Beetle Bop
by Denise Fleming
Harcourt, 2007
ISBN: 978-0152059361

Beetles are not my favorite living creature, especially those plentiful June Bugs, (members of the scarab family) the nocturnal insects that crunch under my shoes when I walk outdoors in the dawn’s early light. Despite the aversion to beetles, this book’s rhyming, alliterative text lured me to read and see the many beetles scuttling across the pages. Unique pulp paper illustrations convey the colorful nature of beetles and bring to light their clambering movements.

Up-close and personal views of creatures observing and eating beetles take nature to the pages. A skunk noses under leaves to find some “not-often-seen-beetles.” A frog’s tongue darts from the pond grass to seize a buzzing beetle. The crow’s beak opens wide for a “fly-in-the-air” beetle. Human toes line the sidewalk gap where “hide-in-the-crack beetles” creep.

A mix of font size, colored text, and upper and lower case letters guide the reader into the crawling world of beetles. “Chewing beetles” brings the munching beetle jaws to a visual likeness. “Glowing beetles” and “flashing beetles” are paired with the lightbulbs so attractive to them. As the beetles bop in the moonlight, their arrival on the scene for a night-time dance makes them feel less creepy.

Short fact circles on the last page tell about beetle anatomy and encourage readers to look for beetles in their neighborhoods. To bring beetles to your world beyond the book, the author’s website features patterns for cool beetle hats and folded beetles!

—Julie Reimer

The Best Beekeeper of
Lalaibela; A Tale from Africa
by Cristina Kessler
Illustrated by Leonard Jenkins
Holiday House, 2006
ISBN: 978-0823418589

Almaz wants more than anything to have a beehive of her own, but in Ethiopia, beekeeping is man’s work, and the beekeepers laugh her off.  Their beehives are narrow baskets that hang in trees, and they mock Almaz for being afraid to climb up the tall trunks to where the bees live.

Months later, Almaz shows up in the market place with the sweetest honey in town. Everyone buys her honey, but then one day, she disappears. Weeks pass without Almaz’s sweet honeycomb. Her curious priest friend finally tracks down the girl. Turns out ants like honey too, and Almaz can’t figure out how to keep them away from her hive, a clay structure on the ground. “You’ll find a way to fix it,” the priest encourages her. And ingeniously, she does, placing each foot of the hive in a tin of water, drowning off the hungry ants.

The Best Beekeeper would be an especially welcome addition to collections serving East African readers. It’s traditional and modern at the same time; a girl’s success actually enriches the traditional society that questions her ability.  An afterword explains the legend of how bees picked the King of Lailibela, dating back to 1181, which established the city’s association with beekeeping and the honey industry. Jenkins illustrations further the mellifluous association, glowing with rich browns, blues, ochres, olives and pinks as if he’d spilled honey onto his palette and mixed its warm light into his paint.

—Cathy Camper

Pssst!
by Adam Rex
Harcourt, 2007
ISBN: 978-0152058173

This is a great read-aloud book. Wait a minute, this is a book to be poured over by a child, looking at every single thing on each page because some of the things are quite serious (no, they’re not) and some of them are quite funny and some of them only adults will get (“I am the walrus”) but adults have to have fun while they read books (and when we point out to our listeners why it’s funny maybe they’ll want to know more about what we know) (or not) and some of them only kids will find hilarious. Okay, it’s both a great read-aloud (especially if you do voices) and a book to be read individually. First, this book is a story and next this book is a puzzle (well, it’s really a collection of puzzles) and it’s a surprise (I didn’t see the end coming, I really didn’t). Next, this book is educational about animals and their habitats at the zoo (sort of). And then, if you’d like to grow up to illustrate children’s books or be a graphic designer, you should pay attention to the nifty way every typeface adds to the reading experience and the use of thought balloons and all the details tucked on every page and the comic-book-like frames that create the tension in the book. I haven’t quoted anything from the book, have I? (except for that little bit) I can’t, you see. It would spoil your first, second, and third readings of the book. Oh, and be sure to read the endpapers. And there’s a funny bit on the copyright page and I noticed okay, I think the book is about maps (not really). Adam Rex has created another great picture book. Enjoy your walk through the zoo.

—Vicki Palmquist

Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug and Bow-Wow Orders Lunch
by Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash
Harcourt, 2007
ISBN: 978-0152058135 and 978-0152058296

Take two ovals.  Put a Nike slash over them.  Now a straight line.  Now a semi circle.  This is the repertoire of author/illustrator Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash in their new series of books for pre-schoolers about “Bow-Wow” the dog.  In Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug (Harcourt, $12.95), the artists add one more oval and we are steeped in the conflict facing Bow-Wow.  To be precise, Bow-Wow is just enjoying his nap and his bowl of food in his wordless world, when an oval passes through.  How annoying.  Bow-Wow must leave off enjoying his dinner and investigate.  This takes him out into the big wide world where many more ovals (cleverly disguised at first as Dalmatian spots) obscure the oval he is tracking.  If all this sounds a little bizarre, well, it is.  But delightfully fun as pre-readers will follow Bow-Wow and tell you exactly what he’s doing.  You may not know which oval on the Dalmatian is Bow-Wow’s suspect, but they will. And the ensuing mad-cap comedic turns will make those little readers-in-training giggle.   It’s all very funny and tongue-in-cheek.  The kids will love it for one reason and you will love it for the brilliant graphic design flourishes.  But most importantly, it will make a wonderful shared reading experience with lots of opportunity for prediction and summary.

If you have a three year old who is ready to ‘read’ a la Mem Fox’s teachings of using repetition to help them gain confidence, then read the board book Bow Wow Orders Lunch (Harcourt, $4.95).  Here we see Bow-Wow anticipating a big sandwich.  Each page has one word.  First it is ‘bread.’  Then it is ‘cheese.’ Then it is ‘bread.’  Then it is ‘cheese.’  Repeat again.  But then, bread follows bread.  Bow-Wow is confused.  The word ‘no’ appears on the next page.  Pre-schoolers will love reading this. 

—Sue Stauffacher

The OK Book
Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
Harper Collins, 2007
ISBN: 978-0061152559

At first glance, this slight and sparsely-illustrated picture book appears to be simply about a stick figure attempting to do various things: juggle, climb a rock, dive, flip pancakes. The stick figures are constructed in such a way that the O forms the head, and the K creates the arms and legs, cementing the “okay” connection. More conscientious investigation elevates a superficial and ordinary initial greeting to higher level. “Hi. How are you?”/”I’m okay” forms the basis for introspection and self-definition. What can a person do sufficiently? At what tasks are we okay? The unique tasks of roasting marshmallows, catching lightning bugs, standing on one’s head, and sledding show just how confidence builds in the things we recognize as bearing importance to individuals. Not all attempts are perfectly successful, but the stick characters accept both triumph and defeat. Trying to do something and being okay are fine. In an age of testing and assessment, pressure is strong to excel at everything, to attain five-star status. This book holds great possibilities for discussions, OK artwork, self-expression, and the teaching of acceptance. It reminds us, in fact reinforces for us, that it is alright to just be okay. I, by the way, am an OK brownie baker.

—Julie Reimer

A Story with Pictures
by Barbara Kanninen, illus by Lynn Rowe Reed
Holiday House, 2007
ISBN: 978-0823420490

“I forgot to give my manuscript to the illustrator. How will she know what to put in the pictures?” This book is fun to read all on its own, but it’s also a terrific tool for discussing how picture books are made. Who does what? Does the author or illustrator do their work first? The author has cleverly written a story in which the illustrator doesn’t have any manuscript to work from so the illustrator creates the story and the author is running to catch up except we know that the author is really writing it that way the conundrum is delightful. It’s heartwarming to see how the author reacts to the elements the illustrator introduces (or is it really the other way around?). The illustrations are a combination of pastels and photographed found objects (I love the pink tutu). There is so much energy and vibrancy on these pages that it would be impossible to read it with anything other than a buoyant, excited voice. Perfect for parents, teachers, and storytime, A Story with Pictures deserves repeated readings and discussion.

—Vicki Palmquist

The Flower
by John Light, illustrated by Lisa Evans
Child's Play International, 2007
ISBN 978-1846430725

How do I begin to describe The Flower (Child’s Play, $16.99) by John Light? When I handed the book to the cashier at the independent bookstore Children in Paradise in Chicago, she said, “It’s not often that we carry post-apocalyptic picture books.”  Well that’s one way, I suppose, but it doesn’t capture the essence of the story of the little boy, Briggs, who lives alone and works in a very gray city, and whose longing for a flower ends up changing his world.

Briggs shelves books in a library—a library that has, of all things, a section of books labeled, “do not read.” What’s a boy to do?  Smuggle one home, of course.  It is a book about flowers, something completely unknown to Briggs. He becomes fascinated with their shapes and colors and searches the city until he finds, in a junk shop, an old packet of flower seeds. Briggs’ town has no dirt, so he gathers dust in a cup and plants the seeds as the packet instructs. Then he waits for something to happen. When a tendril emerges from the cup, young readers are delighted by how the green growing vines and leaves brighten Briggs’ life. Watching over his flower teaches Briggs about the fragility of life and also about how loving care can reap rewards greater than one thought possible.  All this is related to us in a few scant lines per page.

It is still impossible to describe the loveliness of this book without showing the illustrations by newcomer Lisa Evans. A gray and lonely world is punctuated by the luminous petals of a flower, a green leafy handbag, a blue enamel cup. When Briggs’ flower is a mature plant, the color scale of the book begins to tip and the reader can envision this impersonal drab city filled with window boxes straight out of a town in Provence. That is the how the book ends, with flowers twining around a window that frames the smile of the little boy who began this transformation all by himself.

—Sue Stauffacher

Bad Bears Go Visiting
by Daniel Pinkwater, illus. by Jill Pinkwater
Houghton Mifflin, 2007
ISBN 978-0618432167

This is my first encounter with Irving and Muktuk, polar bear stars of three prior books (and I suspect these bears have "priors"—as in records). They are sneaky, thoughtless, cheating and fun-loving. It's a delightful book for a child. Bad behavior reigns. When their friend Larry comes to visit, they discover the etiquette of housecalls, deciding to make a visit themselves. This of course, means sneaking out of the zoo, picking out the unwitting Beachballs' house for their evening call, and creating mayhem. The Beachball family is not without resources, however, and Irving and Muktuk take a not-unexpected ride back to the zoo. Text and illustrations support each other with zany humor. Ms. Pinkwater uses a bright palette to contrast with the scene-stealing white polar bears and she is a master at drawing expressive eyes with a few simple lines. Seek out this book on a bad humor day—it's bound to lift your spirits and have you laughing out loud.

—Sydney Lange

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