friday's five

Time to talk picture books, and as always, to promote the fabulous resource that is our public library system. This week's five fun reads come from our latest library visit, where we stocked up on books from both the new releases section and the general shelves. We also were thrilled (perhaps me the most!) to discover that a book we put on hold had come in. It's been flying off the shelf since the library system acquired some copies, so we had to go the reserve route. It was worth the wait, I'm happy to report!

1. Frank and Ernest by Alexandra Day -- Diner lingo fun for kids. Frank and Ernest are pals (with a marvelous name pairing- I love this play on words) who decide to run a diner together, and they quickly get right into the game with their very first order. As the orders come in, they are relayed from the counter to the kitchen in silly lingo with connections that may go right over children's heads, but will surely make them giggle anyway. My favorite? Jell-o = nervous pudding. Ha! You'll probably recognize Day's illustrative style from Good Dog, Carl and the like.

2. The Princess and the Pizza by Mary Jane and Herm Auch -- Some years ago, my preschool class was doing a study on pizza, and I remember reading this book with them during a story time. It's a strange story, though, and I'm still a bit weirded out by one reference to the queen threatening to behead the losers of a competition of princesses to marry her son. Yeah, that sounds even worse here, so you may be wondering why I'm including this one at all. Well, Red picked it up from the library and has been talking about it nonstop for a week. (Minus the beheading threat, which was then revealed to be "just a joke" by story's end. Weird, right?)

3. Traffic Pups by Michelle Meadows and illustrated by Dan Andreasen -- Here's a new release from just last month, a cute book about some little toys come to life to act out their traffic police dreams. Tickets are written, an accident is attended to, and order is restored, all completed in time before the little boy returns to his bedroom. Red and Pudge both enjoyed this short story, and I predict its simple text will invite them back to retell the story on their own. This prompted some toys-come-to-life imaginings of their own, and Red is seriously pondering this possibility.

4. I Must Have Bobo! by Eileen Rosenthal and illustrated by Marc Rosenthal -- We may not be a cat-owning family, but the kids certainly understood what was going on with this story right away, and unfortunately, it did not deter their cat-owning-desires. A little boy and his stuffed monkey Bobo are inseparable, except if Earl the cat has any say in the matter. In few words, this story is perfectly told, with expressions on the boy's and the cat's faces that fit just perfectly. This one has been popular around here!

5. Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems -- It was only a matter of time before the newest Elephant & Piggie book made it's way to friday's five, you had to know that, right? Oh, we thought we had this one's ending figured out during our first read through together. (For story time purposes with a large group, I always advice readers to know their story, but with Mo books, I like to experience them the first time right alongside the kids!) We even predicted how the sneaky Pigeon would appear in the end pages. Alas, we were wrong on both accounts, although we were pretty darn close on the ending. (The Pigeon? Hilarious rendering.) What needs to be said about E&P? This book, like the others, is original, witty, full of emotion in sparse text that has impeccable comic timing and encourages children to read and act out the story. Perfect.


Yours in fun children's literature,