Tag: picture book

Volcanoes

~ jennifercrooksjohnson ~ Leave a comment

by Nell Cross Beckerman and Illustrated by Kalen Chock

I’m a big fan of Nell Cross Beckerman’s books. Her book CAVES makes me want to explore one ASAP (Has anyone been to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico? It’s on my bucket list).

VOLCANOES is another engaging nonfiction picture book. It starts with “Plates shirt. Land tilts. Gas seeps. What is coming? A rumble, a tremble, a grumble, growing, growling, getting hot.” Volcanoes are seismic, life-changing, and fascinating. I admit, I’ve written a couple volcano manuscripts myself. What child can resist the Beckerman’s invitation to keep reading? And Chock’s illustrations are equally engaging and inviting. They make volcanoes look as fascinating as they are! I must admit, visiting Volcanoes National Park was one of my travel highlights.

With her combination of lyrical main text and engaging sidebars and backmatter, Cross Beckerman has created a great read aloud with fascinating facts. She covers everything from kinds of volcanoes, to volcanologists, to famous eruptions, to the ring of fire, and even Martian volcanoes.

Beckerman ends with another “what is coming?” idea. Will the child be the one to someday discover answers to other remaining scientitific questions? Will volcanoes hold some of the answers?

Our planet is truly dynamic,, and so are children with their hunger for knowledge. I recommend this book.

Picture Book Review: Small Things Mended

~ jennifercrooksjohnson ~ Leave a comment

by Casey W. Robinson and Illustrated by Nancy Whitesides

Small Things Mended is one of my new favorite picture books and is the book I’d like to highlight this Valentine’s Day. I recently gave it to one of my granddaughters and I think it’s the kind of book I’d like to give even to adults in my life who give simple, but truly meaningful service to those around them. In our ever-increasingly disconnected world, these people are like the glue that holds communities together, and I love them for it. It has recently received many awards and I can easily see why. It’s such a gentle, sweet, lyrical story, with timeless themes of love, friendship, and the power of community and service. As a bonus, it is full of fun words that make for a great read aloud–words like “jaunty” or “ker-chunk,” and alliteration like “trinkets and treasures.”

The plot and characters are lovely. Cecil is an older gentleman with a bad eye, and a lonely heart. He enjoys hearing young Lily’s laughter as she cartwheels and plays, that is until her pocket watch flies out and breaks. But Cecil is a tinkerer and offers to fix it for her and in doing so remembers how much he loves fixing things, and even more so, how good it feels to give service and love. Soon other children bring him broken objects and eventually he puts up a sign: Small Things Mended. Somehow Cecil reminds me of my father-in-law who enjoyed a bit of tinkering and would rather fix things than head out to buy new stuff all the time. It’s a lost art.

Then, one day Eleanor brings him a well-loved stuffed animal elephant, named Daisy, with a missing eye button. “He needs his eye fixed,” Cecil offers. Cecil can relate with bad eyes too, but Eleanor says Daisy actually has a broken heart. “A broken heart is not a small thing,” says Cecil. “I’m not sure I have the right tools.” But he tries anyway, and in the end decides “a broken heart needs friends.” So, Cecil creates a neighborhood meal using vegetables from his neglected garden. And through that simple act, many broken hearts come away a bit more mended, especially his own. I love the wisdom and metaphors of this book, but it reads beautifully as a simple story too.

So, if you’re looking for something to give those “glue” kind of people in your life, or to inspire simple kindness and service in the children in your life, or just fill them with gentle love, this beautiful picture book might be for you. Happy Valentine’s Day! I’m feeling inspired. Maybe I’ll give some kind of simple and meaningful service with my grandchildren today. Small things do mend hearts in ways we may never know.

I am a Meadow Mermaid

~ jennifercrooksjohnson ~ Leave a comment

I recently read I am a Meadow Mermaid by Kallie George and illustrated by Elly MacKay with my three-year-old granddaughter. She loves all things mermaid. On a recent sun-soaked day, we went and played in a stream near her home. She quicly found a rock for her Little Mermaid moment, her chest stretching proudly to the sky, Ariel-style, ah-ah-ah’s ascending too, louder and louder. Her sisters did a show on a rock stage. We found plenty of treasures in the stream too. There is something magical about nature, imagination, and children (for adults too). We all came away happier.

I think that’s why I like Kallie’s book so much. The main character is only introduced to us as a meadow mermaid, which is just the way my granddaughter would introduce herself too, in the same situation. The main character owns her mermaid status despite her landlocked prarie home. She swims through grass, feels the wind (aka hair dryer), and dreams of water (in the sprinklers). Eventually she even saves a shipwrecked sailor (aka bike-wrecked girl), who becomes a friend, uh I mean a prarie pirate.

This book feels so true to the way younger children think and imagine, to the way they turn everything into something else. I love imagination and children, and I love how Kallie’s book captures it. Elly’s illustrations are beautiful as well. Way to go ladies!