Children’s Book Corner: March 2009
by Stephanie Dethlefs3/8/2009 1:46:26 PM
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Welcome to the Neighborhood-Kids Children’s Book Corner! Each month, I will offer one title each for four different age groups. These recommendations are based on my experience as the parent of a bookworm, an elementary teacher, and a voracious reader of children’s literature. Happy Reading!
For Baby Bookworms (Birth to 2)
Time for Bed by Mem Fox (1997, Red Wagon Books)
Full of beautiful illustrations of baby animals with their parents at bedtime, Mem Fox’s Time for Bed teaches your little one that bedtime is something we all share. With its rhythmic rhymes and repetition, Time for Bed is perfect for snuggling together and, hopefully, lulling your baby into dreamland.
For Preschool Power Readers (3-5)
Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schechter (2005, Penguin)
Just saying the name of the title character makes me chuckle, which is what drew me to this book in the first place. Skippyjon Jones is a young Siamese cat with a wild imagination. After another morning of waking up with the birds, he is sent to his room to “…think about what it means to be a cat.” Is this what he does? Of course not. He heads straight for his closet and becomes Skippito Friskito, the great sword fighter who is destined to defeat Alfredo Buzzito the Bandito. “My ears are too beeg for my head. My head ees too beeg for my body. I am not a Siamese cat…I am a Chihuahua!”
As parents of preschoolers, we often cringe at the thought of reading our kids’ favorites one…more…time. Judy Schachner’s Skippyjon Jones will make both you and your child laugh, and it will remind you why you enjoy reading together.
For School-age Scholars (6-8)
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker (2008, Hyperion)
Clementine is having a bad week. Despite the best of intentions, she winds up in trouble with the principal, her best friend Margaret’s mom, and even her own patient parents. The third-grader’s week starts off badly when she finds Margaret in the girls’ bathroom with glue in her hair and decides to help her…by cutting it out. The events that unfold challenge spunky Clementine to keep her positive attitude.
Clementine is a character that reminds the reader of Beverly Cleary’s Ramona and Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones with her rambunctious antics and creative imagination. The short chapters and clever illustrations by Marla Fazee are just right for either reading to your child or taking turns with the text. You and your child will simultaneously laugh about and feel sorry for Clementine (and her parents.
For Independent Intermediates (9-12)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (2007, Scholastic)
This book is 544 pages long, yet it won the Caldecott Medal for the best American picture book for children. Intrigued? If you haven’t yet seen this book, I recommend you go immediately to the local library or bookstore, pick it up, and flip through the pages. What you will see is nothing short of amazing.
Hugo Cabret is a 12-year-old orphan who lives in the walls of a Paris train station, winding the clocks as his uncle had taught him before he went missing. Hugo’s primary goal, along with remaining hidden, is to fix the automaton his late father discovered. The human-like robot sits at a desk, pen in hand, ready to write a message…if only Hugo could get it to work. Carefully crafted coincidences involving a strange girl and an old toymaker lead Hugo into a world he couldn’t have anticipated.
Author Brian Selznick’s elaborate charcoal illustrations are as important to the story as the text. The pictures grow or shrink before your eyes, transporting you into the mysterious life of Hugo Cabret and the people he encounters along the way.