Noticing Nature

We know each season has unique characteristics.  Some of those seasons are more favorable than others to us for those very reasons.  One thing about summer, though, is the abundance of everything.  Colors are more vibrant, contrasting with other hues.  There are more animals of every shape and size, birds, insects, mammals, large and small, amphibians, and reptiles.  There are more flowers and blossoms on those flowers.  There are all kinds of seeds being formed and dropped.  And the trees are resplendent in all their leafy glory.

We cannot get so caught up in the shimmering grandeur of the varied green treetops against a clear, startling blue sky that we miss the existence of smaller, more fragile members of the natural community.  Dear Treefrog (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, May 25, 2021) written by Joyce Sidman with illustrations by Diana Sudyka explores the transformation in a girl's thinking as her attention focuses on a discovered friend.  Nature offers us lessons when we realign perspectives and time.

SUMMER

I See You

suddenly

among the tangled green

a tiny dollop of

frog

where before

there was only leaf . . .

Recently moved into a new home and neighborhood, the girl starts to watch the treefrog.  She mirrors its actions.  It stays in silence.  She does, too.  It climbs and moves with care.

The girl realizes in watching the treefrog, she is becoming more a part of the natural world instead of only an observer.  The treefrog offers security and steadfastness when the girl is feeling adrift.  She wonders about the treefrog's past and breathes a sigh of relief when it hides from rambunctious newcomers.

She worries about its safety before and after a storm.  She finds solace in other insect creatures when the treefrog cannot be found.  Autumn brings about changes for the treefrog and the child, colder weather and school.  There is one more surprise, a new friend for the girl.

The newly formed duo are kindred spirits.  They walk through the world in much the same manner.  They are more than willing to wait and watch through the seasonal shifts.  Oh, there you are . . . dearest treefrog.

In a series of poetic letters, Joyce Sidman reveals, through a first-person narrative, the contemplations and conclusions of our young protagonist.  We are privy to her thoughts about her circumstances and those of the treefrog.  Opposite each poem are one, two, three, or four sentences providing information about treefrogs in reference to something mentioned in the phrases.  Here are two passages.

Dear Treefrog

here

you are!

Against the window glass

we see more of you

     than ever

Your pale belly

and gummy toes

Your half-moon throat

that flutters

silently

Your breath

     so close

     to ours

Treefrogs often climb windows, and walls with their sticky

toe pads, looking for insects.  They hide in unexpected

places: on a hose, on top of a faucet, under a flowerpot.

You never know when you might run into a treefrog.

The images in this book, 

rendered in gouache watercolor on paper,

are resplendent when first seen on the open and matching dust jacket and book case.  The full-leafed, green shades of flora and striking bursts of yellow, orange, and pink supply a comforting environment for a lonely little girl and a treefrog friend.  The raindrops shown on both the front and the back help readers to understand the lushness of the scene spread, left to right, flap edge to flap edge.  A treefrog is nestled on a leaf on the front and the back.  A bee is ready to land on a pink flower on the back.

Illustrator Diana Sudyka in green on a white canvas has created a pleasing pattern on the opening and closing endpapers.  There are raindrops falling among flowers, leaves, ferns, stumps, branches, moss, treefrog eggs, dragonflies, tadpoles, beetles, butterflies, and mushrooms.  The raindrops are larger as we turn to the title page, now their blue adds to the brilliance of the green atmosphere around the leaf where the treefrog rests.

Another page turn brings us to the dedication and publication information pages.  Here Diana Sudyka begins her visual interpretation of the story.  The girl, holding her stuffie cat stands among the green flora and flowers.  Behind her a moving truck and mover bring things to her home on the right.  Snug on a leaf on the right is the treefrog.

All the illustrations, double-page pictures, offer us gorgeous visuals in varying perspectives of the girl and the treefrog.  Many times we move close to the treefrog in stunning scenes.   Other times we transition from one moment to another flawlessly.  Tiny labels appear in some of the pictures, denoting flowers, insects, birds, and frog information.  The wide eyes on the girl and her new human friend offer insights into their moods.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is when the girl is shown as the same size as the treefrog.  There are fewer colors in this pictures, greens, blues, black, and white.  The girl and the treefrog are black, as if in silhouette.  She is holding a spyglass as the treefrog's first mate on the sailboat (leaf).  It is an eloquent portrait.

You are transported to a special perspective in Dear Treefrog written by Joyce Sidman with illustrations by Diana Sudyka.  It informs us about the connections between humans and other creatures and treefrogs.  This book reminds us of the importance of our natural world.  A final single page, More About Treefrogs and How to Welcome Them, answers four important questions.  This title belongs on your personal and professional bookshelves.

To learn more about Joyce Sidman and Diana Sudyka and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Joyce Sidman has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.  Diana Sudyka has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  At The TeachingBooks Blog, Joyce Sidman talks about this book.

With all the blossoms blooming and warmer weather, day and night, butterflies and moths are frequent visitors to our backyards, neighborhoods, and surrounding meadows and woodlands.  Of the two, moths seem to be more patient with human observation.  In Moth & Butterfly: Ta-Da! (Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, June 8, 2021) written by Dev Petty with illustrations by Ana Aranda, readers get an up-close-and-personal view of the two.  Differences and similarities are explored with wit and truth.  We witness seemingly miraculous changes.  Are you ready?

In a corner of the lush, green garden,

two caterpillars share a leaf.

They share other things, too.  They both have multiple legs and loads of spots.  Their appetites for leaves are voracious.  They are about to experience a natural phenomenon, metamorphosis.

Both are being wrapped in a new material.  This enclosure is hiding a complete change.  Weeks pass and then . . .

POP!

The caterpillars are now a moth and a butterfly.  They still enjoy familiar activities, but one does them more often in daylight and the other does them more often at night.  Physical differences have developed.  They both have wings, less legs, and antennae, but they move specific to their needs.

The duo is destined to be companions celebrating each other.  One day, they notice another caterpillar twosome.  They greet them as only those in-the-know can do.

With carefully chose words, Dev Petty fashions a friendship story filled with facts.  Her spare text and upbeat dialogue will have readers turning the pages as fast as the caterpillars gobble up leaves.  The beginning of the story is tied to the conclusion with two key words, cementing the shared affection between moth and butterfly.  Here is a passage.

And look!  Both are champions

at chewing leaves into funny shapes.

AMAZING!

TA-DA!

OOPS!

Looking at the open dust jacket, readers know they are in for a treat.  The color choices and the layout and design focus on the differences and the similarities.  Moth stands out in the night, his hues coordinating against the evening tones and the moon.  Butterfly glows in the sunny daylight, brilliantly colored.  Even though they prefer opposite parts of a twenty-four-hour period, they are still high fiving each other and cheering.  

To the left, on the back, the night sky is on the top and the sunny day is on the bottom.  Flying beneath the moon and standing on a fern, Moth chats with Butterfly resting in the opposite corner.  Both insects and celestial bodies are smiling.

On the open book case, left to right, a loop of yellow begins in the upper, left-hand corner enlarging as it moves to the lower right side.  Beneath it, a larger canvas of dusky blue begins on the left and decreases in size as it moves to the right.  On the left side, Moth and Butterfly hover over a large pink flower sipping nectar.  On the right side, the duo is munching on a shared leaf as caterpillars.  Leaves, ferns, and flowers add to the joy of these shared moments.

On the opening endpapers, in a luminous blue and green, butterfly as a caterpillar is featured on the left.  Another flying insect passes Butterfly among numerous leaves.  On the right side, colors reversed (blue on green), Moth happily frolics among an equal number of leaves. A ladybug stops to chat.  On the closing endpapers a bright yellow highlights Butterfly in blue.  The same flying insect zooms from right to left across the gutter.  On the left, Moth in yellow enjoys the night, mingling among leaves and flowers, and an old shoe.

The artwork of Ana Aranda rendered

in watercolor, inks, gouache, and lime on watercolor paper

is in a word---joy.  Beginning on the title page, we are introduced to Moth and Butterfly as their silhouette forms fly above a planter (yellow-painted bathtub) filled with flowers and leaves.  With a page turn, we are taken outside to an expansive garden setting, the bathtub sitting among other flowers, plants, and a fountain in front of a cheerfully painted home.  As caterpillars, Moth and Butterfly, in yellow, are on large leaves.

Each double-page picture, single-page image with large white frames, and single-page pictures, edge to edge, are bursting with color and animation.  Whether we are shown a more panoramic view or a close-up, we are aware of the informative details Ana Aranda includes.  We notice the antennae.  We notice the time of day and passing of weeks. We notice the complete happiness of Moth and Butterfly within their garden home.

One of my many, many favorite pictures is a double-page picture.  The duo has completed metamorphosis.  They are flying above the garden.  They are enthusiastically remarking on their wing colors.  They and their observations are framed by the grass and flowers below them.  Several bees watch the twosome.  

This book, Moth & Butterfly: Ta-Da! written by Dev Petty with illustrations by Ana Aranda, is filled with fun and facts.  This book is about friendship, new beginnings, things which are the same and those that are not.  It asks us to notice the little things.  It asks us to look for things in common while respecting distinctness.  And it invites us to look for more information. At the close of the book a last page, Is it a moth or a butterfly?, supplies readers with more facts. For its upbeat presentation and as a springboard for further discussions, you'll want a copy in both your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Dev Petty and Ana Aranda and their other work, please access their websites by following the link attached to their names.  Dev Petty has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Ana Aranda has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. At the publisher's website you can view the title page.  This book is showcased by John Schumacher, author, lecturer, and teacher librarian, on his site, Watch. Connect. Read.  You will enjoy his chat with Dev Petty.  This book and illustrator Ana Aranda are featured at Let's Talk Picture Books by Mel Schuit.  You'll love Dev Petty's post at the Nerdy Book Club about change and this title.  Here is a link to a virtual chat about this book hosted by Parnassus Books.  

To Know Them

As an understanding of each living thing on our planet grows and is known, our perspective shifts.  We come to view these individuals as more than their name suggests.  They respond to each other and to us in distinct manners.

If the opportunity presents itself to study and interact with a specific individual, their essence is revealed.  If you have not been fortunate enough to experience this in your own life yet, the newest nonfiction picture book by masterful author and photographer April Pulley Sayre reveals this beautifully.  Being Frog (Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, February 4, 2020) is about developing a relationship on a sensory and personal level with the world around you.

A frog 
is a being.
It is watching.
It is seeing. 

Just as the frog is watching and seeing, we, too, can watch and see them.  A frog can choose to sit on the same rock or log.  They favor one place over the other, day after day.

Food is hunted for survival.  Attempts are made until there is success.  In the heat of the day, a frog seeks relief from the warmth in shade or water.  Sometimes as the frog rests, is it thinking?

Perhaps it remembers its youth.  Perhaps it remembers the journey from egg, to tadpole and baby frog. During the day it moves up a rocky slop, stops and then, suddenly jumps skyward, only to sit again.

Time for humans is measured by clocks and calendars.  What is time like for a green frog?  How does it measure the days of its life?  A frog is.


Through weeks of watching frogs at a nearby pond April Pulley Sayre pens a poetic ode to their uniqueness.  Her simple but profound sentences describe the meaningful moments of their lives.  Her language vividly mirrors their movements.  A rhythm is supplied with rhyming words, phrase length and punctuation.  She repeats words from the beginning at the end to generate a circle, a powerful, meaningful circle.  Here is a passage.

This log.
Its daily job?
Support the frog. 


From your initial look at the front, right, of the open and matching dust jacket and book case, you find yourself fascinated by the sheer elegance of the colors and shapes on this frog.  There is a majesty in this captured minute.  The title text is raised.  To the left on the back are three rows of four photographs with narrow white lines in a grid defining them.  Frogs are shown in various positions and places on their pond.  Lovely presentation of flora is there also.

Additional pictures are shown on the end flaps as well.  The opening and closing endpapers are a shade of yellow as seen on the frog.  On the title page a front view of a frog's face peers through a spectrum of color.

The photographs throughout the book, taken by April Pulley Sayre, range in size from a single page picture crossing the gutter to create a large column for text, nearly full-page illustrations, several panels on a single page, and full-page images.  Their size and the white space for text shape the pacing and emotional effect.  The point of view in these photographs is outstanding.

One of my many, many favorite photographs is the first one.  It spans a single page on the right and crosses the gutter a bit to the left.  It is a close-up of a frog's face with the area surrounding it blurred.  Although the frog is still, you believe it could leap into action at any second.  It's a breathtaking portrait.


Readers of all ages will find the words and photographs in Being Frog written and illustrated by April Pulley Sayre either shifting or enhancing their belief in every living being having individual worth.  At the close of the book an Author's Note offers insights into the process, the difference between anecdotal evidence and scientific data, and April Pulley Sayre's observations and thoughts about those observations.  Resources for Further Exploration are offered.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about April Pulley Sayre, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  April Pulley Sayre has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.


Please take a few moments to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to enjoy the other titles selected this week by participants in the 2020 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Abundantly Astonishing

With the advent of lots of rain and the warm temperatures, summer is in full bloom in northern Michigan.  There is an abundance of critters of all shapes and sizes and flowers, shrubs and trees in the wild.  Gardeners are giddy with their flourishing vegetables, annuals and perennials.  The air is literally humming with the sounds of life, buzzing honeybees, chirping crickets, melodious birdsong and the unmistakable huffs of startled rabbits and deer.

The more we know about those creatures sharing this planet with us, the better we can protect and respect them.  Author illustrator Owen Davey released two new titles in his popular series about animals, Bonkers About Beetles (Flying Eye Books, May 1, 2018 UK and Nobrow, June 5, 2018 US) (National Science Teachers Association, 2019 Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12) and Fanatical About Frogs (Flying Eye Books, March 1, 2019 UK and Nobrow, June 18, 2019 US).  Both books are entertaining and informative with stunning images.

WHAT ARE BEETLES?
Beetles are a group of insects.  They have six
legs, three body segments and two feelers sticking
out of their heads.  Beetles are different from
most other insects in that their forewings form
a hard or leathery protective case over their backs.

With the exception of Antarctica, beetles reside on every continent, living on land and in the water.  Of these beetles some are predators, others are herbivores, and some enjoy both animals and plants.  There is another category of beetles known to feast on animals and plants that are dead.

Did you know beetles don't have lungs?  They breathe through spiracles.  Most beetles have a pronotum, antennae, elytra, horns, legs, eyes, rostrum, flight wings, mandibles and a mouth.  The elytra are a sturdier wing giving protection to the flight wings.  (The three body segments are labeled with these ten parts noted in those three sections by a number.)

The changes from egg to adult in a beetle can take as long as fifty years.  Where do you think the dung beetle lays a single egg?  Fireflies are featured for their use of light.  Depending on the specie they have a variety of flash and flight patterns.  This light attracts and acts as a warning.

There are beetles who point their heads to the ground with their bottoms up so water runs into their mouths before the heat of the desert glows hot and dry.  Beetles mimic color of other animals to protect themselves and to infiltrate other insects' colonies to feed on them.  They blend in their surroundings for survival, pretend to be dead, make loud noises, sting, stink and carry weaponry on their bodies.

In a feature on seven-spot ladybugs we discover they are loved in part for their appetite of aphids.  Their black and red coloring shouts to predators, I am toxic. Of the more than

6,000 described species of ladybugs around the world

one has the letter M on its pronotum.

The male Harlequin beetle has legs longer than its body giving him warrior status when necessary.  There is a beetle as big as an adult hand and one smaller than the punctuation period.  To help the hundreds of beetle species under threat you might consider building a bug hotel.  (A colorful and captioned diagram acts as a guide.)


WHAT ARE FROGS?
Frogs are amphibians, which are animals that usually switch between living in water and living on land during different stages of their life cycle.  Frogs have short bodies, no tails and their back legs are typically longer than their front legs, usually with some webbing between their toes.

Did you know that all toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads?  Just like beetles, frogs inhabit each continent with the exception of Antarctica.  Frogs have tympanum (a covering over their eardrum), nictitating membrane (a protective inner eyelid), eyes, warts (some), feet, adhesive pads (some), legs and tubercle (some).

There is a frog with no lungs, breathing through its skin.  There is a frog after shedding its skin, consumes it.  There is a frog capable of creating a type of sunscreen and applying it everywhere.

Frogs' tongues are amazing!  They roll toward the back of their throat until they're needed.  The spit on their tongues changes textures before and during use to ensnare their food.  Like other animals the coloring of frogs can save their lives and hide them or shout about their poisonous nature.  If their hues are a warning, they are called aposematic.

Starry night reed frogs change their entire color.  They are white during the day and black during the night hours.  To beat the heat the Main's frog fashions

a waterproof cocoon around their bodies

and stays underground.

The sounds of frogs are as varied as the species.  Some are beyond the ability of humans to hear them.  An American bull frog can sound like a cow or scream like a human.  You won't believe why frogs are commonly said to make the ribbit sound.  Most frogs begin as eggs, then tadpoles, froglets and then are adults.  Where the eggs are placed depends on the frogs.  Some of these spots are impressive.

A featured frog is the bright red-eyed treefrog who enjoys the nighttime best.  To stay safe during the day, they shape themselves to hide all their vivid shades.

Male red-eyed treefrogs shake their butts to win an argument.  (Who knew?)

Going from smooth to spiky is a trait of the Mutable Rainfrog.  Can you imagine walking along in central Africa and coming across a foot-long Goliath Frog?  One of the smallest frogs was only discovered nineteen years ago.  (It's about as big as my pinkie fingernail.)  There are frogs that cover thirteen feet in one jump.  Frogs like beetles need our help.  We need to observe them, but let them leave (and live) without our interference.


In both books Owen Davey begins with a table of contents highlighting an up-close-and-personal visual of a subject in his title.  He invites readers by defining what their physical characteristics are and showcasing their favorite foods; some of which are surprising.  Two pages are dedicated to detailed portraits carefully labeled.  Sections are included focusing on birth to adulthood.  Certain species are given features.  Each book includes chapters titled:

Weird and Wonderful
Little and Large
To Scale
And the Award Goes to . . .
__________Mythology
Conservation and an
Index.

Owen Davey writes to engage people's curiosity.  He piques our interest with unique facts and maintains this relationship with readers throughout the books using conversational and clever word choice as he informs us in his phrases, sentences and paragraphs.  You will also find humor.  Here are two passages, one from each book.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO . . .
The award for the strongest beetle
goes to the horned dung beetle.
This brawny beetle can pull 1,141
times its own body weight.  For a 
human, that would mean the ability
to drag an entire airplane filled 
with vacationers and their
luggage.  These beetles use their
immense strength to drive rivals
away from females.

The award for the loudest frog goes to the
Puerto Rican common coqui frog.  Males
call through the night with a noise as loud
as a lawn mower.  Their call has two distinct
tones that give the frog its name---"co" and
"kee."  The first tone drives away rival males
and the second tone is for enticing females.


One of the first things readers notice about the book cases of these books is their distinctive color palettes, the design and layout of the elements on the front, the texture of cloth (paper) on the book cases and the embossed titles.  The back of the books serves as end flaps on a dust jacket.  They challenge readers to continue with intriguing facts.  Smaller images but still graphically enchanting are centered between the text.

The matching opening and closing endpapers showcase a variety of shapes and sizes of each species.  Each page turn reveals a striking array of illustrations.  Owen Davey varies his sizes and the elements in each picture.  Some span two pages in a horizontal column.  Others move from left to right over the gutter to create a vertical column for a group of smaller visuals. Double-page pictures offer dramatic depictions.

His artwork shows every exquisite detail.  In a separate circle we might move in very close to see how the two sets of jaws on a beetle work. We are enchanted with the four flash and flight patterns of fireflies moving over a darkened landscape in purple hues and black.  We seek the rave beetle carefully hidden among the ants.  We marvel at the eye of the red-eyed treefrog and its nictitating membrane.  The two rows of poison dart frogs are deadly but beautiful.  It's hard not to gasp at the life-size picture of the Goliath frog.

Two of my favorite illustrations, one in each book, have to do with camouflage.  On a full-page picture we are asked to locate the longhorn beetle on a tree.  Shades of brown, green and black create a breathtaking view of the wonders of nature.  Four frogs in four horizontal panels depict how they can blend with a leaf, moss or mimic bird poop.


As he did in his first titles, Mad About Monkeys, Smart About Sharks and Crazy About Cats, Owen Davey has written and illustrated two stellar titles, Bonkers About Beetles and Fanatical About Frogs.  These books (this series) is the finest in nonfiction reaching readers in a range of ages.  I highly recommend both for your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Owen Davey and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  At his website you can view multiple images from each book by selecting the appropriate illustration.  Owen Davey maintains accounts on Instagram and Twitter. For Bonkers About Beetles you can view images at Penguin Random House and Nobrow.  For Fanatical About Frogs you can view images at Penguin Random House and Nobrow.  You can read a little bit about Owen Davey's process at Flying Eye Books.  He is interviewed at Digital Arts.  Enjoy the videos.

Bonkers About Beetles - Owen Davey from Modik on Vimeo.


Fanatical About Frogs teaser - Flying Eye Books from Persistent Peril on Vimeo.


Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the other titles selected this week by participants in the 2019 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Ribbit Rhapsody

One of the sweetest, neatest sounds and a sure sign winter is leaving, is stepping out for a final walk before bed to hear a chorus of spring peepers; the silence of the night filled with their distinctive notes. Many a summer my gardens have been home for toads large and small, gobbling up insects.  Last year a tree toad set up residence on the box for my decorative lights right outside my front door.  Napping during the day would give him the energy to climb my siding in the evening using his gripper toes.

Dinosaurs may have vanished but frogs remained adapting to the conditions found in various parts of the world they call home.  In Frog Song (Henry Holt and Company, February, 2013), written by Brenda Z. Guiberson with illustrations by Gennady Spirin, readers visit six of the seven continents as introductions to eleven distinctive frogs (and toads) are made.  While differences and similarities are a focus all are tied together by a common thread.

A frog song 

is a celebration

of clean water, plants,

and insects to eat.

As long as the music of frogs is being made all is well in their respective habitats.  Like the instruments in an orchestra each contributes a specific sound to the overall symphonic world score.  Rain forest tree tops, spider holes, muddy swamps, beech forests, dried pond beds, deserts and waterfalls will resonate with their cheerful chatter.

From the strawberry poison dart frog in Costa Rica who carries each of her five tadpoles to a separate pool of water high in the trees to the Great Plains narrow-mouth toad found in Oklahoma who lives in a tarantula hole freeing it of insects to the Surinam toad living in Ecuador who carries one hundred eggs under her skin until they hatch or to Ethiopia where we find the shovel-nosed frog who digs a place for her eggs until the floods come, we are informed of parenthood rituals.  For some it's the male who provides the protection and care; in Spain the male midwife toad carries the eggs in a string on his back until the tadpoles start to squiggle or in Chile the Darwin's frog places about thirty tadpoles inside his vocal sacs for seven weeks until they hop from his open mouth. Whether it's a psst-psst, buzzbuzzbuzz, click-clack, bonk...bonk...bonk or tinktinktinktink, each tune signifies a particular presence to a careful listener. 

For each of the eleven frogs Brenda Z. Guiberson has penned a paragraph embedded with facts.  Use of alliteration, onomatopoeia and descriptive verbs serve to deliver the well-researched details of their songs and young; trills, belt out, rattles or bellows.  Readers are immediately taken to a geographic setting as Guiberson begins each section with In...

Upon opening the jacket the strawberry poison dart frog on the front is extended to the back to complete a stunning portrayal.  The cover, front and back, is a completely different, equally impressive illustration featuring an enormous bellied frog with others among lilies, pads and reeds.  Identical opening and closing endpapers are a gorgeous display of flora fit for the frog inhabitants.

Using tempra, watercolor, and pencil on arches watercolor paper Gennady Spirin works his magic creating masterful, intricate two-page spreads for each frog; the narrative carefully inserted into the design.  Lush, realistic settings including appropriate flora and fauna surround the close-up of the showcased amphibians.  The title page, verso, dedication, Frogs in Trouble (author's note), Bibliography and Frog Facts Online are framed with delicate plants and the same frogs seen in the endpapers.


Reading Frog Song written by Brenda Z. Guiberson with illustrations by Gennady Spirin aloud is as much a joy for one's ears as seeing the pictures is a delight for one's eyes; combining the two sends this piece of nonfiction soaring to greatness.  For more information about the author and illustrator follow the links embedded in their names leading to their official websites.  This link is to the publisher website highlighting eight pictures from the title.  Be sure to watch them full screen.  For a four page teacher's guide follow this link.

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.

Ribbiting Reads

At one of the local independent bookstores in my area, McLean & Eakin Booksellers of Petoskey, there are special shelves for the pop-up, movable parts, books.  Although they don't survive many circulations in a library media center, I do add titles to my personal collection at home whenever I can; bringing them to school to incorporate them into a unit or storytime because they are fascinating to all.  It was with delight when several weeks ago I spotted one written by Mo Willems.

It's no news to people who follow this blog but I am a huge Mo Willems fan. I have written reviews here about City Dog, Country Frog, We are In A Book!, Knuffle Bunny Free: an unexpected diversion, and Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator.  How I missed Big Frog Can't Fit In: a pop-out book by Mo Willems (Hyperion Books For Children, 2009) is a mystery to me.

When the cover is opened this huge frog springs out extending beyond the pages, arms and legs outstretched. A single tab pulls to move her eyelids and tongue.

POOR BIG FROG.
SHE CAN'T FIT IN THIS BOOK.

She dreams of being littler with shorter legs or more nimble, double-jointed?  She finally plops down arms crossed, long legs, bent and stretched, as tears slide down her froggy cheeks.    But frog has friends (you know who) and they have a plan.

In all shapes and sizes, with looks and gestures as singular as each of them, sixteen green pals of the pond (plus one) pop up.  Ladders, brooms and one big idea are just what their over-sized friend needs. One size does not fit all. 

With the assistance of paper engineer, Bruce Foster, Mo Willems has written and illustrated a very durable book able to handle multiple readings by the littlest of hands.  A little over nine by nine inches square in bright colors of orange, light blues, red, purple and taupe, yellow and lots of green, readers feel a kinship with the frog and her larger-than-life proportions.  Facial expressions and movements of the adaptable amphibians are very "hoppy" with a high fun factor.

Big Frog Can't Fit In: a pop out book by Mo Willems presents an approach to being different, how friends who accept a difference will make changes so you don't feel so bad, with delightful reveals.  This book also prompted me to think about how else it could be used with children other than for pure enjoyment.  I thought about other similar books about being bigger, frog books and books about making pop-up books.

So I gathered books from my own personal shelves and walked out of my public library with a stack last Saturday.  I put everything together in a Prezi.  Enjoy.

Big Frog Can't Fit In on Prezi