Provo Library Children's Book Blog

I Didn't Do My Homework Because... Written by Davide Cali Illustrated by Benjamin Chaud Chronicle Books, 2014. Unpaged easy reader. A teacher asks her young pupil, "So, why didn't you do your homework?" The child rattles off dozens of excuses for not doing it. They range from "An airplane full of monkeys landed in our yard," to "A tornado swept up all of my books!" In every detailed illustration, the student looks as though he is desperately trying to do his work.In the end, he wonders why the teacher doesn't believe him. The answer is surprising and funny. This is a must-read for all first graders!

How to Cheer Up Dad By Fred Kohler Dial Books for Young Readers, 2014. Unpaged picture book. Little Jumbo is wreaking havoc around the house, which makes Dad pretty unhappy. Who would be happy with an elephant son who refuses to eat his breakfast, take a bath, or wear clothes? Then Little Jumbo suggests Dad takes a time-out to improve his mood. (This doesn't go over well with Dad.) He thinks of some loving ways to cheer him up, like giving him a hug and sharing his ice cream. I love this picture book, and I think it would make a wonderful birthday or Father's Day gift for weary dads. The artwork is full of life and personality, and will get a laugh out of parents and children. One especially priceless scene features Jumbo standing on his chair, blowing raisins to the ceiling...then they land on Dad's head.

Hank Finds an Egg by Rebecca Dudley Peter Pauper Press, 2013.  Unpaged. Picture Book A small bear-like creature, named Hank, finds a little, white egg sitting on the forest floor. He quickly locates the nest from which the egg has fallen--but that is when his real problems begin.  There are no words in this book--the gentle and charming tale is told only in pictures. Children will love looking at the photographs and trying to guess what it is that Hank plans to do next. Every once in while you come across a book whose illustrations make you stop and wonder, how did they do that? Hank Finds an Egg is such a book.  Each and every picture is a complicated miniature scene created from scratch. Every leaf, every tree, even the characters have been lovingly created in careful detail.The story line is simple and the pictures stunning. Check it out for yourself.

Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald Dial, 2014.  247 pgs. Mystery      Theodora Tenpenny is pretty much on her own after her grandfather Jack dies. She lives with her Mom, but her mother is kind of cuckoo - she only works on mathematical theorems all day, and drinks expensive, exotic tea blends. Jack died in an auto-pedestrian accident, but before he passed away he told Theo to look under the egg to find a letter . . . and a treasure. Theo's family keeps chickens in the backyard, and has a vegetable garden to supplement their meager income. Each day, honor of place goes to the first egg laid which is set in a cradle on the mantelpiece to be replaced the next day by a freshly-laid one. Theo doesn't find anything under the real egg, but when she takes her grandfather's picture of an egg down from the mantelpiece, she finds an obviously old and probably very valuable painting which may even be a Raphael. How she and her new celebrity friend Bodhi discover ...

Dirt Movers By Bobbie Kalman Younger readers love snowplows, cement mixers, backhoes, bulldozers, diggers, and dump trucks. Children will be thrilled by the many large, full-color photos of these mighty machines in action! Digger: What Does It Do? By Jennifer Zeiger Almost anything we build requires some sort of digging. Buildings, tunnels, and swimming pools all start with holes in the ground. Readers will find out how different kinds of diggers are used to create these holes. They will also learn about how diggers are used to help scientists learn more about the Earth. The Diggers Are Coming! By Susan Steggall Uses rhyming text to follow different construction vehicles, including bulldozers, diggers, and trucks, as they build a group of houses. Job Site By Nathan Clement The bulldozer, the excavator, the loader and other heavy machinery all have important tasks to accomplish at the job site: digging, lifting, carrying, dumping, moving, shapin...

Tesla's Attic by Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman Hyperion, 2014.  246 pgs. Science Fiction      When Nick's family moves from Tampa to Colorado Springs after a house fire has killed Nick's mom, it falls to Nick to clean out the attic so he can have his own bedroom there. After getting beaned by a falling toaster, Nick cleans up and cleans out, but notices strange goings-on while he does. The pile of stuff he decides to sell at a yard sale keeps rearranging itself to the center of the room and his bed won't stay where he puts it either.  Even though it's raining during the yard sale, people flock in, forcing exorbitant sums on him for stuff that looks like junk. Soon the pieces of "junk" begin to exhibit unusual properties:  an old "See and Say" toy finishes thoughts and dispenses prescient advice; a reel to reel tape recorder records what people are really thinking instead of what they actually say; and an old box camera takes pictures of t...

Como Esconder un León By Helen Stephens Ediciones B. S. A., Scholastic Ltd., 30 pg. Picture Book This funny and tender story is one you have to read with your children. How do you hide a lion?, this little girl tried to help a friendly lion in distress. You'll have to read this book to find out how things work out! Este curioso y tierno cuento es uno que debe de leer con sus niños. ¿Como esconder un león?, esta  niña pequeña decide ayudar a su amigo león en esta situación afligida. ¡Tiene que leer este libro para saber con detalle como termina todo!

Little Big Horse: Where's My Bike? By Dave Horowitz Scholastic, 2014. Unpaged easy reader. When school is finally out for the day, Little Big Horse runs outside to the bike rack- only to see that his bike is missing. Then Pablo the bull rides by on Little's bike, and sneers, "Finders keepers." Little, so sad, trudges on home. He soon comes across Pablo, crying over a broken bike- HIS broken bike! Can these two fix the bike and make amends? This is a great, new easy reader. It's got the right amount of humor and real life predicaments- aside from the fact that the main characters are a horse and bull! Dave Horowitz has a gift for visual humor. I especially loved all of the emotions on Little Big Horse's face, which range from sorrow over his missing bike to total glee when it's found.

Doña Eremita, Reina de la Carretera By Quentin Blake Ediciones Ekare, 32 pg., Picture Book Mrs. Eremita has received a card telling her the best news ever, she is the owner of her uncle's car. Things are a little bit crazy after that, she is a fun lady, and you will lough along at the peculiar things that happen through her crazy day. I truly enjoy this book! La señora Eremita ha recibido una tarjeta donde le dan la mejor noticia, ella es la dueña del carro de su tío. Las cosas se vuelven locas después de este acontecimiento, la señora es muy graciosa, y le hará reír las cosas tan particulares que le pasan a ella durante su día tan loco. ¡Me encantó este libro!

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch Written by Anne Isaacs Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes Schwartz and Wade Books, 2014.  Unpaged. Picture Book When Widow Tulip Jones comes to inherit a nice ranch in Texas, she packs up her three servants and all her unusual pets and heads out for grand new adventures. However, all the single men in the state of Texas decide that a woman in possession of a great fortune must be in want of a husband. Pretty soon, Tulip and her staff are run ragged just trying to deal with all the suitors. Written in the style of a tall tale, this story is a hilarious and irreverent western romp that readers both young and old will love.

Zeke Meeks vs the Big Blah-rific Birthday by D. L. Green North Mankato, Minn. : Picture Window Books, c2013. 116 pages. Intermediate chapter book. Zeke is not thrilled with his mom's idea of a birthday party at home. He wants to take everyone to the amusement park but that's too expensive. Then his second choice is to have lots of entertainment like a musician and magician and balloon guy at his party. Alas, his mother says that is too expensive as well. Then two of his classmates plan parties for the same weekend! Instead of having his own boring party he decides to attend the other ones. Things don't go quite as planned and Zeke's mom gets a surprise party of her own. A funny story that will entertain kids 1st-3rd grades.

Zip It! by Jane Lindaman illustrations by Nancy Carlson Minneapolis : Carolrhoda Books, c2012. unpaged picture book Joe tries desperately to tell his father to zip his fly as they are running around town doing errands. However, his loquacious parent keeps interrupting and ignoring this vital bit of news.  The best part is that everything the father chatters on and on about has a pun on the crisis at hand. For example he tells Joe, "Button up!" and he goes to the hardware store looking for "hardware and fasteners". Joe finally has to resort to a dramatic method of getting his dad's attention. But guess what? It works!!! This is a silly comic-style picture book that is sure to get some laughs out of most readers. The end was a little anticlimactic for me in the humor department. My absolute favorite element was the family car having a license plate of "XYZPDQ"!

When Christmas Comes Again: The World War I Diary of Simone Spencer By Beth Seidel Levine Teenage Simone's diaries for 1917 and 1918 reveal her experiences as a carefree member of New York society, then as a "Hello girl," a volunteer switchboard operator for the Army Signal Corps in France. After the Dancing Days By Margaret Rostkowski A forbidden friendship with a badly disfigured soldier in the aftermath of World War I forces thirteen-year-old Annie to redefine the word "hero" and to question conventional ideas of patriotism. The Sinking of the Lusitania: An Interactive History Adventure By Steven Otfinoski  It's 1915 and the Lusitania is set to sail from New York on its 202nd Atlantic crossing. But this will be a dangerous trip, as German U-boats lurk beneath the surface. Will you: Experience the journey as an American boy traveling in second class to England with his family? Travel first class as a young woman on her h...

Legends, Icons, and Rebels: Music That Changed the World By Robbie Robertson Tundra Books, 2013. 119 pages. Nonfiction. Legends, Icons, and Rebels is an encyclopedia of some of music's greats. This volume covers twenty-seven musicians, from Louis Armstrong to Joni Mitchell. There are playlists for each person, and the book comes with two compilation CDs. Each artist's biography is two pages of personal history, musical influences, and random tidbits. What about Johnny Cash, the "Man in Black"? He was kicked by an ostrich once, which broke 5 of his ribs!  The design of this book is colorful and exciting. Also, the size of the book is the same as a record sleeve! I hope to see more volumes in the future.

The Odd One Out: A Spotting Book By Britta Teckentrup Candlewick Press, 2014. Unpaged picture book. The Odd One Out is a fresh, spot-it picture book.  Teckentrup uses rhyming couplets and varied vocabulary to offer clues about what to look for. Her illustrations play with spectacular shading, colors and patterns. Another cool feature is that there are teaching moments about each species' behavior. On each page, the reader is asked to spot one different animal among its fellows; for example, a bird with a worm among many worm-less birds. The challenges progress in difficulty, until the last page full of different animals, and the reader is asked to find a unique animal not previously featured. Overall, good for hours of fun and a brain workout for all ages.

Some Bugs Written by Angela DiTerlizzi Illustrated by Brendan Wenzel Beach Lane Books, 2014. Unpaged picture book. Some Bugs is a beautiful, illustrated field guide for learning about and spying all kinds of insects. The common theme is that, whether they sting or stink, flutter or fly, all bugs are fascinating. What I love about this picture book is that the illustrations (including font) are spectacular, and children will have lots to see and learn. Some of the bugs reappear on later pages, offering readers a chance to recall their special traits. A perfectly fun book for springtime bug hunting.

¡Piip! ¡Piip! Combel Editorial, S. A., 11 pg., Small Picture Book This board book, has the all the makings of a great  book for the little preschoolers. It has pictures of all kind of vehicles in very bright colors and shapes. The textures on the book are great for little hands to touch and retouch. I can't imagine anyone not liking this interesting and appealing little book.  Este librito tiene todas las características de un libro muy bueno para los niños de edad pre-escolar. Tiene figuras de toda clase de vehículos, en colores y formas vibrantes. Las texturas en este libro son fantásticas para las manitos que quieren tocar y retocar. No puedo imaginar a alguien quien no le gustaría este interesante y curioso librito.

Go! Go! Go! Stop! by Charise Mericle Harper Random House, 2014.  Unpaged.  Picture Book      Little Green's first word is "Go."  It is Little Green's only word and he says it over and over which is good because it gets all the cranes and bulldozers, and cement mixers working on the new bridge.  Go Go Go, they go. But soon they are all going and going until they run into each other and make such messes that the bridge work stalls out.  Luckily along comes Little Red who tells everyone to Stop. With Little Green and Little Red taking turns, the trucks and excavators are soon back in business, building the bridge. "Go!" shouts Little Green.  "Stop!" says Little Red.  Before long, everything is herky-jerky.  Shall we stop? Shall we go?  Just in time, along comes Little Yellow . . . .

1 2 3 San Antonio, A Cool Counting Book By, Puck Board Book, Duo Press, LLC, 2014 This book is part of a series of board books aimed at teaching children their numbers, while teaching them about different cities across America. Who knew what fun place this is to be?!  The pictures are simple and the numbers are large, perfect for little ones.  It's also great for teaching children to connect the numbers to objects.  Perfect for parents who want some fun when they're reading board books, with ten conversation starters at the end of the book, it's a win-win! 

Por que Suena el Teléfono y otras Preguntas sobre Comunicaciones By Richard Mead Libros del Rincón, Editorial Everest, Non Fiction This is a great book that gives some good and short answers to many questions. Communication is sometimes a little bit tricky. Some actions or hand signals can mean different things, especially in other countries. Our senses also communicate to our brain and let us know what is going on around us. We communicate by way of writing, painting, or through stain glass pictures. This book explores the different ways we communicate. Este libro interesante, nos da respuestas cortas y precisas a muchas preguntas. La comunicación a veces es un poco entreverada, algunas acciones de manos significan diferentes cosas, especialmente en otros países del  mundo. Nuestros sentidos también nos comunican por medio de nuestro cerebro y nos da a saber lo que esta pasando a nuestro alrededor. Nos comunicamos a través de escritura, pintura, o por medio de pinturas e...