Getting There! Are We There Yet? by Dan Santat

YOU ARE INVITED TO A BIRTHDAY PARTY.

WHO? GRANDMA

WHEN? OCTOBER 24, 2016

WHERE? 257 CAPLAN AVENUE

The car trip to Grandma's is always exciting! But after the first hour, it can feel like an eternity. You might find yourself saying,

"Are we there yet? This is taking forever!"

At first the boy in the backseat sets forth with a smile as the landscape speeds by and familiar places are left behind. But after awhile... the passing scene begins to be a blur and boredom sets in. And with boredom his mind begins to wander beyond the confines of the car's backseat.

What's that? An old steam locomotive pulling a stream of cars appears on a track parallel to the road, pursued by... a gang of Wild West train robbers, six-shooters ablaze, in hot pursuit! Even his parents in the front seat are dressed in 1880s garb, bonnet and all. And then...

The scene switches swiftly. The car seems to be grappled by a pirate ship, with maties swinging their cutlasses...

And suddenly there are medieval knights jousting with lances, and then Egyptian slavedrivers, overseeing the construction of the pyramids.... Then...

ROOOAAAR!

It's the Cretacious Era and huge raptors are in hot pursuit....

SO TAKE A SECOND TO SAVOR THE MOMENT YOU'RE IN.

THIS WILL...

HELP...

TIME... FLY...

BY.

And suddenly the family car is headed back to the future. They zoom into a town, THE FUTURE CITY! Everything looks vaguely familiar and yet different--all new, all lighted brilliantly, including one of those electric signs with the time and... the date.

TODAY IS OCTOBER 24, 2059

And when they drive up to their destination, 257 Caplan Avenue, what they see is not Grandma's familiar white house! Can they somehow be 43 years late for her birthday party?

We've all been there--as adults in the harassed driver's seat and as kids in that backseat who feel as if they're stuck in a time warp, and in his latest, Are We There Yet? noted author-illustrator Dan Santat takes that scene and lets it spin out, with the highway that leads both ways in time, into the past and into the future. Santat's illustrations, set in a sort of time-hop sepia tones, and his clever book design, with text printed around and outside the frames of the illustrations, cause the reader to continue reading by turning the book upside down and turning left-hand pages toward the back of the book and then reversing the process to go forward in time and eventually back into the frame story itself.

Will his parents manage to steer their sedan somehow back in time to savor Grandma's birthday party? Will the kid appreciate sharing that moment of time at Grandma's birthday party?

Grandma's beribboned birthday gift turns out to be a clock, that symbol of time and time's passing, one that can be set back and set forward at will, a reminder of Santat's existential theme, with an unremarked but poignant tip of the author's hat to importance of Einstein's fourth dimension--time, and to that old saw--"There's no time like the present!"

Santat's work (see his Caldecott-winning The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend here) tend to celebrate that power of the imagination to take us outside ourselves and outside our own space-time continuum, and this one offers several layers of meaning, all the while playing with the format of the picture book itself, combining standard full-page color illustrations with comic-book-style frames, and even reversing the Western rule that books always move from left to right. Younger children will enjoy the passing characters and scenes beyond the windows, and older kids will be intrigued by the time-play and innovative book format and the always-inviting idea of travelling through time. A timely winner for Santat!

And Don't Call Me Junior! Thunder Boy, Jr. by Sherman Alexie

"I HATE MY NAME!

MY NAME IS THUNDER BOY. THUNDER BOY SMITH. THAT'S MY REAL NAME.

MY MOTHER WANTED TO NAME ME SAM."

Thunder Boy's name is hard to live up to. His dad looms larger than life in his eyes, a strong, powerful man with a booming voice whom everyone calls Big Thunder and who calls his son Little Thunder.

Little Thunder loves his dad, but he wants to make a name for himself, one that fits him well. He daydreams about new names that suit him.

He is brave, at least, he tries to be, so maybe he could be called NOT AFRAID OF A THOUSAND TEETH! He can climb a mountain. His name could be TOUCH THE CLOUDS. And he dreamed one night that his parents were the Sun and Moon, so maybe his name could be STAR BOY! He loves to dance at pow-wows. His name could be DRUMS, DRUMS, AND MORE DRUMS.

All those names sound a bit too grandiose, though. He remembers teaching himself to ride his little bike when he was three. Maybe he earned the name GRAVITY IS MY BEST FRIEND, or even MUD IN HIS EARS.

But in the Native American tradition, there are times when a new name is given, and somehow Dad seems to understand how his son feels.

"SON, I THINK IT'S TIME I GAVE YOU A NEW NAME, A NAME OF YOUR OWN."

National Book Award winner Sherman Alexie carefully crafts his story, building tension as Little Thunder seeks a new name that honors his father but feels like his own, in his just published Thunder Boy Jr. (Little, Brown and Company, 2016), and his wise father comes through the with perfect pairing for them both.

Artist Yuyi Morales, winner of the American Library Association's Pura Belpre' Award, (for Just a Minute!: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book (Pura Belpre Medal Book Illustrator (Awards)) skillfully uses contrasting colors and perspectives to convey the way Little Thunder sees his dad as a monumental force of nature and as a loving dad who helps his son find his own best name. The New York Times Book Review calls Sherman's story " ...a story that feels both modern and timeless, a joyous portrait of one boy's struggle to (literally) make a name for himself in the world, and Kirkus Reviews adds, "An expertly crafted, soulful, and humorous work that tenderly explores identity,culture, and the bond between father and son."

Times Trials! Peg + Cat: The Race Car Problem by Jennifer Oxley

ONE DAY PEG AND CAT WENT TO THE JUNKYARD. ORDINARILY, THEY DIDN'T HAVE MUCH USE FOR A BUNCH OF OLD JUNK, BUT THIS WAS NOT A NORMAL DAY.

IT WAS THE DAY OF THE TALLAPEGGA 20, A REALLY BIG-DEAL RACE.

Peg, the perky pizzeria cook, and her friend, Cat, take some time off to head to the track to try out their design for what they hope will be a hot-as-a-pizza-oven race car.  But first they have to build their own racer, and to do that they have to assemble the right parts.

At least they've got the name--HOT BUTTERED LIGHTNING!

To start, they've come up with some round objects for wheels, but on the first trial run, their car loses a wheel.

No problem. There are lots of round objects in the junkyard, and a trash can lid is just the right shape and size!

But the competition looks tough!  There's the amphibious Pirate-Mobile, good on land or sea.  And then there's the Pizza-Mobile, cooked up by the Teens and fueled (natch!) by potato chips and cherry cola. But the biggest competitor looks to be Pig's Triangle-Mobile, which really looks sharp!

Peg and Cat wonder if they should just have the Hot-Buttered Lightning scratched from the time trials. But their calculating friend Ramone, won't let them quit.

"YOU NEVER SOLVE A PROBLEM BY GIVING UP!"

Peg and Cat fall behind on the first lap, but Pig has to stop for a triangular treat, a slice of pie, and they gain some laps. The always hungry Teens can't resist sneaking a few bites of their car. And the Pirate-Mobile falls a few YARRRDs behind.

So Peg and Cat keep counting up the laps and learn how to write comparative numerical statements, in Jennifer Oxley's Peg + Cat: The Race Car Problem (Candlewick Press, 2015). Based on the Emmy-winning television program, this one offers some favorite cartoon characters and a chance to review some basic math concepts. Pair this one with Oxley's Peg + Cat: The Pizza Problem, which helps Pet and Cat cope with fractions (half, quarter, eighth) of their pizzas, or Oxley's The Chicken Problem, which helps solve a multiplying chicken problem by rounding! (See review here.)

Time-Travelling T. Rex: Dino-Mike and the T. Rex Attack by Aurelius Franco

Mike Evans is happy. Off on a expedition in Montana with his paleontologist dad, he draws on the special dino-hoodie that Dad gave him and decides to leave the dig, where Dad is tediously cleaning a huge bone with a small brush, and set out to make some discoveries of his own.

He doesn't get too far before he meets up with another kid, a red-headed girl with some mega-cool climbing hooks who claims to be tracking something but won't say what.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"There it is again!"

Shannon shouts. "RUN!"

"Why?" asks Mike.

Answering his question, a giant T-Rex charged out of the forest toward them.

ROARRRR!

Luckily for Mike, Shannon seems to have a variety of amazingly high-tech devices to capture a T. Rex and contain the dinosaur. But where did the dinosaur come from and why is Shannon capturing this one in a large, transparent chamber she called a Trapasaurus? Mike decides to call the dino Sam, and he has a few questions for the determined red-haired girl. Suddenly, he gets itl.

"You're from another time, aren't you?" asked Mike.

But before Shannon can answer, Mike hears a now familiar sound.

ROAR!

The T-Rex has been set free by a shaggy-haired teenaged boy with a laser saw. It seems Shannon is not surprised nor glad to see Jurassic Jeff in her territory.

"I had to make sure that the T. Rex I brought here got a chance to stay here." he explains.

A simple walk takes Dino-Mike into an adventure with two kids from another time in Aurelius Franco's Dino-Mike and the T. Rex Attack (Stone Arch Books, 2015). Mike learns that Jurassic Jeff is determined to save the dinosaurs by introducing them into more favorable times and climates, and Shannon is determined to capture and take them back to her own time for scientific study. Both worthy goals, but apparently at odds with each other, as Mike discovers both of the time-travelers disappear, and so is Sam the T. Rex.

Sadly Mike makes his way back camp, wondering how to explain his strange adventure to his dad, when he almost stumbles over a pile of some round things that look like giant eggs.

"What have you got there, son?" Dad says."I'm not sure," said Mike. "I think they're eggs."

Dad's eyes grew twice their normal size."You found dinosaur eggs!

Just then Mike gets a text message from Samantha, back in her own time, with some information that explains what he just found.

"Sam the T. Rex made the trip home in great condition. FYI: Sam is actually Samantha! How funny is that?"

With time travelers from two different civilizations, there are plenty of dinosaur adventures ahead for Dino-Mike in the fast-paced Dino-Mike series, beginning chapter books with places to go and people (and dinosaurs) to see.

I Gotta Be Me! Mixed Me by Taye Diggs

SOMETIMES WHEN WE'RE TOGETHER,

PEOPLE STARE AT WHATEVER.

"YOUR MOM AND DAD DON'T MATCH," THEY SAY. PEOPLE SEE US AND THEY LOOK AT US FUNNY.

SEE, MY DAD IS DEEP BROWN AND MY MOM'S A RICH CREAM AND HONEY.

MY MOM AND DAD SAY I'M BLENDED ... JUST RIGHT.

Being an in-between shade is not all that unusual these days, although this kid tops it off with bright red curly hair that is pretty unique. but Mixed Mike just makes a joke out of the combination.

"I'M A COMBO PLATE."

Taye Diggs' Mixed Me! (Feiwel and Friends, 2015) celebrates the combo plate that is our population, with humor, rhythm, and rhyme that makes the message go down like tutti-frutti ice cream, sweet and colorful. If we look at ourselves scientifically, we're all mutts, even if we're of pure white British Isles ancestry, because deep in our DNA (unless we are 100% African), we definitely have those genes from a whole other species of human, the Neanderthals, and probably those others, the Denisovans.

Says the New York Times reviewer, "[Illustrator] Evans' effervescent collages are an ideal match for the riffing, self-possessed voice Diggs gives Mike."

Big Sister Says So! Gemma and Gus: Big Sister, Little Brother by Olivier Dunrea

GEMMA IS A SMALL YELLOW GOSLING. SHE IS THE BIG SISTER.

GUS IS SMALLER. . . HE'S THE LITTLE BROTHER.

GEMMA LIKES TO EXPLORE.

Gemma's curiosity leads her to many interesting places. She goes on a frog hunt in the cattails, and a bunny hunt up a tree! Her little brother Gus, without much fuss, tries to keep up with his big sis, sticking close to her tail feathers--when he can!

"DON'T KEEP FOLLOWING ME!" GEMMA HONKS.

Little Gus takes up the challenge. He'll go first this time. Gus dives right into the pond and makes big splashes. Will Gemma be tempted to be the follower this time?

Olivier Dunrea's Gemma & Gus (board book) (Gossie & Friends) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015) gives the younger siblings out there the fun of seeing the younger one turn the tables on the bigger one for a change. Dunrea's little goslings are just as charming and personable as ever in this latest gosling adventure.

Meeting the Norm: Normal Norman by Tara Lazar

THIS IS MY FIRST TIME NARRATING A BOOK. I'M A BIT NERVOUS.

MY ASSIGNMENT TODAY IS TO DEFINE THE WORLD "NORMAL."

Our student scientist is all set to do field observations. She's got the magnifying glass. She's got the clipboard. She's got the lab coat. And she's got a subject for her observations.

He's a gorilla.

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE NORMAN. HE WILL HELP ME DEMONSTRATE THE WORD NORMAL.

Norman is clearly a gorilla. What might be a normal gorilla diet?

Bananas, of course.

Except Norman displays a clear preference for... pizza!

Our junior scientist tries to induce Norman to try a banana. She even peels it for him!

"NO--OOO--OOO!"

Wait a minute! Norman speaks English? Don't normal gorillas grunt?

Norman refuses to sleep in a tree. He prefers climbing into his bunk bed! Our young scientists offers him a pile of nice, fresh leaves and branches. Norman hunts up his plush toy anteater.

"I CAN'T SLEEP WITHOUT MR. SNUFFLES!" NORMAN PROTESTS.

"AN ANIMAL WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? THIS IS NOT NORMAL!"

Norman simply doesn't conform to the norm!

Our young scientist can't argue with her raw data. Maybe... she needs to alter her hypothesis!

Could normal be impossible to define? Sometimes it is, in Tara Lazar's Normal Norman (Sterling Books, 2016). Norman may not be your normal gorilla, but he's a lot of fun to hang out with, as our heroine discovers as she rides away with abnormal Norman, a friendly purple and gold gorilla, on his mount of choice, a rhinoceros with bells on his horns! Our novice animal scientist seems to be the only conventional character in this imaginative tale of abnormal Norman, illustrated with appropriate outside-the-box page design, fonts, and colors by S. Britt. A creative look at a walk on the wild side.

Meals on Wheels? Food Trucks by Jeffrey Burton

WELCOME TO FOOD TRUCK CENTRAL

WE SERVE MEALS ON WHEELS!

These days food is on a roll--rolling out all over town for all sorts of tastes. They may look different, but food trucks have similar equipment--ovens, grills, pots and pans, plates and napkins for their customers.

But what comes on those plates?

AMERICAN FOOD IS ALWAYS GREAT!

But if burgers, hot dogs, and fried chicken are not what you want ...

CIAO! TRY SOME ITALIAN FOOD ON YOUR PLATE!

Flip down the flaps on the front of the truck, and you'll see our favorite foods from Italy--pizza, lasagna, and spaghetti with choice of cheese: Parmesan, ricotta, or mozzarella to top your dish.

Feeling like spicy? Say "Hola'" to mole', tacos, and enchiladas with pico de Gallo or salsa!

Or if your tastes today are more exotic, say "Kannichiwa! to Japanese sushimi and sushi, or some tasty tempura! Or say Namaste! for some Indian curry or tikka masala.

Or maybe you want to take out some Chinese? Ni hao! Lo mein is luscious! Wantons await!

And if you just crave a healthy snack, here comes the fruit and veggie truck, with peaches, pears, apples, and bananas galore.

And then there's everyone's favorite treat, the ice cream truck with sweets to eat--cones, sundaes, and ice cream sandwiches--tinkling merrily down your street!

Yep! These days food is on a roll, with a wide variety of mobile meals, in  author Jeffry Burton's and illustrator Jay Cooper's jolly and just-published Food Trucks!: A Lift-the-Flap Meal on Wheels! (Little Simon, 2016). With sturdy flaps which flip open to reveal pictures each truck's menu, this little board book is good for familiarizing preschool students with the wide variety of foods available, as well as tempting early readers with irresistible rhymes and a chance to learn greetings and food names in several languages. Bon Appetit!

Pair this one with Mark Todd's totally tasty Food Trucks! (read my review here). And make sure to read these right before lunch!

Make ME Great! President Squid by Aaron Reynolds

I HAVE REALIZED SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT. SOMETHING THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING.

NO GIANT SQUID HAS EVER BEEN PRESIDENT BEFORE. I WILL BE THE FIRST!

After all, what does it take to be President? A tie? Got one. A big house! Squid's house is titanic. No, not just huge. It IS The Titanic!

Being famous?

I WILL BE THE GREATEST PRESIDENT WHO EVER LIVED!

But when he tries out some constituent services, freeing a small sardine from a clam's grip, he finds out that helping the public is, like, work!

 WAIT! I DON'T WANT TO BE PRESIDENT! I WANT TO BE...

KING SQUID!

ALL OF THE POWER! NONE OF THE WORK!

In Aaron Reynold's latest,President Squid (Chronicle Books, 2016), any resemblance to any presidential candidate, living or dead, is purely coincidental, according to the author. Just because Squid is a megalomaniac, given to commissioning his likeness carved on Mt. Rushmore, spouting grandiose proclamations without bothering with delusions of grandeur without actually doing the actual work involved in carrying out his boasts, doesn't mean that author Reynolds has chosen any particular candidate as the object of his satire. Sara Varon's comic under-the-sea illustrations add much to this spoof of slippery political candidates that will make even apolitical preschoolers chuckle!

Both Sides Now: Frank and Laverne by Dave Whamond and Jennifer Stokes

SUNDAY 0600 hours

Woke up and went outside for Squirrel Patrol.

Then I woke up Laverne.

BARK BARK BARKITTY BARK!

In combat gear Frank the Pug goes on patrol, defending his humans and his co-pet Laverne the Cat against that elusive enemy, the squirrels who infiltrate the backyard. Frank sees Laverne as his comrade in arms.

We do basic training exercises together every day. I love Laverne.

Frank is always on duty. His job is to be underfoot while the humans try to get off to work and school and always to locate that slimy tennis ball no matter how wildly Sam the Kid throws it. Frank is a happy and fulfilled dog.

Dogs like me prefer the simple things.

A nice shoe after a good meal.

The pure joy of barking.

Poor Frank is unaware that Laverne doesn't share his point of view. Laverne hates the pre-dawn call to duty. She glares at Frank as she endures his sloppy affection while she pulls up her daily schedule on the laptop:

10:00 a.m. Nap

10:30 a.m. Knead cat bed.

10:32 a.m. Nap

Yep. Dogs and cats lead different lives. Frank loves his fish toy. He loves barking and chasing squirrels. He loves the exotic aroma of the truck on Garbage Day. Laverne loves her bed. She loves hiding Frank's smelly toy and snitching on him when he chews the rug and climbs on the furniture for neighborhood watch time.

But Frank and Laverne are bound by one common enemy--Carl, the enormous and vicious Great Dane nextdoor, whose slavering snarls are heard over the tall board fence between their yards. Frank tries to sound bigger than he is, and Laverne loves walking the top of the fence just beyond Carl's ravening jaws to whip him into a frenzy.

But then, one day when Frank is coming up with some especially impressive yapping aimed at Carl, Laverne just can't resist trying a dirty cat trick. She lifts the latch on the gate in the fence and poor clueless Frank dashes through, only to face the fangs of the waiting Carl.

Frank flees as fast as he can on his silly short legs back into his own territory, and Laverne gives herself a dope slap as she realizes that her mischief has backfired spectacularly.

I realized those fleabags were running in circles.

There were now two dogs in my yard.

That would not do.

Sometimes a cat has to do what a cat has to do. Laverne unsheathes her unique weaponry and launches a deadly strike from above.

Dave Whamond's and Jennifer Stokes' Frank and Laverne (Owlkids Books, 2016) is a truly funny look at the eternal war between dogs and cats and the humor of their occasional liaisons. Whamond and Stokes' shtick here is the reversible book in which first Frank and then Laverne tell their versions of the same story, ending at the same outcome in the middle. There are two sides to every story, and the contrast between the canine and feline takes on life are part of the fun, a mini-lesson on the importance of point of view in a narration.

Whamond and Stokes give us some hilarious illustrations which point up the differences between Frank's naive infatuation with everything and Laverne's sardonic take on what she sees as the idiocies of dogs in general and Frank in particular. Loyal devotees of Nick Bruel's Bad Kitty and Poor Puppy (see reviews here) will love Frank and Laverne's wry version of the eternal story of Cat Vs. Dog!

Says School Library Journal, "bright, expressive cartoon illustrations will certainly draw in the younger crowd, who may enjoy this book over and over again, understanding more and more each time."

Peppa Does the Exhibits! Peppa Pig and the Day a the the Museum by Neville Ashley

AT BREAKFAST MUMMY AND DADDY HAVE A SURPRISE.

"WE HAVE A SPECIAL DAY PLANNED!" SAYS MUMMY.


"WE ARE GOING TO THE MUSEUM!"

The WHAT?

Peppa and George haven't a clue where they are going for this special day and what they will do when they get there. Mum says they will see "special things."

???? That doesn't narrow it down much!

Daddy says some of the things are extremely old--even older than he is!

????

As they drive to the museum, Mummy and Daddy try to describe some of the sorts of exhibits they will see.

Peppa zooms in on the Queens' Gallery, with jeweled crowns, ornate thrones, and fancy dresses!

George is down on the gowns but strong on the "Dino-Saws!" Is there going to be a museum stalemate?

Learning to share is not just learning to share toys. It is also learning to share experiences, to take turns letting the other do what he or she wants to do, too.  So George patiently views more of the royal tresures than he would otherwise choose, and Peppa provides some sisterly backup when he finds the Hall of the Dinosaurs just a bit TOO awesome at first, with ginormous Dinosaurs gnashing big fangs and slashing spiked tails.

Then George meets up with his friend Edmund, who directs them to the Space Room, where the family gets to bounce around in helmets like nearly weightless astronauts on the moon as they experience low gravity. The whole family has a blast(off) in a simulated space trip that is figuratively over the moon!

Of course, a visit to the museum is not complete without a souvenir from the gift shop and a little smackerel of something from the snack bar,  Daddy's favorite "exhibit," in Noelle Ashley's Peppa Pig and the Day at the Museum (Candlewick Press, 2015). This new addition to the series is a perfect prep for preschoolers' first visit to a museum, whether with family or with a school class, with the added theme of allowing everyone some time with their favorite "special things!" Fans of the veddy, veddy British Peppa Pig cartoon show will find this one spot on!

Things That Go Bump! In The Night: My House is Alive! by Scot Ritchie

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties,
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

People have long feared the things of the night, and even the bravest among us can remember how scary unknown sounds can be in the dark. While children today need not fear marauding Norsemen or hungry bears or shrouded spirits, the imagination can run wild when the sun goes down.

HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED

THERE ARE SOME NOISES

YOU ONLY HEAR AT NIGHT?

That buzzing sound? Could it be a giant hornet stalking the halls?

Or is it the vibrating panels in the ballast box of the fluorescent light in the kitchen?

Is that gurgling sound some sort of sea monsters oozing up through the bathtub drain?

Or is it a faulty toilet tank flapper drip-gurgling in the bathroom?

And what's that scratching sound in the living room? The one that sounds like something with giant claws scrabbling to get in?

Could it be the amplified sound of a bird family who's decided the chimney is a really safe place to roost and raise babies?

Scot Ritchie's new My House Is Alive!: The Weird and Wonderful Sounds Your House Makes (Owlkids Books, 2015) gives youngsters a chance to sleuth out those noises that sound so sinister in the darkest hours before the dawn. Stairs creak. Is it a monster sneaking upstairs--or the wood drying and shrinking bit by bit in the staircase. Houses settle slowly on their foundations, with loud crunches and thumps as the night air cools.  And that rumble is only the garage door opening as Dad drives in. Ritchie's comic double-page spreads portray a boy and his pooch with the imagined ghoulies and beasties, followed by the real source of the sounds, all in a bedtime book that may allay some childhood fears with the knowledge that these sudden sounds are actually their houses on the job looking after them, the fridge defrosting itself and the furnace rumbling into action to keep us cozy.

And there may be one more nighttime sound that parents long to hear....

HOUSES MAKE ALL SORTS OF SOUNDS AT NIGHT.

HERE'S ONE MORE YOU MIGHT KNOW...

YAWWWWWN!

Rules Are Rules! Rules of the House by Mac Barnett

IAN ALWAYS FOLLOWED THE RULES.

HERE HE IS, FOLLOWING THE RULE: "ALWAYS PACK A TOOTHBRUSH." RULES ARE MEANT TO BE FOLLOWED.

IAN'S SISTER JENNY NEVER FOLLOWED THE RULES.

It happens in a lot of families. Ian's shirt is always tucked. and he never forgets his toothbrush, and it really bugs Jenny. Although it's against the rules, she pinches Ian and then lies about it.

So when the family pulls up to their vacation house, Ian is happy to see that the rules are posted in a prominent place. He reads them aloud for Jenny's edification..

1. REMOVE MUDDY SHOES BEFORE ENTERING THE HOUSE.

2. DON'T LEAVE A RING AROUND THE BATHTUB DRAIN.

3. REPLACE ANY FIREWOOD YOU BURN.

4. NEVER, NEVER OPEN THE RED DOOR.

Jenny pinches Ian for his trouble.

"YOU'RE SUCH A TOADIE," SAID JENNY.

As the first days of their holiday pass, Ian fumes as Jenny breaks rules. She stomps inside in muddy shoes, leaving tracks behind everywhere she goes. She leaves a ring and clumps of her hair in the bathtub. She builds a fire in the potbellied stove to roast marshmallows, but never replaces the wood.

"YOU'VE ALREADY BROKEN RULES 1-3!" SAID IAN.

"SO WHAT!" SAID JENNY.

"RULES ARE RULES," IAN INSISTED.

And then Jenny opens The Red Door. And she discovers the rules are really the house's rules, and the house itself is prepared to execute justice!

That night the bear rug that Jenny muddied enters their bunk room and declares that it will eat the rule breaker for dinner. The bathtub crashes in, claiming to have acquired a taste for Jenny from the aperitifof her hair in the drain. The stove's empty pot belly claims to be due a piece of the action, too!

Ian faces a crisis of conscience. Sure, Jenny broke the rules! But she IS his sister.

He shoves his toothbrush bravely in the monsters' faces.

"WHAT'S THAT?" ASKED THE STOVE.

"YOU WERE GOING TO EAT MY SISTER AND YOU DON'T HAVE A TOOTHBRUSH?" SAID IAN. "ALWAYS PACK A TOOTHBRUSH. THAT'S THE RULE!"

Family loyalty trumps legalism in Mac Barnett's latest, Rules of the House (Hyperion Books, 2016), in which the house rules are hoisted on their own petard. Barnett's wry stories always have a sort of wacky justice of their own, and this story is one that will please the rule enforcers and rule breakers alike among its readers. Artist Matt Myers has a lot of fun setting the atmosphere and setting loose the revenge of the house rules on scofflaw Jenny in a sort of satisfying revenge of the Wild Things that shifts the balance to the side of the upright Ian who bests the beasts at their own game.

We! We! We!: Pigs and a Blanket by James Burks

"I love my blanket so much!" says Sister Pig.

"I love my blanket soooooo much!" says Brother Pig.

It's just a green blanket, one they've always had, but these piggie siblings are very possessive about it.

Sister Pig loves its warm smell; she loves the way she can use it to make a private tent where she can be alone to read.

Brother Pig loves it for its cozy feel; he loves the way he can use it to make a comfy cave where he can be alone to draw.

When they read or draw, there's plenty of green blanket for both of them.

But that's not always the case.

"I love to dance with my blanket," says Sister.

"I love to play a superhero with my blanket," says Brother.

Dancing with a frilly veil and flying through the air with a flowing cape are more or less mutually exclusive activities. And when Sister Pig and Brother Pig try to take control of the blanket, they get angry! Then something happens!

RRRIIIPPPP!

Their big green blanket is reduced to two ragged fragments! Brother and Sister Pig stare at each other with horror! This is not what they meant to happen! Each tries playing separately with their pieces of the blanket, but it's not the same!

"Least said, soonest mended," goes the old proverb, and these two siblings hurry to make amends between them and mend their rent-apart blanket, in James Burk's brand-new Pigs and a Blanket (Hyperion Books, 2016). Some things are better shared, as the two piggies decide, in this little story that shows the old truth that fighting over a favorite plaything often spoils the play AND the thing itself in the fray. Burk's parallel speech patterns and childlike illustrations work together to put over this simple but universal little parable of share-and-share-alike. "A charmer," says Kirkus Reviews.

Pair and share this one with Anna Dewdney's insightful story, Llama Llama Time to Share (Read review here.)

Seeing: The Artist and Me by Shane Peacock

In the beautiful countryside in southern France near the town of Arles long ago, I did an ugly thing.

Into a provincial village in south France comes a strange figure, a self-proclaimed painter who can't sell one picture, an "artist" whose images look nothing like the scenes the townspeople see him creating on canvas.

This small boy joins the others in harassing the town crazy guy with the wild red hair and the persistent scowl.

His dream, he told anyone who would listen, was to tell the truth by painting pictures.

He painted awful pictures.

The colors are all mismatched and garish, and the people and flowers and skies he painted didn't look right, The pictures were not pretty like paintings are supposed to be. Everybody agreed they were ugly.

Small boys followed the man on his rounds, hooting and laughing. The boy threw stones at his window. He joined the others in calling the man a fool, saying it louder than anyone, the way cowards do when they are safe as a part of a crowd.

But the boy is curious about the crazy guy. One day he secretly follows him outside town and into a field with tall grasses that keep him hidden. The artist seats himself and begins to paint the scene before them in his own way, and the boy creeps closer to sneak a look at the canvas.

The sky was blue, but boiling with violet. The wheat field shimmered like gold. Everything didn't seem as it should. Or maybe it did.

Then he stops and the man turned around to face the child. The boy freezes. But the man reaches out and offers the boy his painting.

"Take it," he said kindly.

The boy is terrified and filled with shame at his behavior and turns and runs away.

But that's not the end of the story. Many years later, when he is old and his own grandson is a small boy beside him, he sees a painting, a now-famous painting, on the wall of a Paris museum, a painting of a wheat field that is considered a priceless masterpiece of art.

"Much madness is divinest sense..." said Emily Dickinson, and that is the theme revealed in Shane Peacock's The Artist and Me (OwlKids Books, 2016), in which the author uses a small boy as narrator to reveal the contradictions in the life of Vincent Van Gogh, his alternate take on reality, seen as mere craziness by the townspeople of Arles. Art is in the eye of the beholder, and sometimes it takes a special eye to see the world in a new way. With a clear but understated lesson on cruelty to those who march to a different drummer, who see a different version of the truth, this picture book not only offers the essence of the life story of Vincent Van Gogh but offers young readers a way to gain the understanding that others can have different versions of truth who can teach us something beyond our own take on the world.

The story is told simply through the eyes of a child, and the accompanying faux naif style of artwork reinforces the theme well. And as Kirkus Reviews says, "Peacock's wonderfully paced, poetic text evidences strong evidence of the power of the page turn and how it can masterfully scaffold the storyline."  This is a first purchase for school libraries who want to support their own art program, one of those biographies of famous artists that speaks directly to the mind of the child.

A-Sailin' We Must Go! Captain Jack and the Pirates by Peter Bently

JACK, ZACK, AND CASPAR, BRAVE MARINERS THREE,
WERE BUILDING A GALLEON DOWN BY THE SEA.

Three aspiring privateers shape their pirate ship from the malleable sand on the beach, Properly accoutered with sand pails inserted on their ship's sides as cannons and an old shirt for a sail, the three young seadogs are poised to set sail for some proper adventures on the bounding main.

AND THERE STOOD THE GALLEON, FIT FOR THE FRAY.
AS BRAVE CAPTAIN JACK ORDERED "ANCHORS AWEIGH!"

"AHOY! MAN" CRIED JACK, WITH A CHORTLE OF PLEASURE.
"AN ENEMY PIRATE SHIP, LOADED WITH TREASURE!"

The bold buccaneers storm ashore to take their treasure--a selection of tea-time pastries--put out by their foes (actually their parents), and the young pirates end their voyage with their booty, topped off by some cooling ice cream cones, consumed as they dangle their feet in the briny deep from the dock.

It's a salute to the magical imagination of early childhood fantasy in that wonderful way that youngsters are able to construct a whole, shared alternative universe for their play, in noted author Peter Bently's recently published Captain Jack and the Pirates (Dial Books, 2016), which has the look of a classic nursery tale, aided by the peerless illustrations of Helen Oxenbury. Oxenbury's soft line drawings and watercolor illustrations have the essence of such classics as Beatrice Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Ernest H. Shepard's illustrations in The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh, and Oxenbury's own work in her well-known We're Going on a Bear Hunt (Classic Board Books). Shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Prize, Britain's parallel to the Caldecott Award, this perfect picture book is not to be missed. As Publishers Weekly suitably sums it up, "Bently's verse never misses a beat, and Oxenbury shifts between monochromatic, engraving-like drawings and pale watercolors; the images feel as if they were drawn from a classic fairy tale book and contemporary life simultaneously."

Wingin' It! Chicken Lily by Lori Mortenson

LILY WAS A LOT OF THINGS.

A CAREFUL COLORER, A PATIENT PUZZLER...

BUT LILY WAS SOMETHING ELSE....

Lily is a big chicken.

Oh, Lily is a charming petite little chick. She plays well with others. At recess games of hide-and-seek, she's the last one to be found, because...

SHE NEVER MADE A PEEP!

Although she always knows the answers to the teacher's questions, Lily never lifts a wing to be called on. She's strictly low-profile poultry. In the cafeteria Lily sticks to her little lunch sack of chicken feed while the others pig out on new foods. And as far as Lily is concerned, the training wheels are never coming off her bike.

And then one morning Mrs. Lop posts a notice that strikes terror in Lily's timid craw:

GRAND SLAM POETRY JAM!

Grab your pen and write, write, write.

Read your poem tomorrow night!

Some of Mrs. Lop's pupils are energized by the challenge, but poor Lily nearly molts at the thought. What if she is too mortified to recite? Will she chicken out? Will she stand in front of everyone with egg on her face? What if her recitation lays an egg?

SHE WISHED SHE COULD FLY THE COOP!

But in the best tradition of story book heroines, Lily finds the courage at last to strut her stuff in Lori Mortenson's latest, Chicken Lily (Henry Holt and Company, 2016). Mortenson gives free-range to some wonderful wordplay, laying out a bunch of good groaners, letting almost no chicken cliche' go untouched in this tale of "chicken" Lily, who finally spreads her wings and finds her inner ham just in time. Artist Nina Crittenden populates the illustrations with some undeniably cute barnyard critters who sweetly egg the heroine on as her, er, pluck eventually comes home to roost.

While the plot itself will resonate more with shy Kindergarten and first-grade kids intimidated by their first show-and-tell experiences, more sophisticated primary readers will applaud the ample poultry wordplay, as author Mortenson lays out just about all the poultry puns in the boo and her protagonist puts that famously timid folk character Chicken Little to shame at last.

I Was Never A Baby! Best Friends, Peppa Pig by Neville Ashley

"This is an old photo," said Suzy. "It was taken when we were just babies."

Peppa snorted. She didn't remember Suzy being a baby. That was just silly!

Then Suzy tells her something shocking...

"In the olden days you were a baby, too," said Suzy.

Suddenly Peppa Pig is having a bit of an existential experience. It seems she has been friends with Suzy forever, but she has no memory of being a baby. So how can that be? Suzy cites an authority.

"Ask your mummy!" she said.

Mummy!" cried Peppa. "Suzy is making up stories!"

But Mummy has documentary proof. She opens up her picture folder on her computer and shows Peppa pictures of herself as a very little baby with Mummy and Daddy. Daddy smiles and points to one photo.

"That's our first day in this house!" he said.

Peppa's world is shaken! The house she's always lived in was NOT always their house! Her parents point to the shelf Daddy put up the day they moved in and reminisce about how Grampa Pig dug a plot for flowers outside that samne day. Peppa looks outside. HA! That can't be true. There's no flower garden there now. But Daddy admits that his first flowers failed to flourish, so he replanted vegetables there, where they are now.

It seems that everything back then was different! That's a bit upsetting! Peppa Pig asks a very important question.

"Was Suzy my friend in the olden days?"

"You and Suzy were always best friends!" Daddy replied.

The important things have stayed the same, after all, in Ashley Neville's Best Friends (Peppa Pig) (Scholastic Press, 2015), as Peppa realizes that she and Suzy have indeed been best friends forever. Figuring out how she can be the same person even though almost everything has changed around her, Peppa, the heroine of the popular Nick, Jr. cartoon series, passes through one of those transitions that all preschoolers encounter as they begin to think about the past and the future. And when Peppa and Suzy see a photo of themselves as babies playing together in a mud puddle, they realize that something else hasn't changed, as they head outside to splash in a muddy puddle that just happens to be waiting for them.

Pair this one, of course, with Peppa Pig and the Muddy Puddles.

Facing Fears: Lionheart by Richard Collingridge

THERE CAN'T BE.

THERE CAN'T BE.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS MONSTERS.

BUT WHAT'S THAT SOUND?

Things that go bump in the night! Anyone would be worried. And Richard, even in his lion pajamas and maned sleeping cap, can't help being scared.

He snatches up his plush toy Lionheart and runs and runs and runs.

His flight takes him through streets and over hills and into tall woods, dropping his Lionheart along the way, until he finds himself into fantasy forest with magical animals.

SOME MEAN, SOME HAIRY.

SOME SWEET, SOME SCARY.

Realizing that he's lost his Lionheart, Richard turns and goes back his own track, until he runs right into an enormous lion. He stands his ground and tilts his head back to look at the lion's face--and recognizes him.

IT WAS LIONHEART!

BUT HE WASN'T A TOY ANYMORE.

With his faithful companion beside him, Richard is not scared. He is Richard the Lionhearted himself!

And Richard ROARS in the face of fear and finds himself back home, safe in bed, with his Lionheart still beside him.

Richard Collingridge's lovely new picture book, Lionheart (Scholastic Press, 2015) takes a walk on the wild side to face up to all those scary thoughts that come to kids (and adults, too) in the dark of the night. Collingridge's language is lyrical, but his lush illustrations lift his story above the usual and into surreal fantastical scenes, with lost cities of ancient Mayan temples in a mythical woodland landscape of the mind. Some have compared this story to Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, and they are similar in their confrontation of the teeming emotions of the subconscious, but whereas Max faced down his own anger, Richard wins the fight with his own irrational fears, just in time for sleep and what we know will be sweet dreams this time.