What Grandmas Do Best/ What Grandpas Do Best written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Lynn Munsinger is really two picture books in one. On one side of the book the cover title is What Grandmas Do Best but when you turn the book over and upside down there is another front cover with the title What Grandpas Do Best. Both cover illustrations are full of images of cozy intergenerational bonding and sheer contentment. There are 17 pages dedicated to each story.

Basically, grandmas and grandpas do the same things with grandchildren such as playing hide and seek, helping fly kites and building sand castles, but with slightly different approaches. Although the text for each story is exactly the same, the pictures are very different. For instance, Grandma makes a soft winter hat for her grandchild knitted out of red yarn and Grandpa makes his grandchild a three-cornered pirate hat out of newspapers. Grandma takes long walks with her grandchild down quiet country paths and Grandpa and his grandchild follow the excitement of busy city routes. Grandpa likes to look at family photographs in an album whereas Grandma prefers sharing family pictures framed and hanging on the wall. Grandma and her grandchild enjoy a picnic at the beach where they spread out on a blanket and eat sandwiches, watermelon and apple pie. Grandpa and his grandchild hold their picnic in the park where they sit at a picnic table and eat pizza, pizza, pizza.

Defining Feature: Lynn Munsinger’s 32 illustrations are full of color, lively details, adorable little animals, playful events, dancing, looking, seeing and loving. Young children will enjoy Grandma’s world of raccoons, mice, frogs, cats and dogs as well as Grandpa’s world of hedgehogs, pigs, elephants, dogs and monkeys. Especially endearing are the wonderful facial expressions. Throughout the book grandparents are looking lovingly down at their grandchildren and grandchildren are looking lovingly up at their grandparents.

What Grandmas Do Best/ What Grandpas Do Best written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Lynn Munsinger is ideal for all Grandparents and for children from 3 to 7 years of age (published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing September 1, 2000).

Discussion Questions for What Grandmas Do Best/ What Grandpas Do Best

Frederick Lipp’s Running Shoes is the extremely hopeful story of Sophy, a young Cambodian girl who dreams of attending school. Unfortunately, there is no school in her very small village. Only a pair of running shoes will allow her to run the 8 kilometers to the next village to attend their school. The government “number man” or census taker who visits her village each year learns of her desire and actually sends her the necessary shoes that propel her dream toward reality.

With these new shoes and a breakfast of rice and fish, she sets off on her run through the rice fields, crossing little streams and sharp stones that would have made her way impassible before. Arriving at the one-room schoolhouse for her first day she finds only boys, but the teacher welcomes her warmly as Sophy blurts out, “I want to learn how to read and write.”

When the “number man” returns at the end of the school year, Sophy writes him a message in the sand by the river, proving that she really can now read and write. She expresses her hope that one day she can help build a school in her village and that she will be the teacher. The reader can hardly doubt but that she will succeed.

Frederick Lipp has told Sophy’s story of her Running Shoes in a straightforward and not overly sympathetic manner, encouraging young readers and listeners to dream big dreams they can realize—dreams that can also help others. Jason Gaillard’s illustrations express Sophy’s joy and determination in reaction to the people and world around her. This is a wonderful book to share with readers aged seven to ten.

Running Shoes. Frederick Lipp. Illus. Jason Gaillard. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2008.

Discussion Questions for Running Shoes

Wild About Books written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown is a story about a librarian who mistakenly drives her mobile unit to the local zoo, sets up shop, starts to read aloud from Dr. Seuss and causes the animal population to go “wild about books.” This E.B. White Read Aloud Award book sounds great to the ear. The rhyming text is genuine and full of auditory fun. Quoting from the book:

In a flash, every beast in the zoo was stampeding
To learn all about the new something called reading.
Forsaking their niches, their nests and their nooks,
They went wild, simply wild, about wonderful books…

The illustrations are by the creator of Arthur the Aardvark, Marc Brown. His paintings, colored beautifully in yellow, brown, green, orange and black are full of happy surprises and darling details about these new animal readers. A beaver is reading “How to Build Dams,” an elephant has “Dumbo” in his trunk, a crocodile is reading “Peter Pan,” a monkey is flipping over a “Banana Cook Book” and llamas are munching their way through “The Grass Menagerie.”

And what naturally happens after reading? Writing. A hippo begins a memoir entitled “Mud In My Blood,” a cheetah starts a novel, insects write haiku and as the story goes, the scorpion gives everything a “stinging review.” When families come to the zoo to see the animals they are dismayed at the fact that the zebra, lion, bears elephants raccoons, fox, monkeys and owls are hunkered down with their favorite books.

Defining Feature: The design of the cover is very inviting to youngsters with six adoring animals, huddled lovingly around a book. The inside flaps of the cover also support reading. On the front flap an aardvark is fast asleep between two stacks of cozy books and on the back flap the hippo proudly holds her memoir. Both the author and illustrator dedicate this humorous and important story about the delight and the power of reading to Theodore Seuss Geisel who died in 1991.

Wild About Books written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown is ideal for children 4 to 8 years of age (published by Alfred A. Knopf August 10, 2004).

This is Sue Ann Martin for Children’s Books. . .The Dean’s List

Discussion Questions for Wild About Books

In light of our impending presidential elections and the recent birthday celebrations honoring former South African President Nelson Mandela, The Day Gogo Went to Vote by Elinor Batezat Sizulu is a wonderful introduction for young readers and listeners to the historic manner in which post-Apartheid elections were first opened to all South Africans in 1994. Particularly meaningful for young audiences is the fact that the story is told by a child, young Thembi, who so very much wants her grandmother, her Gogo, to be able to vote. The family is worried that Gogo will have to ride on a crowded bus or stand in long lines, but she soothes their fears with a question, “You want me to die not having voted?” This is of such importance to Gogo that she will do whatever is necessary—knowing that her people have fought for so long to make this dream a reality.

Through the assistance of neighbors, Gogo is driven to the voting station, taking little Thembi with her. Gogo is guided to the head of the line, and Thembi is involved in everything except entering the voting booth with her. Once she has voted, their photos are taken for the newspaper, with the byline that the “past and the future” have been involved in this historic vote—showing the hundred-year-old Gogo and six-year-old Thembi. After the elections, people celebrate Nelson Mandela as president, but for Thembi, the best day of all was “when Gogo went to vote.” Clearly, this is an encouragement to exercise one’s rights of citizenship and involvement as well as a simple story of modern history. Sharon Wilson’s pastel illustrations define the characters—their thoughtful responses and their joy in celebration. The Day Gogo Went to Vote is a book to be shared with children eight through eleven years old.

The Day Gogo Went to Vote. Elinor Batezat Sizulu. Illus. Sharon Wilson. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.

Discussion Questions for The Day Gogo Went to Vote

Darkness Slipped In written and illustrated by Ella Burfoot is a comforting and upbeat picture book for all those small children who are afraid of the dark, especially around bedtime.  The little heroine, Daisy, unlike the little boy in Mercer Mayer’s There’s A Nightmare In My Closet, is not the least bit frightened when Darkness comes quietly into her bedroom through the window and spreads out on the floor.  She is busy thinking up what to do next when Darkness arrives.  She takes the kooky little figure by the hand and begins to swing, jump, turn round and dance with him.  This takes Darkness by surprise but he willingly follows Daisy’s lead and they have a great time doing the funky twist.  The illustrations are black and white and pink all over.  A double page spread of 15 mini scenes allows the reader to join the fun as Daisy and Darkness dance about and throw Daisy’s “stuffy,” a white rabbit with a pink scarf, in the air.  Nothing scary here.
         When frolicking is over they settle down to have a cup of lemonade
and a piece of cake before they go to bed.  Quoting from the book:
But when they’re tired and sleepy,
Daisy switches off the light.
And Daisy knows
that Darkness knows
it’s time to say…
“Good night.”

Defining Feature: The author/illustrator presents Daisy in a cute cartoon style and presents Darkness as an appealing and kinetic little character dressed in a shiny black image with the help of a spot lamination process.  This makes him a very attractive and tactile image which children will want to touch.  In fact touch is very important to the story as can be seen on the “Good night” page where Daisy is cuddled in her blanket with the soft Darkness tucked safely all around her.  Children will also enjoy the end papers which show Darkness dancing, flipping, jumping and being most childlike.

Darkness Slipped In written and illustrated by Ella Burfoot is ideal for children 3 to 6 years of age (published by Kingfisher June 10, 2008).

This is Sue Ann Martin for Children’s Books. . .The Dean’s List

Discussion Questions for Darkness Slipped In

Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine has been named one of this year’s Caldecott Honor books for Kadir Nelson’s excellent illustrations. Henry Brown is a slave in Virginia, bequeathed by his dying master to his son as a piece of property. Working in his new master’s tobacco factory, Henry dreams of flying free and happy like a bird, but in slavery he grows to manhood. He later meets Nancy, a slave from a neighboring plantation, and they are allowed to marry and have several children. But one day Henry learns that his wife and children have been sold at the slave market. Desperate to be free and to find his family, Henry has an idea. For assistance he turns to a local physician who, though white, believes slavery is “wrong.” Using a large wooden box, Henry plans to mail himself “to a place where there are no slaves!” Dr. Smith helps by addressing the box to friends in Philadelphia, marking the crate “THIS SIDE UP WITH CARE.” Care is not taken, however, and Henry’s box is thrown roughly and even stored upside down. He hears waves splashing as he steams toward Washington, D.C., and his crate is used as seating for workers who believe it is filled with mail. Finally, Henry hears loud knocking, and his crate is opened on March 30, 1849—“his first day of freedom!” Forever, he will be known as Henry “Box” Brown.

In the Author’s Note, Levine provides more details about the actual Henry Brown who traveled in his box more than 350 miles in twenty-seven hours with a little water and a few biscuits. He never found Nancy or their children, but he became one of the most famous slaves along the Underground Railroad—making headlines in America and Europe as “the man who mailed himself to freedom.” Levine has told this amazing story of Henry’s Freedom Box extremely well, perfectly matching Nelson’s illustrations, which were inspired by an actual lithograph of Henry Brown. Children aged seven through ten will find this story of Henry’s daring escape an exciting one, and older readers can be challenged to research other available documentation about this inspiring man.

Ellen Levine. Illus. by Kadir Nelson. Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad. New York: Scholastic Press, 2007.

Discussion Questions for Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad

Big Chickens Fly The Coop written by Leslie Helakoski and illustrated by Henry Cole is a jaunty and funny little tale about overcoming fear and realizing a goal.  In a repetitive pattern of actions, four curious hens set out from their safe coop to see the farmhouse—something they have always wanted to do.  The first trip ends in mayhem when they mistakenly think the dog house is the farmhouse.  Quoting from the book:
                  The chickens flounced, trounced, and body bounced.
                  The dogs pounced.  Drooling muzzles dribbled.
                  Frightened yard birds quibbled.  Sharp teeth
                  crashed.  Pointed beaks smashed. 

Defining Feature: The illustrations are as colorful and fun-packed as the text.  Illustrator Henry Cole has given each of the four hens a determined persona.  Their super expressive faces practically tell the whole humorous, yet sweet tale.  They show a whole range of emotions from apprehension, curiosity, fear, anger and satisfaction.  Bold yellows, blues, reds and oranges fill the pages with visual action and reaction as feathers fly.  By the way, Henry Cole has a fascinating website for children full of games and Elmer’s Artroom.

Big Chickens Fly The Coop written by Leslie Helakoski and illustrated by Henry Cole is ideal for children 4 to 8 years of age (published by Dutton Juvenile January 24, 2008).

Discussion Questions for Big Chickens Fly The Coop

Wings is a wonderful new informational book written by Sneed Collard and filled with realistic and colorfully painted three-dimensional, sculpted paperwork illustrations by Robin Brickman.  Sneed introduces a plethora of winged creatures including ladybird beetles, moths and butterflies, bats and flying foxes, dragonflies, penguins, termites, and even kiwis whose wings have now almost shrunk to non-existence over the centuries.

He describes the many essential roles winged creatures play such as scattering seeds and pollinating plants and trees, and even eating pesky mosquitoes.  Wings are especially useful as elements of speed—allowing birds to travel from one plant to another in mere moments rather than the long hours it might take a walking animal—thereby accelerating the pollination process. 

Fascinating details introduced include the fact that some bat species can be found as far north as the Arctic zones and all the way to the southern reaches of South America.  The often derided vulture should be appreciated for keeping the landscape clean by “eating dead animals.”  This may sound gory, but it is, nevertheless, a necessary task.  The bee hummingbirds pictured are so tiny they weigh less than a penny and can perch “on the top of a pencil.”  It is easy to see why people often mistake them for bees, but they are, indeed, hardworking birds, beating their wings “eighty times each second”—too fast to see.

A variety of moth and butterfly shapes and designs are pictured, including those whose wings warn away enemies by communicating their poisonous nature, as well as those whose beautifully colored wings unfortunately attract enemy predators.

The “lift and thrust” that allows birds to fly is detailed, explaining the many ways in which their wings move.  Some birds can fly as fast as 200 miles an hour in search of prey, yet others soar slowly and elegantly before swooping down for the kill.  While some birds travel only short distances from home, the Arctic tern may fly more than “twelve thousand miles” seasonally from the northern Arctic regions to South America, southern Africa, and Antarctica in search of food.  

Wings is a wonderful introduction for young children aged five through eight to the subject of flight, especially as they delight in Brickman’s beautiful illustrations.  Older readers will enjoy all of the details, including the websites in the Resource Guide and the definitions provided in the Glossary.  Mr. Collard is to be congratulated for taking such a broad and potentially unexciting topic and making it come to life for the reader.   

Discussion Questions for Wings

Tree Crazy written and illustrated by Tracy Gallup is a charming little book in praise of trees told from a small girl’s point of view. The story begins with strange squeaking sounds that the family thinks are caused by animals nesting in the walls of their house. However, they find out that the noises are actually coming from a tree. It is explained to the small girl and her brother that a telephone wire which connects to their house and also touches the tree carries the creaks into their walls when the wind is high. Quoting from the book:

Is the tree calling out to us?
My brother and I climb
up high into its branches.
We pretend we are birds and squirrels
nesting in its sheltering arms.

As it turns out, the talking tree is 250 years old, ailing, and needs to be cut down.

Defining Feature: Tracy Gallup’s illustrations are shaped by her charming hand-carved and hand-painted dolls---each one uniquely designed in full folk style. The little narrator is shown wearing a variety of dresses; first a green smock trimmed in rick rack, then a red flowered print dress just right for climbing trees, followed by a blue apron with a huge pocket for stashing acorns and a full skirt and white cardigan just perfect to wear when exploring the forest. The front end papers are decorated with acorns, nuts, leaves, twigs, bark, pine cones and seeds. The back end papers display tree trunks of twelve different trees including the story’s talking tree. Especially sweet are the pictures of the little girl and her brother snuggling down in a nest, the little girl hugging the old tree that needs to be cut down, the little girl planting an acorn from that tree and the final scene of the little girl gently holding on to the first sprout from that planting. She seems to be listening, just in case the new tree talks.

Tree Crazy written and illustrated by Tracy Gallup is ideal for children 4 to 8 years of age (published by Mackinac Island Press September 25, 2007).

This is Sue Ann Martin for Children’s Books. . .The Dean’s List

Discussion Questions for Tree Crazy

While Jon Scieszka is now a fixture in the world of children’s books, it was The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, illustrated by Lane Smith, that first grabbed national attention.  Although Scieszka claims that the story was told to him by Alexander T. Wolf, we realize this as a clever ploy and know that all of the sly humor throughout is Scieszka’s own.  On the opening pages, readers and listeners are warned that while they may think they know this famous folk tale, they do not know the “real story” because the wolf’s version has never been heard.  Puzzled at how the whole “Big Bad Wolf” character ever emerged, our wolf wonders if it might be a matter of his diet that includes bunnies, sheep, and pigs.  But, he reminds his human audience, “if cheeseburgers were cute, folks would probably think you were Big and Bad, too.”

We learn from Mr. Wolf that all of the confusion arose from “a sneeze and a cup of sugar.”  He was busy baking a birthday cake for his granny—what could be sweeter—when he suddenly ran out of sugar.  Going to his neighbor’s to borrow a cup of the sweet substance, he notes that this house is built entirely of straw—not a clever idea.  As he knocks, the door falls in, provoking a sneezing fit.  He huffs and snuffs, and the straw house collapses, at which time he notices the First Little Pig, “dead as a doornail.”  The wolf thinks it a “shame” to leave this “ham dinner” lying around, so he eats it all up, comparing his meal to “a big cheeseburger just lying there.”  Still in need of his sugar he ventures to the house of the first pig’s brother—a slightly smarter design built of sticks.  Again he sneezes and the results are the same—house destroyed, pig dead, and no reason to let meat spoil.

The third pig, clearly “the brains of the family,” has built his house of bricks.  But the wolf finds this pig unwelcoming—a “rude little porker”—unwilling to loan him the sugar.  Even worse, he makes rude comments about the wolf’s granny.  The wolf is enraged and tries to break in.  The police are summoned, and, as he says, the rest is “history.”  He claims the reporters jazzed up this simple story of a sickly wolf in search of sugar for his granny’s cake.  Clearly “framed,” the closing illustration depicts a jailed wolf in prison stripes.

Children aged seven through eleven will love The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs and its humorous retelling of a traditional tale.  Lane Smith’s delightful illustrations match the story’s exaggerated narrative.  Young audiences may well want to consider retelling other folk tales from different perspectives.

Jon Scieszka.  Illus. Lane Smith.  The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs.  New York:  Viking Kestrell, 1989.

Discussion Questions for The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

Clara Schumann, Piano Virtuoso written by Susanna Reich is a 105 page, well researched biography of this talented 19th Century composer and concert pianist.  It is designed for readers 10 years of age and up and celebrates Clara Schumann’s talent, discipline and physical and emotional strength.  It traces her strenuous childhood as the child prodigy Clara Wieck, daughter of a most demanding and difficult father and music teacher Frederick Wieck, and her first public performance at age nine in Leipzig to her last performance at age seventy two in 1891.  Special attention is paid to the influence of her father, her secret engagement and eventual marriage to Robert Schumann, with whom she had eight children, her arduous responsibilities of caring for all the children after Robert dies and her unusually brilliant and productive performance career in Europe.  She was greatly loved by the public.

Fifty-eight illustrations help tell her story including drawings, portraits, pictures of playbills, concert programs, letters, diary entries and photographs---many of which are from the archives of Robert Schumann.  There is a charming picture of sixteen year old Clara at the piano with a piano concerto she composed at age thirteen.  There are also pictures of the masters composers of the day who were all part of her adult life including, of course, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Liszt.  Also included are pictures of seven of her eight children, four of whom died before her.  Of note is a photograph of a plaster cast of Clara’s hand---exceptionally broad and with especially long fingers.  Quoting from the book from one of Clara’s diary entries when she was eight:
         “My father assures me that I already have a good, firm touch on
         the piano due in no small part to my chubby little hand, which is
         quite broad, as well as to the agility of my fingers (without having
         to use the elbows).”

Clara Schumann, Piano Virtuoso written by Susanna Reich is ideal for children 10 years of age and up (published by Clarion Books, June 27, 2005).

This is Sue Ann Martin for Children’s Books. . .The Dean’s List

Discussion Questions for Clara Schumann, Piano Virtuoso

Award-winning author Pam Muñoz Ryan has another hit with Our California, a wonderful introduction to this state—its regions and history.  Opening with a two-page map, illustrator Rafael López highlights the “villages, deserts, mountains, and coast” to which Ryan welcomes her reader with the challenging question, “Which region do you think you will like the most?”

Helping to answer this question, Muñoz Ryan begins in the south with San Diego’s beach for surfing and swimming and a visit to its magnificent zoo.  She continues through the mission district to San Juan Capistrano where the swallows return each year and then to Hollywood—land of movie stars.  San Francisco with its cable cars and famous Chinatown leads us to the state capital, Sacramento, where the Pony Express once delivered the mail.

Along our journey we learn many interesting facts about California.  Sonoma is the site where settlers made the first California flag of one stripe, one star, and a bear, and the northwestern town of Eureka is named in remembrance of the cry uttered by gold diggers who had struck it rich.  California’s Central Valley provides food for dinner tables throughout our nation.  Yosemite Park, with its ancient Sequoias, has more waterfalls than anywhere in the world, while Death Valley measures daytime temperatures reaching 120 degrees and an average rainfall of only 1 ½ inches each year.  We end our journey relaxing by a pool in Palm Springs where we think about everywhere we have been.

Our California is a delightful book written in rhyming couplets and filled with wonderful illustrations.  In an afterword, Muñoz Ryan provides additional information about California and the sites visited.  While younger children aged five to seven will enjoy listening to this book, readers aged eight through twelve can be challenged to write their own books about other states.  Muñoz Ryan has written the perfect informational book—avoiding the boredom or didacticism often encountered in non-fiction works for children, and López has provided delightful illustrations that bring it all to life.
Pam Muñoz Ryan.  Illus. Rafael López.  Our California.  Watertown, MA:  Charlesbridge, 2008.

Discussion Questions for Our California

The Pout-Pout Fish written by Michigan author Deborah Diesen and illustrated by Dan Hanna is a darling little story about a fish whose lips are in a permanent pout.  The curve of his lips pulls down and his lower lip protrudes and dips under as if he is in a very unhappy mood.  His facial expression disturbs all of his underwater friends including clam, jellyfish, squid and octopus.  They all give him advice to change his face, get happy and smile!  But all Mr. Fish can say, and he repeats it many times throughout the text:
                  “I’m a pout-pout fish
                  With a pout-pout face
                  So I spread the dreary-wearies
                  All over the place.”

The illustrations in this picture book are as charming as the rhyming text.  They are drawn with imaginative details including sea creatures of all sizes and shapes with great big eyes and marvelous habitats.  The colors will also attract the young child including the hot pink jellyfish, purple sea urchins, the orange squid, green seahorses, yellow blow fish and a blue sword fish.  They all can be seen swimming together on the first double page.  This underwater community is enchanting.  Especially delightful are the pictures of kiss-kiss fish smooching with everyone including a grand “smooooooooch” on the last page with his lady love.  Children can play word games and download free Pout-Pout activity sheets at www.deborahdiesen.com.

The Pout-Pout Fish written by Deborah Diesen and illustrated by Dan Hanna will please children 3 to 7 years of age (published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, March 18, 2008).

This is Sue Ann Martin for Children’s Books. . .The Dean’s List

Discussion Questions for The Pout-Pout Fish