Search Results for: blog sylvia jean drama queen lisa campbell ernst

The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat – Catherine Ann Cullen

“The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat” is the story of a girl and her favorite piece of outerwear. She lists six reasons why it’s a magical coat. You see, there are six buttons that march down the front. The first one is labeled “cold,” the second, “warm,” and the third plays music. The fourth is shaped like a star, while the fifth is like a stone. The sixth button is a little tiny doll, who is also wearing a coat. One day, she went out to see what she could see. She came upon a giant who was miserable. Being so … Continue reading →

What Shall We Play? – Sue Heap

It’s time to play pretend! In “What Shall We Play?” by Sue Heap, we explore the wonderful world of imagination and all the fun we can have there. Lily Mae wants to play fairies, but Matt wants to pretend to be trees. He acts the role of a big tree, while Martha is a shaky tree and Lily Mae is a quiet tree. They all reached their arms up to the sky, pretending that their branches were climbing toward the sun. Their impersonations are really quite good – I nearly mistook them for actual trees. Lily Mae would like to … Continue reading →

Squids Will Be Squids: Fresh Morals, Beastly Fables – Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

Of course it was the title that caught my eye first. But the fascination with this children’s book didn’t end there. We begin with a tongue-in-cheek introduction, telling us what a fable is and introducing us to Aesop, undoubtedly the most famous of all fable-tellers. We are then told that this book is a collection of fables Aesop might have told, if he’d ever gotten around to it. First we read the story entitled “Grasshopper Logic.” A short tale in favor of doing one’s homework, the moral of the story is, “There are plenty of things to say to calm … Continue reading →

Hannah and the Seven Dresses – Marthe Jocelyn

I’m fascinated by the many different mediums children’s book illustrators use as they create pictures. In “Hannah and the Seven Dresses,” we see a clever way to show texture and color – the author, who is also the illustrator, made cloth collages and used them for the pictures. This is perfectly suited to the story, as the story is about clothes. Hannah sometimes has a hard time making decisions. You see, she has a closet full of lovely dresses, which she loves to wear, but it can be very hard to decide what dress to wear on what day. All … Continue reading →

Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore! – David McPhail

In “Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore!” David McPhail capitalizes on his main strengths – clever illustrations and charming rhymes. The tight rhythmic cadence will make reading this story aloud all the more fun. Our main character was sitting in his easy chair, reading a book late into the night, when he heard some strange crunching sounds. When he goes into the kitchen to investigate, he slips on a banana peel, left there by a snacking bovine, and lands on a pile of pigs eating dates and figs. They were all over his kitchen, eating him out of house and home! They … Continue reading →

More Moonbear Books by Frank Asch

As promised yesterday, here are some more books in the popular “Moonbear” series by Frank Asch. First is “Moondance.” One night, Bear and Little Bird were sitting together looking at the sky when Bear said he wished he could dance with the moon, but he thought the moon was too special to want to dance with him. Little Bird suggested he might dance with the clouds instead, but even when he asked politely, the clouds stayed in the sky and wouldn’t come down to dance with him. Bear went to sleep a little discouraged that night, but when he woke … 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 →