March 26, 2009
Sam McBratney
C/O Candlewick Press
2067 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02140
Dear Sam McBratney:
Congratulations for your book, You’re All My Favorites, winning the “Please Just Five More Minutes!” Award, for the best children’s book to go to bed with! This award is for a bedtime story that presents a strong family connection for children to read. Your tale of the bear cubs wondering if “Mommy Bear” and “Daddy Bear” love them as much as each of their other siblings, is a perfect fit for this award that I have created.
I am an Elementary Education major at Penn State University. For one of our classes in the Arts and Literacy Block, we were to review children’s books and create an award. The members of our class nominated a book for each award and then we were to judge which book would be the best match for our category. The character development of each bear cub was a wonderful portrayal of how a child may feel about his or her siblings in any culture. Each cub morphed through the stage of identity to realize that the mother and father loved them with all of their differences. Siblings have a tendency to rival each other to win the hearts of those they love, this case being their parents. This book presents a clear message of a parents love for a child. "Children's literature has powerful influences on young minds because 'it reflects the politics and values of our society'" (Lehr, 2008, p. 3). By harnessing this gateway, with the same positive energy that you have presented in your book, who knows of what wonderful possibilities that could erupt throughout the world!
This is a delightfully encouraging read for children of all ages and I am thrilled to have read it. Please continue creating such books for children to read in the crusade for making the world a better place.
Sincerely,
Bridget Querry
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I nominate The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. This is a really great book about how the rebellious Dr. Seuss became the wonderful artist that we still love today. Ted Geisel was no ordinary boy. He did not really fit in within his community. He was never really into sports the way the other boys were, and he spent his summers working at the local zoo. Ted was also German and America, at the time, was entering World War One. Needless to say, Ted faced a lot of scrutiny for his heritage. More than anything, Ted was most identified for his strangely creative drawings, of which his teacher told him were all wrong. His mother wanted him to become a doctor, and everyone was amazed when Ted was accepted to Dartmouth. The only aspect he was recognized for was being voted as "Least Likely to Succeed." He then entered Oxford University to study English Literature and then later dropped out to draw cartoons for magazines. This is were he began his claim to fame, with the pen name of Dr. Seuss.The illustrations offer a great combination of being whimsical yet factual. They are very detailed and incorporate a lot of color.
This is an easy read for children ages 9 to 12. it is an excellent story of a rebellious character, and one that most children can recognize. Not only is it a great read, but the audience can actually learn from this biographical account. I never realized he was a troublemaker until I read this book! I give it a two thumbs up! ]]>
I nominate Nonsense by Edward Lear and pictures by Valorie Fisher. This is a wonderfully fun book, not only with its creative and "nonsense" poems, but the pictures are out of this world! Valorie Fisher does an amazing job fusing together various artistic mediums to depict each poem. She incorporates paintings, cutouts, photographs, and objects for each scene. What I love most about this book, are the vocabulary words that are wrapped in the picture somehow. These decipher words that children may have trouble understanding in the poem. The poems describe a very intrinsic imagination and the pictures do an excellent job of portraying that. I could just sit and analyze each picture forever! ]]>
I nominate Somebody Catch My Homework by David L. Harrison and illustrated by Betsy Lewin. This is a very creative and funny mix of poems all about the life for a student. There are poems about missing the bus, a wild chase after homework stolen by a cat, dreaded cursive writing, horrible cafeteria food, the excruciating homework assignment of writing essays, and many more. You will definitely love this book! As we get older, we seem to forget what it is like to be a little kid in the classroom. This is sure to bring back some funny memories, which is why it is so important to read. We can not forget what it is like to be a student if we are to be great teachers. The pictures work very well with the text, as they are childlike and resemble what the students would draw.
This is a quick and easy read. Trust me, you will not want to put this one down! ]]>
I nominate Bedhead by Margie Palatini and illustrated by Jack E. Davis. This is a great story about the most dreaded problem before school, a BAD HAIR DAY! Not only is Oliver suffering from the worst hair day ever, but it just happens to be picture day at school! Everything that he and his parents try to do to get his hair tamed will not work. In fact, the more gel, hairspray, secret formulas, and tricks that they try to use, only make his hair worse. Finally, someone comes up with the brilliant idea for Oliver to wear a hat to school. Unfortunately, no hats are allowed in the picture and Oliver has no choice but to take it off. His hair spurts out in every direction and the class picture ends up a mess!
The illustrations are just as funny as the text and they have great sense of vibrant and bold colors. There is so much detail, that it allows the reader to actually picture the frenzy taking place.
This is an easy read and for children ages 4 to 8. It is an outrageous story that they will want to read over and over again. It displays a perfect message, that nobody is perfect and that you are not the only one who suffers from the horribly contagious, brutally hilarious, and frustratingly icky bad hair days.
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