City Chickens

by Christine Heppermann
various photo credits
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 2012
Bok bok! Get it here.

This is a truly lovely story about a chicken rescue organization in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Yes, you read that correctly. Mary Britton Clouse and her husband, Bert, run Chicken Run Rescue--devoted to providing rehabilitation and adoption services for chickens in the Twin Cities.

Apparently (who knew?), chickens are often abandoned or abused. Many people discard of roosters after they find out they are roosters rather than hens who will lay eggs. And Mary Clouse has no tolerance for any mistreatment of any animal. She and Bert have a permit to house up to 20 chickens at a time in their home and yard in the city. (Of course, that didn't help the time there were 105 abandoned chicks on the side of the highway--that story is one of the highlights of the book.)

Heppermann is a longtime Horn Book Magazine reviewer, and she tells this story with a deftness and with a clear alacrity for her topic. Any child reader will delight in reading about how chickens are rescued and adopted by families.

The book is appended with Clouse's artwork, a good, long author's note, and information about how to care for a city chicken yourself. There is also info for educators and a source list. 

(L to R): Bert and Mary Clouse, the author's daughter, the author.

Here Come the Girl Scouts!: The Amazing All-true Story of Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low and Her Great Adventure

SPECIAL NOTE: Tomorrow, January 26, 2013, is my 40th birthday. This week, January 22, 2013, was the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. I've always been proud to share a birth-week with such a momentous moment in women's rights history. This week also now marks the day that the armed forces allowed women into combat roles, opening the entire military up to us. In honor of these two 40th anniversaries and new moment in history, I present a book about a woman of gumption.

by Shana Corey
illustrated by Hadley Hooper
Scholastic | 2012
Buy it now! (It's cookie time, after all.)

This book is the perfect gift for anyone in your life who is currently a Daisy, Brownie, or Girl Scout or for any adult who once was one. We also just passed the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts, in March 2012. Every Girl Scout knows their founder's name: Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low, but how many know about her early life and how she came to found the organization in the United States?

This charming account of a "girl with gumption" tells the story of Low's founding of the Girl Scouts (modeled on the Girl Guides of England). The art is stylized and fun--created with paint, ink, and printmaking along with some digital enhancements. The earth-toned palette is perfect for this story about early environmentalism. If I have any complaint, it's about the somewhat overwhelming design (small primary text, larger secondary text that appear to be quotes from Low and too-varied text placement end up feeling a bit haphazard).

The book includes a "gallery" of famous Girl Scouts, a lengthy author's note including information about her personal Girl Scout connection, the U.S. history era in which the organization was founded, information about conservation efforts, diversity, the Girl Scout Promise and Law, a source list, and acknowledgements.

Add this book to your Girl Scout cookie shopping list this year!

I Have A Dream

words by Martin Luther King Jr.
illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Schwartz & Wade/Random House | 2012
Get it here.

Award-winning illustrator Kadir Nelson (Caldecott Honors for Henry's Freedom Box in 2008 and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom in 2007) brings Martin Luther King Jr's iconic speech to life in this new book. And I'm here to tell you it's as beautiful as Nelson's past contributions to the field of children's literature.

I'm telling you on the day we set aside each year to remember MLK, which also happens, this year, to the be the day that Barack Obama will take his second oath of office in the very city where MLK gave the speech presented in this book.

I mean, look at this:

I was lucky enough to see an exhibit of Nelson's original art for his book about the Negro League, We Are The Ship, last year at the Carle Museum in Western Massachusetts. His art is just stunning. Looking at his books makes it easy to imagine why.

One might think there are enough books in the world about MLK already. I think there's no way that's true. Each generation will continue to interpret the words of the civil rights leader taken from us far too early in their own way. And some members of each generation, like Nelson, will interpret them visually. What a gift. 

Look! A Book and Look! Another Book!

written and illustrated by Bob Staake
Little, Brown | 2011 and 2012
(Another Book! reviewed from galleys)
Order A Book! here.
Order Another Book! here.

These lively and interesting search-and-find books are reminiscent of Richard Scarry's Busy Town books. There's a lot to see and talk about, and the die-cuts and prompts carry little readers through the pages.

Glorious endpapers with blocks of color and huge abstract eyes invite the reader in, and the large trim size means the book can be spread out on the floor with lots of kids all looking together to find silly things on each spread. Kids could tell their own stories about what has happened (or will happen) in any small area of any spread, for added fun and imagining. The rhyming text is fun, as well.

These are the perfect choice for a kid's birthday gift. Any age, really, from a first birthday right on up to an 8-year-old.

Lola Reads to Leo

by Anna McQuinn
illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw
Charlesbridge | 2012
Buy here!

Lola is a little girl who is getting a little brother or sister soon. She loves stories and reads with her mom and dad. They are preparing for the baby and when he arrives, Lola is ready to help! Leo is a great little brother who requires a lot of work, but Lola (and her parents) are up to the task.

This third installment for the "Lola books," which also includes Lola Loves Stories and Lola at the Library, is the perfect book for little kids who are expecting a sibling. Lola's family is as traditional as they come--Mommy; Daddy; a clean, safe house; and lots of love to go around.

These wholesome stories are written clearly and simply, inviting in new independent readers. "Lola's day always ends with a story. Tonight's story is about a little girl and her new baby brother."
The art is bright and fun. These books are true winners. (The first two are also available in Spanish, and the third is coming soon in that language.)

Snowflake Bentley

by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
illustrated by Mary Azarian
Houghton Mifflin | 1998
Buy it here!

This Caldecott Medal book is about William Bentley, who discovered much of what was known about snow crystals during his lifetime. Born in 1865, as a boy in Jericho, Vermont, he spent the long winters there determined to make photographs of snowflakes. After a lot of trial and error, he learned how.

Azarian's gorgeous woodcut prints, which according to the copyright page are hand-tinted with watercolor, couldn't be more perfect for the story and it's no wonder they won the Caldecott. It's clear through her artwork that Azarian is not only a Vermonter, but a snow-lover. And indeed, her dedication in the book reads: "For all the snow lovers of the world, who--like me--think that snow is like chocolate; there is never enough."

As a snow and winter lover myself, I find this is the perfect book with which to curl up next to the fire. Snuggle in with someone and read about Snowflake Bentley. This book is as unique as the snowflakes Bentley found so fascinating.

One of W.A. Bentley's photographs.

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree

The cover I have

written and illustrated by Robert Barry
McGraw Hill | 1963 (most recent re-issue, 2000)
Order it! 

"Mr. Willowby's Christmas tree came by special delivery."

And so begins my absolute, hands-down, favorite Christmas story ever. For close to forty years, my family's copy has been pulled out, displayed, and read over and over again at Christmas.

The 2000 cover

The cyclical story traces one Christmas tree, which is a bit too tall for Mr. Willowby's ginormous house. When the top is lobbed off and discarded, someone else takes it home, only to find that it is just a bit too tall for her house, so she also lobs off the top and discards it . . . you get the picture. In the end, the very tippy-top of the tree ends up back in Mr. Willowby's house -- get this fantastic story and you'll find out how.

Your kids will beg you to read it again and again and you just might find, after they've gone to bed and the house is quiet, that you pull it out one more time for a re-read all on your own. It's that lovely.

Guest Reviewer Sian Gaetano: Me and My Dragon

Written and illustrated by David Biedrzycki

Charlesbridge Publishing | 2011
Buy now!

“Some kids want a dog. Others would like a cat.” But Hameer wants… “a dragon!” And Hameer is smart enough to know that getting a dragon is just like getting any other pet: you have to choose which kind you want carefully, bring him to the doctor for his shots, name him (Sparky!), give him a home, feed him, and bring him for walks. And, just like any other pet, if he’s a naughty dragon, he might have to go to obedience school. Unlike other pets, though, Sparky can act as the campfire on camping trips, melt all the snow in the neighbor’s driveways, and may accidentally terrorize the kite-flying community. He’s also a great friend to have around in case of bullies or Brussels sprouts.

I cannot begin to express how very much I love this book—the joys are too many to count. The story is endearing, quirky, fast-paced and just so incredibly funny. And the play of text and illustration! Biedryzycki masterfully builds text that needs illustration and illustration that adds so many layers to the book. Each page has tons of things to look at and enjoy from the intraiconic text, to a mouse living in Hameer’s room, to the reactions of pets and people near Sparky. Both Hameer and Sparky, through text and illustration, are exciting, active, and completely round characters. And, for the love of all things children’s book related, check out the endpapers! In general, a joy. And a book I’ve been reading three times a day.

Siân Gaetano is, before all else, a reader. She is currently pursuing an M.A. in Children’s Literature at Simmons College (to be finished in  Summer 2013) and working evenings serving the good people of Boston food and beverage. She was an editorial intern at Charlesbridge for the Fall 2012 semester.

How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah?

by Jane Yolen
illustrated by Mark Teague
Blue Sky Press | 2012
Order it now!

Starting with How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? in 2000 and continuing through this latest installment, kids and parents will enjoy these silly stories that educate. Yolen and Teague do a fantastic job of addressing all the important aspects of Chanukah while still making the story laugh-out-loud funny.

Written in crisp, concise verse, this story should become a mainstay for holiday time, regardless of which holiday you celebrate!