Storytime Standouts looks at a delightful picture book that celebrates fathers and fatherhood – Some Dads… by Nick Bland

Some Dads… written and illustrated by Nick Bland
Picturebook published by Scholastic

In his cheery tribute to fathers, Nick Bland depicts all sorts of animal parents exuberantly interacting with their offspring. We laugh at an over-protective elephant dad who fills a swimming pool with life rings and a mischievous sheep who can’t resist throwing a water balloon at his child. Readers, both young and old, will enjoy the playful rhyming and the jubilant illustrations. Some Dads… is an excellent choice for Father’s Day or Dads’ Day at preschool, delivering a fun and affectionate message about diversity and unconditional love.

Some dads like strolling.
And some dads rock’n rolling.
And some dads just love the outdoors.

Some Dads… at Amazon.com

Some Dads… at Amazon.ca

Here Comes Hortense!
written by Heather Hartt-Sussman and illustrated by Georgia Graham
Picture book about jealousy, emotions and blended families, published by Tundra Books

When a six year old boy, his grandmother and her new husband go on vacation to a theme park, all is well until Hortense arrives. Hortense is Bob’s granddaughter and she is suddenly a threat. Nana shares her hotel room with Hortense, she sings “Lavender’s Blue” to her and she sits next to her for all the scary rides. To add insult to injury, Hortense even devises a special name for Nana!

Nana’s grandson is despondent. He can’t believe that Hortense has taken his special place with his grandmother.

It is not until Nana and Gramps take a ride in the Tunnel of Love that the two children are able to gain perspective and learn to like each other.

Note: Here Comes Hortense! is a follow up to Heather Hartt-Sussman and Georgia Graham’s Nana’s Getting Married

Here Comes Hortense! at Amazon.com

Here Comes Hortense! at Amazon.ca

In her book, Child’s Play: Rediscovering the Joy of Play in Our Families and Communities, Silken Laumann, challenges parents to reconnect with children and build safe, supportive communities.

Ms. Laumann suggests that neighbours (parents and children) get together once a week, at a neighbourhood park, to allow children opportunities to enjoy unstructured play together – ride bikes, skip, kick or throw balls, play tag, road hockey or basketball or enjoy the swings. She points out that unstructured play helps to keep children healthy, creative and active. Enjoying the park together gives parents and neighbours opportunities to meet, talk and get to know each other.

Ms Laumann’s homepage

Child’s Play: Rediscovering the Joy of Play in Our Families and Communities at Amazon.com

Child’s Play: Rediscovering the Joy of Play in Our Families and Communities at Amazon.ca

In today’s Beginning to Read class, we spent some time exploring rhyming. Some of the children have a good concept of rhyming while others are just beginning to understand. We began with eight pictures (king, ring, tree, bee, house, mouse, etc.). The children looked at the pictures and matched the rhymes. We later played an active game and they listened in order to determine whether two words rhymed.

Hearing rhyming and developing phonemic awareness is a key to reading success. If you would like to print some pictures of rhyming words, follow this link. For additional information about rhyming and phonemic awareness, click here.

We also played a fun game that served as a review of this week’s word families. The children were given three or four cards, each a different colour (red, green, etc.). Then, each of the children with a red card stood at the front of the group. The children held the cards up and we ‘read’ the words. Occasionally the children positioned themselve correctly and the three letters formed a word. More often, the children had to rearrange themselves in order to spell a word. In some cases, the letters could be used to spell more than one word (tip, pit / rat, art). The children had lots of laughs with this activity because they ‘read’ silly words before finding the correct word. “TPA” became “PTA” and perhaps “APT” before “PAT” was revealed.

Today’s story was The Gaggle Sisters’ River Tour written and illustrated by Chris Jackson. This was a challenging story for some of the children because it includes some challenging vocabulary (hauled, sobbed) and there is a considerable amount of text. I am happy to say that all three groups remained engaged and interested throughout.

The Gaggle Sisters River Tour at Amazon.ca

The Gaggle Sisters River Tour at Amazon.com

I’m taking a break from routine this week and, for the first time in months, I managed to read an adult novel in one day. This is quite an accomplishment and is a testament to Lisa Genova’s captivating Left Neglected. Not a children’s book, Left Neglected is adult fiction. It is an exploration of how a brain injury impacts a career-oriented young mother of three. Sarah Nickerson and her husband are barely juggling face-paced careers and parenthood when Sarah is critically injured in a car accident. Following surgery, Sarah is diagnosed with a neurological syndrome referred to as Left Neglect. Individuals with this syndome have damage to the right hemisphere of their brains and, as a result, do not properly process information about the left side of their bodies and ‘the left side of the world.’

A fascinating exploration of what it means to suffer brain damage, Left Neglected will be enjoyed by anyone who struggles to manage family and career – especially those who are interested in self exploration.

Left Neglected at Amazon.com

Left Neglected at Amazon.ca

While thinking about what to pack for a mini family vacation next week, it struck me that I should come up with a list of my TOP TEN picture books. As soon as I began trying to choose, it became my TOP TWELVE.  I thought it’d be a good exercise because whenever we go away, we have to be very firm with our youngest child about what she can and cannot pack. If you have ever read Robert Munsch’s Too Much Stuff (see how I snuck an extra book in there that’s great but won’t be on my top ten twelve?) you’d have great insight into how my five year old packs. I don’t like limiting how many books our girls can bring, but if we didn’t, we wouldn’t have enough room to bring our clothes! Hopefully it’ll be a while before they figure out that I have NO limit thanks to my Kindle. But if, like them, I was stuck picking ten stories for bedtime or any other time, I wondered which ones would make my list. These are not in order by favourite because that’s just asking too much of myself.

Olivia written and illustrated by Ian Falconer

Olivia is the funniest pig ever! She’s determined, stubborn, and highly amusing. I love the simplicity and the truth of Olivia. She’s tiring, she’s demanding, but she’s so loved. I only wish that Ian Falconer and Kevin Henkes would write a book together so that Olivia could play with Lilly (see below).

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes

Lilly is perhaps my favourite story book character. She perfectly encapsulates the ego centric child in such a charming, fun way. I love the way Henkes uses simple sentences in his writing to tell you so much. “Lilly loved school. She loved the pointy pencils. She loved the squeaky chalk”. I love Lilly.

The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen

I’m not sure what makes this story one of my favourite fairy tales, but it is. I love the queen piling on all of the mattresses and bedding and I love the version where the prince realizes he loves her, even if she isn’t a real princess.

Suki’s Kimono by Chieri Uegaki and Stephane Jorisch

This is a beautiful story about independence and confidence. It’s not easy for Suki to wear her kimono to school when even her sisters are wearing brand new clothes and all the kids stare at her. But she’s not afraid to be who she is and wear what she wants. I read this book, the first time, years ago and still enjoy it every time I read it to my daughters or to a class.

The Paper Bag Princess written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko

My kids love this book because Elizabeth says Ronald is a “bum”. I love it because Elizabeth is clever and strong and not only defeats the dragon, but gets her happily ever after by NOT getting her happily ever after.

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb written by Al Perkins and illustrated by Eric Gurney

I love the simple rhyme and rhythm of this book. To this day, whenever I cross a street and say to my kids “Hand”, they both reply “hand, fingers, thumb”. It’s delightful.

You are Special written by Max Lucado and illustrated by Sergio Martinez

This book makes me smile every time I read it. I love the message that believing in oneself comes from inside, not from the beliefs of others. The symbolism of the stickers falling off of the Wemmicks when they stop caring about how others see them is beautiful.

The Seven Silly Eaters written by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by Marla Frazee

This book is adorable. The pictures are fantastic and I love the pickiness of the kids. The rhyme is awesome and the chaos and love projected in the words and the pictures are realistic and amusing.

Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes

Just so you understand how difficult it was for me to pick only 12 favourites, I should mention that I absolutely LOVE,  LOVE,  LOVE every Kevin Henkes book I’ve ever read, including Zebra Wall, which is a novel that I didn’t even know, until last year, that he had written. Wemberly is me. She is my oldest daughter. She is every kid who hates uncertainty and is comforted by the familiar.

The Kissing Hand written by Audrey Penn with illustrations by Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M. Leak

The first time I read this story, I cried a little. Our oldest daughter was almost three when I bought it and read it to her. It was exactly what I wanted and still want for my children- to know that wherever they go and whatever they do, I love them and I’m with them.

Goodnight Moon written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd

I can recite this book word for word. I love the line “Goodnight nobody”. When our youngest daughter was born, we decorated her bedroom as the ‘great green room’. We had all of the details; “the old lady whispering hush” drawn on the wall,” two kittens and a pair of mittens”. For a border, we wrote the words of the story.  It will forever be one of my favourites.

Guess How Much I love you written by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram

I loved this book even before I really understood it. I gave it to my mom before I had kids and she nodded as though she had some sage understanding of something I did not. Then I had kids and I really got it; because even though they love me to the moon, I love them to the moon and back.

There. I did it. I narrowed it down and chose twelve favourites. I’m so very proud of myself for not even mentioning Sleepy Bears by Mem Fox, Pocket Full of Kisses by Audrey Penn, every other Kevin Henkes book, or Hooray for Diffendoofer Day by Dr. Seuss. It’s probably safe to say that I, too, need strict guidelines for what I can and cannot pack.

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies

It’s safe to say that reading a book that you can relate to provides a more enjoyable read. Add humour, sibling rivalry, sibling loyalty, and a little competition just makes it better. In The Lemonade War, Jacqueline Davies has created a book that not only encompasses all of these elements, but speaks to a variety of age groups. While her story details the ‘battle of the stands’ between brother and sister, Davies weaves in the topics of friendship, determination, ambition, and forgiveness. She does so through realistic characters, funny dialogue, and a number of interesting situations that the kids find themselves in as a result of their war.

Evan Treski loves and even likes his little sister…most of the time. Jessie Treski idolizes her big brother. While she is smart enough to skip a grade and go into grade four, the same grade her brother is going into, she knows that she’s not the best ‘people person’. That’s Evan’s gift; hers is math. When the two find out they will not only be in the same grade, but the same class, Jessie thinks this will just make things easier for them. She’ll help Evan with math and he’ll help her with friends. Evan feels differently. He’s mortified. How can he possibly go into the same class with his baby sister? How can he keep his friends if they find out how dumb he is compared to her? Rather than telling each other how they feel, they embark, in typical sibling fashion, on an entrepreneurial war. They will see what matters more; people skills and flexibility or strategic plans and organization. One of them will win The Lemonade War, but both of them are willing to do almost anything to come out ahead.

As a teacher, I thought this was a fun, light, close-to-summer read. Though it’s not new, I hadn’t heard of it and I didn’t expect to enjoy it nearly as much as I did. Once I read it to my grade five class, who enjoyed and connected with the sibling rivalry, I brought it home to read to my 8 year old daughter. Re-reading it, this time as a mom, I was able to connect to it on a new level. My 8 year old reminds me of Jessie with her thorough plans and detailed organization. My 5 year old daughter reminds me of Evan, with his charm and easy social skills. It was easy to imagine the two of them participating in a Lemonade War of their own. Jacqueline Davies realistically portrays the feelings of her main characters, making you connect with both Evan and Jessie. That connection has you turning the pages, unsure of who you want to come out the winner!

The Lemonade War website includes teachers’ guides, lesson plans, a wordsearch and more.

The Lemonade War book trailer

The Lemonade War at Amazon.com

Lemonade War at Amazon.ca

Under a Prairie Sky written by Anne Laurel Carter and illustrated by Alan and Lea Daniel

It is nearly Canada Day (July 1) and my thoughts have turned to picture books with a decidedly “Canadian look.” This afternoon, I pulled Under a Prairie Sky off my bookshelf and spent some time enjoying the detailed, striking watercolour illustrations and the equally dramatic text. A terrific Canadian picture book read aloud for four and five year olds, Under a Prairie Sky is the story of a farm boy who aspires to be a RCMP Officer when he grows up. While harvesting wheat with his father, he is sent to find his younger brother before a storm arrives at the farm. Knowing that this is a job that will demand the detective skills of a Mounted Police Officer, he quickly changes his clothes, dons a Stetson and mounts his trusty black horse. He follows young Will’s trail through the fields and into the wild, taking in flora and fauna native to the Canadian prairies.

Under a Prairie Sky at Amazon.com

Under a Prairie Sky at Amazon.ca