Let me introduce you to someone who's soft, brown and fuzzy. You know, a teddy. As in teddy bear. There's also a boy. His name is Errol. "Errol and Thomas the teddy play together every day. They ride their bike in the backyard. They plant vegetables in the garden. They have sandwiches for lunch … Continue reading Introducing Teddy – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Call me sentimental, but when Susanna Leonard Hill's "The Road That Truck Built" arrived in the mail, I sat down with my now-13-yr-old son and read it immediately. THIS book would have been his go-to for every bedtime, snack time, every-waking-moment-time until it fell apart. And then we would have bought another. Not only is … Continue reading The Road That Trucks Built – Perfect Picture Book Friday
I don't know about you all, but I'm feeling a little sleepy. It's near midnight. My mind is wandering, wondering what all those fairy tail bad guys do at night when they get home from terrorizing the likes of Snow White, Jack-in-the-Beanstalk, the Three Billy Goats Gruff, Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Little Pigs, … Continue reading Good Night, Baddies – Perfect Picture Book Friday
This week's addition to Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Book Fridays comes to us from the heart of bug country, the Great Plains. What do you think of when you think of Kansas? Well, that's what I used to think until I spent the week with Carol Murray at Highlights Summer Camp last July. When not … Continue reading Cricket in the Thicket – Perfect Picture Book Friday
As we prepare to do battle in the name of science on Earth Day tomorrow, I thought I'd put the spotlight on the legendary battles being played across the country, the ones happening in school yards, classrooms, and perhaps during dinner when children are challenged to eat their vegetables, no matter how odious. Picture … Continue reading The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors – Perfect Picture Book Friday
In honor of National Poetry Month and Perfect Picture Book Friday, I'm shining the spotlight on a brilliant Caldecott and Coretta Scott King Award Winner from 1997: "They took to the road in Waycross, Georgia Skipped over the tracks in East St. Louis Took the bus from Holly Springs Hitched a ride from Gee's Bend … Continue reading Harlem: A Poem by Walter Dean Myers
Made it through Reading for Research Month (ReFoReMo), the picture book marathon of reading and studying various picture book attributes, so now it's time to recommend perhaps a book or two from my reading that were not on the prescribed reading list. While I was combing the stacks of the San Francisco Public Library's children's picture … Continue reading Brief Thief – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Thought I'd come back to life for a moment and enter Susanna Leonard Hill's Valentiny story competition. Rules: 1) story must contain a character who is confused, 2) be no more than 214 words, and 3) be written for kids to enjoy. Well, maybe I'm entertaining and distracting myself, too, in these troubling times. So … Continue reading Cupid’s Heart Finds a Home
It's Fall!! It's time for Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Book Friday! We all know those little dragons who just can't behave. They're busy coloring on the walls. Playing pranks. Throwing sand. This story is about an incorrigible dragon, just like the ones you may have at home—only worse. The dragon terrorizes villagers, spitting … Continue reading Dragon Was Terrible – Perfect Picture Book Friday
So you're looking for a couple of books from a brilliant author/illustrator? Ones that will make kids say "ewwww" page after page, all while laughing uproariously? Ones that kids will want to read again and again and again because each little twist is ingenious? Tedd Arnold's will do the trick: For the most part, his … Continue reading Parts and Even More Parts – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Jilanne Hoffmann 