An Eye for Fashion
All you spuds looking for duds, “Lance Vance’s Fancy Pants Store” is having a big sale on potato pants. Hurry, hurry, hurry because “Once they’re gone, they’re gone!”
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Book reviews for children by library staff and guest contributors
All you spuds looking for duds, “Lance Vance’s Fancy Pants Store” is having a big sale on potato pants. Hurry, hurry, hurry because “Once they’re gone, they’re gone!”
I recently got a question from someone with a library mystery - a picture book they were looking for about a woman who bakes away her sadness. It was kind of dark, with a house on a hill... but they couldn't remember the title!
This didn't ring any bells for me, but we have a great team with lots of combined experience with children's books, so I put out a call to crowd source the title and one of my colleagues came up with the answer: Mrs. Biddlebox, which does indeed have a dark swirly cover and the title page features a house on a hill.
Ethan and his family are getting a fresh start in the hot, coastal town of Palm Knot, Georgia, or at least they are trying to. While there's a promise of finding new friends and rebuilding family relationships, Ethan's guilt of who he was and what he did continues to haunt him. Whispered phone calls at night, family secrets and the secrets of his possible new best friend, Coralee, ultimately contribute to Ethan's understanding of the importance of remembering and forgiveness. This is a capably written story that discusses death, forgiveness, and the effects of guilt on a young mind.
There are lots of ways to be strong. When Rob Kearney was a kid he was STRONG. He was able to lift heavy boxes and open jars with the tightest lids. He tried activities that tested his strength. His favorite sport was weightlifting and he felt mighty and powerful like a superhero! In fact, he had dreams of becoming the strongest man in the world.
If you were charmed by Marcel and his shoes, meet this snail who hails from France. From his beret, red scarf and blue and white striped shirt, down to his trail of “shimmery stuff.” From his speedy race across a checked tablecloth to reach the delicious salad with very specific ingredients, “a salad with croutons and light vinaigrette and absolutely no carrots,” to his sad realization that no one chooses snails as their favorite animal.
“On the African veld, there is a village. As the sun sets, parents tell their children, ‘It is time for bed.’” I Just Want to Say Good Night is a universal story of childhood. While Rachel Isadora’s beautiful oil paint illustrations transport children to a far away African landscape, all the cheeky little ways Lala employs to stay up just a little bit longer will feel wholly familiar. I can imagine my own three-year-old in central Wisconsin saying… “I just want to say goodnight to the little ants” or "Yes. Yes. I am coming.
It is summertime and hopefully you will get time outdoors to enjoy nature. The new book Wings, Waves, & Webs by Robin Mitchel Cranfield might inspire you go on a pattern hunt next time you are out.
Laxmi’s Mooch introduces us to Laxmi, a delightful and confident child, who has never paid much attention to the little hairs that grow on her upper lip – until a classmate points them out during a playground game of farm animals. After that, Laxmi becomes very aware of the hair that grows on her upper lip, arms, legs, and between her eyebrows.
Sandra Boynton needs no introduction for anyone with a toddler in their life, and I was very excited for the newest addition to the collection, this one a hardcover picture book instead of the classic board book, but still filled with the signature silly animals and great rhymes.
Not since Mo Willems' pigeon had to go to school ("The unknown stresses me out, dude") have I felt so seen and understood by an animal in a picture book, but this story spoke to me from the opening page:
Elena quiere aprender a montar en bici, pero cada vez que lo intenta... ¡CATAPLAM! ¡CATAPLOM! ¡CATAPLUM! Después de su tercer intento y su tercer choque, Elena está lista para rendirse, pero un amigo la anima a intentarlo de nuevo y ¡adelante! Este libro de primer lector es un recuerdo de que la única forma de mejorar en algo es practicar.