New Picture Books

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales is the story of her immigration to the United States with her then three month old son to join her American citizen husband in 1994. They settled in San Francisco. She and her son spent their days in the San Francisco Public Library learning English and learning about their new country. The illustrations in the library show many of the books they read. Books opened the door to their new life. Yuyi Morales became an award winning writer and illustrator. This is a powerful book about the value of libraries and reading.
The Sonoma County Library has fourteen copies.

Carmela Full of Wishes is written by Matt de Pena and illustrated by Christian Robinson, the award winning (Newbery Medal and Caldecott Honor) of Last Stop on Market Street. It is Carmela's birthday. She finds a spent dandelion, her brother tells her she has to make a wish before she blows the seeds away, but what should she wish for?
The Sonoma County Library has nine copies.

Drawn Together is written by Mihn Le and illustrated by Dan Santat. A young boy is being babysat by his grandfather. They eat lunch and watch a little TV. Neither one speaks the others language so how do they communicate?  By drawing a story together, each in his own style, they find a language they both understand.                                                                                                                               
 The Sonoma County Library has eleven copies.                                                                                                                                                         

Good Rosie by Kate Di Camillo with pictures by Harry Bliss is about a good dog who sometimes gets lonely and dare I say bored. George, her owner, tries something new, they go to a dog park. At first Rosie doesn't know what to do and is scared of a big dog named Maurice. But eventually she makes friends with a little dog and by the end of the book they both become friends with Maurice.
The Sonoma County Library has thirteen copies.

My Dog Laughs is written and illustrated by Rachel Isadora. Children introduce us to their dogs, tell us what their dog likes, show us how they train their dogs and how their dog plays. The pictures give clues to the text and there is plenty of white space between each vignette. 
The Sonoma County Library has six copies.

The Day You Begin by Newbery Medalist  Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by Rafael Lopez is a story about feeling different for any number of reasons and how by sharing your story others will meet you halfway.
The Sonoma County Library has twenty copies.

What Can A Citizen Do? by Dave Eggers with pictures by Shawn Harris is about being a citizen. Since the characters in this book are children, citizen is meant in a much broader sense than just voting. "A citizen's not what you are-a citizen is what you do."
The Sonoma County Library has seven copies.

Scholastic Book Fair Comes to Yulupa

This week is Yulupa's annual Scholastic Book Fair held in the Library/Media Center from 8-9 AM and 1-4 PM on Monday, March 5 thru Friday, March 9. On Wednesday it will stay open from 1-7:30 PM. This is a great opportunity to get your kids some books, both for read alouds and for reading on their own. And maybe even pick up a book for your child's classroom; teachers fill out slips of paper with the names of books they would like to add to their classrooms.  The Yulupa Book Fair home page is here. You can find the link to this year's book flyer on the bottom of the page. 

These are just a few of the books available at the book fair:

Every Elephant & Piggie book is perfect for beginning readers but this is my favorite. Two of my students read this book to me with expression this past week and loved it too. Mo Willlems structures these books with lots of white space, just a few words on a page, picture clues and plenty of humor. Piggie's speech balloons are pink, Gerald's (Elephant) are grey. The font is small for a whisper and large for exclamations, making it easy for new readers to read with expression.

 I reviewed Let's Go for a Drive! in 2013.

Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea is the first book in the Narwhal and Jelly series by Ben Clanton. Told in three short stories, this graphic novel introduces us to the adventures of Narwhal and Jelly; friends who despite their differences have much in common.

The Bad Guys in Attack of the Zittens by Australian author and illustrator, Aaron Blabey. The Bad Guys are four classic villains: Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha and Mr. Shark who want to do good deeds, mostly. There is a bit of a problem of trying not to eat each other though. This time they save the world from zombie kittens with the help of a granny alligator. 

This is book #4 of The Bad Guys graphic novel series. Check out my review of the first The Bad Guys book. I have used this series with a few second graders who love the humor and mayhem.

The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Adam Rex is another kid favorite. You can read my review here. 

Upside Down Magic: Dragon Overnight by the team of Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle and Emily Jenkins is the fourth book in the series about Nory and Andres and their wonky magic in an upside-down magic class. One of my granddaughter's loves this series because she loves magic and cats.

Sarah Mlynowski is also the author of the Whatever After series that updates classic fairy tales. My review of the first book is here.

Last Stop on Market Street

Last Stop On Market Street was awarded the Newbery Medal (Matt de la Pena) and a Caldecott Honor (Christian Robinson) on January 11, 2016 by the Association for Library Services to Children, a division of the American Library Association. This is the first time that a true picture book won the Newbery Medal. In 1982 a book of poetry, A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocence and Experience Travelers, won both the Newbery Medal and a Caldecott Honor.

As CJ and his Nana take the bus from church to the last stop on Market Street, he peppers his Nana with questions about their Sunday routine and meets all kinds of interesting people along the way. The bus driver, Mr. Dennis pulls a coin from his ear, he learns from a man with a seeing eye dog that a person can "see" the world with other senses, and feels the magic of a guitar player's music that transports him to a beautiful, tranquil place. As a child, my grandmothers offered a unique perspective on life that I didn't get from my parents. Another book about a grandmother guiding her grandson through a difficulty is Nana in the City.

You can read an article in Brightly by Matt de la Pena about talking to our kids about diversity when we read with them.

The AR is 3.3. The Sonoma County Library has eighteen copies.