Tippy-Tippy-Tippy, Splash! by Candace Fleming, illustrated by G. Brian Karas

-

In 2002, Candace Fleming, along with the superb illustrations of G. Brian Karas, created a story of hungry bunnies and a determined farmer that call to mind Farmer MacGregor and Peter Rabbit. While the competition can be fierce, Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! is ultimately a story where everyone wins. In Tippy-Tippy-Tippy, Hide!, the rabbits are back and looking for a warm place to spend the winter - Farmer McGreely's cozy house! As with the first book, the competition escalates, but a detente is reached. What makes these stories especially fun and memorable (and great for repeated re-readings) is Fleming's onomatopoetic text and loose rhymes, which make a return in Tippy-Tippy-Tippy, Splash!


Farmer McGreely decides to get away from his bunny problems ("He had bunnies in his garden. Bunnies in his shed. Bunnies in his cupboard. Bunnies in his  . . . BED!") and spend the day at the beach where he will "search for shells, fly a kite in the sky, surf on the waves, and build a big, tall sand castle." But, with a "tippy-tippy-tippy, pat!" and a "Click-clap-snap!" the bunnies are safely, secretly, buckled into the backseat and headed to the beach with Farmer McGreely.


Once he discovers the stowaways, McGreely is determined not to let them spoil the fun day he has planned. However, it seems that everything McGreely does, the bunnies do better. 
Furious, McGreely shouts, "Blast you twitchwhiskers!" and stomps off to the sand castle competition where it turns out that the bunnies and the farmer work together to build the winning sand castle! The prize? A free lunch at the Veggie Hut where the team shares a giant carrot and lettuce sub - "Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!"


Fleming and Karas are also the creators of the brilliant Clever Jack Takes the Cake that is a cross between a fairy tale and a fable and a must-have.

The multi-award winning Fleming is a fantastic picture book, but she is also a superb author of biographies, including the absorbing scrapbook style book, The Lincolns and Amelia Lost.





Fleming's middle grade novels include the hilarious The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School and the goosebump-raising collection of short ghost stories, On the Day I Died.



Source: Review Copy



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