Definitely Dads (FAMILY magazine reviews)

It’s summertime and the stories are easy and hard. Both Dads and Moms are important in reassuring your child(ren) that s/he/they are/is loved. Here are just a few of the many grand books available to satisfy a child’s curiosity and comfort her/his doubts. Make sure there is enough time to talk about celebrations, answer questions, and have a good time together.

My Dad 

by Anthony Browne

            Award winning author-illustrator Browne adapts his characteristic minimal language and tenderly imaginative colored pencil and wash painting style for this clever tribute to dads everywhere. Beginning with “He’s all right, my dad,” which repeats several times through the story for emphasis, the child narrator shows how brave, strong and wise is “my dad.”

            Also recurring is a tan/brown/yellow plaid, first shown as a bathrobe on an ordinary-looking man, drinking coffee. The humorous story includes dad balancing on a tightrope, winning a race, dancing, singing, and playing soccer. However, when he eats like a horse, or swims like a fish, he is recognizable as the animals because he’s wearing the plaid bathrobe.

            In a perfect ending, “he makes me laugh. A lot,” the child is wrapped in daddy’s arms, “HE LOVES ME! (And he always will.)” This merry, playful picture book is for families to enjoy together.

Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $17.99 

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2 

(This book may be purchased from local and online booksellers.)

Yard Sale 

by Eve Bunting 

illustrated by Lauren Castillo

            Nearly everything Callie’s family owns is spread across the front yard – furniture, potted flowers, even her bicycle. Her family is moving to a small apartment.            

Readers watch with Callie as people pick through her family’s belongings. Someone buys her bed for less money because of the crayon marks Callie made on the headboard – she made them to keep track of how many times she read Goodnight Moon.

She and her friend Sara try to understand why Callie’s family needs to leave – “something to do with money.” Callie’s anger is swift and strong when a man loads her bike into his truck and Dad hurries over.

But Callie’s fear is real when a smiling woman comments on how cute Callie is, and asks, “Are you for sale?” The ink and watercolor paintings show Callie’s distress, the friendship between her and Sara, the kind expression on the face of the man buying her bicycle. They gently accompany this tough, sometimes heartbreaking tale.

Callie’s parents circle her with their loving arms as they reassure her. Ultimately, as the three return to the almost empty house, she realizes, “we don’t really need anything we’ve sold. …. We will fit in our new place.” This is a graceful, vital storybook of a family in transition.

Candlewick, $15.99 

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2 

(This book may be purchased from local and online booksellers.)

and tango makes three 

by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

illustrated by Henry Cole

            New York City’s Central Park Zoo is known for hosting children and their families, who go there to visit the animal families. Also famous are the penguin families, especially Roy and Silo, two boy penguins who do everything together – bowing to each other, walking together, singing to each other, swimming together.           The two watched girl and boy penguin pairs build nests of stones for themselves. So, Roy and Silo did this too. Roy even found a rock that looked like what the other penguins are hatching into baby penguins. He and Silo took turns sitting on the “egg” (really a rock). “But nothing happened.”

The penguin keeper, who cares for the penguins and has been watching Roy and Silo, discovers a neglected egg. When he brings it to their nest, “Roy and Silo know just what to do.”

The watercolor illustrations highlight expressions and penguin body language. Using double page spreads and a range of smaller individual illustrations, the artist skillfully companions with the authors’ deceptively simple text to stir readers’ hearts with the warmth of family.

Roy and Silo’s commitment to keep the egg warm eventually joyfully produces Tango, the first penguin in the zoo to have two daddies. An Author’s Note at the end supplies background for this true story.

Simon & Schuster, $17.99 

Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 3 

(This book is available purchase from local and online booksellers.)

More Books for Fun

Tad and Dad 

by David Ezra Stein

Penguin, $16.99 

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 1  

(This book may be purchased from local and online booksellers.)

The Baby Tree 

by Sophie Blackall

Penguin, $17.99 

Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten - Grade 2 

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

The Summer Day (Monday Poem)

by Mary Oliver


Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean --
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down --
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?


from The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects, selected by Paul B. Janeczko, 2015, Candlewick

A Red, Red Rose (Monday Poem)

by Robert Burns


O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That's sweetly played in tune.

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' seas gang dry.

Till a' seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile.


from The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects, selected by Paul B. Janeczko, 2015, Candlewick Press

Changing Everything (Monday Poem)

by Jane Hirshfield


I was walking again
in the woods,
a yellow light
was sifting all I saw.

Willfully,
with a cold heart,
I took a stick,
lifted it to the opposite side
of the path.

There, I said to myself,
that's done now.
Brushing one hand against the other,
to clean them
of the tiny fragments of bark.


from  The Lives of the Heart

A Lesson in Manners (Monday Poem)

by John Ciardi

Someone told me someone said
You should never be bad till you've been fed.
You may, you know, be sent to bed
Without your supper. ---And there you are,
With nothing to eat. Not even a jar
Of pickle juice, nor a candy bar.
No, nothing to eat and nothing to drink,
And all night long to lie there and think
About washing baby's ears with ink,
Or nailing the door shut, or sassing Dad,
Or about whatever you did that was bad,
And wishing you hadn't, and feeling sad.

Now then, if what I'm told is true,
What I want to say to you -- and you--
Is: MIND YOUR MANNERS. They just won't do.
If you have to be bad, you must learn to wait
Till after supper. Be good until eight.
If you let your badness come out late
It doesn't hurt to be sent ot bed.
Well, not so much. So use your head:
Don't be bad till you've been fed.



from Whisper and Shout: Poems to Memorize edited by Patrice Vecchione, 2002, Cricket Books

Tree House (Monday Poem)

by Shel Silverstein


A tree house, a free house,
A secret you and me house,
A high up in the leafy branches
Cozy as can be house.

A street house, a neat house,
Be sure and wipe your feet house
Is not my kind of house at all --
Let's go live in a tree house.



from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, 1974, Harper & Row

Mainly Mamas (FAMILY magazine reviews)

A springtime crop of new books and old favorites has arrived just in time for Mother’s Day! Whether you are Mom or Dad, make time to snuggle with your child(ren) and share some of these delightful titles. As you establish and maintain family traditions don’t hesitate to take advantage of these wonderful picture books. They will supply an opportunity to read and talk with your child(ren) about what’s important in your family. Enjoy!!

Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya 

by Donna Jo Napoli 

illustrated by Kadir Nelson

            Wangari grew up in Mount Kenya’s shadow, hearing stories about the importance of trees for water and for making peace. Her wisdom grew, like the trees, from the traditions in her family, village, country and continent.

            She planted trees herself. And when women came to her, asking for help with their families, Wangari gave them seeds. She taught them to plant trees, too.

The extraordinary collage artwork in this book uses both oil paints and fabric to capture Kenyan culture. In the same way, Wangari’s life models the Kenyan spirit of working together for the common good. 

The rhythm of a repetitive storyline can be hypnotic for young listeners. A refrain from the Kikuyu language and its English translation separates each short narrative, “Thayu nyumba – Peace, my people.” Repeated text builds power as Wangari’s work continues. The strength of a group effort is reproduced in a double page spread near the end: glorious fabrics and many faces represent the Kenyan people.  

This beautiful picture book is an unusual biography of a Kenyan woman who has helped to create a new future. Not only for herself and other women, but also a hopeful future for her country. 

Simon & Schuster, $17.99 

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 3 

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

Heather Has Two Mommies 

by Leslea Newman 

illustrated by Laura Cornell

            A new edition of Newman’s story, first published in 1989 (by Alyson Publications), is a simple yet powerful story about Heather whose favorite number is two. She has two legs, two hands, two eyes, two pets and two mommies. 

            When Heather goes to school for the first time, the children are asked to draw pictures of their families. She wonders if she’s the only one without a daddy. But as the teacher observes, “The most important thing about a family is that all the people in it love each other.” 

            Young readers see different kinds of families: Joshua’s family picture includes his “mommy and stepfather dropping him off at his daddy’s house.” Emily’s picture features her grandma and their two dogs. David’s mommy and daddy just brought home a new baby sister.

            Watercolor and gouache paintings are cheerful, bright and childlike. Full page spreads show family life in Heather’s home and great diversity in wide views of the classroom. Smaller images show elements of a child’s day, giving glimpses of great diversity among the children and adults in the classroom setting.

Candlewick, $16.99
Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2 

(This book is available to  purchase from local and online booksellers.)

Because Your Mommy Loves You 

by Andrew Clements 

illustrated by R. W. Alley

            This book for young children, who want to be independent, is also for moms who sometimes flicker between heavy supervision and allowing offspring to meet their own challenges. Off to camp in the woods, a boy and his mom begin by getting supplies. When he gets lost and calls out, “mommy could say, It’s all right, I’m coming to find you! But she doesn’t.” In following situations mom could step in to rescue. Together they climb steep paths, wearing heavy backpacks, cross a wobbly bridge, set up a tent, and roast marshmallows. However, what mommy does is explain or show by her example how to solve the situation. She then watches as the child completes the task himself.

            Following a repeating pattern, reassuring language engages youngsters.  Mommy is untiring in her cheerful guidance. Child listeners and beginning readers will recognize growing self-confidence as the story continues. 

Lively text matches with active ink, watercolor and acrylic illustrations to capture both the boy’s beginning uneasiness and his pride as his attempts result in success. This tender book happily follows a jaunty day of hiking adventures with sleeping in a tent.

Clarion, $16.99 (hardcover), $6.99 (paperback) 

Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 1 

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

 

More Marvelous Mothers:

Pecan Pie Baby 

by Jacqueline Woodson 

illustrated by Sophie Blackwell

Penguin, $7.99 (paperback) 

Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 2

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

Where’s My Mom? 

by Julia Donaldson 

illustrated by Axel Scheffler

Dial, $17.99 Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 1

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

Knit Together by Angela Dominguez

Dial, $16.99 Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 1

(This book may be purchased from local and online booksellers.)

I Love Mom 

by Joanna Walsh 

illustrated by Judi Abbot

Simon & Schuster, $16.99 

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 1

(This book may be purchased from local and online booksellers.

Little Baby Buttercup 

by Linda Ashman 

illustrated by Yyou Byun

Penguin, $16.99 

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Kindergarten 

(This book may be purchased from local and online booksellers.)