by Nancy Pearl
Animalia, written and illustrated by Graeme Base (there’s a small child hidden in this intricate and detailed alphabet book)
Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale by Gerald McDermott (vibrant colors radiate from every page)
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave by Marianna Mayer, with illustrations by Kinuko Y. Craft (the paintings that illustrate this Cinderella tale are reminiscent of Russian folk art)
Beauty and the Beast by Marianna Mayer, illustrated by Mercer Mayer (richly detailed pictures capture the story’s emotional tone)
Canterbury Tales, retold by Barbara Cohen, with illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman (I have to believe these gorgeous pictures are exactly what Chaucer would have wanted)
The Crane Wife by Odds Bodkin (could that possibly be his real name?), with illustrations by Gennady Spirin (stunning pictures that hint at the Japanese origin of the story)
Drummer Hoff by Barbara Emberley, illustrated by Ed Emberley (lively pictures in the primary colors—good for the very youngest children)
Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O’Neill, with illustrations by Leonard Weisgard (this is the original; it’s been reissued with new illustrations, but this is the one I’d search for—Weisgard’s graceful pictures are suffused with the colors explored in each of O’Neil’s poems)
Hansel and Gretel by Rika Lesser, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky (colorful and extremely detailed full-page illustrations convey the haunting quality of the Brothers Grimm tale)
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, written and illustrated by Simms Taback (detailed illustrations done in a variety of media, including gouache, watercolor, and collage, with Taback’s traditional inventive and strategic use of die cuts to enhance the plot)
Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert (the travels of the Leaf Man, and the Leaf Man himself, are illustrated in collages of different-sized and -shaped leafs, in all their autumn-toned glory)
Mother Goose, adapted and illustrated by Brian Wildsmith (whimsical interpretations of the standard nursery rhyme denizens—I particularly love “Humpty Dumpty”)
QUACK AWAY
When I was remembering the books I’d loved as a child, or used in story hours when I was a children’s librarian, or was drawn to while browsing through the picture book section of my favorite bookstore, I was struck by how often ducks take center stage in books for young children. So drop everything and waddle on over to the bookshelves to try these:
Probably the first two books that come to anyone’s mind when he or she thinks “ducks” are Robert McCloskey’s classic, Caldecott Medal-winning Make Way for Ducklings and Marjorie Flack’s The Story About Ping. Ping, the little yellow duck who’s the hero of Flack’s book, learns the potentially disastrous consequences that follow when he deliberately disobeys his owner. (But don’t worry, it all turns out fine. At least this time.)
Make Way for Ducklings is perfect to read before you take your child to Boston’s Public Garden, where you can find a statue of Mrs. Mallard and her brood of children, Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack.
Big brothers come in handy when a small duckling decides he can’t walk all the way back to his mother, in Simon James’s Little One Step.
Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin teamed up to write and illustrate the Caldecott Honor story of a group of typing cows, called Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, and its sequels, featuring Duck, who busily takes their notes around to show the other animals in Giggle, Giggle, Quack, runs for office in Duck for President, and is featured in Click, Clack, Quackity-Quack: An Alphabetical Adventure and Click, Clack, Splish, Splash: A Counting Adventure.
A contest between Duck and Gander over who’s the champion almost ends in disaster when Fox comes along with the idea of making the two his dinner, in Don’t Fidget a Feather by Erica Silverman.
Young readers will be enchanted with the colorful art and the funny story of a duck and a goose who find an egg (an odd-looking egg, it’s true) and argue over who is going to help hatch it, in Duck and Goose by Tad Hills.
Other simply ducky choices include Gossie (actually a gosling) by Olivier Dunrea; David Shannon’s colorful Duck on a Bike; Come Along, Daisy! by Jane Simmons; Cold Little Duck, Duck, Duck by Lisa Westberg Peters, with pictures by Sam Williams, which is a good read-aloud about a patient and determined quacker; Off to School, Baby Duck! by Amy Hest, where Grampa helps his granddaughter adjust to the first day of school; Guji Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen, the story of a mama duck who hatches, along with her new brood of ducklings, a crocodile; Lizette’s Green Sock by Catharina Valckx, which offers one reason not to throw anything away, not even an unmatched sock; and you’ll find a very smart mother duck in Judy Hindley’s Do Like a Duck Does!, drawn (as being very appropriately pleased with herself) by Ivan Bates.
REALITY CHECK
The subject matter of some of my favorite picture books is those ordinary events that take place fairly frequently in the life of a child—losing a stuffed animal, troubles with toilet training, adjusting to younger siblings, being teased by family members, visiting relatives, being scared of the dark, making friends. Children will not only identify with the situations depicted in these books, but they (and the adults sharing the story with them) will often get a chuckle, too.
When Trixie loses her favorite toy (and can’t quite communicate to her parents what exactly is wrong), it takes some detective work and a fast dash to the Laundromat to rescue Knuffle Bunny, in one of the many delightful books by Mo Willems.
Willems also wrote Time to Pee!, perfect to read to children just beginning toilet training. It comes complete with a success chart and stickers (such as “Nice aim!” or “Better luck next time!”).
Susan Middleton Elya and G. Brian Karas combined their talents on Oh No, Gotta Go!, about a little girl out for a drive with her parents who realizes that she really needs to go to the bathroom. One of the charms of this book is that it seamlessly blends Spanish and English in its rollicking rhymes.
In Bebé Goes Shopping, Elya captures the common experience of parents going a little bit nuts while shopping for groceries with their toddler. Once again mixing Spanish and English in the rhyming text, Elya will make all parents laugh at a scene they’ve lived time and again.
When Adèle picks up her younger brother Simon from school, he starts out with his hat and gloves and scarf and sweater and coat and knapsack and books and crayons and a drawing of a cat that he did that morning. But as their walk home progresses—with slight detours at two museums and a pastry shop, a stop to watch a parade and a puppet show, acrobats and a sword swallower—gradually many of Simon’s possessions disappear. How they’re returned to Simon will delight young readers of Barbara McClintock’s Adèle & Simon.There’s a map from a 1907 edition of Baedeker’s Paris and Environs on the endpapers showing the children’s route home and a guide to the illustrations at the close of the book.The detailed and intricate pen-and-ink illustrations are filled in with soft watercolors, and if you look closely you’ll find McClintock has introduced some familiar characters from another beloved picture book set in France in the early twentieth century in one of the pictures.
After Ramon’s older brother tells Ramon that his drawings stink, it takes some wise words from his sister to reassure him that it’s okay not to be perfect at what he loves to do, in Ish by Peter H. Reynolds. (Kids will also feel enormously comforted by the events in Reynolds’s The Dot, in which a wise and understanding teacher shows Vashti the possibilities of art in everything he creates, even if it’s just a dot of color on a white sheet of paper.)
Two of the most reassuring books I know of for children deal with the progression of time. Both Charlotte Zolotow’s The Sky Was Blue and Kathryn O. Galbraith’s Laura Charlotte show that the world goes on and love is passed down from generation to generation.
Sometimes kids (not unlike adults) just wake up in a bad mood, and the day gets worse and worse as it goes along—as you can see in Judith Viorst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good
,Very Bad Day.
For the heroine of Flyaway Katie by Polly Dunbar, it’s easy to get yourself out of a funk—just make yourself more colorful.Would that it were always so simple!
Jacqueline Woodson, who’s written many excellent books for young people of all ages, tackles the subject of a child dealing with having a parent in prison—and going to visit him, in Visiting Day.
Two books from a child’s-eye view about moving to America from another country are My Diary from Here to There by Amada Irma Pérez, the story, in both Spanish and English, of a little girl about to leave her home in Mexico for Los Angeles, where her father hopes to find a good job; and My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits, in which a little girl searches for a new name for herself in her adopted country.
Philosophically inclined children—those who wonder why the sky is blue, why this and why that—and their parents will appreciate Jon J Muth’s The Three Questions (based on a short story by Leo Tolstoy), in which Nikolai tries to find the answer to three important questions:When is the best time to do things? Who is the most important one? and What is the right thing to do? You might be surprised by the responses he gets.
REBELS WITH A CAUSE
One of the hardest lessons for a child (or anyone, really) to learn is that being different, though not easy, is not always a bad thing. In fact, as Ferdinand (see below) makes clear, you can end up with a very happy life. Take these examples to heart:
Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester always goes his own way, despite the advice and behavior of his friends, Angel, Lovely, Goodly, Neatly, and Perfect. Don’t you love those names? Every time I remember them I have to smile.
Swimmy, written and illustrated by Leo Lionni, is a black fish who lives with a group of red fish, and discovers that he has an important part to play in their plans to fool larger predators.
What do you do with a Spanish bull who doesn’t want to take part in any bullfights, and would rather sit, eat daisies, and enjoy the ambiance of the pasture in which he lives? Munro Leaf ’s The Story of Ferdinand, illustrated by Robert Lawson (who wrote some terrific children’s books of his own, including Rabbit Hill and The Sea Is Blue), explores this dilemma.
In Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, Max refuses to obey his mother, so he’s sent to bed without his dinner—but then the fun begins, as Max is made King of the Wild Things, presiding over the Wild Rumpus. And when Max decides to go home, he finds his dinner waiting—still hot. (I was using this in a story hour once, and as I turned over the last page and started saying, “And it was still . . . ” a little boy piped up and said,“too hot!” Shades of The Three Bears.)
I suppose the lesson of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit is to obey your mother and not go into Mr. McGregor’s garden—terrible things happen if you do (they certainly did to Peter’s father). However, Peter can’t resist the garden’s lure....
Anu Stohner’s eponymous Brave Charlotte is a sheep who isn’t particularly sheeplike—she’s determined to do her own thing, much to the dismay of her fellow sheep, who run much more closely to type. Of course, like the penguin Tacky, Charlotte’s independence will be the salvation of her more obedient pals.
In Veronica by Roger Duvoisin, a young hippopotamus is tired of blending in with all the other hippos at their favorite muddy riverbank, so she hies herself off to the city, where she discovers that while being anonymous has its problems, being a conspicuous hippopotamus is not much fun either.
While George is not so much a rebel as the others in this category, he certainly never learns it’s better not to be curious, no matter how much trouble he gets into in Curious George (and its sequels) by H. A. Rey.
And Leo, the main character in Robert Kraus’s Leo the Late Bloomer, is also not so much a rebel as, say, Ferdinand or Tacky. Leo just does things in his own time. Jose Aruego’s illustrations add immeasurably to this tender, loving tale, which will provide comfort to parents who worry about their child’s physical and intellectual development.
Mama Cat has two kittens who always do what she says, but that third kitten gets into mischief (when he’s not sleeping), in Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by Denise Fleming.
Janell Cannon both wrote and illustrated Stellaluna and Verdi, two picture books that kids will delight in. Stellaluna is a baby bat who learns that even if your friends do things slightly differently (like not hanging upside down by their feet), it’s okay, while Verdi is a young yellow snake who’s determined to do everything he can not to turn green and boring.
RHYMING READ-ALOUDS FOR THE VERY YOUNG
I’m always looking for good read-alouds for the four- to seven-year-olds in my life.What I especially enjoy are those rhythmical (and often joyfully nonsensical) rhymes that flow trippingly off the tongue. I’m happy to report there are some grand selections out there in the world of picture books, as you can be see here.
One of the best is Down the Back of the Chair, written by Margaret Mahy and illustrated by Polly Dunbar. In this tongue-twisting tale, Dad’s lost his car keys, and two-year-old Mary, the narrator’s sister, suggests he look down the back of the chair for them. What they find there will elicit chuckles from everyone: “A crumb, a comb, a clown, a cap, a pirate with a treasure map, a dragon trying to take a nap, down the back of chair” is just one example. Dunbar’s colorfully winsome watercolor and cut paper illustrations are a perfect complement to one’s enjoyment of the story.
Other good choices include:Margaret Wise Brown’s Where Have You Been?
Stephanie Calmenson’s Dinner at the Panda Palace
Remy Charlip’s Sleepytime Rhyme
Bruce Degen’s Jamberry
Lisa Campbell Ernst’s This Is the Van That Dad Cleaned
Mem Fox’s The Magic Hat
Deborah Guarino’s Is Your Mama a Llama?
Mary Ann Hoberman’s A House Is a House for Me
Verla Kay’s Gold Fever
John Langstaff’s Over in the Meadow, which has been illustrated over the years by various artists, including Ezra Jack Keats and (nearly fifty years ago) Feodor Rojankovsky
Tony Mitton’s Once Upon a Tide
Charlotte Pomerantz’s How Many Trucks Can a Tow Truck Tow?
Adam Rex’s Tree Ring Circus
Linnea Riley’s Mouse Mess
Dr. Seuss’s And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
Nancy Shaw’s Sheep in a Jeep
Chris Van Dusen’s If I Built a Car
Lisa Wheeler’s Sixteen Cows
Anna Witte’s The Parrot Tico Tango
Audrey Wood’s Silly Sally
SCHOOL DAZE
School is a big deal in a child’s life—whether it’s starting kindergarten, changing teachers, or simply experiencing the day-to-day newness of it, and these books explore the experience from the inside out.
Little girls especially adore the series of more than fifteen titles about Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park, which follow Junie’s everyday adventures as she starts kindergarten in Junie B. Jones and the Stupid, Smelly Bus, and gets to first grade in the aptly titled Junie B., First Grader (at last!).
The brilliant Miss Brilliant discovers the best way to help the class bully overcome his bad behavior in Aliki’s A Play’s the Thing, the closest to a graphic novel that I’ve seen for the preschool set.
Denys Cazet captures a busload of active first-graders’ chaotic field trip to an aquarium in his hilarious—and somehow right on the mark—Are There Any Questions? (It’s clear he must have had up close and personal experience with one or two school field trips himself.)
Harry Allard wrote and James Marshall illustrated the contemporary classic Miss Nelson Is Missing!, the story of what happens when a substitute teacher named Viola Swamp (supposedly based on Marshall’s own least-favorite teacher) takes over her class. This book is a great example of a perfect melding of text and pictures.
Back to School Is Cool! by Jim Jinkins features Pinky Dinky Doo, heroine of Polka Dot Pox and Where Are My Shoes?, in an enco
re appearance. This time, Pinky Dinky tries to reassure her younger brother, Tyler, who’s a little bit nervous about starting school.
Patricia Reilly Giff has written a whole series of books under the general title of The Kids of the Polk Street School. Readers get to spend a year with their friends in Ms. Rooney’s class, beginning with The Beast in Ms. Rooney’s Room.
Mean Jean—the bully of the playground—gets her comeuppance (and learns some lessons in friendship) when Katie Sue comes to school, in Alexis O’Neill’s The Recess Queen, with exuberant illustrations by Laura Huliska-Beith.
Even nonhumans are a little nervous about going to school, and Miss Spider’s first day is a real learning experience for her, in David Kirk’s Little Miss Spider at Sunny Patch School.
