Calendar, by Myra Cohn Livingston

Livingston, Myra Cohn. Calendar. Illustrated by Will Hillenbrand. Holiday House, 2007. 32 pages. $16.95, ISBN 978-0-8234-1725-4

AGE LEVEL
1 and 2 year-olds

GENRE
Poetry

REVIEW
This is a lovely mixed media look at the twelve months of the year.  Each two-page spreads depicts, in beautifully shaded paint and collage illustrations, a scene particular to each month.  Accompanying these images are short sentences of about two to five words each, such as "January shivers," "September whistles by," and "November is the fireplace".  Most pictures contain a smiling child engaged in an activity.  The exclusion of Santa Claus from December would have broadened the appeal of this book, yet this does not detract from this collection of absorbing images and succinct yet descriptive text.  This is likely to be hit with 1 and 2 year-olds.

All the World, by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon

Scanlon, Liz Garton. All the World. Illustrated by Marla Frazee. Beach Lane Books, 2009. 40 pages. $17.99, ISBN 978-1-4169-8580-8

AGE LEVEL
1 and 2 year-olds

GENRE
Poetry

REVIEW
With stunning illustrations and a thoughtful yet easy-to-understand rhyming text, this Caldecott honoree beautifully presents a poem about the common experiences in peoples' lives everywhere.  The text and images alternate between the experiences of individual families/groups and how these are played out in everyone's lives around the world. Scanlon and Frazee show that we all have our ups and downs.  For example, one scene shows families getting caught in an unexpected downpour, as the text notes, "Slip, trip, stumble, fall / Tip the bucket, spill it all / Better luck another day / All the world goes round this way". Yet the next scenes show how a bad day can turn around, as one of these rain-soaked families enjoys a warm meal lovingly prepared by the chefs at their local restaurant: "Table, bowl, cup, spoon / Hungry tummy, supper's soon / Butter, flour, big black pot / All the world is cold and hot".  1 and 2 year-olds will be transfixed by the gorgeous images of intimate scenes and breath-taking natural panoramas, will enjoy following the everyday adventures of several characters who recur throughout the book, and will love repeating the "All the world..." phrases.  An excellent book to encourage a sense of wonder and the knowledge that we humans are so much more alike than different.

LIBRARY PROGRAMMING IDEAS
Keeping in mind the scene of families and friends gathered together for a party toward the end of the book, one great action song to accompany this book during toddler storytime would be:

          COME ALONG AND SING WITH ME

          (to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb", change the day of the 
          week as needed)

          Come along and sing with me, sing with me, sing with me,
          Come along and sing with me, on a Tuesday morning.

          Come along and clap with me, clap with me, clap with me,
          Come along and clap with me, on a Tuesday morning.

          Come along and roll with me....
          Come along and stretch with me....

Where Do You Sleep, Little One?, by Patricia Hooper

Hooper, Patricia. Where Do You Sleep, Little One? Illustrated by John Winch. Holiday House, 2001.  40 pages. $16.95, ISBN 0-8234-1668-2

AGE LEVEL
1 and 2 year-olds

GENRE
Poetry

REVIEW 
On opening this lovely book, one is immediately secreted away into the woody and leafy bedtime world of animals and birds. On the endpapers, insects begin to scurry out from under leaves, followed by squirrels and mice poking out from behind bark and grass as the book itself begins. Artist John Winch has used oils,  handmade paper, and layered images to dramatic and completely unique effect. Patricia Hooper’s rhyming poem, suggestive of a lullaby, questions where a succession of animals sleep at night. For example, “Little fawn who ventures near, / Where are you when stars appear? / In the forest, dark and warm / I can slumber, far from harm.” The last scenes tenderly bring the child listener into the story, stating “Little pony, goat, and sheep, / What warm bed does someone keep….In our stable dreams are deep, / Little child. Now, go to sleep.” Although the phrases used to question each animal differ, the intent of the questions and the pattern of the answers is repeated each time, and there are few words on each page, making this a great choice for 1 and 2 year olds.  Children will be mesmerized by the textures and life in the arresting artwork.  An excellent choice to get one's own little ones ready for slumberland.

LIBRARY PROGRAMMING IDEAS
Pair this book with the following lullaby during toddler storytime:

          AUTUMN LULLABY 

          (With older two year-olds, you can use "darling" or another word 
          instead of "baby".)

          The sun has gone from the shining sky,
          Bye, baby, bye.
          The dandelions have closed their eyes,
          Bye, baby, bye.
          The stars are lighting their lamps to see,
          If babes and squirrels and birds and bees,
          Are fast asleep as they ought to be,
          Bye, baby, bye.

Black Cat, by Christopher A. Myers

Myers, Christopher A. Black Cat. Scholastic Press, 1999. 36 pages. $16.95, ISBN 0-590-03375-1

AGE LEVEL
3 and 4 year-olds

GENRE
Poetry

REVIEW
In this Caldecott honoree, Myers’ richly imagistic and metaphor-filled text combine with his collaged illustrations to do what I think all poetry and visual art should aspire to: reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary. We come upon a “black cat, black cat / cousin to the concrete” and follow her throughout her rounds in an urban landscape, exploring the subway station, scaling walls, and running across basketball courts and storefront roofs. Myers' words are strikingly descriptive, calling our attention to the physical features of the cat such as her “eyes like the green of empty glass bottles”, and also to her adventures, “scraping paint from fire escapes” and “hearing the quiet language of invisible trains”. Almost every sentence and phrase is accompanied by a mixed media image, including photographs which Myers took in Harlem and his own Brooklyn neighborhood. This match between words and images, along with the repetition of the refrain “…we want to know / where’s your home, where do you go?” increases the work's accessibility to young children. Through the cat's freedom to roam where she wants in the city, Myers draws attention to the way in which humans have divided up public spaces with walls and fences. Young children will not understand the meanings of all the words in this poem, but will be transfixed by the beauty and rhythm of language in a way that is equally and vitally important.

LIBRARY PROGRAMMING IDEAS
This poem could be read aloud at a preschool storytime along with other poems, picture books, and nonfiction about city life and/or cats. 

Hush!: A Thai Lullaby, by Minfong Ho

Ho, Minfong. Hush!: a Thai Lullaby. Orchard Books, 1996. 32 pages. $6.99, ISBN 0-531-09500-2

AGE LEVEL
1 and 2 year-olds

GENRE
Poetry

REVIEW
In this superb 1997 Caldecott Honor Book, Ho draws on her own childhood experience growing up in Thailand to tell the story of a mother who seeks to quiet a series of animals so that they don’t wake her supposedly sleeping baby. The text is perfect for toddlers, with its many rhymes involving long “e” and “i” sounds and its repeated refrain. For example, when the mother finds that a sound coming from the pond outside is a duck, she requests: “White duck, white duck / don’t come beeping / Can’t you see that / Baby’s sleeping? / White duck, white duck / don’t you cry / My baby’s sleeping / right nearby.”  Children will enjoy making animal sounds as they are expressed in Thai: a monkey screeches “Jiak-jiak!” and an elephant bellows “Hoom-praaa!”.  There is also a subtle humor in the book arising from the way in which the mother earnestly addresses the animals, and the fact that unbeknownst to her, her baby is not actually sleeping, but climbing out of his bed.  Holly Meade’s painted illustrations are supremely captivating in their harmonious greens, oranges, and browns, exhibiting collage and wood-cut print qualities in many instances. This book is a great pick for one and two year-olds due to the repetitive nature of its text, and demonstrates to young children the commonalities of all cultures through the example that mothers in Thailand love and worry about their children just as much as mothers everywhere.

LIBRARY PROGRAMMING IDEAS
This book could be read at a toddler storytime with other lullaby-based books.

Zoo’s Who: Poems and Paintings

Florian, Douglas. Zoo’s Who: Poems and Paintings. Illustrated by Douglas Florian. Harcourt, 2005. 48 pages. $14.53, ISBN 0-15-204639-9

AGE LEVEL
3 and 4 year-olds

GENRE
Poetry

REVIEW
This collection of short poems and large striking illustrations concerns twenty-one different animals and insects, ranging from more commonly known creatures such as the eagle and the penguin, to interesting inclusions such as the bush baby and the shrew. The short poems range from about ten to twenty-five words in length, and include humor, rhyme, onomatopoeia, and alliteration, all of which should heighten their appeal to young listeners. Although some illustrations contain details that may be too fine to be enjoyable for the 0-4 set, the author’s use of collage techniques and an interesting array of materials such as paint, pencils, ink, shredded papers, foil, candy wrappers, and stamped and stenciled images could serve as a good lead-in to home or classroom art projects. Many of the illustrations could also be used as part of a lesson on shapes. Reading this book aloud a few poems at a time, so that the sounds of the text and the fun of the images can really be savored, may allow youngsters to get more out of it than if it were to be presented all at once.

LIBRARY PROGRAMMING IDEAS
Children can create their own mixed media artwork on construction paper, using pictures from old magazines, repurposed materials (paper and candy wrappers, etc., from home), paint, crayons, etc.