The Mountain that Loved a Bird, by Alice McLerran

Published January 24, 2014 by Dagmar

I was drawn to this book because of Eric Carle’s illustrations. As I read The Mountain that Loved a Bird, I really fell in love with it, as did my students. It’s a book filled with longing, friendship and dedication.

Joy is a bird that lands on the side of a mountain. The mountain is lonely. When it hears Joy’s beautiful singing it asks her to stay. Joy says that she can not stay, because there is no food or water for her on the mountain. She says that she’ll return every year to visit and sing to the mountain. She also says that she’ll name her daughter Joy and her daughter will name her daughter Joy so that every year bird named Joy will visit the mountain to sing to it. Each year, Joy returns and each year, the mountain begs Joy to leave and is sad when it’s time for Joy to leave. One year, the mountain is so sad that it cries, and a stream of tears starts running down the mountain. The next year, Joy brings a seed with her and drops it near the stream. Over the course of years, the seed grows roots and draws water from the cracks deep within the mountain. Soon, more plants grow, and the mountain’s tears of sadness grow into tears of happiness at everything growing around the mountain. The book closes with Joy bringing a twig to begin her nest on the mountain. She tells the mountain, finally, that she is there to stay.

This is such a beautiful book. I hope you enjoy it.

Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins

Published January 20, 2014 by Dagmar

I do so love an oldie but goodie. Rosie’s Walk was published in 1968. Rosie, a hen, is going for a walk. Little does she realize that there is a hungry fox following her everywhere. As Rosie walks, fox steps on a rake, falls into a pond, falls into a haystack, has a bag of flour emptied on him and then falls into a wheelbarrow which rolls into bee hives. Rosie completely misses all of the action behind her. She finally ends up at her chicken coop, just in time for dinner. Every time I turned the pages, my students would shriek with laughter when they saw what happened to the poor fox. They were very cute.

I read this to my TK (Transkinder) class, with students who just missed the cutoff for kindergarten. They absolutely loved this book. I then tried it with my preschoolers and found that they had a harder time following this book. I’d recommend it for TK through 1st grade audiences.

So if you’re looking for a quick, funny read for your young students, here it is.

My Brother Martin, by Christine King Farris

Published January 17, 2014 by Dagmar

I have some favorite books to read when celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and his tremendous life. One, is Martin’s Big Words, by Doreen Rappaport. Like me, most teachers love Martin’s Big Words as well. So finding something different but accessible to young audiences is a always a challenge for me in the library.

Here is a book that I discovered this year that I love for younger audiences. Published in 2006, it provides a different perspective on this great man’s life that students haven’t heard before. When I introduce this book to my students, I remind them that before Dr. King became “Dr. King”, he was a child just like them. My Brother Martin was written by Christine King Farris, Dr. King’s older sister.

In My Brother Martin, Ms. King Farris tells of Dr. King’s childhood on Auburn Street in Atlanta, Georgia. There are funny pranks that the children, Christine, M.L. (Martin Luther) and their younger brother A.D. (Alfred Daniel) played on neighbors and their piano teacher. These stories made all my students smile. Ms. King Farris also tells of the painful time when the children of a white store owner on their street were no longer allowed to play with Negroes (a word I had to explain to my younger students). The white family sold their store and moved away. After years of shielding their children from the injustice and cruelty dealt to black people, this episode brought all that home. Christine, M.L. and A.D. were confused about why their friends would no longer play with them. Their mother explained about all the “Whites Only” signs. She also told her children that this injustice was there, “Because they just don’t understand that everyone is the same, but someday, it will be better.” M.L. then replied, “Mother Dear, one day I’m going to turn this world upside down.” And that he did.

M.L. and his sister and brother now were aware of segregation. They watched as their father, a minister at Ebenezer Baptist Church spoke out against it and how he practiced what he preached. Their father did not allow others to treat him differently because of his skin color and took his business elsewhere when store owners did. Their parents’ example and the pain of their childhood friends’ leaving provided the inspiration for Dr. King’s pursuit of justice.

This is a heartening and inspiring story of Dr. King that provides insights other books don’t provide. I highly recommend it to elementary school audiences. The illustrations by Chris Soentpiet are wonderful.

The Name of this Book is Secret, by Pseudonymous Bosch

Published January 14, 2014 by Dagmar

Here’s a mystery that has never failed to please my students. It’s not only a good mystery, it’s funny, quirky, a little dark, has an adventurous main character with a loyal and helpful friend. Best of all, it leaves readers wanting more. (Luckily, there are five books in this series.)

This book begins with the words, “WARNING: DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS PAGE!’ Even the only slightly curious would want to turn the page. And, being more than slightly curious, I did turn the page, only to read the words, “Good. Now I know I can trust you. You’re curious. You’re brave. And you’re not afraid to lead a life of crime.” 🙂 The first chapter consists of all “x’s”. Yes, there are no words; because, of course, the first chapter would have revealed the names of the characters, the place where the story takes place and the dates. All those things are, well, secret.

I can tell you this: The main character’s name is Cassandra, and she is a survivalist. She goes no where without her backpack of survival gear. She lives alone with her mother and often visits her mom’s friends, Grandpa Larry and Grandpa Wayne. Cass discovers a box called the “Symphony of Secrets”, learns that it came from the house of a dead magician. She and her new friend, a boy named Max-Ernest, believe that the magician is actually alive and crying out for help. This, coupled with the disappearance of a strange boy from school lead them on a chase to save the magician and the missing boy.

I read this book to my son years ago, and we absolutely loved it. Since then, I’ve recommended it to countless students who never fail to come back to get book number two, If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late. Don’t miss this great book!

Red Sled, by Lita Judge

Published January 12, 2014 by Dagmar

I’m a huge fan of wordless books for kids. This genre has really grown. It includes books for young students, like one of my favorites, A Ball for Daisy, by Chris Raschka, and complex and beautiful wordless books like The Arrival, by Shaun Tan, meant for middle schoolers.

Younger students and particularly students who aren’t reading yet get such a feeling of confidence when they can read a story on their own. In the case of my library, students sit quietly and watch the story unfold as I turn the pages for them. Sometimes I have them tell me the story that they just “read”. This time, we just closed the book and smiled.

The Red Sled is not a completely wordless book. The only words that appear are onamatopoeias. The book opens with a red sled sitting outside a house in the snow. A bear wanders by and notices the sled. He decides to take it for a ride, and what a wild ride it is! Soon, a rabbit joins him, then a moose, then two raccoons, an opposum, a porcupine and a mouse. The illustrations are wonderful, particularly the animals expressions as they tumble down the hill on the red sled. My students were so quiet as they read the book, then, they started smiling and soon they were laughing out loud. After the animals finish their sled ride, the bear replaces the sled at the door of the small house. The child who owns the sled walks out the next day, picks up his sled and notices bear tracks. The book closes with the child swinging from the antlers of the moose as the animals go on another sled right that night.

This is a sweet, quick book that kids will really love.

There’s a Wocket in My Pocket, by Dr. Seuss

Published December 21, 2013 by Dagmar

Who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss? I think the most spectacular shrieks of the year came on Thursday when I read, There’s a Wocket in My Pocket, to my K/1 class. My students went wild over all the fantastic creatures with names that rhyme with every day household things, like the Ghair in the Chair, the Nink in the Sink. They were properly spooked by the Vug under the Rug who, let me tell you, has always made the hair stand up on my neck.

This book is not only perfect for beginning readers, this book is also a perfect read aloud for students ready to appreciate some good rhymes. One student, upon leaving, told me to be careful to check my shelf for a zelf and my book basket for a wasket. I dutifully checked everything before the student left; and, of course, jumped three feet in the air when I actually saw the zelf and then the wasket. That made him laugh!

Have fun with this one.

Board Book favorites

Published December 8, 2013 by Dagmar

We use a lot of board books at our school, not only for our preschoolers, but also for some of our students in our PEC, Program for Extraordinary Children (formerly known as SDC), which runs from Pre-k all the way through the fifth grade. These books also make fantastic baby gifts if you’re in the market for baby gifts as I often am. I’m a big proponent of reading from the very first day of life.

Here are some of our students’ and my favorite board books:

Freight Train, by Donald Crews: This book has wonderful soothing words and great colors. Read about the parts of a freight train. One of my favorites.

Goodnight, Gorilla, by Peggy Rathmann: This book is so loved in our library that I own three copies. A funny wordless book about a gorilla who steals a zookeepers keys and lets out all the animals. You’ll read it so many times that your students/or children will read it to you. They still wear out every year!

Pajama Time!, by Sandra Boynton: This is one of my absolute favorites. It has great rhymes and is very, very cute. I’ve had entire pre-school classes saying “Hush, Hush. It’s Pajama Time!”

Big Red Barn, by Margaret Wise Brown: Again, soothing words about animals on a farm

Dear Zoo! by Rod Campbell: This is a sweet “lift the flap” book. “I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet, they sent me…” This is a real favorite. Children love the rhymes and lifting the flaps to see what animal the zoo sent.

Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown: Before you say this book is a cliche, there is a reason. It is a peaceful, calming book that never fails to please the child I’m reading it to. It also allows a child to look for the little mouse on each page!

Stay tuned for more board book favorites!

One Fine Day, by Nonny Hogrogian

Published December 7, 2013 by Dagmar

This 1971 winner of the Caldecott Medal worked really well with my kindergarten students. One day, a fox, traveling through a forest, notices a pail of milk. He quickly laps up all the milk but is caught by the old lady who owns the pail. Angry that the fox drank all her milk, the old lady cuts of his tail. He asks her to please sew it back on so his friends won’t tease him. She tells him that she’ll sew it back on if he brings her more milk. So begins fox’s journey to find milk.

The fox meets a cow who won’t give him milk unless the fox gives her some grass. He goes to the meadow, but the meadow won’t give him grass until she gets water and so on. Finally, after six different people ask him for something the miller takes pity on the poor fox, giving him some grain to give to the hen so he can have an egg to give to the peddler and so on until he has enough milk to pay back the old woman. The old woman does finally sew back on the fox’s tail. My guess is that our fox won’t be stealing milk again. 🙂

Enjoy!

Wild Horse Winter, by Tetsuya Honda

Published December 6, 2013 by Dagmar

This book was a sleeper, sitting for the last three years in a paperback picture book basket. As I flipped through my basket, organizing books one day, I was intrigued by this book. You may have read that my first grade students board my library plane each week, taking trips to different continents and countries. Thinking that this book took place in Wyoming or Colorado, I was already to break out my state books. The fact that I was rushed and hadn’t read the book before I decided to read it to my students was quickly discovered as the horses in the book inexplicably reached the ocean. Last time I heard, there are no oceans in Colorado. My very forgiving students were happy to re-board our plane and head West, all the way across the Pacific Ocean to the island of Hokkaido in Japan.

This beautifully illustrated book by Tetsuya Honda is about the wild horses that live on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. These horses, according to the author’s note, were brought to the island of Hokkaido three hundred years ago, by merchants and fisherman. In the winters, the merchants and fisherman would abandon the island to go to the mainland, but left their horses to survive the harsh winter on the island. In this story, we see a colt and his mother brave the winter by sleeping in a snow drift as they try to find their way from the grassy inland to the ocean. According to the author, Dosanko horses are known to lie down close to the ground and allow the snow to cover them in an effort to stay warm. Over many years, yhe horses, known as Dosanko horses, adapted to the harsh winters gradually developing longer hair, shorter bodies and stronger hooves. There are now only about 1,000 of these horses, living mostly on wild horse preserves.

This book was a jumping off point for lots of discussion: about Japan, how animals adapt to harsh conditions, how the native tribes near the arctic circle sometimes use ice to build homes to stay warm and how you might stay warm if caught in a blizzard or avalanche.

The book really captivated my students. I recommend it for first through third grade audiences, or younger audiences at home.

Nelson Mandela, by Kadir Nelson

Published December 6, 2013 by Dagmar

Yesterday, Nelson Mandela passed away. He fought for freedom and won it for his people. He was a tremendous man. He lived 95 years and is a symbol of the power of protest for so many around the world. President Obama said, “Let us pause and give thanks for the fact that Nelson Mandela lived–a man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice.”

How lucky for us that we have Kadir Nelson’s beautiful picture book about Nelson Mandela to help children understand the life and work of Nelson Mandela. The book, written in verse, leads the reader through Nelson Mandela’s life from the time he was a child through the end of apartheid and his election as South Africa’s first black president. The illustrations are full-page and incredible in the way that they capture the emotion of each scene.

On the back cover of the book, the author says, “My work is all about healing and giving people a sense of hope and nobility. I want to show the strength and integrity of the human being and the human spirit.” He certainly succeeded in this book.

Highly recommended. Best for third grade and up, but could work for younger students as well. Thank you to Junior Library Guild for introducing me to this book.

Kids' Lit Corner

Books kids will love!