FAVORITE CHRISTMAS PICTURE BOOKS

Doesn't it seem like every popular singer out there has created a 'Christmas' album? No matter what the genre of music, they all have their version of holiday songs. Well, I see the same thing with popular picture book authors too - especially those who have created a series of books featuring a particular character. I guess it's hard to resist the warm, fuzzy feelings that the combination of children and Christmas elicit. So here are a few of our favorites in that category:

Little Rabbit's Christmas
by Harry Horse

The Wild Christmas Reindeer
by Jan Brett

Deck the Hall
by Sylvia Long

Christmas in the Big Woods
Adapted from the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Illustrated by Renee Graef

Angelina's Christmas
byKatharine Holabird and Helen Craig

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
by Dr. Seuss

What are your favorite Christmas picture books?

TWO BOY BOOKS

While I hesitate to use the label 'boy books', it sure seems like the boys who visit our house love a certain type of book and want to hear them read again immediately (they certainly never want to hear me read one of the Angelina Ballerina books more than once). Books about construction equipment and books with action - things falling, bouncing around, and loud, funny noises seem to appeal to Macy's little boy friends. The following two books are both illustrated by Marc Rosenthal with a retro, 1930's style, similar to that of R. Crumb. Another of our favorites illustrated by Rosenthal and written by Mem Fox is 'Straight Line Wonder', a book about having the courage to be different.

DIG! Written by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha Illustrated by Marc Rosenthal 2004, 32 pages We follow Mr. Rally with his big yellow backhoe, and his dog Lightning, through a day filled with five big digging projects. The book includes a simple counting lesson woven seamlessly into the story - Mr. Rally has completed two projects, how many are left? The words have a nice rythm and repitition, and, as is typical with a book illustrated by Rosenthal, there is a secondary story line about the dog, Lightning, finding a bone at each site, which he buries at the end of the book.

PHOOEY! By Marc Rosenthal 2007, 40 pages The bored boy in this book spends most of the story complaining that "Nothing ever happens around here!" Then he kicks a can which starts a series of exciting events, which he fails to notice as he continues to mope around the town. All the while, there is so much happening right behind him throughout the whole book, that you have to read it a few times to see every interesting and exciting thing that he is missing. Most of the text consists of words describing the sounds made by all the action in the background - "ZOOP", "BONK", "FLUMP", "YOWL", "SKREEE", "AROOO", "PLOP", and many more... There are many subplots going on in the pictures, including one involving a pirate! Finally, at the end of the book, something quite exciting and unexpected happens to the boy, the result of kicking the can at the beginning of the story. Now he says, "This place is great!"

TOOT AND PUDDLE: PUDDLE'S ABC

By Holly Hobbie
2000
48 Pages

Toot and Puddle are two sweet pigs who are best friends. One day Puddle decides to teach Otto (his turtle friend) how to write his name. Puddle begins by teaching Otto the alphabet, "The alphabet is all the letters we need in order to write all the words we know." So Puddle paints a picture to illustrate each letter, but nothing so simple as 'B is for ball'. In Puddle's picture's 'B is for ballerina blowing bubbles', and 'C is for crocodile crunching carrots', and 'Z is for zooming zucchini'! After Otto has learned to read the alphabet, Toot and Puddle teach him how to write the letters. He practices writing his name, and realizes Otto is Toot spelled inside out! Otto is very pleased with himself for learning how to write his name, and Toot and Puddle are very pleased with themselves for teaching their friend the alphabet. Kids and parents both will love Holly Hobbie's bright and humorous illustrations.

HOW TO MAKE AN APPLE PIE AND SEE THE WORLD

By Marjorie Priceman
1994
40 Pages

A little girl's simple plan of going to the market to buy ingredients for an apple pie, is transformed into a trip around the world when she discovers the market is closed. She decides to go to Italy for the wheat, France for a chicken (egg), Sri Lanka for cinnamon, England for a cow (milk and butter), Jamaica for salt and sugar, and Vermont for the apples. Lovely watercolor illustrations depict lessons in geography, transportation, culture, and the understanding of where food really comes from (not the market!). The book includes maps tracing the little girl's journey, recipes for apple pie crust and filling, and an idea for an apple tasting party.

A BABY SISTER FOR FRANCES

By Russell Hoban
Pictures by Lillian Hoban
1964
32 Pages

Little Frances has a new baby sister, Gloria, who, in Frances' eyes, is causing Mom and Dad to fall down on the job of taking care of Frances' every need, as new siblings tend to do.

"Is my blue dress ready for me to wear?"

"Oh, dear," said Mother, "I was so busy with Gloria that I did not have time to iron it..."

"Why did you put sliced bananas on the oatmeal? Did you forget that I like raisins?"

"No, I did not forget," said Mother, "but you finished up the raisins yesterday and I have not been out shopping yet."

"Well, things are not very good around here anymore. No clothes to wear. No raisins for the oatmeal. I think maybe I'll run away. What time will dinner be tonight?"

"Half past six," said Mother.

"Then I will have plenty of time to run away after dinner," said Frances.

And so, after dinner, she runs away under the dining room table, just far enough so that she can hear her Mother and Father talking about how lonesome and empty the house is without her, how they miss her songs. They talk about how babies are nice, but a baby is not a family, a family is everybody all together. Needless to say, Frances eventually returns home, and is assured that while there may not always be enough raisins for her oatmeal, there will always be plenty of chocolate cake.

There are other books about Frances and her family that we like very much, "A Bargain For Frances" and "Best Friends For Frances", wherein she negotiates the complications of friendship. In "A Birthday For Frances", she lets go just a tiny bit of the notion that the world must revolve around her and is very pleased with herself for doing so (the story is actually about sister Gloria's birthday). Although written in the early sixties, these are all great books that really capture the dialog and oh-so-logical thinking of the preschool age group, that is, apparently timeless.

GOOD BOOKS, GOOD CAUSE

While shopping at Kohl's recently, I came upon a display of three of the "How Do Dinosaurs..." books by well-known children's author Jane Yolen, and Mark Teague, the illustrator. These are large (9 x 12) hardcover books selling for only $5.00! Kohl's is donating 100% of the net profits from sales of these books to support health and educational opportunities for children in communities nationwide. The three titles being offered are: "How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?", "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?", and "How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?". They also had a rack of dinosaur stuffed animals for $5.00 each. These would make great birthday presents, either the book alone, or with the stuffed animal. Each book follows a similar storyline showing the giant dinosaurs, with their small, human parents standing by, behaving the way one would expect a dinosaur to behave - throwing food, roaring for more books before bedtime, and generally being loud, rude and selfish. The second part of each book shows the same, giant dinosaurs behaving quite nicely, proving even dinosaurs can learn to be polite and respectful. These books would definitely be popular with any dinosaur-lovers out there!