RhyPiBoMo Week 3

Books I read the week of April 18-22:

UNCLES AND ANTLERS by Lisa Wheeler and Brian Floca. This book has it all: rhymes, humor, Christmas and counting. Very fun book that you can read any time of year.

ALL WE KNOW by Linda Ashman and Jane Dyer. Another instance where the whole book is an "Awwww" moment. Very sweet and beautiful book by this dynamic duo.

WHAT PET SHOULD I GET by Dr. Seuss. Typical Seuss book – fun and silly!

THERE WAS AN OLD DRAGON WHO SWALLOWED A KNIGHT by Penny Parker Klostermann and Ben Mantle. I had to read this one since it was the big winner at RhyPiBoMo's first Best in Rhyme ceremony. Love this book! So, so funny, wacky and clever with great illustrations – I can see why this book won. For a bonus, see the author reading it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LNW6HQ8_yY

MONSTER NEEDS A PART by Paul Czajak ad Wendy Greib. Cute story with lots of things kids like: friends, pirates, monsters, amusement parks and birthday parties!

BEAR SNORES ON and BEAR WANTS MORE by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. Love these from the dream team of Wilson and Chapman. Love the stories of friendship and the illustrations.

SHEEP IN A JEEP by Nancy Shaw and Margot Apple. Cute little board book about five sheep's misadventures with a jeep. Lots of great rhyme and sound effects.

I CAN FLY by Mary Blair. I love the illustrations in this classic Little Golden Book with very simple rhymes.

OH THE PLACES YOU"LL GO! by Dr. Seuss. The perennial favorite is all over the stores, since it's a great graduation gift. It was nice to re-read it, as I do most years to remind myself, There's fun to be done."

RhyPiBoMo Week 2

Books I read from April 11-15:

I read four books written by Linda Ashman this week.
1. My favorite is MAXWELL'S MAGIC MIX-UP which is illustrated by Regan Dunnick. Both the story and the illustrations are hilarious! And the rhyme is perfect, of course. One of my favorite lines from the book:  "... and there sat the birthday rock, Louise." So, so silly and fun!
2. BABIES ON THE GO is cute and full of gorgeous illustrations by Jane Dyer of how animals carry their babies. And it ends wih an 'Awww' moment.
3. JUST ANOTHER MORNING illustrated by Claudio Munoz follows the exciting day of a little boy and his wild imagination.
4. SAMANTHA ON A ROLL illustrated by Christine Davenier follows Samantha as she tries out her skates after her very busy mother tells her to wait. But she doesn't and we follow her rolling adventure!

NELLIE BELLE by Mem Fox and Mike Austin reads more like a song, with a lot of repetition of Nellie Belle's name. A very cute look into a life of a little dog. I think younger children would love this and want to sing along.

JAZZ BABY by Lisa Wheeler and R. Gregory Christie is along a similar vein. Very lively song-like words and illustrations. I would have to say it's very jazzy!

OUR LOVE GROWS by Anna Pignataro. This book is different than most rhyming books I've seen in that it starts out NOT rhyming, then turns into rhyme. I don't think that's bad, but it breaks all the rules that I've learned about books written in verse. There's one verse that just didn't set well with me, rhyming 'palms' with 'arms,' but otherwise pretty good. Maybe those two words actually rhyme in Australia, where this book was published. This one also ends in an 'Awww' moment.

STICK AND STONE by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld is a warm story about friendship.

I'LL NEVER LET YOU GO by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Alison Brown. This WHOLE book is an 'Awww' moment! Sweet story about a parent's unconditional love. The illustrations are over-the-top adorable, showing different animal pairs in each spread.

LLAMA LLAMA GRAM AND GRANDPA by Anna Dewdney. Llama Llama is spending his first night away from home with his grandparents (or grand llama?) When Llama Llama realizes he forgot his fuzzy toy, Grandpa saves the day.

RhyPiBoMo Week 1

Here are the books I read April 4 -8:

I love QUEEN VICTORIA'S BATHING MACHINE by Gloria Whelan and Nancy Carpenter. The story is really interesting, and I love the fact that a non-fiction story is told in rhyme. And the illustrations are really fun.

MILES OF SMILES by Karen Kaufman Orloff and Luciano Lozano is really cute, too. It's about how a smile goes on a journey and can be a gift to someone else, and that they can pass it on.

CALLING ALL CARS by Sue Fliess and Sarah Beise is a list book. It's for a really young audience, so its rhyme is very simple. The illustrations are SO adorable – very bright with cute animals in different kind of cars – totally fun!

I LOVE DOGS by Sue Stainton and Bob Staake falls into the same category as CALLING ALL CARS. Really simple rhyme and bright, adorable illustrations showing a lot of different types of dogs – I have always loved Bob Staake's illustrations.

MAXI THE LITTLE TAXI by Elizabeth Upton and Henry Cole is a made for a tad older audience and has more of a story and more complex illustrations. There's lots of fun onomatopoeia in this little romp of a story.

THE SNATCHABOOK by Helen and Thomas Docherty came in a really close second for my favorite for the week. This one has the most complex story and rhyming scheme. Love the little Snatchabook creature!

SNOWMEN AT NIGHT by Caralyn and Mark Buehner is a fun story about the secret lives of snowmen. The lighting in the illustrations are luminous.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DUCK by Eve Bunting and Jen Brett is a cumulative story – his friends give him gifts and I like how it unfolds into a big party.

MOOSE TRACKS by Karma Wilson and Jack E. Davis is a silly, fun story.

PARIS UP, UP AND AWAY by Hélene Druvert is a very interesting book – I saw it at Barnes & Noble, and it was the only one of this book there. The story is cute, nothing special (the Eifel Tower is a character and I really don't like that here) but what's so interesting about it is its illustrations.
 It is full of really beautiful cut paper illustrations made out of black or white intricate papers. I would be afraid that kids would destroy the delicate cut-paper pages.
I found some photos of some of the inside pages on Amazon to show you a little of its beauty:

I love April because it's National Poetry Month and along with that, RhyPiBoMo!

RhyPiBoMo is a month-long challenge for children’s writers to learn more about rhyming, poetry and poetic techniques.

Everyone is encouraged to follow along! Here is the pledge: