Best Books of 2010? Part Deux

Yesterday I reviewed the first half of Amazon's picks for Best Children's Books of 2010. Today we finish the list. If you like, you can look at the whole Amazon list here, and of course you can read my earlier post on the first 5 books on the list.

Brontorina, by James Howe. I like this one. Brontorina is trying something that may well not work out -- that takes some courage. The other children are portrayed as helpful and encouraging -- something all children need help being from time to time. The illustrations do a lovely job of conveying just how big Brontorina is, filling the page with her, even to the point that parts of her are off the edges and not visible to the reader. And the problem is resolved not when Brontorina changes, but when everyone around her adapts to her differences. A nice selection.

Ladybug Girl at the Beach, by David Soman: This one gets only a tepid response from me. I know some people are enchanted with this series, but it's a "meh" for me. One book about Ladybug Girl was enough, I think. A fourth book seems too much. Sorry, this one's an SMP (Shameless Marketing Plug).

Of Thee I Sing: A letter to my daughters, by Barack Obama: Well, if it's not an SMP, it's certainly an SPP (Shameless Political Plug), but for all that it's actually kind of a nice book. The illustrations are gorgeous, always a good thing, and the subject matter -- all the qualities the writer either sees in or wants for his children, exemplified by Americans of the past. Children are introduced to Georgia O'Keefe, Billie Holliday, Cesar Chavez, Helen Keller, George Washington...it's wonderfully multi-cultural, historical, even inspirational. For older kids, through 3rd grade.

Three Little Kittens, by Jerry Pinkney: Pinkney has been around quite a while, and has tackled classic fairy tales and nursery rhymes before. He's also a Caldecott Medal Winner for his 2009 The Lion and the Mouse, so anything by him packs a lot of talent and expertise. That's why I feel kind of guilty panning this one. The illustrations, normally a highlight in Pinkney's work, fell flat for me. Yes, they're lush, but they somehow looked like he was channelling Jan Brett and the fusion didn't quite work for me. And frankly, as nursery rhymes go, The Three Little Kittens is one of the more annoying ones out there, so for me this whole volume fell flat. Not an SMP, but not, for me, worth a mention on a top 10 list.

Dog Loves Books, by Louise Yates: I'm a sucker for book lovers and this one had me about 3 pages in. Dog does love books -- he loves the smell of them, the feel of them, he loves everything about them. He loves them so much, he decides to open a bookstore. This is a simple story with whimsical, soft watercolor illustrations that capture the imaginative journeys books can take us on. It will appeal to younger children, and maybe even encourage them to love books like dog does.

So there you have it: My highly opinionated take on Amazon's Best Books of 2010.

Best Books of 2010?

Amazon sends me these lists occasionally -- mainly because I spend enough there to support a small, third-world village -- and occasionally I find those lists helpful and interesting. More often, though, I find them to be shameless plugs for the endless spinoffs and sequels that dog the children's book industry.

Yesterday I got another one entitled Best Books of 2010. These are Amazon's editors' picks for best kids books of 2010. Again, it's a list that looks like a mixture of careful consideration and marketing strategy. There are three entries that are sequels, so only 70% of the list is new stuff, some by established authors and some by relative newcomers.

You can view the list on Amazon's Editor's Picks for Children's Picture Books.

Here's my humble take on it:

Art and Max, by David Wiesener: Yes. Wiesener's artwork makes this one a good choice. He's an established author with really innovative illustrations. Love the lizards, love the focus on art, love the gorgeously illustrated story. Deserves a spot on the list.

Olivia Goes to Venice, by Ian Falconer: I loved the first Olivia book. I liked the second, I liked the third, I liked, mildly, the Christmas book, and then I got a little saturated with Olivia and have had no real desire to learn more about her exploits. There's been so much Olivia that this one doesn't really break new ground or offer anything in the way of freshness. Sorry. This one's a Shameless Marketing Plug (SMP)

The Quiet Book, by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Renata Liwska: Yes, Yes, Yes! This is a sweet, achingly simple (in the best possible way) book that shows different kinds of quiet. From "Sleeping sister quiet," to "First look at your new hairstyle quiet," this one is beautifully complimented by Liwska's soft paintings. Excellent for toddlers and young children.

City Dog, Country Frog, by Mo Willems, illustrated by Jon Muth: Here's a pair of established writer/illustrators collaborating on a lovely story about a dog and a frog that become friends. Later, when frog is gone (read: dies) dog remembers him and befriends another. It's for younger kids and may offer a nice way to talk about emotional losses with children as they identify with the animals in the story. Deserves to be on the list.

A Bedtime for Bear (Bear and Mouse) by Bonnie Becker: This one is a sequel to Becker's A Visitor for Bear, but I think it deserves a spot on the list for two reasons. One, it's only the second book in the series and has not reached the point of over-saturation like Olivia, and Two, the chracter of Bear cracks me up. I love that he states things so firmly, so categorically, and that his firmness masks a lot of insecurity. He is pitch-perfect, as is his funny relationship with Mouse, who sees through the insecurity and helps Bear navigate his fears.

This post is so long, that I am going to review the second half of the list in my next post. Stay tuned!

Nibbles, Bites and Chomps: Leveled Readers

I am always on the hunt for readers -- chapter books that are targeted for a certain level. Even better if they are leveled from easy to harder. I was happy to run across the Nibbles, Bites, Chomps books from Running Press at my local Half Price Books, and even happier to pick up a couple of "Nibbles" and a "Bite" for about 5 bucks.

As the name suggests, the "Nibbles" are easier: big print, lots of pictures, not too long. Probably appropriate for 1st or 2nd grade. "Bites" are a little harder: smaller print, longer paragraphs, not so many pictures, a bit longer overall. Probably best for readers who can read mostly independently, but might need some help here and there. And of course the "Chomps" are harder still, more like a traditional novel, and intended for independent readers.

What really struck me with this series is how many titles would be appealing to boys. Let it Rip is a story about two boys who sell farts in a jar. My Amazing Poo Plant is the story of a girl who grows a plant from a pot where a bird pooped. Walter Wants to be a Werewolf is the story of a family of werewolves who all change when the moon is full -- except Walter. The subject material just seems more targeted to boys, though there's stuff in there that girls will like, too. You can see the whole collection at the Running Press website. It's not huge, but it's got a nice number of titles. Even at full price, they're not too bad. And it's always nice to have a few more weapons in your arsenal choices in your library when the kids run out of stuff to read.

Note: what really appealed to my son was the bite-sized chunk that's cut out of each book. That, more than anything else, made him pick these up and flip through them. Sometimes novelty is your friend.

What Do You Get a 7 Year Old...

who's a reluctant reader?

It's tricky, sometimes, to find something they're interested in that isn't too babyish, or too difficult. Here's what I came up with for my somewhat reluctant boy for his 7th birthday:

Since he loves all things Pokemon, I found this activity book. It's full of puzzles -- crosswords, word finds, secret codes to crack, that sort of thing. It's reading masquerading as something else and he was excited to get it. It will come in very handy on our vacation in a couple weeks.

Some people love Dav Pilkey, others hate him. I once heard a librarian make a disgusted noise over the number of Dav Pilkey books kids were checking out of the library. I, on the other hand, am thrilled that my son wants to read his books and am willing to put up with a certain amount of corny humor and pee pee jokes. Ricky Ricotta, it should be noted, is light on the pee pee humor. It's more of a comic-book style book, highly graphic (by which I mean the action is illustrated pretty thoroughly) and written in larger text at a level that falls between Henry and Mudge and Magic Tree House.

Ricky Ricotta is geared for 1st and 2nd graders and is like brain candy for my son. I wanted something he could read to himself (he is very big on this now -- reading to himself silently), something I knew he could read with no external support, and Ricky Ricotta fits the bill perfectly.

For a step up in reading level and pee pee jokes, he got a Captain Underpants. These are really 3rd-5th grade level books, and for boys they appeal because of the plentiful illustrations and the bathroom humor. Yes, it's full of wedgies and boogers, but don't make the mistake of thinking these books are pure dumb -- the language level in them will surprise you. My son thinks they're hilarious, but can't read them without some help. He was quite happy to get another one as a gift.

This last one was a shot in the dark for me: I am completely unfamiliar with this series, but thought it looked like something I could read to my son. It's billed as "laugh-out-loud," which I am taking with a grain of salt. I'll review it later after I see how it plays with my son.

The search for high-quality, high-interest reading material continues....

Magazines for Kids

Access to books is a critical aspect of cultural capital. But equally important is exposure to a range of texts and formats -- it allows children to transfer the skills they learn reading fiction to other mediums, and adapt them to works of different format and lengths.

Magazines are a great way to give kids experience with different kinds of texts -- poems, non-fiction articles, short stories, song lyrics.

Back in the stone age, when Bookivore was a kid, there was one magazine for kids: Highlights. That was it, folks. Now there is a veritable feast of magazines for children, some quite excellent, some just thinly-veiled advertisements for products, TV shows and movies. Highlights is still a favorite at our house: it's far more colorful than what it was when I was a kid, and nicely multicultural too, teaching about Diwali, Ramadan, Chinese New Year and a host of other cultural celebrations and traditions. The magazine works hard at promoting good values and good behavior, which it does this from a sense of fair play rather than from any particular belief system. It's a nice blend of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, comic strips and puzzles that appeals to kids from 3 to 10.


A nice addition to the Highlights stable is High Five, their magazine for 2-5 year olds. The text is much simpler, pictures are larger and fill the pages. It has the same focus on good morals, though the message is obviously greatly simplified. One lovely feature of both these magazines is no advertising.


I absolutely love these next three, put out by the National Wildlife Federation: Ranger Rick (at the top of this post) Your Big Backyard, and Wild Animal Baby.


Like the two Highlights magazines, the NWF's offerings are stepped for different age groups. Ranger Rick is for ages 7 and up, though for independent reading your child might need to be a little older. Your Big Backyard is for 3-7 year olds, and Wild Animal Baby is for 1-4 year olds.



One nice feature about Wild Animal Baby is that it comes in a board book format of heavier cardboard, rather than flimsy magazine pages. It's perfect for little hands to hold. The photography in all these magazines is fantastic and the range of articles is impressive -- whatever animals your little ones like, they'll show up eventually in these pages, one way or another. Another blessing: no ads to disrupt your reading.

National Geographic Kids is another one we get, but I would be lying if I said it was a favorite. It was a gift, otherwise I'd cancel my subscription. I find the layout overly busy and it's loaded with ads for candy and video games. Additionally, it contains feature articles on movies -- special effects, actor interviews, etc. Not strictly National Geographic stuff -- more along the lines of paid endorsements. In and among the plugs are some interesting articles about animal rescues, critter cams, and habitats, but it's pretty buried in junk. Ostensibly for 6-14 year olds, but I can't see kids sticking with it that long.

Another one for 2-6 year olds that gets good reviews is Ladybug. It's colorful and full of stories, poems. The publishers also have a magazine called Babybug, which is made of heavy stock like Wild Animal Baby. They also publish one called Click! which is geared more towards science and nature.

Of a similar nature is Spider, which is for 6-9 year olds. It includes stories, poems, articles and illustrations from around the world.

For older kids, there are magazines about science, like Odyssey.


And magazines about world history, like Calliope.


If you have a sports nut, Sports Illustrated for Kids might be a good choice. Parents rated this one very highly because it focuses on the positive achievements of athletes and their good sportsmanship, rather than on their questionable activities and sexual antics. One word of caution here would be that kids may assume the adult version of SI is okay because of their exposure to SIKids. Obviously the articles in SI are going to burst some bubbles, so that's something to consider.

Appleseeds is a magazine full of non-fiction and social studies articles for kids ages 7-9. Each issue covers a particular theme: Becoming President, Whiz Kids, Unusual Structures, Halloween. Rather a narrow age range, but the content makes it of use in giving kids experience with non-fiction text.

Ask is for 7-10 year olds covering science, inventions, recipes, web activities, projects, and other activities. Each issue is devoted to a particular theme -- water, camouflage, migration, the musical brain, etc.

Cricket has been around since the '70s and is another publication that celebrates fiction, though this time from established, even classical writers like Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Shel Silverstein, and Lloyd Alexander. It also includes games and puzzles. It's geared for 9-14 year olds.


This is really just a sampling. There are many more publications for kids, of varying quality: American Girl Magazine, Kids Discover, Boy's Life, Cobblestone, Girl's Life, Disney Princess, Dig, Nick Jr. Preschool Playroom. The list goes on and on.



Before subscribing, go to your library and see what these magazines offer -- look at several issues, if possible, to get a sense of the kind of content they regularly offer. Be leery of magazine that contain a lot of ads: they really will encourage your kids to pester you for Yogos, or whatever. And if the subscription prices seem too high, remember that magazine subscriptions make excellent birthday and Christmas gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. All of our subscriptions have been gifts and they are very much appreciated.

Images courtesy of Amazon.com and National Wildlife Federation

Classic Monday: How to Eat Fried Worms

How to Eat Fried Worms, by Thomas Rockwell, was first published in 1953. You might think that a book this old just wouldn't translate well for modern kids, but the premise -- a bet between some boys that one of them will eat fifteen worms in fifteen days -- possesses just enough of that gross-out factor to still be attractive to kids everywhere.

Billy accepts the challenge from his friends Joe and Alan. On the line is Alan's savings -- $50. Most of the book is consumed with Billy eating worms and Alan and Joe trying to trick or otherwise prevent him from doing it so they won't lose the bet.

This isn't a long book, only about 145 pages, and in some ways not a lot happens. A full chapter is devoted to the first worm Billy manages to eat, and it's mainly description of him chewing and swallowing with great determination. Other chapters are similarly devoted to Alan and Joe's tactics -- sometimes straightforward, sometimes underhanded -- as they try to keep Billy from eating his worms. Worms are boiled, fried, slathered in horseradish sauce, buried in ice cream -- whatever necessary for Billy to get them down. And he can't just swallow them: he has to chew them up.

I read this one aloud to my 6 year old about a month ago and he really liked it. Our edition had the original illustrations in it, line drawings of some of the events, and that helped him stay on track with the story. He was particularly fascinated with the idea of eating the worms and we talked quite a bit about whether or not we would be willing to eat a worm to win a bet, what we'd need to put on it to eat it, how it should be cooked, etc. It's revolting stuff like this that just reels boys in and my kid was no exception.

This one worked well as a read-aloud, although Rockwell sometimes tends to write in loose fragmentary sentences that can get kind of confusing as you're reading along. I probably wouldn't go much younger than 6 for read aloud. Accelerated reader puts this one at a 3.5 for grade level and that seems about right for independent reading. It is a book often recommended for boys since all the characters are boys and the subject matter is one that appeals to boys, but my 8 year old daughter read it last summer and liked it too. There's no swearing, no violence, nobody gets killed or blown up and yet it's still a good book. Go figure.

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa

I have a pony lover at my house. Because of that, I have endured countless hours of My Little Pony books and videos. As books go, My Little Pony isn't going to win the Caldecott Medal any time soon. It might win the Fast Pass to a Headache Award, or maybe the Crushingly Boring Medal, but great literature it ain't.

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa, by Erica Silverman, has been a lifesaver in a world otherwise populated with pink and purple ponies that all have hair like Pamela Anderson.


This is a nice little series that works well as either read-aloud books or as early chapter books for emerging readers. It's on a par with Henry and Mudge or Mr. Putter and Tabby -- short line lengths, easier but not babyish vocabulary, lots of colorful pictures. Each book is broken into 4 chapters and the situations the characters deal with are on a fairly simple order.


What I like about these books is the character of Cocoa, Cowgirl Kate's horse. He's miffy, a little selfish, always hungry, prone to misunderstanding and just generally kind of a pill. My 3 year old daughter loves him and even my 6 year old son laughed at some of his antics when I was reading aloud one day (he says he didn't but I heard him giggle).

The illustrations are so nice -- bright and fun. You may recognize the style: Betsy Lewin has also illustrated Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type and the Duck books that it spawned (Giggle Giggle Quack, Duck for President, etc.) She lends a nice touch of whimsy to the books.

The situations have a nice balance of friendship and humor and respect. In Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Partners, Cocoa doesn't want new horseshoes. He'd rather have cowboy boots like Cowgirl Kate. She patiently lets him try on one of her boots until he admits it doesn't fit. Later in the same book, Cowgirl Kate has to coax Cocoa (say that three times fast!) into doing their chores, reminding them that they are partners and must stick together. When he splashes into the pond with her after their work is done, she says "Couldn't you go swimming without me?" and he reminds her that they are partners "through wet and dry." It's sweet, but with a light touch.

It's a lovely series that makes a welcome change from the sugary world of the pastel ponies. The stories have actual content, rather than mindless activity (read enough MLP books and you will know what I mean). This one is good as a read-aloud from about age 3 and up, though I think you could go younger if you had a real horse lover. It should be good as an early chapter book through age 6 and possibly through age 7 (Second Grade) depending on your reader. It should be readily available at your library or in paperback through your favorite bookseller.

Classic Monday: Nate the Great

"I, Nate the Great,

am a detective.

This morning I was a cold detective.

I was standing in the snow

with my dog, Sludge,

building a snow dog

and a snow detective.

They looked like Sludge and me.

They were cold and white and wet.

And so were we."

Nate the Great and the Snowy Trail

You gotta love Nate the Great: his hard-boiled monologue, his love of pancakes, his determination to solve the case. He's been around for nearly 40 years and still stands as a classic chapter book for readers beginning to read independently.


Kids today aren't going to get the Joe Friday tone to Nate's speech, the short, clipped sentences, the just-the-facts-ma'am attitude, but parents who grew up on Dragnet re-runs or have caught them on cable will recognize the similarity.


Line lengths are short, but there are quite a few per page. Often an entire page is covered in text. The stories are accessible, always involving other kids and their mysteries. The stories offer the opportunity to stop and predict what might happen -- a good higher-order thinking skill. The books are usually under 50 pages.


Lots of sight words here, and lots of repeated words, mainly because of how Nate talks. The repetition is nice for early readers because they get practice with the same words. However, this repetition makes them not a good choice for reading aloud -- you, the parent, will find yourself getting either a little bored with or annoyed by the text -- wonderful practice, but a slow read for competent readers.




There are about 25 books in Marjorie Sharmat's series, though several since the 1990s have been co-written with Craig or Mitchell Sharmat, who are presumably her sons. Nate the Great remains a good choice for beginning readers.

Usborne Young Reading

After my last post, I got to thinking about good transitional books and wondering why I don't have more of them. So I dug into my stash of readers, which I have handily sorted into plastic shoebox bins and keep stored on top of a bookcase in my bedroom. In my box labeled "Level 3 Readers & Early Chapter Books" I found a couple Usborne Early Reading books.



These are much like the Stepping Stone Full Color Chapter books, in that they are true chapter books with full-length sentences, but they have brightly colored pictures on every page. They come in two levels -- Series One and Series Two, with the text length in the series two books being a little longer and more complex. There is a Series Three, but the subject matter is definitely for older kids -- not so much transitional.

Most of the titles in either series are remade classics -- books like Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty, as well as The Adventures of King Arthur, Robin Hood, The Prince and the Pauper, The Wind in the Willows, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Phantom of the Opera and so on. There are a few original titles, some informative, like The Story of the Olympics and The Story of Castles, and some original titles like The Incredible Present and Mystery Mansion. The titles in Series One are overwhelmingly fairy tales, while Series Two seems to be mainly classical literature and informational.

Usborne is a British company which publishes a lot of great kids books, and they are particularly well know for their illustrations. These books are no exception -- not great art, but highly colorful and inviting pictures compliment the stories well. They are well suited to their target audience of 6-8 year olds. The example below really highlights what Usborne does so well: provides pictures with a lot going on in them. Kids will enjoy poring over them to pick out details. Not all the books are illustrated like this, but many are.


This is a big series -- the list of titles in the two series numbers well over 100. You can see the full list at Usborne's website, but keep in mind that this site is located in England and some books won't be available here. Amazon and Barnes and Noble have several of these books, but not nearly as many as Usborne actually publishes. I feel fortunate to have stumbled on a couple hard-bound copies at my local used book store. They are wonderful examples of their type and well worth searching out if you have a child who needs a nudge to the next level of reading.

Stepping Stones Chapter Books

I am always on the lookout for good transitional books; books that allow my kids to move beyond early chapter books like the Henry and Mudge series or the Level 2 and 3 readers. These early books often have larger print and color illustrations, and the text is usually arranged on the page in short lines, but I want my 6 year old to start moving into actual paragraphs, though still with larger print and lots of pictures.


I like the Stepping Stones series from Random House Children's Books, but haven't really considered them transitional since they are more true chapter books, with smaller print and black and white pictures. Just this weekend, though, we hit the jackpot at Half Price Books.




Stepping Stones has a few books which they call "Full Color Chapter Books." These are BRILLIANT. They're usually under 50 pages, the print is larger, but not huge, text appears in full paragraphs and the pictures are in full color and somewhat more frequent than true chapter books, about ever 3rd page or so.


I bought all they had (3 books) and went on a hunt for more online and found several more -- Monsters (not pictured), King Arthur's Courage, Unicorns, The Magic of Merlin, Mermaids, (all classified as fantasy) Gold Rush Winter (history), and Ice Wreck (true story). The books classified as 'humor" were fictional stories, the fantasy books range between fiction and a kind of fantasy non-fiction which traces mythical creatures through legend and history. History is historical fiction and True Stories relate the tales of actual people -- Ice Wreck is the story of Ernest Shackleton's disastrous voyage to the South Pole.


One of the books I bought was Dragons, and I particularly liked that it referenced a number of classical sources, including Beowulf, St. George and the Dragon, and the Norse myths. Remember Cultural Capital? Little things like this -- just a mention of Beowulf or Thor -- lay the groundwork for future learning.

You can check out the whole range of Stepping Stones books at the Random House Site. Unfortunately, they didn't provide a separate listing of just the full-color chapter books -- they're scattered among the other categories and you have to have good eyes to detect the tiny (on the web pictures) line that says "full color chapter book" versus "chapter book."

I was tickled to bits to find these and am keeping an eye peeled for further copies. I hate to pay full price for books like this because children can grow past them so quickly, so finding them used was a real bonus. They're really a wonderful bridge to the next level of reading.