Book Picks

 

The best place to start when looking for children's books is the new jPicture books section in the Children's Department. This area has the most recent additions the library has purchased -- and held there for about a year after purchase. These include brand-new books and re-orders of older books. Because it's a smaller space, it makes it easier to browse for good finds, and when you find an author you really like, you can see if he/she has other books. Or, if you find a topic you like, just ask a Children's librarian for recommendations.

For your littlest ones, starting out with books is made even easier. The Children's Department has a large wooden cradle filled with board books. And often board books are displayed (and sometimes strewn about!) on the toddler-sized reading table, complete with toddler-sized chairs. You can browse the cradle and table for books at your leisure while your youngster plays with other kids, the giant plastic blocks, or other books. The table and chairs also make it nice to read a story or two before checking them out -- just to find out if you really like it! The cradle/board books range from the simplest (minimal words) for the youngest, on up to board-versions of picture books.

Storytimes at the library are also a great way to discover good books. Each Weekend Wonders program has a different topic, with several stories, a song and fingerplay, then a related craft (running about 15-20 minutes). Back upstairs, the librarians display related books for check-out. I started bringing my son to Just Baby 'n Me when he was 9 months old, then started him on Weekend Wonders when he was about 18 months. I don't know if it's because we don't have a TV, or because Mommy works at the library, but now he just loves books and storytime!

 

Favorite Books & Authors

Kids love animals, and books about animals are a good place to start introducing them -- especially when they have the different animal sounds. For your youngest ones just learning about animals, try these favorites my son and I liked:

If the animal books are silly -- even better! Here are some books that take a fun and silly look at animals (all of these are still big favorites for my son!):

As a good introduction to stories from cradle books, my son loved the Little Kipper books, by Mick Inkpen. This series has easy-to-grasp short stories with not too many words on each page. They include: Picnic (Kipper and Tiger's picnic is continually interrupted), Sandcastle (finding just the right top for it), Thing! (an unusual toy), Meow! (a cat up a tree), Swing! (a tree swing), Butterfly (trying to get a purple butterfly), Arnold (Pig's thumb-sucking nephew), Honk! (a little gosling), Splosh! (fun in the rain), and Hissss! (a wading pool). We also very much love Kipper's Toybox, Kipper's Snowy Day, The Blue Balloon (a very magical and fun balloon), and Kipper and Roly (a hamster he befriends). Mick Inkpen also wrote several books on his Wibbly Pig character, which are also very cute. In about a year or two, I'll read my son the wonderful, pull-at-your-heart-strings Nothing, also by Mick Inkpen (left behind by a family in the attic, a stuffed animal who's forgotten his name tries to find out who he is). All of these stories are so captivating and charming, with very cute, simple illustrations.

If you have a dinosaur lover like my son, try out these books that he liked, by Paul Stickland: Dinosaur Roar, Dinosaur Stomp (a pop-up); Ten Terrible Dinosaurs (a counting book); Dinosaur Splash; and Dinosaur Friends. Other dino favorites for us have been: Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp, by Carol Diggory Shields; Dinosaur Train, by John Steven Gurney; and all of these by Jane Yolen: How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? / Clean Their Rooms? / Count to Ten? / Get Well Soon?

Why do little kids love to be scared -- in a funny, silly way?  Maybe it's because poems, stories and jokes about monsters and spooky things help make them less scary. These books are often favorites, even after Halloween is long past: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, by Linda Williams; or Grim and Ghastly Goings On, by Florence Parry Heide; or Scared Silly! A Book for the Brave, compiled and illustrated by Marc Brown (of Arthur fame); or Boo! : Stories to Make You Jump, compiled by Laura Cecil. Note to the reader -- I recommend these partly because they treat "scary subjects" in a silly or humorous way. Another fun story to help chase the "scareds" away is Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.

Silly twists on well-known tales are very fun. While it's a little dated, we can't help but love the award-winning, best-selling Canadian writer Robert Munsch's The Paper Bag Princess. In this send-up of the classic fairy-tale paradigm, the princess ends up saving the prince, who was kidnapped by a dragon. Not only is the prince ungrateful, he has the nerve to criticize the princess for being dirty and disheveled when she rescues him. The princess decides the dragon is a lot more fun and goes off on a picnic with him. If you like the book, try the video, with its catchy tunes!  (By the way, Robert Munsch's website is awesome!) Other fun and silly twists on tales include:

Have you ever felt like a "Monster Mom"?  If you have, you and your kids may need to read Joanna Harrison's When Mom Turned into a Monster. Harrison's  lively illustrations and kid's perspective make this book a read-aloud favorite. The interaction between Mom and kids feels very real, and it's easy to relate to the situation. Harrison's earlier book, Dear Bear, presents a novel approach to dealing with the things that live under the stairs. I really like Harrison's gentle sense of humor, and she writes tales that are fun for this closet actress to read aloud.

For more parent silliness, check out A Dog Called Dad, by Frank B. Edwards. Only a baby when the coyotes stole his father, a boy tells of life on a chicken farm at the edge of the desert -- where his dad now is one of the coyotes. It's hilarious!

For some child silliness, check out these books by Ian Falconer: Olivia (whether at home getting ready for the day, enjoying the beach, or at bedtime, Olivia is a feisty pig who has too much energy for her own good), Olivia Saves the Circus (at school, Olivia tells about her vacation and how, when she went to the circus and all the performers were out sick, she saved the day, becoming Olivia the Tattooed Lady, Olivia the Lion Tamer, The Amazing Flying Olivia, and more), and Olivia--and the Missing Toy (when her best toy mysteriously disappears, Olivia the feisty pig is determined to find out who is responsible). These books are just delightful!

To help kids start to learn empathy and understanding of others, here are some of our favorites:

Are trains a favorite topic? Besides dinosaurs, trucks, cars and balls, trains are a bigtime interest in our house (can you tell I have a boy?!). These have been our favorite books:

Very simple train books, for the youngest train lovers are: Freight Train, by Donald Crews, I Love Trains!, by Philemon Sturges; Big Blue Engine, by Ken Wilson-Max; Trains, by Anne Rockwell; Trains, by Byron Barton; and My Freight Train, by Michael Rex. Of course, there are always the Thomas the Tank Engine books -- unfortunately, they're in different areas because they're written by different authors. Look under Awdry, Allcroft, Thomas, Stubbs, Monster ("Monster Under the Shed"), Crack ("Crack in the Track"), Better ("A Better View for Gordon"), and Catch ("Catch Me, Catch Me").

What about dancing? Little ballerinas-in-training will love Angelina Ballerina, by Katharine Holabird. Angelina is a little mouse who loves to dance. The illustrations are enchanting, as are the stories. Holabird's written many other Angelina stories as well, but here are a couple others that are about dancing: Angelina Ballerina's Invitation to the Ballet and Angelina Ballerina: Christmas in Mouseland: The Show Must Go On. Rachel Isadora has written some nice picture books on dancing: Lili at Ballet, Lili on Stage, and Not Just Tutus. Other nice ones on ballet are Rosie's Ballet Slippers, by Susan Hampshire (about a first ballet lesson), and another series starting with Bravo, Tanya, by Satomi Ichikawa and Patricia Lee Gauch. A beautiful book is My Mama Had a Dancing Heart, by Libba Moore Gray (a former-ballerina mom and her daughter welcome each new season with a dance).

Fun and silly dancing books are also favorites -- with delightful animal characters, these stories are wonderful for girls and boys:

 

Nonfiction Fun

There's a wealth of good books outside the alphabetical arrangement of picture books. If you wander into the kids' nonfiction Dewey-ordered collection, you'll find that the j800s house children's poetry. There's so much to recommend here, but I'll start with Jack Prelutsky. Along with the late Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky is probably one of the foremost names in poetry for children. His sense of humor is zany, and the playfulness of his language never ceases to delight. We've enjoyed The Baby Uggs are Hatching, 12 poems about fantastical creatures, but you should also try Something Big Has Been Here, or The New Kid on the Block, or any other of his wonderful titles.

Shel Silverstein almost doesn't need an introduction, but for those who don't know about his work, it's fantastic! His poems don't even seem like poems; they're more like fun little spoken songs. Two favorites are "Jimmy Jet and His TV Set" and "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out" from his Where the Sidewalk Ends. And, okay, just two more: "Hug o' War," about hugging instead of tugging, and "Snowman," about a snowman in late Spring wondering what it would be like to see July. His two other poem collection books are A Light in the Attic and Falling Up. And, in case you didn't read it as a kid yourself, he wrote a wonderful picture book called The Giving Tree. It was a must-buy for my son's bookcase well before he was at an age to start reading it. Shel Silverstein also wrote some other picture books: The Missing Piece, A Giraffe and a Half, and Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros?

For folk tales, fairy tales, fables, nursery rhymes and story collections, make a point to check out the j900s. The books are arranged geographically by country the tales originated from -- and they do span the globe! You'll be amazed at how many versions there are of Cinderella, Snow White and many other well-known tales. The illustrations in these books are often spectacular! And the stories that are unlike the well-known tales are wonderful, because they expand our children's perspectives on how other people live and handle challenging situations.

If you or your child likes jokes, riddles and cartoons, you must check out the j741.5 section! Aside from the joke and riddle books (all geared to a younster's sense of humor, with lots of plays on words), the library has many cartoon and comics collections (favorites are Garfield and Peanuts). Nearby, in the j745 section, are loads of craft books -- for those rainy and snowy days -- and many can be made with ordinary household items, like egg cartons, toilet paper tubes, and buttons. Many of these books also have recipes for homemade play-dough, salt dough (for making pins, ornaments, and other small sculptures), and even silly putty and gooey goop you can eat!

For fun in the kitchen, get to the j641 section, with many recipe books geared just for kids. (Of course, you'll need to be on hand to help!) The books range from real meals (some from other countries) to fun and silly creations kids can make. Just down the row, in the j636 section, are books on pets. The simplest ones just introduce various pets to children, and the more in-depth books deal with the care and handling of different pets -- including horses! And, when the time is right, in the j649 section are potty training books, geared toward introducing the concept to your youngster. (There are also videos, in the nonfiction children's video section, to accompany several of the books.)

If your little one dreams of dinosaurs, trains, or ballerinas, you'll eventually need to go for the hard stuff! If you search beyond the picture books, into nonfiction, you'll find many, many books with full-color pictures, text about real-life adventures, and even the down-and-dirty reality of life for these creatures, engines, and dancers. Dinosaurs are an enormous section, starting in the j567s. Trains are in the j385s (some) and the j625.1s (more) -- nestled close to cars (j625.2s and j796.7s), trucks (j629.22s) and tools (j621.9s). And Ballerinas, plus other types of dancers, are in the j792.8s. 

 

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