I sat through a librarian doing story time with this book, A Sick Day for Amos McGee, illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Philip C. Stead. This is the 2011 Caldecott Award Winner. It's a sweet story of how the animals take care of their caretaker after he becomes sick.
The children listening to the book asked several relevant questions and were very attentive. Another good story with a Golden Rule them. I appreciated the duality of the book, the 2nd half mirrors the first half. The artwork can be described as sparse yet lively and complements the story perfectly.
The 1999 children's book The Gruffalo is my five year old son, AJ's, favorite book. Written by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, it tells the story of a mouse's walk in the woods. He encounters several predators, only to get away using his wily prowess. However, his mouth gets him in more trouble than he realizes.
This book was very enjoyable, if not possibly a bit gruesome at times. I was afraid my critic, AJ, would start crying at the thought of our poor hero getting eaten, but he seemed to understand the "Circle of Life" better than his father. I brought the Lion King comparison into the book after reading it with him and he was fine with it. He's lost a few pet goldfish already and seen fish, harvested turkey, quail and deer put into the food chain.
The words and phrasing make The Gruffalo an enjoyable read; the rhymes and funny sounding words lend itself well to being read aloud.
The book was put into a short movie last year that we managed to catch via DVR on ABC Family channel. My son loved it even more and watched it daily for 2 weeks along with reading it again and again. The film definitely catches the charm of the original and the art style goes way beyond that of the book.
The book won several awards in England, the prestigious, yet now defunct Nestle Smarties Award, It was the UK's bestselling picture book of 2000, won the 2000 Nottingham/Experian Children's Book award, and the Blue Peter Best Book To Read Aloud award. The audio version won the Best Children's Audio award in the Spoken Book Awards.
The film won a BAFTA and was nominated for an Academy Award.
Jerry Pinkney's The Lion and the Mouse is a retelling of the Aesop Fable without words. A 2010 Caldecott award-winner, I gave it to my 5 year old to "read" on the way home from school one day. He told me the story himself very successfully while I was driving. Unfortunately I couldn't get him to replicate his performance when we got home because I was going to film it. :D My son appreciated the story and I was able to incorporate the Golden Rule into the lesson.
The beginning of the book shows the natural predators that the lowly mouse encounters in the serengeti and my son at first thought this book was about the Gruffalo--a book I'll cover later.
Jerry Pinkney's book is very well-illustrated and it shows the story without words excellently--probably the first picture book I've "read" since the Snake Eyes silent issue of the GI Joe comic book in the early 80's. This was my introduction to Pinkney's work, now I plan on finding some more, the artwork is incredible.
Here's a video of Jerry Pinkney himself illustrating this book.
A "novel comprised of short stories" Richard Peck's A Long Way From Chicago is a Depression-era coming of age story about a boy and his little sister's summers spent away from their home in Chicago with their grandmother out in the country.
This was an entertaining read to any age, the reading level is low enough for elementary children, yet the entertainment value is enough for all ages. The stories involved are humorous, with a trickster grandmother with something always up her sleeve. Children can relate to odd families, people who act strange and familial strife, yet also connect with ways in which families show their love for one another--often without saying those words explicitly.
The Coming-of-age-in-the-Great-Depression could be a genre in it's own right, likened to the classic To Kill a Mockingbird, or another favorite of mine Man and Boy. Much like Robert Ruark's Man and Boy, it's comprised of short anecdotes of a young boy growing up around a grandparent and learning things that most would consider unorthodox.
