Children's Books discussion
The Picture-Book Club
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April 2020 (and beyond): What Picture Books Are You Reading During Shelter-in-Place?
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This was actually an accidental download a couple of..."
It does sound good!
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This was actually an accidental do..."
But if you are interested, make sure not to consider the Kindle version.
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Our libraries are opening up for curbside pickup of items in their stacks. All materials are currently due June 1. During Phase II of reopening, libraries will be open for limited browsing and possibly computer use plus curbside checkout. I'm worried about book supplies being depleted too and also books being checked out and then lost permanently! I've already seen one or two I wanted that have been lost.
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Libraries in Ontario are still closed and will likely remain closed for the foreseeable future. Which also means that until the libraries reopen, I will not be able to get physical books which might also interfere with participating if there, say, might be a theme thread for June.
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I, too, have been concerned about lost books. Also, our district no long has fines so there is no guarantee all books out currently will be back on the new due date.
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Yes, that's part of the reason I've been wondering about the library situation for all of you. I think it's too early to think of themed reads for the club because we are all in different stages of reopening and, even for those of us with curbside pick-up, our access to the books is severely limited to what is already on the shelf at that specific branch. So, I'll likely hold off on themed reads at least for June and we will see where things are at as we move toward July but it seems unlikely for July, also.
I'll keep this thread open and also the May thread with authors reading their works (though there appears to be a lack of member interest in the latter so I may not add to it). Is anyone interested in trying to read some of the same books on Open Library or International Children's Digital Library etc. if I put something together for an upcoming month if this goes on past June. (Maybe we can find enough to start exploring 1920s picture books?) Or shall we just set the read-it-together idea aside for the foreseeable future and focus on sharing thoughts on what books we are reading individually?
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Yes, that's part of the reason I've been wondering about the library situation fo..."
I finally figured out how to use open library (could not sign up but it was because I thought that my screen name was an email confirmation, duh). I certainly would not mind trying picture books on open library (but one thing to remember is that if I borrow a book from open library, it is gone until I return it, so we should probably ask people participating to not hold on to the books for too long).
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I wondered about that. I haven't signed up myself yet so thanks for mentioning that issue. (I still infinitely prefer a paper picture book but I am willing to branch out if enough members of the group are interested especially given the challenges we all continue to face obtaining hard copies.)
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If we do suggest people use open library, for those books that only have one copy in the system, we should probably ask that the picture books only be out for as short a time as possible.
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I think it's time to read picture-books from the 1920s though. Even though I still haven't gotten around to the earlier era. I will!!
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They are also offering curbside. I have my order ready to submit. This is how they plan to make it work: A few hours before I'm ready to go up to town, I call them, and they'll collect the books that are requested against my account from the shelf, and check them out to my card. Then they call me to say they're ready, and I go get them. Not sure how well this will work. First day is Monday but I'll wait a couple of days to let them work out the kinks and satisfy those who are in a hurry.
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And on a selfish note, the limit is 10 titles. How fast will I go through 10 books at a time?! And what about the magazines I used to borrow?
Cheryl wrote: "I'm more concerned, tbh, about the ppl who use the building as a refuge. Not just the homeless, but those who don't have internet at home, or children in large families, or ppl who don't get along ..."Here, the schools have given kids wifi hotspots. It's difficult and some parents have to sit with their kids in a car outside the school or library in order to get wifi. Our libraries MAY open in Phase 2 for limited section browsing, computer use and the libraries will offer wireless printing with contactless pickup. We won't need a/c for awhile. That gives the governor time to figure out cooling shelters. There was talk of putting the ill homeless in a hotel to quarantine. Perhaps they'll make one hotel a cooling shelter. The homeless here in this city camp by the river in the parks, live in old abandoned mills and beg for money so they can ride the bus all day.
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The library sent me a survey via email, and one question was which service I needed the most. They listed about 10 things, none of which were of particular interest to me. I clicked "Other" and typed in "Return checked out materials." I hope they listen!
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It is really too bad and also kind of frustrating as well as feeling rather personally annoying that in The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice author Wendy Pfeffer only tends to deal with, that she only desires to cover cultural and religious practices from the Northern Hemisphere, that summer rituals and traditions from the southern parts of the world are generally and actively being ignored and not at all considered. For yes, even though summer solstice traditions of the Northern Hemisphere would of course be occurring when in the Southern Hemisphere it is winter and vice versa, I do wonder and question why Wendy Pfeffer has chosen not to mention this in The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice and to also depict both Southern and Northern Hemisphere summer solstice practices (as I do really think that she owes it to her young readers/listeners to show summer celebrations of both the northern and the southern parts of the world and that indeed, most children would and should easily understand that when it is summer in Germany, in Canada, in Sweden, it is winter in Australia, in New Zealand and in Chile).
Furthermore, while I have in The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice most definitely enjoyed reading about multiple summer solstice celebrations and rituals in both North America and Eurasia (including an interesting comparison of Great Britain's Stone Henge and a similar appearing rock construction in the USA state of Wyoming), considering that the burning wheel being pushed down a hill in Lithuania is actually pretty well a pan-European tradition (and even practiced during both the spring equinox and during the summer as well as equally the winter solstices), should Wendy Pfeffer not at least have mentioned this and expanded on this a bit more (not to mention that solstice fires are also not just Germanic in origin either, that many Celtic summer traditions also have their origin in the use of and the celebration of fire).
Combined with the fact that I have also not found Linda Bleck's accompanying artwork all that aesthetically pleasing (and most definitely much too girly and cutesy, too pink and pastel hued for my tastes and yes in my humble opinion also for Wendy Pfeffer's rather serious and educational in scope and tone narrative), while The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice has certainly been educational and informative, I have also generally found it a more than a bit ho-hum and unremarkable reading experience. And honestly, the only reason why The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice is still a three star and not a two star ranking for me is that I do indeed very much appreciate the presented information, the summer-based rituals and celebrations, and yes, that the supplemental details and information sections of The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice (and especially the featured activities as well as the suggestions for further study and reading) they most certainly do make me smile and they also very much increase both the general learning and of course also the teaching values of The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice (and so I do in fact recommend The Longest Day: Celebrating the Summer Solstice as a pretty decent picture book introduction to both the summer solstice and its many ways of celebrating it, although personally, I do have more than a few issues with how Wendy Pfeffer has presented her text and that for my aesthetic tastes, Linda Bleck's illustrations just do not really work all that well).
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I'm also puzzled by why they aren't yet able to transport books among the district libraries to fulfill hold requests. The local library cited health concerns for drivers, but then they also said they will be quarantining all books checked in for 7 days before handling them or checking them out so I'm not understanding why there would be any concern from contamination.
One of the local libraries is allowing returns now. The other is not. I do hope they will all allow returns soon so we can get the items out of our homes and back into circulation for those who have been waiting for them.
A few of them are allowing select spots in the computer lab to be reserved. They will also print a certain number of pages for you if you email them from home and will mail the pages to you if you don't have a printer.
As of now, no plans to reopen the libraries to patrons for browsing or to do any events.
I haven't heard of what the cities plan to do for AC for those in need. I hope there are plans in the works as we will be getting into our hotter weather in about a month or so.
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Thank you for this info! I will see what I can find for 1920s PBs :-)
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The last time Montreal had a major heat wave, there were many deaths even with community cooling centres and some in my area as well, so heatwaves without cooling centres would likely make this much much worse (and perhaps even more of an issue for the homeless and those living in poverty, residing in substandard apartments, rooming houses etc. than covid 19).
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I'm right there with ya! Our usual limit is 15 but I just went on to try and place holds and they would not let me (even though I was well under the 15 limit). I emailed the library and they said that during the reopening phase they are limiting the holds to 5 :-(
ETA: Librarian contacted me said that while the online catalog will only allow five holds, I can call the library direct with a list of books that are currently on their shelves and they will pull them for me for curbside pick-up! So I am not constrained to the five book limit. Yay! Cheryl and others with the hold limit, maybe you can check to see if your library offers a similar service? I'm really delighted they are doing that!
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So this has been rather a major disappointment.
So yes, while the presented textual information that Don Brown presents and features in Rare Treasure: Mary Anning and her Remarkable Discoveries (and in particular regarding Mary Anning's fossil discoveries) certainly is factually detailed and also seemingly accurate with regard to its general content (although the annoying lack of any and all bibliographic sources really does make verifying said accuracy considerably more difficult and frustrating), I for one (and after having read quite a bit on and about Mary Anning and her discoveries over the past ten years) have not at all appreciated how very cursory Don Brown's narrative has been with regard to Mary Anning's difficult and often tragic childhood (and in particular that her father died at the relatively young age of 44 due to tuberculosis and that from the Annings' ten children, only Mary and her brother Joseph actually survived to adulthood). And furthermore, Mr. Brown, the ichthyosaur fossil that Mary Anning discovered in 1811 was not actually even called an ichthyosaur until 1840 (seven years before Mary Anning's death), but your text, but Rare Treasure: Mary Anning and her Remarkable Discoveries certainly does seem to insinuate that scientists almost immediately post Mary Anning's 1811 discovery called this type of fossil an ichthyosaur (and this is simply not true).
And yes, I have also not really found some of the accompanying artwork for Rare Treasure: Mary Anning and her Remarkable Discoveries either all that aesthetically pleasing or even all that realistically accurate. For while I do think that the seascapes and landscapes Don Brown has rendered (as well as his depictions of Mary Anning's fossils) are both realistic and imaginative (with especially the depicted images of Lyme Regis and its beaches really being totally and utterly magical with a by-the-sea atmosphere), I have absolutely NOT found how Don Brown has drawn ANY of his human figures in any manner visually pleasant (with most of them appearing both too small and generally lacking in any and all facial features, not to mention that Don Brown also never once depicts Mary Anning wearing her trademark felt top hat, a sturdy hat for men, which Mary Anning's mother had insisted her daughter wear for safety during her fossil searches). So yes indeed, while Rare Treasure: Mary Anning and her Remarkable Discoveries does present narrationally wise a decent enough (although at times also more than a trifle lacking and with information gaps that really could and should have been avoided) introduction to Mary Anning, for me personally, the combination of Don Brown's text and his illustrations have sadly and frustratingly been both majorly lacking and also quite massively disappointing and therefore, only a one star ranking (almost a two star ranking to be sure, but no, not quite there yet).
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So this has been rather a major disappointment.
So yes, while the presented textual information that Don Brown presents an..."
Ah, too bad. I had it on my to-read shelf but I won't be in any rush to check it out. I've read other picture books about her already and this doesn't appear to bring much to the line-up.
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So this has been rather a major disappointment.
So yes, while the presented textual information that Don..."
I know that illustrations are personal preferences but I did not enjoy either the artwork or the text all that much. And there are definitely better picture books on Mary Anning out there.
By the way, if you want to read a nice little middle grade book on Mary Anning, I do recommend Mary Anning's Curiosity.
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What a wonderful and also very much educational and enlightening combination of Maria Gianferrari's text and Bagram Ibatoulline's artwork is Coyote Moon! And yes indeed, I especially do appreciate the one hundred percent positive depiction of urban coyotes and that the author, that Maria Gianferrari never once in Coyote Moon tries to claim or even to insinuate that coyotes are somehow mostly or only to be seen as pests, that they are urban dangers which need to be destroyed, but rather that Gianferrari's presented narrative always and only shows coyotes as being simply and basically wildlife (albeit in this case, in Coyote Moon, of course, urban wildlife) as wild animals trying to find sufficient food to feed their families (with the mother coyote also not consistently succeeding with her hunting, but yes, that she finally does manage to nab a wild turkey for herself and her hungry pups, and not to mention that coyote pups are also shown to be potential prey for hawks and likely other birds of prey).
With Bagram Ibatoulline's darkly beautiful and atmospheric accompanying drawings providing a (in my humble opinion) delightful and realistically imaginative aesthetic mirror to and for Maria Gianferrari's poetically sparse and gracefully lovely, moving words, Coyote Moon is not only a joy to read (or to read aloud), no, it also provides a both important and in fact very much necessary dosage of acceptance and understanding and as such an important verbal weapon against those ignorants who only consider coyotes (and especially in urban areas) as dangerous pests that need to be trapped and ruthlessly slaughtered, with the supplemental information on coyotes at the back of Coyote Moon and especially that there are both book and online resources listed as suggestions for further reading and study being the absolute icing on the cake for me.
And truly, the only reason that my ranking for this here Kindle edition of Coyote Moon is only three and not a full five stars is that for one, the illustrations do tend to look a bit blurry and that for two (and much more annoyingly), the font size in the supplemental information section of Coyote Moon is so very tiny and minuscule in the Kindle version that it is almost impossible to read with any kind of ease (and that is even with me wearing my reading glasses).
Zombies Don't Eat Veggies!
I checked this out of the library today for zombie boy. It is SO cute! Available in English with some Spanish words or all Spanish, this book is about a little zombie boy, Mo, who just can't eat zombie food like his parents want him to. He loves... veggies! He can't get enough of them! Little Mo attempts to convince his parents to try veggies with very funny results. The message is about accepting someone even if they're different. (A million hearts!!!!!)
The illustrations are very cute and clever. The illustrator took real foods and turned them into zombie puns. This book gives finger foods a new meaning. On the walls of the house there are photos of the family doing ordinary human things in very zombie ways. The colors are purple, green, yellow and red-all colors occurring in nature- colors of... veggies.
There are recipes included. No humans were harmed in the development of these recipes. ;-)
I don't think this is scary enough for zombie boy but other boy might prefer this kind of zombie to his cousin's scary zombies.
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Curbside pickup went well and returns are accepted. Books checked out before the quarantine are due June 1 while the two I just checked out are due June 8. The city library staff are hard at work behind-the-scenes. I wish it was closer to walk to.
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Thanks for all the info., QNPoohBear. I might just have to look for that cute zombie book myself.
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Thanks for all the info., QNPoohBear. I might just have to look for that cute zombie book myself."
It is nice to have a book on urban coyotes that does not make them appear as something negative.
Cheryl wrote: "I'm glad you got a chance to read Coyote Moon, Gundula. It is indeed a book I highly recommend.Thanks for all the info., QNPoohBear. I might just have to look for that cute zombie book myself."
You will appreciate the message. The parents have to learn to accept their son for who he is. You can make of that what you will, whether it be a literal veggie loving zombie or a metaphor for something else. (cue book banning)
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Thank you!
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I checked this out of the library today for zombie boy. It is SO cute! Available in English with some Spani..."
Sounds so cute. And important.
(And glad your curbside pick-up went well and returns are underway.)
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Thank you!"
I hope that if you get the chance to read the novel, you enjoy it.
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I agree with Gundula that Over in a River: Flowing Out to the Sea is a great book. I can't imagine reading in in a Kindle version, that would be so frustrating. I'm not sure it would have a lot of new information for most adults, but it is a great resource for young children and we will be looking for more books in the series.
A Seed Is the Start is another winner from Melissa Stewart. It takes us beyond the typical picture book fare of "here's how a seed grows" and explains HOW different seeds get from here to there, too. We've read seed PBs in the past that explain about seeds being eaten by animals and pooped out away from the parent plant, or burs that hitch a ride... but this one goes into even greater depth.
For example, "Seeds POP!"
"You'd never guess how a Himalayan balsam sends its seeds into the world. When a breeze blows or an animal passes by... Pop! The seeds burst out in every direction. They may blast up to 15 feet (4.6 m) away."
Or "Seeds Hop!"
"Wild oat plants often pop up in wheat fields. Why do their seeds have a long, bent tail? So they can move away from their parent plant. See how part of the seeds tail is twisted? As it winds and unwinds, pressure builds up along the straight tip. Finally, the tip springs forward, and the seed jumps. Over time, it hop, hop, hops across the ground."
Seeds have serious super powers! ;-)
This was engaging for both my young children and myself. The photographs are lovely and the back matter includes an Index, Selected Sources and For More Information: Books and Online.
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Thanks for the info. If I do a theme for June or July I will try to ensure it's books easy to access free online.
Manybooks wrote: "Even though public libraries in Ontario are now allowed to reopen, many of them, including my local branches are not not ready yet and have said that perhaps in June but even then prudently. So it ..."Ours may be open for select browsing from a special shelf or section of the library but not fully reopened. I don't see the point of select browsing except at the subscription library where the entire 19th century building makes everything look good! That's the one library I really miss visiting. They can do curbside pickup though and the children's librarian offered to put together a bag of books if someone provides the age and interests of the child.
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I would be fussy myself but if it were the only way to get library books during the pandemic and especially for families on tight budgets and with not a large home library, why not.
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I think, in the case of a book in which I could make out no words on the ebook, it's fair to give the book as a whole low stars, because it's going to be hard to read in print, too.
I was able to read the words to the Donkeys book on the preview pane of my laptop, though, so I think I'll leave my star rating where it's at, and just add a mention that the font is small and not easy to read on a screen.
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Agreed. It's nice they are offering the service.
I'm actually extremely happy with our local branch. I was able to create a list in my online account from searching the titles currently on the shelf at that branch, then emailed it to them. I did that yesterday morning and had 35 books on the list... by the afternoon the books were pulled and ready for me to pick up this morning! I really couldn't ask for better service than that. I also returned three bags of books -- it's great getting them out of here, back into circulation for those who want it, and frees up space on my card for new stuff (my own account has been maxed out and I couldn't even get holds on it, I have been using the boys' cards).
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I think, in the case of a book in which I could make out no words on the ebook, it's fair to ..."
Good suggestion! I really hate books where cannot read the font.
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I cannot do anything yet, but glad your local branch is working out so well for you.
Kathryn wrote: "I'm actually extremely happy with our local branch. I was able to create a list in my online account from searching the titles currently on the shelf at that branch, then emailed it to them. I did that yesterday morning and had 35 books on the list... by the afternoon the books were pulled and ready for me to pick up this morning! I ."Wow! We're only allowed 5 right now! I checked out 2. I have a stack to return as well.
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My system is hoping for sometime in June.
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I agree with Gundula that Over in a River: Flowing Out to the Sea is a great..."
There seem to be quite a number of picture books in the series, all based on Over in the Meadow, I think. I do wonder though if these might become a bit repetitive, but you should probably try a few more and see.
My mom says all the kids really liked
! I'm glad it was a hit. I'll write an official review and mark it read tomorrow. It's perfect for the 5+ crowd who can handle mild gross humor. They may not understand the puns but they'll get the message and that's more important.
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This was actually an accidental download a couple of years ago, and I am so glad I finally got to it.