Strollerderby : book of the week

Book of the Week: Retro Round-Up!

editors — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:00:00 GMT

In the fifties and sixties, illustration was everywhere -- from magazine ads to movie credits – and judging from April’s picture books, the hyper-stylized designs of that era are back in a big way. Here are four new books to read your child between the three-martini lunch and the Ed Sullivan show. – Gwynne Watkins

Moon Man (first printed in 1967) by Tomi Ungerer

Don't be surprised if Toni Ungerer's illustrations seem familiar; among myriad projects in the fifties, sixties and seventies, the French artist contributed animations to Sesame Street and created the Dr. Strangelove poster. He also wrote dozens of children’s books, long out of print in the US, which are now being re-released by art press Phaidon. Moon Man’s vivid colors and dark, inky backgrounds are rare in contemporary children’s books; the absurdist story of the Man in the Moon’s visit to Earth, where he interacts with pitchfork-wielding yokels, hotheaded army generals and a mad scientist, takes a backseat to the strange complexity of the illustrations. (Moon Man,Phaidon, April 2009 - $11.53 at Amazon)

The Fantastic UnderSea Life of Jacques Cousteau by Dan Yaccarino

Jacques Costeau reached the peak of his fame in the sixties, so it’s fitting that Dan Yaccarino illustrates his story with a Mad Men-era aesthetic. In this stripped-down biography, Costeau is monochromatic line drawing, but the ocean that surrounds him is full of lime-green starbursts, rippling orange-and-pink jellyfish, and smudgy red waves. (The Fantastic UnderSea Life of Jacques Cousteau, Alfred A Knopf, March 2009 - $11.55 on Amazon)

Sergio Saves the Game by Edel Rodriquez

For the latest in his Sergio series, Cuban-born artist Edel Rodriguez takes on his home country’s favorite sport: soccer. The fifties look of the pictures comes from a minimalist color scheme – black-and-white, with splashes of aquamarine, red and orange – and the fuzzy, overlapping edges of Rodriguez’s penguin world. (Sergio Saves the Game, Little Brown, April 2009 - $10.87 on Amazon)

A Walk in New York by Salvatore Rubbino

This storybook tour of New York City owes a debt to Miroslav Sasek’s This Is… books, which have been in print internationally since 1960. Rubbino’s squiggly tourists could be from almost any era as they gawk at charcoaled skyscrapers, slanting bridges, and Macy’s windows full of hastily doodled hats. (Does anyone still wear a hat?) (A Walk in New York, Candlewick, April 2009 - $11.55 on Amazon)

Book of the Week appears in Strollerderby every other Friday or so, although we haven’t been so good about it lately. But we’re getting better, I swear.

Book of the Week: The Creator of "Wonder Pets" Does Some Rhyming

editors — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:01:00 GMT

Josh Selig -- the brain behind the preschool hit "Wonder Pets" and the weird-and-wonderful "Oobi" -- doesn't have kids of his own. What he does have is one of the most beautifully childlike imaginations to be found outside an actual child. Take his new book, A Book For You. It's a collection of small rhymes, nothing fancy, that brings to mind a bygone era of children's poetry: A.A. Milne's When We Were Very Young, Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses. The book is handmade, printed on thick paper with watercolor illustrations by Stephanie Cleaver. It looks like a labor of love, and it is; when we asked Josh to talk to us about his inspiration, here's what he said:

"A Book For You is a group of short poems for young children. It is about friendship, hope and appreciating the small yet important things that fill up a child's day: a cat, an apple, a star.

I wrote these poems many years ago after an important relationship ended. I was looking for comfort and I found it in myself. These poems are a gentle reminder that beauty, laughter and love are always around us at all times. The hard part is being patient enough to see them."

The book is being sold exclusively in the Little Airplane studio store in downtown NYC -- yet another reason (beyond the studio tour) to pay a visit. -- Gwynne Watkins

Book of the Week: "Momoirs" Round-Up

editors — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:00:00 GMT

There are plenty of books out there that will instruct you on how to enjoy your pregnancy, have a “relaxing” labor, breastfeed with ease, and still be a fashionista throughout it all. These are not those books. The authors of our “momoir” picks dare to ask the tough questions: what if you hate being pregnant, can’t breastfeed to save your life, or never even planned on having a baby in the first place? In these pages, the road to motherhood may be rocky, but it is also filled with honesty, humor, and ultimately, much love. -- Lindsay Armstrong

BOOK: The Second Nine Months by Vicki Glembocki

Premise: Funny and honest (at times brutally), Vicki Glembocki is out to set the record straight on early motherhood. She wants to tell other women what no one ever told her: those first few months of motherhood are really, really hard.

'Bad Parent' Moment: “ ‘Sometimes, I just want to tell her to shut up.’ Rebecca lowers her head, as if waiting for me to pull the tube of Desitin out of my diaper bag and flog her with it… I stick out my arms, ready to hug her. ‘Sometimes I do! Sometimes I do tell her to shut up!’ I yell."

Funniest Moment: “I grab hold with my hands. I squeeze. Nothing. I squeeze again. Nothing. I wrap both hands around my right boob and squeeze, nothing. ‘ I am trying to milk myself,’ I think.”

Turning Point: “As soon as I unhook the strap on the white nursing tank, Blair curls her body around my chest. She shimmies in, like she can’t get close enough to me, like she’s trying to soak into my skin. She’s never done this before.”

BOOK: Rockabye by Rebecca Woolf [who blogs for Babble at "Straight from the Bottle"]

Premise: Rebecca Woolf’s heartfelt and often hilarious account of what happens when an irrepressible young city girl gets pregnant by accident and decides to keep that baby and marry the boyfriend.

Funniest Reaction to the News: “When I first confessed to my mother that I was pregnant, she sighed and said, ‘I’m just glad that it didn’t happen sooner.’ …It was her sweet way of calling me a slut.”

Best Reason Not to Be Pregnant in L.A.: ”Nothing makes a fat woman feel like more of a fat woman than walking backward uphill next to Jessica Alba.”

Turning Point: “ I am especially in awe of Archer’s cuticles, how they look like they could belong to a grown person even though he is only hours old, hours that separate him from his pre life…This is what it feels like to love somebody, I think.”

BOOK: Accidentally on Purpose by Mary Pols

Premise: Mary Pols had always planned on being a mom. She just didn’t plan on getting pregnant at age 39 after a one-night stand with a sweet, underachieving, and much younger man.

On Telling the Father: "There was no getting around how skimpy our relationship was…We’d spent exactly two nights together, a drunken one night stand and a booty call…I wasn’t sure Matt knew my last name (or cared to), and here I was, heading off…to break the news that I was having his baby."

'Bad Parent' Moment: "The fact that I’d possessed such an extravagant item (a $600 vacuum cleaner) was, I had to admit, similar to buying a $49 candle to remove the rat odor from the trailer I was living in because I didn’t have the savings to move into a new apartment."

Turning Point: "I fell in love with my son unconditionally, and only later did I begin to see pieces of myself in him. That reflection has made it so much easier to love myself."

BOOK: Mamarama by Evelyn McDonnell

Premise: A rollicking ‘momoir’ with a pop-culture twist: what happens when a bohemian, feminist, punk-loving music critic becomes a wife and mom of three.

The Heart of the Matter: "I remember a list that was passed out among us female rock critics… '10 reasons why a book is better than a baby.' I don’t remember the specific digs, but the point was clear: we should make something of our own lives first, before we started making other lives."

So True: "Whoever first said, 'It takes a village to raise a family,' was definitely not talking about the East Village."

On Modern Motherhood: "Mamarama isn’t about the perfect madness of trying to be an over-achieving super mom; rather, it’s about the idea that all moms are super. Just because we have kids doesn’t mean we give up our diva glamour as culture mavens. In fact, parenting adds to our worldliness."

BOOK: My Miserable, Lonely, Lesbian Pregnancy by Andrea Askowitz

Premise: Andrea Askotwitz takes an unflinching look at her life as a single lesbian mother-to-be in this humorous memoir of her 40 weeks and five days in hell.

On Conceiving as a Lesbian:"Before the insemination, I had to watch a mandatory video: 'Infertility: The New Solutions.' The video featured three heterosexual couples with various fertility problems….When the video was over I told the nurse I’d discovered my problem. 'What is it?' she asked. 'I’m a lesbian,' I said."

The Truth About Pregnancy: "No one says feeling miserable is a side effect. Everyone talks about pregnancy bliss and the prenatal glow This is the worst experience of my life. I’m anti-social, fat, and scared."

Why It Was All Worth It Anyway: "Maybe I didn’t ask Robin how she was feeling. I certainly didn’t ask Kate. With Tashi I have no choice. I have to consider her first. Tashi makes me better."

Book of the Week: The 9 Weirdest Picture Books of 2008

editors — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:01:00 GMT

Ten Stinky Babies by Ellen Olson-Brown, Illustrations by Joy Allen (Tricycle Press)

Ten stinky babies,

Start the day on time

One had his diaper changed

And then there were nine.

And so forth. This counting book is full of pictures of adorable babies. Or rather, adorable babies who just pooped. Aww?

ABC Dentist by Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Liz Murphy (Blue Apple Books)

Plaque.

Plaque is an almost invisible white,

Sticky coating on teeth that is caused

By eating sugar and sticky foods.

If not cleaned off, plaque can cause

Cavities and gum disease.

And if you thought that was exciting, wait til you hear the part about saliva!

Inside the Slidy Diner by Laurel Snyder, Illustrations by Jaime Zollars (Tricycle Press)

Ethelmae wears a hairnet to keep

The sticks and pins from falling into the fryer.

She smells like rotten grill grease.

When she scratches her back with the spatula,

Flies stick to her icky sweater.

Yes, we know that children delight in gross things, but when a book activates a parent's gag reflex (with its description of a diner where “the chocolate milk isn’t really chocolate” and the greasy booths slide into the street), a line has been crossed.

Mazes Around the World by Mary D. Lankford, Illustrated by Karen Dugan (Harper Collins)

The Klaas Voogds Maze is built of fourteen different varieties of hedge shrubs, including the tecomaria and the hibiscus, which flower year-round.

British water mazes! Swedish stone mazes! Religious mazes! Woven mazes! Maize mazes! How to say “maze” in Portugese! Talk about a niche market…

The Grey Boy by Lluis Farre, Illustrated by Gusti (Winged Chariot Press)

It seemed that Joshua would stay grey forever

Both inside and out.

His family could already imagine what he’d be like

When he grew up, sitting a grey office,

Wearing a grey suit and tie and filling the world

With grey children.

This is the story of a boy who’s born grey in a world of colorful people, and is incapable of feeling anything… until he watches his hamster almost choke to death. Sweet dreams, kiddos!

Old MacNoah Had an Ark by Sally Lloyd-Jones, Illustrated by Jill Newton (Harper Collins)

And on that ark they had some lunch

Ee-i-ee-i-o

With a burp! slurp! here

And a burp! slurp! there

This Noah’s Ark retelling doesn’t provide any Biblical reference whatsoever, but it has lots of burping. Oh, and poop.

Twelve Terrible Things by Marty Kelly (Tricycle)

1 Oooopsie!

2 There’s nothing under the bed… There’s nothing under the bed…

3 Say Ahhh…

4 Hold still, I’m almost done.

Featuring an implement-wielding dentist, a scary clown, an under-the-bed monster and nine other horrific things staring you down from the pages, this book is like a Saw movie...for kids.

McFig & McFly by Henrik Drescher (Candlewick)

At last, McFly settled into a big old easy chair and started to watch nature show reruns. By the end of the week – with one loud last snore – he passed away from sheer boredom. He was buried next to McFig. Their tombstones were exactly the same size.

A cute little tale about the perils of keeping up with the Joneses turns macabre when both of the main characters, um, die tragically.

No! That’s Wrong! By Zhaohua Ji and Cui Xu (Kane/Miller)

What are you doing?

Why are you wearing

Underpants on your head?

It’s not a hat.

They’re underpants.

There’s something vaguely unsettling about watching a series of forest creatures try on the same pair of lacy red panties in an effort to determine whether they’re underwear or headgear. Just saying.

What are the strangest children’s books you’ve stumbled across this year? Let us know in the Comments section! -- Gwynne Watkins

Book of the Week: 3 Awesome New Books for City Kids

editors — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:01:00 GMT

When you live in the city and you tell people you're pregnant, their first question is frequently "Are you moving?" But the city is great for kids, for many of the same reasons it's great for adults. As a child of the suburbs myself, I'm always on the lookout for picture books that will help deepen my son's connection to the city. Here are my 3 favorite recent additions to the kid-in-the-city genre. -- Gwynne Watkins

City Lullaby by Marilyn Singer, Illustrated by Carll Cneut (Clarion)

A love song to the cacaphony of city life, this counting book doesn't miss a single car alarm, cell phone ring or jackhammer. A sleeping baby is wheeled through chaotic street scenes that are so vibrantly illustrated, you can practically hear the sounds of pigeons and garbagemen rise off the page. Or, um, maybe I just left my apartment window open. $12 at Amazon.
Night Shift by Jessie Hartland (Bloomsbury)

The city never sleeps, but thankfully, your child does -- and this one-of-a-kind bedtime story will help her appreciate the people who work while she's snoring. From the newspaper printer to the museum security guard, the window dresser to the donut baker, the bridge painter to the zoo keeper, there's no shortage of fascinating characters to populate the offbeat, colored-outside-the-lines illustrations. $12.71 at Amazon.

The City Kid & The Suburb Kid by Deb Pilutti, Illustrated by Linda Bleck (Sterling)

If your city kid occasionally has backyard-envy, or your suburban kid too often complains that his town is boring, they'll relate to the characters in this book, a spin on "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse." The book is actually 2 books in one: in the first half, city kid Jack goes to visit his cousin Adam in the suburbs and has a great time, but eventually gets homesick and discovers -- well, you know the moral. Flip the book upside-down and read the second half, in which Adam visits Jack in the city. The twist is that the 2 mini-books have the same text; only the illustrations tell a different story. $10.17 at Amazon.

More Book of the Week!

Book of the Week: Halloween 2008 Edition

editors — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:01:00 GMT

Looking for a way to celebrate Halloween that doesn't involve excess sugar consumption or shopping? Pick up a spooky new book! Here are 3 publishers' 2008 offerings, in the order we liked them:

There's No Such Thing as Ghosts! by Emmanuelle Eeckhout (Kane/Miller)

A diminutive boy with the adorably side-parted hair moves to a new neighborhood, and is warned by his mother to stay away from the haunted house on the corner. Although he claims he doesn't believe in ghosts, the boy sneaks out with a butterfly net to catch himself one. Of course, ghosts are invisible -- so the boy can't see the dozens of ebullient specters throwing him a welcome party, starting a food fight, scuba-diving in the bathtub, or waiting awkwardly for the bathroom. Luckily, the reader can. A sweet and classy little book to help alleviate your kid's fear of things lurking in the dark.$10.94 on Amazon.

Little Monsters by Jan Pienkowski (Candlewick - Pop Rei)

Not to be confused with the Fred Savage/Howie Mandel flick, this supershort pop-up book stars a cast of garishly colored monster-faces, which waggle their candy-striped snake-tongues, pucker their pink-and-black-splattered snouts, and roll their googly eyes when the pages are turned. This book didn't really do it for me -- I feel it lacks the artfulness of, say, Robert Sabuda's pop-up work -- but the artist is a serial bestseller, so perhaps I'm just a pop-up snob. $6.99 on Amazon.

The Monster Who Ate Darkness by Joyce Dunbar (Author), Jimmy Liao (Illustrator) (Candlewick)

This one starts out kind of cute; this boy (it's always a boy, isn't it?) named Jo-Jo is afraid of the darkness under his bed, because he thinks monsters live there. As it turns out, there IS a monster under his bed -- a tiny button-nosed creature that looks like an ink blob with kitten ears. The monster realizes that he can actually eat the darkness under the boy's bed -- so he slurps it up, plus the darkness in the closet and the chimney...

...and here's where it starts to get weird. The monster keeps getting bigger and more vicious-looking, and he develops this long Chupacabra-like tongue, and he goes around terrifying little woodland creatures by stealing their darkness, and then he eats the sky and messes up the whole world and hedgehogs bump into each other and bears are "equally upset and confused." (That's a direct quote.) Somehow the monster makes it back to Jo-Jo's bedroom and poops out the darkness or something, leaving the reader to wonder how everything went so horribly wrong. Although the last page, where he's a tiny ink-blot monster again, almost redeems it. $11.55 on Amazon. -- Gwynne Watkins

More Book of the Week!

Eric Carle is Our New Grandpa

editors — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:05:00 GMT

One of the highlights of my job as a Babble editor is getting to read lots of children's books and occasionally meeting my favorite authors. When I wrote about the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art a year ago, I was hoping to meet the author-illustrator himself -- but he had fled for the winter so we had to talk over email. Luckily, the gods of Very Hungry Caterpillars and Brown Bears were smiling on me last week, because I got a last-minute invite to meet Eric Carle at the Cupcake Cafe. And I brought my baby, who, while he doesn't yet appreciate the rhythmic cadences and thematic significance of The Mixed-Up Chameleon, sure likes to squeal at the pictures. The day in photos, after the jump!

At first, my son didn't know what to make of Eric Carle.

Then he found his hat, and all was well.

Eric was there to promote Kodak's spiffy new line of cards inspired by his work.

He read us Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? (which he clearly had memorized) and The Very Lonely Firefly...

... and talked about how The Very Hungry Caterpillar was inspired by playing with a hole punch, and how the rhythms of Brown Bear Brown Bear came about because the author wrote it on a train.

My son was amused.

Next he talked about The Mixed-Up Chameleon, and the kids in the audience helped him create a mixed-up creature of their own. (This drawing was immediately rolled up and whisked away after the presentation, presumably for posterity.)

Barbara Carle attempted to steal my baby and was absolutely lovely. Look closely at her necklace!

Mmm... cupcakes.

Later that night, signed copy of The Very Lonely Firefly on his bookshelf, the baby crashed while I blogged. The End. -- Gwynne Watkins

Book of the Week: Eat This Not That - For Kids!

editors — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:05:00 GMT

Eating out is one of life's great pleasures, but if you're anything like me, every meal out involves a hefty dose of denial. I've been a waitress. I've watched the guys in the kitchen lay a "low-fat" grilled chicken breast onto a steaming pile of lard, drop whole cups of butter into vats of "healthy" rice, and marinate "nutritious" vegetables in more oil than I have in my whole apartment -- and yet I still order the grilled chicken with rice and vegetables because it's the "healthy" option.

Of course, when it comes to my kid, I'd rather have the blinders lifted.

That's why I'm fascinated by the new Eat This Not That book, which gives a restaurant-by-restaurant run-down of the healthiest and least healthy things to order for your child. Some of the revelations are surprising: at Chick-Fil-A, the nuggets with BBQ sauce have 200 fewer calories than the Chicken Caesar wrap.In the yogurt aisle, Stonyfield O'Soy has almost 3 times as much sugar as Yoplait Kids. And that frozen pizza with Elmo on it? It actually is better than the non-Elmo variety.

Obviously this book is more useful for parents who visit restaurant chains and big grocery stores, as the corner Thai place and local gourmet market aren't listed. But even if you're a dedicated organic food hound, it's pretty eye-opening to see how many calories are actually in that Amy's frozen entree from Whole Foods. Helpful guides to lunch-packing and making square meals round out the offerings, along with lots of Denny's menu-style food photos. -- Gwynne Watkins

Eat This Not That for Kids! (Rodale 2008) is available for $11.97 on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: Sex & Gender Issue Special

editors — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:15:00 GMT

Yoon, the star of Hyun Young Lee's new book Something for School, is a sweet little girl whose first day of kindergarten goes horribly wrong when she's mistaken for a boy. In a panic, Yoon looks for something in her house to distinguish her as a girl, and finally settles on her older sister's flowery headband, which hides her short hair. She has a fantastic day in her new femme gear -- but when Yoon's sister wants her stuff back, will her friends be confused all over again? This South Korean picture book offers a quietly progressive twist on the first-day-of-kindergarten genre (see some other examples here) and will serve as a great reminder that kids should be open to new friends and new experiences come September. -- Gwynne Watkins

Something for School (Kane Miller, Sept 1 2008) is available for $12.44 as a pre-order on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the week: The First Adventures of Incredible You

editors — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:03:00 GMT

The First Adventures of Incredible You by Sarah Riley Headrick and Sarah Foreman Rivera (henceforth referred to as “The Sarahs”) isn’t so much a children’s tale as your child’s tale. This dreamy story that “celebrates the stars, the moon, the flowers and trees,” is actually collaboration between you and the authors. Don’t panic, your part of the process is easy: Log on to the Custom Made for Kids website, plug in your kiddo’s particulars and let the Sarahs create a story book that includes your babe’s favorite parks, zoos, activities and people.

The tale begins as so:

The day you were born

Was a dream come true.

It began the lifetime

Adventure of incredible YOU.

(Your kid’s birthday here), was the

special date of your birth – the day

(Your kid’s name here)

arrived on this magnificent earth.

From there you and your literary little one will dive into a day in the life of them.

Especially enjoyable are the pages where my daughter looks up at the stars with her Grandmother Ruth and enjoys pancakes made by Dad in our newly established weekend tradition. She also loves pointing to the colorful human/animal illustrations and labeling them with her friends and teachers names, which just happen to appear in the text above. Whether you want to capture your child's life as it is currently, or fill in the blanks for a baby that you are sure will love going to Dodger’s games with Dad, The First Adventures of Incredible You will give your kids hard back proof that their own stories are interesting enough to tell again and again. Because – trust me - you will be reading it, again and again and again . . . - April Peveteaux

Big Deal: Custom Made for Kids is offering Babble readers 15% off your book purchase. Enter the code babble15 to get your discounted story.

The First Adventures of Incredible You is available at Custom Made for Kids for $32.95.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly

editors — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:33:00 GMT

It's not easy being the youngest of several children; by default, you'll always be compared to your older brothers and sisters. In Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison (Author) and Kevin Hawkes (Illustrator), our heroine takes extreme measures to differentiate herself from her sisters, until she finds something to call her own: a butterfly.

At first glance, it looks like this book is trying too hard (who would name their child "Velma Gratch?" who still says "way cool?"), but in fact, it's wonderfully unique. "Way cool" is slang borrowed from Velma's older sisters, whom the little girl lives to impress. And the name fits the lovingly rendered lead character, whose round eyeglasses and puffy red ponytails make her resemble a butterfly herself. I'd say this book is best for kindergarten up; get it for budding entymologists, or any child who vascillates between worship and resentment of his older siblings. - Gwynne Watkins

Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly (Schwartz & Wade, 2007) is available for $11.55 on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: Dream Destinations

editors — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Given the recession, you've probably put that Icelandic vacation on hold for a while. But if you're content to be an armchair traveler, you'll get a lot of mileage out of Life Magazine's new book, Dream Destinations: 100 of the World's Best Vacations. You may have flipped through a coffee table book like this as a kid visiting your grandparents -- and although they've since gone out of vogue, the big beautiful photos of exotic locales still appeal to children. Compare Wyoming's snake river, glowing orange at sunset, to the clear blue waters of Cook's Bay in Moorea, or imagine life in the sheep-scattered hills of Snowdonia. Even if you're as broke as we are at the moment, it doesn't hurt to dream -- or to help your kids realize there's a world outside their hometown. -- Gwynne Watkins

Dream Destinations (Life) is available for $19.77 on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: Daddy Hug

editors — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:05:00 GMT

The world is made up of all kinds of dads -- busy, strong, slimy, wobbly -- and the new book Daddy Hug celebrates all of them. With charming, vivid illustrations of animal dads and their children, Daddy Hug goes through a litany of daddies that makes for a fantastic read-aloud. To wit, here's the text of a double-page spread with an otter dad on one side and a moose dad on the other:

Daddy squeak, Daddy chirp
Daddy hiccup, Daddy burp!

Yeah, it's not Proust, but it's much more fun at bedtime. The final illustration of all the animal dads hugging their progeny -- from raccoons to walruses -- is a Father's Day card unto itself. -- Gwynne Watkins

Daddy Hug (HarperCollins, 2008) by Tim Warnes and Jane Chapman is available for $11.55 on Amazon. You can also preview it at the HarperCollins website.

Book of the Week appears every other week on Babble.

Book of the Week: Dudley the Daydreamer

editors — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:43:00 GMT

It’s odd when a children’s book is adult-relatable. Kid lit usually takes you to another world, frequently animal, with the express goal of teaching your little ones valuable life lessons. But Dudley the Daydreamer by Anders Brundin, illustrated by Joanna Rubin Dranger and translated by Frank Perry is a little more sophisticated than your favorite mouse. When we join Dudley in his ordinary world we get a load of adult drudgery: getting rained on at the bus stop, burning sausages, writing supplementary draft reports.

This Walter Mitty of Swedish children’s literature escapes his ho-hum job as assistant supervisor in the Civil Service by daydreaming of feeding ice cream to antelopes and landing on the moon. Even Dudley’s home life requires escapism. Rather than absorbing the nightly news, Dudley tunes out:

All they talked about on the news last night was war. War and more war. Someone’s got to save the world. “Find inner peace – stop making war!” says the head of the peace movement, Dalai Dudley.

While living in this alternate universe does not initially bode well for Dudley – he gets fired and can no longer daydream because he’s so incredibly hungry - eventually Dudley finds fulfillment in his “dream” job.

Other than the trite, “Hold on to your dreams,” the life lesson of Dudley the Daydreamer is this - when mom is shopping in the children’s book aisle, sometimes quirky illustrations and adult issues win out over sweet teddy bear families. – April Peveteaux

Dudley the Daydreamer (WingedChariot Press, 2008) can be found at Amazon for $11.01.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week, with Video!: Me Hungry

editors — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:07:00 GMT

In The Happiest Toddler on the Block, parenting expert Harvey Karp compares toddlers to caveman. In Jeremy Tankard's new picture book, Me Hungry!, the toddler is literally a caveman. And a hilarious one, at that.

When the little caveboy (improbably named Edwin) announces that he's hungry, his parents both respond "Me busy!" So he begins an unorthodox journey to find food, approaching a rabbit, a porcupine, and a tiger. None of these potential meals will cooperate -- until Edwin runs into a wooly mammoth who's just as hungry as he is.

The story, told in two-word chunks of caveman-speak ("Me eat rabbit!""No, me hide!"),will strike a chord with stubborn, snacktime-obsessed toddlers, who will no doubt find the idea of eating a tiger hilarious. Of course, we have an additional reason to endorse this book:

Jeremy Tankard? Kind of a hottie. -- Gwynne Watkins

Me Hungry! (Candlewick Press, 2007) is available for $12.47 on Amazon. Also, there's this cute YouTube video trailer:

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: Mary Had a Little Lamp

editors — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:01:00 GMT

Kids get attached to some weird things. When my brother was little, his favorite toy was a neon-green toothbrush holder: his "lightsaber." And our blogger Kori's daughter was once obsessed with a sweet potato she named Ryan. That unique kind of object love is the inspiration for the delightful new book Mary Had a Little Lamp (Bloomsbury, 2008).

Written by Jack Lechner (in the cadence and rhyme scheme of "Mary Had a Little Lamb") and illustrated by The New Yorker's Bob Staake, the book describes little Mary's peculiar attachment to a desk lamp: she takes it for walks, sleeps with it, and brings it to the circus. Her parents and friends are baffled -- until one day, just like that, Mary moves on. As a cartoonist, illustrator Staake is a master of funny facial expressions, and his gaudily colored illustrations -- paired with Lechner's wonderfully silly premise -- really set this book apart. Give it your child when he develops a sudden strange obsession with a spatula. -- Gwynne Watkins

Mary Had a Little Lamp, $10.85 on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: Earth Day Roundup

editors — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:38:00 GMT

Happy Earth Day everyone! Hopefully you're outside planting a tree and kissing the mother herself. Earth Day may come but once a year, but we have some books to keep your kids earth-aware 365/24/7. - April Peveteaux

And the Good Brown Earth by Kathy Henderson is a lovely agrarian tale about the cycle of life. What is especially touching is the relationship between Gram and her grandson as they dig, let the land lay fallow and ultimately plant and grow a bountiful harvest as "…the good brown earth got on with doing what the good brown earth does best." And the Good Brown Earth feels more 1970s than 21st Century, since the good old days of the family farm have been mostly replaced by corporate behemoths, but it is nice to get nostalgic. And it is a perfect tool to explain where that local/organic produce at the Greenmarket comes from.

It’s Earth Day! by Mercer Mayer follows Little Critter who, along with his class, is inspired by some film (I wonder which one?) that shows the plight of the polar bears. Little Critter shows kids exactly what to do in order to promote climate change: They plant trees, turn off the water while brushing teeth and switch off the lights. These simple steps can be easily understood by your own little critter on their mission to reduce, reuse, recycle.

My Bag and Me! by Karen Farmer gets practical about helping kids make a change. After you and your child have read about how carrying your own bag for shopping helps reduce waste and saves trees, the last page contains a slide out drawer with child-sized reusable (and recyclable!) bag made from Tyvek. Maybe now that your little ones are carrying, they can help you remember to bring the damn bags on your next shopping trip.

And The Good Brown Earth,(Candlewick, 2008) It's Earth Day! (HarperCollins, 2008) and My Bag and Me! (Penton Kids Press, 2008) are available on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that. And yes we know today is Tuesday. Happy Earth Day!

Book of the Week: A Princess, A Pirate, and One Wild Brother

editors — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:36:00 GMT

Cornelia Funke - or perhaps you know her as the German J.K. Rowling - packs a girl power punch into the storybook collection, A Princess, A Pirate, and One Wild Brother.

Funke is known for her young adult novels, (two of which have been made into movies) which explains why the three tales inside A Princess, A Pirate, and One Wild Brother are so engaging you almost miss the illustrations.

These three adventure tales are smart and sublime; from the princess who was raised to joust to the pirate girl who kicks some bad guy butt alongside her pirate mother, Barbarous Bertha. It is refreshing that this book isn’t screaming the message that “anything boys can do, girls can do better”. Funke simple creates the relatable characters of Violetta, Molly and Anna and plops them into extraordinary circumstances.

All three tales within, “The Princess Knight”, “Pirate Girl” and “The Wildest Brother” will have you cheering when your tot asks for a third reading, rather than the usual, “Um, I think that book had to go night, night.” – April Peveteaux

A Princess, A Pirate, and One Wild Brother (Scholastic, 2008) is available on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: Knut

editors — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Life was rough at Zoo Berlin for the two polar bear cubs born on December 5, 2006. Little Knut (pronounced K’-noot) and his brother were rejected by their mother and tragically the other cub died on day four. Enter Thomas Dörflein, the zookeeper that stayed with Knut around the clock and just like any new parent, made sure feedings and cuddling were frequent.

Knut quickly captured the world’s attention as the cute and furry face of global warming and extinction, so naturally the precocious six-year-old author of New York Times bestseller, Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship jumped on the story. Isabella Hatkoff (now nine) and her older sister Juliana penned this tale of environmental responsibility with their father and Dr. Gerald R. Uhlich of Zoo Berlin.

Thanks to Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World and those tragic broadcasts of polar bears eternally swimming, the polar bear is rapidly becoming the fauna du jour. Considering they could actually become extinct in our lifetime, it is attention needed. Knut is also the subject of a documentary, Knut and Friends, is the subject of celebrity gossip and has his own blog.

Even if your children are too young to understand “biodiversity catastrophe” you can simply show them the beautiful photographs of Knut rolling in sand, eating Dörflein’s shoes and read the sidebars of fun quotes such as:

As German announcers put it, “Knut, das Eisbärbaby superstar!”

-April Peveteaux

Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World (Scholastic, 2007) is available on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: Don't Bump the Glump!

editors — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:30:00 GMT

I picked up this first book of Shel Silverstein's poetry (which has been out of print for over 30 years) and I felt like I was getting a chance to reconnect with an old friend. This re-release of his 'bestiary' collection from 1964 lives again to give another generation of children the thrill of imagining a Quick-Digesting Gink sneaking up from behind:

"Oops!"

We've been caught by a Quick-Digesting Gink

And now we are dodging his teeth

And now we are restin'

In his small intestine,

And now we're back out on the street. . .

Silverstein let's us titter nervously at the idea of the Bibley's appetite for girls and boys while softening the scary creatures through his watercolor illustrations and the warm cadence of his poetry.

"One-Legged Zantz"

Please be kind to the One-Legged Zantz.

Consider his feelings -

Don't ask him to dance.

After one reading my daughter asked to hear the rhymes, "Again, again!" and as she took her 'monster book' to bed with her that night, I was overwhelmed with nostalgia as Where the Sidewalk Ends was a constant bedtime companion back in my own reading-under-the-covers days. - April Peveteaux

Don't Bump the Glump! And Other Fantasies (HarperCollins, 2008) by Shel Silverstein is available on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: Can You Guess the Twist Ending?

editors — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Let’s play a guessing game – I’m thinking of something that is round like a ball. Your guess is “ball,” right? You’re totally wrong. Round Like a Ball is an expanded version of this game, with each family member making a guess in response to clues, until the round object is revealed to be (spoiler alert!) the Earth. Each of the thickly painted illustrations has a hole in it, which gets progressively larger as the game goes on, revealing more and more of the mystery object. The hole becomes a matzoh ball (Grandma’s guess), a fishbowl (the cat’s guess), a stone (the crunchy hippie aunt’s guess), and so forth. Finally there’s an oversized fold-out page with a satisfying painting of the Earth. And then the last page has conservation tips. But really, you can skip the straightforward Al Gore stuff and enjoy the actual story, which give kids an entrée into thinking big-picture thoughts about their planet. – Gwynne Watkins

Round Like a Ball (Blue Apple Books, March 28th) by Lisa Campbell Ernst is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: More Quirky Ducks for Your Kid's Library

editors — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:05:00 GMT

What is it with children’s book writers and quirky ducks? In the last few years, we’ve seen gay ducks, assembly-line ducks, political ducks, unwelcome-houseguest ducks, and feuding ducks, to name just a few. I suppose this tradition goes back as far as duck-in-drag Jemima Puddle-Duck and outsider-duck The Ugly Duckling, so we’ll probably be seeing those wacky ducks in our kids’ books for decades to come. With that in mind, here’s a brand new one that’s worth a look: The Duck Who Played Kazoo.

Written by Amy E. Sklansky and illustrated in appropriately wet-looking watercolors and pastels by Tiphanie Beeke, The Duck Who Played Kazoo is a verse book about a duck who spends his days kazooing his heart out (“La ditty, da ditty, zu zu”) on his favorite lake. Sadly, a hurricane has hit the lake – shades of Katrina here – leaving him all alone with only his kazoo for companionship. So he flies south, finds another group of duck friends to play music with, and eventually convinces them to fly back to his hometown lake for springtime. It’s a sweet little spin on the idea of migration – especially relevant if you live in a place where V’s of ducks fly overhead each fall and spring. – Gwynne Watkins

The Duck Who Played Kazoo (Clarion Books, February 18th) by Amy E. Sklansky and Tiphanie Beeke is available on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: Creepy in a Good Way

editors — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:16:00 GMT

The press materials for The Girl In the Castle Inside the Museum predictably describe the book as “whimsical.” But there’s a dark side to whimsy, a Roald Dahl/Neil Gaiman/Tim Burton side that kids and adults alike are drawn towards. That’s what The Girl Inside... so effectively captures, thanks to Nicole Ceccoli’s incredible illustrations.

Ceccoli is an Italian painter whose work often depicts haunting, vaguely menacing childlike worlds. (Mark Ryden and Eva Montanari are other artists in this vein.) For The Girl Inside…, about a tiny girl who lives inside a museum exhibit, Ceccoli creates a fantasy museum of Escher-like labyrinths, clockwork birds, Victorian doll-fairies, and ephemera floating through the air like dust mites. The story is open-ended and mysterious: we never learn how the girl came to live in the museum, only that she’s lonely and needs the reader’s friendship. If the reader is a child who’s spellbound by detailed illustrations, he won’t mind returning her feelings. — Gwynne Watkins

The Girl In the Castle Inside the Museum (Schwartz & Wade, February 12^th) by Kate Bernheimer and Nicoletta Ceccoli is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: The "Zen Shorts" Sequel

editors — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:05:00 GMT

Zen Ties is Jon J. Muth’s eagerly awaited follow-up to Zen Shorts, the 2005 book about a giant panda who imparts Buddhist lessons to neighborhood children. Reading Zen Ties, I was happy to spend more time with Stillwater and meet his little panda nephew Koo. But I did find myself wishing that this second book was a little more like the first. The best parts of Zen Shorts were Stillwater’s Zen tales, illustrated in simple brushstrokes to contrast the elaborate watercolors of the “real world.” Instead of offering a series of ancient anecdotes, the sequel tells a single story: Stillwater and his nephew foster an unlikely friendship between a group of children and their cranky old-lady neighbor. Its Zen twist is that Stillwater’s nephew only speaks in haiku. Overall, it’s a lovely stand-alone story for older children (I’d say ages 7 and up), with really dazzling illustrations. But if you come to this book looking for more bite-sized lessons from a Zen master, you may be disappointed. — Gwynne Watkins

Zen Ties (Scholastic, February 1st) by John J. Muth is available on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Book of the Week: Now with Talking Fetus!

editors — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:15:00 GMT

Okay, generally I find children's books about pregnancy vaguely creepy, in a pro-life-propaganda sort of way. We've gotten a bunch in the office these past few months, most of which show frighteningly happy little fetuses doing adorable things in the womb and it just seems wrong. But then this week, Ma! There's Nothing to Do Here! showed up on my desk and I totally fell for it.

Maybe it's because I'm eight months pregnant and my baby is actually starting to seem person-like. Or maybe it's because the baby in the book, while cartoonishly adorable, is also hiliarously disgruntled. The book takes the form of a letter of complaint: the child wants his mom to know that his "womb with no view" is getting tiresome. There are no playmates, nothing to pass the time except learning how to hiccup. Hopefully he'll be able to come out soon and then they can start to have fun.

This is how I imagine my unborn kid actually feels when he's banging his little feet on my intestines. Why would he do that unless he's trying to tell me he's bored? Really, it can't be that entertaining. But this book is entertaining, and recommended for baby showers and younger siblings. — Gwynne Watkins

Ma! There's Nothing to Do Here! (Random House, January 22nd) by Barbara Park and Vivian Garofoli, is available on Amazon.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.