March 2010 Calendar / News & Notes / Board Books / Pop-Ups MARK YOUR CALENDAR Upcoming Events for Children's Librarians

ACL INSTITUTE:
Be sure to register for the ACL Institute: A Puzzling Day at the Library. This all-day workshop will be held at the Richmond Convention Center on Friday, April 9th. Featured speakers include M. Sarah Klise, Ruth Stotter, and Penny Warner. For full information, see www.bayviews.org/institute.html

GOLDEN KITE AWARDS:
The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators announced the 2010 Golden Kite Awards. It is the "only award presented to children's book authors and artists by their peers." In the category of Fiction the winner is Julia Durango for Sea of the Dead. Ashley Bryan is the winner for Nonfiction for Ashley Bryan: Words to My Life's Song. The winner for Picture Book Text is Marion Dane Bauer for The Longest Night, with illustrations by Ted Lewin. John Parra is the winner for Picture Book Illustration for Gracias Thanks, which is written by Pat Mora. The Honor recipients are: Neil Armstrong Is My Uncle by Nan Marino, Ernest Hemingway: A Writer's Life by Catherine Reef, Bella & Bean by Rebecca Kai Dotlich and illustrated by Aileen Leijten, and Bad News for Outlaws by Vaunda Micheaux and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie.

Northern California Book Award Nominees:
On April 18, 2010 the Northern California Book Awards will be announced at San Francisco Public Library. The nominees in the category of Children's Literature are: Zero is the Leaves on the Tree by Betsy Franco, Night Lights by Susan Gal, Mother Goose in California by Doug Hansen, Hold Still by Nina LaCour, and Ash by Malinda Lo.

OZ BOOKS:
The Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature at California State University, Fresno, and The International Wizard of Oz Club (www.ozclub.org/ ) invite everyone to a national Oz conference, "Oz: The Books," May 14-16, 2010, on the Fresno State campus. Featured speakers will include Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked; Michael Patrick Hearn, author of The Annotated Wizard of Oz; John Fricke, co-author of The Wizard of Oz: An Illustrated Companion to the Timeless Movie Classic; Kathleen Krull, author of The Road to Oz: Twists, Bumps, and Triumphs in the Life of L. Frank Baum; graphic novelist Eric Shanower, author/artist of Adventures in Oz; and Graham Rawle, a British illustrator whose new version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was proclaimed the Best Illustrated Book and Book of the Year at the 2009 British Book Design Awards. A full day of academic talks will be offered on Friday, May 14, followed by the more general program on Saturday and Sunday, May 15 & 16.

The conference will feature a musical, "Time Again in Oz " produced by the Fresno State Theatre Arts Department and directed by J. Daniel Herring. Playwright Suzan L. Zeder, who based this play on the third Oz book, Ozma of Oz, will also be a speaker. Information and registration forms are available on the Center's Web site at www.arnenixoncenter.org . The Center's phone number is (559) 278-8116.

BayNews needs you! BayNews welcomes any articles, news, ideas on storytime or programs, etc. Just send any articles as a Word attachment to email, to Penny Peck at [email protected]. Thanks!

Baby Max and Ruby series by Rosemary Wells. Viking, 2010, $5.99 each.
Counting Peas, ISBN 9780670011735.
Love, ISBN 9780670011728.
Max returns to the board book format, which is where this popular character originated. In just five double-page spreads, we see Max and his family doing everyday things. In Love, the rhyming text describes his father driving Max, his sister playing ball with him, and his mother making him jelly toast. In Counting Peas, the jaunty rhyme describes Max eating and spilling peas, then asking for strawberries. The collage and crayon illustrations show the familiar characters on white backgrounds. Max is as charming as ever, and these board books are a great way to introduce the character to the youngest audience.

Little Animal series by Jane Feder, with illustrations by Amy Schwartz. Candlewick, 2009. $4.99 each.
A Little Puppy, ISBN 9780763626518.
A Little Kitty, ISBN 9780763626501.
Brief rhymes celebrate a new pet in these warm and quiet board books. The soft watercolor illustrations add personality to the pets, who are paired with children from a variety of ethnic groups.

Toddler Tools series by Elizabeth Verdick, with illustrations by Marieka Heinlen. Free Spirit, 2009. $7.95 each.
Sharing Time, ISBN 9781575423142.
Manners Time, ISBN 9781575423135. By the same illustrator who contributed to the Hands Are Not for Hitting and other instructive books on behavior, these new additions concern etiquette. Although they are written by a different author, they are similar. Preschoolers of various ethnicities are shown playing together, sharing toys, with key phrases such as "Thank You," and "Please" spelled out for the child. A little heavy-handed but a lesson needed by many children (and some adults I know).

Bow-Wow Books by Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash. Harcourt, 2009. $4.99 each.
Bow-Wow's Colorful Life. ISBN 9780152065645.
Bow-Wow: 12 Months Running. ISBN 9780152065584.
The months of the year and the words for the colors are the only texts in this delightful series. A terrier named Bow-Wow is shown playing in the snow, rain, sun, and leaves to depict the months. The October picture shows him as an X-ray for Halloween. The full color illustrations add greatly to the humorous portrayal.

Yoon, Salina. Find My Feet! Robin Corey Books, 2009. $6.99. ISBN 9780375851117.
Six animals are featured in this tactile treasure. A dial at the bottom of the book allows you to match the feet to the correct animal. The text is really just the instruction to find the feet, but the word for each animal's sound, such as " Neigh" or " Oink" is also included. Sure to be fun for toddlers and very age appropriate.

Muldrow, Diane. How Do Lions Say I Love You? Illus. by David Walker. Golden Books/Random House, 2009. $7.99, ISBN 9780375855511.
A simple rhyming text describes how animals say " I Love You," such as the mother and child elephant intertwining their trunks, or the chicken saying " Cluck" to the chick. The color illustrations, which may have been done with pastel chalks, show the animals in a relatively realistic way, but with smiles on their faces. This is a little high priced for such a simple and brief book.

Henkes, Kevin. A Good Day. Greenwillow, 2007/2010. $7.99, ISBN 9780061857782.
Because of the simple nature of the story and the repetition of the text, this is a great example of a successful board book that was adapted from a picture book. Nothing is lost here; the illustrations are slightly smaller than the picture book edition, but they are successful. The illustrations are close-ups of various animals, done in deep pastel colors with thick outlines, so the young audience can see what is happening. The story depicts various animals that are missing something, but each one finds the missing item so it is ultimately " a good day." A great match of topic, text, and illustration style that is well-suited to the baby and toddler audience.

Jay, Alison. 1 2 3: A Child's First Counting Book. Dutton, 2009. $9.99. ISBN 9780525421658.
Originally published as a sumptuous picture book in 2007, this board book version contains all the text and illustrations from the original except for one thing. The final page in the picture book offers small details from each previous page and names the famous fairy tale the picture is highlighting. Because of that final page, the book can become a guessing game and treasure hunt, without it, the board book is just a nice counting book. And since the board version is almost the same price as the hardbound, why bother?

Pop-ups and Flaps

Bunny's Garden. Random/Little Golden Books, 2010. $7.99, ISBN 9780375857881.
No author or illustrator is listed for this board book with flaps, but many toddlers will recognize the bunny from Pat the Bunny, the tactile classic published over 50 years ago. Here, the white bunny is shown in his garden. The text describes his activity, and asks the reader to lift the flap to count tomatoes, or see the flowers, or find the pig, etc. The illustration style is sparse but well-suited to toddlers, with clear colors outlined in black. The flaps are very sturdy, and although there are no tactile elements, this will appeal to fans of Pat the Bunny.

Saltzberg, Barney. I Want a Dog! Robin Corey Books, 2009. $11.99 ISBN 9780375857836.
A little girl begs her parents for a dog in this enjoyable moveable book. The full color deeply saturated cartoon illustrations contain relatively simple moveable parts, such as a pull-tab that shows the girl using a pooper scooper, or a flap revealing the dog helping to do a magic trick. The final illustrations contains the one true pop-up of the girl standing with the dog and hugging him, surrounded by valentines. The rhyming text scans well; this would be a fun addition to your "dog" storytimes.

Cimarusti, Marie Torres. Peek-a-Bloom! Illus. by Stephanie Peterson. Dutton, 2010. $11.99. ISBN 9780525422167.
In this large picture book with flaps, farm animals are hidden by heads of lettuce, a watering can, trees, etc. Many of the animals are accompanied by sounds, such as the butterfly that says "Flap flap," or the ducks that quack. The final spread repeats all the hidden items under smaller flaps, so this works well for emergent reads as well as storytime. The brightly colored cartoon illustrations and straightforward onomatopoetic text is serviceable but not memorable.

DeGroat, Diane and Rotner, Shelley. Dogs Don't Brush Their Teeth! Scholastic, 2009. $14.99. ISBN 978054508644.
Color photos of dogs are photo-shopped onto other photos with painted details, with the dogs performing unusual actions. For example, one dog is shown digging in the ground, but when you lift the flap, he is shown digging with a shovel. The pictures of the dogs doing doggy things are great; the pictures of them doing human-like things (the "Dogs Don't" in the title), actually are kind of creepy. By the way, many owners do brush their dogs teeth and watch television with their dogs.

Submitted by : Penny Peck, San Leandro Public Library

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