STARTED & FINISHED:

Keats, Ezra Jack. (1974). Dreams. New York: Viking/Penguin.

[Keats is a master. Hands down. The simple tales and STUNNING illustrations are unbeatable. Quite possibly my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE children's author/illustrator.]


Watt, Melanie. (2006). Scaredy squirrel. Tonawanda, NY: Kids Can Press.

[CUTE AS ALL GET-OUT.]

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STARTED & FINISHED:

McNaughton, Colin. (2004,2005). Once upon an ordinary school day. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux.

[Satoshi Kitamura's illustrations are what initially drew me to this one. Black ink smudgy outlines with light watercolors inside. The story, of an inspirational new teacher, kept me reading. I tried a similar tactic (having kids listen to music and then draw/write down how it made them feel) with some 1st graders once and it kinda worked! If only this kind of activity could be explored in all classrooms - but, in this day of "No child left behind" (yeah, right!) and standardized tests, creativity is thrown out the window. THIS is why I bailed on teaching and am now doing the librarian thing.]


Lender, Ian. (2005). An undone fairy tale. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[This one was a bit of a let down. Cute premise: the illustrations to the story aren't quite done yet, so an aside guy keeps urging the reader not to turn the page. In the end, corners are cut and the story is altered to make up for the changes. In the end, it came off as a bit forced and silly. Kind of reminded me a bit of the Grover book where he doesn't want you to turn the page because there's a monster at the end...]

STARTED:
Clements, Andrew. (2007). No talking. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[Reading for ACL, to see if I think it is OUTSTANDING. So far, it's pretty great.]

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STARTED & FINISHED:

Narahashi, Keiko. (1987). I have a friend. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books/Macmillan.

[I got this one because of the great watercolor illustrations. How great would it be to read it during a storytime and then have kids explore their own shadows?]


Banyai, Istvan. (1997). REM: Rapid eye movement. New York: Viking/:Penguin.

[A bit of a letdown, this one. I really enjoyed Zoom and its sequel, but this one just fell a bit flat, and felt a bit forced to me. I'm still a big fan of the wordless picture book genre, though.]

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STARTED & FINISHED:

Shulevitz, Uri. (1993). The secret room. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux.

[Another folktale from Shulevitz. Not necessarily my favorite of his, but there's still that lyricism and wit there.]


Hurd, Clement. (1941/2005). The merry chase. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

[If I haven't said it before, Chronicle Books rules. From their layouts and graphics, to their publishing choices, they just rock. The fact that they brought this old classic back from the grave shows how dedicated they are to the art of the book. And, reading the notes on this book, I discovered that Clement Hurd is Thatcher Hurd's father. Learning something new all the time...]

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STARTED & FINISHED:

Shulevitz, Uri. (2006). So sleepy story. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux.

[.]


Emberley, Ed. (1975). The wizard of Op. Boston: Little Brown & Co.

[.]

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STARTED & FINISHED:

Shulevitz, Uri. (1978). The treasure. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux.

[.]


Reichert, Amy. (2005). While mama had a quick little chat. New York: Richard Jackson/Atheneum.

[.]


Rex, Adam. (2006). Tree-ring circus. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc.

[.]

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STARTED & FINISHED:

Stevenson, James. (2002). The castaway. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[Eh. Just kind of nonsensical.]


Piatti, Celestino. (1967). The happy owls. New York: Atheneum.

[The illustrations for this one are just stunning. So cool. Thick black outlined blocks of color.]

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STARTED & FINISHED:

Shulevitz, Uri. (1974). Dawn New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

[I'm beginning to believe that this man cannot do any wrong. Just a poetic sense of language, and a distinctive, graphic visual style.]


Waber, Bernard. (1971). Nobody is perfick. [Boston]: Houghton Mifflin.

[Cute stuff. Several little vignettes highlighted by simple line drawing illustrations. FUNNY. Brian says he knows it from childhood.]

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STARTED & FINISHED:

Perry, Sarah. (1995). If... Venice, CA: Children's Library Press.

[.]


Slobodkina, Esphyr. (1967). Circus caps for sale. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]


Shulevitz, Uri. (1998). Snow. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

[I LOVE this book. Just fantastic! The same guy wrote one of my other favorite kids books, "One Monday Morning". This is going to be my Christmas book purchase this year.]

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FINISHED:

Wilkinson, Carole. (2005, 2007). Garden of the purple dragon. New York : Hyperion.

[Good stuff. Really enjoyable...]

STARTED:

Spinelli, Jerry. (2007). Love, Stargirl. New York : Alfred A. Knopf.

[Reading so that I can review it for ACL...]

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