That Bear Can't Babysit by Ruth Quayle and Alison Friend

-
That Bear Can't Babysit by Ruth Quayle, illustrated by Alison Friend
Review Copy from Nosy Crow
Story: Invited to a party, Mr. Burrow suggests they find a sitter for the seven little Burrows - Anna, Adelaide, Betsy, Bill, Casper, Clive, and Dotty. Bear answers the call and promptly gets snookered by the little Burrows, who insist that they are allowed to read The Bunny Beast and end up hiding under a blanket with the bunnies insisting, "That bear can't babysit." Next, they assure Bear that they always cook dinner, serving up, "178 pieces of candy, seven helpings of ice cream, thirty-six cookies, and a big jar of chocolate spread." Stomach aches and the titular refrain follow. After a disastrous romp in the fresh air involving the hose, Bear gets smart. An imaginary adventure ("they'd been exploring for nearly twenty-seven minutes") in a cardboard box leads to a visit to the garden where a healthy meal is eaten, a cozy bedtime story and seven sleeping bunnies when Mrs. and Mr. Burrow arrive home.
Pictures: Alison Friend's illustrations are ABSOLUTELY CHARMING! Her style evokes the fuzzy softness of oil pastels with the occasional dark, thick line for definition. To this, she adds the occasional child-like scribble lines that give dimension to the illustrations. The big brown bear on every page and his questioning, occasionally befuddled, sometimes sweet expressions anchors every page and you just want to reach out and hug him. I can't get enough of Friend's illustrations and have included an especially cool project she recently worked on below . . . 
Why Read? Why Buy?: The sneaky ways of the seven little Burrows is classic kid trickery and also something you don't see too often in kid's books, not done this well, anyway. Little listeners will love watching what they get up to and adults will appreciate how Bear saves the day. Definitely read this book - there aren't too many like it. Buy it because kids will want to hear it over and over.

Chucks decorated by Alison Friend!

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