Card Me! Amelia Bedelia's First Library Card by Herman Parish

"NO FOOD OR DRINK IN THE LIBRARY," SAID THE LADY IN THE LOBBY.

AMELIA BEDELIA FINISHED HER JUICE BOX. SHE LOOKED AROUND FOR A PLACE TO PUT IT.

Little Amelia spots a receptacle with a monster with a slot which forms his wide mouth and a sign that says "FEED ME!"

Neat, she thinks. This library has a trash can just for kids, and she stuffs the juice box through the monster's mouth, just as the library lady brings the group over to show them where to return books. Uh, Oh! Amelia Bedelia is embarrassed to think of her sticky juice box dripping inside the book return box with the returned books.

But the children's librarian is cool.

"WE'LL CHECK THIS IN TO THE TRASH," SHE SAYS.

Next Mrs. Reilly says it's time to visit the stacks.

AMELIA BEDELIA DIDN'T SEE ANY STACKS!

Little Amelia is still looking for stacks of something as they head for the Children's Room, where the librarian reminds the children that if they return their books after the date due, they'll get a FINE. Well, Amelia Bedelia thinks, that beats a TERRIBLE, any day!

In the ongoing adventures of the first-grader Amelia Bedelia, there's many a misunderstanding, a ton of puns, and a mix of malapropisms in the process of acquiring her first library card and taking care of her first library book.  Into each life some rain must fall, and little Amelia finds that books can get wet in a thunderstorm as quickly as she can, but the Bedelia family soon has a new bibliophile in Herman Parish's latest, Amelia Bedelia's First Library Card (Greenwillow, 2013).  With a beguiling character like the young Amelia Bedelia, piquantly portrayed by illustrator Lynn Avril, and a useful introduction to the process of becoming a proper public library patron, this latest in the Young Amelia Bedelia series makes a great lead-in to a visit to the library for individual kids or class field trips.

Too Cool for School: Splat the Cat and the Cool School Trip by Rob Scotton

"IT'S PENGUIN DAY!" CRIED SPLAT AS HE WAKED FROM HIS DREAM.

SPLAT'S CLASS WAS GOING TO THE ZOO, AND SPLAT WAS TOO EXCITED TO SLEEP.

Splat is ready to hit that big yellow bus and head to the zoo, with dreams of seeing his favorite zoo animal, the penguin, on his brain!

Except... there's one problem. His sidekick Seymour the Mouse can't go along. Mrs. Wimpydimple has told Scat firmly that mice frighten the elephants and Seymour is verboten on that bus with Scat. But...

SEYMOUR HAD A PLAN.

Splat fans will remember than Seymour smuggled himself along on Splat's very first day at school by concealing himself carefully inside Splat's backpack, and when they spot him in a corner of the page, surreptitiously perusing a copy of Flying for Dummies, readers will guess that something is up with Seymour.

As the bus bounces along on its way to the zoo, Mrs. Wimpydimple quizzes the class on their favorite animals.  Lanky Plank takes the tallest, the giraffe.  Kitten naturally goes the the "cute" monkeys, and the burly Spike predictably picks the biggest and strongest, the elephant. Splat, of course, picks the penguin, because, well, they're black and white like he is, and they are unquestionably COOL!

But when they arrive at the zoo,  Mrs. Wimpydimple bypasses Penguin Point, no doubt pedigogically thinking that she'll save the penguins' chilly habitat to cool her students down from their stroll in the sunny outdoor exhibits. Everyone else spots their favorites--the giraffes nibbling from treetops and the monkeys acting silly, and the whole class is having a great time.  But then as they approach Spike's choice, the elephant exhibit, the cats spot something strange, something descending from the sky.

"IS IT A BIRD?  IS IT A PLANE?"
WELL, SORT OF. "IT'S ... SEYMOUR!"

Seymour soars down for a landing in his self-designed paper plane and crashes--

Right into the elephant enclosure.

"UH, OH!"

Big UH-OH! The frightened elephants stampede, and one big bull elephant rips down the fence and crashes dramatically into a nearby wall, making a huge hole for himself!

And as it that's not enough of an bummer for poor Splat, the wall that collapses is the wall to Penguin Point, requiring that that exhibit close right away so that the penguins can be rounded up in a safe place. Seymour is in disgrace, and Splat is devastated. It's a No Penguin Day!

But as usual, Seymour is the man with a plan. He shushes the huddled penguins as he whispers...

"FOLLOW ME!"

It's Penguin Day after all in Rob Scotton's newest, Splat and the Cool School Trip (Splat the Cat) (Harper, 2013).  Splat is totally the Top Cat at HarperCollins, and in this brand-new full-sized picture book author-illustrator Rob Scotton takes his frenetic feline first-grader and his sidekick Seymour Mouse into a fantastical school days sally, the zoo field trip. A bit of zoo lore and lots of far-fetched fun follow as the jittery Scat realizes his dream to see a real penguin up close and personal.

Pair this appropriately back-to-school title with Scotton's recent I-Can-Read cat tale, Splat the Cat with a Bang and a Clang (I Can Read Book 1) (Harper, 2013), perfect for emerging readers who may be encouraged to try their hand in a garage band!

Friendship, Blendship: Bogart and Vinnie by Audrey Vernick

VINNIE, A CRAZY-HAPPY DOG, WAS LOST.

"THE BOY! WHERE IS THE BOY? WHICH WAY IS HOME? WHEW!"

Young Vinnie is in a jam!  He has no idea how to find his boy and happy home, and following his nose, he finds himself inside a nature preserve with lots of animals, but no  boy.  He knows that he needs a friend--quick!  He tries a cat-- with predictable results.

"DO YOU LIKE ME?" he pants.

Fat chance!  A kindly caretaker spots Vinnie and tries to warn him that wild animals can be dangerous, but Vinnie zooms off, the eternal optimist, sure that he can find someone to friend him among all these guys.

But coming on too strong doesn't endear him to the zoo gang. Vinnie strikes out with a giraffe (tall friend?), a tiger (striped friend?), a cheetah (spotted friend?), and a group of raucous parrots, who blow him off with loud squawks.

The Vinnie spots Bogart, an obviously hyper-introverted rhino, who eyes the panting pooch with silence and a wary eye.

"YO, NOSE FRIEND!  LET'S PLAY CHASE!

I LIKE YOU! I WANT TO ROLL IN YOUR SMELL!"

Bogart is underwhelmed with this offer. Oblivious of Bogart's sentiment that he just wants to be left alone, Vinnie sticks with him like glue, playing a one-man game of follow the leader and hide-and-seek with the very low-key Bogart.  The two weird companions attract the media and Vinnie and Bogart become the sensation of the local nightly news, notoriety that doesn't thrill Bogart but brings Vinnie's boy and his family to find him at last.

Audrey Vernick's Bogart and Vinnie: A Completely Made-up Story of True Friendship (Walker, 2013) finally gets to that predictable happy ending, but the fun of this "completely made-up story," the ironic account of two different personalities in the process of finding true friendship, is mostly in the getting there.

Animal odd couples are numerous in children's literature, but Henry Cole's downright hilarious portrayal of Vinnie, a pup who is definitely looking for love in all the wrong places, lifts this one above the herd. With his usual panache, Cole uses ink, colored pencil, and gouache to give us a goofy, gung-ho pooch whose search for a friend leads him into some exotic encounters. With a bit of the big-eyed look of Mickey Mouse's Pluto, his lolling tongue panting eagerly for somebody to love, and his running series of gushy self-introductions, Vinnie is an eager mutt who absolutely does not want to be alone, in contrast to the stolid Bogart, who craves nothing more than solitude. Told largely in thought balloons, this little lost-dog story manages to tug at the heartstrings a bit while evoking chuckles from readers who  may recognize the introvert-extrovert dichotomy among their own friends.

"Diverting and comical," says Kirkus.

Here, Kitty: Tabby McTat, the Musical Cat by Julia Donaldson

"Me, you, and the old guitar, how perfectly, perfectly happy we are.

MEEE-EW and the old guitar, how PURRRR-fectly happy we are."

It's a purr-fect blendship, the partnership of street busker Fred and his cat, Tabby McTat, a gray striper with a voice that can really belt it out. Fred and his guitar are a familiar sight on the downtown corners of his hometown, playing and singing, with Tabby's accompanying cat-calls, for the entertainment of passers by.

But cats will be cats, and Tabby has times when he just has to roam.  One day while he's prowling the neighborhood, Fred's beat-up tip hat is swiped, and in the pursuit, he falls and breaks a leg. It's off to the hospital for the old busker, and when McTat returns to their favorite corner, there's no sign of Fred or his guitar. Tabby searches sadly up and down the town to no avail. Without Fred to feed him, the busker's cat has no cat food, and poor Tabby grows thin and lonely.

Then fortune finds him--in the form of a warm-hearted lady cat named Sock who takes him home with her to a cat-loving couple, Prunella and Pat,  and McTat finds a home. Nature takes it course, and in due time, there are kittens! Tabby becomes a sleek, well-fed pet and is busy helping tutor their brood of capricous kitties.

But McTat never forgets Fred, and one day he sets forth on a missing person search. A brass band has made their old corner their permanent gig, and Tabby is forced to widen his investigation, followed stealthily by his adventurous son, Samuel Sprat. Tabby finally finds Fred at his new, solo venue, and the two have a joyful reunion, but Tabby knows that his place is back home with Sock, Pat, and Prunella. But then, a look-alike musical cat appears, ready to sit in with Fred:

Then from a window sprang Samuel Sprat.
"Oh, please let ME be the busker's cat!"

No one tells stories in rhyme better than Julia Donaldson, and for this tabby tale she joins forces with her old partner, illustrator Axel Scheffler to provide the cute kitties and homey cityscape, in her Tabby McTat, the Musical Cat (Levine/Scholastic, 2012) a kitty tale which is truly the cat's meow.

The Great Escape! Hurry Up, Houdini!" (Magic Tree House #50) by Mary Pope Osborne

Dear Jack and Annie,
Thank you for successfully completing your first mission to find a secret of greatness. Now on your new mission, I would like you to  learn a second secret--this time, from the Great Houdini.
--Merlin

"Oh, man! The Great Houdini!" said Jack "He could escape from anything! Chains, ropes, locks, handcuffs, prisons! He was amazing!"

"Was he a criminal?" asked Annie.

"No, a performer--the greatest escape artist who ever lived!" said Jack.

It's the mid-summer in Frog Creek, and Jack and Annie find Merlin's note in the Magic Tree House a welcome escape from routine--a chance to take a time-travel mini-vacation to Coney Island in 1908 and meet the famous magician Harry Houdini.

The tree house comes down in a curious tree in the Japanese Tea Garden, where Jack and Annie discover themselves dressed in turn-of-the century knee pants with watch pocket for Jack and a jaunty sailor dress for his sister, with pockets full of pennies packed with plenty of purchasing power. The ever-conscientious Jack wants to buy tickets for Houdini's nine o'clock show right away, but the excitable Annie is enchanted by the thousands of tiny electric lights stung everywhere, and she just has to try a Coney Island hot dog, a real waffle cone, and some of Coney Island's famous rides. In a bit of literary irony, the sophisticated time and space travelers Annie and Jack prove a hard sell for the carnival ride shills:

"Trip to the Moon!" a young man shouted to them.

"Been there!" Jack said. "Done that!" added Annie

"Submarine ride! Departing now for the North Pole?"

"Been there!" said Annie. "Done that!" said Jack.

"Kansas Cyclone!" a girl shouted. "Come inside and be blown away!"

"Been there, done that, too!" said Jack. Annie laughed.

Still, thanks to Annie, by the time they arrive at the theater, their pockets are lighter, except for a vial of Merlin's Magic Mist, which enables them to be the world's best at anything. But, as Jack had feared, Houdini's show is already sold out, and the restive crowd outside is threatening a riot because the magic act set to open for Houdini seems to have absconded with the box office receipts and disappeared. How can the kids get inside and meet Harry Houdini to discover his own secret of greatness?

But the resourceful and daring Annie has a plan. Fast-talking her way in to see the stage manager, she sells him on the two of them as an magic act, Jolly Jack and the Amazing Annie, as a replacement opening act. A whiff from the magic vial for each of them turns Jack and Annie into the world's best magicians for an hour and they dazzle the crowd, and once inside the theater, they are sure that, even minus magical prowess, they have the power to complete their mission to discover Houdini's secret of greatness.

But surprisingly the secret doesn't come from Houdini himself, in Mary Pope Osborne's just-published-this-week Magic Tree House #50: Hurry Up, Houdini! (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) (Random House, 2013), illustrated as always by the esteemed veteran artist Sal Murdocca. With this fiftieth title in the amazing Magic Tree House series, Osborne displays that she still has the wizardry to transform beginning readers into chapter book readers and whik them away on a summery theme-park mission with her potent magical mix of history, fantasy time-travel, and adventure that never fails to amaze and delight readers and to make the best-selling lists as well.

As is the tradition with Osborne's fiction books, this one is accompanied by a new non-fiction companion book, Magic Tricks from the Tree House: A fun companion to Magic Tree House #50: Hurry Up, Houdini! (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) (Random House, 2013) with magic skills for those would-be Jolly Jacks and Amazing Annies among the beginning chapter book set.

Moving Experience: Princesses On The Run by Smiljana Coh

Princess Antonia has got it all. And that's the problem. She's got elegant princessy gowns crowding her wardrobe. She's got too many books to read in one lifetime, and she's got all kinds of princess stuff cluttering her royal chamber. She's even got plenty of princess girlfriends who are so stuck in their own personal ruts that they can't even work in a playdate:

CINDERELLA WAS ALWAYS BUSY CLEANING....

RAPUNZEL NEVER LEFT HER TOWER....

SNOW WHITE CONSTANTLY HAD HER HANDS FULL, AND SLEEPING BEAUTY WAS ALWAYS TIRED....

Suddenly Princess Antonia has the urge to leave it all behind. She zooms outside, out of the palace for a change and runs into the nearby forest. As she begins to enjoy her freedom, her princess buddies take notice. Rapunzel stops braiding her hair and falls in behind Antonia. Cinderella follows in her classic footwear.

"OUCH!" she cries as she tries to keep up with the two princesses in her signature crystal slippers.

"TAKE OFF THOSE SHOES AND COME WITH US!" CALLS ANTONIA.

Snow White, hanging out the Seven Dwarfs' wet wash, drops her clothespins and follows suit. Sleeping Beauty wipes the sleep out of her eyes and trots drowsily along behind them. The Royal Run picks up a following--Red Riding Hood and the Three Goats Gruff join in and nobody stops until they reach the sea just as the sun is setting. What a view!

"WE TOTALLY SHOULD DO THIS AGAIN!" SAID SNOW WHITE.

"Changes in latitude, changes in attitude," sang Jimmy Buffet, and true to that advice, running away from it all blasts the princesses out of their royal routines. Rapunzel gets a haircut, Sleeping Beauty yens for yoga and finds new energy, and Cinderella and Snow White figure out how to get those chores out of the way in time for personal pursuits, in the spoofy conclusion of Smilyana Coh's Princesses on the Run (RP Kids, 2013), an alternative look at the princess lifestyle. Princess fans will giggle as their favorites break out of their routine, and Coh's fresh and stylized illustrations are a delightful change from the usual pink-tinged royal fluff.  As  Kirkus Reviews summarizes it all, "A prettily conceived and executed design, a decorative Eastern European sensibility and a fairly unconventional storyline make Princess Antonia stand out among the current crop of princesses."

Doing Unto Others: Bully by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Words hurt.

In Laura Vaccaro Seeger's Bully  (Roaring Brook, 2013), the opening endpapers reveal the source of a young bull's bad attitude. His friendly overtures to a big gray bull are rebuffed, and brushed off  in no uncertain terms,  head down, he slinks away, feeling small and unwanted.

But when he meets up with a trio of young animals who a want to play, he responds in kind, hitting where it hurts. He calls the little hen "Chicken!" He tells the turtle he's slowpokey, and a bee who crosses his path buzzes off when he gets a brusque brushoff. And when a friendly young skunk approaches, the little bull points out the obvious, with a gnarly, snarly "You stink!" As he vents his own hurt by hurting others, the little bull appears to grow larger and meaner, finally filling the pages, all evil eyes, horns and hooves, crowding out the others.

But when a little goat who crosses his path is told to "butt out," he finally points out the truth with a word.

"BULLY!"

Suddenly, the little bull gets it. Deflated, he asks himself:  Is he a bully? Is he like that big bull who blew him off? Ohh!

In a succession of award-winning picture books--Green, First the Egg (Caldecott Honor Book and Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book (Awards)), Lemons Are Not Red (Ala Notable Book(Awards)), (Neal Porter Books) and Dog and Bear (Neal Porter Books) (Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner-Best Picture Book) (Awards))--Seeger has shown herself incapable of creating a book that is not fresh, insightful, and moving, absolutely lyrical even with the briefest of texts, always with humor, and a standout in original conception and design.

Simple in style and with the sparest of texts, this story zooms in on the creation and redemption of a bully who suddenly sees himself as others see him and sees others in himself.  It's a complex theme, as deep as human nature itself, well told in bold pictures and the leanest of dialogue, but meaningful even to the youngest.   Booklist says," ... for all its simplicity, this story opens up a number of complex issues for discussion," and Publishers Weekly puts in that "Seeger’s pages pop with action, and the lesson couldn’t be clearer."

Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight? Pirate Boy by Eve Bunting

DANNY SAID, "MOM, WHAT IF I WANT TO BE A PIRATE AND SAIL AWAY ON A PIRATE SHIP?"

Mom and Danny have just finished reading a story coincidentally called Pirate Boy.  Sailing under the Jolly Roger looks pretty good to Danny--at first.

"OKAY, BUT MOM," DANNY ASKED, "WHAT IF I DON'T LIKE IT ON THE PIRATE SHIP?

AND I WANT TO COME BACK HOME?"

Mom is calm, as she replies that she'll catch the next friendly dolphin out to the ship and bring him back.

But the more Danny thinks about this buccaneering, the more it seems like risky business. He wonders aloud what will happen if no friendly dolphin is available? What if there a two sea monsters about to eat him?

Mom assures him that she'll swim right out to that ship with magic minty spray and those monsters will be shrinky dinks in no time.

But Danny's "Okay, But, Mom..." scenarios keep coming. What if the pirates on the ship like him so much they won't let him leave, even with his mom. What if....

But Mom has all the answers, even if the two of them have to become the crew and sail that ship to their favorite beach. And... when they get back home, Daddy will probably be there with milk and cookies for his two weary corsairs.

Eve Bunting's inventive mom has it all figured out, despite her worrywart little would-be seafarer, in a bright new edition of her Pirate Boy (Holiday House, 2013). While pirating has its pitfalls, the message here is that pluck and perseverance can go a long way in problem-solving. It's a successful fantasy voyage, illuminated by Julie Fortenberry's charming textured artwork which catches the perky wit and pleasant predictability of this storyline to a P (for Pirate).

There and Back Again! A Long Way Away: a Two-Way Story by Frank Viva

A HAPPY PLACE

A HAPPY PLACE

A LONG WAY

AWAY.

Frank Viva's surreal and inventive picture book, executed in vertical two-page spreads, follows the maiden voyage of a young space alien, smiling goodbye to his family as his pod zooms down a yellow vertical slide which takes him down through space, even meeting up with a parachutist also on his way down:

"OH, HELLOOOO!"

Sailing past asteroids, a boot, satellites and a passing jetliner he falls, finally to settle into a blue sea, floating past a tugboat and fisherman to settle down, down into the sea, crossing the path of a mini-sub, a jellyfish, and a diver before the little voyager settles  down among shapely corals at the bottom of the sea.

GET READY.

A DEEP SLEEP.

It is a mysterious and mind-bending journey, but for bemused readers, that is not the end in Frank Viva's remarkable  A Long Way Away (Little, Brown, 2013). At this point the book can then be reread in reverse from the ending back to the beginning, as the young alien ascends through the blue water to the air and back through space to greet his his smiling family again. Viva played with this two-way format in his earlier book, Along a Long Road (see my review here), and in this new one tells in simple but mellifluous prose this "two-way" story set forth in in  marvelous mixed-media illustrations that children will find both funny yet intriguing.  That a story that can just as well be read from beginning to end and end to beginning is a fascinating and compelling concept for youngsters in what is but one more innovation which pushes the limitations of the  picture book.

A Long Way Away scored a hit with the critics. As Innovative illustrator Tom Lichtenheld says in the New York Times Book Review, "Illustrated with the joyous aesthetic of a Matisse cut-paper collage, the story works gracefully both ways, and children will love following the character as it ventures away from home in one version, then back to the security of its family in the other. A Long Way Away delivers an exciting out-and-back adventure while proving there's still room for invention in the nondigital book format."

One of a Kind: Joone by Emily Kate Moon

MY NAME IS JOONE.

SOME PEOPLE SPELL IT J-U-N-E, BUT I SPELL IT WITH A SMILEY FACE.

Joone is not your average five-year-old girl. She insists on turning the two Os in her name into eyes and drawing in a smile underneath. Her favorite color is orange, not pink. Instead of a Teddy bear as a playmate, she has her turtle, Mr. Chin. And her house is a yurt, built by her grandfather, who is a scientist and very smart.

EVERY DAY GRANDPA TEACHES ME SOMETHING NEW.

HE SAY EVERYDAY I TEACH HIM SOMETHING NEW, TOO.

When Grandpa tells her not to wear  her favorite orange dress until it's washed, Joone doesn't.  She just plays outside in her underwear, also wearing, of course, her purple hat at all times.

When Grandpa tells her to remember to do things for others, Joone does.  She decides to take all his books off his shelves and re-arrange them by color--in "rainbow order."  And she knows just the right thing to do for the nice mail lady:  Joone leaves her a ice cream sandwich--in the mailbox! It's a surprise, all right.

In Emily Kate Moon's debut picture book, Joone (Dial Books, 2013), we meet one of those different drummer characters, one who is perfectly happy with her world, right down to the perfect tree house --with stone steps she builds for Mr. Chin (who can't climb ladders) to climb up and play with her. Moon's artwork is done in singular gouache and pencil drawings which extend her quirky character's personality perfectly against her warm and homey setting. As Kirkus says, "Joone could be a contemporary, country-dwelling cousin to Eloise: another precocious, articulate and turtle-loving child with charm to spare."

Robot on the Rampage: Awesome Dawson by Chris Gall

WHEN I WAS A BABY, I INVENTED A NEW KIND OF HAT.

All babies stick silly stuff on their heads, but what makes Dawson an awesome inventor is that from the git-go, his unique creations are made from castaway found objects. That hat was the dog's old water bowl, and with that, he's off on a career of collecting what other folks would call trash and transforming it into inventive treasures.

When Dawson was lonesome, he invented a best friend, Mooey, a discarded cow head with shopping cart wheels, a loyal co-collector and inventor.

Now Dawson's basement is filled with an assortment of trash, labelled and ready to be turned into treasures, each carefully purposed for the good of the world. His parents encourage his inventing because he's a one-man neighborhood beautification crew. No cast-off soda can has a chance of littering for long with Dawson and Mooey on the job down in his basement lab.

But like any kid, Dawson is less diligent about doing his regular chores--like picking up the stuff on the floor of his room. But for a super-inventor, that's NOT A PROBLEM. It's a scientific challenge.

"I REALLY NEED TO FIND A WAY TO GET MY CHORES DONE.

THIS WILL BE MY BEST INVENTION YET--THE VACUMANIAC!"

Dawson rummages through his pile of parts--an old vacuum cleaner, a bent watering can, a gumball machine, a piece of hose. Ah ha! He knows what to do!

"EUREKA!   IT SUCKS UP EVERYTHING...."

But in the best tradition of the runaway machine tale, the Vacumaniac doesn't stop. It sucks up and more and gets bigger and scarier as it threatens to vacuum up the whole town, in author-illustrator Chris Gall's latest extravaganza, Awesome Dawson (Little Brown, 2013).

Gall lavishes attention on his artwork, elaborate large-format, full-bleed pages meticulously crafted from engravings on an ink-covered clay board with digitally applied, eye-popping color, and a story told in comic-book style with panels, speech balloons, and a hilarious array of recyclables from which Dawson concocts his creations. A recycling superhero, in the style of Ellie Bethel's Michael Recycle series, is not new, but Awesome Dawson's clearly super absorption in contriving modern versions of the ever-popular Rube Goldberg apparatuses will appeal to the numerous gearheads among the primary set. Gall's awesome combination of clever cartooning and appealing text is perfect for kids who like their machines on the manic side. Booklist's reviewer says ". . . vibrant imagery that is both slick and homespun, like Dawson's own creations....Superheroes, recyclers, and inventors unite!"

Gall's other zany, kid-pleasing books include Dinotrux, Revenge of the Dinotrux, There's Nothing to Do on Mars, and Substitute Creacher, all reviewed here.

Summertime Blahs: Some Cures for the Dull Dog Days of Summer Vacation

Need some surefire, time-tested book recommendations for bored kids? Here's one for elementary through high school kids to beat the summer doldrums, books that are pretty much all titles that all kids should read as they grow:

Can't Miss Summer Books here.

From time to time I've posted particularly pertinent articles and recommendations from an excellent website called Common Sense Media. This site features information for parents of school-aged children--educational materials, entertainment media reviews (new movies, television shows, video games, and DVDs), and reading lists for all ages, and short informative articles on various child-raising concerns. Their posting on 100+ summer boredom busters is worth a look for ideas that may come in handy as July winds down. Take a look as these fun activities here.

As Shakespeare said, "Summer's lease hath all too short a stay," so savor every minute!

Friendship, Color Blendship: Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin

MIX, MASH, AND SPLASH!

SQUISH, MISH, AND SQUEESH!

MONSTERS LOVE COLOR!

And these weird amorphous guys seem to love to scribble and dribble color everywhere, filling pages with squiggles and wiggle waggles of color, with paints and markers and crayons. Not only do Blue and Red scribble their marks everywhere; Yellow even proceeds to nibble his yellow crayon to show what a yummy color it is.

The top-team, primary colors, Red, Blue, and Yellow Monsters, have a strong self-identity with their colors and proclaim it to the skies. Red shouts that his color roars and snores ....and much more.

But the junior varsity monsters, little, colorless gray Elmo-like blobs, are not so self-confident. They feel like nonentities, and they don't like it one bit! But when they complain, the primary monsters come up with a plan. Red and Yellow scribble their markers all over one small gray monster, and ...Voila! Orange Monster is born!

Not to be outdone, Green and Blue try the same tactic and.... behold! Before us now stands a proud Green Monster! And Red and Blue swallow their differences across the color wheel and blend to form Purple Monster. Wow!

What's not to like in Mike Austen's Monsters Love Colors, a joyous monster mash which teaches primary and secondary colors and touches on the tertiary hues, has lots of paint splashing and crayon scribbling and dancing, wiggling monsters, and ends with a rainbow of colors, the perfect friendship-blendship of the color fraternity! Although there are cleverer books that teach color identification (see Lois Ehlert's classics, Color Zoo and Color Farm)  this one is a kid magnet that reinforces the basics about the color wheel in a whimsical way. "Austin's squiggly, untamed swirls of crayon, pencil and ink and the high energy in his casual style (complete with silliness: "Hey! Don't eat your crayons, silly monster!") may coax even the bounciest little monsters to sit down for storytime--and run for the crayons and poster paper afterwards. Groovy!" quips Kirkus Reviews.

Never Say Die! The Skeleton Pirate by David Lucas

THE SKELETON PIRATE WAS THE TERROR OF THE SEAS.

"I'LL NEVER BE BEATEN!" HE SAID.

Notwithstanding the tough talk from The Terror of the Seas, this pirate is having a bad day.  His timbers apparently already shivered, afloat on what looks like a hatch of his seemingly sunken ship, and down to nothing but his pirate hat, pantaloons, and a sword, the still pugnacious pirate sees things go from bad to terrible when  a fully-manned man-of-war pulls into view. The crew outmans him,  locks him in chains, and tosses him into the briny deep, still full of defiance.

"I'LL NEVER BE BEATEN!"  (GLUB GLUB)

Curses! As the Skeleton Pirate settles to the bottom of the sea, he finally gets a break!  Along swims a lovely mermaid who has just the right stuff--a skeleton key!  But his luck is short-lived.  Just as the mermaid unlocks his chains, the Skeleton Pirate and the mermaid are both swallowed by a bottom-feeding whale.

"WE'RE NOT BEATEN YET!" said the Skeleton Pirate, brandishing his sword.

The mermaid suggests they reconnoiter before any swordplay is involved and they notice that the whale's tummy is very full--full mostly with tons of booty and a loaded treasure ship to boot.     That can't be comfortable, the mermaid thinks.  Maybe....

A convenient sign points the way to the leviathan's EAR, and the Skeleton Pirate and the mermaid prepare to negotiate a good outcome  to their dilemma.

"YOU ATE US!" SAID THE SKELETON PIRATE.

"DID YOU KNOW YOU ARE FULL OF GOLD AND TREASURE?"

"NO WONDER I FEEL SO ILL!" SAID THE WHALE. 

At this point giggling readers will guess that the Skeleton Pirate and the mermaid are going to come out on top(side) in David Lucas' rollicking new corsair story, The Skeleton Pirate (Candlewick, 2013). Lucas' funny illustrations take the lead  as the two get their just desserts and sail away in their treasure ship, heading for Cape Happy-Ever-After.  David Lucas' buoyant text and comic watercolors bounce along over the waves in a satisfying little tale for pirate aficionados.  As Kirkus Reviews reports, "Lucas' over-the-top yarn and loopy larger-than-life ink-and-watercolor cartoon illustrations wink at readers while producing one clever surprise after another. Exhilarating pirate fare!"

The Hair Makes the Man: Super Hairo and the Barber of Doom

EVERY SUPERHERO GETS HIS POWERS FROM SOMEWHERE.

MY POWER COMES FROM MY HAIR.

THE MORE MY HAIR GROWS, THE MORE AWESOME MY POWERS BECOME.

Superman may have had his kryptonite, but this young hero's superpowers come from his head.  Not from his brain, exactly, but from his hair--a truly impressive, bushy, reddish superfro that make all his feats of daring possible.  Along with his mega-hirsute followers, all sprouting massive mops, Rocco and his superfriends  accomplish feats of  strength and derring-do that impress all the kids in the neighborhood, especially that one interesting girl who quietly watches each awesome skateboard  jump or BMX bike leap.

But every superhero has his nemesis: Superman has The Joker, and young Rocco has ... The Barber of Doom.  

Faster than a speeding bullet, his traitorous parents nab Rocco, and off he goes to the villain's lair, where the Barber of Doom has his way with his hopelessly snarled mane. When Superhero emerges from his shearing a hapless hero, shorn of the source of his strength, he just knows that his super powers are history. Super Hairo is now Wimpy Baldo.

But that girl has a way to restore his powers.  An artful emergency is staged,  her Teddy bear is stranded far above the ground, and our sheared hero and his band of superdudes take the bait and answer the call to action.

POWER SURGED THROUGH US, AND WE SPRANG INTO ACTION!

It's hair today and gone tomorrow for this pint-sized superhero and his minions, who find out that their powers are all in their heads--but not in their hair, in this spoof of the Samson complex, John Rocco's Super Hair-o and the Barber of Doom (Hyperion, 2013). Masterful page design gives this superhero tale its pizzazzy prowess. Using comic-book dot-printing technique and a palette right out of DC Comics, Rocco uses dialogue balloons and plenty of  POWS and ZAPS to show the superdudes in action, switching to gray and white pages when the heroes lose their powers at the barbershop, and returning to color when the clean-cut heroes discover that even minus their manes, their mojo is still working. For a dynamic duo, a mane event, pair this story with Bethany Barton's This Monster Needs a Haircut (see review here)

A 2012 Caldecott winner for his Blackout, Rocco is a versatile author-illustrator who goes way back to Aesop for his fractured fable, Wolf! Wolf! (see review here), and ventures into fantasy in Moonpowder, very different stories but all with exemplary artwork.

Colorful Correspondence: The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

Duncan's crayons are on strike.

Even that colorless nonentity, White Crayon, has a complaint.

Dear Duncan,

You color with me, but WHY? 

Most of the time I'm the same color as the page you are using me on--WHITE!

Your Empty Friend,
White Crayon

Pink Crayon pointedly puts forth her problem sharply:

Duncan,

You have used me ONCE in the past year (thanks to your little sister for using me on her princesses coloring book!)

Your unused friend,
Pink Crayon

Gray Crayon points out that he doesn't have a point, worn down to a nub because of Duncan's apparent obsession with illustrating elephants. Yellow and Orange querulously insist that each of them holds the franchise on coloring the sun and Duncan must choose between them--or else!

Black is tired of being used to outline things with which he has absolutely no interest in associating himself.  Beige Crayon insists on his politically correct name; no more calling him TAN! Red requests a rest from working holiday overtime on all that Christmas and Valentine's Day duty. Purple appreciates being so popular, but why can't Duncan keep him inside the lines!!!! And Peach Crayon has a personal privacy issue:

Hey, Duncan,

It's Peach Crayon. 

Why did you peel off my paper wrapping?

Now I'm naked, and too embarrassed to leave the crayon box. How would YOU like to go to school NAKED?

Epistolary narration is a device quite familiar in novels, but author Drew Daywalt and illustrator Oliver Jeffers use it to excellent effect in their best-selling colorful collaboration of correspondence, The Day the Crayons Quit (Philomel, 2013). Thinking inside the box (the crayon box, that is) Daywalt's dry wit exactly matches Jeffers' scratchy line and expertly faux naif reproductions of childlike drawings in a combination of job action letters that are charming, classy and sassy, and, well, quite colorful. Kirkus Reviews puts them all back in the box in their summary: "Clever spreads, such as Duncan's "white cat in the snow" perfectly capture the crayons' conundrum, and photographic representations of both the letters and coloring pages offer another layer of texture, lending to the tale's overall believability. A comical, fresh look at crayons and color."

Other standout examples of Oliver Jeffers' witty work include This Moose Belongs to Me (see review here), and Stuck (see review here).