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:

Happy Belated Valentines!

Little Red Riding Hood

My entry for the Tomie dePaola Award.

The assignment is simply to illustrate a moment from the following passage from Philip Pullman’s version of “Little Red Riding Hood” from FAIRY TALES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM (Viking, 2012). 

Once upon a time there was a little girl who was so sweet and kind that everyone loved her. Her grandmother, who loved her more than anyone, gave her a little cap made of red velvet, which suited her so well that she wanted to wear it all the time. Because of that everyone took to calling her Little Red Riding Hood.

One day her mother said to her: ‘Little Red Riding Hood, I’ve got a job for you. Your grandmother isn’t very well, and I want you to take her this cake and a bottle of wine. They’ll make her feel a lot better. You be polite when you go into her house, and give her a kiss from me. Be careful on the way there, and don’t step off the path or you might trip over and break the bottle and drop the cake, and then there’d be nothing for her. When you go into her parlour don’t forget to say, “Good morning, Granny,” and don’t go peering in all the corners.’

‘I’ll do everything right, don’t worry,’ said Little Red Riding Hood, and kissed her mother goodbye.

Her grandmother lived in the woods, about half an hour’s walk away. When Little Red Riding Hood had only been walking a few minutes, a wolf came up to her. She didn’t know what a wicked animal he was, so she wasn’t afraid of him.