Dig! by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha, illustrated by Marc Rosenthal

-

Dig! is written by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha, the team who also created the fantastic books, Trashy Town, Digger Man and Train Man (more on these at the end of this review). Dig! is illustrated superbly by Marc Rosenthal, whose style always reminds me of the great H.A. Rey, especially his book Archie and the Pirates in which a smart monkey finds himself shipwrecked on an island with some no-good pirates.



In Dig!, we get to spend the day with the appropriately named Mr. Rally and his dog, Lightning, as they travel around town, doing five different jobs with the help of their yellow backhoe. Very subtly, Dig! is a counting book that features scene after scene of construction equipment at work in ways that will definitely entertain little truck-loving listeners. But, Dig! also benefits from a great story that is guaranteed not to put the adults reading this book out loud over and over, which I assure you you will be asked to do, to sleep. 


You may even find yourself humming the refrain that comes at the end of each job well done, as seen in the above illustration. What I love about Dig! is way that Zimmerman and Clemesha humanize Mr. Rally by showing him at home, getting dressed, eating breakfast and reviewing his jobs for the day in a way that calls to mind Virginia Lee Burton's classic, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. After each job, readers are asked if "all the digging is done," to which the answer is always "no," even when Mr. Rally and Lightning get home at the end of the day. There is one more job to be done - Mr. Rally digs and digs, preparing his garden for planting and Lightning digs and digs, burying the bones he has unearthed over the course of a busy day!

Dig! is a sweet, sing-song-y story about a subject that is actually quite difficult to write an engaging picture book about. I am so happy to see Dig! in board book format now and hope it has a long life on the shelves!


Other great things-that-go books by Andrea and David:


Trashy Town, 
which also has a great rhyming vibe to it, illustrated by the wonderful 
Dan Yaccarino



Digger Man and Train Man
There are lots of great things-that-go in these books, but what I love most is the relationship between Oliver and his little brother, Gabe.


And don't miss Archie and the Pirates, written and illustrated by Marc Rosenthal.











Popular posts from this blog

Fox + Chick: The Sleepover and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

-
Image
Fox + Chick : The Sleepover and Other Stories  by Sergio Ruzzier Review Copy from Chronicle Books Friends. Opposites. Inhabitants of a pastel-hued, water color world that is vaguely surreal, Fox and Chick are back for a third installment of their inviting, if curious, easy-to-read stories. In "The Sleepover," "The Hammer," and "The Surprise," Chick's odd logic is once again upending Fox's life. Happily, Fox responds with patience and even wisdom at times. To these unforgettable characters and luminous illustrations, Ruzzier brings a sublime simplicity that makes this series perfect for emerging readers, adding books with character and intelligence to the often dull world of beginning reader books. If you aren't familiar with this delightful duo, definitely check out my reviews of the first two books (links below) where I put the greatness of Ruzzier's work into historical ( Frog & Toad ) context. Then check out ALL of Ruzzier's p
Read more

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala

-
Image
Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala Review Copy from Abrams Kids I picture-walked Be a Tree! three times before I actually read the words. Felicita Sala's illustrations for Maria Gianferrari's poetic text are mesmerizingly immersive and richly colorful within a palette of earth tones. Throughout the text, Gianferrari, who shares her inspiration for this book in the author's note ( Peter Wohleben's The Hidden Life of Trees ), gently maintains the human connection to trees and the connections (and communications) trees share with each other.  Be a Tree!  begins exuberantly, inviting the reader to "Be a tree! Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun. Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you." From your spine/trunk to your skin/bark and your heart/pith, the words carry you inward and then zoom outward and up to the canopy and ultimately, the forest. "You are one of many trees," and our roots "twine with fung
Read more

Reading Levels: A Quick Guide to Determining if a Book Is Right for Your Reader

-
Image
While I wrote an article titled Reading Levels: How I Assign Reading Levels to Books, How the Publishers Do It and How You Can Help Your Reader Find the Right Book at the Right Time that discusses how reading levels are determined by professionals and amateurs like myself, there is more on this subject to discuss. Determining the reading level of a book from the children's section is never easy, mostly because there are several different standardized methods of determining reading levels. Add to this the fact that knowing their children's reading level is most often the only tool a parent is armed with when exploring the bookstore, library, website, etc, and the job becomes even more difficult. While I think that knowing a child's reading level is a very valuable tool if your child is reading below grade level, I think that it is a secondary consideration when finding books for children reading above, especially well above, grade level because, in most cases, content app
Read more