Picture Book Month 2012

If it’s November 1, it must be…drum roll, please…PICTURE BOOK MONTH!  The brain child of author and storyteller Diane de Las Casas, this month-long commemoration celebrates this vital literary form.  Check out www.picturebookmonth.com for eye-opening articles, ideas, activities, and more.

While you’re checking things out, take a look at these not-to-be missed picture books!

Don’t let the simple cover of this book fool you.  Inside is a feast for a young child’s imagination.  When the reader follows instructions, remarkable things happen to the dots on the page: they change size, place, and grow in number.  Magic?  Maybe.  Herve Tullet proves that kids don’t need electronic gadgets to have a marvelous interactive experience.

Mouse is mad–hopping mad!  But when Hare shows him the right way to hop, he ends up in a mud puddle–and madder than ever!  Now Mouse is stomping mad; that is, until Bear demonstrates proper stomping, which leaves poor Mouse even muddier and madder.  Watch how Mouse discovers a new way to show his anger, and to control it.

This hot-off-the-press gem is sure to be popular with its intended audience.  Little readers will enjoy pointing out colors and objects in each vibrantly-colored illustration.  Delightful rhymes make this a book that will be read again and again.

More picture books will be featured in future posts.  In the meantime, visit www.http://BookAndAGarden.com for more great reading suggestions for kids of all ages.

Reading and a love of books are things that should be instilled in children before they can decipher the words for themselves.  Once obtained, this gift guarantees success in every field of endeavor throughout a person’s academic career and beyond.

Picture Books Forever

Picture Book Month is over.  And what a phenomenal month it was.  Kids from preschoolers to the chapter-book crowd discovered (or rediscovered) the delights of this literary form.  Classes visiting were introduced to some of my favorites, and then the tables were turned: students were asked to vote for the picture book they like best.  From stories with beautiful messages like The Library Lion by Michelle Knudson, to the entertaining Seven Hungry Babies by Candace Fleming (a book that begs for audience participation), to Jeanette Winter’s inspiring Biblioburro: a True Story from Colombia, to the magnificently illustrated The King’s Equal by Katherine Paterson (not technically a picture book, but the art work is phenomenal), children of all ages–including the grown-up variety–were wowed as they traveled through the picture-book universe.  It is my hope and belief that each of us came through the journey richer and more appreciative of this type of literature, one that will never go out of style.  For there is nothing like cuddling up with a little person and sharing Pobble’s Way by Simon Van Booy, or watching a young reader enjoy the critter’s antics in Jackie French’s Diary of a Wombat.

“You may have tangible wealth untold.

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be –

I had a mother who read to me.”

— Strickland Gillilan

Calling All Young Readers

Right in the middle of Picture Book Month comes National Young Readers Week, observed from November 7-11 this year.  Even though, in my humble opinion, any occasion is the right one for encouraging kids to pick up a book,  when a day, week, or month is set aside to promote reading, so much the better!  Your friendly neighborhood librarian has been wearing signs alerting one and all to the double observances and wondering if anyone was paying attention to them.  I received my answer this week when a student, thinking of all the student government election flyers posted around the school, asked me who I was voting for!  I naturally answered that I am in favor of books.  And, since we are as young as we feel, National Young Readers Week is for the book aficionado in all of us.  Once the calendar says that November 11 has passed, not to worry–there’s always something out there just waiting to be read.

If you are–or know–a middle schooler who’s looking for an unforgettable novel, check out Schooled by Gordon Korman.  It’s the story of Capricorn Anderson, a thirteen-year-old who has always lived with–and been homeschooled by–his grandmother, Rain, on their commune.  But when Rain is injured and temporarily cannot care for him, Cap finds himself attending school for the first time.  Feeling like he has been dropped onto another planet (and looked at like an alien from outer space by his new classmates), the teen struggles to make sense of–and fit into–this strange new world.  This funny, touching, great story is one you’ll remember.

Getting to Know Ruben Plotnick by Roz Rosenbluth

Ruben Plotnick is fun-loving and popular, so David is thrilled when he wants to come to his house to do homework together.  But he’s also worried: what will Ruben do when he meets David’s grandmother, who is forgetful and sometimes says and does embarrassing things?  Will he mimic and make fun of her in school tomorrow?  What really happens when Ruben visits makes this a delightful and meaningful story about senility, understanding, and not jumping to conclusions.

I think I hear some unfinished books calling me…

Snow?!?!!

It really happened.  The meteorologists forecast it, and we got it.  Snow in October.  It’s the first time, they say, that the white stuff stuck on the ground in the Big Apple in October since they started keeping records back in 1870.

I’m not really surprised.  This has been quite a year for weather events, especially if you include the late-December blizzard of 2010.  Then came the back-to-back snowstorms in January that resulted in an extended stay in Atlanta visiting our grandchildren–flying there the night before and returning home a day later.  (We did not complain about spending extra time with the family!)

Once spring finally came, it was beautiful and even more welcome than usual.  (Of course, with our daughter being engaged and getting married, even if it had stormed into summer, the sun would have been shining.)  Feeling the warmth and then the incredible heat of summer, we began to forget about the power of storms.

But then came Irene.  This monster hurricane was not content to wreak havoc on coastal areas in the tropics and southern climates.  Communities as far north and as far inland as Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains in New York felt the tempest’s fury.  After the water receded, people throughout the eastern United States began to hope for a respite.  Which many of us had, until today.

I usually find the first snowfall beautiful, a bit of softness taking the edge off the starkness of the bare trees.  However, most trees are in full leaf, and many leaves have not yet begun changing color.  It seems incongruous.

But then again, maybe it’s not.  We have been the recipients of many a spring snowfall, dusting flower-laden trees with a layer of the white stuff–and it was lovely.  This even more unusual event also has its own beauty, a beauty which lies in its rarity.  The weather will warm up again before winter really comes for its annual sojourn.  So for the few brief hours that the world is coated in white, let’s pause and enjoy something that the area has not seen in at least 140 years.

Be sure to visit http://BookAndAGarden.com throughout November.  In honor of Picture Book Month, reviews of outstanding picture books will be featured.

Picture Book Month

November has many days to commemorate, and now has one more.  It all began when librarian Dianne de Las Casas read a New York Times article entitled “Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children,” and was so incensed–as were many others–that she decided to combat such erroneous thinking.

Her efforts have borne fruit in the creation of Picture Book Month.  With the assistance of fellow bibliophiles, Dianne has set up a website devoted to this special literary form and including articles by “Picture Book Champions.”  Check it out at  http://picturebookmonth.com/.

Anyone who has ever read to a child knows the timeless value of picture books.  When our children were small, evening story time was a special occasion.  The little ones enthusiastically prepared for bed so they would not be late for the 7:30 start.  A favorite book (the children’s or mine?) included an exclamation by a mommy to her helpful children, “I really love you!”  Reading this line always prompted a hug to the kids sitting around me.

As the children grew up and married, there were no longer story times in our house–until the grandkids began arriving.  I have been elated to discover that this new generation is also fond of anything in print.  Whether in their home or ours, the grandchildren are often seen with a book open in front of them.    When a two-and-a-half-year-old wants to hear Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney, and says “cry” when the main character sheds tears because his mommy has left, you know the book has made an impression. Picture books have made all of our childhoods richer. Especially in this fast-paced world, children–and the child in all of us–need to be able to delve into the timeless treasures that picture books are.