lyon is undoubtedly a new favorite author because her stories encourage family love, relationships, and a more agrarian lifestyle. When I think of Come A Tide I will always think about Appalachia and wise fore bearers and close-knit communities--it's about a rainy period that leads to flooding and a calm grandma who invites everyone into her house. The other three books are for older readers--they deal with sentimental themes.

*This school year I'm going on a Big (Picture) Book Tour. It's not a book tour to show off a book I've written. It's a trip through the children's section of our library. Here's how it works:

• Each week I give myself about ten minutes at the library to choose over a dozen books from one alphabetic section of the children's picture books, usually several of the same author. 
• This is not a comprehensive review of each artist. I limit myself to what is in the library that day.
• The objective is to share these with my kids and then I'll briefly review the authors here. 
• I don't give equal attention to the artists because the books aren't categorized that way, but I'll try to do that, too. 
• I'll highlight my favorites in case you're looking for recommendations.

M (Part 1): Too Many to Choose From

We're doing M in two parts, so last week we read Mc and Mac authors, and we through in Mercer Mayer and James Marshall because we just couldn't contain our excitement. Here are our reviews of the following authors

Alice McLerran

Angela McAllister

Colin McNaughton

Mercer Mayer

Amy MacDonald

David McKee

Robert McCloskey

Patricia McKissack

Emily McCully

David McPhail

Read Alice McLerran's book Roxaboxen (based on her mother's childhood imaginary town on a hill in Yuma, AZ) to remind your kids how to play without any toys at all. The illustrator, Barabara Cooney, is one of my favorites! (We read her books back when we did C books in October.)

We only read a book each for Angela McAllister (about a little boy who braves the monsters on a walk) and Colin McNaughton (about children acting out in a pagaent what they want to be when they are older.) They were both OK.

Read James Marshall's George and Martha books alongside with new readers--hippos are so lovable to just about anyone. They remind me of the humor of Frog and Toad books with text that's just a tad bit more advanced, though the story length is shorter. (James Marshall also illustrated the Miss Nelson books, if you know those).

Mercer Mayer's Little Critter books have always been welcome in our story time routine (and let's face it, not all books are welcome), and so we picked up Just Go To Bed, but this time we also read There's Something in My Attic (similar to his Nightmare book) and the Pied Piper of Hamlin. I don't know why the story of the latter always saddens me (though it is a clever retelling and his illustrations are phenomenal), and I, of course, loved his Attic tale of a girl attempting to deal with the thing keeping her awake!

Read Amy MacDonald's books about an annoying blister and a MIA tooth for some classic high drama family stories centering on the tiny problem of a child. (Anyone who's a member of a big family will think these are especially funny if you've ever had everyone fussing over you at once.)

Read David McKee's Elmer books for visually-interesting, simple stories, that I think would appeal to all ages. And the preschool teacher in me could thing of one hundred crafts to do that go along with the Elmer books because of Elmer's checked colorful pattern.

Read Robert McCloskey's books about children in Maine and a fisherman, too. (Blueberries for Sal should be in everyone's home library!) One Morning in Maine is a simple story of a girl running errands with her father who tells everyone she meets about her wiggly tooth. And Time of Wonder which won the Newberry is about children exploring their natural world on their summer vacation in Maine and is more appropriate for an older child--it would be perfect for teaching nature writing.

Read Patricia McKissick's stories about clever, brave girls and their imaginary friends. The three I read had different illustrators, and they were all good. My Amelia asked me to read Precious and Boo Hag about ten times even though I think it was a little scary for her!

Read Emily Arnold McCully's books about ordinary children in history who have met historically famous people. Mirette on the High Wire rightfully won the Newberry for its interesting illustrations and story of courage and skill. My favorite was Outlaw Thanksgiving because of all that it taught about the history of westward expansion in the United States: train travel, outlaws, separated families looking forward to reunions, and railroad "bosses".

Finally, read David McPhail because he is funny. He has a lot of pig books and I barely sampled those. But pick up Those Can-do Pigs and Pigs Ahoy because they are simply silly. Mole Music is our favorite--I think I'm going to have to purchase it because even Dan liked it's tale of a Mole who learns to play the violin and changes the world.

Kay's Simple Historical Fiction, Kimmel's Humor, and People Getting Dressed

A few weeks ago we read books by 

Verla Kay

Eric Kimmel

Robert Kraus

Steven Kellogg

Steven Kroll

Bert Kitchen

Ezra Jack Keats

Karla Kuskin

Michelle Knudsen

Lawrence Kushner

We loved so many of these, but, in brief, and our favorite books were--(drumroll)--

Verla Kay's nonfiction with simple verse about the gold rush and pre-colonial migration across the ocean.

Eric Kimmel's book Four Dollars and Fifty Cents for its hilarious ending.

Karla Kuskin's book The Philharmonic Gets Dressed (even if there is a little underwear and folks-in-the-tub stuff) for it's interesting concept.

And In God's Hands by Lawrence Kushner is the kind of of picture book I like to read on the Sabbath--it promotes the idea that God answers our prayers through others.



*This school year I'm going on a Big (Picture) Book Tour. It's not a book tour to show off a book I've written. It's a trip through the children's section of our library. Here's how it works:

• Each week I give myself about ten minutes at the library to choose over a dozen books from one alphabetic section of the children's picture books, usually several of the same author. 
• This is not a comprehensive review of each artist. I limit myself to what is in the library that day.
• The objective is to share these with my kids and then I'll briefly review the authors here. 
• I don't give equal attention to the artists because the books aren't categorized that way, but I'll try to do that, too. 
• I'll highlight my favorites in case you're looking for recommendations.