A whatchamacallit

The beautiful illustations alone make Il Sung Na's The Thingamabob worth a look, but my favorite part is the process of trying to figure out what the unknown item is. One day an elephant is walking along and stumbles upon an umbrella (a.k.a. the thingamabob). He does not know what it is so he spends the rest of the book trying it out. Can he hide behind it? Float in it? Fly with it? It reminds me every time I read it of the wonder the worlds holds.

Magically Woven Tale

 Many children's stories have their origins from the Brother's Grimm. And many of their original stories were dark, scary, and cautionary.  The tale of Rumpelstiltskin is no different - a small man cons a young woman into giving up her firstborn child to him, she must learn his name if she is to keep her child.  Is there anything scarier for a child than a mother giving up her baby?

Paul O Zelinsky brings this dark tale to new light through beautiful oil paintings and lyrical language.  Each page is its own work of art, and will be enjoyed by children and appreciated by adults.  Zelinsky doesn't simplify any of the story and uses complex sentence structures and "big" words to tell the story.  Which is partly why it won the Caldecott Honor in 1987.

Otis the Tractor

This is one of the sweetest books ever. Otis is a gentle, fun-spirited tractor who enjoys life on the farm. His best friend is the calf who sleeps in the stall next to his in the barn. They spend their days working and playing and sitting under the apple tree. Then the big yellow tractor shows up and Otis is displaced.
The story deals with learning we still have value and can impact the lives of others long after we think we have become obsolete. It's about friendship. And it's about the putt puff puttedy chuff that saves the day.

Dank you!

Patrick McDonnell's The Monsters' Monster is a fabulous and wonderful little kid book inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Monsters Grouch, Grump and little Gloom n' Doom are living in a "dark monster castle, high atop a dark monster mountain, overlooking a monster-fearing village." They do all sorts of things little monsters do. And then they come up with the idea to create the "biggest, baddest monster EVER!" With help from a bolt of lightning they create their monster, but this monster is nothing like them. He's gentle and kind and sweet and loves doughnuts. This book is a treat for all readers, young and old.

Mo and Cats

Ahhhhh what better way to cuddle up with an emerging reader than with a wonderfully illustrated book, filled with repetitive yet engaging words?  Cat the Cat Who is That? is all that.  The bright, neatly outlined figures will engage the teeniest of readers while the simple words and engaging images that match the text will encourage the beginning reader alike.