The Carrot Seed

Title: The Carrot Seed
Author: Ruth Krauss

Illustrator: Crockett Johnson

The voice of reason says, "not a chance", "give up", "don't bother" - what do you do? Do you ignore all these negative opinions? Not if you're a little boy with buckets full of hope and determination, and one carrot seed.

This short, charming story is about a little boy who plants a carrot seed in the ground. His mother says, "I'm afraid it won't come up"; his father says, "I'm afraid it won't come up"; and his brother says, "It won't come up". But that doesn't stop the little boy from giving his carrot patch lots of attention and nurturing. He tends to it everyday. Everyone kept saying he should give up, but his determination was stronger than his doubt. And then one day, what happens? I'll let Crockett Johnson's picture tell the rest of the story. If you enjoy Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon (like I do), then you'll enjoy these illustrations too.

The story's message is simple: when you believe in something, do not let the naysayers steer you off course.

Craft idea: Plant a bean seed in an enviro-friendly, decompostable, paper cup (making sure to decorate the cup first, of course). Make a little vegetable label and attach to the toothpick to identify the contents of the cup (you'll see what I'm getting at when you see the book's illustrations).

Game idea: (ages 4 and up) Play a game of concentration with different vegetable pictures. Have the children name the image of vegetable (or read the word on the card). It's a game for memory and learning new words.

Program themes: gardening, vegetables, cooking

Other recommended title: The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

Ages 3 to 6

A Chair for my Mother

Title: A Chair for my Mother
Author/Illustrator: Vera B. Williams


Understanding how a child sees the world is difficult for an adult. Depending on the age of the child, the illustrations in a picture book are often more important than the plot or characters. I was sitting next to a toddler on a car ride and had this book in my bag. I pulled out the book and started flipping through the pages. Her eyes sparkled as we navigated along the bright, saturated hues Vera Williams has chosen for her book. She loved to stare at the page that features the "wonderful, beautiful, fat, soft armchair...covered in velvet with roses all over it." (I myself remember that page from reading it many years ago as a child).

The story of "A Chair for my Mother" has a beautiful message about overcoming obstacles and challenges (in this case, a fire that destroys their apartment). The story is narrated by the little girl, Rosa, and introduces a family unit that is not commonly discussed in children's books: a child, a mother and a grandmother. The mother works tirelessly as a waitress to earn a meager wage and one day, they return home to find their apartment on fire - everything is lost. Through hard work, the mother saves up her tips and purchases a new chair for their new start in their new apartment.

This story also offers lessons about the following:
-saving money
-the importance of family
-community support
-overcoming large setbacks

It is a story of triumphing over hardships (with beautiful illustrations).

CRAFT IDEA:
-print off an outline of a couch/chair (click on last image on the attached website) and have the child colour in their perfect design.

GAMES IDEA:
-a round of musical chairs

Ages 4 to 8

Abuela

Title: Abuela
Written by: Arthur Deorros
Illustrated by: Elisa Kleven

Complex, lively illustrations make this book a visual treat for children. The story features a young girl and her grandmother (spanish word for grandmother is abuela), setting off on adventures around New York City together. The adventures are magical and innocent with many famous images of NYC. The story incorporates many Spanish words and provides subtle definitions as well. Small amounts of the book are dedicated to Abuela's story of immigrating to America.

Ages: 4 to 7

Caps for Sale

Title: Caps for Sale
Author and Illustrator: Esphyr Slobodkina
Ages: 4-8

A hat peddler walks through his village with a dozen hats stacked on his head everyday (what a talented balancing act). He's experiencing a slow day in sales so he decides to take a nap outside of town. When he awakes he is stunned to find his hats missing. They are not to the left, they are not to the right; where are they? Up, of course! Twelve monkeys in a tree are wearing his hats and won't give them back.
This story will give kids a laugh as the peddler tries desperately to get his hats back.

Craft idea: Decorate a cap or a foam visor

Game idea: Have one child play the peddler and the others play the monkey. The peddlers actions are copied by the monkeys in a game like Simon Says. Alternatively, you could have one child as the guesser: they hide while you pick the peddler and when they return to the group they have to guess who is the peddler.

Buz

Title: Buz

Written and illustrated by Richard Egielski

Age: 3-7

Anyone who has ever worried about eating a spider in their sleep or has gone to a restaurant where there was a bug in their food will appreciate this book.

Buz is a mosquito-like bug (sorry but that's the extent of my entomology knowledge) who winds up on a spoonful of corn flakes entering a little boy's mouth and then gets stuck inside the little boy. The story is written from Buz's perspective as he tries to escape. The boy takes a trip to the doctor and is given two pills (the pills are illustrated on the book cover). These pills are chasing down Buz so they can eliminate him from the boy's body. Buz gets away when a flood arrives and sweeps him out the boy's ear and into the bathtub. When Buz is back home, he visits the doctor and learns that he has caught a germ!

This book can be read from two approaches. There is the literal approach: the boy has eaten a bug, that's gross. Alternatively, the boy has gotten sick which is known as "getting a bug". Going to the doctor can help alleviate the symptoms and taking a bath might be needed to break a fever, etc. I think readers will probably prefer the first one.

Questions to discuss after reading:

1) Why did the boy go to the doctor? Why do we go to the doctor's? (i.e. when sick/to get vaccines so we don't get sick/checkups)

2) What are pills for? What pills should you take? (this question is an opportunity to talk about only taking medicine that is given by a parent, guardian, relative, etc.)

3) What happens if we eat a bug? (this is an opportunity to discuss any concerns that the reader has about finding a bug in their food)

This book has great pictures: there are various levels of magnification/zoom to the illustrations. Sometimes we're focused on the little boy (where he seems small), sometimes we're focused on Buz (which makes the little boy seem huge); this variation in zoom makes the book dynamic and interesting for the kids.

PROGRAMMING IDEAS

Game Idea: Duck-duck-goose derivative called "Buz-Buz-Pill" where the child making the selection is Buz and the person they choose to have chase them is the pill.

Craft idea: Make a Buz costume for the kids to wear home. Have some construction paper cut to make a headband that sits comfortably on the children's heads. Have the kids cut out two eyeballs and glue them on the front of the headband. Provide some pipecleaners to make Buz's long nose (attach to construction paper beneath eyes) and his antennas (staple to headband as well). You'll be seeing Buz everywhere.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

By: Bill Martin, Jr.

Illustrated by: Eric Carle

Ages: 0-3

This book is great for introducing children to colours. It uses large illustrations of animals that pop with vibrant colours like red, yellow, blue, green, purple, white, black and of course, brown (my favourite is the green frog with the big smile). There are less than 20 words per two-page spread which makes it a quick read.

PROGRAMMING IDEAS
Game - Animal noises: Have the programmer demostrates the noises that each animal makes and ask the children to repeat back (i.e. bird, duck, horse, dog, cat, frog, etc.)

Craft - Colouring: Supply the children with illustrated outlines of animals and ask the children to colour the animal with many different colours.

Bread and Jam for Frances

Bread and Jam for Frances
Written by Russell Hoban
Illustrated by Lillian Hoban
Ages 4-8

If you are trying to convince someone to try new foods then this is the perfect book for you! Frances is a young child badger who refuses to eat anything except bread and jam. She refuses the poached eggs she is given for breakfast and the veal cutlets she is served for dinner. And when her Mom packs her an egg salad sandwich for lunch, she trades another kid for his bread and jam. Her parents try to explain to Frances that trying new foods is a good thing, but Frances won't hear of it.
Finally, her parents stop offering her their food and serve her only bread and jam. She has it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, day after day. At first she feels lucky to have all the bread and jam she could want. After a while, though, her love for bread and jam starts to fade and she starts to wish she was being given other options. The lunch that Albert brings to school one day makes Frances jealous because he has a few tasty options (a sandwich, an egg, pickles, grapes, a tangerine and milk) but Frances only has bread and jam. Finally she sings, "What I am, is tired of jam".
Frances' parents exchange the bread and jam for many other tasty foods that Frances loves.

Sidenote: As the book was originally written in the 60s, some of the foods may be outdated or unfamiliar to the children (i.e. lobster salad sandwich, veal cutlets, poached eggs).

Questions to discuss with your reader:

1. Why did Frances stop eating bread and jam when she loves it so much?
2. What food would you want to eat all the time?
   
3. What foods do you hate eating?
   
4. If you were Frances' parents, would you let her eat bread and jam all the time? Why/why not?

Programming ideas:
CRAFT IDEA - Print off copies of a plate setting with an empty plate (see http://www.cutco.com/images/promotion/thanksgiving/ps.jpg) on both sides of the page. On one side, have the children draw foods that they love and on the other side, have them draw foods they dislike.

GAME IDEA - Shopping for food.
Give every player a $20 Monopoly bill. Hand them a list of foods (with pictures) that they have to buy in order to make spaghetti and meatballs with a salad. Print out grocery items on a paper, cut them out and scatter them around the programming room (for examples, see the list at the bottom). Write different prices on the same print-out so that they have to choose which type of spaghetti they will buy. Give them 10 minutes (in the first round) to run around and find the foods on the shopping list. Encourage the parents to help them with the adding of the cost of the foods (because they only have $20). Give them a few rounds to play. The winner of the game will get all the ingredients without spending more than $20.
For game printouts, see:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2332/2443293913_7f86787f8e.jpg?v=0
http://z.about.com/d/kidscooking/1/0/w/V/-/-/sweet-sour-meatballs-big.jpg
http://www.edenfoods.com/store/images/products/zoom/104030.jpg
http://ayeshahaq.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/lettuce3.jpg
http://www.valleygroves.com/images/Tomatoes.jpg
http://ayeshahaq.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/cucumber0511.jpg

Bark, George

Bark George
Written and illustrated by Jules Feiffer
Ages: up to 4 years old

This is a cute story that young children will love. George is a puppy who is asked by his Mom to bark. Each time he opens his mouth, a different animal noise comes out. Maybe it's because I'm an adult, but I immediately jumped to the conclusion that George was being a young, obstinate pup. But this was not the case. When George's Mom took him to the vet and George meowed, the vet reached down into George mouth and pulled out a cat! And when George went "quack-quack", the vet pulled a duck out of George. This process continues until the vet has to put on his extra-long latex globe and pull out a cow! Finally, with this last animal removed, George can bark again.

The illustrations are simple and entertaining.

Sidenote: The vet looks like the villain from Frosty the Snowman, Professor Hinkle.

Questions to ask:

1. Go over the sounds that the animals make.
2. "Do you know what a vet does?"
3. "How big is a duck?"
   
4. "How big is a pig?"
5. "How big is a cow?"

Programming ideas:
CRAFT #1 - print out an outline of a dog (click here for example) and have the kids draw in some animals that they think might live inside the dog. Have them talk about their choices.

Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock

Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock
Retold by Eric A. Kimmel
Illustrated by Janet Stevens

Ages 5-9

You are in for a treat with this story. Eric Kimmel has taken a story that originated in West Africa and brought it to audiences in a funny, thoughtful and energetic way. The story begins when Anansi, a spider, comes upon a moss-covered rock in the forest. He has never seen anything like it before. When he says, "Isn't this a strange moss-covered rock!" he immediately faints and wakes up an hour later. When Anansi learns that this rock has the power to cause fainting, Anansi devises a deceitful plan to use it on the other animals so that Anansi can steal their food supplies. He lures each of the animals into the forest, guides them to the rock, waits for them to say, "Isn't this a strange moss-covered rock!" and then runs back to their food supplies and steals it all. See, Anansi is too lazy to collect the food himself, so he comes up with a plan to use half the effort to generate double the reward. It isn't until the shy, quiet Little Bush Deer, comes up with a plan to play the same trick on Anansi does he get taught a lesson and all the animals reclaim their food.

This story has the opportunity to use different voices for each of the many characters.

A quick note for anyone looking for this book in your local, public library: you are likely to find it with fairy tales in the non-fiction section than with the other picture books (please consult your librarian for assistance).

Questions to discuss with the readers:
-What are some of the animals that Anansi plays a trick on? What area of the world might Anansi and these animals live in?
-What should they do with that magic moss-covered rock? Hide it? Move it to another forest?
-What do you do when someone steals your food or something that belongs to you?

Programming ideas:
IDEA #1: Game idea -- Place some sheets of coloured construction paper in a circle on the ground (with one sheet of white paper mixed in with the colours). Hand out one card to each child; these cards have different pictures of fruit or animals that were discussed in the book though some cards have a picture of a moss-coloured rock. Have the children walk on the pieces of paper to some music. When the music stops, the child on the piece of white paper has to explain what the picture is on their card. It may be a giraffe or a coconut. If it's a picture of the moss-covered rock, then the children should exclaim, "Isn't this a strange moss-covered rock!" and all the children fall down.

IDEA#2: Craft idea -- Make a replica of the animal's house in the forest out of popsicle sticks.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Title: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Author: Judith Viorst
Illustrated: Ray Cruz

Age appropriate: 5-9

I'm sure this book sounds familiar to many -- it's definitely a classic that I can remember reading. This story is written in the first person by Alexander, a boy of about six years of age, who awakens one day adamant that today is going to be a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day". This attitude follows him through many bad events he encounters during the day: not finding a toy in his cereal box when each of his two brothers do, not getting a window seat on the ride to school when all the other kids in the car do, not receiving a compliment from the teacher when the other kids do, etc. Many of the examples of Alexander's bad luck comes from him observing what the other kids have and him feeling inadequate. There are also incidents that involve him causing his own bad luck: running amok in his father's office or losing his marble down the bathtub drain. Either way, Alexander only reports what is not going his way. He considers moving to Australia to escape it all.

In the end, his Mom tells him that some days are just "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days".

Topics to discuss with the reader about this book:
-What are some of the things that make Alexander upset?
-Would the things that made Alexander upset make you upset?
-What are some of the things that Alexander should have been grateful for?
(i.e. he gets 3 good meals a day, someone drives him to school, he got new shoes, he got to watch TV)
-What are some things that make you upset?
-What makes you feel happy again when you are upset?
-Where is Australia?
-Why does Alexander want to go to Australia?

Programming idea #1:
Give each child a piece of blank paper and ask them to draw a line down the page vertically. On the left side of the page ask the children to write or draw some things that they don't like (foods, games, toys, weather, clothes). On the right side, ask the children to write or draw some things they really like. Bring them back together and ask if anyone wants to share their answers. See if they can articulate why they like or dislike something.

Programming idea #2:
Develop a game board on a sheet of bristol board that is large enough to be seen by a group of 10 children (have the children gather around the board which can be placed on the ground or a table). There is only one player to move along the squares of the board. The piece representing the player could look like Alexander. Divide the board into the parts of Alexander's day (I've suggested 11 examples):
1) wake up
2) eat breakfast
3) ride in the car to school
4) school
4) play at recess
5) eat lunch
6) go to the dentist
7) go to shoe store
8) go to Dad's office
9) eat dinner
10) watch tv
11) take a bath
12) go to sleep

Roll the die and move the player through the game. Each square in the game will be a post-in with either a smiley face or a sad face on it. If the player lands on a post-it with a smiley face, the post-it will say something positive (i.e. in the school category: "Mrs. Dickens liked Paul's picture of the sailboat better than my picture of the invisible castle. I tell Paul that I like his picture too and that he's a good artist. Win 1 ice cream cone". The idea is that the more positive things that are said, the more ice cream cone cards are accumulated. When Alexander lands on a negative box and says something mean (i.e. using the same example with Paul's picture: "I tell Paul that I think his art is yucky and hurt his feelings. Lose 1 ice cream cone."

Why You Should Read This Blog

Thanks for stopping by my blog. On this blog you'll find my review of the "100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know" -- a list generated and updated by the New York Public Library. I am working off the list available as of today (March 24, 2010). If you are looking for a great picture book then you are in the right place. I'll be tagging key words to help make the site searchable. If you have any suggestions for how the site could be more useful, please send them along!

On a personal note, my motivation for developing this blog is to increase my knowledge of children's literature because I am an aspiring children's librarian. I'll be using this blog as an experiment lab for ideas I have for programming, as well.

I hope you enjoy.