Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

*(Courvoisier, anyone?)

Indulge me while I take a break for a moment from new holiday titles to write a tribute to what are probably my top-two favorite Christmas picture book titles ever (and that’s a bold statement, as there are so many great ones).

Does it get any better than John Burningham’s Harvey Slumfenburger’s Christmas Present (published in ’93)? I ask again, does. it. get. any. better? I think not. A friend of mine — an educator and former professor of mine as well — used to say that she, as a teacher of young children, wanted every child to be and to feel noticed. I love that. Well, that’s the glory and brilliance of this book — that Santa, though tired, though beat from his one-night world odyssey of gift-giving, takes the time to deliver the one present that he inadvertently missed. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re not familiar with The Edge of the Forest, a monthly online journal devoted to children’s literature, then let me make your day by telling you about it. Kelly Harold of Big A little a is the journal’s Editor and Webmaster, and every month she and her editorial board and team of contributors bring you book reviews, interviews with blogging authors, a “Best of the Blogs” column, a once-a-month round-up of children’s favorite books, and much more. (And, ooh! ooh! This month, they bring us “Sounds From the Forest,” in which Andrea and Mark of Just One More Book!! talk to Kelly and Anne Boles Levy, the founders of the Cybils Award, about the genesis of the award and how blogging has changed children’s book reviewing today).

Anyway, Yours Truly also contributed a feature in the December issue of this informative online journal. So, if you’d like to read reviews of four recently-published picture books with rhyming text — all nominated for a Cybil Award in the Picture Book (Fiction) category — then, by all means, go here to do so. The featured books are: Estelle Takes a Bath by Jill Esbaum and illustrated by Mary Newell DePalma; Sail Away, Little Boat by Janet Buell and illustrated by Jui Ishida; Stoo Hample’s Book of Bad Manners by none other than Stoo Hample; and The Red Lemon by Bob Stakke. There are also, as usual, many other reviews by other contributors in this month’s journal. Enjoy!

Over at Chicken Spaghetti, there was a recent post about Hanukkah titles. Oh my, what a great list with all kinds of wonderful contributions. Susan started it all with her personal holiday reading recommendation, many great kidlitosphere minds joined in, and then Susan even added an update to the post. If you’re looking for some highly-praised Hanukkah children’s titles from Those Bloggers in the Know, then this post is a great place to look.

And here’s a great new Hanukkah title: Maxie Baum’s I Have a Little Dreidel, illustrated by Julie Paschkis (published by Scholastic in October of this year). Read the rest of this entry »

Merry Un-Christmas written by Mike Reiss and illustrated by David Catrow; published by HarperCollins Publishers (September ’06)

Mrs. Claus Takes a Vacation by Linas Alsenas; published by Scholastic (October ’06)

Here are two refreshingly funny ’06 picture book titles for anyone who has ever experienced a tad bit of ennui and/or felt a bit burnt-out with the bustling-about of the holiday season. These are two immensely enjoyable books. So, put aside your rum-laden eggnog for a moment, and read ahead. Only the most serious of scrooges won’t enjoy these . . .

Read the rest of this entry »

* {Read here at Big A little a for today’s Poetry Friday round-up} . . .

Let’s take a look for this week’s Poetry Friday at two amusing ’06 picture book titles, one of them nominated for a Cybil in the Fiction Picture Books category and both of them written in rhyming text — closed couplets, to be exact, for you Poetry Sticklers (and I say that fondly).

Ninety-Three in My Family by Erica S. Perl and illustrated by Mike Lester; published by Abrams Books for Young Readers — Know someone with a lot of pets? Bet they don’t have as many as the little tyke in this Cybil-nominated book; he lives with ninety-two humans and animals — and all in one home — as he tells his stunned teacher one morning during class. Oh my but this is a funny book (there’s one pygmy hippo named Bernice in the home if that gives you an idea of the book’s freakish funniness). Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, so I try to stick to book reviews only, and I’m straying now with this post, but this. must. be. shared, since he is the supreme one and all. Love it.

Don’t you think we should take a look at some new holiday picture book titles? Now, when I say “holiday,” I promise I won’t narrow that to Christmas only. As TadMack at Finding Wonderland put it so well, it’s happy EidChrisSolKwanZukkah, thank you very much. But let’s take this list slowly, divide it into parts, since we’re probably all busy preparing for whatever we celebrate anyway. And the first two are Christmas titles, and they are each little joys in their own, lively ways. So, even if you say humbug to the entire season (and on most days, I wouldn’t blame you), these are worth seeing and might cheer you up. And these two titles are for the Santa Skeptics, just going to show that the Buddha was right when he said, “there is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt” (as well as “fruitcake gets a bad rap; I mean, it’s really quite tasty,” one of his more lesser-known comments) . . .

Santa Knows by Cynthia & Greg Leitich Smith and illustrated by Steve Björkman; published by Dutton Children’s Books — First page of this book: “Alfie F. Snorklepuss yanked his little sister’s Christmas stocking from the fireplace mantel.” What the . . . ? you wonder. Well, I would venture to guess that Alfie’s been hangin’ out and talkin’ trash with Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie, that’s what. While Reginald set out to disprove the existence of the town’s friendly dinosaur, Alfie sets out to prove to his sister, Noelle, that there is — gasp — no Santa Claus. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey, check it out… Renee, of Shen’s Books Blog and Renee’s Book of the Day, has her Holiday Books Booktalk podcast up. Wanna hear my squeaky southern self rambling incoherently about Barbara Robinson’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever? Go listen.

Yes, you’ve been to the beach-in-your-mind in order to avoid the bitter cold. But, we can’t deny it for that long, my friends. Time to embrace it, whether you want to or not. And, at least here in the South, we’re still crying, let it snow! . . . And so as we prepare for the snow-we-hope-we-get, we can kick back with our hot cocoa and read these new, snow-covered picture book titles. These are just a couple, a start for now. But please do add titles (new, such as these, or even some of your older favorites) in the comments section, should you feel so inclined . . .

Snow Sounds: An Onomatopoeic Story by David A. Johnson; published by Houghton Mifflin — It’s night time, the snow is falling silently, and a young boy snores in his bed with his cat purring at his feet. As the boy wakes and the day begins, we hear a swoosh, a slush, a smoosh and a crash, a crush, and a clank. As the sub-title of this one indicates, these busy sounds are the only words in the book, accompanied by David A. Johnson’s dreamy watercolors. Read the rest of this entry »

*{Note: Read here at Chicken Spaghetti for today’s Poetry Friday round-up} . . .

Happy Poetry Friday, everyone.

We had our first snow of the season Monday. We’re having a bit more today. It’s almost winter, and it seems especially sudden after such a mild autumn. The leaves are gone, the radiators are clanging and hissing, all the stores have their snow shovels on display… It’s funny, but the same thing happens to me every year around this time. I get a couple of lines stuck in my head from this poem, only I can never actually remember the rest of the poem, or the poet.  Just these words:

The sunlight on the garden
Hardens and grows cold

But every time I step outside to that sort of frigid bright winter sunlight – the kind that looks plenty warm from inside, but always comes with that fierce, inhuman New England wind – those lines pop into my head. And then they kind of scroll around in my brain on autoplay, over and over, until I have to look it up. And I discover (again) that the title is, in fact, “The Sunlight on the Garden.” And it’s by Louis MacNeice, an Irish-born poet and playwright from the first half of the 20th century. And I discover (again) how achingly lovely this poem is, and why the imagery stays with me year after year:

The sunlight on the garden
Hardens and grows cold,
We cannot cage the minute
Within its nets of gold;
When all is told
We cannot beg for pardon.

Here’s the rest of the poem. Enjoy, and have a lovely day.