Friday, January 25, 2013

"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.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

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.