Little Neighbors on Sunnyside Street

Let's pretend that three-year-old Milly were guest-blogging here at bookstogether.  She would definitely want to write up Little Neighbors on Sunnyside Street by Jessica Spanyol (Candlewick, 2007).  With good reason:  it's the perfect book for preschoolers.  They get to meet some of the little neighbors who live at numbers 4, 5, 6, and 7 Sunnyside Street and drop in on them doing their everyday activities.  Philip the cow lives at number 7; he likes making things.  Kelly the pig likes messy play.  The Bugs like driving.  And Ian the dog likes to do lots of things (music, painting, cooking) with his little sister Baby Jade.  Everybody likes reading, of course.  At the end of the day, they all have a party at Ian's house (yeehaw!); then they go to bed.  Night-night, little neighbors!

What we like best about Little Neighbors on Sunnyside Street (besides Spanyol's flat, candy-colored pen and gouache illustrations) are "all the different stories."  Sunnyside Street itself is a little like the residential area of Richard Scarry's Busy Town.  And from a preschooler (and her mom), there is probably no higher praise than that.

Poetry Friday: Bronzeville Boys and Girls

The 34 concise poems in this collection, Bronzeville Boys and Girls by Gwendolyn Brooks, illustrated by Faith Ringgold (Amistad, 2007) were first published in 1956.  They are just as fresh and appealing today; maybe even more so in this newly illustrated edition by Ringgold, whose paintings of the neighborhood houses and children are a perfect match for Brooks's poems [compare the cover of the original edition below].  I love that each poem has a name (Keziah, Nora, Tommy):  the name of the child it speaks for or about.  Ringgold, in "About Bronzeville Boys and Girls," says "[Brooks] reminded us that whether we live in the Bronzeville section of Chicago or any other neighborhood, childhood is universal in its richness of emotions and new experiences.  We are all Bronzeville boys and girls."  I think she's right:  at least I recognized myself (child and adult) in more than one of these poems.

From "Eunice in the evening:"

What is so nice in the dining room
Is--Everybody's There!
Daddy on the long settee--
A child in every chair--
Mama pouring cocoa in
The little cups of blue.
(And each of us has leave to take
A ginger cookie, too.)

Highly recommended. 

[The original cover art by Ronni Solbert.]

Jen Robinson at PBS Parents

Jen Robinson of the eponymous Book Page is this month's expert (on children's literature, of course) over at PBS Parents.  She's written a short introductory essay on "The Power and Wonder of Children's Books" and is moderating a great discussion over there, all about books and encouraging reading.  Bring your questions and your comments!  Jen is incredibly knowledgeable and generous; and (as she's pointed out elsewhere) it's a good opportunity to show the folks at PBS how interested we are in book-related content.  Congratulations and thanks, Jen!

Math and music (and picture books)

Leo and I went to the Kennedy Center on Sunday to see (and hear) an NSO Ensemble program for families called Connections:  MORE Math and Music (reviewed in the Washington Post today, 1/8/08).  The program was a good fit (maybe a little advanced) for Leo, who likes math and is just starting his second year of violin.

We also re-read two of our favorite picture books about music with Milly, who stayed home with her dad.  Surprise!  Both of them are also in some way about math, although I wouldn't have thought of either of them if asked to recommend a math-related picture book.

Caldecott Honor winner Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin by Lloyd Moss, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman (Simon and Schuster, 1995) is also counting book:  it starts with a trombone playing alone (solo) and adds orchestral instruments one by one (duo, trio, etc.) until it has "a chamber group of ten."  Moss's well-written rhyming verses are perfectly attuned to the isntruments they introduce.  And Priceman's illustrations, done in gouache, contribute an energetic and colorful cast of musicians.

And in The Philharmonic Gets Dressed by Karla Kuskin, with illustrations by Marc Simont (HarperCollins, 1982), 105 members of the Philharmonic Orchestra (92 men and 13 women) get dressed for work.  Kuskin's quiet, precise text tells us how many take showers or baths (or bubblebaths); how many of the men stand up or sit down to get into their pants; etc.  I think Simont's spot illustrations of the various members of the orchestra are delightful, too.

Oh, and another thing these two books have in common:  great last lines.  But I can't quote them here, because you have to read the book first!

2007 Cybils: Finalists II and another reading list

More Cybils!  Finalists in the remaining four categories were posted on the Cybils blog this morning.  My plan is to read and review at least one new (to me) book from each category before the winners are announced on February 14.  Unfortunately, some of the books I picked last week aren't available at the public library yet (I know! I've placed a purchase suggestion), so I may have to make some last-minute substitutions.

Here's the rest of my Cybils reading list:

Young Adult Fiction.  I just finished The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Little, Brown; 2007).  I'm making it count, even if I have to read it again.  It's that good.

Nonfiction Picture Books.  We read all the egg books.  Last year's winner in this category, An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long (Chronicle, 2006) is a family favorite.  This year I'm going with Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg by Mia Posada (Millbrook, 2007).

Graphic Novels.  I'm new to graphic novels, so I'll start with a finalist in the elementary and middle grade group:  The Courageous Princess (I'm so predictable) by Rod Espinosa (Dark Horse, 2007).

Middle Grade/Young Adult Nonfiction.  I love this category of book and am already familiar with a few of the short-listed titles.  I really want to see Smart-opedia by Eve Drobot (Maple Tree, 2007); I think Leo's going to like that one, too.

Now, if only the library held any of these (they do have Part-Time Indian), I would be all set!  Thanks again to the panelists who had the enviable job of reading all of the nominated titles, and the difficult one of narrowing them down to these short lists.  I'm looking forward to reading my way through them.

Three Kings Day: Federico and the Magi's Gift

Today (January 6) is Three Kings Day.  In keeping with Spanish and Latin American tradition, we always celebrate this day with a visit from los reyes magos.  The kids leave their shoes by their beds (along with a small box of sweet grass or hay for the camels), and the three kings leave them a small and special gift.  Which is as it should be:  after all, it's the kings who bring the gifts in the Christmas story, too.

There are not many picture books that tell about this tradition. One very beautiful one that does is Federico and the Magi's Gift, a Latin American Christmas story by Argentine author and illustrator Beatriz Vidal (Knopf, 2004).  The story itself is sweetly simple:  Federico is worried that the three kings won't leave him any gifts.  Vidal's exquisite watercolor and gouache illustrations (painted using a magnifying glass and very, very small brushes) are anything but.  They're magical.  I also love the tropical setting: a nice contrast to all those wintry Christmas books.  And not to worry, the Magi leave the coveted toy horse for Federico.

Perhaps they've left something for you?  Feliz Dia de los Reyes!

Listmaking

2008 is not even a week old and already I've lost track of what I've read this year.  Not quite, maybe, but that's where I'm headed.  Now is the time to set up some sort of system, but what?  I could try:

• A website like Goodreads or Library Thing
• An unpublished blog post
• Pen-and-paper.  Tricia keeps a list of titles in a notebook in her purse [see her helpful comment for how she keeps track of different kinds of books: picture books, teaching-related books, her own reading.  Thank you, Tricia!]
• Christie recommends BookCat, a database program designed to catalog book collections [see her helpful comment for more on how she uses BookCat to catalog picture books.  Thank you, Christie!]
• She also recommends keeping an annotated list with links (saves time later)
• Something else entirely

How do you do it?  Please advise.

[Oh, and what about picture books?  I read hundreds (upon hundreds, probably) of picture books.  I don't think it makes sense to keep track of all of them:  maybe just new releases and books we love?]

Poetry Friday: From the Gargoyle's Den

We spent last Saturday morning at the Gargoyle's Den, a workshop for families held every week from 10-2 in the crypt classroom of the Washington National Cathedral.  Lots of projects:  Leo and Milly loved it.  The classroom has a nice collection of cathedral-themed picture books, too.  This poem is from A Gargoyle on the Roof by children's poet laureate Jack Prelutsky; pictures by Peter Sis , whose distinguished work as an author and illustrator I admire (Greenwillow, 1999).

Mother Gargoyle's Lullaby

The moon and stars have vanished,
The long dark night is through,
Another day is dawning,
The sky is clear and blue.
The morning sun is rising,
It's climbing overhead.
My precious baby gargoyles
Should snuggle into bed.  [continues]

Other picture books about gargoyles:

god bless the gargoyles by dav pilkey (Voyager, 1999).  Look at this book for the gorgeous paintings (made with acrylics, watercolors, and India inks).  One was inspired by Edward Hopper's Nighthawks.

Night of the Gargoyles by Eve Bunting; illustrated by David Wiesner (Clarion, 1994).  Gargoyles on a museum building come to life at night in Wiesner's black-and-white charcoal drawings.

Our National Ambassador

Congratulations to Jon Scieszka, our first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature!  I know, you did not read it here first, but more details about the National Ambassador program and Scieszka's appointment have been trickling in from various sources all day.  I got to share the news with the kids at breakfast:  this article was in the Washington Post (1/3/08).  Then I got an email from PW Children's Bookshelf that included this article.  Press releases have been popping up all over the place, too.  It's exciting.

Scieszka's platform will be "Reaching Reluctant Readers."  It dovetails with Guys Read, Scieszcka's web-based literacy program (est. 2001) designed to help guys (young, middle, and older) find stuff they like to read (and I quote).  Will Scieszka's focus on reluctant guy readers leave ravenous girl readers out?  I don't think so (I hope not).  I was a ravenous girl reader once; now I'm the mom of a little guy reader, and I could use the help.

[See this post at Jen Robinson's Book Page for some of Scieszka's suggestions on how to encourage reluctant readers.  I need to work on number 4.]

[And the Horn Book's January 2008 monthly special features recently published books for reluctant readers (none of which I've read).  Reluctant readers are hot!]

2007 Cybils: Finalists I

I love children's-book-award season.  This is the second year for the Cybils (Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards); finalists in four categories were posted on the Cybils blog this morning.  Many thanks to the panelists who read and reviewed all of the nominated books and came up with such interesting lists.  I was pleasantly surprised by how many of the finalists I had never even heard of (I confess; and I read a lot) and wanted to rectify that right away.

I'd like to read and review at least one new (to me) book from each category before the winners are announced on Valentine's Day.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll even pick the winners!  Anyway, here are the books I've chosen to read from among the first group of finalists:

Science Fiction and Fantasy.  There are so many appealing books in this category.  I'm starting with Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst (Razorbill, 2007), because of the fairy tales.  Then Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury, 2007).  The finalists in the SFF category were split into middle-grade and YA this year, which makes sense to me.

Fiction Picture Books.  I think I can manage at least two (very different) picture books:  Leaves by David Ezra Stein (Putnam, 2007), and The Incredible Book-Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers (Philomel, 2007).

Poetry.  I want to read everything Laura Amy Schlitz has ever written (including last year's Cybil award-winning middle grade novel, A Drowned Maiden's Hair).  Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! : Voices from a Medieval Village (Candlewick, 2007) was already on my list; I was so pleased to see it on this one, too.

Middle Grade.  The story of Helen Keller's teacher, Annie Sullivan:  Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller (Atheneum, 2007).  I like books that tell the other side of a familiar (and in this case, true) story.

Finalists in the remaining categories (nonfiction picture books, graphic novels, young adult novels, and middle grade/young adult nonfiction) will be posted next week.  I'll be waiting!