whoosh), and the language in each book is fun to read aloud. “Llama Llama HOP
! Llama Llama JUMP! Llama. Llama Red Pajama THUMP THUMP THUMP!
The Reading Chair
Llama Llama Board Book Series Llama Llama Hoppity-Hop. 12 pp. ISBN 9780670013296. Llama Llama Wakey-Wake. 12 pp. ISBN 9780670013265. Llama Llama Zippity-Zoom. 12 pp. ISBN 9780670013289. By Anna Dewdney. 2012. New York: Viking. Ages 0 to 2.
This little llama wakes, hops, and zips its way through three board books that have Dewdney’s characteristic appealing rhyme and rhythm. Hoppity-Hop is about using your body to jump, stretch, clap, and move. Wakey-Wake focuses on the routine of waking up and getting the day under way. Zippity-Zoom is about whizzing around on scooters, monkey bars, swings, and slides. The books use interesting vocabulary words (like thump, pajama, and whoosh), and the language in each book is fun to read aloud. “Llama Llama HOP! Llama Llama JUMP! Llama Llama Red Pajama THUMP THUMP THUMP!” Dewdney’s characters have appealing body language and facial expressions—invitingly exuberant and wide-eyed—and these board books are a nice introduction to her Llama Llama preschool series. UnderGROUND, by Denise Fleming. 2012. San Diego: Beach Lane Books. ISBN 9781442458826. Ages 2 to 5.
®
2, 3
There’s a world full of homes, habitats, and hiding spots that most of us never see. It’s underground. Fleming shows it in all of its liveliness, with wonderful words, real and imagined: “Under ground. Creatures dig and run around. Past highways and byways. Squirm-ways and wormways.” Squirrels and moles, carrots and worms, grubs and yellow jackets ... They all live together under the surface. Fleming is known for her vibrant pulp painting illustrations. Here, they are precise enough that readers can discern details such as the eggs of an ant farm and the acorns a squirrel has stashed. City children and country children alike will be fascinated. Nice touches include a boy who is respectful of and curious about the ant farm (there’s no “ick” factor in this book’s approach to nature) and a dog whose stash of bones also has a home underground. A glossary at the back of the book provides facts about 21 of the featured animals. 94
Oh, No! by Candace Fleming. Illus. by Eric Rohmann. 2012. New York: Random House. 40 pp. ISBN 9780375842719. Ages 2 to 6.
Danger is literally underfoot in the jungle when a frog falls into a huge hole. “Frog fell into such a deep hole, he couldn’t get out to save his soul. Croaked Frog, ‘Help, Help! I can’t get out!’ Oh, no!” The other animals topple in trying to save him. Told in a wonderful rhyming chant punctuated by the noises of the animals themselves, these comrades must work together to escape a tiger who licks his lips nearby. The jungle setting, inspired by a trip Fleming and Rohmann took to Borneo, includes the kudzu vine, banyan tree, and animals like the Loris and Sun Bear. Fleming’s well-paced and interesting language (with words like trapped, drawled, and slunk) is a pleasure to read. Rohmann’s illustrations—produced on thick, quality paper—beautifully capture the various emotions in this high-stakes story. Just when it looks bleak for the trapped animals, an elephant saves them. Then, the hungry tiger accidentally stumbles into the hole himself. The animals leave him there—an ending that will provoke discussion about the tension between treating our adversaries with grace, on the one hand, and protecting ourselves, on the other. Rohmann’s final illustration, on the endpapers, leaves open the possibility that the tiger may be able to climb out after all. Big Mean Mike, by Michelle Knudsen. Illus. by Scott Magoon. 2012. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. 40 pp. ISBN 9780763649906. Ages 3 to 6.
This is a book about a bully with a conscience, a tough guy with a heart. Mike is the scariest dog in the neighborhood. He drives a noisy hot rod, wears a spiky collar, and has a mean bark. All the dogs are afraid of him, and that’s just the way Mike likes it. When a bunch of fluffy little bunnies appears in his convertible, he owes it to his reputation to tell those bunnies to scram. He can’t be seen with such cute things! The situation gets complicated when the bunnies www.naeyc.org/yc n Young Children
September 2013
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keep reappearing and Mike develops tender feelings for them. What is he to do? Knudsen knows how to tell a good story. While the subject matter and tone of Big Mean Mike couldn’t be more different from her earlier book Library Lion, fans of that award-winning title will recognize her ability to set up a story, build tension, hold the reader’s focus, and find resolution. Scott Magoon’s (Spoon) humorous and loud illustrations are a good vehicle for conveying Mike’s big personality and his big dilemma. What’s particularly satisfying about Big Mean Mike is that Knudsen allows Mike to maintain his machismo while he learns to show his softer side. Readers who identify with Mike’s need to flex his muscles and flaunt his toughness won’t feel betrayed by the story; rather, they may feel validated that they, too, can have complex feelings, just like Mike. Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, by Eric Litwin. Illus. by James Dean. 2012. New York: HarperCollins. 40 pp. ISBN 9780062110589. Ages 4 to 7.
Pete the Cat is famous for keeping his cool in distressing situations. Whether he’s making a mess of his nice white shoes or finding his way at school, he maintains his “It’s all good” attitude and keeps singing his song. This time around, in the fourth book of the series, Pete’s groovy buttons keep popping off his shirt. “Did Pete cry? Goodness, no! Buttons come and buttons go.” As usual, Litwin and Dean bring an irresistible, peaceloving quality to the book. Pete puts readers at ease, and his story can help children consider how they might react when they lose something. When all of Pete’s buttons are gone, he discovers his belly button, and he’s able to keep singing his button song. All for Me and None for All, by Helen Lester. Illus. by Lynn Munsinger. 2012. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. 32 pp. IBSN 9780547688343. Ages 4 to 8.
In this cautionary tale about the hazards of greed, a hog (in both senses of the word) named Gruntly terrorizes other September 2013
Young Children n www.naeyc.org/yc
farm animals with his selfishness. But on the day of the Parks Department treasure hunt, Gruntly’s desperation to win the entire prize for himself backfires. He doesn’t have the patience to finish reading the clues because he is so eager to push ahead of his competitors, so he gets each one wrong. When he finds himself in last place, it comes as a surprise that the others have saved some of their winnings (trail mix) to share with him. In fact, he’s so shocked by their graciousness that he does something very uncharacteristic: he offers the other animals a bite of his. Lester develops the characters and builds the story well. Her creative use of language includes plays on common phrases (“a chicken of few words,” a reference to “hog-tipping,” and Woolworth the sheep who “pulled the wool over his eyes.”). Munsinger, who has collaborated with Lester on numerous books, illustrates the characters in watercolor, pencil, pen, and ink. Their winsome portly bodies don sweaters, overalls, turtlenecks, and denim. Young readers will be drawn to these characters. They will delight in the humor of watching impatient Gruntly get all of the clues wrong. But ultimately even Gruntly wins readers’ compassion.
Isabel Baker, MAT, MLS, is president of The Book Vine for
Children, a national company dedicated to getting good books into the hands of preschool children and their teachers. Isabel has worked as a children’s librarian and is currently a presenter on early literacy and book selection.
Miriam Baker Schiffer, MFA, is a writer in Brooklyn, New
York. She consults on book selections for The Book Vine, in McHenry, Illinois. The Reading Chair is available at www.naeyc.org/yc/columns.
Copyright © 2013 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children—1313 L Street NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20005. See Permissions and Reprints online at www.naeyc.org/yc/permissions.
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