SITTING IN MY BOX written by Dee Lillegard and illustrated by Jon Agee is a perfect picture book for very young children. It combines great storytelling, wonderfully simple characters, and vibrant pictures full of humorous detail. The story actually begins before the text starts on a single page showing a boy looking at an empty cardboard box. You can see him thinking about just what to do with the rather large box. Next, on the dedication page it is clear that the boy has come up with an idea as he walks through the grass with the box on his head. On the title page we see the boy, having placed the box on the ground under a tree near a picket fence, climbing into it with a book under his arm. On the next page the text actually starts with four little words------sitting in my box. The illustration depicts the boy scrunched down inside the box intently reading a book entitled Wild Animals.

As the story continues the yard with flowers and picket fence gradually transforms into a jungle with heavy vines, a palm tree and a swamp. Five animals come upon the box. Each one knocks and requests to come inside. The repetition of “Let me, let me in” will delight young children as the box fills up with a giraffe, then an elephant, followed by a baboon, a lion and a hippopotamus!

Room grows very scarce and the boy who is now standing in his box exclaims, “Wait a minute! This box has too much in it. Someone has to go.” Well, of course, they each refuse to leave and the tale could end with the breaking of the box---but it does not break. Instead, a tiny flea jumps in and does what fleas do best. It bites each animal causing them to jump out and leaving the boy happily alone just sitting in his box with his book---which is now closed.

The pictures are memorable, full of intention and fun. Jon Agee’s little boy is very attractively dressed in a red shirt, blue shorts and red tennis shoes. The expressions on his face leave no doubt that his imagination is very active. And the angle at which the pictures are drawn allows the reader to climb right inside the box with the boy.

SITTING IN MY BOX, written by Dee Lillegard and illustrated by Jon Agee is a delightful picture book for ages 3-6. This title was first printed in 1989 and is now being reissued as a classic (Marshall Cavendish, 2010).

This is Sue Ann Martin for THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHELF.

Discussion Questions for SITTING IN MY BOX

A Beach Tail, written by Karen Lynn Williams and Illustrated by Floyd Cooper is a simple, but beautiful ly detailed story of a father and son who spend a summer day at the beach. Readers are introduced to Gregory and his father as Gregory draws a picture of a lion in the sand at the beach. When his father suggests that the lion needs a tail, Gregory picks up a stick to draw a tail on his “Sandy Lion” and is cautioned by his father not to go in the water and not to leave “Sandy.” Gregory promises that he won’t do either and with a “swish- swoosh,” he begins to draw a lion’s tail with his stick.

Concentrating, Gregory draws a tail that gets longer and longer—one that makes a loop around a blob of jellyfish and then continues up and over an old sand castle and zigzags around a horseshoe crab and continues on down the beach. As the lion’s tail grows longer, and longer, Gregory even adds his own nic-name--“Greg”-- in the sand. Gregory finally looks up when he hears a giant wave crash on the rocks and suddenly realizes that he can no longer see his father. He has kept his promise and has not gone in the water or left “Sandy the Lion,” but his father is nowhere to be seen. Wondering what to do next, he begins to follow the tail he has drawn in the sand back down the beach—retracing his steps—past his nic-name, zigzagging around the horseshoe crab, up and over the old sand castle, around the jellyfish blob and back to his drawing of Sandy. Looking up, he sees his dad, their umbrella, and his very own dolphin towel.

This story is one that will remind each of us of the warm summer days of childhood, and the simple narrative imagery against the stunning backdrop of Floyd Cooper’s artwork will cause you to linger over each drawing. The illustrations are remarkable creations done in pastels and provide a sense of expressive detail to young Gregory.

A Beach Tale, written by Karen Lynn Williams and Illustrated by Floyd Cooper is wonderful read-aloud and is appropriate for ages 4-7.

Williams, Karen Lynn. A Beach Tail. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. Honesdale, PA: Boyd Mills Press, 2010.

Discussion Questions for A Beach Tail

LOUISA: The Life of Louisa May Alcott is an interesting biography for young readers of this popular American author. She was born in Pennsylvania in 1832 but raised and lived most of her life in Massachusetts. The details of her rags to riches story are well put forth from her childhood days in Boston and Concord to her adult years spent mostly in and around Boston.

Her childhood was not accompanied by a lot of money or many material things but there was plenty of love, imagination and fun. She and her three sisters delighted in running through the woods, watching sunsets and creating small plays to perform. They were encouraged by their mother to write in journals, work hard and care for those less fortunate.

Early on she became aware of her family’s difficult economic situation. She vowed to one day make enough money to take care of them all. At the age of seventeen she held a number of jobs such as teaching, sewing, caring for children, and doing housework while continuing to write stories.

Yona Zeldis McDonough traces how Alcott came to write “Little Women” when her publisher asked her to write a girls’ story and how she created the narrative about the four March sisters----Meg, Beth, Jo and Amy, from her own family experiences. “Little Women” (part one) was published in 1868 to very positive reactions. From that year forward she was financially secure and was able to take care of her family. After her sister May died due to complications from childbirth her baby niece Lulu came to live with her in Boston’s Beacon Hill District in 1880. Louisa travelled to Europe and continued to publish novels even though her health was in decline. She died in 1888 after contracting pneumonia just two days after her father’s death. She was fifty-five years old.

At the back of the book, the author has included quotations from Alcott’s journals, two poems written by her during childhood, a list of important dates in her life and a recipe for her favorite dessert, New England Apple Slump.

Bethanne Andersen’s illustrations match the tone and nature of Louisa’s life with elegance. The picture of six- year old Louisa asleep on the lap of a huge comfy dog is outstanding. The design of the final portrait of Louisa is also beautiful. She is shown in a dark blue dotted dress. The dots speckle the illustration as if they were ink spots from her quill pen.

LOUISA: The Life of Louisa May Alcott, written by Yona Zeldis McDonough and illustrated by Bethanne Andersen, is a well told biography for children ages 7-9 (Henry Holt, 2009).

This is Sue Ann Martin for THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHELF

Discussion Questions for Louisa

The King’s Taster, written by Kenneth Oppel and illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher is a delightful tale of Max—the king’s taster. Max is the cook’s dog and it is his job to taste the food before the king does—to assure that the king won’t be poisoned. While his job is to protect the king, the real benefit is that he gets to eat the leftovers. As anyone knows, dogs love to eat and Max is no exception; he loves his job as the king’s taster—especially since his owner, the cook, is the best chef in the kingdom.

Life is good for Max and his cook and then one day, they get a brand new king. The cook gets right to work to create the most wonderful feast for the new king. Max tasted the magnificent dishes and proclaims them delicious. The young king, however, refused to eat any of the banquet and instead, pushed it onto the floor, where Max ate it all.

The cook is distraught and cannot understand why the young king doesn’t like his food, but gets right to work to find some new recipes. He races to France and discovers a wonderful new potato creation and proudly offers his new king “french fries.” But the king shoved them around on his plate and then refused to eat them and threw them to the floor. Once again, Max ate the king’s dinner. Inside the kitchen, however, the cook was beside himself and promptly set out to find more recipes. He traveled to Italy and brought back pizza; he traveled to Mexico and brought back tacos and night after night, the king refused to eat and finally threatened to have the cook killed. The cook gave up, but Max could not. He knew that his cook was the best in the kingdom and he set out to find why the young king refused eat his dinner and when, in the middle of the night, Max finds a trail of candy and cookie crumbs that lead to the young king’s bedroom, the mystery is solved.

Readers may find it interesting that even a young king can change his attitude and behavior if his mother gets involved.

Kenneth Oppel creates a playful narrative that provides readers with a dog’s eye view. The illustrations of mixed media and collage provide readers with delightful details and complement the fanciful tale.

The King’s Taster, written by Kenneth Oppel and illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher is appropriate for ages 4-8.

Oppel, Kenneth. The King’s Taster. Illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009.

Discussion Questions for The King’s Taster

THE DREAMER, written by Pam Munoz Ryan and illustrated by Peter Sis, is one of the most elegant books on the market today for older readers. Pam Munoz Ryan identifies her book as a fiction based on the events of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s early life.

The author takes every care to celebrate the pure beginnings of this poet in the midst of his “ rain soaked childhood”-----a childhood colored by the death of his mother when he was two months old, his susceptibility to illness, frequent bullying by school children and the constant rebukes of his very difficult and controlling father. Pam Munoz Ryan tells this story with such a beautifully- poetic text that she is able to reveal the very essence of the constant hope and determination that was rooted deep in Neruda’s soul.

In twelve sections with over 350 pages the story of Neftali Reyes, Neruda’s real name, is told. One of the most widely read poets in the world today spent his early years lost in his imagination, gazing and daydreaming, observing nature, playing with the sound of words, writing on scraps of paper, reading and collecting the small treasures of nature. His stepmother played a very supportive role in his life as did her brother and journalist Uncle Orlando. They balanced the near constant verbal abuse of his father who called him an idiot, a daydreamer, dim witted and worthless with love and support.

Cradled in the text are engaging stories of Neruda’s experiences with nature and people. From these encounters came the building blocks of his adult philosophy of life and of his eventual plea for social justice. The endearing story of the pinecone and the gripping story of the swan are particularly memorable.

At the back of the book there is a very interesting Author’s Note and a small collection of poems by Neruda. Peter Sis has illustrated the text with thoughtful and powerful drawings. Small pictures drawn in the artist’s unique symbolic style accompany the beginning of each section of the book. There is an adorable image of the young poet emerging from the lush forests of Chile with his hands and pockets and even his hair full of sticks and fern and twigs and other special stuff. Peter Sis has crafted a number of shadowy pictures of the bulky, bully father throughout the book. Most breathtaking of the larger drawings are those depicting the young poet riding the freedom of his imagination on the back of a swan.

THE DREAMER written by Pam Munoz Ryan and illustrated by Peter Sis is in itself a work of art (Scholastic Press, 2010). Readers age 9-14 will also enjoy the aesthetics of the book design from the impressive cover to the green ink used for printing the text.

This is Sue Ann Martin for THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHELF.

Discussion Questions for The Dreamer

The Rules of the Game: Baseball Poems, written by Marjorie Maddox and illustrated by John Sandford is a wonderful collection of poems about one of America’s favorite pastimes--baseball. Maddox creates thirty-eight different poems that deal with every aspect of baseball—from “The Pitch,” to “The Strike Zone,” to the “Beanball,” to “Stealing Home,” and everything in between. Her knowledge of the game is articulated by the fine points she emphasizes through the poetic imagery she creates in her descriptions of the action and the emotion it evokes. One poem titled “Error” carries the element of guilt that is felt when, as Maddox states, a play is “botched, bungled, fumbled, [or] flubbed.” In the final poem, “Grand Slam” Maddox begins with the image of, “dreams brimming over,” which captures the glory of warm summer days filled with the memories of childhood and the joy of baseball. John Sandford ‘s illustrations are done in pencil and express the images and energy of baseball and its participants in dramatic form, adding a creative dimension to each poem.

The Rules of the Game: Baseball Poems, written by Marjorie Maddox and illustrated by John Sandford is appropriate for ages 9 and up. Maddox, Marjorie. The Rules of the Game: Baseball Poems. Illustrated by John Sandford. Honesdal, PA: Wordsong, 2009.

Discussion Questions for The Rules of the Game: Baseball Poems

POETREES, written and illustrated by Douglas Florian, is a long tall book of playful poems, perky pictures, and petite profiles of 13 of the world’s most interesting trees from the Banyan fig tree to the Bristlecone Pine to the Coconut Palm to the Scribbly Gum eucalyptus , the Weeping Willow and the Yew. The book opens from the bottom to the top rather than from left to right giving each tree the room to stand tall. There are also four pages devoted to tree parts such as seeds, leaves, bark and tree rings. The illustrations are done on primed brown paper bags with gouache watercolor paints, colored pencils, oil pastels, cut outs and rubber stamp art. Florian seems to like the spontaneous quality of collage and says he uses stamp art “to connect the dots”. His illustration for the Giant Sequoia exemplifies the use of both these forms with overlaid images of fern, rabbits, tiny tree pictorials and measuring hands going up and down the tree trunk. This handsome page contains a delightful poem about the sequoia. Quoting from that poem: Heavenly high. Friends to the sky. Spongy thick bark. Large as an ark. Gargantuan girth. Anchored to earth. Grow by degrees. To world’s tallest trees. Never destroy a Giant sequoia.

The poet/artist, winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award in 1994 for BEAST FEAST, creates nothing but fun with sound patterns and word play in POETREES. Words are often written the way they sound rather than the way they are spelled. For instance, “TREEmendous” and “ exSEEDingly” are featured. Concrete poetry images are playfully placed throughout the book. End rhymes, internal rhymes and onomatopoetic words tickle the ear.

The poet/artist has also placed a glossary at the end of the book that gives mini facts about the history, country of origin, patterns of growth and practical uses of these 13 trees. It points out such facts as the largest Sequoia, the General Sherman, lives in California and is 230 feet tall, the Bristlecone Pine is 5,000 years old, there are over 600 species of Oak tree and the Weeping Willow is native to China. This is just enough information to cajole the reader into doing more research.

POETREES, written and illustrated by Douglas Florian, is the perfect poetry book for ages 6-9 (Simon and Shuster, 2010). The Monkey Puzzle tree and the Dragon tree are full of mischief.

This is Sue Ann Martin for THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHELF

Discussion Questions for POETREES

The Hiccupotamus, written and illustrated by Aaron Zenz is a fun-filled adventure of rhymes and nonsense that will have young children playing with language. The story line is a simple one of a hippopotamus who gets a bad case of the hiccups that just won’t go away. As he encounters an elephant, a centipede, and a rhinoceros, his hiccups get him into all kinds of trouble. Then, when his friends decide to help him get rid of his irritating problem, the fun really begins. They spin him around; they make him exercise, they try to scare him and finally, they tickle him. To the delight of everyone, hippopotamus stops hiccupping, but the reader quickly learns, that hiccups can happen to anyone at any time—and they do—to all of hippo’s friends!

Aaron Zenz creates a playful narrative that provides readers with some of the funniest play on words and rhymes. The illustrations are created with colored pencils and provide readers with delightful details that complement the fanciful tale. Aaron Zenz is a Michigan author and illustrator who lives in Spring Lake, Michigan. The Hiccupotamus, written and illustrated by Aaron Zenz is appropriate for ages 3-7. Zenz, Aaron. The Hiccupotamus. Tarrytown, NY : Marshall Cavendish Pinwheel Books edition, 2009.

Discussion Questions for The Hiccupotamus

ALL THE WORLD written by Liz Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Marla Frazee is scheduled to air on May 5/ 7. Liz Scanlon’s story, ALL THE WORLD, embraces the big beautiful world with very simple yet musical lines such as “Nanas, Papas, cousins and kin…piano, harp, and violin…. Babies passed from neck to knee…. All the world is you and me”.

This book presents a cycle of thoughts about the simple pleasures of the world, of community and of family. The text, in beautiful lyric style, is as expansive as the whole world and as specific as a raindrop. The text encompasses the wonderful gifts of the whole outdoors and the small tokens of home and hearth. The author honors stones and pebbles and a beautiful day as well as children, and parents and work and play. It is a rhythmic and rhymed text that calls out to be read aloud. ALL THE WORLD won a Caldecott Honor Book Award for 2010. Well deserved it is! Marla Frazee uses black pencil and watercolors to tell this “ story of us all “ visually. Her pictures match the tempo of the text with broad sweeping lines across the face of the sky and the body of the land and with a marvelous precision of detail wherever people are gathered. The farmers’ market double-page spread enchants the eye with people of all shapes, colors and ages enjoying the fruits of the farmers’ work. They gather together from village and town on motorcycles, two wheelers and in cars, trucks, tractors and vans-----some even come in red wagons and strollers. Marla Frazee also brings a cottage industry feel to the book through her hand-lettered text. This inclusiveness is the essence and the brilliance of the illustrations. The pictures integrate well with the text and enrich the story. The picture of the community garden, where all ages are working side-by-side tending the bees, planting the corn, hoeing the tomatoes and picking the flowers, celebrates a concept that is growing today. The importance of the contribution of each generation can be seen throughout the book. This is a beautiful collaboration between the author and the illustrator. The equal dimensions of the book’s height and width make it a perfect square and attractive to the eye. The cover speaks with a clear voice through a bright blue sky with two children gazing into the possibilities. ALLTHE WORLD written by Liz Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Marla Frazee is appropriate for children ages 4-7(Beach Lane Books, Simon and Schuster, 2009). This is Sue Ann Martin for THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHELF

Discussion Questions for All of the World

THE HAT THAT WORE CLARA B. written by Melanie Turner-Denstaedt and illustrated by Frank Morrison is a delightful story about Clara B’s obsession with her Grandmother’s hat. Readers learn quickly that Clara B’s favorite day  is the third Sunday of every month, “Mother’s Sunday,” when all the older ladies come dressed in their best suits and gloves and wearing their big beautiful hats,  all sit together in the front pews of the church.  Clara B loves to sit behind her favorite hat—the one worn by her grandmother.  She particularly loves it whenever someone compliments her Grandmother on her hat, because she would always say, “Honey, I’m not wearing this hat.  This hat is wearing me!”  Clara B’s obsession with her Grandmother’s hat grew and grew because she was not allowed to touch it because her grandmother would insist  that her favorite hat was “too delicate to be touched by many hands.”

As all good stories go, Clara B. tries to figure out a way to touch her grandmother’s hat and is finally able to sneak the hat away from her as she naps in her chair after a Sunday dinner.  As Clara B. hurries up stairs to place it in the hat box, she slips and falls on the hat, crushing it beneath her.  Distraught by the damage she has done to the hat, she works furiously to mend it, finally leaving it in the hat box with a note of apology.

Clara B’s fears of facing her grandmother are surprisingly replaced by a special gift she receives the next “Mother’s Sunday”—one which illuminates the special bond they share.
 Melanie Turner-Denstaedt and Frank Morrison crafted a wonderfully illustrated story that weaves together intergenerational love and a tradition that predates our celebration of Mother’s Day and honors their own personal commitments to family.

THE HAT THAT WORE CLARA B. is ideal for ages 4 to 8.
This is Pamela Gates for the Children’s Bookshelf

Discussion Questions for The Hat That Wore Clara B.