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  Grandma Calls Me Beautiful

  By Barbara M. Joosse. Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. Chronicle, 2008. Ages 4–6.

  Set in Hawai‘i, this tender story depicts a devoted relationship between a grandmother and her grandchild. A young girl begs to her grandmother to tell “our story.” Grandma obliges, recalling a baby “bright as a kukui torch” whom Grandma calls Beautiful and who grows into the lovely child. A scattering of Hawaiian terms and cultural elements, and artwork in vibrant colors, convey a vivid sense of place.

  The Great Big Book of Families

  By Mary Hoffman. Illustrated by Ros Asquith. Dial, 2010. Ages 4–7.

  Be prepared for your child to spend lots of private time looking at the cartoon artwork in this tribute to family. Pictures gather together all kinds of families: black, white, brown, interracial; nuclear and extended families, families with same-sex parents, foster, adoptive and single-parent families. They work, play, eat, argue. They experience hard times and celebrate joyful occasions. The differences among the families are striking, but so are the similarities. Each picture is an opportunity for a child to fill in a family’s story.

  Guji Guji

  By Chih-Yuan Chen. Illustrated by the author. Kane/Miller, 2004. Ages 4–6.

  A surprise awaits Mama Duck when her eggs hatch. Out pops a crocodile! Despite his lack of feathers, the little guy is accepted as part of the family. Sneers from other crocs, however, bring home the truth about his difference and force him to decide which family he belongs to. Guess which one he chooses. Many countries have a version of the ugly duckling story; this one, published in Taiwan, is both charmingly told and humorously illustrated. Cheryl Bardoe’s The Ugly Duckling Dinosaur: A Prehistoric Tale, which ends quite differently, is another version worth sharing.

  The Hello, Goodbye Window

  By Norton Juster. Illustrated by Chris Raschka. Michael Di Capua, 2005. Ages 4–6.

  Nanna and Poppy love having their granddaughter spend the day, and the child loves being with them. The little girl rides her bike, watches as her grandparents go about their various activities, and takes a nap—all the while feeling safe and loved in the real world of her interracial family. Her imagination takes over as she looks out her grandparents’ kitchen window, which Nanna insists is magic. From there she sees all manner of wonderful things: a striped cat becomes a tiger; the Queen of England arrives for tea. She also sees her loving parents arriving to pick her up at the end of the day. The playful artwork—all swirls and squiggles and patches of paint—purposefully calls to mind a child’s own simple coloring. Nanna, Poppy, and their granddaughter appear together again in Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie, about the little girl’s ever-changing moods.

  Henry’s First-Moon Birthday

  By Lenore Look. Illustrated by Yumi Heo. Atheneum, 2001. Ages 4–6.

  Jenny has always helped care for her baby brother, Henry. To celebrate his first birthday in the traditional Chinese fashion, the family plans a first-moon birthday party. While she works alongside Gnin Gnin, her grandmother, she chats about the goings-on: special good luck messages, the food, her new dress, doting relatives. Her pique at Henry for getting all the attention is only temporary—and utterly realistic. By the end of the day, there’s no doubt about her love. Family chaos, sibling rivalry, and a glimpse of Chinese culture are rolled into a tidy, very pleasing package.

  How to Be a Baby…by Me, the Big Sister

  By Sally Lloyd-Jones. Illustrated by Sue Heap. Schwartz and Wade, 2007. Ages 4–6.

  A sassy child narrator offers a clever, comical take on sibling rivalry. She sets herself squarely apart from babies in general by informing them (especially her little brother, who looks on) just what they can’t do. Along with being exceptionally sure of herself, she knows her baby stuff. “When you’re a baby you can’t…” dress yourself, dance, go to school, or have friends. When you talk, nobody understands you, and you can’t even appreciate TV! But after getting all that out into the open, she also lists some good things about being a baby (nothing is your fault), and she even admits she might occasionally enjoy having someone adore her like they coo over her brother. Older sibs will delight in seeing some of their own opinions expressed so perfectly by someone else.

  I Love Saturdays y domingos

  By Alma Flor Ada. Illustrated by Elivia Savadier. Atheneum, 2002. Ages 4–6.

  On Saturdays a little girl visits Grandma and Grandpa; she spends Sundays, los domingos, with abuelito y abuelita, her Mexican American grandparents. She’s obviously cherished by all four, and she moves easily between the two cultures and the variety of things she does during her weekends. Spanish terms, easily understood in context, are scattered throughout a story that celebrates a child’s dual heritage.

  Henry’s First-Moon Birthday by Lenore Look

  Little Mamá Forgets

  By Robin Cruise. Illustrated by Stacey Dressen-McQueen. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2006. Ages 4–6.

  Lucy’s aging grandmother is losing her memory. Little Mamá does recall some things. She still brushes Lucy’s hair each night, a perfect one hundred strokes, but other things, like how to clean her teeth, are lost to her until Lucy explains how to do them. Regardless of the changes Lucy sees in her beloved relative, she has a scrapbook full of pictures to share with her grandmother and an abiding affection for the woman, who is dearly loved by her whole Mexican American family. Vibrant, colorful artwork reflects the story’s cultural backdrop, at the same time helping to make the realism at the heart of the story easier for young children to handle.

  Mamá and Me

  By Arthur Dorros. Illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez. Rayo. 2011. Ages 4–6.

  Like Dorros’s previous book Papá and Me, this story celebrates a parent-child bond during what seems to be an ordinary day. A mother and daughter fill their time together with pleasant activities: they visit family, bake cookies, shop. But all the while the little girl has a secret; she has been preparing a big surprise party for her mother, to which the whole family is invited. “¡Feliz día de las madres!” A festive book to share on Mom’s birthday.

  Mama’s Saris

  By Pooja Makhijani. Illustrated by Elena Gomez. Little, Brown, 2007. Ages 4–6.

  Watching as her mother puts on one of her lovely saris, an East Indian child living in America admires its beauty, so different from the slacks and sweaters her mother wears to work. Now that she is growing up, she longs to wear one, too. Together mother and daughter recall the occasions when Mama wore each of her saris. The to the girl’s delight, Mama drapes her lovingly in a wrap of vivid blue. The Hindi phrases are clearly defined in an introductory glossary. Pair this with Sandhya Rao’s My Mother’s Sari.

  Many Ways: How Families Practice Their Beliefs and Religions

  By Shelley Rotner and Sheila M. Kelly. Illustrated with photographs by Shelley Rotner. Millbrook, 2006. Ages: 4–7.

  With references to religion so often in the news, it’s natural for children to ask questions. Rotner’s photo essay sets out to answer some of them by introducing six different faiths: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism. The text provides plenty of information while keeping the age level of the audience clearly in mind, and clear, colorful photographs show places of worship, religious symbols, distinctive practices, and children and adults worshiping—together and as individuals.

  Molly and Her Dad

  By Jan Ormerod. Illustrated by Carol Thompson. Roaring Brook, 2008. Ages 4–6.

  Claire Masurel’s Two Homes (below) depicts a child shuttling between the homes of two loving parents. In this book, a young girl, Molly, barely knows her father, who lives very far away. Molly loves to make up stories about him: he’s a famous artist, an astronaut, an explorer. Then Molly’s mom has to take a trip, and her father, who is big and loud and silly, comes to stay. She’s wary of him at first. She doesn’t even know what to call him. Daddy? Joe? What’s more, he’s not at all what she imagined. But as “Papa” wins over her friends with his
humor and great stories, Molly begins to appreciate him as he really is. Bo R. Holmberg also writes about the difficulties of parents and children who live far apart in A Day with Dad.

  Monday Is One Day

  By Arthur A. Levine. Illustrated by Julian Hector. Scholastic, 2011. Ages 4–6.

  Perfect for children whose parents work, this countdown to the weekend extols special times that parents and children can share during the week. Each day offers something new: “Monday is one day…Tuesday is blue shoes day,” and on and on, until Saturday finally rolls around. All kinds of families from many different places share the visual spotlight in a book confirming that unplanned time together can be the best part of any day.

  The Money We’ll Save

  By Brock Cole. Illustrated by the author. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2011. Ages 4–7

  Ma sends Pa to bring a turkey home for Christmas dinner. He does—but the one he chooses is still alive and gobbling: just think of “the money we’ll save.” Although there’s barely room for the family in their cramped nineteenth-century tenement, Alfred (as the turkey comes to be called) makes himself at home and begins to grow larger and larger, louder and louder, and more and more part of the family. It becomes increasingly difficult to think of Alfred as a main course, but something has to be done. It’s a delightfully crazy family story, with a cast of distinctive characters and a charmingly detailed setting that introduces a time gone by.

  The Moon

  By Robert Louis Stevenson. Illustrated by Tracey Campbell Pearson. Farrar Straus Giroux. Ages 4–6.

  A father and son tiptoe out of their house for a nighttime boat ride. Their journey is reflected in the text of Stevenson’s famous poem, which begins “When the moon has a face / like the clock on the wall.” With the moon prominent in nearly every picture, the illustrations follow the pair on their journey—from the house, to the pier, in the boat, and finally back home. The quiet scenes, which complement and expand the poem, not only make the book a perfect sendoff to dreamland but also provide a lovely introduction to a great poem.

  My Abuelita

  By Tony Johnston. Illustrated by Yuyi Morales. Houghton Mifflin, 2009. Ages 4–6.

  Spanish words are scattered throughout this child’s loving tribute to the grandmother with whom he lives. An award-winning illustrator, Morales uses a wonderful variety of materials to create the striking art. Children will have great fun picking out objects (puppets, stuffed toys, found objects, metal fittings, and more) that appear in pictures of everyday activities, such as having breakfast. The boy knows Abuelita may be “as old as the hills,” with a face as “crinkled as a dried chile,” but it’s plain he adores her all the same.

  My Big Brother

  By Miriam Cohen. Illustrated by Ronald Himler. Star Bright, 2005. Ages 4–6.

  Brotherly love is the theme of a book that has special resonance for families today. A little boy, a middle child in an African American family, idolizes his older brother, who has taught him many things. When the older brother joins the army (“college costs a lot”), the whole family, especially the little boy, feels the loss. To live up to what his mentor has taught him, the middle child adopts the role of teacher to help the littlest brother along. The story, relayed in the middle brother’s voice, is straightforwardly told, but its emotional undercurrents are hard to miss. Two other good books on subject of a family member in the military are My Red Balloon by Eve Bunting and While You Are Away by Eileen Spinelli.

  My Father Is Taller Than a Tree

  By Joseph Bruchac. Illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin. Dial, 2010. Ages 4–6.

  Pictures of thirteen diverse pairs of fathers (papás, pops, dads) and sons fill pages of this ode to Everydad. Dads and sons enjoy familiar activities together. They walk in the park, drink hot cocoa on a cold day, share a book before turning out the lights. One dad is older with gray hair, another is blind; but no matter what, they are heroes to their sons. For a comical take on father-son relationships, read Ethan Long’s raucous My Dad, My Hero.

  My Mei Mei

  By Ed Young. Illustrated by the author. Philomel, 2006. Ages 4–6.

  An award-winning author-illustrator draws on his own experience as an adoptive parent to tell the story of his two daughters. The story unfolds as memories of his eldest daughter, who tells how her parents brought her from China to her new home in America. Later she talks about the family’s return to China to adopt her little sister—at first a rival for attention, then later a much-loved sibling. Close-knit family ties are perfectly visualized in Young’s pencil-and-paint family.

  The Name Quilt

  By Phyllis Root. Illustrated by Margot Apple. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2003. Ages 4–6.

  Each time Sadie spends the night with Grandma, she chooses one of the embroidered names on the old patchwork quilt that covers her bed. The names belong to family members, and each one has a story. Sadie listens as Grandma tells their tales. One day a strong wind blows the quilt off the clothesline. Sadie is upset by the loss, until Grandma reminds her of the stories they have shared and lays out plans to begin a new quilt to honor their relatives—this one including Sadie’s name.

  Old Bear and His Cub

  By Olivier Dunrea. Illustrated by the author. Philomel, 2010. Ages 4–6.

  Though they obviously love each other, Old Bear and Little Cub are sometimes at odds. Will Little Bear eat his porridge? Will he wear his scarf? Will he take a nap? Little Bear’s resistance usually gives way to Old Bear’s good sense. Then papa bear comes down with a nasty winter cold, and Little Bear gets an opportunity to take charge. Repetitive phrases make this book fun to read aloud, but what will please listeners most is the image of a little guy finally getting a chance to give the orders.

  Once upon a Baby Brother

  By Sarah Sullivan. Illustrated by Tricia Tusa. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2010. Ages 4–6.

  Lizzie has always loved making up stories to tell her doting parents. Her favorite character is Princess Merriweather. When her baby brother, Marvin, is born and becomes the center of everyone’s attention, Lizzie’s imagination turns to a different sort of story. Now she spins tales and makes comics about an ugly Marvinosaurus, a creature strangely reminiscent of Marvin when he’s messing with her things. Lizzie is gleeful when Mom takes Marvin on a trip, but she surprises herself by missing him. Upon his return she pens a comic to prove it: “The Amazing Adventures of Marvin (with Big George the Wonder Dog).”

  Our Grandparents: A Global Album

  By Maya Ajmera and others. Illustrated with photographs. Charlesbridge, 2010. Ages 3–6.

  A cooperative effort between the authors and the Global Fund for Children, this dynamic and colorful photo essay establishes the importance and role of grandparents in the lives of their grandchildren. Full-color photos taken in Canada, America, England, and more than thirty other places around the world capture the everyday connections between the generations: “With our grandparents we feel happy, safe, and loved.” An opening spread shows the word for grandparent in eighteen languages, and a world map locates the countries where the pictures were taken.

  Pecan Pie Baby

  By Jacqueline Woodson. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Putnam, 2010. Ages 4–6.

  A child copes with the coming arrival of a new baby. It’s not a new theme, but in this book Gia is an African American child growing up with a single-parent mom. When Gia hears her mother is having a baby, she’s realizes that life will change forever, and despite the best efforts of Mama and an affectionate extended family, Gia wants nothing to do with a “ding-dang” baby. In a moment of mother-daughter closeness, Gia feels the baby move in Mama’s tummy. The experience doesn’t make Gia’s anger and jealousy disappear, but it seems to both the loving parent and the child to be a step in the right direction.

  Pictures from Our Vacation

  By Lynne Rae Perkins. Illustrated by the author. Greenwillow, 2007. Ages 5–7.

  In preparation for a road trip that will take them to a reun
ion at their father’s family farm, Mom gives her children cameras and notebooks. But what the children snap and write about turns out to be less than accurate. Their tiny sketches and notes capture fail to capture the fun they really have—and the family bonds they forge.

  Silas’ Seven Grandparents

  By Anita Horrocks. Illustrated by Helen Flook. Orca, 2010. Ages 4–6.

  Children with traditional extended families may wonder how Silas got so many grandparents. On the other hand, a lot of children may find themselves in similar situations, with step-grandparents as eager to involve themselves as grandparents related by blood. Mostly Silas, an only child, loves the devotion heaped on him by doting Oma, Opa, Granny, Grandad, Gramma, Papa, and Nana. And he certainly likes birthdays when he gets three extra presents. Then his parents plan a trip, and he’s faced with seven invitations to sleep over. What’s a poor kid to do? As Silas knows, being always in the limelight can be exhausting—even when all the attention springs from love. Kids with fewer affectionate grandparents can still relate to this refreshingly unsentimental book.

  Pecan Pie Baby by Jacqueline Woodson

  Sleepover at Gramma’s House

  By Barbara Joosse. Illustrated by Jan Jutte. Philomel, 2010. Ages 4–6.

  A little elephant is having a sleepover with Gramma. She packs her nighty in her trunk and travels to grandma’s house. It’s a wonderful reunion. The two play games, tell each other stories, and act just plain silly. As sweet as the grandmother-grandchild relationship is the effervescent text and the refrain that runs throughout the story: “Oh. We love each other so.”