Children's Picture Books

I spent a delightful afternoon yesterday picking pictures books for my young nieces' Christmas gifts. I thought I'd share some of the fun books I had a hard time deciding between.

Miss Spider's Tea Party
by David Kirk

This book has both a great story about not judging people based on their appearance and beautiful illustrations. It also is a counting book.

I bought the board book with the abbreviated story (Miss Spider's Tea Party: The Counting Book) since my 2 year old niece likes to rip pages. The shorter story in the board book is better for really young (0-3) children's attention span, but I'd recommend the longer rhyming story in the picture book for the 4-7 age range.

Good Night Gorilla
by Peggy Rathmann

This cute picture book has the zookeeper saying goodnight to the animals in the zoo (which teaches children animal names). It also is a funny book, because the gorilla steals the zookeeper's keys and proceeds to let all the animals out of the cages. The animals follow the zookeeper home, and his wife has to take them back to their cages when she finds them in her bedroom.

The Pigeon Wants a Puppy !
by Mo Willems

This is a new book that I fell in love with. The pigeon begs, cajoles, and demands that he get a puppy. He really wants one. Towards the end of the book, a life size puppy shows up and his size scares the pigeon. The pigeon realizes he doesn't really want a puppy - he wants a walrus. :-)

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
by Doreen Cronin, Illustrated by Betsy Lewin

This hilarious children's book tells the story of cows who use a typewriter to ask the farmer for electric blankets (the barn is cold at night). When the farmer says no, they go on strike. Then the chickens join the cows on strike, and the farmer no longer receives any milk and eggs. Eventually the farmer negotiates a deal with them using the ducks as mediators. The repetetive click, clack, moo of the typewriter keeps children engaged in the story line, and the illustrations are fabulous. Unfortunately, the board book isn't available until March 2009.

This Little Piggy: A Hand-Puppet Board Book
by Scholastic, Illustrated by Michelle Berg

This cute little board book is implanted in the palm of the glove whose fingers are piggy puppets. I couldn't resist getting this for my youngest niece (who is still a baby). The finger puppets are fantastic, and the illustrations are nice. They changed the rhyme so that instead of roast beef the third piggy had cookies, and the fourth piggy had fun instead of none. Otherwise, this is truly a cute baby book.

Audio Books

This time of the year is really busy for me. To save time, I have been listening to books instead of reading them. That's right - audio books. My public library has a great selection of audio books that I have been thoroughly enjoying.

There are many places to listen to audio books. Besides listening to books on my long commute, I also listen to audio books while cleaning my house. I plan to listen to an audio book while decorating this weekend. Have you ever considered listening to books while you cook? I love listening to audio books while baking cookies. I also listen to audio books while working on craft projects.

Besides books on CD and cassette, public libraries have been investing in both downloadable audio books for your computer and MP3 player and Playaway digital audio books - audio books that do not require an external device to play them.

So, this fall, try something different - audio books!

Here are a few titles I've loved listening to:


The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
(Abridged read by Joanne Whalley, Dennis Boutsikaris, Rosalyn Landor, Robin Atkin Downes, and Jim Ward)

This gripping modern interpretation of the Dracula legend tells the story of a scholar who mysteriously disappears while researching the history of Vlad Dracula. The story goes back and forth between the scholar's search for Dracula and his friends and family's search for him. The audio performance of this book by six talented voice actors truly brings this story to life.


Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
(Abridged read by Richard Thomas)

If you haven't read Cold Sassy Tree, I highly recommend it. This book, set during the early 1900's in a small Georgian town, is told from the perspective of 14-year-old Will Tweedy. The story revolves around Will's grandpa who takes a new young wife weeks after his previous wife dies, the town's disconcerted reaction to this unexpected and controversial marriage, and Will's own life growing up in a town on the cusp of change. This story both touched me and made me laugh out loud. Having the man who played John Boy on the Waltons tell the tale for the audio version of this book is just icing on the cake.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
(Unabridged read by Neil Gaiman)

The description of this book can be found in my last post. The author is the reader in this audio book, and the characters come alive through his evocative telling of this imaginative tale. Even if you've read this book, I still recommend listening to this engrossing version.


Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
(Unabridged read by George Guidall)

This book tells the story of life for Japanese Americans before, during, and after World War II on a small island in Puget Sound. A Japanese American fisherman is accused of murder, and the story of his life is intertwined with the trial of his case. The audio performance is well done, and I appreciated not having to guess the pronunciation of certain Japanese words in the story. A truly touching tale.

Great Books I'm Reading

Here are two books that I am reading that I had to share.

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter

This is a heart-warming tale of the famous library cat Dewey Readmore Books. Dewey was found in Spencer Public Library's metal book drop on the coldest night of the year in Iowa. His little paws were frostbitten, but his spirit was not broken. His impact on the this small town in Iowa and its inhabitants was tremendous.

What people may not realize is that this story is also about a small farming community struggling to survive and the single mother librarian who saves Dewey and who Dewey saves in return.

I am loving this book, and I don't want it to end.

excerpt


Neverwhere
by Neil Gaiman
(audio book: read by Neil Gaiman)

Scottish Richard Mayhew moves to London, England to start a new job. Within a few years he has made a comfortable, slightly boring life for himself and become engaged to a beautiful woman well above his station who controls his life.

Door is on the run, hiding from her family's killers. When they close in on her location, she desperately opens a door to somewhere - to somebody safe. She falls bleeding, near unconscious in front of Richard and his fiancee on their way to an important dinner.

When Jessica sees the bedraggled woman who looks homeless, she merely steps over her and continues her conversation. But Richard stops. He is always giving money to the homeless, offering his umbrella, etc. They are not the unseen to him. He cannot leave her hurt on the street. When Door pleads not to be taken to a hospital because it isn't safe, Richard picks her up to take her to his flat and help her. Jessica demands he put her down and come with her or she will leave him.

He walks away with Door in his arms.

Richard life is forever altered by this one choice. By associating with Door he loses his identity, becoming one of the unseen - the unwanted. Richard falls into a world of danger and magic in the undercity of London. His life becomes crazy, scary, surprising...

and definitely not boring.

excerpt