Books - a list by Naomi Potash

Naomi put together a wonderful list of books. YOu can click on the images to get to the books on Amazon.com and please, if you do purchase any of the books please don't forget about schoolCash.

Coming of Age Books - Science books - Winter books - Penguin Books - Polar Bear Books - Baby Animals - Birds - Other

Coming of Age Books
Who am I? What am I? Where do I belong? Who will take care of me? How do I take care of myself?

Bob by Tracey Campbell Pearson
Bob is a rooster. He goes wandering to learn how to crow. He asks the cat, dog, frog and cow how to crow but they cannot help him. Finally he meets Fred and learns the solution to his problem. More than that, Bob's diligent quest has given him creative resources that are put to necessary use in an emergency.

For Pete's Sake by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Ellen Stoll Walsh uses a striking paper collage style for her il-lustrations. Her creatures are adorable. Mouse Count and Mouse Paint are other well known books of hers. Pete is an alligator. His friends are flamingoes. Pete con-siders himself a flamingo. He sees that he is different and feels badly. He wants to be pink like his friends. They say "Don't worry. You probably aren't ripe yet. It takes longer for some."

Little Gray One by Jan Wahl (author), Frane Lessac (illustrator)
Little Gray One is a very young elephant. Everything is new to him. His mother is teaching him what he needs to know for example how to cover himself with dust after taking a bath in the river. Elephants are a lot like people; they need pro-longed protection, education and nurturing from their elders. As mother elephant says, "There is a lot to learn, child." And as Little Gray One replies, "I learned a lot today." The illustrations are marvelously naïve.

On Mother's Lap by Ann Herbert Scott (author), Glo Coalson (illustrator)
Michael is an Inuit (Eskimo) boy. He is sitting on his mother's lap. They are rocking. Michael gets his dolly and then his boat and then his reindeer blanket and finally his puppy. But when Mother suggests bringing Baby onto her lap to join them Mi-chael says, "There isn't room." Subtle line and wash drawings.
Pauline by Georg Hallensleben
Pauline is a fuzzy-eared weasel who lives in a tree with her parents. She is impatient togo down and explore the ground far below. Finally her parents say she is big enough. On the ground she makes a friend. Unfortunately the friend gets caught (literally) in trouble. It takes imagination, intelligence and bravery to save him. Lots of rich brush strokes emphasize the lushness of the jungle.

Samantha by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Samantha is the smallest and most fearful of all of her siblings who tease her. She decides she needs a fairy godmother for protection and behold, one turns up. In the end Samantha finds just the right combination of security and independence.

Tano & Bint: Two Chimpanzees Return To The Wild by Andy & Linda DaVolls
Tano and Binti cautiously leave their crate and explore the forest for the first time. Fortunately these orphan siblings are adopted by Binti who teaches them how to find fresh figs, cool water and make a nest high in a tree for sleeping.

Science Books

Red Eyed Tree Frog by Joy Cowley (author), Nic Bishop (illustrator)
This book contains spectacular photographs of this dramatically colored animal. (Scarlet eyes and lime green skin.) The extremely simple text and photos dance with marvelous coordination.

Army Ant Parade by April Pulley Sayre (author), Rick Churstowski (illustrator)
These ants really do march as an army column. The text of this book is a non rhym-ing poem. The illustrations show animal anatomy and movement in compelling detail.

Winter Books

Animals in the Snow by Margaret Wise Brown
This book is a poem of simplicity and elegance as illustrated by the first few lines of the story:

The repetitive text creates an intimate and comforting experience. The illustrations are charming and inviting. This book shares the warm domestic appeal of The Pokey Little Puppy. Margaret Wise Brown is a prolific writer who is well worth knowing. She is the author of such well known stories as Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Her books frequently focus on the emotions of every-day experiences and emphasize the reassurance of order, repetition and nurturing relationships.

Shadow Bear by Joan Harlow (author), Jim Aronsky (illustrator)
George is an Inuit boy who lives with his mom and dad in a wooden house with a snowmobile parked outside. Tarak is a little polar bear who lies with his mom in a snow den. When spring comes both Tarak and George are excited to be released from the confines of their homes and spend major playtime outside. Each celebrates their newfound freedom to explore the environment until a scary encounter with each other sends both bear and boy scurrying home.

This story provides an intriguing introduction to the climate of the far north, Inuit culture, the ex-perience of shadows and the fundamental childhood experience of interpreting the world through narrative and imagination. It is similar to the classic Blueberries for Sal, another tale where a young child and animal baby go exploring in the same neighborhood and come close to danger.

Snow is Falling by Franklyn M. Branley
This is a Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science Book. With very simple text and illustrations this book explains the characteristics and behavior of snow. We see how snow keeps animals and vegeta-tion protected in the cold weather as well as how snow can cause difficulty and danger.

Animals In Winter by Henrietta Bancroft and Richard Gelder
Another Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science Book. The extremely attractive illustrations in this book show us how different animals survive the winter. We see butterflies migrating, bats hibernating, woodchucks living underground--with a separate toilet chamber no less!--, pikas drying and storing
grass, rabbits and deer digging in the snow for buried vegetation and foxes hunting mice and rabbits who are scurrying under the snow. I have read this book every year and it never fails to intrigue me.

Penguin Post by Debi Gliori
Little Milo takes over his dad's job of delivering the mail so dad can sit on the egg which is about to hatch. Milo is challenged to visit many difficult-to-reach homes in the neighborhood to complete his task and returns home just in time to greet his new sibling. Although there are a number of biologi-cal inaccuracies-I mean besides the obvious fanciful make believe ones like penguins delivering mail, knowing how to read, and climbing a ladder to the stars-this book is large, lusciously illus-trated and entertaining. Children will have to find out elsewhere that penguins don't have siblings and moose don't live where penguins live. The book design is appealing; each illustration is an im-pressive two page spread painted in a brightly colored humorous cartoon-like style. The type is nicely oversized, black and clear.

Blizzard by Carole Gerber
A little boy thinks aloud to himself about what is going on outside during a blizzard and what it is like for him cozy inside his house. On each page a simple sentence or two is illustrated beautifully with watercolor and colored pencil.

The Snow Bear by Miriam Mos (author), Maggie Kneen (illustrator)
This tender story is about a little bear who makes a snow mother to snuggle next to because he can't find his mommy. One by one the neighborhood animals come along to contribute their labor. Each says, "Let me help." Then they each go off as their own mothers call them to come home and the little bear is left all alone. This book has a double appeal. The alliterative language brings the reader directly into the crisp winter landscape. For example,

"There's snuffling and swishing and a deep crunch of snow." or
"There's skidding and sliding and the sound of claws on ice."

But more striking than the text is the delicately colored embossed illustrations. Each creature and piece of landscape boasts its own texture. The physicality of this book is gratifying and enables the reader to experience it as an object as well as a story.

The Snow Parade by Barbara Brenner
Andrew Barclay starts to make a parade in the snow all by himself and is joined by a variety of animals, a police man on his horse and eventually all of the people in the town; "…Ten. Twenty. Thirty. Forty. Fifty. One hundred. Five hundred. More." This is the kind of repetitive story that chil-dren enjoy memorizing. After they memorize it they can "read" the book by themselves.

Grandmother Winter by Phyllis Root (author), Beth Krommes (illustrator)
This fanciful story reads like a myth; natural history is presented as narrative. Winter is a grand-mother who shakes a feather quilt to make it snow. Each page tells what happens when the snow comes down. On one page "…cardinals and chickadees fluff themselves up against the cold." while on another page "…earthworms tunnel deep in the dirt." The unusual and striking scratchboard illustrations are done in earth tones and winter grays and blues.
Winter Wood by David Spohn
Matt and his father dress up warm and go outside to chop wood. There is some lovely bonding in this story between father and son. There is a suggestion that this is a single parent and multi-racial family. The appeal of this story is in the everyday details which draw us into the satisfying domestic life of these characters. When you finish this book you want to live in the country and chop your own wood.

A True Adventure: The Story of Three Whales by Giles Whittell
Three whales get caught when ice freezes over off the coast of Alaska and blocks their path to the open sea. The local and international communities come together to help free them. In the end two of the whales are rescued as the Russian ice-breaker ship cuts a path for them. The elegant pen and ink cross-hatched illustrations lend a sober note to this drama. The suspense is satisfying and the story is heartwarming. It brings the reader into the world of the whales and of the Inuit.

The Mitten adapted and illustrated by Jan Brett
The Mitten is Jan Brett's gorgeously illustrated version of this Ukrainian folktale. Nicki goes out into the white wilderness and loses one of his mittens which becomes a shelter for increasingly greater number of animals until finally, as one suspects, the mitten is filled past its limit and bursts. The drawings of animal characters are striking and humorous. Each picture is a delicious two-page spread with an elegant richly decorated border. Each border presents a cameo appearance of two of the story characters. Jan Brett is an author worth knowing with many books to her credit. If you like this book, look up Berlioz the Bear. She has a web site if you are interested.

Haircuts for the Woolseys by Tomie de Paola
Tomie de Paola is another prolific author worth knowing. This story is a good example of his dis-armingly simple and witty prose and his distinctive illustrations. The Woolsey children who are lambs get haircuts but then it snows and they can't go outside to play or they will be too cold. Overnight while the family sleeps, Grandma knits up a solution.

Charlie Needs a Cloak by Tomie de Paola
Charlie is a shepherd. He needs a new cloak. We follow Charlie through all the steps of production from shearing the sheep to sewing the pieces of dyed wool cloth together. When winter comes he has a beautiful new red cloak. Since few people sew their own clothes anymore much less grow their own wool this book presents a picture of what is now an exotic society. It is the equivalent of finding out that peaches don't grow in the Star Market.

In the Month of Kislev by Nina Jaffe
Mendel the peddler and his wife and children are very poor. They are so poor they do not have enough money to make latkes for Hanukah. In the same town is a rich merchant named Feivel. He has plenty of money for latkes. Mendel's children go to the kitchen window of Feivel's home every Hanukah night to smell his latkes frying. Feivel discovers them and demands compensation for stealing the smell of his latkes. It is up to Rabbi Yonah, to figure out a wise solution to this di-lemma. This is one of those stories that can be enjoyed on an adult and a child's level; it is both funny and sardonic. The illustrations are jewel like in their rich colors.

Zigazak! A Magical Hanukkah Night by Eric Kimmel
"One winter night two devils flew over the town of Brisk." From this first sentence we know there will be trouble in Brisk. The devils make the people of this little town miserable until they match wits with the town's rabbi. The rabbi offers the devils the opportunity to be free "from the forces of dark-ness." but the devils decline his offer. This is a large and lavish book with dramatic two page illus-trations. Eric Kimmel is a master story teller with many, many books to his credit including The Chanukah Guest and Hershel And The Hanukkah Goblins. Both are very funny.

Penguin Books

Growing Up Wild: Penguins by Sandra Markle
This book about Adelie penguins is illustrated with fascinating close-up photo-graphs which clearly illustrate the text on the opposite page. The portraits of chicks are adorable.

The Emperor Lays an Egg by Brenda Guiberson
The major appeal of this book is the collage illustrations of cut and hand painted paper by Joan Paley. The shapes are clear, crisp and satisfyingly ro-bust. The colors are rich blues, purples, grays and golds. There's a lot of inter-esting information here and it may well take two sessions to get through the book with a young child. It's worth it.

The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins
This book follows the activities of one Penguin dad to describes how Emperor Penguins reproduce. The text, which is short and to the point, has an everyday conversational voice. It's witty. It appeals to the child's imagination as it asks him to consider what it must feel like to live this penguin's life. Most of the il-lustrations are large, colorful two page spreads.

Penguins by Gail Gibbons
This is another large richly illustrated book by the prolific non-fiction author Gail Gibbons. She has several dozen books to her credit, many of them about animals (there is a list below) but also about other science and technical topics like The Moon Book, The Planets, From Seed To Plant. Like all of her books this one combines inviting illustrations with a large mass of factual information, all organized in a clear and appealing format. The text is direct with short easily swallowed sentences. This book presents an overview of the natural history, evolution, geography and behavior of all kinds of penguins. It is a substantial work but so skillfully done it holds you to the end. Still you don't have to read it all. You can read selected sections and still absorb a lot.

Solo by Paul Geraghty
Floe finds her mate Fin at the rookery after long months at sea apart from each other. They court each other and several months later their son Solo hatches. Fin keeps him safe and warm while Floe goes away to gather food. Floe returns and then Fin goes off to find food. But Fin doesn't come back for the longest time. Finally Floe has to make an agonizing choice. She leaves Solo behind and goes off to find food with the faint hope that she may return in time to save him. Solo has a dreadful and frightening series of escapades and is on the verge of perilous disaster when a surprise intervention brings the story to a satisfying conclusion.

Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester
Tacky is a penguin. He lives with his brothers Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect. As you may surmise Tacky is the odd bird out. While his brothers wear elegant tuxedoes and stand tall with gorgeous posture, Tacky can be found in the strangest positions in a Hawaiian shirt. Tacky tries to conform to no avail but in the end it is his very weirdness and ability to think "outside the box" that saves him and his brothers from some menacing enemies. This is a very funny book.

Three Cheers for Tacky by Helen Lester
Tacky and his brothers enter a penguin cheering contest. They are up against penguin school classes from all over the iceberg. The prize: shiny blue bow ties. As is usual with formal organized activities, Tacky has a bit of trouble fol-lowing the strict choreography. At the end of the contest, Tacky's very outra-geousness adds something to the contest that no other team can do.

Tacky and the Emperor by Helen Lester
Everyone on the iceberg is nervous because the Emperor (penguin) is coming to visit. Frantic preparations are underway. Tacky is in charge of the balloons. His efforts propel him-literally-into a strange series of adventures. It's beginning to look like the impending visit will be a disaster but you know what? It isn't.

Polar Bear Books

Ralph's Frozen Tale By Elise Primavera
Ralph decides to go to the North Pole. He sets off with his dog sled and falls into deeper and deeper trouble as the miles go by. He meets a friendly polar bear who coincidently is also going to the North Pole. They become friends and decide to travel together. Unfortunately they encounter a fierce storm. The ending is as satisfyingly improbable as the entire story.

Polar Bears By Gail Gibbons
Attractive line and wash drawings illustrate interesting facts about this animal. Detailed information is presented in a fascinating way as exemplified by the cross section of polar bear skin, the detail of the underside of the paw, the an-notated illustration of polar bear anatomy and the cut away view of a bear den.

No Bath for Boris by Diana White
Little Boris is a polar bear who does not want to take a bath. His mother throws ice cubes in the tub, opens the window so it won't be so hot, allows his friend Peppermint, a penguin, to share his bath and even tries to entice him with the promise of a fish lollipop. This is a delightful and funny story. Children should enjoy Boris's prolonged refusal to comply with adult demands but in the end they will laugh at Boris's rewards for doing what his mom wants.

Books About Birds

Ducks Don't Get Wet: Let's- Read- And- Find- Out Science by Augusta Goldin
This is part of a marvelous series of science books for children. The books are on a variety of topics. They are divided into stages of difficulty:1, 2 and 3. This is a Stage 1 book. As such the text is extremely short, clear and simple. The watercolor illustrations are gorgeous.

About Birds: A Guide For Children by Cathryn Sill
A first book. Very simple and clear. Sparse text. Short sentences

How Baby Animals Learn

Porcupine Baby: A See and Read Nature Story by Berniece Freschet
This is a sweet book. It follows Porcupine Baby from birth as his mom teaches him about berries and roots and where to sleep and how to outwit the fox. The book jacket quote says it best: "[these] interrelated tales, which lie some-where between story and nature essay, are grounded in perceptive observa-tional skill and lined with gentle humor..."

Possum Baby : A See And Read Nature Story by Berniece Freschet
Possum baby was the most fearful of his eight brothers and sisters. Now that he is out of his mother's pouch his life is one challenge after another. Ultimately he learns what he needs to know and goes off on his own.

Bear Mouse by Berniece Freschet
This story follows the adventures of a tiny bear mouse as she struggles to pro-vide food for herself and he little ones in the winter snow. There is a lot of text in this book .Too much to sit and read together for a three year old but it would probably work well as a bedtime book when your child is lying with eyes closed and the text can lead her on a visual journey.

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs by Sam McBratney
The young mice want to see "the dark at the top of the stairs." They have never been up that far. The wise old mouse thinks it will be too much for them but he knows they have to find out for themselves. Do they find the monster that they expect to see?

Other Books

Hondo and Fabian by Peter McCarty
Hondo the dog and Fabian the cat pursue their separate adventures during one day in their lives. The very unusual colored pencil illustrations have a magical slightly surreal quality. The text is ele-gantly simple and invites questions and conversation between you and your child as you follow the animals through their day.

The Boy and the Giants by Fiona Moodie
This is the story of Thomas the fisher boy and Kate the weaver. They loved each other. As the text explains, "They would have been very happy, except for the terrible giants who lived on the other side of the island." Fiona Moodie recreates this Scottish folktale with naïve illustrations and simple language. Although the story follows gender stereotypes-the boy saves the girl by bravely plough-ing through one dangerous obstacle after another-it has enough suspense and mystery to rec-ommend it, at least for me.

Little Whistle's Medicine by Cynthia Rylant
"Little Whistle lived in a wonderful store called Toytown." Each night the toys came alive and Little Whistle who is a guinea pig rode around on the electric train and visited his friends. On this particu-lar night Little Whistle has to find some first aid for his friend the wooden soldier or the soldier will not be able to read his nightly story to the Toytown babies. This story is adorable. The illustrations are bright and clear with dramatic visual perspective.

Farfallina and Marcel by Holly Keller
In this coming of age story, Farfallina the caterpillar and Marcel the goose become close friends. Marcel becomes lonely when Farfallina becomes a butterfly and he does not recognize her. Farfal-lina becomes lonely when she looks for a small gray bird and finds a big goose. The watercolor illustrations are bright and attractive. The emotional tone is warm, comforting and hopeful.

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