Georgette Noullet’s first published book is a hoot! Bailey is a little beagle who is looking for a place to sleep. But he keeps getting pushed out of one bed and then another. This is a nearly wordless book with cartoon style illustrations.
David Slonim’s acrylic and charcoal pictures capture the feel of night as Bailey wanders looking for a bed. No words are needed to understand Bailey’s feelings as he tries each possible sleeping spot. The expressions on his doggie face are priceless.
This is an excellent choice for narrative practice for preschoolers. Encourage the children to “read” the story using the pictures. The repetitive phrasing will have the group joining in to chant “Move over, bed hog dog.”
Ms Noullet was inspired by her own dog, also a Bailey, who rules her home. David Slonim has illustrated many other children’s books including the delightful He Came with the Couch.
Check the WRL catalog for Bed Hog.
I love books that feature songs. There is something very satisfying about singing a book as you enjoy the illustrations. Many times the pictures suggest new meanings to me. Other times I find my own feelings expressed in color and shape.
This Little Chick proves that a book can be just right for a young audience, but can also be beautiful. John Lawrence has taken a traditional rhyme and adapted it for this large format picture book. Mr. Lawrence, who is a skilled wood engraver, has chosen to use vinyl engravings, watercolor washes, and printed wood textures to make the large, bold engravings that illustrate the story.
This beautifully illustrated reworking of Mary Howitt’s poem The Spider and Fly is a must read from classic children’s literature. Originally published in 1829, the poem tells the story of a fly who meets a spider. and through flattery convinces The fly accepts the spider’s flattery and that leads to her demise. The poem was written for the author’s children to teach them about people who use sweet words but have not so sweet intentions. The illustrations are expertly done in black and white to give the book a 1920s horror movie look. This book was a 2003 Caldecott Honor Book and it definitely deserved this honor. Although the story is a little dark, children will enjoy the illustrations and the moral of the story. It would be a good book for ages 4 and up although a younger child might love the illustrations.
Squids Will Be Squids is a collection of clever “fables” written in the style of Aesop. The fables are designed to teach kids valuable life lessons in a funny and sarcastic way. Some examples of fables are “Duckbilled Platypus vs. BeefSnakStik” and “Frog’s New Shoes.” The absurd tales hit home with pithy morals such as “Don’t ever listen to a talking bug” and “He who smelt it, dealt it.” The bevy of interesting characters includes a cabbage, skunk, rock, paper, scissors, horseshoe crab, and an echidna. The illustrations, at times, can be very abstract and hard to understand. For the most part, they extremely well done and are quite funny in their own right. Although the book is quite clever and funny, it definitely appeals to a more mature audience. The jokes are subtle and sarcasm is used extensively making this book more suitable for the age range of 8-12.
This Victorian classic has been entertaining and giving cautionary advice to kids for over a hundred years. The classic poem has been masterfully illustrated by Mini Grey with colorful pop-ups and pull outs. The book tells the story of an unfortunate boy named Jim’s trip to the zoo. The naughty boy is shown to be spoiled with lots of candy, toys, and trips to the zoo. The boy runs away from his babysitter when she is not paying attention even after his mom told him to always hold hands with his babysitter. Running around the zoo he runs into a lion who promptly eats him from feet to head, the story ends with the witty pith, “And always keep a-hold of nurse For fear of finding something Worse.” The book is definitely not for everyone with its morbid dark humor and some illustrations of a child being eaten, but for kids from the ages of 8 and up and parents wanting to teach their kids a lesson this book is definitely a must.
The book revolves around the town of Chewandswallow where instead of weather every day food rains down at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Restaurants have no roofs so food can just fall right on to your plate, and rain gear is used for soup and juice. After awhile though the food starts to get more unpredictable and bigger; pancakes the size of houses start to fall, fifteen inches of cream cheese and jelly sandwich fall the next day followed by a tomato tornado. Eventually the weather becomes so bad that the inhabitants of Chewandswallow are forced to evacuate. This book appeals to all children because of the creativity the author uses. The beautiful illustrations make the story almost believable with striking panoramas of setting Jell-O in the west and clouds of hamburgers across the sky. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is a classic book for any child of any age. It has been made into a movie although the movie and book share almost nothing in common, but name.
This delightful tale tells the story of a boy and his eventful encounter with a skeleton one night. A boy wakes up in the middle of the night to a loud banging sound, and when he goes to investigate, he finds a skeleton. The boy runs upstairs frightened; he is followed by the skeleton. Many terrifying thoughts run through the boy’s heads as to the skeleton’s intentions, but all the skeleton wants is to borrow some clothes to cover his bones. The simple illustrations give a charming and cartoony quality to the book that will appeal to a younger audience. The author’s simple writing, yet vivid imagery will tickle any child from the ages of 4-8. Overall I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to laugh.
The tale of the clever monkey and the dull-witted Crocodile is from Buddhist folklore. The story is part of an ancient collection of folklores, fables, and legends called the Jataka tales which originated from India. In the story Crocodile wants to feast on Monkey’s heart and the monkey must outsmart him if he is to enjoy the mangos on the other side of the river. At first the Crocodile tries to lure the monkey onto his back by offering him a ride, but right before he is about to snatch the monkey in his mouth. The monkey convinces the crocodile that his heart is in the tree and he must retrieve it if the crocodile wants to eat it. The crocodile then tries to pose as a rock and tells the monkey he can use him to cross the river. The monkey is not fooled and escapes again from the crocodile. The story ends with the crocodile scheming more ways to eat the monkey. The story is great for kids of all ages because the writing is simple. The illustrations are beautiful; the author used paper giving them a lifelike look. The moral that brute force can never win against a good heart is valuable.
“June 15: My school picture came out terrible. Mom says next time I better have all my eyes looking in the same direction.” 
