Search Results for: blog childrens picture books by kathy mallat

Children’s Literature – Animal Books for Toddlers

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The Frog House By Mark Taylor Buy today from Amazon.com I picked up The Frog House while exiting my local library one afternoon. It was a whimsical selection, like the candy bar or pack of gum by the grocery store conveyer belt. I liked the look of the book, the style of illustration – folk art collage by Barbara Garrison – and the font used for the title, and scooped it up on my way to be “rung up” (normally, you do not have to pay for books at the library and thus the term rung up would not apply … Continue reading →

Earthquack! – Marge Palatini

I thoroughly enjoyed discovering Marge Palatini a few weeks ago. What a sense of humor! “Earthquack!” is her updated take on the old “Chicken Little” story we all know so well. Chucky Ducky had just finished his morning swim and was letting the water roll off his back when he heard a rumbling sound and discovered that the earth was crumbling right beneath his little yellow webbed feet. Deciding it must be an earthquake, he set off to warn his friends. First on his list was Lucy Goosey. “The earth is crumbling!” he tells her, and she’s not sure if … Continue reading →

Sylvia Jean, Drama Queen – Lisa Campbell Ernst

I was first drawn to this children’s picture book by the title, and then by the picture on the front cover – a pig,dressed in a ballgown, wearing a crown and waving a flag. That’s an attention-getting book if I ever saw one. Her name is Sylvia Jean Connelly, and she lives in a make-believe world. She has a wide variety of costumes, suitable for whatever might come up. The perfect outfit to wear to the dentist would, of course, be a superhero costume, because superheros aren’t afraid of the dentist. You should of course dress as a swan if … Continue reading →

Chimps Don’t Wear Glasses – Laura Joffe Numeroff

A departure from her “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” series, Laura Joffe Numeroff gives us “Chimps Don’t Wear Glasses,” an imaginative look into the animal world and how it relates to us as humans, encouraging the reader to let loose and be creative. I’ve found frequently in my explorations into children’s picture books that the illustrations surpass the text, and that is certainly true in this case. The illustrations are fantastic. We begin with a picture of a chimp rock band, all dressed to the teeth (some looking remarkably like Elton John) and the words, “Chimps don’t wear … Continue reading →

Author Interview – Lynne Jonell (part one) When Inspiration Strikes

Nationally published children’s author Lynne Jonell is our special guest for today. Lynne, thank you so much for joining us. I reviewed some of your picture books for Families.com earlier this year and was intrigued by your angle. In a world where many picture books seem to be designed to teach the child, you take situations from the child’s perspective, essentially teaching the parent how the child feels. How did you arrive at this unique way of looking at things? Um—I might take issue with the idea that most picture books are designed to teach the child. Some are, but … Continue reading →