Three Fun New Picture Books About Birds!

Flight School, written and illustrated by Lita Judge.  This sweet, very funny story tells of a penguin with the "soul of an eagle" who travels (by boat) to flight school to learn how to fly.  There the incredulous birds (love the bespectacled feathered teacher) kindly tell the Penguin it might be impossible, but let the excited pupil stay.  After some ill-fated attempts that cause the Penguin to walk away dispiritedly, the helpful flock hatch a plan to get our hero soaring through the air.  It all leads to a great surprise ending.  Judge's charming, cartoonish illustrations capture the highs and lows of Penguin's turbulent trek.  A joy from start to finish.  This resilient Penguin deserves to stand proud next to Helen Lester's and Lynn Musinger's ever-lovable Tacky.

Peggy, written and illustrated by Anna Walker.  In this beautifully rendered comical story, a chicken named Peggy loves living in a small house on a quiet street, with sunflowers in her yard.  She enjoys her morning routine which, we see in a series of Polaroid-type illustrations, includes breakfast, jumping on a trampoline, doing pull-ups on a sunflower (or at least that's what I think she's doing).  Drama occurs when a giant gust wind blows Peggy far, far away to the noisy, crowded city.  Lost, she tries to find her way home.  Walker's illustrations are packed with details for young readers to explore, and kids will love the fact that Peggy spends much of her quest sitting on an unsuspecting human's head.  Walker introduces a fun friendship element when a flock of pigeons come along to help our heroine.

Mama Built a Little Nest, written by Jennifer Ward, illustrated by Steve Jenkins.  Packed with Jenkins' excellent illustrations (he truly is one of the best), this lovely informational picture book shows readers various kinds of nests for various kinds of birds.  Strange but true facts about hummingbirds and cuckoos and others pop up and kids will be fascinated by their nest-building behavior.  Ward's rhymes soar off the page, and there are also facts sprinkled about each nest throughout.   Going through this I learned so much about our feathered friends.  My jaw dropped a few times.  It's quite simply a stellar example of non-fiction picture book writing for a younger age group.

Picture Book of the Day: The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend

The Adventures of Beekle:  The Unimaginary Friend, written and illustrated by Dan Santat.  This magical and highly imaginative charmer offers illustrations packed with lovely and humorous details that readers will enjoy exploring.  The story feels inspired by Miyazaki, yet it is its own unique self.  The tale begins with the little marshmallow-like (with legs and friendly waving hands) creature being born on the island where imaginary friends wait to be beamed up to the real world, paired with children.  But no kid dreams up this poor little guy.  Instead of giving up and waiting around, he takes matters into his own hands and travels "through unknown waters" to the real world, one that perplexes the critter.  Santat then gives us human society through the protagonist's eyes, and he gives us moments that are both sad and satirical.  Will Beekle ever find a child who will embrace him as an "imaginary friend"?   Santat has illustrated many fun books for children, but this might be his finest achievement yet as a picture book artist.  Funny, poignant, rich in detail, a real keeper.

3 Terrific New Picture Books: One Featuring an Old Friend

Dangerous!, written and illustrated by Tim Warnes.  There are many words to describe this vocabulary-building romp, a British import:  lively, funny, touching, suspenseful.  A word-loving mole enjoys creating labels and sticking them on everything he sees:  mushrooms, flint, ladybug, even poop!  (Kids go ewwww on the latter and then guffaw.)  One day he comes across a bizarre green object that has him churning out label after label:  lumpy, chunky, muddy, ribbed, peculiar, whopping, and many others.  Turns out to be a crocodile and this terrifies the mole.  Instead of snacking on our hero, the croc starts munching all the labels and this ticks off the mole, leading to a confrontation that results in a delightful, satisfying twist.  A charmer.

 One Busy Day, written by Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Jessica Meserve.  Packed with lovely illustrations, this ode to sibling drama is a delight from start to finish.  It's also a tribute to the imagination as Mia tries her best to engage her older brother Spencer who always claims to be to busy to play with her.  So she entertains herself by painting, dancing, and exploring.  The effective book design shows Mia engaging in an activity, and then revealing how she sees herself on the next page.  One page, for example, says "She danced" and we see Mia alone in her room posing in front of a mirror, and then with a flip of the page we read "like a twirly, whirly ballerina" and we see Mia in front of an adoring crowd in a fancy theatre.  She's truly a special character, and Spencer rediscovers this about his cute, multi-talented sister, becoming more and more curious in what she is doing.  This emerges as a moving story, an excellent match of text and art, sweet without being too cloying.

The Pigeon Needs a Bath!, written and illustrated by some guy named Mo Willems.  : )  This new addition to the Pigeon saga is quite simply the best Pigeon book since Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!.  I read to this to a class the other day and the kids would not stop laughing.  I had them yell "TAKE A BATH!!!" at the Pigeon and they more than willingly obliged.  After a romp in a mud puddle, pigeon has become so dirty it scares off the flies.  "Take a bath dude," one of them buzzes as it soars off the page.  Pigeon refuses to hop in that tub, goes through an amazingly complex routine of making the water too cold, too hot, too lukewarm, too hot, too deep, too shallow, too packed with bath toys, too not enough packed with bath toys, and so on.  Will this persnickety feathered creature learn to love baths?  The answer amuses.  Everything about this book delights, from the brown colored backgrounds to the interactive way the pigeon stands up to the readers ("maybe YOU need a bath!!!").  This will satisfy Pigeon's many fans. 

A Trio of Fun and Quirky New Picture Books

Baby's Got the Blues, written by Carol Diggory Shields, and illustrated by Lauren Tobia.  The witty Shields (The Bugliest Bug) and gifted Tobia (Anna Hibiscus series) team on this beautifully conceived tribute to old blues songs.  You might find yourself singing this book instead of reading it, it just begs to be performed like a classic Muddy Waters tune.  Tired of hearing that babies have it easy, a put-upon infant wants to set the record straight:  it's tough being a little one--with the soggy diapers and all.  For instance, the baby complains:  "I'd like to eat some pizza/Macaroni, or beef stew/But I haven't got a single tooth/So I can't even chew".  Tobia's fluid artwork shows our bald hero comically lamenting his position in life.  Very very funny.

Maple, written and illustrated by Lori Nichols.  A delightful and lovingly illustrated addition to both nature and new sibling collections.  A couple name their little girl Maple in honor of the tree planted in the yard.  The child loves playing in, around, and under her beloved tree.  Nichols' gorgeous illustrations are beautiful to behold, and her prose mixes in some funny lines with the sweetness.  Some drama enters the picture when Maple notices a little Willow sapling next to the tree, and a little bulge in her mommy's tummy.  What could this mean?  Everything turns out OK, leading to a truly cute ending.  A charmer from start to finish.

 

Sparky!, written by Jenny Offill, illustrated by Chris Appelhans.  An inventive and wonderfully deadpan twist on a "let's get a pet" book.  Offill tells the tale of a girl who wishes to have a pet, but her mother has a bunch of rules:  she can have any pet she wishes, "as long as it doesn't need to be walked or bathed or fed".  A trip to the library helps the resourceful heroine discover that a SLOTH would be the best pet for her.  And so begins this hilarious anti-adventure:  the girl gives the creature the unlikely name of Sparky and he responds by endlessly sleeping or just sitting there staring straight ahead while she tries to engage him of games of King of the Mountain and Hide-and-Seek.  Offill's clever story leads to a sweet ending of acceptance, and Appelhans' drawings pack in a lot of very funny details that will tickle young readers.