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Book reviews for children by library staff and guest contributors
This quiet picture book by the author of the rollicking Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type prepares young readers for bedtime in a calm and comforting way. Baby sloth and his mama live high up in the tree. They sleep in the light of the moon holding each other tight.
Have you ever wondered about all the stories a library book holds? Not the stories inside the book, but stories of the physical book itself. Who else has read it? Where has it been? What kinds of adventures has it had?
I had a local friend recently ask me why Madison Public Library didn’t have Tonies for check out - if you’re unfamiliar they are small plastic figures that pair with an integrated system for audio stories - and I knew all of the answers. New systems are expensive to start on a large scale, and our collections management team thinks really critically about system wide implementation before investing in a new product…. But as a parent? I have all kinds of other thoughts. With two little kids at home, we have a LOT of STUFF floating around.
Perla's two superpowers are making people love her and roaring like a lion. She is a little, scruffy dog, but her powers are mighty. She makes the Rico family fall in love with her at the shelter even though they were hoping to find a guard dog. Then she learns to roar like a lion to demonstrate what an excellent guardian she will make.
In a battle between the blustering north wind and the warm shining sun, who do you think would win? Would anyone win? In this Aesop's fable, re-imagined by author/illustrator Philip Stead, three sisters go out in their patched-up coats—colored yellow, blue, and red—to take a walk before the weather changes. At first, the sun shines sweetly upon them, but then the grouchy north wind takes over, blowing cold, harsh air across the sisters' path and the whole world! Will the north wind manage to turn the sisters' coats to rags after all? Or will the sun's rays prevail?
Some people in my family believe in aliens and UFO's. I am not one of them. But after reading Dalmartian, I might just change my mind.
As a person who loves seeing the return of all our plant and animal pals when the weather gets warm again, I was happy to find the late April Pulley Sayre's In Between among the picture books at Central Library. Filled with beautiful close-up photographs of all kinds of plants (some native to Wisconsin!) and animals—from grey hairstreak butterflies to baby squirrels to sleepy gulls—Sayre tells a gentle poem-like story of different kinds of in-betweenness, illustrating each one with a perfectly apt creature portrait.
Ten-year-old Magnolia Wu's parents own Bing Qi Ling Bubbles Laundromat in NYC. Instead of going to the ocean or taking a trip to an amusement park, Magnolia usually spends the summer helping out around the business and sneaking popsicles that are intended for paying customers. She is not happy about summer and wishes her life were more adventurous.
Cuando Zorro llega al parque vestido en azul, sus amigos le preguntan por qué está triste - pero, ¡la verdad es que no está triste, sino muy contento! Sus amigos le ofrecen ropa del color de la alegría, y cuando se empieza a enojar, le ofrecen primero ropa del color del enojo y luego del color de la calma. Por fin el pobre Zorro grita, "¡BASTA!" tirando la ropa por todas partes, echándole color al escenario gris.
Wanda's big brother is the bravest kid she knows, but when her turn comes to match his feats of bravery, things are a lot harder than she thought. The monkey bars don't agree with her, the giant hill he biked down is a LOT bigger now, and forget about going to camp.
When Wanda's friends cajole her to join them on the Coaster of Doom, she is relieved that she is still too short to ride. She wants to be brave though, so she spends all year practicing. She bikes and sleds down hills, tiptoes into the dark basement, and even tries out a climbing wall with a look of determination.
