Move Over, Rover!, by Karen Beaumont with illustrations by Jane Dyer, is a frolicking tale written in rhyming couplets.  As the story opens, Rover is alone in his doghouse chewing on a bone when suddenly a thunderstorm erupts, and he is joined by a number of other animals seeking warmth and protection.  First to arrive is Cat, followed by Raccoon, Squirrel, Blue Jay, and so forth.  In cumulative fashion each animal adds to the plea, “Move over, Rover!” until the final intruder, a mouse, cries out,

Slide aside, Snake!
Out of the way, Blue Jay!
Squeeze in, Squirrel!
Make room, Raccoon!
Skit-scat, Cat!
Move over, Rover!

Children will delight in the wonderful alliteration and assonance of these word sounds that so perfectly describe the animal movements and call out to be read and chanted as the doghouse becomes a “tight fit” that “might split.”

The story takes a surprising twist as Skunk, who could be seen on the opening pages by the careful observer, peeking around the back of the doghouse, suddenly makes his presence known by a whiff  of his “awful smell.”  All the animals hurriedly “skitter, scatter . . . scamper” and “scurry,” only to find that the storm has now passed.  But where is Rover?  “Romping?  Racing?  Jumping?  Chasing?”  No, he is back in his doghouse,

Chewing on a bone
Soaked and sopping
Tail flip-flopping,
Happy he’s alone!

Move Over, Rover!  is the perfect read-aloud that children aged three to seven will enjoy hearing over and over again.  Jane Dyer’s bright watercolors are a wonderful accompaniment as they portray each animal snuggled in the doghouse while the rain pours down outside.

Karen Beaumont.  Jane Dyer, illus.  Move Over, Rover!  New York:  Harcourt, Inc., 2006.

Discussion Questions for Move Over Rover!

Rainstorm by author/illustrator Barbara Lehman is an exquisite story told in pictures only.  The book celebrates the imagination and the many possibilities that can happen on a lonely afternoon when there is a rainstorm.

We first see a boy, dressed in Sunday clothes, looking out at the storm from his large bedroom window.  Weary of having no playmate, he aimlessly begins to kick a red and white ball around the room.  It bounces down the staircase and rolls under a chair.  The boy reaches under the chair and finds a mysterious key under the seat.  Now the day becomes more interesting as the boy tries the key in a variety of locks including a cabinet, a jewelry box, a door and then an old trunk.  Ta dah!  The key turns the lock on the trunk and the boy raises the lid.  Like magic a ladder pops up from the inside of the trunk.  Now the day is getting much more interesting!

The boy climbs into the trunk and down the ladder, onto a path with a door at one end. He opens the door and sees a gleaming white spiral staircase.  Up the boy climbs circling round and round.  At the top he lifts a trap door and finds that he is on top of a beautiful red and white lighthouse.

There the boy meets three children and their dog.  Playmates!  The boy discards his tie, unbuttons his shirt, takes off his shoes and socks and follows the children down the stairs to run in the grass, fly kites, and build sandcastles.

The author/illustrator tells a beautiful story about the imagination with beautiful pictures.  The watercolors are outlined in bold ink lines giving each image a strong delineation.  The old brown trunk is shown on a flat white background focusing the attention on what might be inside.  The spiral staircase is drawn with a precise pattern on a neutral background which adds intrigue to the story.  And the bright red and white lighthouse is clean, crisp and eye catching.

Rainstorm written and illustrated by Barbara Lehman is ideal for children ages 5 to 8 years old (published by Houghton Mifflin, April 9, 2007).

Discussion Questions for Rainstorm

Not a Box, written and illustrated by Antoinette Portis, is one of this year’s Dr. Seuss Honor Award books.  Portis aptly dedicates it “to children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes,” and the story portrays a young rabbit’s wonderful adventures in the imaginary world inherent in all cardboard boxes.

An unseen speaker poses various questions to the young rabbit about what he is doing with his box, such as “Why are you sitting in a box . . . standing on top of a box”, or “squirting a box?”  Each time the rabbit responds, “It’s not a box.”  Instead, we see the box he is sitting in is, indeed, a fancy racing car for which he dons goggles; the box he is standing on is a mountaintop, Rabbit Peak; the box he is squirting is a burning building and he a member of the fire department; the box he is wearing makes him a robot known as “Rab-bot XL-3,” and the box he is standing in is alternately the crow’s nest atop a ship’s mast, a hot air balloon basket, a regal fringed seat atop an elephant, and the captain’s perch on a tug boat.  Finally, in frustration at the constant questioning, the rabbit responds that it is “NOT NOT NOT NOT a box,” but is instead his “Not-a Box,” as he takes off in an imaginary box-supported space ship.

Young children aged three to six will love Not a Box and its portrayal of the vivid world of the imagination.  Portis’ playful illustrations challenge young readers to imagine some of the many things a box may become as they turn page after page.  Additionally, all adults who remember the wonderful adventures experienced playing in old refrigerator, stove, washer, or dryer boxes will sympathize with the little rabbit and, perhaps, remember a simple time in their own lives when a large box could bring so much pleasure.

Antoinette Portis.  Not a Box.  New York:  Harper Collins, 2006.

Discussion Questions for Not A Box

Clip-Clop by author/illustrator Nicola Smee is a perfect picture book with the tale told twice---once through the delightful pictures done in watercolor wash and outlined in bold black line and once through the musical text.  The story starts simply and sweetly when Horse asks his barnyard friends if anyone wants to take a ride.  Yes, says Cat.  Yes, says Dog.  Yes, says Pig.  And finally, yes, says Duck.  Each animal perches atop Horse in their own fashion.  Cat hangs onto Horse’s mane and Dog hangs onto Cat.  Pig hangs onto Dog and Duck rides the rump.  The expression on Pig’s face is particularly delightful, all full of joy and satisfaction about going for a ride.

Then off they go clippity-clopping around the barnyard, first at a gentle pace and then faster and faster.  This illustration is picture perfect showing the animals hanging on for their dear lives as Horse increases his speed.  You can even feel the air catch their fur, skin, feathers and mane.  Although the little passengers hunker down, they start to slip.  Horse stops abruptly and catapults them through the air and into a hay stack.  And albeit this was a somewhat scary ride, the first thing Cat, Dog, Pig and Duck say when they climb out of the hay stack in an excited, loud shout is, “AGAIN!”  This illustration is a perfect metaphor for the thrill-seeking young child who loves to run and tumble and play hard, even though it might be a little frightening.

The text is storyteller friendly.  The typeface is very large and childlike.  There is a use of onomatopoeia in the clip-clops and plop plops that thread through the story.  And when a big physical movement or a huge expression of joy takes place, the author/illustrator explodes the size of the word that carries the emotion.

Clip-Clop by British author and illustrator Nicola Smee is ideal for ages 2 to 5 years old (published by Boxer Books, April 28, 2006).

Discussion Questions for Clip-Clop

In an old house in Paris
that was covered with vines
lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.

How many of you recognize these opening lines for Ludwig Bemelmans’ contemporary classic, Madeline?  For many of us they conjure up cherished childhood memories of tiny Madeline, one of Miss Clavel’s students in that vine-covered Parisian boarding school.  This book was my first introduction to Paris, the city of lights and architectural wonders.  My mother pointed out the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre, and the Church of Sacre Coeur overlooking the city, and she assured me that one day I would visit them all.  As an adult, when I finally visited Paris, I did, indeed, think of Madeline and her adventures.

Several years ago, a father wrote in the Sunday New York Times Book Review about a planned family trip to Paris and his little girl who faithfully carried with her a copy of Madeline as conscientiously as any beginning traveler might carry a Frommer’s or Lonely Planet guide.

And is this not one of the purposes of literature—that it open to us worlds we had never even imagined existed?  Bemelmans engaged his young audiences with beautiful illustrations and rhyming couplets as well as the exciting story of Madeline’s middle of the night trip to the hospital for an appendectomy followed by visits from her classmates and new toys from Papa.  Especially exciting is the new “scar” on her stomach.  So exciting is it that her eleven classmates wake late that same night crying out for the same surgery, but to no avail.  Instead, they hear the comforting words,

“Good night, little girls!
Thank the lord you are well!
And now go to sleep!”
said Miss Clavel.

Bemelman’s award-winning story of Madeline proved so popular that it was followed by five sequels.  Madeline’s Rescue won the coveted Caldecott Award as best illustrated children’s book of the year.  While these are by no means new books, the Madeline series continues to be enjoyed by children aged six to eight, especially little girls who love the boxed set containing a Madeline doll complete with a little scar on her stomach.

Ludwig Bemelmans.  Madeline.  New York:  The Viking Press, 1939.

Discussion Questions for Madeline

Camel Rider by Prue Mason is an intense, well-written novel for young readers about two boys from very different backgrounds and cultures who learn to trust one another in order to survive.  The story is brilliantly told from both of their perspectives --- the points of view change within chapters and even within paragraphs as their two separate stories gradually, chapter after chapter, then page after page, become one integrated story.

Adam, a boy of nearly 13 years of age from Australia, is living in a protected compound in a city somewhere in the Arabian Gulf.  His father is a pilot and they have lived there since Adam was seven.  Walid, a boy from Bangladesh, is living in a camel camp somewhere in the Arabian Gulf after having been taken as a camel rider.  His father had died and his mother had few options.  Consequently, both boys come to this story with vastly different perspectives, languages, traditions and ideas about the world.  They meet after circumstances deposit them both in a deserted mountain area --- lost, alone and up against great odds.  It is fascinating to witness their attempts to communicate, their initial distrust of each other, their misreading of visual cues and their eventual understanding that they must work together to outwit thirst, hunger and three men from the camel camp who had dumped Walid, hands and feet tied, in the mountains to die.

The story is set in a fictional city by the name of Abudai.  The author is careful to insist that Arabic words and phrases represent the usage in the Gulf region.  The text is richly painted with vivid cultural colors as the story presents dialogue in two languages and dual streams of consciousness.  The novel, first published in Australia in 2004, won the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award in 2005 as well as being named a Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book for Younger Readers.  A new edition has just been published in the U.S.

Camel Rider by Prue Mason, a story about how two boys bridge a great cultural divide to find friendship, is ideal for young readers10 years old and up (published by Charlesbridge Publishing; New edition June 1, 2007).

Discussion Questions for Camel Rider

Tops and Bottoms, a humorous story with roots in traditional tales from Europe and the American South, is retold delightfully and with bold illustrations by Janet Stevens.  This clever tale recounts the efforts of Father Hare and his family, penniless after his “risky bet” with a tortoise, to somehow gain use of the rich farmland owned by the lazy Bear who sleeps his days away.

Hare first offers to plant and harvest Bear’s field, allowing Bear to choose either the tops or the bottoms of his crops.  Bear selects what seems the obvious choice—the tops.  But Hare cleverly plants carrots, radishes, and beets.  Bear realizes he has been outsmarted when he receives his pile of useless tops and only agrees to another planting if this time he will receive the bottoms and Hare the tops.  Hare agrees, but this time he plants lettuce, broccoli, and celery.  Twice tricked, Bear agrees to a third planting only if this time he will receive “both tops and bottoms.”  But Bear is outsmarted yet again when Hare plants corn, providing Bear with worthless roots and tassels while he retains the delicious ears of corn.

As the story concludes, Bear is finally motivated to leave behind his sedentary lifestyle and plant and harvest his own crops, while the Hare family, now grown rich with their vegetable stand, can buy back their lost land.  Bear and Hare learn to coexist as neighbors, but they will never again be “business partners.”

Janet Stevens’ lavish watercolors of the sleeping Bear, sprawled on his front porch, and the industrious and clever Hare family with their colorful crops make Tops and Bottoms the perfect picture book to share with young children aged three to eight who will delight in Hare’s clever trickery and also provide suggestions for other crops he might have planted to provide the appropriate tops, bottoms, or middles for his family.

Janet Stevens, adaptor and illustrator.  Tops and Bottoms.  New York:  Harcourt Brace & Company, 1995.

Discussion Questions for Tops and Bottoms

Christina Katerina & The Box written by Patricia Lee Gauch and illustrated by Doris Burn is the grandmother of all transformation books.  First published in 1971 (and still available) this picture book chronicles the story of Christina Katerina, her lively imagination and her love of boxes --- hat boxes, shoe boxes and most of all, refrigerator boxes.

When her mother gets a new refrigerator she gets an exciting thing for play.  She first makes the box into a castle with all the trimmings --- a turret, a drawbridge and, with the help of her father, a real cut out door and window.  Her friend, Fats Watson, kicks it over in a temper tantrum.  Not to worry, Christina transforms it into a clubhouse with “Keep Out” and “Members Only” signs until Fats sits on top of it and caves it in.  Not to worry, next Christina adds a steering wheel and a flag and produces a racing car!  After hours of creative play on the front lawn drag strip, Fats cuts an engine line by mistake and the whole thing flattens.  Now Christina has the perfect floor for a mansion.  She draws in rooms and furniture and adds her dolls and bears.  But then, Fats decides to hose down the floor and turns it into a great, big, soggy, pulpy mess.  And that is the end to the refrigerator box.  But, not to worry, Fats Watson’s mother gets a new washer and dryer and the whole cycle begins again.

Doris Burn’s illustrations are simple and clear in black, off-white and tan.  The expressions on the children’s faces reveal a large part of the emotions housed in the story.  Friendship, the imagination and power of transformation are all celebrated in this book.  The whole philosophy of creating something new out of something old by adding to it, subtracting from it, turning it upside down and inside out, altering its shape and its inherent function is visually exciting.

Christina Katerina & The Box by Patricia Lee Gauch and Doris Burn is ideal for children ages 3-7 (published by Putnam Juvenile; Reissue edition April 13, 1998).

Discussions Questions for Christina Katerina & The Box

Award-winning author and illustrator Molly Bang offers a wonderful and comforting celebration of the love a little girl’s adoptive parents express for her throughout the day in her bright and colorful book, In My Heart.  As the story opens, the little girl’s mother explains that as she dresses for work and leaves home each morning she feels something in her heart.  And as she looks inside her coat, she sees a large yellow and red heart-shaped image surrounding the little girl, who she says is always “right here in my heart.”  As she rides the bus to her office where she is a veterinarian, caring for a variety of animals, the little girl continues to reside in her heart where there is “plenty of room” for her.  Whether her mother is “talking or eating or writing or watching,” or just listening to the sounds around her, all day the little girl is in her heart.  As she explains, “I can’t go anyplace without you!”

As the story continues, the little girl’s father explains that as he walks her to the school bus each morning and sees her leave, it does not matter what she does throughout the day—whether she is “talking or eating or playing or watching,” she is in his heart “all the time.”  Her parents say they miss her when they are apart, but it is as though “happy jumps right back” in the “front door” when they look inside their hearts and see her.  No matter how cold or hot or wet it might be outside, with her in their hearts the weather is “fine.  It’s just beautiful.”  And as she goes to sleep at night, her parents gaze at her in bed and see her own bright red heart filled with their faces and the faces of family friends and pets.  What a delightful end to this story of connectedness and love!

In My Heart is a book that children aged three to five will love hearing read over and over again as they examine the illustrative details on every colorful page and reflect on their own families and friends and the love they share.

Molly Bang. In My Heart. New York:  Little, Brown and Company, 2006.

Discussion Questions for In My Heart

In Aunt Giraffe’s Green Garden written by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Petra Mathers is a bright, beautifully illustrated and oversized book of rhymes and poetry for children.  The text contains twenty-eight poems, sixteen of which are set in a state such as “In Toledo” where we hear about four singing Toledo geese who act as a self-appointed welcoming quartet; “In the Spring in Kansas City” where we meet Casey who jumps into a public fountain to frolic and cool off; and “In Amarillo, Texas” where we read about Willa Ware who sits in a yellow chair eating a pear.  Denver, Virginia, Maine, North Carolina and many other states are used as “place” for the action.  The poems are full of heroines including Willa Ware, Ida, Silly Sally, Jolly Jane and Dancing Dot and lots and lots of animals.  There are funny rhymes such as “There’s a Lady in Galoshes,” “The Poodles Ate Oodles of Noodles” and “Peter Ate A Pound of Pudding.”  And there are some really elegant poems written with simplicity and quiet reflection such as “High Atop A Lofty Mountain” and “Above the Wide Potomac.”

Petra Mathers’ watercolors capture the essence of the rhymes and the poems very well.  The illustration for “The Snow Fell in Billings” shows a wonderful close-up of a snowman with flowers in his hair and a strawberry nose as the snow blanketed Billings in the middle of May.  Equally striking is the two-page spread for “Seagull, Seagull” where the sky and the water float across the pages in a seamless continuity with a beautiful white seagull flying toward a tiny boat crafted out of an issue of The Baltimore Sun.  Mathers’ watercolor for the cover, which is also the title poem, is brilliant with giant red poppies and busy little bugs.

In Aunt Giraffe’s Green Garden written by Jack Prelutsky, who was awarded the title of children’s poet laureate by the Poetry Foundation in 2006, and illustrated by Petra Mathers is ideal for ages 3-8 (published by Greenwillow May 8, 2007).

Discussion Questions for Aunt Giraffe's Green Garden

Gone Wild:  An Endangered Animal Alphabet is one of this year’s Caldecott Honor Books, recognized by the American Library Association for its excellent illustrations that support a creative and informative text—all the work of David McLimans in this, his first children’s book.  Using only bold black strokes, each letter of the alphabet is manipulated and transformed to portray some portion of an animal, and each contains a pair of piercing eyes fixed boldly on the reader.   The color red is used to present each letter in more traditional form as well as for a text box with a more detailed, full-bodied view of the animal and information about its habitat, geographical range, and the external threats that endanger it.

Exotic alphabet animals portrayed include a bushman hare whose ears become the top of the letter “H” with the crosspiece its delicate nose, a prairie sphinx moth whose body is balanced delicately to form the centerpiece of an “M,” a Madagascar Tree Boa wrapped sinuously around the letter “B,” a black rhinoceros whose distinctive horn pokes out the top of the rounded loop in an “R,” an Ethiopian wolf whose pointy nose and ears fit perfectly into one segment of a “W,” a St. Helena earwig whose delicate pincers form the top and bottom of an “E,” a striped zebra whose head is proudly perched along the spine of a “Z,” and a very surprised-looking spotted owl.

Gone Wild:  An Endangered Animal Alphabet presents the perfect blend of creativity and factual information and can be enjoyed by children as young as three or four who will delight in the illustrations and clever animal names, while older readers aged six to ten will benefit from the factual information presented so very well.

Discussion Questions for Gone Wild:  An Endangered Animal Alphabet

The illustrations are as full of life and decorative details as the book can possibly hold.  Color is splashed all over the imaginative pen and ink drawings bringing out the fun of jewel-bedecked hair pieces, fluffy fur capes with blue satin linings, red ribbon-crossed toe shoes, laced skirts and angel wing sunglasses.  The cover is very attractively laid out with pinks, purples and, of course, sparkles.

Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy is ideal for children 4-8 years of age (published by HarperCollins March 27, 2007).

Discussion Questions for Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy

Flotsam, written and illustrated by David Wiesner, has just received the prestigious Caldecott Award, given by the American Library Association for the best-illustrated book of the year.  In keeping with Wiesner’s other wordless and clever stories within a story and stories with imagined continuations such as his award-winning Tuesday and Free Fall, Flotsam begins with an inquisitive young boy’s day at the beach.  While investigating sea creatures with his magnifying glass, he is knocked down by a large wave that also carries with it an old, underwater camera.  When he has the film developed he finds photos that include mechanical fish, fish lined up on a sofa listening as a large octopus reads a book to them, a puffer fish serving as an ascent balloon, tiny humanoid creatures surrounded by enormous sea horses, and, most amazing of all, a photo of a young girl holding a photo of a boy holding a photo of another boy holding another photo and so forth.  Using his trusty magnifying glass, our young boy examines these photos within photos which eventually change from color to black and white and show children dressed in very old fashioned clothing from the late 1800’s.

In a final clever twist, the young boy rigs up the camera to take his own picture holding the photo of all those children of the past and then tosses the camera into the ocean.  Carried along by sea creatures, the camera is eventually claimed by a young girl on a tropical shore, and the young reader is now left to imagine the next stage in the journey of this amazing underwater camera. As usual, Wiesner has created a beautifully illustrated and ingeniously told story to intrigue readers and listeners aged six through nine, although adolescents and adults will be equally enthralled with Flotsam.  Clearly this is a book that deserved the Caldecott Award it has received.   

David Wiesner.  Flotsam.  New York:  Clarion Books, 2006.

Discussion Questions for Flotsam