Artist-Author Marisabina Russo has created a charming picture book entitled the bunnies are not in their beds.  The story is simple enough as three little bunnies are put to bed but, much to their parents’ annoyance, they do not stay there!  Mama and Papa tuck their bunnies in their cozy beds, go downstairs to do a little reading and then hear a CLICK CLACK, CLICK, CLACK.  “Sounds like the bunnies are not in their beds.”  The parents go back upstairs to find the three playing with train tracks.  They put them back in bed, go downstairs to read and the same thing happens again.  CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA.  “Sounds like the bunnies are not in their beds.”  This time the bunnies are playing with their trains!  This scene repeats itself three more times with onomatopoetic noises of clip clopping horses, then varooming cars and finally booming brass bands coming from the bedroom. Each time there is an increasingly stern parental demand that the bunnies must stop playing and get back in bed.  Quoting the book:

Little bunnies!
Back to bed before we count to three.
No more tracks, no more trains, no more
horses, no more cars.  No more mischief.
One. . .two. . .three.
Good night, good night, sleep tight.

Children and adults will love the details painted into Russo’s appealing illustrations.  The bunnies’ little cottontails stick out of the flap in the back of their brightly patterned pajamas; their room is decorated with delightful details such as drawings of Super Bunny and signs saying Bunny Hideout; Papa Bunny is reading “The Hip Hop News” as well as a book entitled “Bringing Up Bunny” and Mama Bunny is reading “Hare Raising Stories.”  The illustrations of the toy-strewn bedroom are full of opportunities for the young child to read the pictures.  They will particularly enjoy the double-page spread showing the bunnies dressed up in their red marching band uniforms making merry music with a trombone, a drum and cymbals.          
                   
Marisabina Russo’s the bunnies are not in their beds is ideal for 2 to 4 year olds (published by Schwartz & Wade, January 23, 2007).

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

Discussion questions for the bunnies are not in their beds

As the year ends, the family has begun to live, think, dream, and even look like penguins.  New Year’s Eve brings the solution to the mystery.  It is Mommy’s Uncle Victor, the ecologist, who explains that this was part of his plan to save the penguins from the melting South Pole by transitioning them to the chillier North Pole.  He leaves with 364 penguins—182 females and 182 males, leaving behind only a special blue-footed penguin to which the family has become especially attached. 

Life starts to return to normal, although the family is still finding fish bones around the house.  But, soon, a delivery man arrives with an anonymous package containing—a polar bear.

Jean-Luc Fromental’s 365 Penguins, originally published in Paris, is an unusual story in which the reader must first suspend disbelief, after which it’s just fun to watch the family accommodate all of those penguins.  It will entertain 6 through 9 year olds, some of whom will be able to solve the math problems posed throughout, even creating some of their own numerical groupings for this large mass.             

Jean-Luc Fromental.  Illus. by Joëlle Jolivet.  365 Penguins.  New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2006.

Discussion questions for 365 Penguins

Llama Llama Mad at Mama written and illustrated by Anna Dewdney is a story of conflict management between a youngster and his mother written in rhyme.  This is the second in a picture book series following the very popular Llama Llama Red Pajama picture book. 

Llama Llama Mad at Mama is set in a familiar place, a Shop-O-Rama on a Saturday afternoon.  The illustrations clearly show that Llama Llama is not at all happy about going to the store, standing in long lines and waiting for his mother to pick out the perfect loaf of bread and perfect box of cereal.  He is bored.  He is tired.  He does not want to be there and he wants to leave.  Consequently, little Llama Llama’s frustration grows and ends with a temper tantrum right in the middle of the junk food aisle.  Quoting from the book:  “CRASH the cart and SMASH the signs, No more waiting!  No more lines!  Out go socks and Cheezee Puffs. . .Llama Llama that’s enough!”

The illustrations show how Mama Llama speaks directly to the problem and suggests that this trip, although it is boring and although it is long, is an opportunity for them both to be together.  This small bit of attention by his mother changes his whole outlook and they decide to be a team.  We see him picking up the things he threw on the floor, helping his mom push the cart then finding the car and heading home.

The pictures are very inviting colored in bright orange, green and blue.  There are plenty of humorous details including the feet and knees that little Llama Llama has to look at when he is standing in all of the lines, his pout as he gets more unhappy and his mad face when he has had enough.  The pictures in the second half of the book after they decide to become a team have sweet glances, nudges on the cheek, hand holding and smiles.          

Llama Llama Mad at Mama written and illustrated by Anna Dewdney is ideal for children 3 to 6 (published by Viking Juvenile, September 6, 2007).

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

Discussion questions for Llama Llama Mad at Mama

Joyful Noise:  Poems for Two Voices, by Paul Fleischman, is just that—an amazingly delightful collection of poems about the insect world intended to be read aloud, either by two individuals or groups, “meshing as a musical duet,” at times in simultaneous fashion and at times running counter to one another.  Supported by Eric Beddows’ wonderfully stylized illustrations, Fleischman celebrates insects—some very real and others with humorously human characteristics.

In a cacophony of words, he describes the world of Grasshoppers “hatching” and “stepping into spring . . . hopping high . . . jumping far.”  They are “Grass leapers Grass bounders Grass springers Grass soarers.”  Another poem, perhaps the most challenging to read, describes “Whirligig Beetles” “swimming in circles . . . spinning and swerving . . .  whirling and weaving and wheeling and swirling.” in the most “circular roundabout backtracking indirect serpentine tortuous twisty, best possible route.”

Flitting “Fireflies” use their lights as ink to write on the night as their “parchment.”  Trust me, you will never look at a firefly in quite the same way again.  House Crickets living under the stove tell the seasons by the kitchen aromas, and their life revolves around their “unchanging reliable steadfast and stable bright blue pilot light.”  A Moth serenades a hanging porch light in romantic fashion, although the reader knows she will eventually burn her wings and die as she calls out for a meeting and merging.

Defining Feature: Susan Jeffers’ illustrations, drawn in black ink with a water-based paint layered over the images, are enchanting.  They masterfully capture the beautiful dancing at the ball, Marie’s great affection for the Nutcracker and the energetic attack of the Mouse King with his brigade of army mice.  The double-paged illustration of Marie’s entrance into the battle to save the Nutcracker is full of physical movement and emotional action.  Her white gown floats in the air as she hurls her shoe with all her strength toward the Mouse King.  The picture of Marie’s visit to the Land of Sweets with her Prince and the dancing led by the Sugar Plum Fairy is rendered in airy light pastels and graceful lines.  The cover, a close up of Marie with the Nutcracker in her arms and sparkles in her hair, is striking.

Discussion questions for The Nutcracker

Tikki Tikki Tembo, Arlene Mosel’s retelling of an old Chinese folktale, is a humorous “why” story in the genre of “Why the Bear has a Stumpy Tale,” “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears,” or “Why the Crab has No Head.” In Tikki Tikki Tembo we learn that “once upon a time . . . long, long . . . ago” fathers and mothers in China gave their much honored first sons “great long names” while second sons received hardly any name at all. Thus, the first and much favored son in this story receives a long tongue-twister of a name, “Tikki tikki timbo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo,” meaning “the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world,” while his younger brother is named only “Change” meaning “little or nothing.”

One day as their mother goes to do laundry in a nearby stream, the boys, ignoring her warning, play near the well, and Chang falls in. His brother runs to find help from the Old Man with the Ladder who runs slowly “step over step” and finally retrieves the waterlogged Chang. Time passes, and the well again proves too tempting, but this time it is the older brother who falls in. The younger Chang dutifully runs for help, first to his mother and then to the Old Man with the Ladder. But each time he is so out of breath and it is so hard to recite his older brother’s name, that the hapless Tikki tikki timbo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo almost drowns. Chagrined at her near loss, the mother sees the folly of such a long name. And so the moral or “why” of the story – from that day forward parents in China have given all of their children “little, short names.”

Tikki Tikki Tembo is a fun read aloud for children aged five to eight who will love the repetition and expressiveness of words, especially the challenge of trying the pronounce the older son’s complicated name. Award-winning illustrator Blair Lent has provided wonderful illustrations that perfectly match the folktale ambience of Tikki Tikki Tembo.

Discussion questions for The Polar Express

Night Shift written and illustrated by Jessie Hartland is an interesting concept book about the people who works while we are asleep.  Unless there is a night shift worker in the family, most children have no concept of people working all night rather than all day.

Quoting from the book:
Late at night, when the owls are out and the raccoons are diving into trash cans, and you are finishing up the last bit of chocolate pudding and then brushing your teeth and wishing you didn’t have to go to bed just yet, there are people out there awake doing all sorts of interesting things. . .

A parade of night shift workers begins to pass across the night sky including a street sweeper, window dressers, a late night D.J., security guards, newspaper printers, bridge painters, a zoo keeper for nocturnal animals, a freighter captain, a truck driver, road workers, a donut baker, a fisherman, a tugboat captain and a waitress in an all-night café.  The text does connect the lives of each of these night shift workers in a loose but probably way through questions that require the child to turn the page to find the answer.  Who does the street sweeper stop and watch?  (Turn the page)  It is the window dresser.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,written by Judith Viorst
and illustrated by Ray Cruz, is a modern classic, celebrating its thirty-fifth year in print. 
Adults and children alike can identify with Alexander and his day which grows consistently worse.  Beginning with the gum he finds stuck in his hair and breakfast where his brothers
find wonderful toys in their cereal boxes while he finds nothing but cereal, his dissatisfaction escalates as on the way to school he can’t have a seat by the window.  At school, his drawing of an invisible castle is not a hit, and his singing is too loud.  And later he finds that, while his mother forgot to pack a dessert in his lunch, the dentist does find a cavity in his tooth. 

Interspersed in Alexander’s recounting of his “very bad day” are his wry comments and plans
to move to Australia.  At counting time when he leaves out sixteen, he questions, “Who needs sixteen?”  When his Mom takes Alexander and his brothers to shop for sneakers, his brothers find fancy ones with bright stripes.  In Alexander’s size, only plain old white ones are available, to which he responds that they can make him buy these plain shoes but they can’t make him wear them.

That evening’s dinner features lima beans which he hates, the TV has kissing which he hates, his bath is too hot, and his pajamas are not ones he likes.  At bedtime his Mickey Mouse night light burns out, and the cat wants to sleep with his brother.  Bemoaning his “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day” once again, his mom consoles him with a reminder that “days are like that. Even in Australia.”

Ray Cruz’s whimsical line drawings depict Alexander’s torment-ridden day, capturing again and again the frustration and exaggerated agony he exhibits.  Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is clearly a book that has not become dated with time and is a delight for children aged five to nine as well as for those of us who as adults also encounter such terrible, horrible days.

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Discussion Questions for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Toy Boat written by Randall de Sève and illustrated by Loren Long is a story about invention, courage and loyalty.  When the story begins, the boy has already been inventive by making a toy sail boat out of a can, a cork, a yellow pencil, a twig and a piece of white cloth.  This toy
is dear to the boy because it, indeed, was fashioned by his own hands.  Childhood is full of incidents of such creativity where the child builds a toy out of found objects.  In this story the can is used for the boat’s shell, the twig serves as the mast, the cloth becomes the sail,
the pencil is the rudder and the cork hold the mast in place. 

The boy takes the boat from the safe environment of his bathtub to the beach where he
plays endlessly with it in the water.  Not until a storm comes up and the small boat is carried off into deep water and raging waves does the drama start.

Loren Long’s vibrant blue and green acrylic paintings give richness to the story as we see how courageous the little boat tries to be when confronted with large boats that refuse to give it
any help.  The toy boat meets a tired black and green tugboat, then a giant ferry boat, a pushy speedboat, and a fleet of sailboats trying to outrun the storm.    All the boats have little regard for the small boat dismissing it with a stern, “Move along!  Move along!”  The illustration showing the little toy boat, water drenched and nearly capsized, is particularly empathetic.  Even the moon sheds a tear when it sees the small boat all alone on the rough sea.

All does turn out well the next morning, however, when a friendly fishing boat helps move the toy boat into position
to catch the breeze which, in turn, brings the boat back to shore where the little boy has been faithfully waiting for it.

Toy Boat written by Randall de Sève and illustrated by Loren Long is ideal for children ages 4 to 8 years old
(published by Philomel, September 20, 2007).

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Discussion Questions for Toy Boat

Peter Reynolds dedicated The Dot to his seventh grade math teacher who dared him to make his mark, and clearly he is making the same challenge to young children aged four to eight who will identify with Vashti and perhaps consider making their own marks.  The playful watercolor and ink illustrations match this simple story perfectly and use color effectively to portray Vashti’s feelings throughout the book as she becomes an artist.

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Discussion Questions for The Dot

The Apple Pie that Papa Baked written by Lauren Thompson and illustrated by Jonathan Bean skips along to the rhythm of the old Mother Goose tale “The House That Jack Built.” 
This cumulative story keeps adding a new image to the last images and repeating everything that has gone before it.  It provides a playful exercise in memory.  It begins with one delicious image (quoting from the text), “This is the pie, warm and sweet, that Papa baked.”  And then the author adds the apples, juicy and red, to the pie, warm and sweet, and on and on.  The text keeps moving outward from the pie to the apples, to the tree, to the roots, to the rain, to the clouds, to the sun and finally to the world.  It is a catchy and delightful story with a cozy, comfortable happy ending.

 This constant rhythmic cycle is also captured in the illustrations by Jonathan Bean.  The yellow, black and red drawings on a cream background are full of circular movements and folk design reminiscent of Wanda Gag’s Millions of Cats.  The two-page spread of the tree, crooked and strong, is beautifully designed and the double page spread of the world, blooming with life, is hearty, concentric, balanced and thoroughly satisfying.  Bean includes an illustrator’s note on the inside of the front cover that explains that all the drawings are done in black ink and receive color when he scans them into a computer.

Each page is teeming with humorous details as the merry chase has everyone running after Papa and his apple pie including the little girl, the cat, the horse, the cow, the rooster, the pig and the fox.  In fact, as the pictures cleverly show, the cow and the horse become interested in that pie as soon as they see Papa start picking the apples.

The Apple Pie that Papa Baked written by Lauren Thompson and illustrated by Jonathan Bean is ideal for children ages 4 to 8 years old (published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, July 24, 2007).

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Discussion Questions for The Apple Pie that Papa Baked

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.

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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.

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).

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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).

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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.

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The Gulps written by Rosemary Wells and illustrated by Marc Brown is a funny, not-so-funny story of an extremely overweight family, the Gulps, who are going on a vacation.  Right from the first few illustrations you see the obese family, except for little Dawn, stuffing themselves with Winky-Twinks while loading their van with boxes of Pizza Stix, Choco-nut Candy and Cheezie Chips.  The van goes only a short way when it collapses near a farm under the sheer weight of the Gulps.  Farmer Spratt comes by to offer his aid and invites the Gulps to stay for dinner.  The Gulps, all except little Dawn, are horrified when they sit down to dinner because they have never eaten anything green let alone anything fresh.    

The next day they try to help around the farm but Father Gulp is too obese to climb the ladder and Mother Gulp is too obese to collect the eggs.  In fact, Mama Gulp has to be carried back to the Spratt’s farmhouse in a wheelbarrow.  There is a terrible trip to the country fair before little Dawn finally takes charge and forbids her family to eat anymore junk food.   The Gulps start eating salads, carrots, apples, tomatoes, broccoli, grapes and celery.  After a few days they all feel better, they start losing weight and the van glides down the road just fine.

The illustrations by Marc Brown are full of colorful details.  The look on the Gulps’ faces when they first see a green salad is precious.  The illustration of Mrs. Gulps’ many obese appendages hanging over the red wheelbarrow also makes a striking comment.  This story extols the rewards of eating green leafy vegetables and fruits, exercising and living life to its fullest. 

The Gulps written by Rosemary Wells and illustrated by Marc Brown is a good story with a realistic message to not only children, but families, and is ideal for children 3-8 years of age (published by Little, Brown Young Readers April 1, 2007).

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God speaks to Harriet in this story not only through the words contained but through the kind actions of people who feed her, hide her, carry her part of the journey by wagon, and point the way for her.  Harriet Tubman was all of her life convinced that God spoke to her as a friend, and it was this confidence that compelled her to journey back from her freedom in the north nineteen times to help others escape from slavery in the south, freeing as many as three hundred people as she brought them along the Underground Railroad, never losing one in the process.  It was because of her commitment to free others that she became known as the “Moses of her people.”

Weatherford and Nelson have together produced an excellent celebration of a life well lived in Moses:  When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom.  Children aged five to eight will enjoy hearing this story read, while older readers can benefit from information about Tubman as well as the interesting manner in which text and illustration are linked.

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Once upon a time there was a contented family of four with two parakeets, three gold fish and four pet crickets.  As the author states on the first page of this picture book, “there was one thing the family did not have, and that was a dog.”  By the second and third pages of the book Dad has purchased “a yellow furball” to the elation of all and by the fourth and fifth pages the action begins to rev up and the collective family patience starts to be tested.  Bad Dog, Marley!, based on John Grogan’s runaway best seller, Marley & Me, is a fast-paced action packed story with a circus of events that turns the household upside down.  Marley eats buttons, shoe laces, reading glasses and paychecks; steals people’s food right off the dinner table, snatches cookies right off the cookie sheet, drinks out of the toilet bowl and chases squirrels by jumping head first through the front door screen. 

As Marley’s mischief increases, he goes berserk in thunderstorms and digs up the garden, the family experiences more and more stress.  Finally, they put him up for sale by placing an ad in the newspaper.  “Big Yellow Dog – a little crazy but with a pure heart.  Free to a good home.”  All ends well though when Marley saves Baby Louie from an awful fall.

Young children will enjoy the finger wagging of the family as they meet each of Marley’s tricks with a chorus of “Bad Dog, Marley!”  Richard Cowdrey’s illustrations are full of color, fun, action and are true to the charm of Marley & Me.  One particularly delightful illustration is a double page drawing of Marley shaking the feathered stuffing right out of the family couch.  What fun!  Feathers everywhere!  Marley, in all his innocence, is having a great time.                 

Bad Dog, Marley! written by John Grogan and illustrated by Richard Cowdrey is ideal for young children 3-7 years of age (published by HarperCollins, May 1, 2007).

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