Children’s Book Blog

Fooling Around with Books

A Blog by Beth Melo

In honor of April Fools Day, I thought it would be fun to write about children’s books that make me laugh or make my children laugh without making me cringe.

Silly picture books (semi-sorted younger to older):

• Bark, George by Jules Feiffer features a dog frustrated that her puppy answers the titled command with other animal noises.  Young readers will be giggle over the absurd reason uncovered, as well as the surprise ending.
• Deborah Fajerman’s Baa for Beginners and How to Speak Moo! make the premise that the single word of an animal language has different meanings based on pronunciation (“Baa is shivery when it snows”).  Simple illustrations help bring out the humor (though the adult reader’s vocalization is important here, too.)
• Mama’s Perfect Present by Diane Goode is a cute story about children who have trouble finding a gift.  The humor is found in the pictures showing the real reason they leave each store while the narrator rationalizes why those gifts weren’t right.  (Hint – they bring their dog with them).
• The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson is a cute example of a seemingly helpless animal outwitting its predators.
• My Dog Lyle by Jennifer Goldfinger builds a list cleverly describing the girl’s dog based on it’s behavior on the previous page.  (After he tries to chase a squirrel through the glass door, “smooshed nose” is added to the dog’s listed attributes.)
• Mercer Mayer’s Little Critter series (with some co-authored by wife Gina).  The humor comes mostly from the difference between the character’s perspective and reality.  I think my favorite of these is Mayer’s At the Beach with Dad (an example of the humor, “‘You’ll be sorry you didn’t come,’ I called to [Mom] from the car.  ‘No, I won’t,’ Mom called back.  I wondered what she meant.”)
• My kids love it when books “break the 4^th wall” to address them directly.  Some good examples are Melanie Watt’s You’re Finally Here! and Have I Got a Book for You, Jef Czekaj’s Cat Secrets,  and Mo Willem’s We Are in a Book! and his wonderful Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus series.
• Melanie Watt also writes the Scaredy Squirrel series which is a lot of fun.   (Though its paranoid rodent would warn you that too much fun is risky.)
• More favorites from the prolific Mo Willems (mentioned in previous articles as one of my favorite authors) include Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs, and Leonardo the Terrible Monster.
• The classic George and Martha books by James Marshall feature charming little stories, most culminating in a kind of punch-line.
• Bonnie Becker’s A Visitor for Bear is a sweet one that makes my kids laugh when the persistent mouse keeps surprising Bear in strange places.
• Never, Ever Shout in a Zoo! by Karma Wilson is a silly escalation of dangerous animal antics all prompted by a single shout that “you” were “warned” against.
• Leslie Helakoski’s Big Chickens* book tickles my funny bone as the chickens’ panicking causes them more and more trouble until it actually saves them.  Their transition from trembling to proudly strutting chickens is fun to read aloud.  The sequels aren’t as good, but still enjoyable.
• Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein features a chicken overly engaged and excited by her bedtime stories, constantly interrupting to “warn” the fairy tale characters and quickly give them happy endings.
• As a former Bloom County junkie, I have a soft spot for Berkely Breathed.  His picture book Pete ‘n’ Pickles is beautifully and bizarrely illustrated, helping elevate it above the average mismatched-pair story.  I also love the author notes on the back flap (with original drawings) that explains how his 5 yr old daughter’s empathetic imagination was the source for the story.
• My Side of the Car by Kate and Jules Feiffer is another father-daughter collaboration, inspired by their real life, about a young girl determined to go to the zoo and insisting that it is not raining on her side of the car.
• Lasso Lou and Cowboy McCoy by Barbara Larmon Failing is the story of wannabe cowboy that makes my son laugh and me smile.  (Did you know that you can pick your career based simply on which hat in the hat store suits you?  I’m sure I know a lot of baseball cap sporting men that wish that were true.)
• Before your kids are old enough to read Diary of a Wimpy kid, they can enjoy Doreen Cronin’s Diary of a Worm (“I told [my older sister] that no matter how much time she spends looking in the mirror, her face will always look just like her rear end. Spider thought that was really funny. Mom did not.”) and the sequel, Diary of a Spider.

Joke and Riddle books – WARNING:  if your child hasn’t started trying to tell jokes (especially of the knock knock variety) introducing them to joke books can be dangerous.  In the early stages of joke telling kids tend to share a string of humdingers like “Knock Knock – Who’s There? – Binky – Binky Who? – Binky wooshee badaboo!”  However, if you’re child is already telling (or past telling) priceless jokes like that, joke books can be a good way to help them understand and tell real jokes.  The jokes in these books aren’t all great, but most of them are either funny or not terribly annoying.  (Certainly better than my son’s “How did the pig cross the road?  He snorted at the cars!”):

• The Riddle Book by Roy McKie and Bennett Cerf’s Book Of Riddles by Bennett Cerf are the best I found for preschool through 1^st grade and share many of the same classic jokes ( such as “Why do Birds Fly South for the Winter?  Because it’s too far to walk.”)
• Ten Copycats in a Boat by Alvin Schwartz is another cute one (Q: “If you threw an white stone into the Red Sea, what would it become?” A: “Wet.”)
• The Big Little Golden Book of Knock-Knock Jokes and other Jokes (“Knock, Knock.  Who’s There?  Avenue.  Avenue who? Avenue heard enough knock knock jokes?”  I like to substitute “told enough” when I’m tired of hearing them.
• Critter Jitters by Mark Ziegler (“Why don’t leopards play hide-and-seek?  Because they’re always spotted”)

As always, if you have any favorites to share please post below.  If you have any questions for me, feel free to e-mail becmelo@yahoo.com.

*These books aren’t in the children’s room collection but are available through interlibrary loan.  

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Books You Can Count On

A Blog by Beth Melo

Recently, as I worked with my daughter on her math homework, I was reminded of the beginnings of her math journey.  There are lots of methods for teaching young children about counting and math.  As with most things, reading books was my favorite way.

Among the countless counting books, these were my families’ most loved:      

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a classic that engages very young children through its unusual presentation and includes counting 1-5 (though with no digits shown) along with going through days of the week.
• Sandra Boynton’s board book Doggies was one of my favorite counting books, along with her One, Two, Three and Hippos Go Berserk* (which includes counting back down to one).  Her quirky humor works well in these.
• Miss Spider’s Tea Party by David Kirk was one of the first books my daughter loved to read.  A bonus, it breaks an unwritten rule and progresses past 10 to 12.
• Ten Terrible Dinosaurs countdown book by Paul Stickland used to elicit some giggles as bad behavior whittles down the group.
• Deep in the Swamp mesmorized my children.  Colorful descriptions and rhythmic language used in Donna Bateman’s  take on the “Over in the Meadow” songs  merge well with Brian Lies’ beautiful images of animal babies in their habitat.
• I’m Dirty by Kate and Jim McMullan, as mentioned in a previous article, is one of my son’s favorites.  Here children are invited to count the garbage in the heaps dozed away from “10 torn-up truck tires” to “”1 wonky washing machine”.
• Richard Scarry’s Best Counting Book Ever is a visual treat for kids encouraging counting, basic math and the concepts of counting by groups.  Forget about counting past ten, this is the only one I could find that took them to 100.

Beyond counting – These books are good for introducing other interesting math concepts:  

• Now that we counted to 100, how about a trillion? David M. Schwartz’s How Much is a Million?  explains the concept of gigantic numbers.  No, it doesn’t actually count up to a trillion, since according to Schwartz that “would take you almost 200,000 years.”  But it does illustrate 100,000 tiny stars on 7 pages and explain that if you went over those pages 10 times, that would be what 1 million looked like.  The concepts are a bit hard to grasp, but fun illustrations by the fantastic Stephen Kellogg help make the attempt entertaining.
• Equal Shmequal* is a cute story by Virginia Kroll that takes on the concept of what is equal.  It also encourages problem solving and fairness.
• Stuart J. Murphy has some good early Math books including –Let’s Fly a Kite (symmetry) and Beep beep, vroom vroom!*(patterns).

As always, if you have any favorites to share please post below.  If you have any questions for me, feel free to e-mail becmelo@yahoo.com.

*These books aren’t in the children’s room collection but are available through interlibrary loan.  A digital version of Equal Shmequal is also available for download. 

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