Red Knit Cap Girl and the Reading Tree

The latest in the Red Knit Cap Girl series might just be my favorite! As a knitter, each of the Red Knit Cap Girl books are dear to my heart, but when Red Knit Cap Girl finds the perfect hollow tree to read with her forest friends...my heart can hardly take it. Each of Red Knit Cap Girl's forest friends brings a book to leave in the hollow tree, except beaver who has no book to bring. He decides to bring his wood-working skills and make bookshelves for inside the tree. With the addition of a few cozy blankets, Red Knit Cap Girl and all of her animal friends have a snug spot for their reading.

Not officially available until September, Red Knit Cap Girl and the Reading Tree is sure to be a new favorite in the series. As always, Stoop's illustrations are simple, lovely, and exceedingly sweet. The community spirit, particularly around sharing books, featured in this story reminds me of the Little Free Libraries that are springing up everywhere. If you've missed the first two installments in this series (Red Knit Cap Girl and Red Knit Cap Girl to the Rescue), you should find a copy in your local library immediately!

Flashback Friday: Blueberries for Sal

Kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk! Sal is following her mother up Blueberry Hill and picking berries as she goes, although she quickly discovers that the picking is more fun when she eats the berries she picks rather than dropping them into her pail. As she wanders away from her mother to the other side of Blueberry Hill, a mother bear and her cub have just begun foraging for their morning snack on Blueberry Hill as well. The bear cub is too busy eating blueberries to notice that he's wandered away from his mama also. Sal's mother and the bear's mother discover at the exact same time that the "child" she hears trailing behind her isn't her own.

Blueberries for Sal, written by beloved children's author and illustrator Robert McCloskey in 1948 for his own daughter Sally, won the Caldecott Honor the following year. The dark blue block print illustrations are simple and breathtaking. My favorite print is the one pictured below of Sal playing with her mother's canning jar rings while her mother cans the blueberries they've gathered. The scenes capture a simpler time and place in our history. The storyline with the bear is captivating for young children. The delight, yet slight fear, of the bear near the humans keeps little one's attention while the symmetry of the story makes them shriek in delight.

You can find Blueberries for Sal in the Picture Books - Summer section of The Book Children Store.

How to Outrun a Crocodile When Your Shoes Are Untied

Middle school is tough. Middle school might just be unbearable if you lived in a zoo (literally!), if your best friend just moved to the other side of the world, or if your twin brother incessantly leaves reptiles in your bed. All this, and more, is happening to Ana (named after an anaconda, for Pete's sake!) this year, and she just wants to hide under a rock until middle school is finished. She feels like her efforts to stay close to her best friend are failing, and she's the target of the Sneerers, the kind of predatory animals one might face in a middle school. At the pinnacle of her misery, her famous zoologist grandfather arrives in town and puts her entire family on his reality TV show, giving the Sneerers even more ammunition against her. Will Ana EVER survive this year in middle school?

I think How to Outrun a Crocodile When Your Shoes Untied will really hit a mark for many tween and early teen girls looking for a protagonist with the exact self-confidence issues that Ana displays. She struggles in math, desperately needs a new friend, and fearfully treads through interactions with the school's "mean girls". About half-way through the book, Ana's negativity started to grate on me a tad, although I truly understand that many young girls will completely identify with her feelings. Predictably, but with great heart, Ana found her courage and some comfort in her skin by the end. I loved the nerdy zoology humor, and the animal tidbits at the beginning of each chapter were a fun touch. I'm actually quite anxious to see where Ana's story goes in the sequel, due in January 2015. 

You can find How to Outrun a Crocodile When Your Shoes Untied in the Middle Grade Books section of The Book Children Store.

Half a Chance

Lucy's father is a photographer who travels frequently for his job. He heads out on assignment just as her family is getting settled into their new little red cottage on a New Hampshire lake. Lucy quickly meets the family in the cottage next door, one of the summer families. As Lucy gets to know them, she becomes fast friends with Nate, about her age, and often goes with him on Loon Patrol, where she learns a great deal about the lake's feathered residents. As Lucy tells Nate about a youth photography contest her father is judging, they decide to enter the contest which Lucy hopes will help her understand her father's true opinion of her own photography. As Lucy is taking photos, she realizes that her photos are telling a story of Nate's grandmother. A story that Nate is not keen to see or admit.

Half a Chance is a perfect slow summer read. It begs you to find a shady hammock where you can hear the crickets chirping, or perhaps the loons calling, and fully immerse yourself in a quiet summer story. The author, Cynthia Lord, has such a gift for storytelling. She handles the difficulty of dementia, especially from a child's perspective, with the same grace that she handled autism in Rules. The best part is that while the story revolves around Nate's grandmother's slip into dementia, the photography contest, forming new friendships, even the education about loons rounds the novel out so nicely that the reader doesn't feel like the story is just about Nate's grandmother and her illness. I do admit that I wasn't fond of Lucy's father. He felt quite self-centered, and I found myself wanting to shake him into awareness of how much he was hurting his daughter. The intermittent storyline of Megan, a character who was a tad bit jealous of Lucy and treated her unkindly, was lovely though. Lucy negotiated that situation beautifully by ignoring Megan then later reaching out to her; a fine example of how to treat unkind people without making Lucy into a glaringly obvious goody-goody.

You can find Half a Chance in the Middle Grade Books section of The Book Children Store.

Woodland Litter Critters

Woodland Litter Critters ABC, written by Patience Mason and published by her own Patience Press, only came to my attention in the last month. Oh, how I wish I would've had this when my littles were just learning their ABCs! Many ABC books are loud and chaotic. These little litter critters though have such charm and cleverness that you can't wait to turn the page to see which critter will represent the next letter!

From Andy Acorncap and the Bird babies to Zippy the Zygodactyl, each page contains an amazing litter critter to examine and a sweet or humorous bit of text to accompany. The critters alone are stunning in their detail and ingenuity. And the text is a nice accompaniment but doesn't overshadow the little critters. My personal favorite page is probably the hooty owls of the O page. Just look at those acorn cap-eyed sweet fellows!

I'd recommend the book on artwork alone! It makes me want to take a walk in the woods immediately to find my own litter critters. What lucky preschoolers to have such a fine ABC reference now available to them!

You can find Woodland Litter Critters ABC in the Picture Books section of The Book Children Store.

Emily Rose's Day at the Farm

Emily-Rose's Day at the Farm is a sweet story about a little girl who loves to visit her Grammy at the farm. Every visit, she watches her Grammy feed the animals and wishes that she could feed them as well. Her Grammy remarks that the animals are too rambunctious for Emily-Rose to help. Emily-Rose isn't quite sure what rambunctious means, but one day when she visits the farm her Grammy finally agrees to let Emily-Rose help feed the animals. Hooray! When the chicks try to peck her boots, the pigs splash slop on her, and the ducks chase her, Emily-Rose finally understands what her Grammy means when she says the animals are rambunctious!

Emily-Rose's Day at the Farm is a heart-warming story of a little girl who admires her grandmother. Emily-Rose is a likable character, and her Grammy is very loving. The story moves along nicely, and the illustrations are rather cartoonish, but very sweet. Children will delight in the mishaps that befall Emily as she moves about the farm feeding the animals. These tales are filled with humor, and Emily-Rose's good attitude. Overall Emily-Rose's Day at the Farm is a great story for pre-school through kindergarten aged children who will identify with and understand Emily-Rose's antics.

You can find Emily-Rose's Day at the Farm in the Picture Books section of The Book Children Store.

10 Books for Space-Loving Kids

Mousetronaut is the tale of a little mouse who has a great desire to travel into space. He studies hard and prepares well, and he is finally chosen for an important mission. While in space, disaster strikes and the little mouse is the only crew member who can save the mission. Mousetronaut is written by actual astronaut, Mark Kelly! For preschool through grade 2.

Fly Guy Presents Space contains accessible bites of space information for grades pre-K-3. Fans of the Fly Guy books will appreciate the narration provided by Fly Guy and Buzz while they visit a space museum. Fly Guy and Buzz learn about planets, stars, comets and asteroids, sharing that information sprinkled their customary humor. Striking photographs enhance this humorous presentation.

There's No Place Like Space is part of The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library. With rhythmic text and silly adventure, The Cat in the Hat presents each of the eight planets in the solar system. There's No Place Like Space is a fun way for grades K-3 to begin learning about concepts such as the solar system, telescopes, constellations, and satellites.

Moonshot depicts the historic mission of Apollo 11 with gorgeous illustrations from Brian Floca, this year's Caldecott winning artist. Floca depicts the entire mission from getting the astronauts snapped into their uniform and gear to the ROAR of the rockets and the hushed tones of the moon. Filled with greater detail than most picture books, Moonshot is perfect for kindergarten through grade 5.

Planets, by National Geographic Kids, is a lovely early reader with an appropriate reading level for grades 1-3. Illustrated with vivid photographs, Planets introduces the reader to the solar system, particularly the planets and dwarf planets, with plenty of intriguing facts sprinkled among the lovely photos.

Another title by National Geographic Kids, the First Big Book of Space is an amazing large book meant to satiate the appetite of the elementary kid who is obsessed with learning more about space. Plenty of large photographs liberally sprinkled with age-appropriate bits of info, any space-loving 1st through 4th grader with a passion for learning more about space.

The Smart Kids series presents Space, the perfect first glimpse into the solar system for early elementary kids who long to learn about everything from planets to UFOs to space shuttles. Full of impressive photography and smaller bits of informational text, Space is sure to be a hit for grades K-3.

Zoo in the Sky captures the sparkling twinkle of the stars above us, matching them with the animals that have long been associated with each constellation. Each animal comes to life in beautiful painting over-layed with the stars that will help them identify the constellation in the night sky. The rich text accompanying these paintings brings the night sky to life in this book of legends intended for grades 1-5.

A Black Hole is NOT a Hole covers new territory in lively and humorous text appropriate for grades 2-6. Beginning with introduction to gravity and moving to the complex scientific concept of black holes, A Black Hole is NOT a Hole uses humor and excellent illustrations to keep the reader engaged. Even adults may learn something new at the hands of this witty book.

Space Encyclopedia, another National Geographic Kids title, is for the kid who has blown through all of our other space books and still has the yearning to know more. Intended for upper elementary through middle school, Space Encyclopedia is similar to the Big Book of Space in that it cover a wide variety of space topics, but decidedly more in depth than the Big Book. Space Encyclopedia will be your go-to resource for space-obsessed children and solar system school reports for years to come.

The Tree Lady

When I visited Books of Wonder for the Medal Winners' book signing at the end of March, I happened to meet a most interesting fellow as I was standing in line with my books. As we talked for the half-hour or so that we were in line, I discovered that he was also a children's book author, and he too had the fortune of being in NYC at the right time to catch this event. After my books were signed, I found his book, The Tree Lady, in the store and decided to add it to my already enormous pile of purchases.

The Tree Lady is the story of Kate Sessions, who in the late 1800s became the first person to graduate from the University of California with a science degree--a woman, no less! Following graduation, she became a teacher in southern California and was stunned by the lack of trees and greenery in the landscape. She resolved to bring trees to the San Diego area, even though the locals though this would be an impossibility. She left teaching, became a gardener, researching trees through letters all over the world requesting seeds that she might try to grow in a sunny, dry climate. Eventually, her trees were growing all over San Diego, particularly in City Park (later named Balboa Park) which was soon to house a great fair. When the fair opened, the people who attended were grateful to Kate for the shady trees that kept them cool. Kate Sessions continued gardening and planting trees in San Diego until her death at age 82.

The Tree Lady does an excellent job of telling the history of Kate Sessions while keeping the information fresh and accessible. This book is a perfect first biography for the early elementary age. And upper elementary schoolers will find additional information including names for many of the trees featured and microscopic illustration of the tree parts. In addition to the strictly scientific benefit, The Tree Lady depicts a positive representation of community involvement, gender assumption, societal expectation, and personal confidence.  The illustrations are dynamic and beautiful. After the pages of dusty brown desert, I could practically breathe the cool, green of the trees in the final pages.

You can find The Tree Lady in both the Picture Books--Nonfiction section and the Picture Books--Books with Strong Females section of The Book Children Store.

The Sheep-Pig

I'm not sure why I was never aware of the fact that the movie Babe was based on a children's book. I'm equally unsure how I actually stumbled upon the book The Sheep Pig last year. But I did, and it quickly became a favorite read-aloud for my 7 year old.

The Sheep Pig follows the story of Babe, a pig thusly named by his adoptive dog mother, Fly. Fly is a sheep dog on a farm in England and has no respect for the sheep she herds. When Maa, an elderly ewe, is brought to the barn to recover from illness, Babe befriends her and comes to realize that sheep are not quite as dumb as Fly has led Babe to believe. Babe wants nothing more than to follow in Fly's footsteps and become a sheep pig, but he discovers that the sheep are much more cooperative to a friendly word than angry gestures.

When Babe learns the secret password for inspiring the sheep's cooperation, his success as a sheep pig is nearly guaranteed.
"I may be ewe, I may be ram,
I may be mutton, may be lamb,
But on the hoof or on the hook,
I bain't so stupid as I look."
Babe enters the annual sheep dog trials with anxiety and doubt, but through his experience, the entire farm, Fly included, realizes that a gentle word trumps fearful compulsion.

My Side of the Mountain

I remember the first thing that Paulie said to me after we finished the first chapter of My Side of the Mountain, "Well, of course he could survive in the wild with all that stuff he had with him." I chuckled under my breath knowing that despite Paulie's initial lack of awe with this inspiring story, eventually he would come to see the beauty, the creativity of this coming-of-age tale.

There are books you read to your children because they are humorous and you want to share a good laugh. There are books you read to your children because they reach into the depths of humanity and you want to share that bit of the human soul with them. There are books you read to your children because you want them to recognize the infinite possibilities available to them in this world, in this life. My Side of the Mountain is all of those books.

Sam Gribley is a quiet but adventurous kid with a thirst to visit and make a life on his grandfather's land. He leaves NYC with nothing but this wish in his heart. Through a kindly neighbor in the woods and a librarian who feeds him information, he realizes his dream and manages to find an wealth of opportunity in the Catskill Mountains. Living in a hollowed tree with a deerskin door and meals such as fish, mussels, onion soup, turnip soup, smoked venison, Sam finds his footing as a wilderness survivor. With an independent spirit and a peregrine falcon as a companion, Sam lives for a year on his grandfather's mountain in the Catskills.

As a parent who takes her children camping and spends a great deal of time out in nature, I appreciate the fact that Jean Craighead George spared no details in her story. Some children might find her descriptions a bit dry. My kids actually absorbed every word hungrily, and we often had conversations about the details following our family readings. Although this book has clear appeal for the tween/teen boy, my teen daughter and 7-year-old son were equally enthralled. 

Don't forget enter the giveaway if you haven't yet! Win one of the Featured This Month books from the new Book Children Store!

Twelve Kinds of Ice

I wish I could remember where I first saw a recommendation for Twelve Kinds of Ice. I vaguely recollect noticing the cover art back in the summer, then stumbling back upon it in early fall. By November, I had acquired a copy, largely based on the lovely illustrations, thinking that, at a mere 64 pages, this would make a wonderful snow day read. If you haven't been living under a rock, or a sunny beach on the southern hemisphere, you probably know that the entire east coast experienced a winter storm over the last few days. That flurry of snow out our windows was the setting by which we finally dove into Twelve Kinds of Ice.

I'm truly glad I saved this book for such a time. The black and white illustrations, the colorful prose, the sparkling descriptions of each kind of ice, and the adventures that await each new phase of winter read like a story my grandmother might tell, if I had a grandmother who lived anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line where the winter seems stuck on repeat between ice kinds 1, 2, and 3. Sure, there are some reinforced stereotypes of figure-skating girls battling for ice rink time from the hockey-playing boys, but beyond that you find humorous anecdotes of a father who performs comic routines while smoothing the ice each evening, an elaborate ice show with grandiose performances, and even the melancholic thaw when the rink might only have a few feet of ice left for the lengthening, warming spring days. I'm unsure how many more snow days this winter might hold, but this story will remain on hand just in case.

Along Came a Dog

As a rather recent fan of Meindert DeJong, I just finished his Along Came a Dog as a read-aloud to the kids. I was already planning to blog about this book, as we enjoyed it immensely, but when Philip decided to use it for a school assignment in which he had to dress as a book character and perform a commercial for that book, I thought I'd use his commercial as part of my post.

From the perspective of the farmer:

I am a farmer, and I own a chicken farm. One spring, when I came to the chicken coop to let them out, the little red hen’s toes froze off because it was so cold. All the other chickens started pecking at her and tried to kill her because she had no toes. I made her some rubber flippers to help her walk, but they didn’t work very well so I sewed them to my jacket to help her perch on my shoulder. Then one day a dog came to the farm. He looked like a wild dog so I took him to the woods and left him. Then a few days later, the dog came back. I took him even farther into the woods. The next day, the dog came back again. The rooster was dead and the little red hen disappeared so I thought the dog killed them. When I next saw the dog, I realized he was a hero. To find out how that happened, you’ll have to read, Along Came a Dog.

This book is nearly 200 pages, but only divided into 10 chapters so we read it rather quickly. I would recommend it for any child or family who is interested in farming or farm animals. The insight into the world of chicken farming was thorough and fascinating. The relationship between the dog trying to adopt the farm and the red hen is tender and protective. I would recommend this book for upper elementary school as the world of chicken farming can be fraught with danger and several of the chickens in this book fall into some peril. However, the book is very well written. The suspense surrounding the dog lasts until nearly the end of the book but is rewarding in its completion. We're ready to try another DeJong book as a family read-aloud very soon.

Scholastic's First Discovery books

I don't remember where or when I first stumbled across this little ladybug book, but I'm guessing Elizabeth was 3-4 years old. She was immediately taken with the occasional clear pages that would hide then reveal the underside of a ladybug or show you the inside of a ladybug pupa. Once she tired of the book, Philip discovered it, then eventually Finn.

Somewhere along the way, another of these books entered our home, this one about castles. Now you weren't just looking at the impressive, imposing exterior of the castle, but you could see inside to the various rooms and people working various jobs inside.


I stumbled on 2-3 more of these books at our local used bookstore and always snatched them up when I found them so when our amazing next door neighbor carried over a whole stack that used to be loved by her, now mostly grown, children. Finn was so thrilled and he has read little else, or requested little else read to him, since this stack of exploration and learning arrived.


I think he convinced Paulie to read 5 in a row on Saturday morning before they even ate breakfast and I'm sure I saw Philip snuggled in his bed on Sunday morning while he begged for "just one more" before they came downstairs for the day. His favorite of the new stack, I think, is the penguin book with the sweet little birds walking on ice floes and diving into the water.


In keeping with the beauty of these books, he also gets to see the penguins swimming in the Antarctic and the bottom of the glacier.


Not only can he see underwater in the Antarctic, but the inside of a chicken, bees and butterflies pollinating flowers, the rainforest floor, and the various holes, tunnels, animals and bugs found under the ground.

What an amazing and attention-capturing way to present information to little ones!

PS. Some of these books are still in print, but many are not. However, you can find lots of used ones on Amazon and probably your local used bookstore.

Suzette and Nicholas

Satomi Ichikawa's Suzette and Nicholas In The Garden is a treat for the eyes, one of those books that almost renders the words pointless because the pictures are so amazing that the book would be hard pressed to be made better or worse by the text. I stumbled on this lovely gem at a book sale benefit and my eye was immediately caught by the almost wallpaper look of the cover.

When I opened the book, I was struck by the beautiful soft color of the illustration, lovely rendering of the gardens, and the sweet floral frame surrounding the text on each page.

The illustrations definitely have a bit of Japanese flair and wonderful pops of color make the scenes burst alive with springy air. You can almost smell the blooms and feel the warm sun on your face as Nicholas and Suzette travel through the garden surrounding their home.

It seems like a fitting tribute on this Earth Day. A book so full of pictures of a lovely garden and children enjoying the gardens. Even as they climb garden walls, peer into the pond, pull their baby brother in a wagon along the paths of blooms and investigate the insects therein, you see a childhood full of nature and children who appreciate this nature to it's fullest.

Happy Earth Day!

Over In The Meadow

"Over in the meadow in the sand and the sun lived an old mother turtle and her little turtle one..."

How many of us remember this rhyme or song from our childhood? I couldn't have been more excited to find that Ezra Jack Keats illustrated a book version several years ago.

All of the classic animals are there in vibrant paintings with soft ethereal surroundings counting and buzzing as rhythmically as ever before.

Even the ratties which were my personal favorite as a child.

Even though Keats is most commonly known for his classics, The Snowy Day and Whistle for Willie, I really think that he had a special talent for painting animals and nature. His illustrations for Over In The Meadow seem to be a more sophisticated style of painting than his earlier picture books, and his contrast of colors and clean lines make this book appealing and distinctive.

The Sun Seed

I remember when I first stumbled across The Sun Seed. I had only been needlefelting for a brief period and the pictures, entirely needlefelted, were amazingly gorgeous and detailed. Such an inspiring glimpse into the possibilities of needlefelting!

The story is as beautiful as the pictures...the essence of spring. The wool is able to imitate roots in a wonderful wispy way, and the little shoots look so fragile and tender under the soil blanket.

I love how each page not only has the center story of the seed, but a trail of spring animals around the edges of each page.

The end of the story, when the bees are visiting the flower, is my favorite part. The soft ethereal quality of the felting makes you feel like you're looking through a sunny haze at the summery scene.