Children's Books I like: All the World

This picture book by Liz Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Maria Frazee is pure delight. I bought it on a whim at Ollie's for Christmas. It fit my criteria for a "good" kids book ie. few words on the page and good pictures.

This book has GREAT pictures though. As in, it won this fancy prize in 2010 called the Caldecott Award. :D 

I love introducing Caldecott books to my children. I feel like I am holding a true piece of art. 

While the pictures are exceptional, the text is equally captivating. Scanlon writes in poetry--not singy-songy kid poetry either--true verse. Her words taste so good as this book is read aloud. They simply roll off your tongue and just hang in the air for a moment. Truly delicious. 

The pictures and poetry follow the story of a family and small community throughout their day. It is a perfect goodnight book. The cadence of the poetry makes you slow down and speak softly. By the last page, I find myself nearly whispering. The boys lean in to hear the last phrase and their heads are so close that dropping that final goodnight kiss on their fuzzy little heads is just the right ending to this wonderful book. 

My favorite lines are at the end of the book: "Hope and Peace and Love and Trust / All the World is all of us"

::happy sigh::

Check this book out! No, don't do that. Buy it. 

It's a treasure of literary beauty and simplicity. 

Children's Books I Like

I am going to do a series of posts about children's books that I like, love and absolutely adore (Hey, maybe this will even extend into books in GENERAL that I like, love, and adore. But I don't know if there enough hours in my lifetime to record those books).

Anyways, I came across this gem tonight: Seven Hungry Babies by Candace Fleming. I picked it up from the library on Wednesday (our regular library day).

Here is how I pick books at the library. Let's just say that my MA in English is not being applied with this method.

1. I snatch up the ones displayed on the top of the shelves. Much easier than searching through the stacks, especially since I have to keep one eye (or two?) on my crazy twin boys.
2. I glance at the pictures on the front: Cute subject matter? it's a go!
3. I flip through the pages quickly. Too many words on a page? It's a NO GO! Yes, yes, I know. I am missing out on wonders like One Morning in Maine. But my boys have SHORT attention spans. I had to toss aside a book tonight because Micah was flailing on the bed, kicking me in the spleen instead of listening to the story.

Not this book though. This one was a winner. Cute subject matter and pictures? Check! A minimum amount of words on the page? Check!

Plus it is rhyming, which the boys really seem to be attracted to right now. And it was cute rhyming too that had a good jaunt to it (aka. not overly obnoxious).

Here is the jist of the story:

A nestful of baby birds hatches! Mommy bird must find food for them one by one. Poor mommy is SOO tired. Baby birds are SOO demanding! (Can I get an "Amen?" moms?) She FINALLY gets the last. baby. fed. and all the babies are asleep. She thinks, now I can finally take a bre-- and the babies are UP wanting to be fed once again (Heck, this Ms. Fleming has got it right!) I won't give away the clever ending but I will say that it had me laughing out loud.

In my humble opinion, a good children's book is one that is equally enjoyed by both kids and parents alike. I hope to share more of these gems in the weeks to come!

Go check out Seven Hungry Babies from your library!!

PS. I liked this book so much that I looked up Candace Fleming online and shot her an email via her website, telling her how much I enjoyed it.