The Wide World of Children's Books Part 2

Man Out at First

By Matt Christopher

Illustrated by Ellen Beier

Ages 7 and up

                Turtleneck is a baseball player who gets into some trouble when he isn’t paying full attention during a game.  He gets hit by a ball in the chest and then faints. Turtleneck ends up losing all confidence in himself and has a hard time not just in baseball but in his neighborhood as well.  Turtleneck promised his blind neighbor Mr. Shaw that he would help him fix his broken step, but after the bad play he lost all faith that he would be useful at all.  When Mr. Shaw checks up on Turtleneck and gives him a heart to heart talk, Turtleneck starts to feel better and has more confidence in baseball and life.  This book is well written and has a lot of really good baseball lingo that ball players will be able to identify with

The Wide World of Children's Books

Are You Ready To Play Outside?

By Mo Willems

Ages 4 and up

                This book starts off with two best friends, am elephant named Gerald and a Pig named Piggie, planning to go outside to play. After they make plans about what they are going to do it begins to rain. Piggie gets upset because he hates the rain. After complaining about the rain for a while, Piggie sees two worms playing and having a lot of fun, this gives Piggie the motivation needed to try to have fun in the rain.  Success!  Piggie has so much fun playing in the rain the he realized he likes it even more than playing in the sun!  You can imagine his dismay when the rain suddenly stops, but fear not!  Gerald keeps the fun going by creating rain with his trunk.  Willems keeps the dialogue very simple in this book and it keeps the story moving.  The book is well written that tells a complete story with the accompanying illustrations making it a great choice for a read aloud.

 

Bink and Gollie

By Kate Dicamillo and Allison Mcghee

Illustrations By Tony Fucile

Ages 6 and up

                Bink and Gollie is a series of three stories in one book.  The stories feature young female protagonists but that fact alone may not deter boys from enjoying these funny tales.  Bink is smaller than Gollie and appears to be younger, although the book makes no claim to the girls ages.  Gollie is more mature than Bink and has a more refined vocabulary, on more than occasion Bink is confused by a word the Gollie uses. It appears that a repeating theme throughout the book is that Bink is tagging along on Gollie’s adventures, even though Gollie appears to get slightly annoyed with Bink at times there is obviously no long term resentment, these two are quite fond of one another.  In one story, Gollie is jealous of Bink’s new fish named Fred because Bink is spending so much time with it.  Even though the jealousy is hardly stated in the dialogue, it is obvious nonetheless; this is a testament to the fantastic storytelling and masterful artwork that this book boasts!  Children would really enjoy this book as a read aloud.

The Foot Book

By Dr. Seuss

Ages 3 and up

                The concept of the Foot Book is obvious, feet. The book has no real story but rather points out all of the different feet a person comes across throughout the day.  Children will see the difference between bog and small, left and right, and fast and slow.  This is a great book for any child who is becoming curious about reading.  Great for reading to children!

By Cynthia Rylant

Illustrated by Sucie Stevenson

Ages 5 and up

                This is the 26^th book in the Henry and Mudge series.  In this adventure Henry and Mudge go to visit Henry’s great grandfather in an all-male nursing home. According to the Narrator henry is visiting his Grandpa in the house full of Grandpas.  The Story is funny, especially watching Mudge (Henry’s dog) interact with the Grandpas, the love him because he lets them rest on his massive body. The story climax’s when everybody, except Henry’s mother who stay back to cook, goes to the swimming pond the Henry and Mudge had found.  This book would make a great book for story time.

 

Biscuit and the Baby

By Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Illustrated by Pat Schories

Ages 3 and up

                This is a good first book for the child that is curious about reading.  It is about a puppy named biscuit wants to meet a new born baby so he misbehaves until the baby wakes up. There are so few words in this book it is amazing that a cohesive story comes tighter at all. Young children would love to hear this book read to them.

Arthur’s Camp Out

By Lillian Hoban

Ages 6 and up

                This book starts out with Arthur and his little sister playing outside when Arthur has a brilliant idea to go on a fieldtrip to collect specimens.  Arthur’s little sister wants to join him but is whisked away by her friends who are going camping.  Arthur ends up going on his fieldtrip alone and this is when the hilarity ensues.  Arthur ends up getting all of his clothes wet chasing after a frog.  Then he loses his backpack with all his sleeping gear and food.  He winds up cold and very hungry feeling lonely and sorry for himself because the mosquitos will not leave him alone.  Upon smelling their roasting hotdogs, Arthur decided to crash his sister camping party, his little sister welcomes him with open arms. This book might be a little too long for a read aloud.

 

Horrible Harry’s Secrete

By Suzy Cline

Illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz

Ages 7 and up

                After meeting Song Lee’s tree frog named Bong, Harry realizes he is in love with a girl for the first time. His best friend Dog doesn’t like all the mushy love notes and girly presents so he believes this is the most horrible thing Harry has ever done.  By befriending the boy he bullies and telling everyone his secrete Song Lee decides that she too likes Harry, a lot.  This book would be too long for a read aloud.