The Heart of Art! Pete the Cat--Crayons Rock! by Kimberly and James Dean

PETE IS GLAD!

There's nothing more groovy than a brand-new box of crayons--the spotless wrappers, the pointy points, that smell of newness!

"THIS ONE IS FINE, BUT IT FEELS LIKE SOMETHING IS MISSING FROM MINE!"

PETE IS SAD.

Pete loves to draw. It's his thing! But now, if his drawings are not the best in art class, Pete has lost his zest. Everyone else's work seems so much better. But his art teacher has a different perspective.

"IT'S NO BIG DEAL! ART IS ABOUT HOW IT MAKES YOU FEEL!"

Hey, it's all good! Pete gets to work on his best drawing of all. And his friends get together with him on the school bus.

THE BEST ART COMES FROM THE HEART!

In their latest for the primary grade set, Kimberly and James Dean's Pete the Cat: Crayons Rock! (Harper, 2020), offers a way to play down the pressure and build the joy of the experience for young artists, stressing the personal pleasures of creation over class competition. "It's all good," as Pete is fond of saying, and the fun of artwork is in the different ways each one sees things. A good addition to the library and art room shelves, and as a gift book, it is a good addition with a big box of new crayons.

With A Little Help from My Friends: Rita and Ralph's Rotten Day by Carmen Agra Deedy

In two little houses,

on two little hills,

lived two best friends.

Every day Rita and Ralph run down and up two hills to meet together between their houses under their apple tree. They high-five and pinkie shake and play together until it's time to part and return to their houses. They are the best of friends. But...

Then one day... they played a new game: Sticks and Stones...

Ralph hits Rita right on her head with his stone.

"UH-OH!"

"OUCH!"

Rita runs home, closes her door, and puts an ice bag on her head. She feels angry. Ralph feels sorry.

The hills between Rita and Ralph feel like a hundred years. But she is his best friend, so Ralph runs down and up and down and up all the hills to Rita's house. But by the time he gets there, he is feeling cranky about the whole thing.

"I'm SORRY!" he barks.

Rita won't come outside, so Ralph runs back down and up and down and up the hills to his house and closes his door. He's mad. Meanwhile, at her house, Rita is beginning to feel a bit sorry. She trudges up and down the hills to Ralph's house, but by the time Rita gets to Ralph's house she is angry again. She shouts up to Ralph's window that she wants her special pinecone back. Ralph throws it down to her.

Nobody's sorry now.

But after a sleepless night for the former best friends, they both leave their houses and head up and down and up and down the hills to meet in the middle under their apple tree.

"I'm sorry," says Rita.

"I'm sorrier!" says Ralph.

In a witty story of conflict resolution, best-selling author and illustrator Carmen Agra Deedy and illustrator Pete Oswald come together in Rita and Ralph's Rotten Day (Scholastic Press,2020), an appealing collaboration which portrays the process of managing emotions and reconciliation which seem to be an almost inevitable learning experience of childnood. Artist Pete Oswald sets up the up-and-down terrain which becomes a metaphor for these ups and downs of friendship in his clever illustrations of the two houses separated by four hills and dales and deftly uses the eyes of his characters to portray emotions of the two characters. Even their two pets, Rita's puppy and Ralph's kitty, and the flock of black birds flying from Ralph's house to Rita's symbolize their anger. It's a simple little story that has layers of depth supported skillfully by artist Oswald's charming illustrations and book design.

Says Shelf Awareness' starred review," A terrific read-aloud... Rita and Ralph's tiff, told with a sweet freshness, is a timeless, engaging tale with which any young reader is likely to identify."

Eye of the Beholder! A Day So Gray by Marie Lamba

"Summer's lease hath all too short a stay," said Shakespeare,and he had a point. As the bright riot of summer shades fade into fall's muted hues, winter brings an admittedly limited palette to the landscape.

As two girls suit up for a chilly outing, one of them is feeling blue. The view out the window indeed shows few hues!

"This day is so gray!"

"No, it isn't!" says her friend.

The first girl points out that the field is blah brown, and so are the woods. But her friend makes her take a second look at the subtle shades to be seen even in winter.

She cites the warm brown of some trees, the deep red of berries clinging to the brown bushes, the purplish shadows beneath them. Her doubting friend persists.

"Well, this snow is boring white.

That cat is black."

But her perceptive friend points out the many shades of the snow. She says that the cat has markings of white, glowing green eyes, and a pink nose, too.

And when they come inside and warm up in front of the roaring fireplace, the picky girl says she hates orange. But then, there's the sunset, with so many other warm colors all together.

It's a day that is much more than gray, in Marie Lamba's forthcoming salute to the ways of bleak days, A Day So Gray (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Clarion, 2019), who shows how to "always look on the bright side of life" in the variety of different seasons. After all, the girl who hates the few hues of winter is really taking an overzealously black-and-white position on seasonal colors. Artist Alea Marley's appealingly vibrant wintry scenes and her charming little girls who make their cases well can speak for most of us who can, if we try, find something to love in all the seasons.

Hot chocolate, anyone? It's there, too, in shade and hue!

Catch of the Day! Gus and the Greatest Catch of All by Victoria Cossack

Gus was the very best fisherman in town, no contest--although he'd won many.

Gus holds all the records as the finest fisherman in his fishing village. As an angler, he's awesome! His daily catch tops twenty-five, but he's not content to rest on his laurels. To keep up his reputation as the greatest, he must catch more.

So one fine day, Gus sets out to sea in his trusty rowboat, going for a catch of 100 fish! The cameras are rolling to record his triumph.

But when he tosses in a bucket of chum-bait, he can't believe his eyes.

The school of fish was growing by the second!

His boat began to rock beneath him!

Gus and his boat are borne up on a veritable tsunami of fish. His boat and oars go flying, and grabbing a big breath, Gus goes underwater, snatching and grabbing at the hoard of fish all around him. But the fish flow together as one, staying in a mass just ahead of him, clearly challenging him to a game of tag. Hey! Games are even more fun than fishing!

Having one hundred new friends might be better than catching a record-breaking 100 fish!

Even when a giant eel gives him a great big squeeze, Gus sees that it's just a big fishy hug. And when he finally is forced to the surface for a breath, Gus is a changed man....

Gus rows toward home with a full heart and, for the very first time, an empty fishing net.

More is not always better, and Big Gus gladly trades accolades for lasting friendship, in Victoria Cossack's Gus and the Greatest Catch of All (Page Street Kids, 2019), a turn-the-tables tale of the fish that got away but came to stay. Artist Cossack's cozy seaside fishing village and friendly fish are charming in this little fantasy tale for young readers with the simple theme of a live-and-let-live space in your own place.

Birdwatching! Max and Bird by Ed Vere

MAX IS A KITTEN. KITTENS CHASE BIRDS.

BIRD IS A BIRD. BIRDS GET CHASED BY KITTENS.

That's the way it usually is. Nature takes its course.

"LET'S BE FRIENDS," SAID MAX.

"FIRST, I'LL CHASE YOU. THEN MAYBE I'LL EAT YOU UP."

Bird may be a fledgling, but he wasn't born yesterday. Being a potential cat treat is not on his bucket list. And besides, he's never even learned to FLY. He observes that eating each other is not part of being friends, either. Bird launches into a lesson on how friends help each other. As a diversion tactic, he slyly suggests that Max give him flying lessons. Max is intrigued, but his knowledge of the principles of flight is pretty paltry.

"BIRD, WHAT YOU DO IS.... ER...

AHEM! WE'LL GO TO THE LIBRARY!" DECIDED MAX.

So far, so good, thinks Bird. At the library they make their way to the section on flight, but there's a problem with this delaying technique. There are a lot of books, but Max is a quick study. He boils the principles of winged flight down right away:

1. CONCENTRATE.
2. STICK OUT YOUR WINGS.
3. FLAP!

Max tries to demonstrate, but does not achieve lift off. Neither does Bird. At the end of the day they are too tired for any chasing games. The next day Max's flaps are still unproductive. Bird, however, has (as Pooh's friend Owl wisely pointed out) "the necessary dorsals," and eventually his practice is rewarded with a short solo flight. Max is a changed kitten. He's truly proud of his friend and finds he has no desire to eat him.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT FRIENDS DO!"

In Ed Vere's latest story of his adorable little black kitten Max, nurture trumps nature in Max and Bird(Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2017). Friendship changes everything, and Max and Bird look forward to lots of happy future fun. Ed Vere's artwork is deceptively simple, placing his little black bird and his little black cat front and center, spot-art style, against bright backgrounds, directing the eye to his two very different youngsters working out how to be friends. Vere's illustrations make use his characters' big round eyes to portray most of their feelings, with just a touch of body language in Max's tail and Bird's little wings to tell the story, making this funny tale perfect for preschoolers still trying their young wings in beginning friendships.

Ed Vere's other Max books are Max the Brave and Max at Night (see reviews here.)

Says School Library Journal, "This book is a fun read about forming meaningful friendships and learning from others."

Windfall! Pine & Boof: The Lucky Leaf by Ross Buroch

Boof the Bear has a tendency to fixate on found objects.

Sometimes Boof the Bear finds treasures left by campers.

But his favorite find was...

... his lucky red leaf. They did everything together.

But fall is an unsettling time for a bear...

and one windy day. . . .

Well, you know the ways of wind and fallen leaves. But Boof the Bear is devastated by his loss.

Enter Pine the Porcupine.

There are two things you should know about Pine. He is always looking for adventure.

He is not always looking where he is going.

OOF! Pine runs smack into Boof, following his wayward leaf. Pine wants to help Boof with his search, but while his ideas are proactive, they are not always productive. He spots the leaf resting on the snout of a sleeping boar and brags that he's an expert is sneaking up on scary critters. But it turns out... he's not! With the boar right behind them, he advises Boof to speed up the chase by swinging across the river on a vine, not noticing that the vine is no vine. It's a snake!

Ahhhhhhhhh!

Gee! That didn't go so well, either, in Ross Buroch's new tale of a pair of unlikely pals who forge a bond in mutual pursuit of a red leaf, a hopelessly ephemeral talisman at best, in Pine & Boof: The Lucky Leaf (Harper, 2017) Boof is a bit of a goof, and Pine is bit of a provocateur who is only too glad to butt in with an impromptu plan for every occasion, but together they are an unlikely couple of friends who bond in the pursuit, another odd couple of friends like Milne's Pooh and Piglet, Lobel's Frog and Toad or Becker's Bear and Mouse. Buroch's clever illustrations keep the zany pair front and center with just enough slapstick fun to keep kids turning the pages. Says Kirkus Reviews, "A predictable yet humorous origin story for an endearing pair."

Winning, Winning, Winning! Pig the (Pug) Winner by Aaron Blabey

Yes, Pig was a winner.
He just had to win.
And nothing would stop him.
Oh, where to begin?

You can't win 'em all, says the old saw? "Win some, lose some, they say?

Not in Pug's book!

Believe it or not,
He was quite hard to beat.
And the reason was simple...
Yes, Pug was a cheat.

Pig the Pug is not an only dog. His housemate is a gentle dachshund named Trevor, a long-suffering pooch in more ways than one. Pug competes over everything--toys and treats and time on lap--and in a race, he's not above planting a well-placed hind foot in the face of his competitor. He's worse than a sore loser; in his mind he never loses. And if he is not declared the winner, he pitches a tantrum until the real winner gets tired of the fit and hands over the prize. Of course, Pug wastes no time in starting to boast he's the real winner again. Winning is not the best thing; it's the only thing!

Poor Trevor tries to suggest that they can play just for fun, but Pig has only one answer:

"IT AIN'T FUN TILL I'VE WON!"

And one day even eating becomes an Olympic event.

When their dishes are filled with their doggy dinners, Trevor begins to eat daintily, but Pig wolfs his food, determined to be the first to finish.

He gobbles his kibble!

Pig swallows his sausages whole hog without bothering to savor a morsel, and unfortunately he bites off more than he can chew.

He swallows his whole bowl!

It's little Trevor to the rescue with the dachshund version of the Heimlich Maneuver. Just as he's turning blue, Pig gasps and begins to breathe again.

Has Pig the Pug learned his lesson? Will he finally lose his obsession with winning? Young readers will hope not after laughing their way through Aaron Blabey's Pig the Winner (Pig the Pug) (Scholastic Books, 2017). Pig the Pug is the kind of protagonist we love to hate, and readers will be rooting to read Trevor's next triumph. Author-illustrator Aaron Blabey's Pig is definitely a winner in the picture book trade, beginning with his recent Pig the Pug (see review here), and there are two more in this series waiting in the wings in Australia in which young American readers can anticipate the egotistical Pig's getting another jolly comeuppance. Says Kirkus Reviews, "The goggle-eyed cartoon illustrations are fun, funny, and appealingly grotesque in their exaggerated goofiness, and they are a good match for the rhyming text."

No Mountain High Enough! Friends by Eric Carle

ONCE THERE WERE TWO FRIENDS WHO WERE ALWAYS TOGETHER.

TOGETHER THEY PLAYED AND RAN

AND DANCED AND TOLD EACH OTHER SECRETS.

BUT ONE DAY THE BOY WAS ALL ALONE. HIS FRIEND HAD GONE.

When his best friend moves away, the boy determines that someday, somehow, he will find her.

And then, at the dawn of someday, he sets out.

He swims a swift, cold river and sleeps under the stars.

Ahead is a tall mountain he must get over.

FINALLY HE GOT TO THE TOP, AND THEN...HE SLID RIGHT DOWN THE OTHER SIDE. PLUNK!

The way gets easier as the boy strolls through a flowery meadow, but then rain falls, Splish Splash! and a thunderstorm strikes. EEEK!

He dreams of searching for his friend, lost in a huge crowd, wakes, and goes ahead, sure that she will be waiting when he gets there, wherever there is.

And there is a happy reunion in Eric Carle's latest, Friends (Philomel Books, 2013), and in the best tradition of long-lost lovers, there is a flower-filled wedding for the separated soulmates on Carle's last page. Aglow with the artist's trademark tissue-paper collages, the river swirls with blue and green tones, the meadow is afloat with daisies, the rainstorm is streaked with deep purples and grays, and the groom's pinstriped morning suit and the bride's flower-strewn wedding gown echo their childhood selves as the story comes full circle. The artist remarks that his opening and closing illustrations are deliberately conventional, while he uses increasingly abstract images to delineate the metaphoric quest for lost love. There is a bittersweet note in Carle's afterword, with his words about the death of his lifelong companion, his wife, and the faded sepia picture of Carle at age six with his best friend, a best friend that indeed remains lost to him forever.

Carle's work, from his evergreen, beloved-of-toddlers best-seller, The Very Hungry Caterpillar to his semi-autobiographical account of art under the Nazis, The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse, Eric Carle is our own old master of the art of the picture book. Of this one, Kirkus says, "...children will identify with the longing to be with distant loved ones and will revel in the sheer joy of Carle's forms, colors and textures."

Tractor Tale: Otis by Loren Long

There was once a friendly little tractor. His name was Otis, and every day Otis and his farmer worked together taking care of the farm they called home. Otis loved to work.

Every night, tired but happy, Otis would puff into the little stall in the barn that was his.

One night when Otis was fast asleep, the farmer brought a beautiful baby calf into the barn. The calf bawled and bawled for her mother, but when the sleepy sound of a soft putt puff puffedy chuff came from the next stall, the scared little calf stopped bawling and drifted off to sleep.

It's a perfect blendship of a friendship, as after work Otis the tractor and the little calf kick up their heels and wheels together until they tire. Then together they sit quietly under the apple tree before they head off to sleep contentedly in their neighboring stalls.

Then one day Progress rears its head, and Otis finds himself exiled to the weedy back of the barn while a brand-new big yellow tractor takes his place in the barn and in the fields. Calf and Otis grieve apart, each missing the other's quiet company in their snug stalls, while Otis rusts and vines overgrow his wheels and gears.

Then disaster strikes. The beautiful little calf gets herself stuck in the pond. The farmhands try pulling her out with a rope. Failing, they call on the big yellow tractor and the big red firetruck, but the little calf only sinks deeper with each effort.

Then the little calf's ears perk up.

Over the hum of the growing crowd, there came a faint sound in the distance.... a soft rhythmic putt puff puffedy chuff and all at once Otis putt puffed from around the barn. He turned and headed straight toward Mud Pond.

Trailing broken vines behind him, it's Otis chuffing along speedily to the rescue. He circles the pond in a version of their favorite game, Ring around the Rosey, and the little calf turns around and around until she suddenly finds herself free and stumbles out of the pond to meet her lost-and-found old friend. Otis is redeemed and soon finds his place again, inspiring the chickens to lay with his gentle chuff and sometimes helping out the big yellow tractor in the fields.

But often at the end of the day, Otis would just sit with his friend under the apple tree and watch the farm below.

In his softly rounded lines and controlled palette, author-illustrator Loren Long reverently evokes the spirit of Virginia Lee Burton, Hardy Gramatsky, and Munro Leaf in his latest and already best-selling story of an unlikely friendship lost and found, Otis (Philomel, 2009), even silhouetting the calf under the tree in Ferdinand's familiar pose. But the theme of a redeeming friendship is evergreen, and this story is surely on its way to becoming one of the classics.