Tabby Does Storytime: Mr. Putter and Tabby Turn the Page by Cynthia Rylant

Mr. Putter and Tabby liked quiet things--like napping and reading. Mr. Putter read quietly to Tabby. When he did, Tabby purred (not too loudly). They liked libraries, too, because they were usually quiet. But one day Mr. Tabby saw a sign there that gave him a new idea:

READ ALOUD WITH YOUR PET AT STORY TIME.

Mr. Putter signed up.

He was even excited. So...

Mr. Putter made a mistake. He told his neighbor, Mrs. Teabury.

Mrs. Teabury loved anything new. Anything.

Her good dog Zeke loved anything new and exciting. And everything was exciting to Zeke.

Mr. Putter was worried about taking Zeke to the library storytime, but the deed was done. He practiced reading his bear book with GUSTO! He worried about combining Zeke and gusto.

At the library Mrs. Teaberry read her book about a dog.

When the dog in the story barked, Zeke barked.

When the dog in the story howled, Zeke howled.

He even ran away, just like the dog in the story. But Mrs. Teaberry knew Zeke always came back, so she did not get excited.

Mr. Putter read his bear story with lots of gusto. Tabby went from lap to lap to one head and purred, and the kids clapped loudly when his story was done.

Suddenly Zeke came back from the staff break room with a cheese sandwich in his mouth.

He also smelled of grapefruit juice!

Storytime had been very exciting.

It wasn't all that quiet, but everyone shared in the gusto, and now it's time to head home for tea and raisin biscuits in Mrs. Teaberry's kitchen, in Cynthia Rylant's Mr. Putter and Tabby Turn the Page (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). There are many humorous subtleties in artist Arthur Howard's clever and comical drawings to fill in the details in Rylant's story of friendship, libraries, and a bit of gusto. Says Booklist,In the 20 years since the Mr. Putter and Tabby series began, its signature combination of storytelling, wit, and humanity have made it a staple of the beginning reader section."

"Reading Between the Lions:" The Night Library by David Zeltser

It was the night before my eighth birthday, and I was having trouble falling asleep.

My door opened. "Would you like your present now?" my father asked.

"A book," said my mother. "I thought we could read it together."

"A book?" I stared at it. My parents knew I liked toys, games, movies--not books.

But the boy's restless sleep that night is broken by a sound like loud purring from outside, and when he raises the window he sees a large lion looking up at him.

I thought it was a statue until I saw the enormous paw prints in the snow.

"My name is Fortitude, the lion said."

And somehow the boy finds himself climbing on the large lion's back and racing past Yankee Stadium and through Manhattan to the steps of a large marble building, with The New York Public Library carved over three bronze doors. Inside the lion delivers him to a huge room with towering arched windows, long tables, and many, many thick books on the shelves. But when the boy reaches for one, it seems to leap from his hands....

"Adult books can be difficult to grasp," said the lion.

But in the Children's Room the boy recognizes many books that his grandfather used to read with him--The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Cat in the Hat,--and The Polar Express, which they read together every Christmas before he died. The boy asks to take his favorites home.

"That can be arranged," said the lion

And it is all taken care of, in David Zeltser's latest, The Night Library (Random House, 2019). The New York Public Library's iconic stone lions, Patience and Fortitude, are as good as their word, for on the boy's doorstep the next morning is his own library card, brand-new except for some very large tooth prints!

Emily Dickinson wrote "There is no frigate like a book... to take us lands away," but a pair of iconic stone lions do a pretty good job at that, too, as they reawaken the joy and closeness of sharing a book for the boy in a memorable nighttime journey. Artist Raul Colon's illustrations render the midnight scenes in pale moonlit colors and dreamlike images, along with the solid but fantastic figures of the pale, monumental lions, all juxtaposed with the wispy memories of the boy's grandfather that recapture the magic of reading. "This should please bibliophiles of all ages," says Booklist.

For another flight of storytime fun for Book Week or National Library Week, share this one with Brian Lies' proven kid-pleaser, Bats at the Library (A Bat Book) (review here).

The Nose Knows! The Detective Dog by Julia Donaldson

Known as Detective Dog, Nell uses her fantastic sense of smell to sniff out the truth.

Who left the poo on the new gravel path?
How did the spider get into the bath?

With a wag of her tail
Nell the detective was hot on the trail.

Nell's sleuthing skills are kept busy by her person, Peter (who could have been neater), who needs Nell to find all the things he misplaces--one shoe in the tool shed, the book left under cover in bed, even the ball that bounced into the toilet. But on Mondays, Nell leaves her detecting duties behind and goes to school with Peter. There, she is the reading dog, who sits with the youngsters just learning to read.

Books about princes who turned into frogs,
Books about dragons--and books about dogs.

Nell loves the unforgettable smell of books, but on one Monday morning, that sweet scent is missing. In fact, so are all the books from the classroom shelves! It's a mystery, but Nell sniffs out a clue. There's a cap left behind by the robber, and Nell's nose knows what to do. Following his scent, she leads the teacher and class through the winding streets of the village and the fields nearby. Ignoring the bodacious odor of rabbits in the meadow, Nell tracks down the culprit.

Sniff, sniff, sniff! Peter cried "Look!"

For there sat a man with his nose in a book.

Surrounded by sacks of the children's looted volumes, the culprit is quite contrite. He claims he only meant to borrow them till tomorrow. At the word "borrow," Nell perks up her ears. She knows just the place for a rehabilitated book crook--the public library, where he can borrow any book.

It's another case closed for Nell in Julia Donaldson's winsome The Detective Dog (Henry Holt and Company, 2018 (First Am. ed.) Julia Donaldson's way with rhyme, rhythm, and meter gives her narration a bounce and verve that makes this one irresistible for youngsters, and artist Sara Ogilvie's splendidly flowing illustrations of her lovely canine crime hound at work have comic touches, as when Peter's kind classmates retrieve the ball and scarf Peter has misplaced along the way. A joyous book in praise of both dogs and reading, and what could be better?

Author Julia Donaldson is also the author of many beloved rhyming tales, such as The Gruffalo and the Halloween classic, Room on the Broom, (See two different reviews of two editions of this one here).

Logophiles, UNITE! Mouseling's WORDS by Shutta Crum

Every evening I woke up surrounded by words. Aunt Tillie collected them from the Swashbuckler Restaurant, where words were SPECIALS OF THE DAY. Then she brought them to my family's nest--along with bits of food.

"Noodles," I said, puckering up my mouth, as I pulled a scrap if paper from the nest. Aunt Tillie had taught all of us mouselings to read.

It's a cozy nest beneath the restaurant, with tasty tidbits and new words to learn from the menu. Mouseling is happy to snuggle down with his word scraps with his family each night.

When one by one, his mouseling siblings begin to leave the nest to find adventure, Mouseling remains, happy with his family nest and his favorite words. But his parents have other ideas.

"You need to get a job," Father said. "You need to find your path in the world," Mother said, pointing to the passageway through the walls.

Then Aunt Tillie promises that there are many new words out there in the big world. Mouseling pulls out a word--if--out of his word pile. What if? He is intrigued. Then Aunt Tillie draws him a map, with a big X marking where home is, some of the new things he will see, and a scary critter labeled "The Beast!" A CAT! She says she put it there so he will know to beware out in the world.

At last Mouseling decides to venture out, with the map, through the passageway to outdoors. The first thing he sees on the outside is a word, blowing by in the wind. SING! Mouseling figures it out all on his own.

Then and there I decided that discovering words would be my job.

And Mouseling hits the jackpot. He wanders into a big brick building. It's nice and quiet, and there are rows of blocky things on shelves and signs with words in big letters:

LIBRARY

BOOK

But there is also something else in the quiet building. He recognizes it right away from Aunt Tillie's map. It's a cat! Mouseling knows he has to beware. But one day when he's tiptoeing past the napping cat with a new word, the cat wakes up and stares at him, twitching his tail.

Quickly I mashed that word into a ball and threw it at him. The cat pounced and batted it with his paw.

Maybe the library cat is not such a beast after all. And one night he jumps up on one of the shelves and knocks one of the blocky things out of its place. He swipes it open with his paw.

What was this? Words--so many, many words--words inside all these things?

Mouseling realizes that the cat wants to hear this story about a mouse and a lion, and the little pilgrim has found his path in the world after all, in Shutta Crum's new Mouseling's Words (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Clarion Books, 2017), a charming story about the power of words to charm any beast, or at least a bibliophilic cat, illustrated appealingly by Ryan O'Rouke, who sets up cozy scenes and humorously matches the words Mouseling finds to the action on the pages, fittingly adding illustrations from Aesop's fable of the Lion and the Mouse to the final pages as cat and mouse settle down to share the story together. A dandy story which hits the marks for preschool and primary picture books--homey, funny, sweet--and educational!

Share this one with Bonnie Becker's Mouse and Bear story, A Library Book for Bear.

Going for the Gusto! Mr. Putter and Tabby Turn the Page by Cynthia Rylant and Arthur Howard

Mr. Putter and Tabby love quiet time together, especially quiet reading time, when Tabby listens from Mr. Putter's lap, from on his feet, and even from on his head.

So when Mr. Putter spots a sign in the library, he was not sure it is a good idea for him and Tabby.

READ ALOUD WITH YOUR PET AT STORY TIME.

Mr. Putter is intrigued. He has fond memories of story time at school. But story time at the library is not necessarily quiet time.
Still, maybe reading doesn't always have to be quiet.

Excited, Mr. Putter signs Tabby up.

AFTER SIGNING UP, MR. PUTTER MADE A MISTAKE.

HE FORGOT THAT MRS. TEABERRY LOVED ANYTHING NEW.

ANYTHING.

As always, when Mrs. Teaberry hears about it, she takes the idea over the top. She shops for a new hat. She rehearses her good dog Zeke for his part in her reading. And Mr. Putter is worried that story time at the library with Zeke might get a little too exciting for Tabby's taste.

But Mr. Putter decides to make the best of it and go along with Mrs. Teaberry. He and Tabby rehearse their bear book every day, too.

At the library the children assembled for Story Time are very excited. Tabby purrs and Zeke licks lots of kid faces. Then Mrs. Teaberry takes her seat in the reading chair and begins reading a story about a dog.

ZEKE MADE ALL THE SOUND EFFECTS.
WHEN THE DOG IN THE STORY HOWLED, ZEKE HOWLED.
AND WHEN THE DOG IN THE STORY RAN AWAY, ZEKE RAN AWAY.

Mrs. Teaberry knows Zeke always comes back, so she gives the reading chair to Mr. Putter. Just as he's getting into his bear story with gusto and Tabby is trying out different laps and heads in the story circle, Zeke re-enters. He's obviously raided the librarians' lunchroom, and there's something in his mouth.

HE HAD SOMEONE'S CHEESE SANDWICH--AND A DIFFERENT HAT.

HE ALSO SMELLED LIKE GRAPEFRUIT JUICE.

Mr. Putter and Tabby have definitely done something new, in Cynthia Rylant's forthcoming newest in her beloved series, Mr. Putter & Tabby Turn the Page (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014). As usual, his friendship with Mrs. Teaberry leads the mild-mannered Mr. Putter into the fun of a new experience, Meanwhile, Newbery artist Arthur Howard's inimitable portrayal of Tabby's and Zeke's body language comically reveal the differences in their personalities that mirror those of their devoted owners. Story time is always a good time, and fans of the first 22 books in the best-selling Mr. Putter and Tabby series will find themselves with a strange desire to munch a cheese sandwich while they curl up with this one with their pets for a bit of reading.

Biblio-Buddies: A Library Book for Bear by Bonny Becker

When Bear opened the door, there was Mouse, small, gray, and bright-eyed.

"We are off!" exclaimed Mouse, with a happy wag of his whiskers.

Bear frowned. He had agreed to go with Mouse to the library, but now he was quite sure it was a dreadful mistake.

"Completely unnecessary," Bear announced. "I have all the books I need right here."

Bear points a definitive paw at his mantle, where there are indeed seven books--four about kings and queens, two about honeybees, and one about pickles.

But a promise is a promise, so Bear straps on his red roller skates, grabs a basket for Mouse to ride in, and rolls off. Bear is intimidated by the look of the large, imposing library, but Mouse pulls him inside cheerily. Bear feels overwhelmed by so many books, so he heads for a quiet nook between two well-stocked stacks.

"Hmmmph! Terribly extravagant!" Bear grumbles.

Bear is not one for wretched excess, and he continues grumping at Mouse, who gamely tries to please him, retrieving first a book on wooden canoes and then a book about rockets.

"Ridiculous!"

Bear's voice was getting louder.

"Quiet voices in the library," counsels Mouse politely.

Bear informs Mouse that he is most capable of finding his own book, one about pickles. After all, he has one about pickles.

"I can assure you that pickles are quite interesting!"

A loud SHUSH is heard from the other side of the stack. Bear peers around the shelf and sees a librarian reading a story to a circle of young listeners. A mother raccoon glares at him to be quiet.

Bear is affronted and announces that he is ready to leave, when he hears a line from the story.

"So the very brave bear began to inch his way toward the treasure chest...

And inside the chest there was a mound of pickle slices...made of diamonds and gold...

Bear is hooked.

And as he rides home in Bear's basket, on top of a pile of indubitably interesting pickle books, Mouse's eyes are very bright.

Bonny Becker's brand-new (and already best-selling) latest in her series, A Library Book for Bear (Bear and Mouse) (Candlewick Press, 2014), continues her stories of the curmudgeonly, change-resistant Bear, and his friend, the small, gray Mouse who knows just what Bear wants before he knows he wants it. With gentle, wry understatement in the narrative and the soft watercolor illustrations of Kady MacDonald Denton, this one is another not-to-be-missed entry in this joyfully insightful series on the intricacies of friendship.

Other delightful books about this odd couple of friends are A Visitor for Bear (Bear and Mouse), A Bedtime for Bear (Bear and Mouse), A Birthday for Bear: Candlewick Sparks and The Sniffles for Bear (Bear and Mouse), each one better than the other.

Booking A Date: The Gentleman Bug by Julian Hector

Once there was a garden full of bugs.

One of them was a Gentleman Bug.

He taught a class and loved to read.

Now, there were other bugs who liked to make fun of the Gentleman Bug for reading all the time.

But he never seemed to mind.

But when a posh Lady Bug arrives in town, she is a social sensation, and the Gentleman Bug is totally smitten. Hoping to attract her eye, he shucks his outdoorsy Boy Guide-Master uniform for the dress of a dandy--cutaway coat, striped trousers, cravat, white vest, and top hat--and attends the elegant tea dance given in her ladyship's honor. But his hopes for the ball are unrequited:

When the Gentleman Bug entered, everyone was very impressed.

Everyone, that is, except the Lady Bug.

Despairing, the Gentleman Bug returns to his quiet but lonely life. Then, when a new library has its grand opening, he is drawn by his love for books to attend. And whom do you think is the new librarian? Yes, the Lady Bug, and this time she sees the Gentleman Bug for what he really is--a kindred soul. She approaches and offers an opportunity he cannot refuse.

"May I give you a tour of my library?"

Julian Hector's newest, The Gentleman Bug (Atheneum, 2010) creates an intriguing and inviting little Edwardian town, lovingly mapped in the endpapers, with cozy names such as Bugadilly Circus and with cleverly costumed insects of various types in charming little vignettes. With its gentle droll humor and low-key story of love lost and found at the library, it is a fine choice for Children's Book Week story time and any time a quiet but satisfying story is needed.

Sam's Story: Library Mouse: A Friend's Tale by Daniel Kirk

Sam was a library mouse who lived in a little hole in the wall behind the children's reference books. Sam loved to read and he loved to write, too. Everyone loved his little books, but Sam was very shy, and no one at the library had ever met him.

Sam, the book-writing mouse first introduced in Daniel Kirk's Library Mouse, (reviewed here just in time for American Library Week on November 7, 2008) is back in his second adventure just in time for Children's Book Week. In this story a boy named Tom finds himself sadly without a partner in the library's Book Week project. Each team of two children are to collaborate, one writing the story and the other creating the illustrations, but the class doesn't come out even, and Tom is left without a friend to work with.

Although Mrs. F., the librarian, offers to partner with him, Tom has another idea which he hopes will work. A big fan of Sam's hand-crafted mini-mouse sagas, Tom's observant detective work leads him to believe that the library's mystery author must be the mouse who left his author's notebook and footprints on the circulation desk, and he soon discovers the entrance to Sam's hole under the reference shelf. Hopefully, Tom secretly slips his carefully written story, "The Shy One," into the opening in the hope that Sam will agree to be his collaborator.

Tom worries that Sam will be too fearful of revealing his identity to take on the job of teaming up with him on the book, but Sam, as always, rises to the creative challenge, and his clever but enigmatic illustrations keep his full identity a mystery.

"So tell us," said Mrs. F., "just who is this Sam who writes so many books? I just have to ask, 'Is it you?'"

"Oh, no," said Tom. "I just wrote the story. Sam is real, but he likes his privacy, so that's all I am going to say. A friend knows how to keep a secret."

Daniel Kirk's new Library Mouse: A Friend's Tale, with its equally engaging illustrations, is a story which emphasizes both the fun of making original stories and illustrations and the power of teamwork in creating literature. Kirk cleverly includes his tribute to many of the authors and illustrators who make children's literature what it is by placing popular books--Frindle, Little Bear, Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon, The Doll People, Goodnight, Moon, Henry and Mudge, and Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type, to name a few--in the background as the story develops, a device which kids will love to point out as they read.

Library Mouse: A Friend's Tale, is an appealing sequel and, like its predecessor, a really fun way to introduce a classroom unit on writing, illustrating, and book production in general. Sam the Library Mouse looks like he has a long career ahead of him--one of teamwork with young writers and artists.