The Three Pigs

Wiesner, David. The Three Pigs. New York: Clarion, 2001.

What would happen if the big bad wolf huffed and puffed and accidentally blew the pig right out of the story? This fractured fairy tale follows the three little pigs as they escape right off the page and take charge of the story from outside. The illustrations are creative in their use of white space and multi-layered perspective in which pages from stories fall to the ground and are folded, crumpled or made into paper airplanes. But what seems most striking is the way David Wiesner's astounding illustrations switch styles throughout so that we can watch the pigs transform as they leave the frames of the story and enter the white space in between where they are three-dimensional and more realistic. As the pigs have some fun running in and out of other familiar stories, they take on the illustration style of each one, blending into the story and then jumping out the other side. They make some new friends on their journey, and when it's time to go home they know just how to deal with that old wolf. A witty, delightful and visually complex book that turns a traditional tale on its head, offering the pigs a chance to write their own ending. A Caldecott Medal book.

Officer Buckle and Gloria

Rathman, Peggy. Officer Buckle and Gloria. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1995.

Officer Buckle knows more safety tips than anyone else in town, but no one ever listens to his speeches until Gloria the police dog arrives. When Officer Buckle isn't looking, Gloria acts out his tips with hilarious tricks and acrobatics. Soon the pair are famous on the school speech circuit. But Buckle isn't so happy when he discovers the real story while watching the evening news. Part of this book's charm and hilarity is the fact that the words tell one story, while the energetic illustrations let us in on what happens behind Officer Buckle's back. The book is so funny and the characters so endearing, it's hard to believe this is a story about safety tips!

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

Willems, Mo. Don't let the pigeon drive the bus. New York: Hyperion, 2003.

[assignment: write a blurb]

In this award-winning and hysterically interactive book, the bus driver has left YOU in charge of the bus while he's gone, and it's your job to keep the pesky pigeon from driving the bus. But pigeon is very insistant - will you be able to hold out? Using simple crayon-edged cartoons, Mo Willems has created a truly unforgettable bug-eyed character who will try anything for a chance to get on that bus. A Caldecott Medal book.

Mama's Lullaby: Lullabies Sung By Women Around the World

Mama's Lullaby: Lullabies Sung By Women Around the World. Roslyn, NY: Ellipsis Arts, 2001.

This CD collects traditional and contemporary lullabies in many languages from countries across the globe including Malta, Wales, Brazil, the Ukraine, Italy, the US, Zimbabwe, and Japan. The songs are by turns haunting, comforting and playful, but each is recognizable as a lullaby by its slower tempo and lulling melody. The muscial forms are as diverse as the languages, ranging from jazz to waltz to bossa. The liner notes include lyrics in the original language as well as an English translation; they also provide excellent background information about the singer, the cultural traditions of the lullaby within that featured culture or country, and the story of the song itself.

Mrs. Moon: Lullabies for Babies

Beaton, Clair. Mrs. Moon: Lullabies for Babies. Cambridge, MA: Barefoot Books, 2003.

[assignment: write a blurb]

Clair Beaton's intricate textile illustrations in felt, antique fabrics, buttons and embroidery form the backdrop for lyrics to traditional lullabies and bed-time poetry. Half way between a book and a finely crafted quilt, Mrs. Moon will delight parents and caregivers while providing an invaluable resource for learning and sharing bedtime music with the whole family. The accompanying CD features recordings of these songs and poems by Dana Kletter, and is perfect for learning melodies or drifting off into dreamland.

Knock at the Door

Chorao, Kay Sproat. Knock at the door: and other baby action rhymes. New York: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 1999.

This book of baby action rhymes is perfect for parents and caregivers wanting to bond with infants. The illustrations are whimsical and sweet, but the most useful part will probably be the simply drawn diagrams alongside each line which clearly indicate how to bounce, tickle, pat and clap along.

Here Comes Mother Goose

Opie, Iona (Ed.). Here comes Mother Goose. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 1999.

Edited by one of the foremost scholars of nursery rhymes, this beautifully illustrated collection celebrates an honoured tradition and re-introduces Mother Goose to a new generation of parents and families. Rosemary Wells' watercolour and ink paintings feature a host of endearing animal characters and children who breathe new life into even the most familiar of the rhymes.

[assignment: write a blurb]

If You're Happy and You Know It

Cabrera, Jane. If you're happy and you know it. New York: Holiday House, 2003.

Based on one of the all-time favourite children's songs, this sing-along picture book features bright, bold playful paintings of animals with large faces and dark outlines that will appeal to infants and toddlers. Infants will enjoy listening to the song and hearing the animal noises; slightly older children will have fun clapping, stamping, flapping and roaring along. If you're happy and you know it, read this book!

[assignment: write a blurb]

Stanley's Party

Bailey, Linda. Stanley's Party. Illus. Bill Slavin. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 2003.

"Stanley knew he wasn't supposed to sit on the couch." But his people keep going out. One evening this normally well-behaved dog decides to find out just what lying on a couch is like, and he discovers just how comfortable life can be. A few more nights alone and he's learned to turn on the stereo and open the fridge. Soon Stanley is planning a party the neighbourhood dogs will never forget. But will he be able to return the house to its normal state before his people return? This humorous story is full of unforgettable canine personalities that come alive in the bright, contagiously energetic and richly textured acrylic paintings of Bill Slavin.

[assignment: write a blurb]

Yuck, A Love Story

Gillmor, Don. Yuck, A Love Story. Illus. Marie-Louise Gay. Toronto: Stoddart Kids, 2000.

[assignment: write a blurb]

When Amy moves in next door, Austin Grouper isn't impressed. Girls - yuck! Amy has red hair and freckles and doesn't believe that he can see through walls and door with his X-ray vision. But when Austin decides to lasso the moon as a present for Amy's birthday, he accidentally sets off on an adventure that leads him around the globe - past Mexico, through the arctic, and right back to Amy's yard. Using pen, ink and watercolour illustrations, award-winning illustrator Marie-Louise Gay has created two quirky and believable characters who just might find a "yuck" to agree on. An endearing story about a first crush.

The Pleasures of Children's Literature

* Nodelman, Perry. "Picture Books." In The Pleasures of Children's Literature. New York: Longman Publishers USA, 1996.

This chapter begins by challenging the often unexamined premise that picture books exist because children need or prefer pictures. Nodelman notes that making sense of pictures is not an automatic function of seeing them, and actually requires its own (culturally specific) learning process. He also points out that research shows infants prefer the sound of a parent's voice to a visual image, which also makes those assumptions problematic. I like that he concludes this particular discussion by switching the focus from figuring out why picture books exist as a form (or the "correct" form for young children), to understanding that form in all its complex variations and possibilities: "... more important, some of the most pleasurable experiences offered by children's literature are in picture books. If children may be said to like and need picture books, I believe it's mainly because they need and ought to have the many pleasure these books can provide." His approach leaves a little room for mystery and the shining love of story and literature that so often gets ignored in discussions (and oh so necessary grant proposals!) of how picture books can help support literacy, early literacy and other "skills" or "competencies."

The chapter goes on to describe the ways in which pictures provide information needed to make sense of stories, and shows (with illustrated examples) how stylistic choices create different overall effects in mood, suspense, meaning, narrative, or focus. Nodelman offers precise language with which to critically examine picture books and to appreciate the many complex layers of relationship between the text and illustrations.

Thank god someone assigned this reading - I'm so glad to have found it and a little sheepish about not having read it before as I think it's one of the classics. I look forward to the rest of the book. [Note: Cover is for newer edition. I assume it's still great.]

The Dragon New Year: A Chinese Legend

Bouchard, David. The Dragon New Year: A Chinese Legend. Illus. Shong-Yang Huang. Vancouver, BC: Raincoast Books, 1999.

This story is tells the tale of the imagined origin of the traditional Chinese New Year celebration, but also provides a section at the end that clearly shows where the facts end and the author's imagination begins. There is a strong sense of storytelling in the narrative which means that even though the story is long, it remains compelling. The paintings stay true to the story in the text, providing stunning visuals that range from more realistic depictions in the present-time narrative bookmarks at the opening and closing of the story (see the cover image), to more a impressionist-like expressiveness and energy in the re-telling of the old tale. On their own, however, the pictures do not tell a story - they show individual scenes but there is not logical narrative that comes out of the sequence of these images. The illustrations are beautiful and masterful on their own, and even though they function more like a slide show to accompany a storytelling event, this is an undeniably gorgeous book.

Ancient Thunder

Yerxa, Leo. Ancient Thunder. Toronto, ON: House of Anansi Press, 2006.

The text is simple, short, potent and full of wonder. The fact that it doesn't follow the linear structure of a traditional English sentence, choosing instead to string together a series of related clauses with an unmentioned subject, puts it more in the realm of poetry than narrative. But the illustrations are the true focus of this book: using paint on watercolour paper, Leo Yerxa (an artist of Ojibway ancestry) recreates the look of traditional painted leather clothing of the native people of the Great Plains. The story is told through the designs on the back of the shirts and dresses, with other collaged or paper-crafted elements added in the background.

That being said, the text does not pale in the shadow of the illustrations but works with it. Not only does the lyrical language suit the mood of the images, it also creates a dependency between illustration and text since the visual cues are needed to understand the text which never once names the horses as the main focus of what is essential a song of praise for these creatures and their prairie landscape. A visually stunning and extraordinary book that celebrates horses and their place in lives of the native people of the Great Plains.

Monkey Business

Edwards, Wallace. Monkey Business. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press, 2004.

This book reminds me of The King Who Rained, a book of visual/linguistic puns which was a family favourite when I was growing up. Though not structurally a narrative, this book manages to make little self-contained animal-focused stories out of figures of speech ("monkey business" or "letting the cat out of the bag") through detailed and sophisticated watercolour, gouache and pencil crayon illustrations. Not only do the the illustrations transform common idioms into literal pictures, they also add additional visual puns in relation to the original text which add to the layers of linguistic and visual complexity in what might appear (considering the breifness of the text) to be quite a simple book. The illustrations are so complex that when I arrived at the last page that asked if I had found the monkey on every page, I hadn't noticed even one after the original "monkey business" spread. And they weren't easy to find even when I was looking.

Great not only for reading aloud to younger children for the delight of the illustrations, it could be a great tool for discussing idiomatic language with older students or those learning English as a second (or additional) language.

The Party

Reid, Barbara. The Party. Toronto, ON: Scholastic Canada, 1997.

This book is an energetic recounting of a typical family picnic and party. The rhyming text is fun and uses rich language, but it sometimes feels forced or stumbles into awkward cadence; there is no question that the real star of this book is the illustration in plasticine. Not only are the technique, detail and execution of the three-dimensional work extraordinay in and of themselves, but the illustrations are fantastically expressive. Their portrayal of character, whether it be the looming kiss from Aunt Joan or the cake-smeared faces of kids hiding under the picnic table, takes the medium beyond simple novelty to art form. The changing cast of the afternoon and evening light creates and uncanny sense of the passing of the day - the tones slowly deepen and the candles and string of porch lights cast a yellow glow on the surfaces around them. The illustrations also extend and explain the text so that a raid on the dragon's treasure in the text becomes a plan to steal a bowl of chips out from under a sleeping uncle. Even the photography adds to the story with its versatility - in one spread it creates a blurred-motion image of dizzy children while in another the image is crisp enough to see the finger-prints of the artist.

The Great Poochini

* Clement, Gary. The Great Poochini. Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 1999. *

"As you can plainly see, Signor Poochini is no ordinary dog. He is handsome, housebroken and hounded by throngs of adoring fans. He is, in fact, the Great Poochini, the most renowned opera-singing dog of his generation and, some say, the finest canine lyric tenor ever to have graced the opera stage."

What will is an opera-singing dog to do when he is trapped in his unsuspecting owner's house and can't make it to the premiere of his latest show? This enchanting story, complete with cat burglar and a rousing duet with Madama Barkoli, takes pleasure in creating humour through the small details of both the text and the sophisticated caroon-like paintings. The narritive is brimming with of pun and wit, but the complexity of both the humor and the language (including some opera-inspired sprinklings of Italian which are translated below) make this a book for school age children. The text and illustrations work together to create a character that is as unforgettable as he is extraordinary. The Great Poochini is truly great.

The Queen's Feet

* Ellis, Sarah. The Queen's Feet. Illus. Dusan Petricic. Calgary, AB: Red Deer Press, 2006.

Queen Daisy's feet has a life of their own, and they don't much like to behave. After getting into all sorts on un-ladylike trouble, the queen's feet finally make a deal. This lively story is extended my the watercolour and pen-and-ink illustrations which offer additional details of misbehaviour and provide a foot-centric view of the world (aside from the cover and title page, the above-the-knees queen doesn't appear until almost the end of the story when the two parts come to an understanding). The illustrations also reinforce the idea of the feet as a character in their own right, independant of the queen. The story explores the tension between the pressure to follow rules and the need to feel free and wild, and provides a model for coming to terms with parts of ourselves that want to act in different ways.

Amber Waiting

* Gregory, Nan. Amber Waiting. Illus. Kady MacDonald Denton. Calgary, AB: Red Deer Press, 2002.
Amber loves many things about kindergarten - swinging, painting, listening to stories. What she doesn't like is waiting, long after everyone else has left, for her dad to pick her up. She imagines a scenario that will teach her dad, once and for all, just what it feels like to wait and wait and wonder if someone's forgotten you. Nan Gregory's strong sense of voice and character brings the text to life right from the opening line, making it easy to identify with the narrator. The stylized cartoon-like paintings are expressive but also straightforaward enough to be consistant with the appeal of recognizability of a day-in-the-life kindergarten story. The illustrations also help delineate the imagination-based storyline from the real, with figures in the imaginative sequences cut-out and collaged on a painted background, giving them a floating, slightly ethereal aesthetic which mimics the ability of the mind to imagine the everyday figure of life in new situations. There is a wonderful balance between the text and illustrations, both of which bring a strong sense of individuality and spunkiness to the story.

Orphans in the Sky

Bushey, Jeanne. Orphans in the Sky. Illus. Vladyana Krykorka. Calgary, AB: Red Deer Press, 2005.

This story tells the tale of two orphans who must figure out a way to survive in the harsh artic landscape after they are accidentally left behind by their people. They finally find a place to belong in the sky, where their games with flint and seal skin explain the origins of lightening and thunder. Rather than expanding the narrative, the tempera paintings locate the text and provide an indelible sense of place: It is through these illustrations that the northern landscape is transformed from a background setting into a central character and driving force of the story. Horizontal brushstrokes overlaid on almost every image give a sense of wind, weather and the real threat implicit in this beautiful but unforgiving northern landscape. Simple black-and-white scratchboard images run across the pages of text in a horizontal band, with a much more playful and decorative effect that helps balance the strong colour pages with the white space of the facing page. A beautiful story that touches on survival, belonging, fear, the landscape of the north, inuit culture and language, and the stories that inhabit natural phenomenon.

Caramba

* Gay, Marie-Louise. Caramba. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2005.

"Caramba look like any other cat. He had soft fur and a long , stripy tail. He ate fish. He purred. He went for long walks. But Caramba was different from other cats. He couldn't fly." So begins the quest of a endearing young cat who tries desperately to be like the others, but learns along the way to enjoy being who he is and discovers a talent that surprises even himself. The watercolour paintings with pencil and pastel provide a straight-ahead illustration of the storyline, but add a strong sense of exuberance and humour while further developing character. A beautiful, funny, touching book.

Madlenka's Dog

* Sis, Peter. Madlenka's Dog. Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 2002.

When Madlenka takes her dog for a walk, the reader can't see the dog that pulls the leash and collar in front of her but everyone else she meets in the neighbourhood can, and they each see the dog differently. Peter Sis uses simple lift-the-flap additions in his illustrations to show each person's memory of themselves and a dog from their past, highlighting the switch in mode with different colour schemes against a predominately black-and-white page. Much of the complexity of the narrative resides in the illustrations themselves that offer the reader entry into the memory or imagination of each different character. Other than the central two characters, Madlenka and her friend Cleopatra, these representations of imagination or memory are the only aspects of the illustrations shown in colour. Early pages have only touches of colour, while the sequence of two-page spreads which dive into the two girls' imaginative play are dominated by colour scenes with black-and-white images of buildings on either side receding with each page turn, then re-appearing as Medlenka is called home. Text and image are inextricably linked throughout, with the simple text extended by a complexity of visual cues not often seen in picture books for young children.

Imagine a Night

Thomson, Sarah. Imagine A Night. Illus. Gonsalves, Rob. Toronto: Antheum Books for Young Readers, 2003.

This book presents an interesting relationship between image and text, one where the paintings clearly came first and the text was written as an effort to create an overarching narrative framework (if not exactly a story) in which this series of images becomes a picture book. Rob Gonsalves paintings take visual cues from the the surrealists and the mathematical trompe l'oeil work of Escher, to create unearthly images of night in which ordinary and often somewhat domestic scenes transform at one edge into wild living landscapes: quilted bedspreads become the pattern of farmer's fields as seem from a plane far above; deep drifts of snow become rectangles of white bedding ready for sleepers. In the world of picture books, this book is visually reminiscent of the work of Anthony Browne, although the narrative is much less complex. The narrative isn't really a story at all, but more of a companion to the paintings which are the dominant focus of the book. Kids, especially older ones, with an eye for detail and a keen sense of imagination may enjoy the paintings and lyrical language, but those who read for plot, humor or character may be less engaged.

Gorilla! Gorilla!

Willis, Jeanne. Gorilla! Gorilla! Illus. Tony Ross. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2005.

When mother mouse's baby goes missing, she searches all over the forest but she can't find him. Just when she thinks things can't get any worse, she is chased by a gorilla who keeps hollering for her to stop. She runs all over the globe, but she can't seem to escape the very determined gorilla. The pastel illustrations are colourful and energetic, relying heavily on contrast in size and colour to emphasize the difference between the two animals, to build the tension (especially at the height of the action when the gorilla comes closer and closer until the bright red of his open mouth practically glows against the constrast of his dark face), and to convey tenderness in the end. The illustrations also highlight the sense of travel and distance by using different styles and colour schemes for each of the different locations pictured.

Cabbage Moon

Wahl, Jan. Cabbage Moon. Illus. Arden Johnson-Petroy. Honesdale, Pennsylvania: Boyds Mills Press, Inc., 1998.

Princess Adelgitha and her dog Jennie love the old cabbage moon. So when Lorenzo Squink steals the moon and starts making cabbage salad, the two must figure out a way to come to the rescue. The text has occasional moments of awkwardness, and the ending (avec prince and marriage) seems a little tacked-on , but other than that the story is enchanting, especially because of the illustrations. The bright pastel images are full of texture and energy, and provide an excellent match for the quirky imaginative mood of the text. The images essentially re-tell the same story as the text, but they add a more developped sense of character - to people, the dog, and even the moon.

Franny B. Kranny, There's a Bird in Your Hair

Lerner, Harriet and Susan Goldhor. Franny B. Kranny, There's a Bird in Your Hair. Illus. Helen Oxenbury. Harper Collins Publishers, 2001.

Franny's wild frizzy hair gets her into a lot of trouble - with her mom and kids on the bus and even the refrigerator door - but Franny loves her hair and refuses to cut it for the family reunion. When a bird makes its home in her new hairstyle, Franny is the star of the party. The detail in Helen Oxenbury's colourful cartoon-like drawings brings the humor and emotion of the story to life. The illustrations are expressive and communicative enough to stand on their own as a narrative, but the text is playful well-written and this picture book is a pleasing example of how text and image together can be more than the sum of their parts.

Go Away Big Green Monster

* Emberly, Ed. Go Away Big Green Monster. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1992.

"Big green monster has two big yellow eyes, a long bluish-greenish nose..." So begins the incantation that brings the big green monster to life, page by page, in tandem with cumulative single-colour die-cut pages. As the story begins, the cut-away portions of each black pages reveal a larger part of the monster's face until the image culminates in a full monster face. Then the narrator tells the monster to go away, and a part of the monster face disappears from the layers of the portrait with each page turn. This simple story relies on a shifting relationship between text and image: At first the text is reactive, describing each new image as it appears; then, in the second half, the text makes a demand and the action of turning the page responds to that demand by making the corresponding part of the monster disappear.

A beautifully created book, and the invitation to participate makes for a satisfying read-aloud or bedtime ritual.

Kitten's First Full Moon

* Henkes, Kevin. Kitten's First Full Moon. Greenwillow Books, 2004.

"It was Kitten's first full moon. When she saw it, she thought, There's a little bowl of milk in the sky. And she wanted it."

Though illustrated with gouache and coloured pencil, Henke's use of an almost entirely black-and-white pallette, the strong sense of line, and the subject matter remind me of Millions of Cats. But the story here is much sweeter and more whimsical: Kitten keeps trying to get at the bowl of milk in the sky, and various misadventures follow until she returns home wet, tired, hungry and disappointed - only to find her own little bowl of milk waiting for her on the porch where she began.

How do the pictures tell the story?

The text and illustrations work together well to tell this simple story. Although the illustrations don't extend the story beyond the textual narrative, they do visually clarify ideas in the text and add to the expressiveness of the story. The layout of the illustrations shifts between full page spreads, series of comic-like frames, and individual elements isolated on an white background. The pages which feature the cat in one corner and the moon in the other on an otherwise blank page provide structure for the narrative, working with the text to create repeating elements that highlight the patterened language and help reinforce the concept that the "bowl of milk" Kitten sees is actually the moon (when this is not mentioned in the text). The overall effect is enchanting, humorous and exceedingly likeable. A great read-aloud.

A Caldecott Medal Book.

Yo! Yes?

* Raschka, Chris. Yo! Yes? New York: Orchard Books, 1993.

This is the enchantingly simple story of a conversation that becomes a friendship.

How do the pictures tell the story?

It is impressive to see how language that is simple, entirely monosyllabic, and limited to one or two words a page can be so expressive and finely crafted. Likewise, the illustrations feature nothing more than the same two kids on each spread, yet manage to create an engaging narrative interaction based only on variations in expression and posture. The watercolour and charcoal illustrations are strong, playful, emotionally expressive and inseperable from the text, and even the text becomes part of the overall visual effect.

A Caldecott Honor book.

Taming Horrible Harry

Chartrand, Lily. Taming Horrible Harry. Illus. Roge. Trans Susan Ouriou. Toronto, ON: Tundra Books, 2005.

The stunning image and design of the cover were enough to make me pull this book off the shelf. But, though gorgeously illustrated, Taming Horrible Harry was a somewhat disappointing read. Harry the horrible monster loves nothing more than to hide in the woods and scare people. But when a girl is too wrapped up in her book to be scared of Harry's first scream, he becomes fascinated with the book and learns to read. The story eventually culminates in a positive and remarkably boring ending, but the direction is clear from the fourth or fifth spread. Not only was the text long and surprisingly didactic, the story itself fell flat since there was very little tension, humour or actual plot past these first few pages.

The brightly coloured paintings seem to carry the entire weight of creating character, action and interest. Based on these illustrations, it is hard not to develop a fondness for the little round red monster in the green plaid pants. But for all their energy and visual appeal, these illustrations do little to extend the narrative itself in a meaningful way. For a story that begins with "Horrible Harry was a big, dirty, mean monster," and ends with a monster who spends his days reading peacefully in the forest and hoping to one day find the little girl whose book inspired him, the illustrations show little variation in mood, tone or colour pallette. The transformation which takes place in the text, unconvincing as it is, is almost entirely absent from the illustrations, with the exception of facial expressions.

This is a beautiful book with a great message, but the narrative - both in the text and illustrations - quickly lost my interest.

Translated from the French original.

Learning the language of picture books

Horning, Kathleen, T. "Picture Books." In From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reveiwing Children's Books. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1997.

For anyone wishing to write about picture books, Kathleen Horning's chapter on this subject provides an excellent basic introduction to the elements of picture book text and illustrations, the relationship between the two, and the vocabulary used to descibe the different aspects of each one. For text, she discusses the importance of structure, patterned language, predictability and pacing, using excerpts from well-known picture books to demonstrate the successful use of each. On the topic of illustrations, she covers visual elements, composition, media and style. She provides titles and descriptions of picture books that exemplify these different aspects of illustration, but the reader will need to go to the books themselves for visuals since the book itself has no images. She also provides an sample discussion of Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon as a way of demonstrating how this vocabulary can be used to investigate the success with which specific elements of text and illustration in a picture book work together to create an intentional overall effect.

Horning, Kathleen, T. "Writing A Review." In From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reveiwing Children's Books. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1997.

In her final chapter, Horning introduces the novice children's literature reivewer to the history, importance and major sources of literature reviews, focusing on the various strategies and ingredients that make for readable and useful reviews. She provides practical how-to advice, which is supported by numerous excerpts from the work of established reviewers. Her discussion of the balance between the descriptive, analytical and sociological elements of a review is especially useful.

Writing Your Best Picture Book Ever

Stinson, Kathy. Writing Your Best Picture Book Ever. Illus. Alan and Lea Daniel. Markham, ON: Pembroke Publishers Limited, 1994.

This fun illustrated how-to book is aimed at children, but is also an excellent resource for teachers planning a story-writing unit or adults interested in writing/evaluating picture books. It covers all the basic aspects of picture books like plot, character, title, pacing, tension, page breaks, and so on, while providing excellent examples of each in published picture books (mostly from the 80s and 90s). The advice is very clear and concrete with many examples, the language is accessible, and the tone is supportive and humorous. This book is full of advice that anyone interested in picture books can learn from: "Worrying about things like spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, and whether something is too silly or too sad as you work on your first draft will only get in the way of the free-wheeling, creative part of your brain."

VOYA - A great resource for teen lit

VOYA, the publication of Voice of Youth Advocates, is a great magazine featuring reviews of books and media (audio books and movies) for young adults. But it is also much more - Each issue offers offer teaching ideas, success stories, features on specific genres, subject guides, best-of lists, and regular columns like "YA Spaces of Your Dreams" and "Tag Team Technology". The reviews themselves are clear, concise, provide evaluation on the basis of both quality and polularity, and give information on genre and suggested age range. VOYA advocates for teen-centered library services, the right of teenagers to equal access and intellectual freedom, and opportunity for teens to participate in the decision-making process of the libraries and institutions that serve them. The content is both useful and thoughtful, the magazine-format of their publication makes for a pleasurable read, and the ads are limited to those pertinent to YA literature. An excellent resource for selecting books, keeping current on teen-centered library practices, and finding inspiration.

Available in print, in electronic databases through library subscriptions, or (highlights only) for free at the VOYA website.

Ella Sarah Gets Dressed

* Chodos-Irvine, Margaret. Ella Sarah Gets Dressed. New York: Hourcourt, Inc., 2003.

This fun, playful and beautifully illustrated book tells the story of Ella Sarah who knows exactly what she wants to wear, even if her family doesn't agree with her fashion choices. The printmaking techniques that leave narrow white gaps between blocks of colour, combined with the bold but slightly muted colours, create an effect reminiscent of early colour offset printing. The images rely on colour, shape and texture rather than line, and convey a great sense of emotion and exuberance.

How do the pictures tell the story?

The pictures very much the same story as the text, but in a different order. The text begins with the outfit itself - the pink polka-dot pants, dress with orange and green flowers, striped socks, yellow shoes and red hat - and repeats it as a chorus as the reader is lead through the alternate suggestions from family members, the disappointment, the strong-willed refusal, and finally the triumph and celebration of individuality. A reading of only the images tells the story in reverse, with the interactions first and the outfit itself as a punch-line or reveal near the end. When read out loud, the subtle difference between these ways of telling the story creates tension and a subtle kind of visual suspense that makes the joyousness of the closing images even more enjoyable. In the last few pages the text gets shorter and shorter while the illustrations become increasingly energetic and expressive, until there is no text at all and the pictures tell the entire story.

A Caldecott Honor Book.

The Red Book

* Lehman, Barbara. The Red Book. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books, 2004.

In this wordless picture book, a girl in the city finds a red book and opens it to find a map of a faraway island which magnifies in scale, frame by frame, to reveal a boy walking on the beach. He finds his own red book which in turn opens to a detailed city image which magnifies until he sees through a window to a girl a reading a red book with a picture of a boy on an island looking back out at her. The story takes the age-old device of the magic book (or object) which pulls the character-reader into a magical reality but, since this is a wordless story, the text is replaced by maps with their own particular visual language. It is hard not to be transported by this gentle and whimsical story about friendship, happenchance, magic, and the wonder of maps.

I was in love with this book from the moment I laid eyes on its invitingly, indulgently, perfectly red cover. In fact, having chosen the book by cover alone, I parked at the beach on my way home from the library because I couldn't wait to read it. And the story inside didn't disappoint: the beautiful, bold and deceptively simply illustrations in watercolour, gouache and ink create a complex and nuanced narrative. Each time I re-read it, there were new layers to discover. This story has that elusive quality of wonder that makes me see the world differently; when I closed the book and walked along the beach, I really did expect a strange new friend to appear in the sky suspended from a large bunch of balloons. I loved that simply by carrying the red-coloured book, I became an echo of the story inside it and the world around me seemed that much more magical for it.

The Red Book has enough story to convey a clear narrative, but enough mystery to create intrigue and scaffold imaginative discussion. This is a perfect book for one-on-one dialogic reading. It is impossible not to compare this book to Davide Wiesner's Flotsam, another consummate wordless picture book featuring a camera which washes up on a beach and creates a connection between children across great distances and through time.

Wordless picture books are a fantastic genre that seems to be gaining popularity. They have a wonderful versatility - they can be told in any language, they can be used by parents with low-literacy, they can allow children to take on the role of telling the story to an adult (or each other) before they can read, and they provide a great vehicle for children to practice their own narrative and linguistic skills. They also situate the language pre-literate children use to read picture books - the language of images - in a primary role, empowering children to be direct readers with or without adult participation.

It took several readings for me even notice that the book's title was a visual one: No where on the cover (except the spine) does the text "The Red Book" appear, but with an entirely red cover broken only by the small image in the corner of a girl running with a red book in her arm, the book is unmistakably identified as The Red Book.

A Caldecott Honor Book, and no surprise.

Finding Picture Books by Subject - some resources

Book: Lima, Carolyn W. and John A. Lima. A to Zoo: Subject Access to Children's Picture Books. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2005.

This annotated bibliography lists over 28,000 picture books by title, author, illustrator or subject. There are an astounding 1,350 different subject headings, many more than are used for picture books in most library catalogues. This resource, now in its 7th edition, is a perennial favourite of librarians or preschool teachers creating themed storytimes, searching for books when the topic is know but the title is not, or trying to gather resources on a specific topic whether it be a challenging event in a child's life or a particular fascination with aardvarks.


On-Line Library Catalogue: Burnaby Public Library's Picture-book Index

Although this index focuses only on the books in Burnaby Public Library's collection, it is an invaluable resource for accessing books by subject in any collection, especially since it is so easily availably on-line. It features 54 pages of subject headings used to access picture books in the library catalogue, making it possible to look for books on any subject from "adoption - cross-cultural" to "bubblegum" to "zombies." The subject heading guide is in PDF format which can be printed out if it will be used frequently, or downloaded and used on a computer. Once a useful subject heading has been found, it can be used to search the picture book index embedded in the library catalogue (instructions are provided) to find titles.

As the library itself is located in an urban center with a culturally diverse population, the collection does includes books dealing with many different topics, but is not exhaustive.


Website: Seattle Public Library Guides

The Seattle Public Library has put together reading lists for elementary school age children that explore a handful of topics including several "doorways" to specific cultures and traditions. These list include picture books and material at a more advanced level. Cover visuals provides some clue as to the type of book, and the link to the catalogue will provide additional information. Lists focusing on culture include:

• Doorways to African American Culture & Tradition
• Doorways to Arab American Culture & Tradition
• Doorways to Chinese American Culture and Tradition
• Doorways to Japanese American Culture & Tradition
• Doorways to Jewish American Culture & Tradtion
• Doorways to Latino Culture & Tradition
• Doorways to Native American Culture & Tradition
• Doorways to Southeast Asia Culture & Tradition

Website: Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature

This database provides records of winning (and honour) books for 78 awards from six English-speaking countries. In addition to basic title/author/keyword searching, the database is also searchable by award, by gender/ethnicity of protagonist, language, geographical setting, number of cultures interacting within the book, historical period, and suggested age. Results include publication and award information along with a single-sentence plot summary. Books are also identified loosely by level (such as picture, chapter, or novel).


Book: Shilling, Caren, ed. Open the Books and See All the People. New York: The Queen's Borough Public Library, 2000.

Created by public librarians in Queens, New York City, to meet the needs of one of the most culturally diverse areas of the US, this resource aims to represent "materials that reflect the full range of human diversity." This extensive annotated bibliography of children's books focuses on various aspects of diversity including: family structures and problems (alcoholism to interracial families); social issues (religious diversity to sexual orientation); cultural, racial and ethnic diversity; and setting (historical to geographical). Each section is divided into specific topics, but also arranged by reading level and material type (picture book, easy reader, fiction, non-fiction). A very short annotation is given for each book, but no evaluation is provided.


Website: Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

This website features an extensive subject list with reviews of children's books, as well as other resources related to children's literature. There are books for all ages and it is sometimes difficult to isolate only picture books, so this may be more useful for those working with school age children. You can look at books by age range (Pre-K for example) although these are not sorted by subject. But it is certainly a wealth of fabulous information, with excellent articles on different topics related to children's literature.


On-Line Library Catalogue: Columbus Metropolitan Library Picture Book Index

An easy-to-use on-line index for children's books available in the Columbus Metropolitan Library. An alphabetical index provides click-through access directly to the catalogue listings and cover images.


On-Line Library Catalogue: Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

Over 5,000 picture book titles are indexed by title. Contents are searchable rather than browsable, and the results provide a short abstract, bibliographic information, and a full list of subject headings for that book.


Resource Centre/Library: Westcoast Child Care Resource Centre

Westcoast has a fantastic library that provides a wealth of resources - picture books, props, themed kits, reference material - to support diversity and healthy child development in the home, preschool, daycare or classroom. A great local resource for anyone in Vancouver, this centre also makes their materials available by mail to members anywhere in British Columbia.


Website: Celebrating Cultural Diversity Through Children's Literature

Created by Dr. Robert F. Smith (Professor Emeritus, Towson University), this website provides annotated bibliographies and web resources for children's books relevant to specific cultural groups including: African-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Latino/Hispanic Americans, Japanese-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Native American and Korean-Americans. The books are described by plot, genre and reading level, but not evaluated.

My first CM book review!

Check out my review of Marthe Jocelyn's How it Happened on Peach Hill. It's my first book review for CM (Canadian Materials), an on-line review journal focusing primarily on Canadian Children's Literature. It's entirely on-line, free to access, and has a great archive.