Read with the CAT! Imagine That! How Dr. Seuss Wrote the Cat in the Hat by Judy Sierra

1954 was a great year to be a kid. There were 5 cent doughnuts and 1 cent lollipops. Bookstores brimmed with books like Charlotte's Web, The Lord of the Rings, and Horton Hears a Who.

Except a lot of the kids those books were written for couldn't read them. Kids in first grade were having a hard time learning to read.

What could the problem be? Kids knew the answer. School readers were just plain boring.

A grown-up writer named John Hersey realized that the kids were right. And he knew just who might write the kind of books kids couldn't stop reading--

The funniest writer in the land....Dr. Seuss!

Theodor Seuss Geisel--Dr. Seuss--already had written some best-selling children's books, and he was intrigued by John Hersey's idea. He had fun coming up with his fanciful characters and he loved making up silly words and funny names for them--like Ooblecks and Yergas and Whos. How hard could it be to write a short little book for first graders? He put on one of of his collection of funny writing hats and sat down at his desk, waiting for an inspiration.

But there was one big problem--THE OFFICIAL LIST.

The reading experts had a lengthy list of words that first graders were supposed to "master." They were not very inspiring words, nothing like the weird words he loved to put in his stories. Ted (as he preferred to be called) looked with dismay at the long, long, long list of rather dull words.

Dr. Seuss had writer's block.

Then he spotted the word CAT and the word HAT. "CAT rhymes with HAT, so I'll start with that," Ted thought.

But how could he work those ordinary Official Words into a story about this cat? Ted tossed some of the words around in his head and Whiz Bang! He had an idea! He would start with two bored and boring children, Dick and Sally, on a boring, rainy day, whose boring house is invaded by a Cat in the Hat who juggles, and the things he juggles would be those on the official word list--rake, cup, ball, book--even their fish goes up there in the air as the amazed (but no longer bored) kids stare. Sally is not sure the Cat can can keep all those things up as he jumps on a ball, and when they fall, oh, dear! Their goldfish comes down and lands in a pot.

He said,"Do I like this?

No! I do not!"

But the beginning readers of the land liked it, and they couldn't stop turning pages to find out what happens to the fish in the teapot and to the two kids whose mother they spot returning from the store to discover chaos indoors! The Cat in the Hat was a hit, and Ted, Dr. Seuss, soon followed it up with a series of beginner books, all built around The Official List, and all with the essential addition of Ted Geisel's rhythm, rhyme and sly and wry humor.

Author Judy Sierra, ably assisted by notable artist Kevin Hawkes, tells Ted's story well, and their Imagine That!: How Dr. Seuss Wrote The Cat in the Hat (Random House, 2017), (just in time for Dr. Seuss's annual birthday bash, Read Across America Day) celebrates Ted Geisel and the legion of other beginning reader authors who keep kids laughing, reading, and turning pages to this day. Geisel, who freely admitted that his trademark style of weirdly shaped animals and curious kids, houses, cars, and trees were done that way because he wasn't very good at realistic art, brought his fantastical characters and characteristic verse form to children's literature and his beginner books remain best sellers to this day. Author Sierra adds Ted Geisel's tips to young readers to "Write, Rewrite, Recycle Polish!" and appends a full list of his works up to the last published book. About this essential purchase for children's libraries, Kirkus Review says in their starred review, "Buoyantly told, rich in insights into the creative process as well as the crafts of writing, illustrating, and storytelling."

Keep Away? Don't Touch This Book! by Bill Cotter

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING: THIS IS A PRETTY COOL-LOOKING BOOK. BUT....

DON'T TOUCH THIS BOOK! (Don't even try it, bub.)

It's Larry, the big purple monster with the little green horns, and you know he doesn't mean it. He's dying for you to join him in playing with his new book!

Now that he's got your attention, he relents, making a big deal out of his first caveat. He opens his shiny yellow book (with his picture on the front, as he hastens to point out, and turns to a page with not much on it.

TELL YOU WHAT. YOU CAN USE JUST ONE FINGER.

Now that Larry has your full attention, he orders you to drag one finger down the page.

YOU MADE BLUE!

Now you're hooked, and you're off! Before you know it, the pages are turning and you are spinning, swooshing, roaring, flapping, and floating with Larry in a space suit. Yowza! How did this happen!

As he did in his 2013 hit, Don't Push the Button! (see review here), Bill Cotter lets his alter ego Larry take young readers on an interactive, between-the-covers adventure in his newest, Don't Touch This Book! (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2016). With those big, bold, and bright colors and free-form shapes, even the very young will not be able to resist touching and tracing their way as Larry directs them through the book. Graduates of Cotter's books should also try Herve' Tullett's even more delightful and best-selling adventures, Press Here and Let's Play!

AUTHOR, AUTHOR! Inside This Book (Are Three Books) by Barry Saltzberg

They say everyone has a story to tell, and in Barry Saltzberg's latest, Inside This Book: (are three books). (Abrams Appleseed Books, 2015), Mom sets off a session of private publishing when she gives her three kids homemade blank books to work with, sized by seniority from oldest to youngest.

Eldest sibling Seymour explains.

INSIDE THIS BOOK IS A BOOK I MADE, CALLED....INSIDE THIS BOOK.

MY MOM MADE US BOOKS WITH BLANK PAGES.

After getting through the necessary explanations, Seymour launches into a boy-pleasing fantasy of "funny little orange things" growing long striped proboscises that proceed to try (unsuccessfully) to eat him. THE END.

Sister Fiona has a different muse.

"I AM AN ARTIST AND A POET!" she declares.

I PLAY WITH WORDS ALL THE TIME.

And Fiona shows off her poetic license with a charming bit of synecdoche* in a rhyme in which she describes her dog Fleabee as "a wagging tail and a cold nose."

Little Wilbur isn't old enough to share Seymour's artistry or Fiona's linguistic chops, but he gets into the spirit of the thing, dictating the text with his own portraits of his family and (what else?) a dinosaur in action:

"THIS IS ME.

THIS IS A DISASTER AND MY FAMILY!"

The kids are so proud of their venture that they agree to nest all three books inside one cover, and Abrams Appleseed obliges in this three-for-one new entry in the rapidly expanding group of books about books forthcoming in the past few years--Patrick McDonnell's A Perfectly Messed-Up Story, Kobi Yamada's What Do You Do With an Idea? B. J. Novak's The Book with No Pictures, Drew Daywalt's The Day the Crayons Quit, and Richard Byrnes' This book just ate my dog!--all of which lend themselves beautifully to classroom units on books, authorship, illustrating, and publishing.

"Saltzberg's clever conceit makes the metaphorical literal—and palpable—for very young readers. An absolutely nifty invitation to children to create and share their own wee books," proclaims Kirkus Reviews.


*  a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part,

I Can't Believe It Ate the Whole Thing! This Book Just Ate My Dog by Richard Byrne

BELLA WAS TAKING HER DOG FOR A STROLL ACROSS THE PAGE.

SOMETHING VERY ODD HAPPENED.

Indeed! The front end of Bella's enormous shaggy dog disappears right into the book's gutter. A surprised Bella is left holding a taut leash, watching his hindquarters also vanish.

Just then Her friend Ben comes along, with a "What's up?"

"THIS BOOK JUST ATE MY DOG!" BELLA SAYS.

Bravely, Ben plunges into the book's gutter and vanishes, too!

But help is on the way. The Dog Rescue Truck speeds in the breech and... disappears inside the book's greedy gutter, too, quickly followed by a police car, an EMR truck, and a firetruck.

Bella watches the first responders vanish one by one. This is ridiculous!

I'LL JUST HAVE TO SORT THIS OUT MYSELF," SAYS BELLA.

Bella heads into the gutter resolutely, and for a moment all is quiet. Then from inside, a note sails out of the book and lands on the sidewalk.

Dear Reader,

It would be lovely if you could kindly help us. PLEASE turn this Book on its side and SHAKE...

--Bella

And with a page turn and a bookish BURP, the vanished Ben, rescue vehicles, and even Bella's dog are, er, re-issued from the book and rearrange themselves, with a few oddities, in front of Bella, in Richard Byrne's new tale, This book just ate my dog! (Henry Holt, 2014). Using some of the interactive techniques pioneered recently by Herve' Tullet's bestsellers, Press Here and Mix It Up! and even Mo Willems' We Are in a Book! (An Elephant and Piggie Book), in April Fool's Day style Byrne likewise does away with the "fourth wall" and invites the reader into the story, if not to be a visible character, to be a mover and and shaker in the plot! Byrne's illustrations of the primly turned-out Bella and her improbably humongous dog are drawn as deceptively conventional cartoon characters, but his story invites young readers right into story as invisible hands. Kids will find this a book they have to share immediately with someone else just to let them in on the joke.

Read this one with B. J. Novak's equally iconoclastic (biblioclastic?) best-seller, The Book with No Pictures for some mind-stretching experiences with just what can happen within the covers of the modern picture book when author decide to shake things up.

Coming to a Theater Near You! Seven Books to Read First

Daniel Radcliffe ("Harry Potter") as Igor? The classic tale by Mary Shelley of Victor Frankenstein's experiments with revivification from the point-of-view of young Dr. Frankenstein's lab assistant? That's the plot line of the upcoming film, Victor Frankenstein, starring James McEvoy as Victor.

Anyone who thinks that Shelley's novel was just a horror story with a lurching monster needs to read the original, or at least an abridged version. Subtitled "The New Promethius" by Mary Shelley, the theme of whether humans should create life in the laboratory is at the perennial crux of science and ethics, and reading the book should help young adults get what is really going on in the movie.

Another classic, J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, the tale of the perennial adolescent protagonist, has a cinematic offering in Pan, hitting the big screens in July, this time with famous actors instead of cartoon characters.

Common Sense Media's current online article previews the coming attractions of 2015, from the second installments in The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner to the 1990's favorite elementary read, R.L. Stine's best-selling series Goosebumps, out August 7. Even J.K. Rowling's post-Potter wizard tale, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, done by the director of the last four Potter films, hits the cineplexes in November.

There's plenty of time to read up on the books behind these coming marquee attractions during those long summer days and nights ahead. Read all about these and many other vetted books-to-movies here at Common Sense Media's website:

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/7-books-to-read-before-theyre-movies-in-2015?utm_source=032015+Parent+Default&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly#

Back to School: Three Multi-Grade Suggestions for School-Days Reading from Common Sense Media

At the local bookstores, new back-to-school stories at all levels have been somewhat scarce this year. Below are some suggestions from earlier  posts and also some suggestions from Common Sense Media, a site for parents of school-aged kids.


From the Way-Back Machine's vaults, some recommended reading from yesteryear is right here:

And here are three multi-age choices from a from Common Sense:

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/what-to-read-next-back-to-school-books-for-august?utm_source=080714+Parent+Default&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly

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.

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!

Raising a Reader: What Every Parent Should Know!

Common Sense Media offers a list of tried-and-true ways to raise a reader, to turn almost any child into a lifetime lover of literature. I love their advice to read aloud to older kids; they'll remember the experience forever--and so will you.

Read the complete article here.