No Charge! It's A Book by Lane Smith

WHAT HAVE YOU THERE?

IT'S A BOOK.

HOW DO YOU SCROLL DOWN?

I DON'T. I TURN THE PAGE. IT'S A BOOK.

Not that the physical book needs any defense, but in his latest, Lane Smith sets up the face-off over the various virtues of print and screen both humorously and elegantly.

On the left side of the page we have a small donkey, for whom the book is a totally unknown quantity. On the right side we have a large monkey, trying to enjoy his book in his armchair despite the know-nothing questions of his companion. The donkey continues to pester him with questions about the book. Can it "Tweet?" Can it "text?" Does he need a "screen name?" Where's the mouse? Can he program its characters for combat?

Finally the monkey simply hands off the book, Treasure Island, to the donkey to read a page for himself:

"ARRRRRRRRR," NODDED LONG JOHN SILVER. "WE'RE IN AGREEMENT THEN?"

HE UNSHEATHED HIS BROAD CUTLASS.

JIM WAS PETRIFIED."

The donkey is unmoved. "Too many letters," he pronounces. He converts the passage to IM style:

LJS: rrr! K? LOL!

JIM: :( (! :)

Despite his re-write, however, the little donkey finds himself drawn into the story. In a double-page spread Lane Smith shows his new reader's increasingly engrossed body language as he sits mesmerized in his chair while the clock moves through a long afternoon. When the patient monkey finally asks if his companion is going to give him his book back, he gets a simple but meaningful reply:

NO.

The monkey unflappably reaches for his hat and remarks that if that's so, he's off to the library for another book.

DON'T WORRY. I'LL CHARGE IT UP WHEN I'M DONE!

IT'S A BOOK!

Lanes Smith's It's a Book (Roaring Brook Press, 2010) is a subtle but sophisticated advocate for the virtues of the traditional book. Smart and stylish, Smith's design and illustrations are as au currant as any, with each character illustrated in his spare, modernistic flat format, each given his own typeface--a cyberistic sans serif for the donkey, a sturdy blocked serif font for the monkey, each in his own color. The third character, an eavesdropping mouse, provides comic relief, popping from out under the monkey's hat when the donkey inquires about where the "mouse" is for his reading device and delivering the oft-repeated, but here final ironic line "It's A BOOK!" Kids conversant with both traditional and electronic books will snicker at the donkey's clueless questions about how to "operate" the hardback even as Smith delivers a humorous and subliminal message about the virtues of the print and paper book.

See Lane Smith's short and sweet trailer for this BOOK here.

A What? It's a Little Book by Lane Smith

"WHAT IS THAT?"

It's a rematch, this time done up in diapers back in their baby days, between Lane Smith's determined bookophile monkey and his quizzical technophile friend the donkey.

As this early reader sits on his padded bottom, lost in the little volume in his hands, his skeptical friend wants to know what to do with such an absorbing object. Could it be a teething biscuit? he wonders as he tries a nibble. Wearing? (open, on his head) Flying? (a sturdy paper airplane Building? (a ready-made roof for his block building. How about a not-so-soft pillow? A saddle blanket? A laptop? A really flat smart phone?

Nope, Nope. Nope, and nope again!

His patient companion never misses a beat as he maintains his concentration on the intriguing object:

"IT'S FOR READING.
IT'S A BOOK, SILLY!"

Lane Smith has reconfigured his current New York Times best-selling hit, It's a Book as a board book for the youngest readers in his just published It's a Little Book (Roaring Brook, 2011), which retains the sly humor and skillful characterizations established in the title for slightly older readers in this delightful spin-off.

See the (admittedly adorable) trailer for this little book about a little book here.

What Can You Do with An Idea? How This Book Was Made by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex

At first, this book wasn't a book.

It was an idea.

Most kids probably don't give a thought to how books come to be. It's like they've just always been there on shelves in libraries or book stores. But they have a story all their own.

They start with an idea in the mind of a writer--a piece of a story--it could be the middle, or the ending, or the beginning. It could be a mental image of a character, or an appealing event that makes other things happen. It is the author's job to come up with characters, plots, dialog, and a conclusion that satisfies the reader. Sometimes an artist is called on to help the reader visualize the characters and action.

But that's only the beginning of a book.

So... Mac Barnett, the hopeful author, writes a draft of his book.

I had a bunch of words on paper. The words were the first draft.

But a first draft is not a book.

Neither was the second draft. Or the third. Or the twelfth.

With the twentieth draft I was done. So I sent my words to my editor.

Is it a book then? NO. There's many a slip between cup and lip, and Barnett's last draft is not the last one after all. The editor suggests many changes in his draft. Author Barnett is not pleased.

"You're not the boss of me!" he says.

That line hadn't worked with Mac's dad either, but finally author and editor agree on the final draft. Is it a book yet?

NO. It needs an illustrator to make the ideas easy to understand, so artist Adam Rex is called upon to do some drawings. He gets to argue with the editor while Mac gets to forget about this book and work on another one for a while. At last the manuscript and illustrations are approved. Now the book is ready to be printed and bound.

Now, the fastest way would be to print the book nearby in New York or Philadelphia or maybe Miami.

But NO.

The book was printed in Malaysia.

Malaysia is half a world away from New York. All the freshly printed copies have to be loaded on an ocean-going freighter. There are tiger and pirate problems in between. Mac Barnett has time to grow a very long beard while he waits.

And in Mac Barnett's How This Book Was Made (Hyperion Books), the author admits that "a book is not real until it has a reader." Books have come a long way since a story was mostly a storyteller on one end of the log and a listener on the other, but at the heart of it all that's what happens, and what happens in the creation of a book is a story in itself. Barnett's humorous story of how that happens IS the story of this tour de force of a story-within-a-story. Publishers Weekly says,"Barnett and Rex concoct another self-referential story, this one about the process of bookmaking. As in their collaboration, Chloe and the Lion, Barnett and Rex star as writer and illustrator. With the help of an editor (“she is like a teacher, only she works in a skyscraper”), a tiger, pirates, and a cast of thousands (well, maybe dozens), the manuscript leaves Barnett’s desk, undergoes editing, and arrives at the printer in Malaysia....Rex's artwork features paper models and a painted globe in addition to the pencil-drawn figures, lending the work the three-dimensional texture of a puppet play."

Perfect for Book Week read-alouds for Book Week, this one covers a lot of territory, not all of it on the Road to Mandalay!

Eyes on the Prize? Look! by Jeff Mack

LOOK!

What's a guy got to do to get somebody to read to him?

Great ape gyrations ensue when a gorilla tries un-glue a boy from the boob tube.

Gorilla Guy balances a book on his nose. He balances on one foot on top a stack of books.

He balances a huge stack of books on his head! But not for long.

C-R-A-S-H!

Down they come, one landing open on top of the boy's head. Without removing his eyes from his screen, the boy walks over to open the door with one word:

"OUT!"

Okay. If it's drama the boy wants, drama he'll get!

Gorilla Guy crashes a book-laden trike through the door. This time the books come down like an avalanche and smash the television set. Ooops! Unintended but ironic consequence of book promotion!

"OUT! OUT! OUT!"

Now what? All alone, the boy looks down sadly at the remains of his entertainment devices, and his eyes fall on an open book. Hey! This book is worth a...LOOK!

It's not long before boy and Gorilla are sharing a read-in on the floor, in Jeff Mack's Look! (Philomel Books, 2015). With a minimalist vocabulary of just two words, repeated with various emotional connotations, Mack sneaks in a stealthy comical plug for books and reading. The author's salesman for the joys of reading may not be the most subtle, but hey, he IS a gorilla and besides, he's got a point. Mack's silly book spokesperson will get youngsters' attention, and the simple and super-sized vocabulary will have its audience reading along despite themselves before the book comes to its sleepy end. In a clever bit of book design, Mack uses an absolutely real-looking facsimile of an old-fashioned book pocket and date-due slip as a frontispiece opposite the title page. (It'll make you touch it to see if it's real! Really!) LOOK again at this one for bedtime, storytime, or Book Week!

If you're faced with a bunch of junior screen zombies, try pairing this one with Lane Smith's It's a Book (See review here)

Talk-Back! You're Finally Here! by Melanie Watt

YOU'RE FINALLY HERE!

BUT WHERE WERE YOU? DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE BEEN WAITING?

It's a bit disconcerting to open a book about a bunny and be berated by an in-your-face character for tardiness in opening his book. This bunny has definitely internalized the message to be assertive.

The lecture continues. It's rude to make people wait so long. Blah-blah-blah. Don't you get how boring it is to sit immobile on a page waiting for some action? The bunny's Bored-O-Meter has gone from "Bored" to "Bored Up To My Ears" already! It's as annoying as an itchy sweater...Yadda-yadda-yadda! The page focus dollies into a closeup of nothing but the bunny's glaring eyes and beetled brows.

STAY!

And to seal the deal the bunny whips out a contract which states

YOU, THE READER, HEREBY AGREES TO STAY WITH ME, THE BUNNY (THE BOOK CHARACTER WITH WHICH YOU'RE FAMILIAR).

Just as the Bunny thinks he's reeled in a reader for life, his cell phone rings. With a breezy "Hold that thought" to the waiting reader, he throws himself into yakking with an old friend.

As the reader beats a hasty retreat, the clueless bunny suddenly notices the departure.

WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID?

Melanie Watts' latest, You're Finally Here! (Hyperion, 2011) joins Mo Willems' delightful recent We Are in a Book! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) and Jef Czeka's witty Cat Secrets in the book-about-a-book genre. Whereas Willems' childlike characters are thrilled to find a reader looking back at them and Czeka's character has an appropriately cautious cat-itude of his own, Watts' full-of-himself brazen bunny gives the reader an earful of the trials and tribulations of a character just waiting for the tardy reader. It's a different point of view for the young reader, one which older picture book fans will probably find quite funny and certainly unique in the world of bunny books.

The Open Door:: The Rosemary Spell by Virginia Zimmerman

"What are you going to do with the lower cupboard?" Adam asks.

"It doesn't open, remember? We did this already," I protest. "It's stuck." I kick the little door.

"I'll get the toolbox." I said. I push myself up and the wide floorboard shifts underneath my hand. Adam's eyebrows arch. He presses it with his hand and it rocks. "Do you think...."

I lift the board. Something black catches my eye. It's a handle, I'm sure. I push the cool metal to the right. For a heartbeat the small handle resists and then, as if with a sigh of relief, it gives.

The cupboard door swings open.

Her friend Adam is helping Rosemary move her things to her dad's old study, and they can't resist the mystery of the floor-level cupboard with the handle that doesn't open the little door. But when it opens, it reveals a greater mystery, a large, very old leather-bound book, printed on vellum, with the name of the region's famous poet, Constance Brooks, written in elaborate cursive inside. Faded spidery writing appears on  several pages, a list of herbs,  but the only other inscription they can decipher has a likewise cryptic sound:

Rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray, love, remember.

Eighth-graders Adam and Rosemary have read novels of magical books with secrets hidden within, and they show the book to Adam's sixteen-year-old sister Shelby, who used to be the ringleader of their adventures. Sixteen now, busy with classes and a boyfriend, even Shelby seems to feel that there is some enticing secret, something of a magic spell within the almost invisible inscriptions in the old book, which reminds them of a book they shared three summers ago, Seven-Day Magic (Tales of Magic), in which a found book contains secret powers. Later, alone with the book, Adam and Rosemary come upon a clue, in Geraldine Brooks' faded handwriting, something they had not seen at first, the name "Wilkie," written over and over, filling the page, and one brief sentence:

Father says we need the rosemary so that we can remember.

And later, another inscription appears where it seems not to have been before, and Adam and Rosemary struggle to decipher the pale spidery script.

Ah, treble words of absence spoken low
For ears of fam'ly, friend, or willful foe.
Speak thrice to conjure nothing on the spot.
Who harkens here will presently be forgot....
Void and nothing, void and nothing--all strife.

They read the final line together.

Third's the charm, to void and nothing turn life.

Intrigued, the two share the verse with their English teacher, who agrees the lines resemble the form of an old spell and suggests that they visit the poet Geraldine Brooks, alive but in her nineties, living in a residential home in town, to ask her about the book. But when they visit, they find her lost in dementia, unable to explain the book or the rhyme, although she repeats her memories of her father planting the rosemary on the island. and keeps reciting, "Father says we need the rosemary so that we can remember," and the phrase from the rhyme "void and nothing, void and nothing."... and "Wilkie, Wilkie." the name of her little brother, she remembers, who died very young.

With Shelby in on the mystery, the three decide to row out to the island where they used to play, one where a large patch of wild rosemary has flourished for the many years since Gwendolyn Brooks' family home burned. Surrounded by the rosemary, trying to capture the meaning, the conjuring, in the rhyme, they read it aloud once, twice, and then, as Shelby points out the verse commands, thrice.

And in an inkling, Shelby is gone--so gone that Adam does not remember that she was just there or that he ever even had a sister. Back at his house, Shelby's room is now a nondescript spare bedroom and there are only three places for Adam's family at the kitchen table. But perhaps because of her name, Rosemary somehow holds on to a fleeting memory of Shelby, and always when she reads the line, Rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray, love, remember. she knows that only she can find the rhyme that will bring Shelby back.

Virginia Zimmerman's forthcoming fantasy novel, The Rosemary Spell (Houghton Mifflin Clarion Books, 2015), reveals a mystery within a conundrum, a book whose story is to uncover the story within a book within the story, one that can only be fully revealed to young people of just the right age. Well within the tradition of children's fantasy, stories like Harry Potter and his sorcerer's stone and Will Stanton of The Dark Is Rising series, Zimmerman creates two young people who are able to release the vague memories of an elderly mind and decipher the conundrum concealed within the old book.

With many literary references, from Edward Eager to William Shakespeare, this is a riveting tale that will fascinate young readers who love an intricate mystery. In a gripping story of life and memory lost and found, Zimmerman's tale reveals two characters at childhood's end, on the cusp of growing up, still able to sense the essential nature of any work of fiction, that sort of literary magic which creates a whole believable world which exists first in the mind of the author and then only in the mind of the reader when the book is opened. Time and its passage, love and life's passing, and the magic of words, all combine here to make a absorbing tale for young adult readers.

It's a Wash! Bad Kitty Gets a Bath by Nick Bruel

"I HAVE WRONGED YOU! AND TO MAKE UP FOR MY WRETCHED BEHAVIOR, I SHALL REWARD YOU...

FOR I AM NO MERE KITTY! I AM QUEEN ESMERELDA, KITTY OF MAGIC CANDY RAINBOW ISLAND!

I HAVE BEEN SENT TO YOUR LAND TO FIND THE ONE WITH THE TRUEST AND BRAVEST HEART, FOR ONLY THE ONE WITH THE TRUEST AND BRAVEST HEART WOULD DARE TO GIVE A DIRTY, SMELLY KITTY A BATH!

AS A REWARD FOR YOUR TRUE AND BRAVE HEART, I BESTOW UPON YOU THE GREATEST TREASURE EVER GRANTED...

THIS FLYING GOLDEN UNICORN STANDING IN A MAGIC CAULDRON FILLED WITH CHOCOLATE-COVERED DIAMONDS!"

We regret to inform you that Chapter Three was a dream.

Bad Kitty is back, and a stinky kitty she is, after a bit of a brou-ha-ha involving Poor Puppy (Bad Kitty) and a lot of spilled garbage. Tongue-washing isn't an option here. This situation calls for a bath, a bath involving a tub of warm water and lots of kitty shampoo.

In Nick Bruel's latest book in the Bad Kitty series, Kitty's owner knows that it's important to prepare Kitty's bath before you "introduce" her to the tub. Necessary supplies? Oh, warm water, kitty shampoo, dry towels, kitty-shaped bathrobe (with hood), the usual stuff, AND... suit of armor, your doctor on speed dial, a farewell note to the family, plasma and lots and lots of bandages, clean underwear (don't ask!), plane tickets to Aunt Pauline's to hide out until Kitty forgets all about it, and an ambulance in the driveway, motor running.

Giving a cat a bath is a bit like making rabbit stew. You know, first catch the rabbit? Catching a smart kitty takes a bit of doing. Bad Kitty disappears at the very sound of the word "bath," disguising herself cleverly as Puppy, complete with dog collar and a dog vocabulary ("DUHHH. ARF?") Luckily, unmasked, Bad Kitty runs for the bathroom where she once successfully hid out behind the toilet, only to find herself cornered before a steaming tub of bath water by a determined owner. There is an unfortunate incident involving failed persuasion and rather effective claws, until reverse psychology is applied. Kitty is persuaded that after her bath she will enjoy the spectacle of Puppy being doused with icy cold water, scrubbed with the chimney brush, the toilet brush, the paint brush and the toothbrush until he cries for mercy.

And with a MEOWR! REOWR! HISS! and a FFT! FFT! FFT! Kitty is given her bath, emerging as a skinny, scraggly, dripping, mess of bedraggled wet--but clean-smelling--fur. After the bath, of course, Kitty's little left fang is in full view, and her distaste with the whole process and its perpetrator is more than evident. As Bruel points out

This would NOT be a good time to pat her.

In fact, Kitty may avoid you altogether for a few hours... or days... or weeks.

Try not to take it personally. After all, you made Kitty do something that she HATED and never wanted to do....

You both hope you NEVER have to give Kitty a bath again.

Bruel's Bad Kitty Gets a Bath, (Roaring Brook Press) features the most laugh-out-loud hilarity yet. Although the author contends stoutly that this is a beginning chapter book, it is actually somewhere between a small-format picture book, a graphic novel, and a beginning chapter book, happily with the best aspects of all three. Bruel's comic illustrations are perfect examples of what we reviewers mean when we say the illustrations extend the text, and if his actual text were not so witty, this book could stand as a "story without words." But the text is really funny. Anyone who has ever bathed a angry cat (and they are ALL angry when soused in a tub of water) will recognize every bit of this humorous how-to book. In addition to the inserted Daily Nooz (Entire Family Flees for Life!), Quick Quiz, Common Cat Sounds and Their Meanings, Uncle Murray's Fun Facts,, and warning notes from The Editor hiding certain scenes he declares unsuited for the young, there is an Epilogue (How to Give a Puppy a Bath), and a Glossary, all part of the non-stop fun in this howl of a yowling good read.

Bruel's next Bad Kitty tale, Happy Birthday, Bad Kitty is forthcoming from Roaring Brook Press on September 1. Live long and prosper, Bad Kitty!

Infinite Possibilities: Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

What parent, stuck with the tough job of assembling and setting up a birthday or Christmas gift, hasn't been bemused at the sight of a young child playing with the box the thing came in for hours, while the manufactured "toy" sits untouched in lonely plastic isolation?

Antoinette Portis' Not a Box, winner of the Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor Medal (for books for early readers), takes this familiar scene and turns it into a simple work of art. Wrapped in a symbolically plain brown paper cover, this little book takes only 64 words to explain how, in the imagination of a child, a box is not just a box, but whatever the human mind can conceive.

Portis uses a simple black flat line drawing of a little rabbit sitting in a black line rectangle against a textured white page, while on the facing verso page, done in brown, the supposed adult "voice-over" asks the question

"Why are you sitting in a box?"

"It's not a box."

the little rabbit replies matter-of-factly.

And indeed, in that moment, it is not. It's a bright red race car speeding away, shown on a bright yellow page as an overlay over the black rectangle. Following pages offer similarly clueless remarks from the "off camera" adult: "Why are you squirting a box?" and "Why are you wearing a box," as the opposite page shows the little rabbit as a fireman hosing down a flaming red burning building or inside an imposing red robot constructed around the original rectangle. The answer remains the same: "It's not a box." Finally the slightly exasperated voice asks, "Well, what is it then!"

"It's my not-a-box."

A simple brown cardboard box, as we see, can be the howdah on an elephant's back, the crow's nest of a pirate ship, the gondola of a hot-air balloon, or a rocket ship to the moon, depending upon our fancy, and this little book does an amazing job of exploiting this weighty theme in a few lines and in even fewer words. Design is the key to this book, with the adult's questions on a ho-hum brown page, the little rabbit and his plain-Jane box always on a white page, and his glorious imaginings presented against a vibrant yellow or red backdrop.

Not a Box, is a great book for any preschooler. Just be sure to have a plain brown box to go with it and see what comes from putting the two together!

Don't Look Back! Nothing Ever Happens At the North Pole by Stan and Jan Berenstain



IT’S A BOOK!
A BOOK FOR ME!

I CANNOT WAIT.
TO START MY BOOK.
SOMETHING MIGHT HAPPEN.
ALL I HAVE TO DO IS LOOK!

SOMETHING HAPPENS
EVERYDAY.
WRITE IT DOWN
RIGHT AWAY!

When a little penguin finds a pristine journa addressed to him in his daily mail, he has to hurry into his scarf and earmuffs and hit the snowscape outside, looking for something interesting to record.

Making tracks across the snow cover, pencil at the ready, he looks for newsworthy events. He trudges up a steep slope, oblivious to the hungry white wolves closing in on him from the rear. What can he write about in this barren view?

A GIANT SNOWBALL
THAT WENT ROUND AND ROUND
AND SMASHED SOME BADDIES
INTO THE GROUND!

But the penguin rejects his snowball, obviously made of inferior snow, and tosses it behind him without a backward look, where, in a scene reminiscent of The Bears' Christmas, it snowballs back down the slope carrying the baddie wolves to a catastrophic crash below.

This device is repeated as the penguin presses forward, still looking for something memorable, trudging over lumpy, sleeping polar bears, who are aroused and angry in his wake.. He hops across ice floes, oblivious to the fact that one of his stepping stones is the head of a testy (and well-tusked) walrus, who chomps down on a floe just as the penquin leaps to land. Finding nothing worth reporting, our little journalist goes under the sea, where he mistakes a waiting whale’s eye for one of the ubiquitous snails on rocks, and surfaces just in time to miss being swallowed whole, still disgusted with his unimpressive environment.

I MUST WRITE SOMETHING!
IT’S ALMOST NIGHT!
THERE’S JUST ONE THING
FOR ME TO WRITE.

IT’S THE ONLY THING
I CAN SAY–
NOTHING HAPPENED
HERE TODAY!

It’s an object lesson in dramatic irony for early readers in Michael and Jan Berenstain’s Nothing Ever Happens at the South Pole (Scholastic, 2012), as the would-be writer, oblivious to everything but what is right in front of his nose, slogs on in search of hot news. The back story of this familiar-sounding but newly published Stan and Jan Berenstain effort is that the manuscript for this book was to be the duo’s second-ever book, but was pushed back by the roaring success of their initial Berenstain Bear title and waited in the archive of the Berenstain basement until, after Stan’s death, Jan and son Mike resurrected and re-worked the original. Fans of the Berenstain Bears will find the typical quatrains less than lyrical but somehow rhythmically reassuring, a quality which made their classic I-Can-Read books so appealing to emergent readers. There’s a rewarding chuckle on each page read as the little penguin returns in disgust to his igloo while all heck breaks out in his wake, making this snowy blast from the past deserving of a warm snow season story hour.

This book has great possibilities as an introduction to journalling for primary students. And for a double dose of dramatic irony, pair this one with the classic Caldecott-winning Ellen Raskin’s Nothing Ever Happens on My Block for a storytime illustrating a similar theme and a similarly oblivious narrator with a very different illustrative style, a literary lesson along with the laughs.

On Our Way: We March by Shane W. Evans

THE MORNING IS QUIET.

WE PRAY FOR STRENGTH.

It's a morning like most in August, with a strong sun rising on a day fifty years ago, as a mother and father wake their young son. With dawn breaking through the window, they dress and assemble with a few others in front of their church, where a pastor leads them in prayer. From there they board a bus and drive to a place where many buses are emptying of their passengers.

WE COME FROM ALL OVER.

TO MARCH.

Crowding in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the family hears singers-Mahalia Jackson, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez--and prayers, and then the father lifts his boy to his shoulders to hear a speaker, Dr. King, who says

"I HAVE A DREAM..."

Shawn Evan's We March (Roaring Brook, 2012) takes young readers along on on the March on Washington in 1963, seeing it through the eyes of a family who witnessed the day that has come to be seen as a landmark in American history. With the sparest of texts and simple, almost monumental illustrations, Evans captures the moment through the eyes of a young boy who knows what he's watching is important.

Evans provides some context to the event in his appended author's note, but this is a book that requires some prior knowledge of the March on Washington to set the stage for a reading. That given, this book is a fine introduction to the events of that day and those that preceded and followed in the history of the civil rights movement. Named a Best Children's Book of 2012 by Kirkus Reviews, We March has been universally praised by other reviewers, cited by Publishers Weekly as "A moving introduction to a historic day."

For Black History Month presentations to young primary grades, couple this one with Christine King Farris' My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and March On!: The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World (see my review here).

For slightly older (second and third graders) add Kadir Nelson's epic I Have a Dream (Book & CD). and Doreen Rappaport's celebrated Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.And for February book reports, there is certainly David A. Adler's evergreen A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Picture Book Biography) or, to take students back to the beginning, his A Picture Book of Rosa Parks (Picture Book Biographies) (Picture Book Biography).

Steven Caney's Ultimate Building Book by Steven Caney

Long before The Dangerous Book for Boys and its fellow travelers burst upon the scene, Steven Caney ruled as the king of kids' compendia. Now Caney is back with another fascinating book with wide appeal.

Steven Caney's Ultimate Building Book begins with solid sections which cover almost everything there is to know about design and construction, from yurts to Gothic cathedrals, bridges to beaver dams. In his introduction Caney recalls his grandfather's basement workshop, with cigar boxes full of screws, scrap parts, and fascinating widgets, real tools, and a grandpa who kept an eye on his creations while letting his imagination take him where it would.

From that homey beginning, he launches forth into a mind-expanding section titled "Structures and Forms are Everywhere." Introducing the concepts of tension and compression, he shows how all constructions use these concepts to construct the geometric figures which figure in both nature's and humankind's structures. As he puts it, all architectural structure is a combination of form, function, materials, and style, and he offers wide-ranging examples, from the Pompidou Center to timber frame barns, ice-fishing "bob houses," fences, lighthouses, castles, and all kinds of arches and domes.

I found the picture sections on the history of building structures (daub and wattle, post and lintel anyone?), types of roofs, and styles of American stick-built houses worth a leisurely perusal, as I learned the difference between a gable, gambrel, mansard, and hip roof. His section on different patterns in bricklaying and what human builders owe to nature's patterns beckon to the reader to take a long, thoughtful look. Fascinating stuff!

The heart of the book, however, are Caney's extensive (and I mean extensive) sections of hands-on building projects. Caney uses the term "building" broadly to include variations of homemade building clay, forms made from paper, straws and string and straws and rubber band , toothpicks, cotton-tipped swabs, Jello cubes and marshmallows, foam board and graham crackers, snow and sand--as well as store-bought building sets from wood blocks to FisherTechnik. In fact, almost any material can be used to illustrate the scientific principles which Caney explains as he directs the builder through the process. Kids can make a straw and string terrarium, paper airplanes, or a peanut-butter/cracker house in a jiffy, or they can construct longer-term projects such as kites, tree houses, and a variety of backyard tents. For a quickie, quirky project, try the amazing, amusing, and awesome tennis ball popper which inverts itself and bounces skyward before your very eyes.

In his appendix the author sets forth his proposition that building is an important aspect of a child's education and an essential experience which develops creativity and ingenuity. As he puts it, "The building years are special." But the materials for building need not be expensive construction toys. "Open ended" materials--scrap lumber, discarded plastic bits and paper, straws and plastic bags--all provide the stuff of fun, learning, and inventiveness. His list of "play perennials" are a great guide for playthings which build brains and bodies while having fun. A glossary of shapes and forms, from the lowly circle to the highbrow rhombicubooctahedron, and a dictionary of building terms join a robust index to complete the substantial back matter.

As a reference book for the family bookshelf, a rainy-day resource, a go-to book for science projects, and a source of entertainment for inquiring minds of all ages, this is a must-have book for school, public, and home libraries, providing hours of educational reading and fun. Copiously illustrated with photos and step-by-step diagrams, it's a five-star, top-rated book large in size and scope and possibilities. Betcha can't read just one page!

Besides Steven Caney's Ultimate Building Book other uncommon compendia by the author include Steven Caney's Invention Book, Steven Caney's Toy Book (Reissue), and Steven Caney's Kids' America.

All That Glitters....: Fancy Nancy and the Dazzling Book Report by Jane O'Connor

Ms. Glass has thrilling news! Thrilling is even more exciting than exciting!)

We get to do a book report!

"Your first book report! How grown-up!" my mom says.

"I know," I say. "My book is a biography. It is about a real person--Sacajawea!"

Fancy Nancy is Ms. Glass's most enthusiastic student, one who throws herself into every lesson and activity with vim and verve, and her first real book report is no exception.

A girl with style, a girl whose sparkle rarely dims, Nancy's first thought is to designing the cover for her report. A quick trip to the art store gives her plenty of colorful and shiny materials to work with, and work she does, every night, illustrating and decorating her folder until it is a work of art.

There's just one problem. Nancy has a gorgeous folder--but no book report to put inside it. It's late on the night before the report is due, and Nancy realizes that there is a fatal flaw in her production schedule.

"I get out lined paper and a pen with a plume (that's fancy for feather.)

The trouble is, I am tired.

I know all about Sacajawea, but the right words won't come!

What am I going to do?"

Nancy only manages to come up with two sentences before she falls asleep over her unfinished book report. At school the next day everyone is wowed by her glamorous folder, but as the other students read their long, interesting reports, Nancy grows more and more nervous. At last it's her turn to present before the class.

"Sacajawea was a heroine. She helped people in trouble."

Everyone waits to hear more, but there is no more!

I am crestfallen. (That's fancy for sad and ashamed!)

Nancy has at last come up against the old dichotomy between glitz and substance. A sparkly cover portrait of a princessy Sacajawea doesn't do justice to the achievements of that brave and resourceful young Indian woman, and Nancy knows it. Luckily, Ms. Glass is a bit sympathetic, and with a glance that speaks volumes, permits Nancy to ad lib the rest of her book report this time.

Lesson learned. As Nancy puts it "Sacajawea was a heroine. Ms. Glass is a heroine, too. At least she is to me."

Jane O'Connor's bright and new beginning reader book, Fancy Nancy: The Dazzling Book Report (I Can Read Book 1), (HarperCollins, 2009) shows go-getter Fancy Nancy taking a second look at the way she does things, with a lesson in taking care of first things first that will serve her and all her young readers well. Ted Enik's illustrations stand in perfectly for Robin Gleisner's signature art in this I-Can-Read addition to Nancy's school adventures which will appeal to her youngest readers.

Other top-selling titles in the Fancy Nancy early readers series are Fancy Nancy and the Boy from Paris (I Can Read Book 1), Fancy Nancy at the Museum (I Can Read Book 1), Fancy Nancy: Poison Ivy Expert (I Can Read Book 1), and Fancy Nancy Sees Stars (I Can Read Book 1),--sparklers all!