by Stacy
Here’s my selection for Perfect Picture Book Friday:
Night Animals
Written and Illustrated by Gianna Marino
Viking Books for Young Readers, July 2015
Suitable for: ages 3-5
Theme/Topic: Night, Fear, Nocturnal Animals.
Opening Spread: Skunk speech bubble: Hey Possum, what are you doing in there?
Possum: Shhhhhh! I’m hiding.
Brief Synopsis: From Gianna Marino’s website: Something’s out there in the dark!
First Possum hears it. Then Skunk. Then Wolf comes running.
“What could it possibly be?” asks Bat.
“Night Animals!” the animals declare.
“But you are night animals,” Bat informs this not-so-smart crew.
Children will love the funny animals in this twist on a cozy
bedtime book.
Resources: Here’s a lesson plan from a PBS program about nocturnal animals. Who’s Awake at Night activities. Due to the final scene, parents, who like to camp, may want to talk about being among wild animals and how to react to them.
Why I Like This Book: It’s dark! Not in a film noir kind of way, but in a night kind of way. The animals against the black background really sets the tone for a “night animal” book. I love the comedic timing of the story and art. This book proves that night animals aren’t really scary. They are hilarious! Skunk and Possum made me swoon with laugher.
For more PPBF books, visit Susanna Leonard Hill’s Blog.
I’m loving the PPBF recommendations. We received several books from last week’s list and enjoyed them. Thank you for sharing.
Last week, we drove to Denver to hear Penny Parker Klostermann read There Was An Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight.
Since we already had a copy of Penny’s book, we donated our unsigned copy to Enzo’s school library. When I told Enzo I gave it to the librarian, he said, “I hope a kid picked it.” He wants it to be checked out soon!
Penny’s book is a great read aloud at home and really shines in a group setting, as we were all chiming in at Penny’s direction!
by Stacy
Here’s my Perfect Picture Book Friday choice:
No it’s not a penguin book, but it’s from the author/illustrator creator of a very famous Penguin and Pinecone.
Found
Written and Illustrated by Salina Yoon
Walker Books for Young Readers, April 2014
Fiction
Suitable for: 2 and up
Themes: Friendship, Comfort Items, Returning Found Items
Opening Lines: One day, Bear found something in the forest.
Synopsis from Amazon: When Bear finds a lost stuffed toy bunny in the forest, he begins to worry. After all, the stuffed bunny must feel lonely and want to return safely to its owner and home! But as Bear diligently searches for the bunny’s owner, posting notices high and low, he begins to grow attached to his newfound friend. What will happen when the bunny’s owner finally comes forward? Was Bear meant to find Bunny all along?
Link to resources: If your child has a special item — think lovey, stuffed toy, blankey, etc. — this book offers a great talking point on how those items could be passed on to someone else. You could take a field trip to a real “community board” and look at the Lost and Found items. The book is a great talking point on what to do when you find something? What’s the right choice — do you keep it or give it back? You also could share a story of your own favorite item as a child. I didn’t see any resources on Salina’s website, but her story time visits look awesome.
Why I like the Book: The end papers with the lost board items and Bear’s one Found item is priceless. Take time to find all the children’s book references! We had many giggles. Bear and Rabbit make a cute pair. I love Penguin and Pinecone and couldn’t wait to read this book. It’s a lovely friendship story.
I love the dedication: For lost toys everywhere — may you be safe and found.
We’ve suffered through a lost lovey (formerly called WAY). It’s not pretty. One can only hope that lost toys and special friends would be so lucky to be Found by someone as kind as Yoon’s Bear.
I remain grateful to Cathy for introducing me to Penguin. I see in the comments I was laser focused on the snail book, but I remain in love with Penguin.
Despite a lack of sleep, I enjoyed the Illustrator Intensive last Saturday with Will Terry and Aaron Terry, who spoke about storybook apps.
I especially enjoyed watching the illustration critiques. I’m such a dork. A few times, I gasped at how one little change to an illustration tightened the focus of the work. A great reminder that sometimes it only takes a little revision to improve a manuscript.
I enjoyed spending time with Julie R-Z! She wrote about the workshop, so I’ll direct you to her site (plus her awesome logo!!!!!)
Here is Julie with another Bear. This is Jacque Duffy’s Bear from The Bear Said Please. I took a handful of recent picture book purchases Found, The Bear Said Please, and Naked! by Michael Ian Black and Debbie Ridpath Ohi to share with Julie. I always enjoy talking about picture books in person with Julie, as much as I enjoy sharing them with you all in cyberspace each week.
I found this link to a blog post about Salina Yoon’s creative space, which includes details of her workspace and some dummies. It’s a fun look for both writers and illustrators.
I should have taken a group photo with the illustrators with Found, as Salina is scheduled to appear at the Rocky Mountain Chapter SCBWI conference in September. I’ll be taking my copy of Found to have it signed. I’m ready for the fall conference.
Find more PPBF at Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog.
I’ll be back on Thursday, May 29 as part of a blog tour for the new book Edmund Pickle Chin A Donkey Rescue Story by Susan April Elwood and Clara Bowman-Jahn. I asked them questions about the process of co-authoring a story. I’m always fascinated about this process.
If you made it this far, Thank You! I’m rambling today!
