Wednesday, September 05, 2007

SOME RECENT LIBRARY FINDS MY KIDS L-O-V-E

*Un-Brella by Scott E. Franson -- This book is a visual delight. The author is a graphics design professor at BYU and he definitely knows his stuff. (LDS pals, be sure to check it out!) The story is completely visual, with absolutely no text, and the kids continually get a thrill out of "reading" it out loud to me. The gist of the story is that a little girl has a special umbrella that creates weather under it that is the opposite of the actual weather -- so she wears a swimsuit in the snow and makes a sunny path of green grass and flowers wherever she walks, etc., etc. It's simultaneously gorgeous and cute.

*The Octonauts & the Only Lonely Monster, by Meomi (and Oliver Chin). I checked this one out because Oliver Chin, the publisher (and writer?) is speaking at an upcoming conference I'm attending. This book is fabulous. It's incredibly innovative with appealing characters that conjure up Hello Kitty or Pokemon without the mass market/cult following. The story is sweet and adventurous, focusing on individualism and friendship; the art is exciting; the presentation is sometimes daredevil. Like that last description? What I mean is that they take risks. For example, four pages are devoted to the octonauts and the lonely sea creature traveling to extreme places underwater on the planet -- so when they go south, the two-page spread is upside down. This is confusing and funny, especially when you turn the next page, and/but it really works. A terrific book.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, Dear Book Recommender, My office is having a baby shower for one of our esteemed staff members next Monday. The theme is "Bring a book for her first baby." My first thought was a Miss PiggleWiggle book, but then I thought it wouldn't be picked up for five years or so. Then I thought I would ask Jan...but then.... since you're in a book recommending mood. And you have such recent experience with kids. Well, what do you say?

Mike

anjie said...

Okay, Mike, you can't lose with this one: Sandra Boynton's "Blue Hat, Green Hat." It's a board book, and the kid'll be craziest about it once s/he hits age 3 -- but it's a stitch and might seem funny even earlier. It's great too b/c it focuses on colors and clothing items. And here's the kicker: adults love to read it.

I have a feeling you couldn't go wrong with any of Sandra Boynton's books; Peggy Rathman's fabulous, too. But my top A#1 recommendation for your particular shower is "Blue Hat, Green Hat."

Anonymous said...

Anjie, I responded by e-mail, but forgot to ask you what a "board book" is. I know board game, but board book?

Mike

anjie said...

It's a book with those thick pages that don't bend or tear -- perfect for infant/toddler ages. They usually have simple text that's age appropriate.

Anonymous said...

Anjie,
Found the BH RH book available @ Tacoma' Borders which I'll pick up for Mike tomorrow.

Tried to get Un-Brella and Octonauts & Only Lonely Monster at UP library this afternoon. They had neither in our system BUT were able to special request both of them.
It used to be I could only special order either 1 or 2 books a year. Then there was a cost for any other searches. Now I can try to locate as many titles as I wish at no charge - no limit.
Also, Chin has a new book out as of the last few days called Shadow (seems it had more words than that in the title but not remembered by yours truly). The librarian said there was a copy in 3 libraries in the WORLD. That's right!!! So who knows where my requested copy will come from. ???? Beings it's so recently published it seems kind've special that I can request and get a copy from somehere out there in our ONCE SO HUGE A WORLD, but now through technology it's like getting it from A FRIENDLY SHARING LIBRARY JUST NEXT DOOR. Amazing, eh???
A couple of weeks ago I'd special requested the first two books Anne Lamott wrote. Just read one ( from Bellingham library) and am 6th in line for the other one from ???? Wonderful!!!
Lovingly,
JJJ