Romping of animals makes us happy!

 

Julie Flett is a Cree-Metis author and illustrator. This gorgeous book is a celebration of animals--their movements and antics--and how humans enjoy playing, too! Cree words are introduced in this book. The pictures are very inviting in this pretty, inclusive book.

Adorable!

 

Adorable! Gertie is a small yak and wishes she was big. Her mother explains to her that “being big” is not just about being large. Gertie is invited to rescue “the teeniest yak” and she is able to accomplish the task because she is small. This teaches her the lesson about liking the size she is and working with that. When Gertie is devising a GROWING-UP PLAN she decides to read books. This is my favorite quote from the story:
“And she read lots of books to make her thoughts grow (because grown-ups have big things to think and to know).” Too true!
The pictures are delightful with wonderful, comical expressions on the faces of the yaks!

 

We are all connected, what a super book coming up on the holiday of Thanksgiving!

This beautiful book is a companion to THE INVISIBLE STRING. It is about how all life is connected to each other. This is written and expressed so that it resonates with all of us. The dedication is to "the REAL worldwide web." I love that!

This beautiful book is about how all of our invisible strings of love connect us, even to the people who have gone before us. An inexplicit message about grief makes this a sweet book for a collection on that topic. 
 

The Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award 2021

 Fantastic! Tuning into the sense of hearing, this book follows a little girl named Lina as she experiences snow in different ways. She is on her way to visit Sitti who has low vision. By the end of the story, she discovers that Sitti's sense of hearing is heightened, too. The friendship between Sitti and Lina (grandmother and granddaughter) is delightful. They spend time working on a family tradition of making warak enab and enjoy each other's company. This is a debut book for the author! Congratulations! This book has won the 2021 The Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award in Wisconsin. Well deserved!

Just love!

 This beautiful book celebrates the birds that are all around us. The main character is a girl who loves birds. The book begins with birds sitting on lines with ribbons of their names wrapped around their necks. There is a page spread about nests which reminds me of the bird nests built around the library under our security cameras! The change of seasons is marked by migration (fall) and then winter is shown as a time that bird feeding can be a great hobby! The ending is perfect where we see the girl dreaming about birds and dreaming about flying (my favorite dream!).
Thanks to publisher HarperCollins for permission to read this aloud during Covid year 2021, on video, for a classroom.

Beautiful for this day!

This is a beautiful book. I love the play on words in the title...rather than opposites attract it is "opposites abstract". The spreads are beautiful and thought provoking. I love abstract art so I clearly recognize the opposites. I wonder how this would work as a read aloud? My favorite spread is inclusion and exclusion. Excellent!
Mo Willems worked on this during 2020. It is a testament to the fact that the arts always save us! And art can be created amid chaotic, uncertain times. We NEED it! Thank you Mo Willems!
 

An afternoon of art webinar, provided by Booklist

 Today I learned about these 6 picture books from the illustrators themselves...Fantastic!

      

   

The coffee test!

 Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale Retold by Carmen Agra Deedy; illustrated by Michael Austin

Central to this delightful tale is the "coffee test". Spill coffee on your suitor's shoes and see how they react. Then you will know what kind of husband they could turn out to be, sooner than later! Martina tries the test on rooster, pig, lizard, and Perez the mouse. And she finds true love in the end. I loved the pictures and the lessons of the story.

Great juxtaposition for teaching opposites!

 Both books are by the same author and employ the same illustrator and they are delightful! There is such universal understanding for quiet and loud! The examples of each are fun to discuss with children.

Learning about concrete poetry!

 An interesting style of telling a story, this picture book gets the brain working. The device used is concrete poetry. (Definition from Wikipedia: Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct meaning of its own.) Puppy and kitten have trepidation about each other until a storm brews and they protect each other from the larger danger. This is a good book for the TAILS & TALES summer reading theme!

So cool!

 With a spin of the "wheel" the image changes. The colors are bold and beautiful and the pictures draw you into the exciting world around us. This would be a great compare/contrast book for the same places in reality. I bought this book because Salina Yoon is this year's summer reading program illustrator for TAILS and TALES! (2021) Unfortunately, this book is too special to circulate but I will be able to use it in story time! The hot air balloon and the fireworks are especially wonderful because we see those here in Seymour!

Bliss!

 One of those precious picture books that makes you feel good all over! It makes you pause and be grateful that daily living is wonderful!

Love!

 A book showcasing the talents of several amazing illustrators and reminding us that kindness is a habit beginning with the littlest of gestures. (And they all count and are good!)
The charity that benefits from the sale of the book is inspiring!
https://threepeas.org.uk/

Correcting an oversight!

 This is based on a true story within the author's family tree. She takes the opportunity to highlight a sister who through time had been overlooked! This is fascinating!

What the Road Said by Cleo Wade; illustrated by Lucie de Moyencourt

 If you love the poem THE ROAD NOT TAKEN by Robert Frost, you will love this beautiful book! In this book the road is a character who answers questions. Example: "What if I grow weary or get hurt?" "I will give you trees of all shapes and sizes to shelter you when you need to rest and heal", said the Road. This book is philosophical and the road champions all of us (the readers). The best lesson of all is to just keep on going!

A lovely story about a peacemaker!

 The cover drew me in and what a TREAT this story is. Why is the Mailman lonely? Turns out he is a listener and a peacemaker who is finding out the misunderstandings in the forest and penning letters between the animals for resolution. Then he delivers those letters to the disputing parties. What a concept! When the animals discover what is going on they celebrate the Mailman...now he will have even more letters to write and deliver...letters of encouragement, friendship and gratitude presumably. I LOVE THIS SO VERY MUCH! (Translated from Spanish, Madrid, Spain) *Hidden message: the givers need to be given to, too.

Winter's Simple Pleasures

 This book teaches the values and lessons of each season as seen in the life of an imaginary mouse. All of the hard work and effort of spring, summer, and fall culminate with the simple pleasures of winter and being inside when it is unwelcome outdoors. I am so glad I sought this book out by the author of the LITTLE BLUE TRUCK books. I read it as an ebook and I must admit, it was lovely in that format (on an iPad).

 

Beautiful celebration of love!

This beautiful book will warm your heart. It matches lovely pictures with the powerful lyrics of LOVE ME TENDER by Elvis Presley. (There is also an edition of this book in Spanish.) Priscilla Presley has authored an endnote and I like this sentence: "The lyrics to 'LOVE ME TENDER' are simple but timeless, and I hope they will resonate with people of every culture and race, and from every country."