I Can Read

I have previously recommended Bunnicula, the first book in James Howe’s series, but these just books are just so perfect for Halloween that I can’t help but recommend another. In Howliday Inn, Harold the dog and Chester the cat are off to the kennels when their family goes on vacation, and Chester become suspicious about their temporary home. A bit spooky and a lot funny, I absolutely adore these books! Ages 8+

--Flannery

"With very few words and bright, double-page watercolor illustrations on extra-thick paper, this beautiful counting book about subtraction is also a dramatic nature story about how plants grow and spread their seeds…. As always, Brown’s warm, realistic close-up pictures will pull children right in. Kids will almost feel the gritty soil, the squishy slug, the furry cat, the astonishing flower." —Booklist. Ages 2–5.

Pint-sized luchador Niño, clad in a bright red mask and tighty whities, bests foes from Mexican folklore. Ultimately, he’s done in by his tiniest (and real) competitors: las hermanitas. Morales packs a mighty punch with her high-energy text (sprinkled with Spanish words and sound effects) and her vivid digital collage illustrations. —Horn Book Fanfare.
Preschool.

This is a powerhouse of a picture book not unlike Chris Van Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. There are inexplicable, eponymous Rules of Summer, dictated by an older brother to his younger sibling. The rules are simple, straightforward, and, as in familiar sibling territory, arbitrary. The art is magnificent. Thickly textured paint creates haunting, luminous landscapes that the younger brother must navigate until the older boy suddenly, impulsively, forgives all (all what?) and forgets his dictatorial edicts. In the final scenes, he lovingly rescues and befriends his brother. Here, the colors of joy in the double-page spread are palpable. Shaun Tan, author of The Arrival—my favorite wordless book and a Hugo Award winner—is superb again.

June 19th, 1865, is the date slaves in Texas learned of their emancipation. In this picture book families are in the blistering fields picking cotton when “word spread/from the port,/to town,/through the countryside,/and into the fields/that a Union general had read from a balcony that we were all/now and forever free/and things/would be/all different now.” Change has been coming slowly all along but in this soft, stirring story, change comes swiftly—and the winds of change blow through the story. So lyrical is the exquisite text and so skillfully painted are the watercolor pictures that the reader can feel it ripple through their hair. Grades 2 and up.

Maggie has been cautioned not to fall for the first horse she sees. Bramble (a horse) is fed up with giving riding lessons and bored with walking very slowly in a circle. She needs a change of pace. Maggie sees the “Horse for Free” sign while out driving with her mom and dad and, even though Bramble “has her little ways,” Maggie does fall in love. Maggie and Bramble take challenges in stride as they grow to understand each other a bit more each day. Lively watercolor illustrations accompany each short chapter in this inviting easy-reader series. Grades K–2. --Michelle

Few people are familiar with the life of Emma Lazarus, the poet behind the iconic lines inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses…”. Glaser movingly tells Lazarus’s story, while the delicately composed and whimsical art of Claire Nivola creates an elegant and playful vision of her life. A striking biography and a beautiful picture book. Grades K–4. 

“Gia’s not looking forward to the ‘ding-dang baby,’ so evident in Mama’s beautifully rounded belly, despite the happy anticipation voiced by supportive family and friends. Even her teacher seems to be in on the plot to be positive, while Mama’s wisely understated cajoling leaves Gia feeling as aloof as ever, ‘thinking about all the years it had been just me and Mama… drinking hot chocolate and telling silly stories.’ But when Mama admits that she, too, will miss the ‘good old days,’ Gia agrees that she’ll ‘have to tell the baby all about it.’ After all, that baby is already sharing the delicious pie that’s Gia and Mama’s favorite. Gia’s narrative voice is prime Woodson—lyrical, colloquial, and imbued with the authentic feelings of a child who might be as old as eight or as young as five, and Blackall’s smooth-edged, Chinese ink and watercolor illustrations show the little family of two thriving in their simple, cozy home. Gently, the art clarifies and dramatizes the truth that change may feel threatening even in the most wholesome and loving environment—a familiar message, but a comforting one, delivered here with unusual warmth and grace.” —The Horn Book. Grades Pre-K–2nd. 

“Cousins Lulu and Mellie are best friends. In this modern-day, seaside adventure, the girls are vacationing with Lulu’s parents and their beloved old dog, Sam. Having rented a cottage from a persnickety owner, the family hopes for the perfect week full of reading, kite-building, and marathon-training. However, a wayward stray bounds into their lives and turns their plans upside down (along with a few trash cans along the way). McKay hits the nail on the head in this beginning chapter book.” —School Library Journal. Grades 1–3. Don’t miss the first book in the series, Lulu & the Duck in the Park, which is equally engaging and also newly published in paperback.

“Madeleine’s hippie parents, Mildred and Flo, refuse to understand the fifth grade, preferring the esoteric, spiritual truths of luminarias and shopping at the Salvation Army. Madeleine takes two ferries and two buses to school, escaping the peculiarities of Hornby Island to grasp at something normal. Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Bunny have moved into an abandoned carriage house just down the lane and, to complement their interests in automobiles and millinery, are hanging up a detective shingle. When a cadre of sinister foxes (Mwa-haha, they intone, having picked it up watching television) kidnap Mildred and Flo, Madeleine joins up with the Detective Bunnies and, without the help of her comatose code-breaker uncle, prepares to rescue them. Horvath tells Mr. and Mrs. Bunny’s tale with old-fashioned nostalgia, juxtaposing it with Madeleine’s schoolgirl mopes in a sweet and sour froth of nonsense. Blackall’s ink-and-wash illustrations provide a quaint and curious punctuation, contributing a peculiar whimsy all their own. The result feels like an instant classic, with a contemporary resonance and a tone of yesteryear, fairly begging to be read aloud. Oh, and there are marmots.” —Booklist. Grades 3–5.