Two Bad Ants, by Chris Van Allsburg, begins with news of a mysterious discovery—a beautiful sparkling crystal that the queen of the ants declares is the “most delicious food” she has ever tasted.  What is this unknown crystal discovery, and who are the two bad ants from the book’s title?  These and other unknowns will entice young listeners and hold their attention.  Adding to the mystery is the fact that the entire story is told from the visual perspective of the ants.  As ant battalions march off to retrieve more of these crystals for their queen, what are those “long shadows” that stretch over the entrance to their kingdom?  They are the shadows cast by blades of grass, which are immense to the tiny ants.  What is that challenging mountain reaching right into the heavens?  It is the brick wall leading up to an open kitchen window, home to the delicious crystals they will take back to their queen.  Two members of the ant battalion, however, enticed by the prospect of enjoying this delicious food “every day, forever,” stay behind, and thus begins the adventures of our “two bad ants.”

As the two ants relax in the container of crystals, they are scooped up suddenly by an enormous silver scoop and land in a “boiling brown lake” of bitter liquid.  Particularly intriguing is the ant’s view of the open mouth ready to swallow this early morning cup of coffee.  The ants escape but only to a piece of bread ready for the toaster.  Again they escape but only to a near death experience in the garbage disposal after which they encounter the electrical shock of a wall socket.  Ultimately our two bad ants return to their home and their family, which they now know is just “where they were meant to be.”

Young listeners aged four through eight will delight in the adventures of these Two Bad Ants.  Van Allsburg’s illustrations truly bring the story to life, and young children may want to create their own drawings that show human life from the perspective of a family pet such as a dog, a cat, or a hamster.

Chris Van Allsburg.  Two Bad Ants.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988.

Discussion Questions for Two Bad Ants

Stanley Goes Fishing is the third in a series of Craig Frazier’s “Stanley” books designed for children, in his words, from age “4 to 74.”  Stanley Goes Fishing is a very simple story told with minimal text and terrific illustrations.  The illustrations literally jump off the page, including Stanley’s vivid orange truck, his golden big-eyed fish, signature stark white clouds, and ever so blue water and sky.  Simply told, Stanley drives to a stream, puts his boat in the water, rows out to the perfect spot, casts a line and waits. . .and waits.  The only thing he catches is a big rubber boot.  Consequently, using his imagination as Stanley does in all his books, he decides to cast a line in the clouds.  There he finds fish!  Lots and lots of fish.  Each one is reeled in from the sky and placed in buckets full of water.  When Stanley is finished fishing he just puts the happy fish into the clear stream and lets them swim away. 

To quote the text:
“He turned his boat back home.  It had been Stanley’s best day of fishing ever. . .and the fish’s too.”

Craig Frazier is an exceptional designer with a flair for clean lines, energetic color and visual imagination.  The Stanley Books feature a captivating collage technique with clouds hanging full in the sky and a “curly stream” winding its way through a golden landscape decorated all over with cut out leaves and treetops. He also has a web site where many of the pictures from his books can be printed out so that children can color them and where three of his short movies can be seen.  The movies reveal one imaginative visual transformation after another. Stanley Goes Fishing is ideal for ages 3 to 6 and up (published by Chronicle Books, March 1, 2006).

Disscussion Questions for Stanley Goes Fishing

Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are is a modern classic for young children.  Max’s nighttime adventures in the land of the wild things is every child’s dream.  Dressed in his wolf suit, Max makes sufficient mischief for his mother to send him to bed without supper because he is a “Wild Thing.”  As he falls asleep, his dreams portray a forest growing in his room.  A private boat appears and carries him across the ocean to the world “where the wild things are.”  His face at first betrays a bit of fear, but as the wild things roar their “terrible roars” and gnash their “terrible teeth” and roll their “terrible eyes” and show their “terrible claws,” he uses a magic trick known to all young children.  He successfully tames the wild things by staring into their yellow eyes without blinking once, thereby frightening them and becoming “king” of all wild things.  Delightful illustrations depict the “wild rumpus” of Max and the creatures as they howl at the moon and swing through trees.

But Max grows lonely in the land of the wild things and wants to be “where someone loved him best of all.”  He smells good things to eat from way across the ocean, and, although the wild things beg him to stay, he gives up being king and sails back “over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day,” retracing his steps home.  Arriving in his own room, he finds his supper waiting and, best of all, “it was still hot."

Young listeners aged four through eight will delight in this story of Max’s dream adventures among the wild things and will also identify with his wish to return to the security of home where someone loved him “best of all.”  Where the Wild Things Are is a satisfying and rollicking story that children will want to hear over and over again, enjoying the colorful illustrations of the wild things and their forest world.

Discussion Questions for Where the Wild Things Are

Seen Art? is an offbeat story of an unexpected tour of the galleries of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.  The tour is taken by a little boy who is actually looking for his friend Art on the corner of Fifth and Fifty-third Street.  When his friend does not appear, he asks people on the street if they have seen Art and they interpret his question to mean he wants to see art, fine art, that is.  Consequently, he is directed to MOMA.  The text is clever, funny, and very informative regarding the emotional quality behind the art work that is featured.  One tour guide takes the little boy into a room where “The Red Studio” by Henri Matisse is hanging and introduces the work to him.

Quoting the text: "Spreading joy around by color. The artist said it himself. Look at the red!  Look at the open box of crayons inviting us in. The grandfather clock? It has no hands. Time is suspended."

The author describes fine art as being “Personal.” “Puzzling.” “Playful.” “Provocative.” “Powerful.”  And in the end the little boy finds not only his friend, Art, but also the joy inherent in fine art.

The long rectangular shape of the book is perfect for gallery walking.  Sixty-four pictures of art, all in the collection of MOMA, are featured.  They include such paintings as Magritte’s “The False Mirror,” Kahlo’s “Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair,” Monet’s “Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond,” and “The Persistence of Memory” by Salvador Dalí.  This book gives the young reader a great opportunity to be introduced to modern art.  A bonus for the reader is a four page picture glossary of each of the sixty-four works of art which identifies the artist, the title, the medium used and when it was acquired by MOMA.

Seen Art? is ideal for ages 6 to 10 (published by Viking Juvenile, May 2005)

Discussion questions for Seen Art?

Audrey and Don Wood’s The Napping House is a cumulative tale in the genre of The House that Jack Built.  In this story of the “napping house,” we find everyone sleeping through a rainy afternoon, all piled up in one slightly undersized bed.  The illustrations are exaggerated and a delight to examine closely, as they balance perfectly the clever language of the story.  Young children will be introduced to a number of words that describe the nappers, who include a snoring granny, a dreaming child, a dozing dog, a snoozing cat, and a slumbering mouse.  All are at peace until a “wakeful” flea bites the mouse and causes a domino series of events including a scared and clawing cat who wakes the dog who thumps the child who bumps the granny.  As the story concludes, the sun is out, and the napping house has become a place where “no one now is sleeping.”

The Napping House is a great read aloud to use for engaging young children in learning the rhythm of spoken language.  They will very quickly begin joining in the repetitive refrain of this story as it is read and will be introduced to new words in the process.  The illustrations are humorous as the people and animals initially all pile up together in granny’s bed and are then subsequently disturbed by the “wakeful” flea.  No one is angry—only startled at the transpiring events.

Young children aged three to seven will enjoy The Napping House and will also enjoy other books by the Woods, including King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub, another book that uses words and cumulative events in a clever way.

Audrey Wood.  The Napping House.  Illus. by Don Wood.  New York:  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984.

Discussion questions for The Napping House

Fancy Nancy is a concept book all dolled up with beads and baubles and buttons and bows.  The concept is what it is to be fancy and by comparison what it is to be plain.  Fancy Nancy is no plain Jane.  This protagonist seems to instinctively be drawn to lace, jewelry, tiaras, tutus, flowers, feathers and fans.  Her family, however, is plain.  Fancy Nancy talks them into going out on the town all dressed up to the local diner where they have parfaits instead of ice cream sundaes.  A favorite illustration shows the whole family dressed to the hilt entering the front door of a local diner -- Nancy in toe shoes, laces and ribbons; Dad in a top hat, silk scarf and cane; Mom bedecked in long black gloves, fans and a willowy hat with a plume. Even Nancy’s younger sister wears flowers on her head and flowers on her toes. Of course the masquerade cannot go on without a problem. In fact, being too fancy brings the evening to an end.

Quoting from the book:  “When we arrive . . . everyone looks up.  They probably think we’re movie stars.” 

Defining Feature: Jane O’Connor’s text is full of fun as it postulates that “sandwiches definitely taste better when you stick in frilly toothpicks,” and “lace trim socks do help me to play soccer better.”  The colorful cover of the book is decorated with sparkles and a fine drawing of little, miss Fancy Nancy.  Robin Glasser’s illustrations are full of fussy details, wonderful facial expressions and terrific poses.  This is a grand picture book for summer reading.  It is light and funny and does make a case for using judgment as to when extravagancy is a good thing and when a plainer, simpler approach to life is appropriate.

Author/Illustrator:by author Jane O’Connor and illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser

Fancy Nancy is ideal for ages 4 to 8 (published by Harper Collins, December 2005).

Disscussion Questions for Fancy Nancy

Ella Sarah Gets Dressed, by Margaret Chodos-Irvine, is the delightful story of Ella Sarah, a preschooler with a mind of her own.  On the morning the story begins, Ella Sarah wakes up and announces her decision to wear “my pink polka-dot pants, my dress with orange-and-green flowers, my purple-and-blue striped socks, my yellow shoes, and my red hat.”  This colorful outfit does not find favor with her family.  Her mother dismisses it as “too dressy” and suggests a much more subdued blue dress and white sandals.  Her father finds her selection “too fancy” and suggests a t-shirt with shorts and tennis shoes.  Her big sister describes her outfit as “too silly” and offers her own hand-me-down overalls and boots.  To each of these recommendations, Ella Sarah responds with an increasingly vehement “No!”  She perseveres and happily dons her bright and colorful outfit which she pronounces is “just right.”  As the story concludes, the door bell rings to announce the arrival of Ella Sarah’s friends who have come for a tea party.  They, too, approve of her outfit, which is not surprising as the reader observes their own creative and colorful clothing selections.

Ella Sarah Gets Dressed is the realistic portrayal of a preschooler ready to make her own decisions.  Young listeners will identify with Ella Sarah’s frustration as her family tries to impose their own tastes, and they will cheer with her ultimate triumph and the surprise arrival of her friends in their bright and cheery outfits.  The illustrations are big and bold and detail Ella Sarah’s delight in her selected outfit as well as her responses to her family.

Ella Sarah Gets Dressed is a book that will prove delightful for young listeners aged three to seven who are also developing their own tastes and sense of style.  They will want to hear this story over and over again as they recite with Ella Sarah each item of her colorful outfit.

Disscussion Questions for Ella Sarah Gets Dressed

Old Turtle and the Broken Truth is a gentle fable about the finding of the whole truth and the bringing of peace to all peoples of the earth.  It tells how the truth “streaks down from the stars, trailing a tail as long as the sky.  But as it fell, it broke.”  Animals of the world including Crow, Fox, Coyote, Raccoon, Butterfly and Bear, are attracted to this piece of the truth but abandon it because it is broken and has rough edges and is not whole.  Human beings, however, covet it because it has written on it “You are loved.”  People fight over it.  Great battles and wars are waged and as the author states so poetically, “. . . the earth is sore and people are suffering.”  Not until a young girl travels to the middle of the earth to have an audience with Old Turtle does the other piece of the truth emerge.  It simply reads “And So Are They.”  Putting the two pieces of the truth together, results in the whole truth, namely, “You Are Loved And So Are They.”  This whole truth encompasses everyone.  No need to fight over it.  Everyone is part of the whole truth.

Author Wood calls this book, the second of his Old Turtle fables, a multigenerational book.  Both children and adults can share in this richly dense story.  Jon Muth’s watercolors are soft, graceful and full of mythic dimensions. Particularly beautiful is the picture of Crow abandoning the broken truth and the picture of the people with arms outstretched in praise cherishing the broken truth.  There is also a striking illustration near the end of the book that depicts world peace in a rainbow of colors. Old Turtle and the Broken Truth is ideal for ages 5 to 9 and up (published by Scholastic Press, October 1, 2003). This is Sue Ann Martin for Children’s Books. . .The Dean’s List

Disscussion Questions for Old Turtle and the Broken Truth

Named one of this year’s Caldecott Honor books, Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems portrays the small creatures and plants inhabiting a pond through naturalist Beckie Prange’s prints and Joyce Sidman’s poems.  Also included on each page is a small factual description of the plant or creature highlighted, and a glossary with even more information.  This is, indeed, a book to be enjoyed and one that can supplement classroom science lessons in the early grades.

The reader or listener is first “hooked” by an invitation to “Listen for Me” as a spring peeper, an inch-long tree frog, offers to sing his listener to sleep.  Subsequent poems describe the “Peep! Peep!...Hop, hop...leaping, leaping.  Splash down...paddle, paddle” of the baby wood duck.  In the cumulative tale of the pond’s food chain, it is “the heron, queen of the pond, that spears the fish, that swallows the frog, that gulps the bug...that eats the algae...in the depths of the summer pond.”  The water boatmen of the book’s title sing a hearty pirate-like refrain of “Yo, ho, ho, the pond winds blow,” as they steer around.  The detailed and colorful portraits of the pond and its inhabitants are clear proof of Prange’s skill that merited the Caldecott recognition for illustrative quality.

Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems is a book that can easily be read all in one setting or poem by individual poem over subsequent days.  Children aged seven through ten will enjoy this book, and older readers can use it as a springboard to continued reading about nature and pond life.

Joyce Sidman.  Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems.  Illus. Beckie Prange.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.

Discussion questions for Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems

Cookies:  Bite-Size Life Lessons is a darling novelty book that is very effective at teaching children what it means to be honest, proud, modest, respectful, patient, polite, compassionate, greedy and the like. It uses situations with cookies as the examples. It is less a storybook and more of a dictionary but each page does pose a possible narrative. The children in the book are all doing something with, around and about cookies. The first illustration shows a little girl holding a spoon in a large mixing bowl full of cookie dough alongside two animal friends who are eager to pour in the precious contents of their measuring cups. The text simply says, “COOPERATE means, How about you add the chips while I stir?”

 Often the artist and the illustrator have placed a pair of opposites across from one another such as generous and greedy or pessimistic and optimistic or proud and modest or fair and unfair. Reading from the text:

“FAIR means, You get a bite, I get a bite, you get a bite, I get a bite. UNFAIR means, You get a bite, and now I get the rest.”

In each picture the child is accompanied by animal friends of all kinds. Jane Dyer’s kittens, bunnies, puppies, sheep, ducks and mice are perfect for young children. The illustrations are full of comfort and visual fun especially since the animals are all dressed up in straw bonnets, baseball caps, checkered shirts, overalls and polka dot dresses. There is even a horse in an overcoat and a lamb in a letter sweater. 

The only adult in the book is a grandmother who has respect shown to her by being offered the very first cookie. As the book proceeds more complicated words are explained such as envy, loyal, courageous and open mindedness.  Some of these pages will require repeating. Cookies:  Bite-Size Life Lessons is ideal for ages 3 to 8 (published by HarperCollins, April 25, 2006).This is Sue Ann Martin for Children’s Books. . .The Dean’s List

Disscussion Questions for Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

Written and illustrated by Simms Taback, is a contemporary fable about the wisdom of making the best of what you have.  This very clever story won the 2000 Caldecott Award for its colorful and creative illustrations linked to the saga of Joseph’s overcoat.  This overcoat, which is already “old and worn,” goes through many transformations, and Taback’s very clever use of cut-outs throughout the book allow the reader to watch what remains each time the coat is remade—into a jacket, a vest, a scarf, a necktie, a handkerchief, and, finally, a button.  And with these transformations come exciting adventures for Joseph that include a trip to the fair, a dance at his nephew’s wedding, and a visit to see his married sister in the city. When Joseph ultimately loses the last incarnation of his overcoat—his button—he is not discouraged.  Instead, he uses this event to demonstrate the story’s moral, “you can always make something out of nothing.”  To find out this “something,” you will have to read the story.

The text of this story is simple and straightforward, and the people, places, and, most especially, the animals portrayed in Joseph’s world are a delight to behold. The bright, primary colors of the illustrations and many details included will engage young readers and listeners in studying each page at great length.

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat is an entertaining and uplifting story to share with children aged four through eight.

Disscussion Questions from Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

The simple pen and ink drawings chronicle how Emmaline discovers she is a poet and how that fills the emptiness in her life.  The endearing drawings supporting the writing life that Emmaline and Emily share throughout the sixty pages of this story by writing poems to one another are extraordinarily satisfying.  One such illustration is a two page picture showing Emily’s bedroom with a small bed, a reading lamp and a writing table on one page and Emmaline’s bedroom with a small bed, a reading candle and a writing table on the other page. 

Several of Dickinson’s wonderful poems are placed strategically throughout the text, such as “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” and “If I can stop one heart from breaking.”  There is a five page narrative at the end of the book that gives a straight forward chronology of Dickinson’s life and brings closure to the story.

The Mouse of Amherst is ideal for ages 9 to 12 (published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, March 1999).

Disscussion Questions from The Mouse of Amherst

Central to Morrison’s story is “The Open Gate” of integration, initiated by the 1954, U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown versus the Board of Education.  Photographs portray efforts to implement this law.  They show the anger of those who tried to prevent integration as well as the fear and isolation of black children attending previously all-white schools.  But the conflicted nature of whites in the South is also portrayed in some who worry they have only followed the crowd rather than conscience.The majority of the text represents the thoughts Morrison associates with those in the photographs—often leaving the reader to determine which person in the photograph might be speaking.  Children and adolescents will find much food for thought in responding to the written text and the photographs selected—considering just why Morrison chose those particular photos from the thousands available and who might be doing the speaking.  As an afterward, she provides specifics about each photograph as to time and place taken.Morrison’s closing words are of hope, “Anything can happen.  Anything at all,” and accompany a photograph of  two young adolescent girls, one black and one white, holding hands through the windows at the back of their schoolbus.Remember: The Journey to School Integration is an excellent and challenging work for ages nine to fourteen.

Discussion Questions for Remember: The Journey to School Integration