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March 13, 2009
New Picture Books that Made Coming to Work a Little Less Dreadful Today, or Literary Remedies for Jet Lag
The Composer is Dead by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Carson Ellis
Part of me wishes that Lemony Snicket would stop writing picture books because it always seems to me that they’ll get lost in the picture book section. They’re for a more upper-elementary-and-beyond reader, but I don’t want to put them with the chapter books, either, because they AREN’T chapter books, and it just seems wrong. And I don’t have one of those picture-books-for-older-readers collections. It is a conundrum Snicket seems to make me want to face at least once a year.
This book starts off with a dead body, but I’m putting it in the picture book collection even so. The story introduces various instruments in the orchestra via an inspector who is looking into the death of the composer we see slumped face-down on his desk on the book’s first spread. The language is that dry humor we’ve come to associate with Mr. Snicket. When the Inspector accuses the violins of killing the composer, they suggest it’s a ridiculous notion (“If we killed the Composer, we would have to find work at square dances or in romantic restaurants.”). When he accuses the French Horns, they “did not understand the question, and began murmuring a story about the Old Country.” You could make the argument that Snicket appeals primarily to adults, but then I see all those kids who love his books. And this is as engaging an introduction to the orchestra as I’ve seen. Encore! [Note: This also came with a CD, but I didn’t listen to it. The book was plenty enough entertainment.]
Tillie Lays an Egg by Terry Golson, illustrated by Ben Fink
This story is about seven chickens. Six of them share three nesting boxes in the hen house, but Tillie takes “free range” to heart and lays her eggs wherever she darn well feels like it. The book follows Tillie through a week in which Golson encourages readers to find Tillie’s egg in each of Fink’s lovely photographs. (My favorite? An egg in what looks to be the sugar bowl on the breakfast table.) Tillie is a little Minerva Louise, but she has charms all her own—and I love to see a nicely-done picture book that uses photographs. There are a lot of kids out there who never see farms. Thanks to Susan from Chicken Spaghetti (via Tales from the Rushmore Kid) for bringing this one to my attention.
Pretty Pru by Polly Dunbar
Jules over at 7-Imp is the one who alerted me to the new “Tilly and Friends” series by Polly Dunbar, an illustrator I just love, love, love. In this title, elephant Tumpty asks chicken Pru if he can borrow her makeup. Pru won’t let him, though (“You’ll waste it,” she says. How many kids have heard THAT one a million times?), so when her attention is diverted, Tumpty steals it. Then comes the part where Pru runs around looking for her purse, failing to notice her friends’ absurdly long lashes and rosy cheeks. In the end, Tumpty apologizes, and Pru sees the light and starts sharing her makeup, with silly good fun results. What I love about these books is that Dunbar takes language that can be handled by newly independent readers and creates stories that are interesting and surprising. And her art. I love her art.
Posy by Linda Newbery, illustrated by Catherine Rayner
Maybe I’m just going soft because I really missed my cats on this last trip away from home, but this simple story of a kitten going about its day is pretty much the cutest thing I’ve seen in weeks. Its spirit reminds me a lot of Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by Denise Fleming, and would, like Mama Cat, make a great storytime book. Newbery’s words are fun to say (sitting at my desk by myself, I couldn’t resist reading them aloud), and Rayner’s watercolor-y illustrations are very distinctly catlike. And cute. Really, really cute.
Books mentioned:
Dunbar, Polly. Pretty Pru. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2009. (HC: 9780763642723)
Fleming, Denise. Mama Cat Has Three Kittens. NY: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 1998. (HC: 9780805057454, PB: 9780805071627)
Golson, Terry, and Ben Fink. Tillie Lays an Egg. NY: Scholastic Inc., 2009. (HC: 9780545005371)
Newbery, Linda, and Catherine Rayner. Posy. NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008. (HC: 9781416971122)
Snicket, Lemony. The Composer is Dead. NY: HarperCollins Children's Books, 2009. (HC: 9780061236273, LIB: 9780061236280)
Posted by adrienne at March 13, 2009 02:45 PM
Comments
I am so fond of Tillie Lays an Egg; I'm glad you liked it, too, Adrienne. I'd think preschoolers and kindergartners especially will enjoy it as well.
Posted by: Susan at March 13, 2009 07:50 PM
I love that Lemony Snicket is upping the classical music world, despite the fact that really, it IS a picture book for ...older kids. That is kind of confusing. But still -- something to replace Peter and the Wolf? Oh, yeah, baby. Bring it on.
Posted by: tanita at March 14, 2009 07:55 AM
Susan, Yes, it's a perfect lapsit, one-on-one sort of book for that age.
Tanita, I am powerless when it comes to Mr. Snicket. I just really enjoy his writing.
Posted by: adrienne at March 14, 2009 09:09 PM
I have not even heard of or seen the others. WOOT! I'm off to see if my liberry has 'em.
Glad you like Tilly and her friends. That Hector cracks me up.
Posted by: jules at March 16, 2009 09:51 AM
Jules, I think you guys will really like Tillie Lays an Egg.
Posted by: adrienne at March 16, 2009 07:31 PM