Book Review: Squid and Octopus Friends for Always

Author/Illustrator: Tao Nyeu
Publisher: Penguin (June 28, 2012)
Audience: Preschool to Age 7
Source: Personal Copy
Friendship * Early Reader * Humor * Picture Book

Description from GoodReads:
A friend for always is someone who... knows how to cheer you up when you're feeling droopy, usually sees things your way, and never lets a quarrel get out of hand. As you'll see in these endearing, silly stories, a friend for always is the very best thing in the deep blue sea.

My thoughts on the book:
LOVE.  I am in love with this book.  When I first read this as a F & G back in February, I knew I had to have it.  Imagine your favorite early reader friendship pairs - Mouse & Mole, Frog & Toad, Elephant & Piggie - now add in Squid and Octopus. This not exactly a regular picture book and not truly an early reader will appeal to the audience who loves all those other great friendships. I love this quirky, hilarious pair and I already want more.

As with any early reader, the story of Squid & Octopus is told in four shorter stories.  And they are all great.

I am a little partial to The Quarrel where Squid and Octopus argue over socks and mittens.  

I loved the simplicity of the color theme that flows throughout the book but there is incredible detail in Nyeu's artwork.  I also really enjoyed all of the little side comments sprinkled throughout the book. From above: Fish 1 - Do you think that is carrot cake? I love carrot cake. Fish 2 - I prefer pumpkin pie.

In The Dream, guess who is lurking behind the flip page - Bear and the bunnies from Bunny Days. 

The Hat was another one of my favorite short stories in the book.  The conversations among the diners at Yum Yum's is hilarious.  

And here are my little fish friends again as they try to figure out what is on the heads of Squid and Octopus.   

I am hoping that you can see from both the text and illustrations why Squid and Octopus Friends for Always is one of my top picks for this year.  I want more Squid and Octopus and hope that Nyeu isn't finished writing about these two friends. 

If you haven't seen Squid and Octopus, you need to head over to your favorite Indie Bookstore to pick up a copy or local library, or order it from IndieBound.org

For more information about Tao Nyeu: website |  publisher's page


Check out the book trailer for Bunny Days:

Top Ten Picture Books for the First Half of 2012

I was inspired by Hannah of My 100 Adventures Blog to come up with my current top 10 picture books for 2012.  We have just moved beyond the half-way mark in the year and here are my favorite picture books so far.

Squid and Octopus Friends for Always by Tao Nyeu (Penguin)

No Bears by Meg McKinlay; Illustrated by Leila Rudge (Candlewick)

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Roaring Brook Press)

Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett; Illustrated by Adam Rex (Hyperion)

Scribbles & Ink by Ethan Long (Blue Apple Books)

Little Bird by Germano Zullo; Illustrated by Albertine (Enchanted Lion Books)

The Cloud Spinner by Michael Catchpool; Illustrated by Alison Jay (Random House)

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett; Illustrated by Jon Klassen (Balzer & Bray)

And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano; Illustrated by Erin Stead (Roaring Brook Press)

When Blue Met Egg by Lindsay Ward (Penguin)

So what is in your top 10 picture books for the first half of 2012?

Book Review: One Day I Went Rambling

Author: Kelly Bennett
Illustrator: Terri Murphy
Publisher: Bright Sky Press (April 28, 2012)
Audience: Ages 4 to 7
Source: Copy for Review
Fiction * Picture Book * Imagination * Creativity

Description from GoodReads:
When Zane goes rambling, his friends call him crazy and refuse to play along. When he finds a shining star, it doesn't bother him when his friends try to tell him it's just a hubcap. Undaunted, Zane uses his finds to create a secret project that piques his friends' curiosity. After watching him ramble around the neighborhood, finding magic in the ordinary, his friends are eventually drawn into his imaginative game. Through the book's art, attentive readers will see that Zane is using his finds to create a pirate ship, and once his friends realize what he's up to, even the most skeptical realists join the fun and sail the afternoon away. Zane's imagination sees the cowpoke's lasso in a piece of vine, the pirate's golden ring in an old pop top, and many other treasures that have been stolen from today's children by electronic entertainment. Rambling enforces the joy of imaginative play.

My thoughts on the book:
In many ways, I envy the Zanes of the world.  They are able to see beyond the surface to what something can become rather than what it is/was.  In Kelly Bennett's newest picture book Zane is "rambling" through the neighborhood picking up things that he can find.  In his mind these items are not just pop tops or hubcabs but the making for so much more.  His friends are skeptical and already have begun to lose some of the natural inquisitiveness and imagination that children naturally have.  However, over time, and thanks to Zane's influence, his friends re-discover their own treasures and their imaginations ignite with adventure.  In the end, the children under Zane's direction have created a pirate's ship with their findings and set off to explore the world of creativity.


One Day I Went Rambling is a good reminder of the importance of play and exploration to learning.  When young children continue to be curious, their ability to understand the world and how things work together grows.  Additionally, their ability to apply what they are learning also grows.  As teachers, parents, caregivers, or librarians, we need to continue to foster play and curiosity and to celebrate the Zanes we have in our classrooms and our lives and allow them to influence those around them.  

Terri Murphy's colorful illustrations capture the emotions, and curiosity of Bennett's characters.  I enjoyed her use of grayscale and black & white for portions of the pages as Zane's friends counter his declarations of what items can be rather than what they are.  This fades out and pages become full color as the others join in on the fun.

One Day I Went Rambling would make a fun read aloud to spark children's imagination or to use to prime children for an activity that requires them to go beyond seeing things for just how they are.     


For more information about Kelly Bennett: website | blog

 

Book Review: Everything Goes On Land

Author/Illustrator: Brian Biggs
Publisher:  Balzer & Bray/Harper Collins (September 13, 2011)
Source: Copy for Review
Audience: Ages 4 to 7
Fiction * Interactive Concept Book * Vehicles

Description from Publisher:
Cars and trucks and bikes and trains! Rvs and construction vehicles too! Everything goes Ride along with Henry and his dad as they visit the big city and check out all the amazing vehicles around them. Full of mini-story lines, endless seek-and-find activities, and hundreds of funny details, Everything Goes: On Land is an interactive book that provides hours of fun!

My thoughts on the book:
Some books make excellent read alouds. Other books are perfect for curling up in a chair and reading alone or with 1 or 2 friends.  Everything Goes: On Land is the later.  Even though the book is oversized and there are lots of larger illustrations, there is just so much wonderful details that children are going to want to linger over this one.  I can see an older child sitting with a younger child, heads bent over the book, finding numbers, or examining the various vehicles.

When I first sat with this book, my brain immediately thought back to the old Richard Scarry books, and when I looked at Brian Biggs' website, I noticed that he was a fan of them as well.  If you can improve on Scarry's work, then Biggs has done it.  I loved that the two page spreads with lots of detail were broken up with two page spreads on a particular mode of transportation.  For example, you will have a two page spread with lots of different kinds of bicycles followed by a two page spread with an individual bike and labels for all of the parts of the bicycle.  And there is a fun surprise towards the end. 

This will be a hit with preschool and primary grade students but I do expect to find older children pulling this one off the shelf.

Check out the book trailer:



For more information about author Brian Biggs, click here to go to his website.
Follow him on twitter: @mrbiggsdotcom
Like his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brian-Biggs-Illustration/257196412600 

Book Review: What Little Boys Are Made Of

Author/Illustrator: Robert Neubecker
Publisher: Balzer & Bray/Harper Collins (March 27, 2012)
Source:  Copy for Review
Audience:  Ages 4 to 7
Fiction * Imagination * Stories in Rhyme

Description from Publisher:

What are little boys made of? Moons and stars and rockets to Mars Wings and tails and dragons with scales Little boys are . . . as adventuresome and bold and heroic as they imagine they can be! Celebrate the exuberance of little boys in this playful spin on a classic nursery rhyme. 

My thoughts on the book:
Take one classic nursery rhyme, add some new verses, and stir in bright, imaginative illustrations and you have Neubecker's version of What Little Boys Are Made Of.

Though the text begins like the original version, Neubecker has added his own twist.

"What are little boys made of?
Moons and stars and rockets to Mars,
Blast and boom and uppity zoom!
That's what little boys are made of."

Accompanying Neubecker's words are two - two page spreads. The first spread shows a little boy playing in his room with a toy rocket and toy figurines.  Flip over the page and the reader sees what the child is imagining - in this case a ride into outer space in a spaceship.  The book follows in the manner showing first the playful antics of a child acting out his dress-up fun and then the scene from his imagination.  Neubecker ties it all together with the young boy in his mother's lap reading a dinosaur book.

This is one of those books that can be used as a read aloud, but will likely find a special audience between parent and child.  

For more information about author/illustrator, Robert Neubecker, click here to check out his blog.