Dogs by Emily Gravett

From the cover doggie, enticing you to exercise together, to a stick toting wagger on the back flap, the canines in Emily Gravett's Dogs are charmers all. Inside, expressive pups of all kinds are showcased, such as a tiny but vigorous barker, a chic beribboned poodle (dyed my favorite color!) or a naughty shoe chewer. Clever design details like the bone shaped lines of type on the dedication page and the various breeds such as a cheerful Shar Pei, a suspicious Bulldog and a coy Great Dane  parading over the end papers add to the book's appeal. The simple text makes this appropriate to share with the youngest dog lover, and the unexpected ending is sure to tickle anyone's fancy. I plan to break this out at an upcoming fall storytime.

Gravett also wrote the adorable Orange Pear Apple Bear!

Camp-Read-a-Lot!

On Tuesday, I went to this year's Camp Read-a-Lot, sponsored by MELSA. They held it at Como Park Lakeside Pavilion in St. Paul. Unfortunately, the weather was really hot and humid, which kept us inside, but other than that, I had a terrific time!

 

Our opening speaker was Kathleen Baxter, author of many titles about book talking nonfiction to kids, such as Gotcha!: Nonfiction Booktalks to Get Kids Excited About Reading, Gotcha Covered!: More Nonfiction Booktalks to Get Kids Excited about Reading, Gotcha for Guys!: Nonfiction Books to Get Boys Excited About Reading and more. She is an exciting speaker, very funny and enthusiastic. She obviously has a handle on what gets kids charged up about nonfiction! Baxter began with a list of "gross" books. You know, scientific or historically based books about bodily functions, icky bugs, toilets or carrion eating animals. That'll grab a boy's (and many girl's) attention! She then continued with a long list of great options of all kinds of nonfiction choices. If you're looking for some excellent book suggestions, check out her work. If you're hunting for a dynamic speaker, she's your woman.

Photo from Kathleen Baxter's website

Find out more about her at her website: Kathleen Baxter .

David LaRochelle, photo from Collecting Children's Books

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Our afternoon speaker was David LaRochelle,, author of The Best Pet of All and The End for kids and Absolutely Positively Not for teens. I loved his talk and his sense of humor. He told us about his passions, like entering (and winning) contests and carving pumpkins, and about his road to getting published, accompanied by a funny Power Point presentation. He got us excited about his forthcoming publications 1+1=5: and Other Unlikely Additions and Minnesota's Hidden Alphabet. 1+1=5 has really unexpected ways of getting to 5, such as 1 Bicycle + 1 Trike = 5 (wheels) or 1 set of twins plus 1 group of triplets = 5 (babies). Minnesota's Hidden Alphabet is a really beautiful book, with photos by Joe Rossi, tied nicely together with a poem by LaRochelle. The alphabet is spelled out by forms found in the natural world. I look forward to November, when it is published.

I bought a copy of Absolutely Positively Not and Mr. LaRochelle kindly personalized it for me. He spent plenty of time autographing books for each person, drawing pictures and really making the receivers feel special. Look for him at his website, linked above.

My role as a camp counselor was a breeze, because I had a really insightful and invested group of teachers to work with. I was supposed to lead small group discussion of the core titles that I've been sharing with you over the past months, and also the two books each that we all chose to show the others. That went very well, and as I read the books suggested, maybe I'll write them up here, too.

 I really hope to be a counselor again next year!

The Dollshop Downstairs by Yona Zeldis McDonough

 

My second Camper's Choice book is The Doll Shop Downstairs by Yona Zeldis McDonough, illustrated by Heather Maione. This is a perfect choice for 2nd-4th grade girls (maybe some boys, too) who enjoy old fashioned books about little girls. Set at the start of World War I, this story is about nine year old middle sister Anna, whose parents own a doll repair shop. She and her siblings Sophie and Trudie love to help out in the shop, and each loves a special doll waiting to be fixed up. When the war begins in Europe, German doll parts are unavailable to the owners of the lower east side business, and Anna decides she will find a way to help her family keep their shop thriving.

McDonough has taken the setting from the life of Bertha (later Beatrice) Alexander, creator of Madame Alexander dolls, and added her own characters and storyline. She has written a cozy and comforting story with a similar feel to Betsy-Tacy (Betsy-Tacy Books) or All-of-a-Kind Family. Highlights include the family's birthday visit to FAO Schwartz, the sale of their first doll, named Nurse Nora, and the fulfillment of Anna's special wish. I enjoyed the details of life in New York in 1914.  After the story, McDonough has included a glossary and timeline. Maione's friendly black and white drawings sweetly bring the children's world of family and dollys to readers.

Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000

For my first Camper's Choice book for Camp Read-a-Lot, I selected Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000 written & illustrated by Eric Wight. Possum Scout Frankie Piccolini is kind of like a little boy Walter Mitty. We can find him on the back cover in a variety of disguises: suited up and sporting a fedora, as a chef with a large decorated cake and in armor wielding a large sword. His proud motto is, "Reality is for grown-ups!"

In this title, Frankie has a bit of a dilemma: because of his daydreaming, he failed knot tying and does not have enough points to advance with the rest of his troop from Pygmy to Shrew and do new and dangerous scout things. But fear not, because Frankie has a chance to earn the points if he wins the legendary model car competition, the Pine Race 3000. His dad wants to help him, but Frankie knows that he can do it all on his own. He is ready to be inducted into the Hall of Awesomeness, and nothing will hold him back!

I enjoyed Frankie, his dream life, and this story of father & son bonding.  The black and white drawings of wide eyed Frankie have a retro quality, and cartoon panels let us share his fantasy life. Although if he does look a little like Speed Racer on the book's cover, he is completely his own boy.

1001 Childrens Books to Read

Of course I had to check out 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up, edited by Julia Eccleshare, to see how my childhood reading stacked up to their suggestions. I have always been a pretty voracious reader, and my parents and grandma also read to me at lunch and bedtime throughout grade school. Even so, I only read 110 of these books before I finished high school and 121 more since then. I am only counting books that I have read cover to cover, not just skimmed or am familiar with because I've repeatedly seen them at Borders, Barnes and Noble and the library. I would feel worse about this, but this book has an international scope and has 30 featured author/reviewers and 70+ additional contributors. Many of the titles are completely new to me, and that is actually good.

This reference is divided into chapters by age groups: 0-3, 3+, 5+, 8+ and 12+, and then offerings are presented chronologically, the book's oldest being Aesop's Fables from c 550 B.C.E. (8+) and the most recent The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (8+). Classics picture books familiar to American children are here, such as Goodnight Moon, Very Hungry Caterpillar, Curious George (The Complete Adventures of Curious George, Anniversary Edition), and Where the Wild Things Are. New friends await in The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My, from Finland, Balloon Cat, from Japan and Old Tom, from Australia. The other chapters follow suit, mixing the known and the as yet unfamiliar. Each title is given an half or entire page of description, color cover art is displayed and frequently similar titles are suggested. Works are indexed by title and author/illustrator.

 I am pleased  to see some of my old childhood favorites:  A Necklace of Raindrops : and Other Stories by Joan Aiken, The Water-Babies (a Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby) by Charles Kingsley and Five Children and It (Looking Glass Library) by E. Nesbit as well as The Cuckoo Clock by Mrs. Molesworth, written in 1877. You can tell that I loved old fashioned tales of magic. Many more of my friends past and current are listed.

A sampling of titles listed that I would like to read include The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by May Gibbs, an Australian classic about two nut babies and bush animals, Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie, a fairy tale set in India and  the British The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge, which I believe has also been recommended by J.K. Rowling.

The one section that I was somewhat disappointed in was the chapter of selections for 12 + readers. However, this is not a flaw of the book. As a teen librarian, I assumed that I would have read the most titles in the 12+ chapter. That didn't actually turn out to be true. I also guessed that I would see more of my favorites. I think two things affected selections: the historical scope and the international focus. I believe that young adult literature as we now know it blossomed in the 1970s. But, this book begins its 12+ coverage in 1620 and rightfully gives attention to plenty of classics before the '70s. When notable titles from many countries are included, this further narrows space available for current titles known to an average American reader. Keeping all this in mind, I'm free to quibble with some of the title choices in private. :) I am pleased though to see some that I do love:  Hey, Dollface! by Deborah Hautzig, The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, Holes by Louis Sachar, and especially I Am the Messenger -By Markus Zusak (here identified by the presumably original title The Messenger).

So, pick up 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up and give it a browse. It's sure to bring back old memories, remind you of current favorites and introduce you to plenty more titles to enjoy.

Red Sings From Treetops = So Dreamlike

I was going to write about Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, earlier this year, and it was pure laziness on my part that I didn't. I'm glad that it popped up on my Camp Read-a-Lot list, because this title deserves more attention. Personally, I love both the poetic language and the lovely artwork of this book. It is far more than a standard "let's learn our colors" title and thus has potential for a much wider audience.

Describing the arrival of colors in familiar things from spring through winter, Sidman lets you experience them through all of your senses. She explains spring white as sounding like storms, in the shape of lightning and hail, or smelling the same as flower petals. Summer yellow tastes like salt, fall wind feels black and winter pink blooms in the sky. A crowned person and a dog seem to glide through the pages, enjoying outdoor seasonal pleasures. This description gives you the jist of the book, but not the sensual flow of the words as she writes them. For that, you should read it for yourself. Please do.

Zagarenski's imaginative mixed media paintings on wood and computer illustrations are a perfect match for the text. Gorgeous layers of color fill each page. The sky can look like turquoise veined with gold like a stone in one drawing, then be swirled with white, grey and pale blue in another. A nest of slightly fuzzy pink hatchlings, each wearing its own gold crown, gape wide yellow and red beaks toward the sky.White moths fill and escape the sail on a boat. A huge grey whale pauses behind a stupendous and  pale full moon. Every spread shows interesting texture and pleasing detail.

Together, Sidman & Zagarenski have created a little world that feels like our own in its best moments. It's one that you, me, or your favorite child  might wish to visit often.

You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?!

Next on my list of Camp Read-a-Lot titles is You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! by Jonah Winter. It is a picture book biography, about 32 pages and fully illustrated. I'm not a baseball fan, so everything in it is news to me! In the voice of one of his Dodger teammates, this book tells the story of Koufax's career from 1955-1966. You may know that Koufax was an extremely talented left handed pitcher, who currently lives in Florida.  At the time, he was one of few Jews in baseball, so he blazed a trail there as well with his impressive pitching record.

Baseball facts are given throughout the text, which is followed by a relevant glossary. Andre Carrilho's pictures are based in gray scale, with color touches he added with Adobe Photoshop. His style has a vintage feel, stylized like drawings of politicians seen in newspapers, yet conveying lots of movement with simple lines. My library copy has an especially cool cover, called lenticular, but which I knew as a plastic piece that has a moving image when you tilt it back and forth.This shows Mr. Koufax in his pitching glory and ought to catch young readers' eyes.