Nine Months -- Perfect Picture Book Friday

Title: Nine Months Before a Baby is Born
Author: Miranda Paul
Illustrator: Jason Chin
Publisher: Neal Porter Books, 2019

I chose this book because I have a friend who is having a baby. I am so excited for the whole family. She announced to the world that her life is changing and they are preparing for another boy to join the family. As scientists and parents, I believe this book will be a great addition to their family discussions about the new baby.

The story is written in simple poetry describing in simple terms what is happening inside mommies belly.

On the left-hand spreads, we see illustrations of the baby from fertilized egg to the moment it's time for mom and dad to head to the hospital. Each illustration of the baby's formation and growth is actual size.

On the right-hand spread, the illustrations take you through the life of a family of three as they prepare for the arrival of the new baby.

The illustrations are created with watercolor and gauche. The family images are bright and show the changes of the seasons to help set up time passing. The illustrations of the baby in the belly are set on a deep blue background and the number of weeks that have past are included.

The book back-matter adds more in depth information about babies and how they grow. There are little snippets about things babies can do before they're born, comparisons of the gestation periods of humans vs. animals, and a section called what if? This section talks about multiple births, premature births, and miscarriage.

Why I like this book:

So often children grow up knowing that babies happen, but they are not shown a more in-depth look.  I feel like this book opens the door to conversations about how babies grow and what to expect about a new baby coming into the family.

I really like the side-by-side between the growth of the baby and the family preparing for that a new life to come home.

The simple text and beautiful illustrations can be read as a family or the child can spend time looking and discovering on his/her own.

Activities and Resources

There is an excellent exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Check out the link for an online experience.

Check out the bibliography at the back of the book for more reading.

How to answer questions as they arise.

Valentiny Writing Contest -- Meet Al

It's contest time! Valentiny style. (Follow the link for more Valentiny Stories) This year's contest theme is a valentine story where someone who feels curious. The other rules are the story must be 214 words or less. 

I am all about curiosity. One of my favorite quotes comes from Albert Einstein says, “I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

That was my inspiration for this story. 

As I have been working on my drawing skills, I decided to create a character named Al.  I called him Little Al the Curious Boy. My first idea started with Al who's first word was Why?

Somehow it went in a different direction than I expected. But it's fun to follow the story and see where it will take you.  My first typed draft was 338 words. In three days I revised the story about 7 times, clarifying and cutting. 

Here's the final version:

Al Asks Why

By Sarah Tobias

211 words

In a moment of quiet at breakfast Al asked, “Why?”

He had no chance to say anything more.

Though they didn’t know what Al wanted to know, they explained, and answered and talked. They googled and futzed, answered questions unasked without stopping to take a breath.

Al wandered outside with a box. He played house, drove a car, then flew a plane.

When mom noticed Al, she droned on about how boxes are made. Al listened a bit then snuck away. He hunted for bugs and cool stuff.

At dinner Al’s parents explained entomology. Did you know worms have five hearts?

Al ate, washed his dish, and went to his room. He painted and cut out rainbow hearts.

His parents came in and described the ins and outs of human hearts.

Al took a bath, got ready for bed, turned off the light, and slept.

At breakfast, Al’s parents continued. They described, clarified, and expounded.

Finally stopping for a breath.

“WHY?!” Al interjected.

His parents froze and for once remained quiet.

“Why do you always talk and explain? I’d rather play and adventure.” He took their hands and walked out to the garden.

They climbed into his heart covered box. This Valentine’s Day they sailed and floated across a rainbow sea.

Crab Cake -- Perfect Picture Book Friday

Title: Crab Cake: Turning the Tide Together
Author/Illustrator: Andrea Tsurumi
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019

First lines: Under the sea, where sunlight touches sand, lies a place that's home to many incredible creatures. Clownfish hides in the stinging anemone (ah-neh-mo-nee). Manta Ray gets cleaned. . .  And Crab bakes cakes.

Why I love this book: 

One: It is beautiful. Andrea's illustrations are full of color, detail and emotion. You could sit and look at each page for hours.

Two: It's about the creatures in the ocean. I love the ocean.

This is true. To add to it, if you are snorkeling in shallow coral areas, you can actually hear the Parrotfish crunching on the coral. And, if you think about it, when you put you feet on the sandy bottom, you are standing on Parrotfish poop (the sand).

Three: The play on words. Crab Cakes, get it? Popular people food and in this story, Crab bakes cake.

Four: It's an important story about saving our ocean.

Five: Fear can freeze us in our tracks, but if one person or crab shakes things up just a little bit, great things can happen.

And Six: Cake!

It's delicious, beautiful, poignant, and important!

Activities and Resources:

Learn more about the ocean life shown in the book. Who knows, you may discover some fun and strange facts along the way. Check out books from your school or public library.

Visit an Aquarium:  In Chicago, the Shedd Aquarium offers free days to Illinois Residents and is a Museums for All partner. Check out the Aquarium closest to you and spend the day under the sea.

Take Action! Even if you don't live near an ocean, there are loads of things you can do to help protect your family, the planet, and future generations.

• When you go to the beach, a park, or forest, take a bag and pick up garbage you find.
• Be sure to recycle.
• Rethink what you use, can you do without it? Can you use it again? Can you . . . .
• As the story of the Starfish goes, you alone may not be able to do a whole lot, but by tossing that starfish back into the sea, you have made a difference to that one starfish.
• Learn about the EU's ban on single use plastics.
• Did you know that Maine is the first state in the US to ban Styrofoam? 
• Start a program in your neighborhood/school and see how you can make it grow. Maybe the program is to teach people about the ocean, or the life cycle of butterflies, or how to grow a garden, or collecting plastic bottle caps to have made into benches. The sky's the limit.
• Write letters to your government officials, let them know you want change and you are willing to help make it happen.

Learn about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

https://lgbpodcast.libsyn.com/

Be sure to listen to Matthew C. Winner and Andrea Tsurumi talking about the book on The Children's Book Podcast Blog. This is one of my favorite podcasts so far. I enjoy them all, but the joy, compassion, humor, and enthusiasm that Andrea and Matthew have in this interview is contagious. You can subscribe to The Children's Book Podcast through just about any podcast app.

Remember, 71% of our earth is covered by water. You are made up of 60% water. Clean water is important. Not just the oceans, but our lakes, rivers, and streams too.

Be Like Crab and . . . Bake A Cake

Any cake. If you want to share it with me, I need it to be gluten free. 

I found this mix from Simple Mills at the grocery store, and it's really tasty. 

Be sure to check out Susanna Hill's Blog where you can look for reviews by book, title, and by themes. And you can check out her weekly #PPBF post along with links to many more wonderful posts here.

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

The easiest way to get me to pick up a book is to tell me it is about nature and animals. The school year is over, and I have more time to dedicate to reading, thinking, and recommending. My first out-of-school book was Wishtree by Katherine Applegate.

Wishtree is written from the point of view of a Red Oak named Red who is 216 rings old. Red is proud of its heritage. Proud to be a home to so many animals. Red has a friend, a crow named Bongo. The tree looks out at two homes. Two families. One new family. One girl who has a wish to find a friend. It's not so easy. Not everyone wants this new family in town. Red has been the wishtree in the neighborhood for many human generations. Throughout, Red remained quiet, but now. . . .

After finishing this book, my first thought was that this would be a great book for teachers to read to their classes at the beginning of the school year. Then, I thought kids shouldn't wait. Parents should read this book with their kids and they should talk about it, and in the fall the kids should read it to their teachers and they should all take action.

While I was writing this review, an article shared among my writing groups about discussing the need for books to have lessons for a child to absorb and learn from. This really got me thinking about what I was writing about this book. It was sounding like a lesson plan for teachers and parents. Yikes!

One of the main reasons I became a librarian was to make reading fun, not lesson-filled and curriculum based. In this past year as a school librarian, I enjoyed sharing small lessons, but mostly, they were lessons encouraging curiosity and imagination  I tried not to even talk about that unless it came up in conversation with the kids.

Wishtree is a book filled with lesson opportunities:
Caring for Nature
Caring for others (Empathy)
Strength in numbers
Tolerance
Kindness
Friendship
and religious freedom all come to mind.

The thing is that when we try to push our agenda and lessons on kids, I believe that they are more likely to push back and test out the opposite. We can also ruin a perfectly lovely story because it is no longer about the story, it's about the lesson.

I watched 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders play tag football all school year. On occasion, a disagreement that was leading toward a fight would break out. I had to step in. We talked and I allowed them to find resolution to the problem. They had the skills. I didn't have to teach them anything except at the moment calming down enough to begin thinking again. There were also times one of those same kids would get hurt during the game. The other kids stopped playing and wanted to take care of their friend. They know empathy. I believe they learned this through their life experiences more than through the lessons that have been imparted upon them ad nauseam. When they are hurt, they want to be cared for, they can turn that around and know that they need to also care for others.

What I guess I am trying to say is that books may have lessons. I think they help to make these emotions and feelings more concrete, but we don't always need to hit everyone over the head and make them list the lessons they are learning.

I loved the Wishtree. It is a beautifully written story. I wanted to sit under red at night and watch the animals who lived there. I trust that the lessons within the book will shine for kids. It will come out in small ways, like when they stop a game to help someone who is hurt, they see worms in a new light, they take a moment to hug a tree, or befriend a person who is not just like them.

Letting lessons and learning happen organically, is so much more fun for everyone. After reading the book, if a child talks about nature and wants to know more, then offer up the idea of starting a nature journal. If a child wants to understand about a different religion run to the library and get books on the topic and have conversations. Don't be afraid if you don't have all the answers. Use your lack of knowledge as an opportunity to learn something new together. Learning new things because you are interested will take you down rabbit holes, up into the trees, and across the universe while at the same time you will build positive relationships with children.

Robbie -- A Short Short Story

“What’s your name?” the interviewer asked.

“Robbie.”

“Well, that’s a bit obvious, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” The metal object replied.

“Robbie is like a friendly version of robot. Are you a robot?”

“No, I’m a grill. Robbie Grill. At your service.”

“How can you serve me?”

“I cook. What would you like me to cook for you?”

“Um,” the interviewer hemmed. “I don’t know. I was here for an interview. We seem to be sidetracked.”

“Interview?? I’ve never made an interview. What temperature do you use for that? Turn my dials and we’ll try.”

"No, no. Interview isn’t food. It’s a conversation where I ask you questions and you answer them.”

“But, I’m a grill. Why would you want to interview me?”

“Well, I look at you and see a face. It seems to me that you are more human than just an inanimate object. We are having a conversation so I thought I would learn more about you.”

“I think you’re a flake. I’m a grill. What you think is my face are my dials, my on button, and my door handle.”

“But there seems to be more too it. Again, we are talking to each other and your arms look a bit like wings. Can you fly?”

“Buddy, I don’t know what’s going on in your head, but, I’m a grill. I cook. I don’t fly.”

“But, If you could fly, would you want to? Where would you go?”

“Anywhere but here. You’re weird. You are talking to a grill about flying.”

“That robin on your head can fly. Wouldn’t you like to fly like a bird?” the interviewer persisted.

“OK, let’s say I could fly. Let’s say all this metal, could just take off and fly through the sky with these tiny side shelves you think are wings. I would only fly on sunny days when there are big puffy white clouds in the sky. Those are the prettiest days. Then I would fly around the neighborhood and call to all the other grills and get them to fly along with me. We’d take over the skies. Zip around here and there. We’d race birds and airplanes. We’d get to see the world from a whole new viewpoint. Then, when we run out of propane, we would come back to land and hang out waiting for more propane.”

“Really, so you would like to fly?”

“No buddy, I’m a grill. I cook.”

Standing in the yard, staring back at the house with two dial eyes, a little button nose, 
and mouth turned on its side. Arms out at 90 degree angles, a brush in one hand. 
Waiting, ready and willing.