Reading and the Second Grade

Two weeks on, and the second grade has been a real transition for my daughter. I remember my time in second grade as unpleasant, but that is because I had a rather mean teacher (she had issues--but not my fault.) But my daughter, as far as I can tell, likes her teachers. She's friendly with most of the children in her class and is happy to see them, and they her. But she is daunted--with a capital D--at the thought of homework. Twenty minutes a night, two nights a week, is like torture--water torture, to be exact. And sadly, lumped into that hell that is known as homework, is reading.

I suspect that my daughter is already a reluctant reader (how can that be?! I'm a guru!) And this misery over homework is not helping the matter. My daughter and I have a set reading routine which has been in place since I started reading to her regularly at bedtime. She loves it. Threatening to take away stories at night is a legitimate punishment and wields mighty power. She could be read to all day. But she seems reluctant to do it herself. A few notable exceptions: non-fiction, American Girl catalogs, and picture books.

All this rambling is to lead up to a rather excellent essay in this month's Horn Book about helping parents chose books for their second graders. It was a good refresher read because it reinforced many things I have noticed in my experience with children at the library: the love of series fiction, the appeal of underpants, and the fear of long books. The author of the essay, teacher Robin Smith, even puts in a plug for picture books. Thank you! I cannot stress how often I have seen parents turn their noses up at picture books, never mind the kids. If we all remember that "picture book" is a term used to describe a format, not a level, the world would run much better. I'm convinced of that!

Bedtime Stories

Timothy and the Strong Pajamas (Schwartz, Viviane)
Come Fly with Me (Ichikawa, Satomi)

Sort of a mixed bag tonight (from my POV, that is. My daughter whole-heartedly approved of both.) Come Fly with Me is a very pretty book, reminiscent of the Old Bear books by Jane Hissey. It would appear that Ichikawa is working her way through her toybox, considering "Fly" comes on the heels of La La Rose and I am Pangoo the Penguin. The story of Woggy, a cuddly dog, and the toy wooden plane on the search for Somewhere, seemed secondary to the fine Parisian details on each page. I couldn't help looking for Adele and Simon.

Timothy and the Strong Pajamas--this week's Book of the Week--is funny in one of those nice quirky ways. Timothy is a very small mouse who longs to be strong. When his mother repairs his favorite pj's, and makes them extra-strong, that strength is passed on to Timothy (who should have been named Samson, perhaps?) Timothy uses his newly found strength for good and proceeds to help various strangers out of their predicaments. The art work is a combination of comic style blocking (complete with bubble-speech commentary from Timothy's trusty toy monkey) and full-spread illustrations. I hope that Timothy and his pj's have more adventures soon.

Bedtime Stories

Peanut by Linus Alsenas
A Kitten Tale by Eric Rohmann
Mr. Putter and Tabby Bake the Cake by Cynthia Rylant and Arthur Howard, illus.

Some very sweet stories this evening. Peanut, in which a little old lady mistakes an elephant for a puppy reminded me of My Cat, the Silliest Cat in the World, where it's not clear to the reader whether the protagonist is aware of their mistake, or simply choosing not to notice. And of course, an elephant is involved in both. "Kitten", where three kittens who have never seen snow worry about their first snowfall, while a fourth kitten blissfully anticipates it, made me think of Kevin Henke's Wemberley Worried. "Kitten" has received a lot of positive press, and it is all deserved. The simplicity, yet effectiveness, of the message is breathtaking. And the kittens are adorable.

Mr. Putter and Tabby are favorites here, even more so now that my daughter can read them herself. The mellow pace of the stories, the leisurely line of the illustrations, and the vocabulary which challenges without intimidating, make this a wonderful series for emerging readers. If Henry and Mudge, also by Cynthia Rylant, have been exhausted, check out Mr. Putter and Tabby instead.

Bedtime Stories

Winnie the Witch by Valerie Thomas, illus. by Korky Paul
Minerva Louise on Christmas Eve by Janet Morgan Stoeke
Space Boy by Leo Landry
Dog and Cat Make a Splash by Kate Spohn

A trend, if that's the correct word, that my daughter developed in the early days of bedtime stories, was to put herself into the stories. It started with Ian Falconer's Olivia. Clearly there was something about that "porcine wonder (apologies to Mercy Watson!) that she identified with. She asked that her name be used instead, and Olivia was never 'Olivia' in this house again. When I was a child I used to play act out my favorite books, and then scenes from chapter books, as I got older. Eventually I was no longer happy being part of someone else's story and began writing my own. But that initial incursion into beloved books was the first step in unlocking my own creativity.

'Daughter-as-character' made an appearance not once but twice this evening. Perhaps it was the unexpected appearance of a Christmas story (and she so loves Christmas,) but first she was that daft hen Minerva Louise. Even more impressive was the character swap involved in 'Dog and Cat', because she was reading that one to me. And she not only placed herself in that story, but she also found room for my husband and I, our next door neightbor, her favorite teddy bear, and her American Girl doll. So not only did she have to concentrate on reading the words correctly, but she had to keep all the charcters straight. And by golly, she did it! An impressive display, if I do say so myself. And a wonderful example of the maxim that "books can take you anywhere".

Bedtime Stories

Jenny's Birthday Book (Averill, Esther)
Something to tell the Grandcows (Spinelli, Eileen and Bill Slavin, illus.)
Pierre in Love (Pennypacker, Sara and Petra Mathers, illus.)

It's been a couple of evenings of sharing favorites with the little one. Last night she read The Snowy Day to me, which was a big deal, because it was the first time her reading assignment for school was a proper book and not a phonetic worksheet. So there was a real sense of achievement, as well as the warm glow of nostalgia. And then tonight we returned to Jenny Linsky and her cat club in Jenny's Birthday Book. I was a big fan of the Cat Club as a kid, particularly Pickles the firecat. My daughter likes him, too, but for her the delight is in the sight of the cats dancing the Sailor's Hornpipe in Central Park, and the diva cat Concertina with her mouth wide open, forever belting out an aria. It's amazing how some books age so much better than others, and this is one of them. I mean, excellent is excellent, at any time, right? But in reality, not all good books are created equal. Fortunately, the Jenny books have managed to age without dating itself. I'm constantly pushing them at work (recently bought a brand new set of them with nice clean covers and intact bindings.) The gentle tone that ends the book, as Jenny says a prayer that "Please may all cats everywhere have happy birthdays when their birthdays come," and she falls into contented sleep, is as tranquil as the green room and the bowl of mush in Goodnight Moon. If you managed to miss Jenny Linsky in your youth, meet her now!

(Project for a future date--write a biography of Esther Averill. I can't find one. It's on my list of things to do.)

Bedtime Stories

Danny's First Snow (Gore, Leonid)
The Buffalo Storm (Appelgate, Katherine and Jan Ormerod, illus.)
Amanda Pig, Schoolgirl (Van Leeuwen, Jean and Ann Schweninger, illus.)

We had a bit of snow today, which no one seemed to be expecting, so a snow book seemed a cozy fit. But tonight's real treat was The Buffalo Storm. It told the story of a pioneer family headed west for Oregon (its not clear where they started from.) The story is told through the eyes of a young girl who isn't afraid of anything, except storms. And although her heart breaks at leaving her grandmother behind, she is a brave little participant in a long wagon train, lyrically described as "beads slowly stringing." (The poetic moment was slightly tarnished, though, when my daughter commented that the covers of the wagons looked like toilet paper rolls. Which they did!) When the girl witnesses a buffalo storm--a wild, enthusiastic, stampede of "crazed with life" buffalo--she is able to put behind her both her fear of storms and her "homesickness" for her grandmother. This was a beautiful book, both visually and emotionally. I've been a fan of Jan Ormerod for years; I loved the Miss Mouse books, and she has a wonderful back catalog of wordless picture books. But I've always dismissed Katherine Applegate--also known as K.A. Applegate--as a writer of series fiction. That's not a diss of series fiction in general, because I'm a fan. But her long running Animorph's series has never appealed to me and has always struck me as formulaic (plus it made the dreaded jump to TV.) To have written a debut picture book that is such a departure from her previous work is a real testament to her talent. Perhaps now with The Buffalo Storm, and the highly regarded Home of the Brave, Applegate will move out of the shadow of her success and show us what other stories she has inside her.

Bedtime Stories

Skippyjon Jones in Mummy Trouble (Schachner, Judy)
Wilfred the Rat (Stevenson, James)

I'm not a fan of Skippyjon Jones, the Siamese cat who insists that he is a chihuahua, but I have to admit that I liked this outing. Maybe it's because he wasn't as willfully naughty as he has been in past books. Maybe it was Judy Schachner's narration (I confess, we listened to CD, rather than test my cold-plagued voice) and her funny little accent and rolling of her R's. Maybe it was the reference to the "Under Mundo" and the fact that The Night Tourist was still fresh in my memory. Whatever it was--I liked this one. Skippyjon decides that he wants to visit Ancient Egypt. And, despite the warnings of his own Mummy (warning that he will get scared,) Skippyjon escapes to his closet and sets off on adventure with his band of Chimichangos. There are plenty of silly worditos, as in the previous books, which I think is part of the appeal.

And continuing my efforts to highlight any book with favorable representations of rats, I present Wilfred the Rat. James Stevenson, for all of his wry brilliance, is rapidly approaching Lost Treasure status. His Worst Person in the World books are pretty hard to come by, as are his Monty stories. "Wilfred" tells the story of a rat who finds himself at an amusement park abandoned for the winter. While there he befriends a squirrel and a chipmunk who show him the pleasures of a pleasure park when there are no people to chase them away. These are Wilfred's first friends, and when he has the opportunity to chose between fame or friends, the choice is easy. You can add "loyalty" to the list of fine ratty qualities!

Bedtime Stories

Amazing Grace (Hoffman, Mary and Caroline Binch, illus.)
Follow the Line Through the House (Ljungkvist, Laura)
You'll be Sorry (Schneider, Josh)

As we prepare for a return to school, and the end of the holiday routine, it was not very easy getting these stories read, because it was not very easy getting washed and in bed on time. And then once we did, we realized that we should have saved something like"Follow the Line" for a reading opportunity when we had time to do just that--follow the line. It was a cool book with lots of details to investigate, and the appeal of trying to follow the single line from the front cover all the way through. But we were racing against the clock, so we did not give the book it's full due. However, we did read "Sorry" twice. The premise is simple: a little mouse is warned against hitting her baby brother. She does not believe it when her parents say "You'll be sorry." She should have listened to them! The comic ramifications will scare off any young reader. Parents--get this book for your squabbling offspring!

As for "Grace," this is a favorite. We have enjoyed all the Grace books and are revisiting them as we wait for the latest installment in the series, Princess Grace, due out in just a few days. I sang the first verse of "Amazing Grace" for my daughter, who was rather surprised to hear it. Apparently she was unaware of its existence. Clearly not paying attention in church!

Bedtime Stories--Haven't I Read This Already?

Backbeard Pirate for Hire (McElligott, Matthew)
When Dinosaurs Came With Everything (Broach, Elise and David Small, illus.)
Play, Mozart, Play! (Sis, Peter)

And so 2008 starts very much like 2007 ended--still reading and looking for great books. Sis's "Mozart" put me in mind of M.T. Anderson's Handel who Knew What He Liked, mainly because it's a picture book biography of a great composer. And McElligott's Backbeard, with his outlandish clothes and pig (as opposed to a parrot) joins the rank of other misfit pirates Roger the Jolly Pirate and Jack Plank. In fact, Backbeard's search for employment is reminiscent of Jack Plank's attempts to find life after piracy. And as for "Dinosaurs", it gives a new twist to the "look-what-followed me-home" story. I guess that goes to show that good themes and ideas can never be exhausted.

Bedtime Stories

Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World (Hatkoff, Juliana, Isabella and Craig and Dr. Gerald R. Uhlich)
The Adventures of Max and Pinky: Superheroes (Eaton, Maxwell III)

It takes a village to raise a child....and write a book, too, by the looks of it. But Knut is so gosh darn cute it seems churlish to complain. While Knut does not have the emotional cache of Owen and Mzee, the authors try to draw attention to the melting polar caps and the threat of polar bear extinction to give their photo tale some emotional umph. I guess it worked, because as soon as I read the line "Some scientists even believe polar bears could become extinct in our lifetime," my daughter screamed "NO!" I asked her if she knew what "extinct" meant. Well, 'no' to that, too. But clearly, it didn't sound nice. It probably made her think of "exterminate!" which is a familiar word to her, being part of the Dalek vernacular.

Max and Pinky are back in their second book (after The Adventures of Max and Pinky: Best Buds.) They have no problem deciding to be superheroes, but the designation of 'sidekick' causes all sorts of trouble. Traction Man and Scrubbing Brush never had that problem. I was also impressed to discover that Max and Pinky are on Facebook. How very tech savvy of them!

Bedtime Stories

Little Red Riding Hood (Pinkney, Jerry)
At Night (Bean, Jonathan)
Chilly Charlie (Rau, Dana Meredith)
Millie Waits for the Mail (Steffensmeier, Alexander)
Alligator Boy (Rylant, Cynthia and Diane Goode)

A fabulous bunch this evening! I've had my eye on Pinkney's Red Riding Hood since it made its way through Tech Services. It has a very Christmasy feel, with snow covered woods and cardinals to match the tell-tale hood. Pinkney has had a particularly stellar year, IMHO, with Little Red Hen and The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll (which he illustrated) also seeing release in 2007.

But the stand out title for me tonight was Millie Waits for the Mail, about a cow who takes great delight in frightening the mail carrier each day. The unexpected canine behavior reminded me of My Cat, the Silliest Cat in the World by Gilles Bachelet. And why is the cat so silly? Because he's an elephant! I love it when reality is thoroughly turned on its head, yet it still makes sense. And following up on yesterday's post about the success of translated books for children, I'd like to point out that both titles are imports: "Millie" from Germany and "Cat" from France.

I've been asked by a loyal reader (so nice to know you are there!) to keep a running list of all the picture books mentioned in this blog. Look for it in the new year.

Bedtime Stories

Museum Trip (Lehman, Barbara)
Rabbit's Morning (Tafuri, Nancy)

In order to facilitate the fact that I can't talk because I have no voice tonight (nasty head cold,) we read some wordless picture books. "Rabbit" isn't strictly wordless; there is a single sentence which is split between the first and last page of the book. But I didn't even need to read that much, because my daughter could handle it ably on her own. "Museum" reminded me a lot of Rainstorm, because in both books the opening of a door leads to unexpected adventure. This is hinted at on the cover itself, as the protagonist of the story peals back a plain white corner to reveal a maze beneath. Very clever.

I might be a new convert to the charms of Lehman's picture puzzles, but I am a long time fan of Nancy Tafuri. I love the clean, uncluttered lines of her drawings. She manages to make her characters (almost always animals in their natural habitat) look realistic and anthromorphized at the same time. I use her books a lot in my baby story times. Her books are generally over sized, which makes them easy to show to a group. And there is always just enough to look at, without having to take in too much.

Bedtime Stories

Gargoyles: Monsters in Stone (Dussling, Jennifer)
Un-Brella (Franson, Scott E.)
Gimme Cracked Corn and I Will Share (O'Malley, Kevin)
Someday (Spinelli, Eileen)

Rather an eclectic selection tonight. We had a wordless picture book (Un-Brella,) a pun-fest ('Cracked Corn",) a prose picture book (Someday,) and a highly informative early reader. Did you know that "gargoyle" comes from a French word meaning "throat"? and have you noticed that it sounds very much like "gargle", which is technically what a Gargoyles do, since they are decorative water spouts? Bedtime reading that is not just for kids indeed!

Check out this trailer for Un-Brella. It doesn't really give an idea of what the book is about (a little girl and her magic umbrella that turns a snowy day to a sunny one, and vice-versa.) But it's sweet and gentle, and the book is certainly all that.

Bedtime Stories

This evening saw us enjoying:

There is a Bird on Your Head (Willems, Mo)
Ginger and Petunia (Polacco, Patricia)
Blue Ribbon Henry (Calhoun, Mary)

Where is Henry? He's "some cat"! He shows such compassion and ingenuity in the dealings with his human family (particularly the Kid, who loves him, and the Man, who loves him in spite of himself,) and I for one would love to read more about him. Five books just isn't enough! This may merit a Lost Treasures entry.......

Bedtime Stories

The Dancing cat (Rendal, Justine)
The Midnight unicorn (Reed, Neil)
The Last little cat (DeJong, Meindert)

A trio of old fashioned stories tonight. I particularly liked "Little cat" for its simplicity of text and story. It tells the story of a kitten born in a kennel who befriends an old blind dog. There is a lot of repetative text and well placed illustrations to help early readers. As for helpful illustrations, "Midnight Unicorn" has textured illustrations, which had me thinking that the girl in the story was blind (hence, the pictures that the reader can feel.) But by the end of the story I realized that I was incorrect. So why the braille effect?

Bedtime Stories--Haven't I Read This Already?

Gingerbread baby (Brett, Jan)
My friend is sad (Willems, Mo)
Casey back at bat (Gutman, Dan)

My daughter has now read My friend is sad more than once. Now that she is familiar with the words and the story, she has started to pay attention to the punctuation and the way Willems uses font and the illustrations to express the characters' feelings. It was quite a spirited rendition this evening. It's fun to watch her develop as a reader.

As for Casey back at bat....I loved it, then I was disappointed. I love the newsprint illustrations, the effortless verse, and the fact that it could classify as a fractured fairytale (of sorts.) But once the ball left Casey's bat and then headed across time, space and history, I realized that I have read this book already, and it is called Hurray for Snail! Except that Snail succeeds where Casey flies out. And to be honest, the part about knocking off the Sphinx's nose and causing the dinosaurs to become extinct was just plain silly in a distracting, disjointed way. I would have preferred it if Joe Stoshack had managed to travel into literature to visit Casey. That would have been more convincing--and relevant--than the ball's excellent adventure.

Bedtme Stories

Cordurouy (Freeman, Dan)
Cat Traps (Coxe, Molly)
Dimity Dumpty (Graham,Bob)

It's a mixture of classic and contemporary tonight (well, last night by the time of this writing!) When we settled down to read, I realized we had plenty of time for an extra story and found a copy of Corduroy on my daughter's bookshelf (and, really, everyone should be able to find a copy of Corduroy on their shelf.) But it was Dimity Dumpty that really caught my attention. In telling the story of Humpty Dumpty's little sister, it joins a long tradition of fractured fairy tales. Just this year alone I can think of Lisa Ernst's The Gingerbread Girl, and Mini Grey's The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon. Graham has envisioned a story where the Dumpty's are tumblers in a circus, all except Dimity who is shy and prefers to stay out of the spotlight. Humpty's great fall comes about because he is a rascally tagger. The King's Men are a couple of paratroopers stationed in a nearby barracks who take little pity on the cracked Humpty because he is "only an egg". It's not clear from the story why they are stationed in the small town where the Dumptys are currently performing, but their presence in camo fatigues and their callous disregard for damage to the locals, was a bit jarring when I first read it (but they make up for it later with a bedside visit to the recuperating Humpty.) It is only Dimity's fast thinking and bravery that saves her brother from leaking away. Interesting, but slightly odd.

Bedtime Stories

The Cat who wanted to go home (Tomlinson, Jill)
The Owl and the Pussycat (Lear, Edward; Anne Mortimer, illus.)
Hooray for Snail! (Stadler, John)

In trying to discover whether or not Hooray for Snail is still in print (thankfully, the answer is yes!) I discovered a little bit of back story by author John Stadler. I also discovered that there are some other Snail stories, which I did not know (although a guru, I can still learn!)

Anne Mortimer's version of The Owl and the Pussycat is a bedtime favorite in our house and has enjoyed repeat readings. I have been a fan of her artwork for many, many years, ever since I first came across Tosca in the supermarket check-out line (there are treasures to be found even in the $3.99 rack.) As far as I am concerned, there is no one who draws cats like she does (although Lesley Anne Ivory is another favorite.) My daughter simply likes the fact that there is a wedding in the story.

Bedtime Stories

The Story about Ping (Flack, Marjorie and Kurt Wiese)
Ballet sisters: the duckling and the swan (Ormerod, Jan)
The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon (Grey, Mini)

"Ping" is on my daughter's summer reading list. It's a good list IMHO, because it includes newer titles alongside the classics (and I think it's fair to say that "Ping" has reached canon status.) "Adventures" merited a repeat reading. Then again, she's a huge fan of Traction Man--also by Mini Grey-- so I am not surprised she liked this one. She didn't even get many of the visual jokes (my personal favorite: the poster for "Lost Cow" attached to a lamppost 25 years after a disgraced spoon returns home from prison.)But the story struck a cord. No doubt she's gone to sleep with visions of dancing spoons and dishes.

Bedtime Stories

These all passed muster with my six year old girl!

My pony Jack at the horse Show (Meister, Carl)

Ballet Kitty (Ford, Bernette and Sam Williams)

Mr. Pusskins, a love story (Lloyd, Sam)