See Inside How Things Work

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Children from time immemorial have been asking questions and wanting explanations. See Inside How Things Work goes a long way to answering that question about dozens of everyday objects that a child might see. Starting with simple machines such as a cog, wedge, and lever and continuing on through heavy equipment, transportation, music, boating and aircraft, and everyday inventions like locks, this book provides over ninety flaps to lift that explain in detail how each object works in ways a child can understand. For example, this book depicts a crane that “can lift a load as heavy as four elephants.”

Children may always ask questions, but adults may not always know answers. With this book, budding engineers, inventors or builders can discover the answers on their own or with an adult’s guidance. Given the detailed illustrations, it is easy to see a child poring over this book and returning to it again and again. Indeed, it is quite possible a child just might be able to teach adults a thing or two. As part of Usborne’s See Inside series, this book might be the first of many great learning adventures.


(Review originally published on the Seattle Book Review and book donated to The Maltby Food Bank.)

Apart Together

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Apart, Together is a deceptively clever book. Here, readers see how two or more separate objects can combine to form something completely new and different. So, blue and yellow paint becomes green paint, while seeds, soil, sun, and water combine to create beans, and bees and flowers combine to make honey. And these transformations are literally everywhere. Flour, eggs, and sugar in a kitchen become a yummy cake, while bricks and blocks can become a space ship blasting off into space in a child’s imagination. Even players kicking balls separately can come together to make a team that can score!

Linda Booth Sweeney, a complexity educator and award-winning writer, has created a delightfully entertaining book that subtly introduces educational concepts such as cause and effect, prediction, systems thinking, and emergence to young readers. Ariel Rutland’s simple but beautifully colorful illustrations bring these transformations to life. And with the seeds of this book planted in young minds, that combination may have those minds discovering transformations in the world around them. Who knows what discoveries await them?

(Review originally published on the Chicago Book Review and book donated to the Maltby Food Bank.)

My Dad Thinks He’s a Pirate

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Author Katrina Germein and illustrator Tom Jellett return with a hilarious sequel to their first picture book, My Dad Thinks He’s Funny. In My Dad Thinks He’s a Pirate, a father and his family take a trip to the beach to search for buried treasure, while the father reels off line after line and page after page of corny, nautically-themed dad jokes and puns. With a repeating refrain throughout which is nice for early readers, the book ends with a short rhyme informing readers that they’ve just read an entire book!

This book will have both readers and listeners groaning with laughter. However, some of the wordplay in the jokes will have to be explained to younger listeners. For example, “See this earring? It cost one buccaneer.” Still, this book provides a wonderful opportunity to explore the humor of homophones and puns, while instilling an appreciation for the pure joy of language. This book will prove the perfect choice either as a gift from the joke-loving adult or for the joke-loving child. And, who knows? Some of these lines may become treasured family memories on the next trip to the beach.

(Review originally published on Portland Book Review and book donated to Maltby Food Bank.)

Little Red

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Little Red is a truck in Tiny Town who, along with driver Katie, never stops working till the job is done. During a heavy winter snowstorm, Little Red jump starts a delivery van, fixes a broken headlight, bumps a stuck fire truck, fixes a flat tire, fills up an empty gas tank, and even welds a broken hitch on Santa’s sleigh, all while carrying a huge Christmas tree.

After fixing each truck, Little Red is sure he only has on more task of delivering the Christmas tree, until he hears the next cry for help. Because Little Red never quit working, all the trucks in a rainbow of colors are able to join the townspeople at the celebration of the lighting of the Christmas tree.

This is the perfect book for snuggling up on Christmas Eve. A fun repeated refrain of onomatopoeias will keep even little listeners entertained. Meanwhile, Will Hillenbrand delivers a heartwarming message about the joy of helping others and pride in a job well done. This might be the perfect addition for those little people who will find a toy truck or two under their own Christmas tree.

(Review originally published in San Francisco Book Review and book donated to the Maltby Food Bank.)

Sir Morien: The Legend of a Knight of the Round Table

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This book retells the thirteenth-century Arthurian tale of Sir Morien, the Moorish son of one of the Knights of the Round Table. Morien lived in North Africa with his mother but never met his father, who had gone away on a quest and never returned. So, Morien traveled from Africa through Europe to England, asking about his father. No one had heard of him, and all the knights Morien met only wanted to fight. Morien always won, though.

Finally, Morien found Sir Lancelot and Sir Gawain in Wales. After a ridiculously funny fight, both men told Morien that his father was on a quest to save King Arthur. The three decided to quest together, eventually arriving at a castle where they save both Arthur and Morien’s father. After that, Morien finally got to know his father, and Arthur invited Morien to join his Knights.

Sir Morien is both a funny and adventurous book that highlights new aspects of the Arthurian legend. This book may very well captivate young readers and spur them to discover some imaginative quests and adventures of their own.

(Review originally published on the Portland Book Review and book donated to the Maltby Food Bank.)

If I Was a Horse

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On first glance, it is hard to resist picking If I Was a Horse up, with its eye-catching cover of a polka-dotted horse walking down a flight of stairs in a raised, sparkly pink tutu and purple and red parade hat.

On opening the book, the charming illustrations and limited wording depict a child’s fantasy of becoming a horse: running free, eating a sandwich in the kitchen, giving a sibling a ride to school, joining the school swim team, rolling in mud without taking a bath or wearing clothes unless in a parade, and sleeping standing up while dreaming great, galloping dreams.

In a final illustration, readers see the main character no longer as a horse but as a child wearing a familiar polka-dot pattern and enjoying the free range of imagination.

A two-time Caldecott medalist for illustration, Sophie Blackall provides a quiet celebration of flights of fancy that will delight young horse lovers or any child with an active imagination. With such lovely encouragement, who knows where imaginations given free rein might carry them?

(Originally posted on the Los Angeles Book Review and donated to the Maltby Food Bank.)

Llama Llama’s Little Lie

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Anna Dewdney, author of the adorable Llama Llama series of picture books, passed away, but Reed Duncan continues her series with Llama Llama’s Little Lie. Here, a rambunctious Llama Llama roughhouses inside with his friend while Mama Llama works in the garden. When Mama Llama’s favorite photo frame is broken, Llama Llama gets scared and gives a series of wild explanations to Mama Llama, but he knows telling lies is bad.

When Mama Llama asks for the truth, Llama Llama bursts into tears and reveals he broke the frame. Mama Llama tells him she’s proud he told the truth and helps him fix the frame, only to go outside a break a window herself while playing ball!

This is a sweet story which conveys important lessons with the lightest of touches about the value of honesty and the fact everyone makes mistakes. Told in a simple rhyme that is fun to read aloud, this is story that will be read repeatedly for the joy of the language and may have little listeners picking up the words and the lessons along the way.

(Originally published on the Manhattan Book Review and donated to the Maltby Food Bank.)

The Pie That Molly Grew

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In The Pie That Molly Grew, a young girl plants and tends a seed that produces a huge pumpkin, which brings her community together to enjoy it as a pie at a picnic. This is an utterly delightful picture book on several levels.

First, the story mimics the rhythm and rhyme of The House That Jack Built, making it great fun to read aloud. Second, while creating a thoroughly entertaining story, Sue Heavenrich, a former science teacher, offers several learning opportunities, including the plant life cycle, different types of bees and their role in pollination, the value of community, and how to bake a pumpkin pie using fresh pumpkin. For this reason, this book could easily spawn some wonderful conversations and fun real-life activities.

Finally, Chamisa Kellogg provides heartwarming illustrations that make the reader want to plant a pumpkin seed and just see where it goes. In sum, this is a book that will be read over and over again and, with luck, maybe even send its readers into the garden, the kitchen, and their communities.

(Originally published on the San Francisco Book Review and donated to The Maltby Food Bank.)

You Can’t Be a Pterodactyl!

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🔍

In You Can’t Be a Pterodactyl, after Tommy’s teacher tell the class that they can be anything they want, Tommy says he wants to be a pterodactyl, the whole class laughs, and the teacher tells him he must pick something else. Tommy, however, holds tight to his dream despite the negative comments of others at his school and the laughter of mean kids on the bus.

At home, Tommy’s dad asks the most logical question of all: why does Tommy want to be a pterodactyl? With thought, Tommy realizes he wants to rise above problems, but come down and help when he wants. With this new understanding, Tommy’s dad supports and encourages Tommy’s dream, and Tommy grows up to fly Pterodactyl Sea Rescue!

This is a heartwarming story that tells children not to give up their dreams, even when the world sends conflicting messages. Instead, hold on and wait for those who listen and provide support. Even the dreams others think are the craziest can be realized in some way. What a wonderful message to give our youngest dreamers.

(Originally published on the Seattle Book Review and donated to The Maltby Food Bank.)

Ross Gay’s Inciting Joy: Essays

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In Inciting Joy, Ross Gay suggests that finding common ground in our sorrows creates joy. That joy creates solidarity and love, and possibly, our future survival. Thus, these essays emphasize repeatedly our connection to everything and everyone around us in the present moment and our connection to both the past and future.

Rejecting the capitalistic notion of pervasive scarcity and ownership, Gay emphasizes community, gratitude, and sharing. He finds these in a community fruit orchard without locked gates, in a basketball court where everyone is a guest, in a university classroom where grades and learning objectives are set aside, and in cover songs that carry on through time without being owned by a given singer, among other places.

That said, Gay, the bestselling author of The Book of Delights and four volumes of poetry that received several prestigious awards, is at heart a poet, and these essays also clearly evidence his love of language, wordplay, and rhythm. Even his choice to refer to everyone by their first or nickname creates another subtle sense of our connectedness. In short, these essays offer a new, thought-provoking way to view our society and future.

Originally published on San Francisco Book Review.)