Chika Chika Boom Boom
Countless children -- and
their parents -- can joyfully recite the familiar words of this beloved alphabet chant.
The perfect pairing of Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault's lively rhymes, and Caldecott
Honor artist Lois Ehlert's bright, bold, cheerful pictures made Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
an instant hit and a perennial favorite. |
 Goodnight Moon
A little rabbit bids goodnight to each familiar thing in his
moonlit room. Rhythmic, gently lulling words combined with warm and equally lulling
pictures make this beloved classic "an ideal bedtime book.
|
 Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
In today's throwaway world, Joseph's
old-fashioned frugality is a welcome change. Based on a Yiddish song from Simms Taback's
youth (lyrics and music reproduced on the last page), the book is filled with rhythms and
arresting colors that will delight every reader. As more and more holes appear in Joseph's
coat, die-cut holes appear on the pages, hinting at each next manifestation. The
illustrations are striking, created with gouache, watercolor, collage, pencil, and ink.
 In the Time of
Drummers
Based on the Gullah legend of a slave rebellion at
Ibo's Landing in the Sea Islands, this stirring picture book tells the story from the
point of view of an African American child. Mentu is island born and has never known
Africa or longed for it, but his beloved grandmother, Twi, is an Ibo conjure woman who
remembers the times before.
|
 My Rows and Piles of
Coins
Mollel draws on his own Tanzanian childhood for this
story of a boy, Saruni, who works hard, saves all his coins for months and months, and
dreams of buying a bicycle--only to discover that he does not have nearly enough money.
Many children will relate to what it's like to save, plan, and count towards a dream.
 The Ugly Duckling
This is a lovely, old-fashioned, richly textured
watercolor adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Ugly Duckling. Children
who feel ostracized, even for the tiniest of differences, may shed a few sympathetic tears
for the ugly duckling. And no doubt, it was Andersen's wish to give them the hope of one
day finding their own peaceful place. |
 Bud, Not Buddy
An orphaned runaway, Bud copes with the adult world
with his numbered "Rules and Things." His few treasures from his former life
with "Momma," are kept in a battered suitcase. One, a flyer advertising a
musical group, leads him on a fantasy journey to an amazing reality. |
 Francie
Francie dreams of Chicago, where her father moved a
year ago to work as a Pullman porter, promising to send for Francie, her little brother
Prez, and their mama as soon as he could. But Daddy has yet to come through, and Noble
begins to offer possibilities of its own, the most exciting being when Francie puts her
reading smarts to use tutoring an unschooled 16-year-old from nearby New Carlton. When he
gets framed for attacking a white foreman, though, the courageous Francie can't keep from
trying to help, endangering herself and those she holds dear. |
Clicking on the book takes you to
Amazon.com.