Here's what can happen when a family gets inspired by picture books, in this case Arthur Geisert's Lights Out (with just a touch of Wayne White I think). Just hit the play button:
Since returning from our vacation (long, excellent, TROPICAL PARADISE did I mention?) (and if you accuse me of gloating, please allow me to mention that my last two vacations were to Lake Erie and DETROIT - we deserved this), I have been feverishly reading picture books, trying to catch up. I consider it a responsibility to try to clap eyes on just about every picture book we get at the library. They're short, you can get through a big stack in half an hour, and the difference between a truly extraordinary picture book and an average everyday picture book is immense.
Click through for my short stack of recent favorites...
When you gorge on picture books as I have been doing, you can begin to mentally shuffle the stacks into loose categories: there are the 'be a good girl/boy' books, that gently and humorously elucidate the consequences of lying, or not taking a bath; there are the gentle and humorous adaptations of traditional stories; there are what Mother Reader calls Weird Ass Picture Books, which are often humorous but almost never gentle; and of course there are the bedtime books, which are always gentle but rarely very funny.
And then there are the rock 'em sock 'em fun and funny books. I am partial to these. Trouble Gum, Big Plans, The Ravenous Beast, Interrupting Chicken, The Worm Family... these are all books to be read aloud con brio, as the musicians would say. With a side of ravioli.
So without further ado, if you came to my library right now looking for picture books, these are the new ones I would press into your hands:
Book of Big Brothers by Cary Fagan, pictures by Luc Melanson
A trio of bike-riding Canadian boys engage in pranks, tricks, teasing, adventure, grand schemes, and admirably compassionate moments. I know three brothers who live on a farm in Virginia - the youngest is known only as Monkey - who are these boys incarnate. Funny, warm, realistic, and all about making plans and looking out for each other.
Orlando on a Thursday by emma magenta
Thursday is the day Mami spends out of the house working, so Papi stays home and spends the day with Orlando. At first, Orlando, who seems to be about three or four, is sad, but Papi and Orlando have their favorite things to do, and they have a very nice day. A calm, sweet book to read aloud to a child, but I think Orlando really excels at reminding parents that even ordinary things, airplanes, dogs, trees, can be special to a child. It's worth mentioning that emma magenta is a hot, hip artist whose work can also be found on tea towels and wall transfers - this is her first book strictly for kids.
Too Busy Marco by Roz Chast
Here's a book that breaks the rules - a bedtime book that is gentle and also funny! It is bedtime for Marco the red parrot, but how can he go to bed when he has so many brilliant ideas?! He needs to invent underwater paint so that he can become the world's greatest fish painter! And Invisibility Gum! He has a great idea about how to become rich and famous and he should start working on that right now! Bowling! Banjo! Trampoline! (You know, I've always suspected that this is what it sounds like in my sons' brains when they are overtired. "Scooter! Cape! Dance-off!") Eventually, he succumbs to bedtime and finds that he has all the time in the world to meet skateboarding space monkeys... in his dreams. Awww.
1 Zany Zoo by Lori Degman, illustrated by Colin Jack
A good one for storytime, this counting book features irresistable rhymes ("I tried to imagine what else they had planned / Then somebody hollered, 'Come hear the new band!'") and a Seussian behind-the-scenes plot involving pilfered keys and jinks that can only be described as hi. The energetic, colorful, sketchy-scratchy illustration is reminiscent of the jazzier scenes in the old Jungle Book.
Mostly Monsterly by Tammi Sauer, illustrated by Scott Magoon
Meet little Bernadette. She's all monster on the outside: fanged, blue-gray, with claws and a tail, but on the inside she has alarming tendencies toward sweetness. And that just doesn't fly at monster school with the other kids. Agh! Seriously? Another picture book about accepting your differences? Yes. And this is the good one. You knew there had to be one. (I kid, I kid! There are others that are good. It's just that by the time you've read about the energetic sloth, and the tiny dinosaur, the unstealthy ninja, the bat, and the pink penguin, your eyes begin to cross and you begin to think anyone who is different should just be shot. And that includes me, so relax.) ANYWAY. Mostly Monsterly is as funny as can be, with sweet little Bernadette surreptitiously petting kittens, baking cupcakes, and freaking her gruesome classmates out when she suggests a group hug. Her reconciliation of her sweet side and her monster side is innovative and replicable. And I'd like to have sheets made of these cutely creepy illustrations - the cover is exactly the color of my living room.
Country Road ABC: An Illustrated Journey Through America's Farmland by Arthur Geisert
Pair this one with Elisha Cooper's Farm. Realistic, full of details that show up over and over, informative, and elegiac, and when's the last time a picture book evoked the word 'elegiac'? If there's a criticism that could be leveled at Arthur Geisert, it might be that sometimes all those etched black lines get in the way of compositional clarity - it's a pitfall when you're working in a medium that allows for little range in line weight. But in Country Road ABC, wide landscapes are set next to good-sized scenes of farm activity, giving each page a lively range of things to look at.
Arthur Geisert is a national treasure, and I am so happy whenever a new book of his comes out.
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