Authors:
Hardcover, 64 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: 2004-03


Reviews :

   

"Once there was a tree . . . and she loved a little boy." So begins a story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein.

Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk . . . and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave.

This is a tender story, touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. Shel Silverstein has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another’s capacity to love in return.

...

    To say that this particular apple tree is a "giving tree" is an understatement. In Shel Silverstein's popular tale of few words and simple line drawings, a tree starts out as a leafy playground, shade provider, and apple bearer for a rambunctious little boy. Making the boy happy makes the tree happy, but with time it becomes more challenging for the generous tree to meet his needs. When he asks for money, she suggests that he sell her apples. When he asks for a house, she offers her branches for lumber. When the boy is old, too old and sad to play in the tree, he asks the tree for a boat. She suggests that he cut her down to a stump so he can craft a boat out of her trunk. He unthinkingly does it. At this point in the story, the double-page spread shows a pathetic solitary stump, poignantly cut down to the heart the boy once carved into the tree as a child that said "M.E. T." "And then the tree was happy... but not really." When there's nothing left of her, the boy returns again as an old man, needing a quiet place to sit and rest. The stump offers up her services, and he sits on it. "And the tree was happy." While the message of this book is unclear (Take and take and take? Give and give and give? Complete self-sacrifice is good? Complete self-sacrifice is infinitely sad?), Silverstein has perhaps deliberately left the book open to interpretation. (All ages) --Karin Snelson ...

Authors: Sam Mcbratney.
Board book, 24 pages
Publisher: Candlewick
Publication Date: 2008-10-14


Reviews :

    "Guess how much I love you," says Little Nutbrown Hare. Little Nutbrown Hare shows his daddy how much he loves him: as wide as he can reach and as far as he can hop. But Big Nutbrown Hare, who can reach farther and hop higher, loves him back just as much. Well then Little Nutbrown Hare loves him right up to the moon, but that's just halfway to Big Nutbrown Hare's love for him....

    Little Nutbrown Hare wants very much to impress Big Nutbrown Hare with the enormous scale of his devotion, but ends up being the one who's impressed. Subtitled "a pop-up edition," this sturdy square edition of Sam McBratney's ever-popular Guess How Much I Love You is probably better described as a "slide-along edition." Some pages do include pop-ups, but they aren't the best ones; instead, most involve pull-tabs which animate the two rabbits and their surroundings. One of the most appealing scenes simply shows Little Nutbrown Hare hopping up and down. In a purely technical sense this exercise in interactive cardboard technology is well behind some of the competition, but the tale has a timeless charm and the very simplicity of the movements makes it easy for small fingers to waggle the tabs and take control of the story. (Ages 2 to 4) --Richard Farr ...

Authors: Mary Pope Osborne.
Hardcover, 128 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 2008-09-23


Reviews :

    JACK AND ANNIE continue their quest for the secrets of happiness—secrets they need to save Merlin. This time, the Magic Tree House takes them to the one continent they haven’t visited before: Antarctica! What can they hope to learn about happiness in such a barren place? Only the penguins know for sure . . . Jack and Annie are about to find out!...

Authors: Robert N. Munsch.
Hardcover, 32 pages
Publisher: Firefly Books
Publication Date: 1995-09-01
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    A young woman holds her newborn son and looks at him lovingly. Softly she sings to him "I'll love you forever, /I'll like you for always/ As long as I'm living/my baby you'll be".This is the story of how that little boy goes through the stages of childhood and becomes a man....

    The mother sings to her sleeping baby: "I'll love you forever / I'll love you for always / As long as I'm living / My baby you'll be." She still sings the same song when her baby has turned into a fractious 2-year-old, a slovenly 9-year-old, and then a raucous teen. So far so ordinary--but this is one persistent lady. When her son grows up and leaves home, she takes to driving across town with a ladder on the car roof, climbing through her grown son's window, and rocking the sleeping man in the same way. Then, inevitably, the day comes when she's too old and sick to hold him, and the roles are at last reversed. Each stage is illustrated by one of Sheila McGraw's comic and yet poignant pastels. (Ages 4 to 8) --Richard Farr...

Authors:
Hardcover, 40 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Press
Publication Date: 2003-04-01


Reviews :

    When a bus driver takes a break from his route, a very unlikely volunteer springs up to take his place-a pigeon! But you've never met one like this before. As he pleads, wheedles, and begs his way through the book, children will love being able to answer back and decide his fate. In his hilarious picture book debut, popular cartoonist Mo Willems perfectly captures a preschooler's temper tantrum....

Authors: Kate Dicamillo.
Paperback, 228 pages
Publisher: Candlewick
Publication Date: 2007-12-26


Reviews :

    Once, in a house on Egypt Street, there lived a china rabbit named Edward Tulane. The rabbit was very pleased with himself, and for good reason: he was owned by a girl named Abilene, who adored him completely. And then, one day, he was lost. . . .

Kate DiCamillo takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the depths of the ocean to the net of a fisherman, from the bedside of an ailing child to the bustling streets of Memphis. Along the way, we are shown a miracle -- that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again....

Authors:
Hardcover, 40 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: 2008-09-01


Reviews :

   

As all the other leaves float off and fly past, Little Yellow Leaf thinks, I'm not ready yet.

As the seasons change all around, Little Yellow Leaf holds on to the tree. Still not ready.

Will Little Yellow Leaf ever be ready?

This is a story for anyone who has ever been afraid of facing the unknown—and a celebration of the friends who help us take the leap.

...

Authors: Sandra Boynton.
Board book, 24 pages
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Publication Date: 2003-05-22


Reviews :

    A great big hug in book form, Snuggle Puppy is a year-round valentine from parent to child. It is bright, chunky, a pleasure to hold, and has a die-cut cover that reveals a glimpse of the joy inside before it's even opened. Best of all, it's packed, of course, with pure Boynton: her inimitable language, her inimitable illustrations, her inimitable sense of fun.

OOO, Snuggle Puppy of mine! Everything about you is especially fine. I love what you are. I love what you do. Fuzzy little Snuggle Puppy, I love you. Featuring a sweet and cuddly doggie cast and rhyming verse, Snuggle Puppy is the perfect bedtime book to read last, because of an ending that kids will want again and again: I started with OOO. . . . Now we'll end like this: [BIG SMOOCH!]...

Authors: Jamie Lee Curtis.
Hardcover, 40 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: 1998-10-31
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Today I feel silly. Mom says it's the heat.
I put rouge on the cat and gloves on my feet.
I ate noodles for breakfast and pancakes at night.
I dressed like a star and was quite a sight.

Today I am sad, my mood's heavy and gray.
There's a frown on my face and it's been there all day.
My best friend and I had a really big fight.
She said that I tattled and I know that she's right.

Silly, cranky, excited, or sad--everyone has moods that can change each day. Jamie Lee Curtis's zany and touching verse, paired with Laura Cornell's whimsical and original illustrations, helps kids explore, identify, and, even have fun with their ever-changing moods.

Here's another inspired picture book from the bestselling author-illustrator team of Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born and When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old's Memoir of Her Youth.

...

    Jamie Lee Curtis has starred in many movies, but she says that the children's books she has written mean more to her than any of her films. She and artist Laura Cornell have previously collaborated on two bestselling books: Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born and When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old's Memoir of Her Youth. This time, we follow a little girl with curly red hair through 13 different moods, beginning with silly: "Today I feel silly. / Mom says it's the heat. I put rouge on the cat / and gloves on my feet." Of course, silly soon turns to grumpy and mean... to excited... to confused, and so on. Recognizing one's own mood swings is a developmental milestone, one that some adults haven't yet mastered! Cornell's watercolor illustrations--wildly expressive and energetic--effectively capture the volatility of our redheaded star. Whether she is happy or mad or dancing a solo in jazz, she is always "full of pizzazz," and this book is, too. A clever mood wheel on the last page allows young readers to change the little girl's expression--both her eyes and mouth. This is silly fun with a smart lesson for children from ages 4 to 8. --Marcie Bovetz...

Authors:
Hardcover, 40 pages
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Publication Date: 2005-05-05


Reviews :

    Llama, Llama red pajama waiting, waiting for his mama. Mama isn’t coming yet. Baby Llama starts to fret. In this infectious rhyming read-aloud, Baby Llama turns bedtime into an all-out llama drama! Tucked into bed by his mama, Baby Llama immediately starts worrying when she goes downstairs, and his soft whimpers turn to hollers when she doesn’t come right back. But just in time, Mama returns to set things right. Children will relate to Baby Llama’s need for comfort, as much as parents will appreciate Mama Llama’s reassuring message....