If your little ones are tired of their picture books after months of reading them over and over while staying indoors because of the virus, here are a few newcomers that might find a place beside the old favorites on your family’s bookshelves.
“Courtney Figures It Out” by James W. Lewis, illustrated by Larry Rupert. (Self-published, $15.59)
Courtney is looking forward to bringing her best friend, Aaron, to school. But there was “just one teeny, tiny problem”: Aaron is a Great Blue Heron. In this humorous story, based on the author’s childhood memories of playing with a heron in Florida, Courtney is resourceful and imaginative. She figures out how to deal with problems like dressing a heron to go to class (his big tennis shoes on his skinny legs will bring giggles), brushing his teeth, and helping him in dance class, even though his long legs aren’t meant for that kind of movement. The teacher doesn’t mind a big bird in her classroom because she broke her glasses and thinks Aaron is a new student.
The story is based on the Lakeville author’s 10-year-old granddaughter, also named Courtney, who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Press materials that came with the book reveal Lewis’s hope it will help others who live with this condition. But there is nothing in the text or the author’s note that indicates a connection to ADHD. A mention somewhere might have been helpful for kids with ADHD who are looking for ways to solve their problems. Still, all youngsters need to know that they can figure things out by themselves, and Courtney shows the way.
“See the Cat: Three Stories about a Dog” by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka (Candlewick Press, $8.99)
Two of Minnesota’s favorite partners are back with a goofy tale about Max the dog, who argues with the book’s author. In the first story there’s a cat named Baby Cakes. Max shouts “That is NOT my name! My name is Max!”
The second story begins “See the snake.” On the opposite page Max thinks, “Here we go again.” The mad snake is going to bite Max. So the dog changes the text to read “The mad snake is not going to bite the dog.”
In the third story, Max is annoyed that the text says, “See the dog run and jump/and spin and fly.” Max shouts “Fly? I cannot fly!” Then, a big, blue friendly-looking hippo with buckteeth wanders in and Max says, “If this hippo sits on me, I will leave this book. If I leave this book, no one will want to read it. If no one reads it, then it will end up in the trash …” The hippo, who doesn’t sit on Max, wanders off the page and Max can finally take a nap.
We’ll be seeing more of Max, since this is the first in a new beginning reader series. LaRochelle and Wouhnoutka also collaborated on “Moo!” which won a Minnesota Book Award.
“On the Shortest Day” by Laura Sulentich Fredrickson, illustrations by Laurie Caple (Minnesota Historical Society Press, $17.95).
A girl and a grandparent (looks like a Grandpa but it’s hard to tell when everybody’s bundled up), venture out on a cold December day to celebrate the winter solstice by looking for animals and birds that inhabit the slough, a marshy area along the river. All is quiet as they come upon deer, rabbits, squirrels, an eagle. There are animal tracks, a muskrat den, a beaver lodge.
“I search for you
as the sunlight fades
in the silent slough
on the shortest day” says the girl.
“Under the ice, muskrats
hush
huddle
hide
as I hunt for you
on the shortest day.”
Then, the shortest day turns into the longest night, heralding longer days ahead.
Laurie Caple, children’s book illustrator and natural history artist, has captured the Minnesota winter landscape to perfection: the rabbit scooting out from under a fir tree; broken reeds and stalks poking through the snow; pink winter twilight; deer bedding down in the marsh. Her close-up of the head of a deer reaching for brown leaves to eat looks like a painting.
Laura Sulentich Frederickson has lived on a slough in the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish refuge. This is her first children’s book and it looks like she’s starting a robust career.
“Uh-Oh! We’ve Got Birds! by Peter Ross (Beaver’s Pond Press, $17.95)
Artist/illustrator Ross, who lives in St. Paul, introduces youngsters to a variety of birds in this funny rhyming story about Oliver, whose house is invaded by happy birds. The book’s endpapers show the Cast of Feathered Characters, 24 birds ranging from pelican to bobolink, cardinal to Blue Jay.
The birds get themselves into every corner of the house and Oliver knows he needs Magic Mabel’s Critter Moving company:
“Tanager, robin, and wren were all found,
with thrush and with bobolink hearing the sound
of an old record player that played a sweet song,
and soon all those songbirds were singing along.”
The mallards and pelicans swim in the bathtub, the godwit and curlew stick their long beaks into the bowl of Jell-O and eat the fruit, the ruffed grouse drums on the pots and pans.
Finally, Mabel comes with her magic box and sends all the birds outside.
The little ones will have such fun with this book, because Oliver often mimics the birds.
“What Color is My Hijab?” story by Hudda Ibrahim, illustrations by Meenal Patel (Beaver’s Pond Press, $17.95)
Hudda Ibrahim teaches diversity and social justice courses at St. Cloud Technical and Community College. She was taken aback when her 7-year-old niece, Fatima, asked her why there were no characters that looked like her in books. Ibrahim, a Somali refugee who moved to the U.S. in 2006, couldn’t find books about Muslim girls, so she wrote one that helps explain why some Muslim women, but not all, cover their hair as a sign of modesty.
As the book’s narrator says on the first page:
“Hijab is the crown
I wear every day.”
The author says she wants not only to fulfill her niece’s wish for characters that look like her, but also to introduce wider American society to what Muslim women do. They are doctors, teachers, artists, athletes and politicians, each depicted in the book wearing a different color hijab, and the narrator wears that color on the day she wants to emulate each woman.
The illustrations by California-based artist Meenal Patel are richly colored and have a contemporary feel. In these days when there is so much misunderstanding among us, every library needs this book.
“Galileo! Galileo!” by Holly Trechter and Jane Donovan (Sky Candle Press, $13.99)
Sisters Holly and Jane offer a graphic novel that should excite middle-grade readers who love space exploration.
It’s the story of the Galileo mission to Jupiter, narrated by Galileo, the 17th century astronomer who discovered the moons of Jupiter. Galileo’s a chatty fellow, all dressed in his old-fashioned clothing. After he dies because the church sentenced him to lifelong house arrest, he appears with angel wings and a halo as he describes the decades it took for the mission to be accomplished.
Although the idea for a Jupiter mission dated to the 1950s, it wasn’t until 1974 that the United States and Germany agreed to work together on the project. There were so many issues: How should the spacecraft be launched? Should there be astronauts aboard? What will happen if this nuclear device explodes over earth?
Besides examining all the questions scientists had to answer about the flight, the book tells young readers what was going on at the time in America, including TV shows and who was president.
The endless problems were solved, and Galileo left Earth on the space shuttle Oct 18, 1989. It crashed on Jupiter on Sept. 21, 2003, after sending invaluable information back to earth.
“Galileo! Galileo!,” winner of a Mom’s Choice Award for excellence, was inspired by Holly’s internship work on the papers of John D. Mihalov, who served as co-investigator for the Galileo Probe Atmospheric Structure Instrument. Her text is enhanced by Jane’s lively, colorful cartoon illustrations that flow smoothly into one another.
School Library Journal said: “Propelled by its dramatic twists and graphic format, this makes a strong bid to launch younger middle-grade readers into a continuing fascination with the space program and it achievements.”
Trechter and Donovan’s names might be familiar to Pioneer Press readers because they were featured in a 2008 story about their fanciful middle-grade book, “Esme Dooley & The Kirkkomaki Circus,” written by Holly and illustrated with silhouettes by Jane.
