Picture Book Gift Ideas

As promised, here are some of my favorite picture books of the past year. Books I have reviewed previously have a link to the original review embedded in their name.

Are We There Yet? words and pictures by Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat

Frank and Lucky Get Schooled words and pictures by Newbery Medalist Lynne Rae Perkins

How This Book Was Made words by Mac Barnett, pictures by Adam Rex

If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, DON'T! words and pictures by Elise Parsley

Nanette's Baguette words and pictures by Mo Willems

We Found a Hat words and pictures by Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen

They All Saw A Cat words and pictures by Brendan Wenzel

Pug words and pictures by Ethan Long is perfect for kids just learning to sound out simple words and who know most of the Kindergarten sight words.

School's First Day of School words by Adam Rex pictures by Christian Robinson

Strictly No Elephants words by Lisa Mantchev pictures by Taeeun Yoo

That Is (Not) Mine words by Anna Kang pictures by Christopher Weyant, another great book for beginning readers.

Last Stop on Market Street words by Matt de la Pena and pictures by Christian Robinson

The Night Gardener words and pictures by Terry and Eric Fan. You will be hearing more about the Fan brothers in years to come. Their lush artwork and compelling story about community have made it a contender for the 2017 Caldecott Medal.

William looked out his window one morning to see that the tree in his front yard had been sculpted to look like an owl. The following morning another tree on Grimloch Lane turned into a cat, another day a rabbit and then a parakeet appeared, even an elephant. People came out of their houses to talk to their neighbors about the mysterious topiary. Who was creating these sculptures? One evening, William spots a man with a ladder and gardening tools. He follows him to the park. The man turned to him and asked if he wanted to help. He did. During the night they transformed the trees in the park. Tired, William  fell asleep and woke up to find a gift from the night gardener and the sound of happy people admiring their work. The seasons changed from summer to fall to winter. There was no evidence the the Night Gardener had ever been to Grimloch Lane.  But William and the town's people were never the same. 

The Sonoma County Library has nineteen copies. The AR is 2.7.

Little Penguins words by Newbery Medalist Cynthia Rylant pictures by Christian Robinson is the sweet penguin book. Five little penguins see snowflakes. Winter is coming! Hats, scarves, mittens, socks and red boots and out to sled in the snow. The snow is cold and deep. Soon it is time to go home. Jammies on, warm cookies and sippy cups; soon it is time for bed.

A simple story illustrated by my new favorite artist, Christian Robinson. His simple cut paper and acrylic paint illustrations are perfect for the text. It would be a great book for preschoolers or beginning readers, I plan to give a couple of these as gifts. The text is sparse, the font is large and easy to read and there is plenty of white space.

Thje Sonoma County Library has eleven copies. The AR is .8.

The protagonist of Penguin Problems words by Jory John with pictures by Lane Smith is a kvetch and a tad passive-aggressive. He doesn't like snow, he's hungry and fish are hard to find, he is not buoyant, he sinks like a rock and he looks like everyone else. A walrus reminds him about the good things in his life and despite the challenges he is where he is supposed to be. In an old fashioned children's book, the penguin would see the error of his ways and reform. These days, it is not that easy. He does, for a moment think about the good things in his life, but soon the complaining begins again. Remind you of anyone?

The Sonoma County Library has twelve copies. The AR is 2.0.

Some more picture book ideas from Growing Book By Book and Brightly. 

Abe Lincoln’s Dream

Just in time to coincide with the movie “Lincoln” is a book by Lane Smith called Abe Lincoln’s Dream. Several times before momentous events , Abe Lincoln had a dream where he had seen himself “In an indescribable vessel moving rapidly toward an indistinct shore”. The last time he had this dream was the night before he was assassinated.

The story starts with several White House dogs who refused to enter the Lincoln Bedroom. Many people thought it was haunted. A young girl, named Quincy, gets separated from her school tour group and comes upon a tall man in a stovepipe hat standing over the Gettysburg Address. Just to interject a fact into this story, on the White House Tour, you don’t go anywhere near the Lincoln Bedroom. The tour is confined to the first floor of the Executive Mansion. Now back to the story. Quincy asks the man if he is lost, but he said, “No” as he walked through a wall. This is where the author inserts the first corny joke (actually a pun) about ghosts and fibs. Quincy tells him that his joke is very silly. Then Lincoln tells her about his troubling dream. Quincy keeps up with him as he paces the floor, taking four steps to his one. He asks her “Do you know how LONG a man’s legs should be? “No’ she replies. “Long enough to reach the floor”. He is still restless and worried about the country. She suggests he go out of the Executive Mansion to see what has changed since 1865. He did the flying and she answered his questions as they toured the country and even took a flight to the moon to see the American Flag planted there. When they returned, Lincoln took her back to her tour group and this time she had a knock-knock joke for him. Lincoln thought it was a silly joke.  That night Quincy had a dream about a tall man in a black hat on a boat moving towards the sun with a smile on his face.

 

The Sonoma County Library has several copies. We have looked at a  2011 Caldecott Honor book from Lane Smith called Grandpa Green and a book by Judith Viorst that he illustrated, Lulu and the Brontosaurus.You can listen to an October interview with the author here

Lulu and the Brontosaurus

My oldest daughter’s favorite book in the second grade was Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. A few decades later, Judith Viorst is still writing and this time collaborating with Lane Smith as her illustrator. Lulu and the Brontosaurus is the story of Lulu and her quest for a pet brontosaurus.

The book opens with a disclaimer by the author that she KNOWS that dinosaurs and people never lived on earth at the same time but she is the author and she wants to write about a little girl and a Brontosaurus, so there! Lulu is a very spoiled little girl. She gets what she wants most of the time and when she doesn’t she screeches until the light bulbs burst and throws herself on the ground and kicks her heels and flings her arms. “Just this once” her parents say when they give in to her tantrums.

Two weeks before her birthday, Lulu announces to her parents that she wants a Brontosaurus for her birthday. Her parents try to patiently explain that a brontosaurus is big and would not make an ideal house pet. They suggested alternatives such as a dog, a cat, a hamster even a rat. NO! Lulu wanted a brontosaurus!! After days of pleading, screeching, flailing her arms and kicking her heels, Lulu decides to take things into her own hands. She packs her suitcase and heads out to find a brontosaurus. And find one she does but the brontosaurus wants HER for a pet. How does it end? I am not telling. You will have to read it yourself.

The Sonoma County Library has several copies.

Caldecott Medal

Today The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association awarded the Randolph Caldecott Medal

to

This book is going to be a birthday present for one or more of my four pre-school granddaughters. Why? Because it is about a dog, a big time subject with the aforementioned girls and it is about loss (Daisy’s red ball) and gain (a friend and a new blue ball). This book has no words but the story is clear. Preschoolers and kindergarteners can “read” this book themselves. The book can be found at the Sonoma County Library and Yulupa’s Library.

The  ALSC also honored three more books:

I wrote about this book in the 100 Best Children’s Books for 2011 post on January 16th. The Sonoma County Library and Yulupa’s Library have this book..

Grandpa Green’s life story is told by his great-grandson through a walk in his topiary garden. As the boy is walking along he picks up tools his great-grandfather has left in the garden. At the end he uses them to make his own topiary of the great-grandfather. This book is touching to me because it reflects how I spent time with my grandparents in their gardens and the talents they passed on to me. This book can be found at the Sonoma County Library.

It is summer in the city, it is hot, and the power goes out. The TV doesn’t work, the phone and computer are off and Dad can’t cook dinner. The family goes to the roof where now in the darkness they can actually see the stars. So many of their neighbors are on the roof it is like a block party. The lights come back on so everything can go back to normal…but it turns out not everyone likes normal. This book can be found at the Sonoma County Library.

Each year the Caldecott Award is given to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. It was first given in 1939 to Mei Li by Thomas Handforth. A few other winning books you may know are  Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak in 1964, The Polar Express by Chris van Allsburg in 1986 and The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney in 2010.  Familiar Honors books include Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans in 1940, If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss in 1951 and  Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin in 2001.