Dogs

Storytime is now on Monday mornings at 10.30am.



Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

Harry comes from a 1950's perfect household, which is probably why he's even more endearingly naughty. Harry runs away from home, just to avoid a bath, but when he returns he's too dirty for his family to recognise. He'll have to think fast. This book has been a favourite of mine ever since I was a child and I still love it now.

Dogfish by Gillian Shields

Sometimes, you find a book that reads like a child thinks. Where "we'll see" really means "no" and there's a chance that maybe, just maybe your hypnotising eyes will work on a grown up and you'll get what you want. What this little boy wants is a puppy, but it's the goldfish who has mastered the hypnosis, and more besides.

Angus and the Ducks by Marjorie Flack

This book was written in America in the 1930s and tells the cautionary tale of a curious little dog who upsets a couple of ducks. It hasn't dated badly, although I'm not sure any "gentlemen" would wear "suspenders" any more.

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

"I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet, they sent me a..." so begins this classic board book with little flaps to open the packages from the zoo. None of the animals that come from the zoo are good pets, except for the last one. A puppy!

Hondo and Fabian by Peter McCarty

The illustrations in this book are subtle and beautiful. The story compares the day had by hondo the dog and Fabian the cat, as Hondo goes to the beach and Fabian tries to avoid playing with the baby.

Favourites

Storytime at Cover to Cover bookstore is about to change from Friday to Monday mornings.

This week we will still be there on Friday at 10.30am, then we will have a week off and return on Monday September 28th at 10.30am. I hope we'll see you there.

This week, instead of a theme, I'll just be reading some favourites.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
This is a classic, with a caterpillar so hungry he eats through pages of fruits and then moves on to cake and sausage, which gives him a tummy ache. There are many different editions of this book, including a beautiful pop up version, which I'll be reading from.

Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion and Margaret Bloy Graham
Yes it's very old and contains a coal chute. But it's also the story of a naughty dog and it's crammed with opposites (black and white, clean and dirty, fast and slow, sad and happy, awake and asleep) and contains the words "flip-flopped and flop-flipped" which many preschoolers find simply hilarious.

Ben and Gran and the Whole Wide Wonderful World by Gillian Shields and Katharine McEwen
Ben lives on one side of the world and Gran lives on the other, but there is no stopping this Gran as she uses every possible method of transport (yes, including a camel) to get to Ben, who is her favourite person in all the world.

My Truck is Stuck by Kevin Lewis and Daniel Kirk
This is a strange book, the meter is complicated and the rhymes are seemingly random. But the subject matter and bright illustrations, make it a really popular choice. It also has some sneaky counting in it.

Melvin Might by Jon Scieszka, David Shannon, David Gordon, and Loren Long
Jon Scieszka has just finished his term as the Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Melvin Might was one of his projects, designed to interest young boys in reading, the whole Truck Town series is about trucks who get into trouble and do daring and dangerous things, which they shouldn't be doing. In this particular Truck Town book, Melvin the cement mixer finds he has to be brave to save his friend.

An Extra Cat!

I've just received this cat/monkey book as a gift and it was so good I read it this morning at storytime:

Little Beauty by Anthony Browne

Anthony Browne is the UK Children's Laureate and this is one of many of his books. Little Beauty is a tiny kitten who is a companion to a gorilla who can use sign language. The illustrations are incredibly beautiful and emotive. This is definitely a new favourite.

Cats

Slinky Malinki by Lynley Dodd
A cat of dubious character spends his nights collecting interesting things from around the neighbourhood. It ends in disgrace. This book reads like a real action adventure story, lots of building tension and intrigue.

Grumpy Cat by Britta Teckentrup
I love this author/illustrator, she also gave us Smelly Bear and because I'm a bit of an art snob I love the fact that she studied at St Martin's in London. All this aside this is a lovely book about making friends and how sometimes lonely and grumpy look the same. I've got the large format hardback for storytime and I've been practicing my plaintive mewing.

The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr
A strange English 1960s classic in which a tiger pops round for a snack and eats everything in the house. The little girl in the story loves the tiger, although he seems somewhat aloof throughout. I've often wondered if it's a metaphor for class conflict. In any case it's very exciting to see a tiger eating all the food and drinking all Daddy's beer.

Hondo and Fabian by Peter McCarty
Hondo is a dog and Fabian is a cat, they live together in the same house, but they have very different lives. This is a beautifully illustrated book, the pictures seem so soft and calm, yes even the one where the little girl is playing with Fabian against his will.

Sugar Would Not Eat It by Emily Jenkins and Giselle Potter
One of the dafter books I've read, this is a story about a little boy who finds a kitten and attempts to make it eat chocolate cake. There are a number of grown ups who weigh in with some of the arguments used against children who are fussy eaters, they all sound very stupid in this context. You'll be pleased to hear that the kitten gets milk and chicken in the end.

Friends

A Visitor for Bear - Bonny Becker and Kady MacDonald Denton.

A very grumpy bear finds that he can't do without an initially unwanted visitor. The bear is a real drama queen and so it's great to read aloud his protestations of "I am undone!" as he throws himself to the ground. And his visitor, a small gray mouse is as cheeky as can be, another fun character.

Hooray for Fish - Lucy Cousins.

Bright colours and a large format book, make this one very popular with toddlers. A little fish introduces us to his friends, saving his best friend for last. Although my secret favourites are the Twin Fin Fin fish. (This one may be difficult to get hold of outside the UK, ask your local book store if they can find one for you).

How do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends? - Jane Yolen and Mark Teague.

This is one of a series of books about how dinosaurs would behave if they were children. It's a really fun concept and the dinosaur's scientific name is always hidden somewhere in the illustrations. And the answer to the question in the title is "surprisingly nicely".

Duck on a Bike - David Shannon.

I love this book, there's plenty of opportunity for making animal noises and the illustrations are actually better (in my opinion) than the books that shannon is more famous for (No, David and Good Boy Fergus). It's a fable that a child will never grow out of. I think it's profound that each of these farm animals could hold three opposing opinions at the same time, just like people.

Froggy Plays Soccer - Jonathan London and Frank Remkiewicz.

The kids go crazy for Froggy, he jumps a lot, flops around, picks his nose, doesn't listen to grown ups and can't follow instructions. No wonder he's so popular! This is a good story about teamwork and a rare book about sport.

We'll be singing "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed", "The More we get Together" and "Slippery Fish" which is actually about the foodchain and not friendship, but I think it's important to know your predator from your prey. The poem is "Some People" by Charlotte Zolotow.

Trains

The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
This 1950s classic is seen throughout the world as a truly American tale. A struggle over adversity and a triumph for the little engine who wants to be helpful and try her best. But let's not forget those big unhelpful engines who think they're too important, too exclusive or just too weak. They don't disappear just because the little blue engine makes it to the top of the mountain. I'm sure many hours have been spent discussing the political ramifications of this book, but this is not the place to do it. I read from a version with the original text and modern illustrations by Loren Long, but I edit as I read. The idea of giving a child a "jack knife" now seems too odd to read aloud. I also edit the mean-spiritedness of the unhelpful trains, although mostly because my audience is normally 3 years and under and expecting them to sit still for the full length of the original text is a little unreasonable.

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo by Kevin Lewis
This train is a toy, but it still has a very busy day loading toy freight and crossing fish tank river. The primary coloured illustrations give you a real sense of a toy's eye view and the creative use of props to make landscape is refreshing. One of the best things about this book though is the lovely change of pace at the end of the book as the train gets more tired and eventually goes to sleep. It makes it a perfect bedtime story.

Bebop Express by H. L. Panahi, Steve Johnson, and Lou Fancher
This is a new discovery for me and an instant hit in our house. The train runs from New York to New Orleans, picking up jazz musicians along the way. The text is full of tongue twisting scat style rhymes and the illustrations are collage using real photographs of real people. So much more than a train book, this is a history of jazz; an introduction to stand up bass, saxophone, drums and voice and a proud fanfare for the "American jazz symphony".

A Train Goes Clickety-Clack by Jonathan London and Denis Roche
A more conventional book which lists different types of train as cartoon family rides the rails.

Freight Train by Donald Crews
This board book is incredibly simple and massively effective. Each type of train car is a different colour and they all run together as the train picks up speed and finally disappears off the last page.

I'll be singing The Runaway Train, Train is a Comin' and This Train is Going to Grandma's.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

A small boy singlehandedly turns a drab town into a beautiful colourful garden. This is a new book which has received rave reviews. The illustrations are crisp without being sharp and the words are simple and honest. It's an amazing book to describe the power of nature and how the choices we make can shape our environment.

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson

This book is 65 years old and is interesting not only because it has stood the test of time, but also because it makes us more aware of shifting attitudes. The little boy who plants and waters his seed does so in the face of the dismissive ignorance of his family and friends, but we are now living in a world with a vegetable garden in the grounds of The Whitehouse and it would be hard to find a parent who wouldn't encourage growing a carrots. Meanwhile the book still encourages children to want to grow something, especially if it proves those fictional grown-ups were wrong.

Jack's Garden by Henry Cole

The text is based on the nursery rhyme "The House That Jack Built" and describes the way that a garden is planted an grows. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The book is also what we call a "whatthatthere" book, named after what my some used to say when he found something he couldn't identify in a picture book. Intricate labeled drawings of tools, plants, bugs and flowers make this a book to linger over.

The Happy Bee by Ian Beck

This very colourful book for the babies is very simply a close up look at some well known types of flowers, Daisy, Poppy, Rose and Lily. The bee flies from one to another in all kinds of weather and is happiest when there is a rainbow. Extremely simple and continually popular.

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves - by Julia Rawlinson

Fletcher is a fox, who takes life a little too seriously. He has a favourite tree which as the weather gets colder is starting to lose its leaves. Fletcher is distraught and wants to help the tree keep hold of its leaves, of course he doesn't succeed, but he does learn something about the changes in the seasons. This is a beautifully poetic book and the illustrations are soft and colourful. I understand that there will be a Fletcher for all seasons, we already have Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms and eagerly await the next installment.

We will be singing "Mr Sun", "I can sing a Rainbow" and I'll be looking through a Ted Hughes for children collection for a good growing things poem.