38. Dear Fish

Ever wrote a letter to some fish as a joke and had it backfire on you? Well, you're about to find out all that can go wrong. In Dear Fish (2006), Chris Gall crafts a beautiful postmodern/surrealist tale of fish coming to visit. 


Peter Alan didn't mean it when he invited the fish over to his house, but they believed him. Soon all sorts of sea life have invaded his neighborhood--jellyfish, puffer fish, sharks, a blue whale, etc. They move in so seamlessly that the townspeople don't even notice at first-- the baseball player uses the barracuda as a bat, the carpenter uses a sawfish to cut some boards.


Oh, that reminds me...the author uses these fish in quite a 'punny' way, as each creature is put into a situation that plays upon their name (i.e. the 'school' of fish, you guessed it, in the school). These puns are hidden throughout. I think kids would love stumbling upon one and laughing at the joke.


The text is cool...whenever a new sea creature comes into the story, Gall uses some sort of onomatopoeia to introduce them (i.e. "a crash, a smash, a wiggling, and a jiggling"). These would be great moments in writing lessons to talk about figurative language and great word choice. Plus, Gall has the text stand out by changing the color for those words and even making the font match the words.


But I've totally ignored the artwork-- and it is what drew me to the book originally! Gall uses engravings (on a clay-coated board) to create crisp, detailed pictures. I love the way the engraving allows you to see the grain and lines that he carves in. They create such flow and movement in the scenes. Gall then adds in color digitally (and man do those bright colors pop!). Gall's fantasy is well crafted in the images (I'd say he's chasing David Weisner's tail)...the creatures meld seamlessly into the scenes, almost as if they were meant to be there. Characters break the frame and show up in crazy places (the blue whale soars through the air like a blimp). Gall goes back and forth between single page illustrations and ones that cross the gutter but don't quite fill up both pages. Occasionally, he will feature double page bleeds without any text...these fill your eyes with wonder at the craziness (i.e. awesomeness) of the scene. The boldness of the colors and style make it look almost 3-D!


In the end, Peter Alan's second letter convinces them to return to the sea. They are not rude animals, though, and eventually they invite the family to their home. The last scene in the book is a beautiful double page bleed of the boy and his parents in their car, plunging into the ocean with their headlights lighting the way. Wouldn't that be so awesome if we could really do that? Sign me up!

37. Olivia saves the circus

If you hadn't noticed, these last couple of books have been a departure from my earlier reviews of deep, serious picture books. While I love the meat and depth of feeling in those books, sometimes we all need a moment to giggle and enjoy the simple pleasures. That's why I brought you Knuffle Bunny and now Olivia Saves the Circus (2001) by Ian Falconer. I had never read either one before.

 

No, I haven't been living under a rock for years...I do know who Olivia is. Her books are everywhere and her image is plastered over all sorts of things for children. Which is why I never paid much attention-- for little kids, I thought, and way too overrated. Now, I'm not going to get into whether or not she is over commercialized, but I will say that this book was cute.


Olivia is a strong-willed, rambunctious, imaginative piglet. By the way, I love that the main character is a strong girl-- usually books with creative, adventurous characters feature boys. In this installment, Olivia recounts for her class what she did on vacation-- why, she ran the circus of course. And she did everything like a pro, from juggling to tightrope to the trampoline. The story is told in the first person, so you hear Olivia's unabashed self-confidence and personality coming through. She is a girl who knows who she is (no boring uniform for her...accessorize!), and that I feel is a great role model for girls of all ages.


Falconer uses charcoal and gouache to create his illustrations. His gray sketches create a backdrop for Olivia's vibrant red and pink clothes to shine. In fact, with the exception of parts of the circus, no other character or scene gets any color except for her. That's because Falconer knows she is the star. He rarely frames his pages, but rather lets the moments stand on their own. His endpapers and title page even feature little cartoon-like strips where we see Olivia preparing for her day. The illustrations are minimalist, but I loved the added 'easter eggs' like the portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt above Olivia's bed-- kids won't know who that is or get the reference, but Falconer puts it in there so the adults know just what kind of woman Olivia looks up to. Falconer also creates motion in a 4 page spread (that you open) where Olivia performs on the trampoline, flying through the air. Her face expresses so much emotion with the slight change of her eyes.

There were a couple of little moments I loved in the book. One was where Falconer's words and images were contradictory on purpose--  she was 'a big help to her mother' in making breakfast, but we as the reader see the piles of dishes in the sink that Mom will surely not be happy with. Two other moments stood out as being totally accurate portrayals of a little kid-- one is where she finished her circus story then squeezes in small text, "Then one time my dad took me sailing The End." That one made me laugh out loud because I've heard many a story by little ones. The other true-to-life moment was when her mom asks her what she did at school today and she replies, 'nothing'. Typical.


So anyways, the book is adorable and has some nice elements for the older set in it. Little kids will love it for the cute pictures and simple story. I like it for spotlighting a girl who is no damsel in distress.

36. Knuffle Bunny

Even though this book is for a younger set than the grade I teach, it is still adorable. And everybody loves a story that can make them giggle...even me.


Knuffle Bunny (2004) is written and illustrated by Mo Willems. If you like it there are now 2 equally hilarious sequels. If you've ever been around a little kid who loves a certain special stuffed animal, you'll totally get this book. In fact, it made me think of my little sister Ellie and how she had this stuffed reindeer that she adored. If my parents ever forgot Reindeer at someone's house, you'd better believe they had to go back and get it so that Ellie could go to sleep. Knuffly Bunny is that special to Trixie, too.


It is a simple story that can be summed up easily: toddler runs an errand with Daddy, toddler loses stuffed animal, toddler throws a huge fit, mom knows what to do, family gets animal back. The font is huge, with only one or two lines per page, so you could read it to your toddler. But it's all the little details in the illustrations that made me laugh. 


First of all, Trixie herself is adorable. On the copyright and title page we see pictures (framed as a picture on the wall would be) of Trixie being born, trips with her parent, and Knuffle Bunny. Something cool about all of Willems' illustrations in this book is that they are hand drawn sketches (later colored digitally) laid atop real photographs (in sepia tone) of New York City. These photographs were then formatted in the book atop olive-green backdrops. I had never seen this drawing/photograph meld before, but I loved the way it gave the book a unique look and made me feel like these characters were really in the city.

Since Willems uses photographs, the illustrations have a natural frame. We see Dad and Trixie happy together, passing people on the streets. The double page spread in the laundromat is hilarious with Trixie's mouth wide open, jeans on her head, waving a bra in the air. Classic. Willems knows how to create action and movement with his lines and body positioning. Oh, and Trixie' eyes are the key to everything, since she can't yet speak. In fact, when Trixie has her freak out moment, Willems even hand-letters the 'words' coming out of her mouth. His movement lines show her waving her arms in the air and going full-on tantrum. I especially loved the scene where she went "boneless". If you've ever tried to pick up a kid that didn't want to be held, you know what that lump feels like. But thankfully the reunion scene finally comes and you can feel the warmth between Trixie and her bunny.


With a simple palette and a small amount of words, Willems' cartoon-meets-photograph story is a realistic one of family, love, and adventure (for Knuffle Bunny stuck in the washer that is). It's adorable...you should share it with your little one.

22. The Three Pigs

"Once upon a time there were three pigs who went out into the world to seek their fortune. The first pig decided to build a house of straw..."

sound familiar? I'm sure most people could finish the fairy tale with no problem. However, if you think that David Wiesner's 2001 version follows any traditional pattern...then you don't know David Wiesner. Wiesner loves a good postmodern book and, quite frankly, so do I. Without giving away too much of the surprises in this book, let's just say that it flips everything on its head.

One thing I love about this book is that there are multiple story lines going on-- in the beginning, you have the traditional text of the book that contradicts Wiesner's illustrations. 

Let me give you an example:

If you were to just read the text, it says that the wolf ate the pig up. If you look closely at the illustration, however, you see that the pig has escaped from the book, rescued by pig #1, much to the amazement of the wolf. So many things continue to pop up later on. Pigs breaking the frame, stepping out of the storybook, and becoming real. Characters occupying 'negative' space and taking charge of their story, refusing to sit idly by as the wolf eats them. The wolf stuck within his story, unable to emerge. So postmodern. So awesome.

The pigs later go on to visit other worlds of storybooks, changing in illustration style each time to match with the theme of the particular text they are inhabiting.  Wiesner uses mixed media to portray the intricacies of each genre, including watercolor, gouache, colored inks, pencil, and colored pencil. He is a master in this book of changing color palettes, texture, and style in each story the pigs enter. He also uses white space brilliantly, leaving multiple pages blank so as to get the feel for the pigs' movement through their world. And don't get me started on the pigs as characters themselves-- so clever and expressive (much of the story is later told through their dialogue)...I wanted to jump right in and fall into their world. 

I will most definitely be reading this to my students this year, maybe in a unit of fractured fairy tales, maybe to study about postmodernism, or maybe just for the fun of it. There's always some new detail I find every time I look at it, so maybe we'll have to read it a few times. Oh darn.

21. It's a Book

So many things about this book make me laugh. (I love how the monkey's head creates one of the o's in the title.) It's a conversation between a monkey and a jackass. Sitting in armchairs, the jackass with his laptop and the monkey with his book, they represent the conflict between old and new forms of entertainment. Jackass cannot understand the appeal of this book thing...it doesn't have wi-fi, make noise, text, or tweet. What use could it have?


It's not until Monkey opens up a page of his book that Jackass becomes interested (though he hilariously turns the story into a three-line text message). Now, all of a sudden, he is drawn into the power of the books. Hours pass by and he is captivated-- he won't even give the book back, but promises to charge it.

And, of course, the reader learns that for all their gadgets and gizmos, technology just can't compare to the wonder found in a well-written book. The story is told without narration (except for the brilliant double page spread of the pages of the pirate book), going back and forth with Jackass and Monkey's dialogue. Each single page illustration shows us something new about their conversation. (We turn the page to see what Jackass will ask about next.) To keep the two characters' dialogue from being confusing, each character's words have their own font style and color.

Smith uses a muted palette with lots of browns, grays, and pale primary colors. Even the backgrounds of the pages shift slightly from one muted color to next. In fact the only consistent colors are those of the main characters and their armchairs. He can express so much emotion in his cartoon-like characters, with the raise of an eyebrow or the droop of an ear. There are very few backgrounds, just the animals in their chairs. (This leads to the deadpan feel of the humor.) But that's the point...having elaborate pictures with rich backgrounds would overwhelm the story. The illustrations were first done in brush and ink, then textures were added using oil paint. Finally, they were sprayed with an acrylic spray to give the mottled look that is evident in the book.


Lane Smith's It's a Book (2010) has an elegant simplicity that teaches us that though books may not be as 'fancy' as technology...they're still awesome. Though I don't see books going away anytime soon, I still think we need this reminder every once in a while.

One word of note: at the very end of the book, there is a naughty punch line. Some parents/teachers might find it inappropriate for kids; others might see no harm in it. You can leave it out and it won't change the meaning, if it bothers you. I plan on reading it to my 4th graders. They will giggle at every page, just like I did.

8. Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners

Remember how I mentioned in my last post that Laurie Keller is punny...well, she's done it again. When my class Skyped with her last week, she told us that she had wanted to write a book about manners for years, but couldn't think of how to make it engaging. All of a sudden, the phrase "Do unto 'otters' "(instead of 'others', for the not so pun inclined) popped into her head. And so her silly book about manners began. Here's a quick clip from Weston Woods...

The premise this time is that Mr. Rabbit gets some new neighbors, the Otters. While they seem nice enough, he is worried about whether or not they will get along. He realizes (with help from an owl friend) that he should remember the golden rule: "Do unto otters what you would have otters do unto you." But how would Mr. Rabbit like the otters to treat him? Keller spends the rest of the book exploring all of the kind ways to treat one another.

As with Artie the Doughnut (though not quite as busy on each page), Keller's humorous characters inhabit every corner in small vignettes, this time illustrating examples of good manners. The cheerful palette of greens, blues, and yellows create an outdoor setting where talking rabbits, owls, and otters live. Her whimsical illustrations are made with acrylic paint. (I especially like when you can see the brushstrokes in her backgrounds-- it gives the page such great texture.) And her cartoon-style characters so easily express their emotion with the raise of an eyebrow. Though there are hidden gems on each page that necessitate a few rereadings, it is never too much. I could see kids wanting this in their hands to explore the nooks and crannies of each page. In fact, it wasn't until my third time reading it that I noticed some hilarity on the publishing page-- she even stuck with her theme of manners there.

"No teasing took place during the making of this book...There was an uncomfortable hair-pulling incident that took place toward the end of this project, but everyone involved promptly APOLOGIZED and have since FORGIVEN each other."

Do Unto Otters (2007) is very simple. In a nutshell, it is a funny way of explaining the golden rule to children...the great thing about the book is that it never gets preachy. Though didactic, it feels fresh on every page. That is because Keller is a master at the creative layout. Her text blocking on each page always keeps you guessing-- the typeface, size and color changing to evoke expression. In addition, the switch from frames to vignettes to full page spreads makes the reader want to turn the page...I especially loved the added bonus that you can learn how to say some words in 5 languages (Pig Latin included).


I will definitely use this book at the beginning of the school year with my kiddos. Though I like for us to come up with our classroom expectations together, this book could either be a jumping off point for some brainstormin or a wrap-up to see the rules in action. Either way, I know my students will love it...and it will subtly and humorously reinforce the values I want to make sure stay in my classroom (play nice, be respectful, etc.) After all, who can disagree with the golden rule?