And Nothing But The . . .

There are two things which happen when readers are hooked on a series.  The first is a growing excitement for the next installment.  It builds until we hold the next volume in our hands.  The second thought ever present in our minds is we don't want this to end.  We enjoy it completely and without reservation.

If laughter as an element figures in our appreciation for a collection of titles, this collection becomes more firmly cemented in our desire for it to continue endlessly.  On February 27, 2018 two titles were released which not only inform readers but entertain us and promote further research as well.  These books, The Truth About Bears (Seriously Funny Facts About Your Favorite Animals) (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press) and The Truth About Hippos (Seriously Funny Facts About Your Favorite Animals) (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press) written and illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III are seriously fantastic.

This is a bear.
I'm Pete.

In tandem with each stated fact, more than one on most pages, bears are commentators declaring obvious details but also providing comedic responses.  Other animal characters you might find in the appropriate region chime in with their insights.  Additional information appears as captions or in signs.

We quickly learn standing polar bears are eight feet tall, actual bear claws are several inches long and the three most common bears are American black bear, brown bear and the polar bear.  Koalas, residents of Australia, are not bears.  Bears have voracious appetites.  Did you know they can eat thousands of berries in one day?

Bear newborns are so small they weigh less than a guinea pig, but a full-grown bear can rival a small car in weight.  Hibernation, the value of fur and bears under threat are discussed.  Hints about safety around bears are given.  Here is an example of the blend of facts and dialogue on two pages.

Polar bears eat seals.  They smell them
through the seals' breathing holes
in the ice and snow.

Sometimes they smash the ice and grab them.

You should probably turn the page. (polar bear)
Please don't. (seal held in polar bear paw)


This is a hippopotamus.

H-I-P-P-O-
T-Z-O-6-3

Hippo
for
short.

Did you know there are two kinds of hippos; common hippos and pygmy hippos?  Their weights are compared to four cows versus one pig.  That's a huge difference.  They both live in Africa but tend to enjoy other areas; water and grasslands contrasted to mud along rivers and lakes close to the cover of dense forests.

Pygmy diets are more varied.  Common hippos have long, long teeth and mouths that can lay almost flat when open.  And you don't want to be near them when they relieve themselves of their waste.  YUCK!  Did you know hippos can't swim?  How do you think they move in the water?

One of the hippos prefers resting in groups, the other alone in the shade.  Night is when hippos are on the move.  The daylight hours are for taking it easy.  Both, common and pygmy, hippos need protection from hunters and habitat destruction.  Here is a factual and dialogue passage; some in narrative, some placed on signs and speech balloons.

Common hippos and pygmy hippos
both spend their days resting.

HIPPOS ARE NOCTURNAL.
THAT MEANS THEY SLEEP ALL
DAY AND STAY UP ALL NIGHT.

Common hippos stay in the 
water in large groups.

Has anyone see
this calf's mom?

She has
smooth
gray
skin.

A GROUP OF HIPPOS
IS SOMETIMES
CALLED A BLOAT.


Happily, for readers of the series a third title was released on May 8, 2018.  The Truth About Dolphins (Seriously Funny Facts About Your Favorite Animals) (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press) with artwork and words by Maxwell Eaton III will have readers captivated as soon as they see the cover.  By the first page, they'll be reading as fast as they can.

This is a dolphin.

Hello. (dolphin)

Yikes! (girl seated in inner tube in water)

<---common i="">
Common
bottlenose
dolphin (arrow points to dolphin)

For the first several pages comparisons are made between dolphins and fish.  Did you know one swims by moving their bodies from left to right and the other moves their tails up and down?  Dolphins are mammals; traits in support of this are disclosed.

There are more than forty species of dolphins with one of them weighing 12,000 pounds.  You can go almost any place on our planet and find dolphins.  They are skilled hunters working together in groups.

They are one of few animals employing the use of echolocation.  Their communication techniques are masterful so is their desire to play.  Both help them to avoid enemies like sharks.  Their worst enemies are us.  Here is one of the humorous combinations of text and conversations.

Dolphins eat mostly fish and squid.

Atlantic 
spotted dolphin

That was close. (arrow points to hiding squid)

They hunt in groups, called pods, by
using their eyes, ears, and one
very special ability . . .

Left, right,
left, right, left,
right, left, right,
left, right, left,
right, left! (says a group of six fleeing fish)


When The Truth About Elephants (Seriously Funny Facts About Your Favorite Animals) (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, November 27, 2018) written by Maxwell Eaton III was released this autumn, readers wondered what would be revealed.  What factual items would this author illustrator include in this book?  What would the elephants and other animals say in response?

Here comes an elephant.

Boom Boom Boom
Boom Boom Boom Boom
          Boom

Actually,
I'm a
human. (says a little girl who doesn't see what is behind her)

With the first declaration about elephants being the largest land animals, all types of comments are made along with supporting documentation.  A white rhinoceros and a common hippopotamus (who we've already met) are not too happy.  A blue whale peeks through a circle in the page to add elephants are not the largest in water.

We learn of the development of elephants, their current relatives and the types of elephants.  The Asian and African elephants are shown side by side with their differences noted.  The finer points of trunk use are disclosed.

Their tusks and molars come in handy for an array of activities.  Did you know these herbivores spend about eighteen hours a day in the act of looking and consuming food?  Family hierarchy, communication, and herd defense work is explained with examples.  Here is one of many blends of truth and playfulness.

Elephants' teeth are also unique.  Long
tusks are used to dig for roots, scrape bark
from trees, and defend against predators.

He 
tried to
eat me. (baby elephant now on mother's back)

Kids,
right? (alligator trapped beneath mother's tusks)

ELEPHANTS' TUSKS NEVER STOP GROWING.  THE OLDER
THE ELEPHANT, THE BIGGER THE TUSKS!


As an illustrator Maxwell Eaton III begins his pictorial interpretations immediately on the matching dust jackets and book cases of all four books.  His word play is evident in the opening comment on the front of each.  The images with verbal comments, text or sound effects on the back make reference to the hilarity or theme found within the body of the book; car driving bears, bicycle riding hippos, dolphins and diving with scuba gear and elephants and jazz music.

The opening and closing endpapers are bright solid colors.  On the initial title page each specific animal makes a factual or funny statement.  This is expanded on the formal title page, a double-page picture, with results certain to cause readers to smile or burst out laughing.

Maxwell Eaton III alters his illustration sizes in order to heighten and complement his narrative, captions and conversations.  They range from double-page visuals, single-page images, or several pictures gathered together on one or two pages.  Elements from one illustration often overlap another image.

The facial expressions on all the animals convey exactly what they are thinking or saying.  These add to the truth and prevalent comedy.  At the close of each book spread across two pages is an open file labeled on the tab with the animal name.  It contains habitat facts, tracks, field notes, size, a territory map or other pertinent pieces of information like elephant toenails and further research opportunities for children and adults.  This is followed with a final one-page image guaranteed to generate giggles and grins.

There are many, many favorite illustrations in each book.  In the bear book when we are being informed about bears' food it mentions rodents.  A bear is not sure what a rodent is.  A squirrel points to a rock and says it's a rodent.  In the discussion about hippo waste elimination the backside of a hippo faces us.  A small bird on top of the hippo states this is why he is where he is.  When we are learning about dolphin communication two dolphins are shown at rest underwater.  One says a sound is like a particular third dolphin.  The second dolphin says this third dolphin still owns him three squid.  Being educated about four gigantic elephant molars in their mouths invites a small bird standing on a ladder and leaning toward the open elephant mouth to make a comment.  Holding a toothbrush, he knows a bigger one is needed.


The mix of factual and funny information, commentary and illustrations is a huge invitation for readers of all ages to read The Truth About Bears, The Truth About Hippos, The Truth About Dolphins and The Truth About Elephants all part of the Seriously Funny Facts About Your Favorite Animals series written and illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III.  These will be great and welcome nonfiction read-aloud selections and research titles.  You will need multiple copies of each volume. I highly recommend these for your personal and professional collections.  It appears a fifth and sixth book are coming in the spring and fall of this year.  Fans of crocodiles and hawks will be happy.

To discover more about Maxwell Eaton III and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  Maxwell Eaton III maintains an account on Instagram and Twitter.  You can view interior images from Bears, Hippos, Dolphins and Elephants at the publisher's website. There is a wonderful, older interview with Maxwell at author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  Maxwell Eaton III is featured in the Lake Placid News about his books.


Remember to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to note the other titles chosen this week by participants in the 2019 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Again...Again...Repeatedly

A book is a gift you can open again and again.

Garrison Keillor

What is it that makes us return to our favorite picture book titles?  Do we go back, even though we know exactly what is going to happen, because the story, the beginning, the middle and the end, is in perfect alignment.  Could it be the words, the narrative, the dialogue, create a kind of song in our minds, painting a picture even without the illustrations?  Or might another visit be due to the stellar artwork, the fresh color palette, intriguing layout and design?

I believe it to be when the combination of all of these is so striking, that not only is the book memorable, but you as a reader sense a kind of magic, a cosmic connection.  When I first lifted the cover of Open This Little Book (Chronicle Books) by Jesse Klausmeier with illustrations by Suzy Lee I had no idea what to expect. (I rarely consult the jacket flaps until after I read the book.)  Within a few seconds I began to feel a pull, a pull taking me right into the center of the book.


Open this...

Those first two little words offer much.  It seems so often when growing up we hear the opposite.  "Stop!" "Don't open that!"  This phrase is different; freeing, warm and inviting.  So we do as it requests.

In the Little Red Book, the Little Green Book, the Little Orange Book, the Little Yellow Book, the Little Blue Book and the Little Rainbow Book readers are introduced to Ladybug, Frog, Rabbit, Bear and Giant.  Each character is reading a book about the next as the volumes, inset in one another, continually get smaller.  As we move from book to book the characters move into the next title until a problem arises.

The pages of the smallest book cannot be turned by the hand of Giant.  But what are friends for? A book is began and finished with the story within read; to each character's individual and personal joy.

As first the Little Rainbow Book, followed by the others, is closed Giant, Bear, Rabbit, Frog and Ladybug return to their original settings.  When readers turn a page and read:

You close this little red book...

they, like the characters, are transported to a place where a passion can be pursued in the company of like-minded beings.  Read.  Read again.  Share. Read another. This is a timeless, treasured circle with no end.


According to an interview at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast Jesse Klausmeier first conceived this book when she was five years old.  There is a child-like wonder in the simple sentences linked together; a curiosity about what will happen next to whom.  When she chooses story, the reading of a story, to bind these characters together in friendship, the repetition of the words creates a spiral circling outward to surround you.  You, the reader, become a participant in the tale.


Every single time I read this book I discover something new in the illustrations.  Suzy Lee's interpretation is meticulous; right down to the tiniest amazing detail.  Using pencil and watercolor with digital manipulation she begins on the jacket and cover; a lofty view of a tree trunk on the left whose branches stretch as shelves providing space for books and readers alike. Her opening endpapers are rows of tiny gray raindrops on a soft creamy white background switching to a variety of colors, like a rainbow, on the closing endpapers.

Initially Lee opens using a limited palette, black, white and red with a hint of green.  As each little book is opened small spots of the other colors are added.  As the characters return home the use of color increases plus careful readers will see not only the gift of color but the gift of something else bestowed upon each. The pure happiness exhibited by Lee's Ladybug, Frog, Rabbit, Bear and yes, even Giant in each setting is marvelous to behold.


I've lost count of the number of times I've read Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier with illustrations by Suzy Lee.  What I do remember is my excitement building at each page turn.  When I finish I know I am grinning from ear to ear wanting to shout from the rooftops "I love this book!"

Please follow the links embedded in this post to visit the official author and illustrator websites.  Suzy Lee did an interview at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast linked here.

I went right to my bookshelves and pulled off copies of Look At My Book: How Kids Can Write & Illustrate Terrific Books by Loreen Leedy, Making Mini-Books by Sherri Haab (Klutz) and The Elements of Pop-Up by David A. Carter and James Diaz because this title is guaranteed to inspire creativity.  You might also want to visit the web 2.0 application, Zooburst, to make virtual books.  It was an American Library Association 2011 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning.

Through The Eyes Of A Child

Information, the right information, can be a powerful thing, now more than ever.  Having worked with students, helping them to access, evaluate, use and present relevant information in an engaging and collaborative manner has proven this to be true again and again. Creating independent learners (and avid readers) has been fun for my students and me.

On the flip side of the coin, the final sentence of a poem, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College by Thomas Gray (1742),

 No more; ---where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise.,

has likewise proven to be true.  After twenty-one years working with middle and high school students, thirteen plus years at the elementary level has provided for countless memorable moments where innocence ruled the day.  It is because of a portrayal of ignorance and  innocence, I found myself laughing out loud in a bookstore last week reading Silly Doggy! written and illustrated by Adam Stower.


One morning, Lily saw something wonderful in her garden.

Peering out her bedroom window this wonderful something has all the attributes of her heart's desire; it's large, brown, furry, four-legged with a tail and a matching large nose.  That's why after she dons hat, coat, boots and a scarf, running up to this creature, she cries with all the exuberance of youth

Doggy!

As she eyes her new best friend she realizes that up close he is mighty big and kinda' cranky but perhaps, she reasons, he needs her as much as she wants him.

When she shows up with her pal at day's end, her Mom is fairly certain Doggy belongs with someone else.  Lily decides to make a poster enumerating all the qualities of her companion; his physical description, how he fails to eat the dinner set before him, how he likes going to the park as long as he doesn't have to walk, his lack of game-playing skills and obedience, how nice he looks after a bath, his favorite thing and Lily's favorite thing---him, of course.  With the poster posted, Lily hopes, truly hopes, no one will notice it.  But...

It's hard when your heart's desire is gone even though you know they're back at their forever home.  It's going to be a long night.  Wait!  What's that?  It's another morning and a new surprise awaits Lily in the garden; a BIG surprise.


Within the first two pages author Adam Stower has you hooked with his comedic narrative and character responses.  Impeccable pacing, use of the pregnant pause, creates an expectation of wondering how what is said and what actually happens will differ.  His descriptions of Lily's and Doggy's activities on a single day, when you consider Doggy is not really of the canine variety, are hilarious.


It's the artwork which increases the laughter factor to new heights.  This title received a position on the longlist for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2012 (not published in the United States until April 2012) and the companion title, Naughty Kitty, not yet published here, appears on the longlist for 2013.  Stower begins with front endpapers in shades of blue zooming in on a table set for tea with a portion of a newspaper headline showing.  The text in the paper provides plenty of "punny" clues.

A variety of soft colors used in the illustrations, which look like ink and watercolor, are displayed either across two pages, a single page opposite a white page with minimal text, or as small insets with continual alteration in perspective. While the text says one thing the illustrations paint a whole new contrasting view; Lily says Doggy is silly for not eating his dinner, behind her he is going through the refrigerator eating everything in sight, Doggy doesn't like to walk to the park but he and Lily are shown heads hanging out of a speeding city bus or the text says Doggy is not so hot at playing fetch, Lily is peeking into his open mouth saying, Where did your ball go?  Lily's petite cuteness against the bulk of Doggy, both having a series of expressive facial looks, are guaranteed to garner giggles.  The closing endpapers, again depict a table set for tea with another newspaper showing portions of two separate but pertinent articles.


Sometimes, even before you've finished a book, you know it will be one of those titles that are read repeatedly.  Adam Stower's Silly Doggy! is one of those books.  I have not stopped grinning during the writing of this post and readers won't be able to stop either.  Get ready for gales of laughter during a read aloud.

A Bear...A Story...

I may have mentioned a time or two before but sometimes when I get a new book by an author and an illustrator whose work I appreciate and admire, I don't read it right away.  I keep it in view, anticipating the moment when I open it for the first time; like I do with a present.  I am careful when I do open it, looking at the jacket, cover, endpapers and title page before I even start the story.

There are those when the story is finished, where I sit in stunned silence wondering.  Then I read the story again...and again...and again.  The new title, Bear Has a Story to Tell (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, September 4, 2012) written by Philip C. Stead with illustrations by Erin E. Stead is one of those books.

It is almost winter and Bear was getting sleepy.

Before Bear will let himself go to sleep, he has a story he feels the need to tell.  He first goes to Mouse. But Mouse has seeds to gather. Bear helps him and watches him burrow into the ground to wait out winter.

Duck has no time for a story needing to fly south. Frog has to find somewhere to sleep out of the cold.  When Bear looks for Mole, he listens but Mole is already deep asleep, deep down in the earth.

As the snowflakes drift down, Bear, too, lets himself go to asleep, story untold.  Excitedly, Bear awakens to the warmth of spring eager to tell his tale.  As his friends slowly shake off the seasonal shift and slumber, Bear helps each one adjust to this season as he helped each one get ready for the last.

A moon rises in the darkening sky.  Bear sits upon a log with Mouse, Duck, Frog and Mole around him ready to listen.  But Bear has a problem.  His friends speak up as friends do, everything coming full circle.


As the text written by Philip C. Stead is read you can't help but feel he has leaned over and whispered to you, "I have something to tell you.  Listen."  His words truthfully, gently, softly beckon you to follow Bear. And you do because of the way he writes.

As Bear progresses from one of his friends to the next we know he is getting sleepier and sleepier by the descriptive language and comparisons.  We can picture him and his friends in the woodsy surroundings through sensory phrases.  Every carefully told action Bear takes depicts his kindness, his patience.  Mouse, Duck, Frog and Mole respond naturally, instinctively, to their world and to Bear.


It's the illustrations of Erin E. Stead created with crushed dry pastels and pencil (her favored medium) that illuminate the narrative further, evoking a sense of peace, a quiet presence.  Every feature of Bear, his face with expressive eyes, black nose, his large rounded stomach, arms and paws are very much bear but more.  The way he looks when he walks, his stance when he bends over to offer assistance to Mouse, how he holds his arm outstretched to check the wind's direction, how he gazes upward at the snowflakes, are all done with a reverent grace, a respect for the story.

Tiny details on Mouse, Duck, Frog and Mole offer insights into their personalities but do not stray from their natural appearances.  As readers turn the pages different backgrounds, sometimes mostly white with a few stray leaves and Bear's sitting log, distinctive tree branches awash in fall colors, or varying shades of blues and blue-greens signifying a change in seasons or time of day.  I have so many favorites but the one of Bear lying down, head on paws, with Mouse, Duck and Frog waiting with him for Mole to pop out of his hole in the evening is simply beautiful.


Authors Norma J. Livo and Sandra A. Rietz in Storytelling: Process & Practice, state:

"Story" is a mystery that has the power to reach within each of us, to command emotion, to compel involvement, and to transport us into timelessness.

Through the combined, award-winning talents of Erin E. Stead and Philip C. Stead readers enter the marvelous mystery of story in Bear Has a Story to Tell.  We are witness to its rhythm, its invitation and how everyone has a story to tell in their own time.

Follow this link to an interview of Erin E. Stead at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast where she discusses her work.  Here is an interview given by both Erin E. Stead and Philip C. Stead to Publishers Weekly, Life After The Caldecott: Erin and Philip Stead.

It's A Bear-y Good Thing

This year I have been spending time (less lately than I should) participating in a Caldecott Challenge hosted by LibLaura5, librarian and blogger along with her friend and fellow librarian, Anna, found at A to Z Library.  In the course of participating in the challenge I have had the benefit of revisiting many old favorites.  One such title, a Caldecott Honor winner for 1949, is Blueberries for Sal (The Viking Press) written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey.

I enjoyed reading it again so much I knew I needed a copy for my personal shelves. Even now, gazing at the pages, the warmth of the story and illustrations is there as much as it was all those years ago.  Anita Silvey, author, blogger and lifelong lover of books for children of all ages, best describes it in a post on her blog, Anita Silvey's Children's Book-A-Day Almanac. 

Then on March 11, 2012 and on August 2, 2012 Julie Danielson, blogger at the informative and downright gorgeous, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast highlighted the new title of author/illustrator Ashley Wolff, Baby Bear Sees Blue (Beach Lane Books, February 7, 2012), along with an interview and a selection of some of her other books.  It seems Wolff was drawn to the relationship of the mother bear and her cub in Blueberries for Sal.  After spending a day with Baby Bear and his Mama readers will sense the same warmth (and more) found in McCloskey's book, in this title by Ashley Wolff.



Deep down in the den,
Baby Bear wakes up.
He yawns and blinks
and stretches his stubby legs.

As a glow fills the cave's opening, the curious little bear asks his mother who is warming him.  Her reply is the sun.  What he sees is yellow.

As he ventures out into the day, once again, his curiosity is piqued.  In noticing the leaves he wonders who is waving at him.  She names it as the oak.  Green is what Baby Bear sees.

With each "who" question Baby Bear asks, his ever present Mama answers with an exact answer.  He in turn visualizes the object as a color.  In this manner readers follow the two on their day's journey, crossing a stream, wandering through a meadow, back to the safety of their den when a storm threatens and into the comfort of sleep.

Ashley Wolff's narrative, her word selection, has a natural, pleasing and inviting rhythm to it.  When Baby Bear perceives with his senses, at times in the form of personification, an object, his Mama's response is to instruct and introduce him to his world.  When he follows with the name of a color, the trio readers have come to expect is complete. 

Wolff's artwork is breathtaking; illustrations have been rendered by printing linoleum blocks in black on Arches Cover paper followed by, what can only be described as meticulous, hand coloring with watercolor.  Every single two-page spread entices and rewards the reader's eyes.  Color choices radiate, even in the rain

At repeated readings, once will not be enough, all the extra details can be savored; facial expressions on the bear pair, the squawking jays, or the splashing trout.  Smaller woodland and meadow creatures, plant life too,  make their way into the illustrations giving depth to the bears's world.  There is joy, an exuberance, that reaches out from the pictures and wraps around you.

Be sure to follow the links to both of the interviews at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast to feast your eyes on pictures from the book in various stages of completion.  Ashley Wolff's text and illustrations most certainly offer readers a path to the learning of colors and the names of things in Baby Bear's little corner of the forest and field.  But Baby Bear Sees Blue is so much more, a charming, delightful story that will stand the test of time, a thing of beauty.  I am adding it to my Mock Caldecott list for 2013.

When No One Is Looking

A bright red calligraphic word grabs your attention immediately on the cover of Katie Cleminson's newest title, Otto The Book Bear (Disney-Hyperion, January 31 2012)  Opening the cover readers are greeted with endpapers awash in blueprint blue shelving filled with books spines facing outward, some depicting tiny drawings from her previous books or other tales from childhood.  Moving to the dedication page a tiny little bear balancing on a cup handle leaning over the rim to take a sip is pictured above an old style book pocket, a lined check-out card, listing Katie Cleminson's previous books, nestled inside.

Completely charmed already, knowing that something special is coming, the next page is turned.  The first two page spread, mostly white, pictures a large open blue-covered book.  On the left in handwritten text is:

Once upon a time...

followed on the right with a richly-colored brown bear sitting on the page, red satchel by his side.  We read:

Otto was a book bear.

Otto lives inside a book shelved in a home where children reading his story gives him great joy.  But Otto is no ordinary bear.  He can walk right out of his book coming to life when everyone has gone.  Reading his best-loved tales and writing on the typewriter are two of his favorite pastimes during these jaunts around the house.

One day though, to Otto's dismay, the family moves leaving him behind, his book is not packed with the others.  With the heart of an adventurer Otto sets off to find himself some company.  Overwhelmed by the size of the outside world, Otto, as small as he is, feels invisible.  Seeking a new home is filled with obstacles; too much of this and not enough of that.

Sitting inside a discarded paper coffee cup, Otto assesses his situation.  City life is not for this bear; a warm book is more to his liking.  Nevertheless trudging on, realizing that he is near exhaustion, something ahead gives him the courage to continue.

Otto enters a building, walls filled with shelves, shelves filled with books.  Scaling a shelf the determined bear is astonished---another book bear!  More surprises are in store for the bear readers have come to admire and love.  His greatest pleasures are multiplied; libraries do hold more magic than one can imagine.

Illustrations done in heavy black lines filled in with a range of color depict a childlike innocence much like the pages of a coloring book; the varied hues appear to be done in watercolor but some are textured like chalk or crayon. The large expanses of white space make the pictures pop beckoning the reader to follow Otto.  Cleminson chooses to alter her pictures sizes and placement of bold large text depending on the storyline.

So many of these visuals are worthy of framing.   Two of my favorites are Otto sitting on the spacebar of the typewriter working on his writing skills and resting inside the coffee cup holding his red satchel.  Of notice is the inclusion of an old dial-up telephone on a table, a gramophone next to the bookshelf where Otto's book is shelved and of course, the typewriter; these small details lead one to reminisce, daydream if you will, about possibilities.

PLEASE NOTE:  I received an email from Katie Cleminson (thanks so much for replying so quickly) confirming that her illustrations are drawn with ink.  Instead of using a brush or nib, she uses a pipette.  In this particular title she added watercolor, charcoal and colored pencil to the ink drawings.  She likes to draw on cartridge paper.  Red is her favorite color; I can't resist using it in all my books, and I just love the shade of red for the cover title.  I couldn't agree more.

Otto The Book Bear by author/illustrator Katie Cleminson is enchanting; pure perfection in every respect.  Books, reading and the library being a place full of light and hope is the total package. Who could ask for anything more?

The wheels are turning as I contemplate pairing this with other titles to have another bear day in the library media center or perhaps couple it with other books that have animal explorers visiting libraries;   Bats at the Library by Brian Lies, Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk, or Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen.

A Ride To Remember

Having lived my entire life in Michigan, waiting for the snows of winter is the sweetest kind of anticipation; the thrill of shrieking and zipping down Dead Man's Hill has never been matched to this day.  Hoards of children from around the neighboring streets would gather for days filled with exhilarating activity, individual feats of daring and races to be won.  When I held Red Sled written and illustrated by Lita Judge for the first time looking at the cover, that same sense of expectancy washed over me and... a great big grin.

As the tale unfolds a small brown house, roof heavy with snow a tall solitary evergreen next to it, is the destination of a child carrying a red sled on a crispy cold day.  Evening descends lights glowing inside as the cherished icon of snowy delight rests against the house outside. Along comes a curious bear with a look of questioning possibilities on his face. 

Scrunch scrinch scrunch scrinch scrunch scrinch

appears on the page in reversed order and type size replicating the sounds made as the child returned home earlier; only this time the bear is carrying the sled as a rabbit head, ears alert, watches from the bottom of the page.  Readers next see the two cascading down a hill smiles plastered on their faces as joyous exclamations burst forth.  When they go for a second run bear on his back, rabbit riding his outstretched feet, a moose is taking it all in from the side of the page. 

Oh, you guessed it, the next illustration has the trio on a rip-roaring ride, full moon as their backdrop, moose on the bottom with bear riding on his antlers and rabbit not quite so sure about this. As they speed toward the hill's bottom a duo of raccoons peer from a hole as a hanging opossum looks at them as if to ask, "What do you think guys?  Should we join them?"  And so it goes as they, then a porcupine and mouse, are subsequently added to the mix. 

Going over a mound of snow, the group flies skyward moon glowing in the distance, only to land in a tangled happy heap.  In the morning the child wonderingly notices footprints going to and from his red sled.  As snow drifts down that night a watchful, yes, even hopeful, face gazes out.

The final single page display, the only one other than the title page, says it all...friends stacked together on the red sled rushing downward on a frosty full moon winter's night.  Ahhhh...delirious delight.

Lita Judge using watercolor and pencil illustrations emulates the chill of winter day and night, shades of blues against a stark snowy landscape moon resting in the sky.  Natural warm golden browns color her animals as animated eyes and mouths convey each and every feeling.  Judge's landscapes are spare allowing readers to focus on the frolicking, fun-filled antics of her characters.

The narrative is nearly wordless; cleverly Lita Judge accentuates the activities with one or two word phrases focusing entirely on sound.  So readers get ready for a rollicking journey on the Red Sled....Yipeee!  Simply divine from beginning to end.


Please be sure to view and browse through Lita Judge's enchanting web pages filled with additional images from her books and activities to use stretching the reading experience.

Achoo! They're Back!

I have been counting the days until this book, The Sniffles for Bear (Candlewick Press, September 13, 2011), penned by Bonny Becker and illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton arrived on my doorstep.  It is the fourth in the series of Bear and Mouse books. I have previously chatted about this series in a post highlighting the third book, A Bedtime for Bear but they (both the characters and their creators) just get better and better in the most delightful ways.

Denton masterfully mixes watercolor, ink and gouache to contrast Mouse's perky personality and Bear's big, bold gruffness that we have come to love and about which we freely break into gales of laughter.  Her single and double page illustrations coupled with vignettes are appropriately placed to draw readers right into the rooms with these utterly charming friends bringing added life to Becker's narration.

Her endpapers have been changing with each of the pictures books; bees, leaves and now the pattern on Bear's blanket.  (A Birthday for Bear is a beginning chapter book.) The first pure white page foreshadows an important event in the story picturing a small item; a tea set with cheese and cookies, a book and eyeglasses and one large steaming bowl and spoon next to a tiny steaming bowl and spoon.

Title and publication information, spread across two pages, draw the reader immediately into the setting of a pastoral landscape with Bear's narrow two story Tudor-style home.  Colors have shifted to signify the changes in time of day or weather:  soft hues of autumn on a bright, sunny day, followed by similar shades but the landscape and home are not as distinct awash in the rosiness of sunset and in this newest title we readers are given a closer perception but the sky is cold bathed in tones of blue and it appears to be windy as the trees show movement.

Bear was sick, very, very sick...
In fact, Bear was quite sure no one had ever been as sick as he....

It is the familiar sound of tap, tap, tapping on Bear's front door that opens this new tale.  His too cheerful friend, Mouse, enters, bag in hand, assuring him that he'll be fit as a fiddle quickly.  Each time he reaches into his bag to pull out an object saying,

 "I have just the thing.",

Bear get crankier and crankier.

Not a story, song or tune on a banjo can lift his spirits.  Roaring in frustration, weak as a kitten he asks Mouse to take him upstairs to bed.  It is this visual with Bear like the proverbial wet noodle slowing shuffling in his green fluffy slippers up the stairs, droopy-eyed and his one finger gently held by Mouse, carefully balancing on the stair rail and bag on the step, that gives the ultimate interpretation to Becker's text:

And, indeed, Mouse was most helpful.

With Bear nestled in bed, Mouse bustles out bringing back a bowl of his homemade nettle soup.  Bear is loathe to admit that he might be feeling better, his irritation is on the rise and he urges Mouse to write his will. Mouse does so, pulling pen and paper from his bag which seems to have a supply of just what is needed when it is needed.

Will Bear recover?  On the other hand, we know how quickly germs do spread.

Becker conveys so much with so little. Her use of language is memorable; Bear's over dramatization formally spoken and Mouse's perpetual optimism.

"Stop!" growled Bear.  "I fear you do not appreciate the gravity of my situation."
Mouse looked sad, but his tail didn't.

Bonny Becker plus Kady MacDonald Denton equals a splendid humorous telling of the ever-growing companionship of Bear and Mouse.  I've been fighting a cold for the past two weeks.  Maybe I won't have to make a will.  Laughter truly is the best medicine.

In addition to the links to their personal web sites above, Kady MacDonald Denton was interviewed at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  Maw Books Blog interviewed Bonny Becker.

Bear Bonanza

Everything had to be just so for Bear's bedtime.
His glass of water had to sit on the exact right spot on his bed stand.
His favorite pillow must be nicely fluffed.
His nightcap needed to be snug.

Most of all, it had to be quiet---very, very quiet.

A Bedtime for Bear (Candlewick Press, September 14, 2010), the third book in Bonny Becker's series of Bear and Mouse books, is simply charming.

Big, set-in-his-ways Bear is in for an unexpected surprise when happy-go-lucky Mouse appears at his door one evening.  Mouse, suitcase in hand, cheerfully reminds Bear that he is here to spend the night.  Never having an overnight guest before, Bear is apprehensive.

He repeatedly reminds Mouse of his need for absolute quiet as Mouse goes through his preparations for sleep, brushing his teeth, humming and nosily settling on his bed.  When Bear tells Mouse that his ears are very sensitive, the ensuing dialogue as Mouse tests that fact is hilarious. 

Later when Bear is frightened by noises that he can not identify and awakens Mouse, Mouse sees through his apparent calm and checks all those places where "noises" might hide.  All ends well with Bear telling a story to sooth the nerves of Mouse as both finally fall asleep.


Becker's command of word choices in the conversations between Bear and Mouse are what beg readers to read them again and again.  Their friendship which began in A Visitor for Bear, continued in A Birthday for Bear and is maintained in this new episode is just what the child in all of us needs.

Kady MacDonald Denton perfectly captures every nuance of the characters and Bear's home through her illustrations.  Her use of watercolor, ink and gouache establish a warm atmosphere inviting the reader to share this duo's newest chapter.  Seeing Bear carrying Mouse's tiny suitcase in two fingers as they go upstairs, Bears exasperated looks as Mouse gets ready for bed or Mouse wearing earmuffs when Bear's snores get too loud can not fail to bring forth a chuckle or two. 


When will the next Bear and Mouse book be ready?  What will they do this time?  This reader can hardly wait.

There are lots of extras at the publisher's website including a story hour activity kit, an author's note and a view of an interior image.