Stay Awake, Sally

Stay Awake, Sally by Mitra Modarressi immediately appealed to me and charmed my daughter, too. As parents, we face the ongoing battle of the nightly bedtime routine. Occasionally a child is actually tired enough to fully cooperate, but usually they would love to extend bedtime as much as possible (one more story, one more drink of water, etc.). In this book the tables have turned: Sally desperately wants to gather her teddy bears, take a bath, brush her teeth, have one story and go to bed, but her parents repeatedly beg her to stay awake longer. They provide one enticement after another -- dancing, baking cookies, playing games, and more -- in attempt to coerce Sally to stay up and play with them. This reversal of perspectives provides humor to both parents and children. The text is very rhythmic and fun to read. The illustrations are done in warm colors and easily bring to life Sally's resistance and her parents' fun-loving attitude.

Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch

Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli is a treasure of a book. Mr. Hatch lives a solitary and repetitive existence, completing the same blah routine daily and having no meaningful connections with other people. One day he unexpectedly receives a huge heart box filled with candy and the note "Somebody Loves You." Subsequently, Mr. Hatch becomes a markedly different person: reaching out to others, helping others in need, and doing little things to bring joy to others (like baking brownies for the entire neighborhood). His entire countenance is different, and those around him are delighted.

In time, the mail carrier returns and sadly admits that the heart box was delivered to Mr. Hatch by mistake. Mr. Hatch is understandably disappointed and heartbroken and, feeling that his transformation was empty because no one loved him after all, he returns to his old blah self and his old routine.

In the end, the people whose lives he touched recognize that they love him and decide to show him in a major way. So somebody does love Mr. Hatch after all.

I think we can all relate to Mr. Hatch on some level, and this book has so many wonderful aspects that it's hard to know where to begin describing them. My favorite, though, is that one act of love tends to lead to another and also tends to give one a sense of purpose, of lightness, of connection with others that warms the heart and soul.

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

This classic tale is an Aesop's Fable, but has been re-told and re-illustrated countless times over the years. I haven't read this Jan Brett version, but my copy is so old that I can't even find an image of it online. I fondly remember the story from my childhood, and my daughter asks to read it repeatedly. If you're not familiar with it, basically a country mouse is visited by her cousin, a town mouse, who proceeds to turn his nose up at her simple home and food. He then invites her to join him in the city and have a taste for his lifestyle. However, upon making the trip all sorts of dangers and frustrations occur, causing the country mouse to realize that she really prefers her simple country life after all. This timeless story is a great reminder that what we already have may be what we truly want most of all.

Series: The Berenstein Bears

It's likely that most everyone has heard of the Berenstein Bears. I grew up reading these books. Honestly, when I began looking for books for my daughter I assumed that these books would be completely outdated, but they cover such ageless challenges of childhood and my daughter immediately loved them. When we buy or check out a Berenstein Bears book from the library, we typically read it several times daily thereafter because she enjoys them so much. The family provides a great example of loving each other, having strong values and doing their best although they are definitely not perfect.

One great advantage to this series is that it's a great resource when your child is dealing with a specific problem. We recently moved, so we read the book about the Berenstein Bears moving to their treehouse. Whether it's a school bully, going to the doctor or dentist, problems with siblings or friends, a messy room, too much TV, a vacation gone wrong, a new baby in the family, stage fright, or illness, this series has you covered. Seeing how Brother or Sister Bear handles a problem may help your child cope better.

Animal Crackers

Animal Crackers by Jane Dyer is one of my favorite collections of nursery rhymes. Really, it contains more than just traditional nursery rhymes and is divided into sections like food, classic nursery rhymes, bedtime poems, seasonal pieces, and more. The illustrations are warm and idealistic without being overly cutesy. This collection would appeal to a girl or a boy. My daughter could sit and listen to this for a long time, although she usually picks out her favorites to be read rather than reading the entire book. Some poems and song lyrics from around the world are also included, so this collection is a good mix of well-known pieces and ones that were new to me.

Good Thing You're Not an Octopus!

Good Thing You're Not an Octopus!, written by Julie Menkes and illustrated by Maggie Smith, is ideal for a young child who fusses at every bath, nap, and mealtime. The little boy in the book doesn't want to get dressed, so he is reminded that if he were an octopus, he'd have eight legs to put in his pants instead of just two. The book goes through similar logic with mealtime, getting into his car seat, naptime, bathtime, brushing his teeth, and so on. It's a fun way to help kids think differently about all their daily routines and the parent can then remind them of the book later in the day when one of those routines is being refused.

Sometimes I LIke to Curl up in a Ball

Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball is a board book by Vicky Churchill and illustrated by Charles Fuge. Little Wombat is a roly-poly character who likes to do all sorts of things: play in the mud, try to stand as tall as a tree, race with his friends, and so on. But at the end of the day, he just wants to go home to his mommy or daddy and curl up in a ball in a comfy place and go to sleep. This book is ideal for little ones from about 1-3 years old. They will especially enjoy one page spread where you flip the book to a vertical orientation and another where Little Wombat makes silly faces and you can turn the book all the way around to see them all. The illustrations communicate the warmth and spunk of Little Wombat's personality.

There are a couple other books featuring Little Wombat, but this one is our favorite by far.

Author Spotlight: Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

Another favorite author of ours is Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. We've read Seeds! Seeds! Seeds!, A Taste of Honey, The Kindness Quilt, Shells! Shells! Shells!, Count Down to Clean Up!, and Apples Apples Apples.

The books' illustrations are cleverly done in cut paper. It amazes me how Wallace is able to communicate concepts and characters so compellingly using cut paper. Buddy the bear and Minna the rabbit are two characters featured frequently in the books, and their personalities come alive even without being able to draw or paint various facial expressions.

Wallace takes the approach in most of her books of teaching about a topic in the midst of a story. In Seeds! Seeds! Seeds!, Buddy's grandpa sends him a package with various seed-related projects for him to do. In the process, he learns what various seeds look like, catalogues them, makes art projects using them, puts some in a bird feeder, and grows his own grass. It would be fun to get the book and then have your child do everything Buddy does. Similar to Monica Williamson's books, which I mentioned in a previous post, this author has a main storyline and then adds extra information about the topic that you can either delve into fully or skip over if your child isn't interested.

Each book could easily inspire other related projects for your child. In The Kindness Quilt, Minna's class at school creates a paper "quilt" noting various acts of kindness the students performed. My daughter loved looking at the hand-drawn quilt squares and hearing about the kind act displayed in each. An older child could then think of something kind to do and draw a square similar to what they did in the book.

Similarly, you could use Count Down to Clean Up to introduce a household clean up and conservation effort or recycling. You could read Shells! Shells! Shells! before going to the beach, or Apples Apples Apples prior to a trip to the orchard. The possibilities for making the books come alive are endless.

Nancy Elizabeth Wallace has countless other books that promise similar enjoyment and learning. I'm excited to read more of her titles!

The Colors of Us

Many people are familiar with the author/illustrator Karen Katz, perhaps best known for her board books such as Where Is Baby's Belly Button?. We've enjoyed several of Katz's books, but The Colors of Us truly stands out. The book is based on Katz and her daughter (adopted from Guatemala) and their observations of the various colors of their friends and acquaintences in their neighborhood.

Instead of just commenting on the various shades generically, they use various foods, spices, and things found in nature to describe the colors, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and caramel. I loved that this was addressed in such a positive and appreciative manner. In the end, Lena learns out how to mix paint to create all the shades in order to make paintings of all the people they saw.

Somewhat to my surprise, my daughter wanted to read this book over and over again and was very disappointed when it returned to the library.

Author Spotlight: Monica Wellington

We have enjoyed many of Monica Wellington's books, so I couldn't limit myself to posting just one. It all started with Mr. Cookie Baker, then moved on to Pizza at Sally's, Crepes by Suzette, Riki's Birdhouse, Apple Farmer Annie, Truck Driver Tom, Zinnia's Flower Garden, and Squeaking of Art.

I think our favorites of these are probably Zinnia's Flower Garden and Crepes by Suzette.

Wellington's books have bright, cheerful illustrations and are entertainingly educational. These are the kinds of books that beg you to dig into the subject matter: after reading Zinnia's Flower Garden, we planted zinnias, sunflowers, and sweet peas in our garden; Pizza at Sally's included a pizza recipe that we made together one Friday evening; we made crepes with Nutella after reading Crepes by Suzette; Squeaking of Art, a book about a group of mice visiting an art museum, inspired and informed a trip to our local art museum. (No, we did not drive a truck after reading Truck Driver Tom!)

If your child has a shorter attention span, you can simply read the main storyline. For older children or those who can focus longer, there are all sorts of extra blurbs in the margins with added information, plus several of the books have recipes, craft ideas, and so on at the end.

Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny Too

To say that my daughter loved these books (written and illustrated by Mo Willems) would be an understatement. The stories are so relatable to the preschooler's experience, the dialogue so amusing, and the illustrations so eye-catching that it's hard to imagine a child not being captivated. In the first book, Trixie loses her beloved Knuffle Bunny on a trip to the laundromat and her Mommy and Daddy search to find it. In the second, she brings Knuffle Bunny to preschool only to discover that a classmate has one just like it, and the teacher accidentally mixes them up! In the end, an exchange is made in the middle of the night on the streets of Brooklyn, and the girls wind up being friends. Even adults will enjoy the humorous story line and dialogue. The illustrations are particularly fun because they combine photographs of Brooklyn with original drawings. There are many more works by Willems to enjoy, but these were my daughter's ultimate favorites.

Moon Rabbit

The book Moon Rabbit by Natalie Russell is the beautifully illustrated story of a girl rabbit who enjoys her life in the city but is sometimes lonely. She finally meets a boy rabbit who lives in the park and spends a marvelous time with him, reveling in the meeting of a true friend and companion. Eventually, though, she misses the city and decides to go back, but the boy rabbit comes to visit her.

The story is so simply told but with such profound feeling. I appreciated the fact that though the rabbit wanted to go back to the city, she realized that she didn't have to choose between having a friend and being true to herself. The friends could each share their favorite places and activities with each other without having to become exactly alike.

The art is done in soothing colors and the text is brief enough to keep the attention of young ones.

Ella Takes the Cake

I discovered this book simply by being attracted to the illustrations, but after reading it I was enchanted by the story as well. Ella is a little elephant who lives in a pretty village by the sea and helps her mother in the local bakery. She wants to do more to help, but is too little to handle the hot oven or slice the pies with knives. She gets her opportunity to take on a major task when the delivery man forgets to load a special cake on his truck. Ella hitches a cart to her bike and heads off to fulfill her task, though she encounters many obstacles.

The sweet determination of Ella and the loving relationship between she and her mother make this book stand out. Young children will relate to Ella's desire to help and will delight in seeing if she can fulfill her goal of delivering the cake. The bright, idealistic illustrations create a setting that makes me want to jump right in and live in the little village.

There are a few other Ella books currently available, and I'm excited to see if they are as delightful as this title.

Welcome!

Welcome to Children's Literature Reviews! Really, that's just a fancy way of saying this is a place where I plan to post reviews of children's books that I consider to be particularly high quality, special, or noteworthy in some way. I don't plan on reviewing books that were disappointing to me.

I have a preschool-age child, so my reviews will mostly cover books of interest to her at this point. I'm finding such a variety in the quality of books available that I wanted to create a place where I could highlight those we've enjoyed the most. The books could be anything from classics (including ones I've saved from my own childhood bookshelf) to new releases. I hope you'll stop by your local library or bookstore and check some of them out! I'd also enjoy hearing your recommendations.

Happy reading!