friday's five

The gigantic pile of Cybils Award nominated books is slowly dwindling... well, sorta... the big pile has been sorted into smaller piles... and well, yeah. There are still lots of piles. Whatever. It's a good thing we all like books around these parts.

The best part of being a Round 1 Judge is the motivation to read 200+ picture books that I may not have read before. The kids are trying to keep up with me, and here are five books that we've enjoyed in the last couple of weeks.

1. Blue Chicken by Deborah Freedman -- I love the book description on the Amazon page that calls this a "deceptively simple picture book." I have to admit that I didn't "get" the appeal at first, but upon repeated readings I've come to really love the whole meta thing that's going on, the characters' awareness that they are, in fact, characters in a picture book. The mess of some spilled blue ink makes for a funny plot line that kids really crack up at, and though the text isn't complex, the story is definitely fun to read.

2. The Twins' Blanket by Hyewon Yum-- With three kids under my roof, I am well aware of the bickering that accompany the life of siblings. I can only imagine that twins sometimes experience this bickering at a different level with their identities being so closely connected. The little girls in this beautifully illustrated book certainly do their share of bickering (can you tell this is a word that's well-used in my home vocabulary?!), but their love for each other is undeniable, too. The story of the blanket they've shared since infancy is heartwarming and just lovely.

3. Seasons by Anne Crausaz -- I happen to love this topic as fodder for kids' books, because there's something just magical about the yearly flow from one season to the next. This is one of the first cyclical patterns that young children begin to understand, and they get to experience it again and again- the joy of seeing the new buds growing on trees or the awesomeness of the first snowfall of winter. This book encourages children to explore each season with all their senses, really heightening an observation by calling to attention how things smell, look, taste, sound and feel. And, the illustrations are striking- not sure how they were created, but clearly there is some computer manipulation going on, and it looks really cool.

4. Dog in Boots by Greg Gormley and illustrated by Roberta Angaramo -- Look at that adorable little guy on the cover. Well, after reading a classic story, he's inspired to do his own shoe shopping, but he seems to be having a little trouble finding just the right kind of footwear for all of his favorite activities- running, scratching, swimming, and digging. Will the shopkeeper help him choose the right kind? Kids will giggle along with Dog as he tries out shoe after shoe, and something tells me that they will also happily predict how this one ends... though they may be surprised by the way Dog ends his day, and perhaps they'll even be inspired to tell their own follow-up story!

5. Animals Home Alone by Loes Riphagen -- Anyone who doesn't think wordless books don't tell a fabulous story needs to check this one out. Oh my, how I loved reading this with the kids. There's so much going on here, calling on children to really be observant and think critically about what has happened from one picture to the next. I love that children will pick this up and tell the story in their own words, and what a wacky story it is! This bizarre crew of animals has quite the set of adventures while the people are away, and it's pure joy to experience this book with your little ones. I'm thinking that this library copy will be here as long as possible, and at that point, I'll want to replace it with our own purchased copy!

As always, all opinions expressed here are mine alone, and not representative of the other judges or the Cybils Awards. I hope you find some books here that will bring a smile to your kids' faces! I encourage you to check out all the other nominated titles over at the Cybils Awards, and I am having a ton of fun reading through all the books and sharing my opinions with you all!


Joyfully drowning in kid lit,