Birthday Books and Inscriptions for a Six-Year-Old

Six years ago today, it was close to 60 degrees.  I know this because it was the day I brought home my younger daughter from the hospital.  Despite the weather, I insisted on dressing her in the same pink, fleecy bunting, I'd come home from the hospital in nearly 33 years before.


Regular readers know that I always write inscriptions on the books I give my daughters for their birthdays.  Today my younger daughter turned 6.  I only gave her two books, with two more to follow which align thematically with a gift that my parents will give her this weekend.  I chose these two because they inspired repeated requests for reading, but I realized they dovetailed nicely with each other as they are both about sibling relationships.  So without further ado, here are the two books I gave her and what I wrote in them.

The Seven Chinese Sisters.  May you and your sister always find your own strengths and use them to help each other. 

Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare.  As you and your sibling grow up, fight, and compete with each other, may you always respect each other's passions and accomplishments and remember that, in spite of it all, you love each other.  After all, just see whom the author dedicated this book to! [It's her brother, of course, the "rotten Richie" of the title.]

What books have you given as gifts?  Do you inscribe them?

Library (and Bookstore) Round-up #11, Part 1: Picture Books and Early Readers

Reviews of the latest picture books we have out from the library... or couldn't resist buying!


The Twins' Blanket by Hyewon Yum.  A sweet story about twin sisters who have shared everything since - and including - the womb - as well as a bed and a blanket.  When their mother decides it is time for them to each have her own bed and blanket, she settles sibling rivalry over who should keep the original blanket with a satisfying Solomonic decision that provides each girl with a memento of their shared nights together.  The first time the girls retire to their new beds and blankets, they discover that they can't fall asleep without each other.  They hold hands across the divide between their beds and fall asleep, alone yet together, for the first time.  The illustrations here, with the endpapers done in the pattern each girl chooses for her own blanket, are beautiful, with bright bold colors.  It is amazing how many themes Yum addresses in this short, seemingly simple picture book: about siblings, twins, sharing, rivalry, parenting, bedtime, loveys and more.  The author description states that Yum is herself a twin, and her understanding of the special relationship twins have is very much in evidence here.  A perfect baby gift for new twin girls.

Ling and Ting Share a Birthday.  Another book about twin girls, this time an early reader! The sequel to Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same!, this book contains six stories about the girls' birthday and how they, too, like to share everything.  My five-year-old loves the first one so I actually purchased this one.  A great addition.

A Funny Little Bird by Jennifer Yerkes.  This book's stunning artwork, with its amazing use of negative space, is the real draw (tee-hee) here.  The plot, with its lesson about being humble and using your talents to help others, and the seemingly sudden ability of the invisible bird to make other animals invisible, is much weaker.  But the illustrations more than make up for it. 



ABC is for Circus by Patrick Hruby.  What a shame that this alphabet book, with its vibrant, unique illustrations, wasn't published when my daughters were toddlers!  Unfortunately, my daughter have long outgrown alphabet books, but I highly recommend it to anyone with children in their life who are the right age for it.


 
Rifka Takes a Bow by Betty Rosenberg Perlov.  The debut book by a 96-year-old author.  Isn't that reason enough to check this book out?  This book is set in the heyday of the Yiddish theatre in the 1920s, for which the author's parents actually performed, wrote, and produced.  However, I found the exaggerated, cartoony illustrations, combined with the varying fonts which wander across the page, to be too busy for my taste.

What picture books do you have out from the library now?

Library Round-up #8

Mini-reviews of just a few of the 100+ books we currently have out from the library.

When I Was Small  by Sara O'Leary, with illustrations by Julie Morstad.  My 5-year-old picked this gem out at the library by herself.  With its old-fashioned, vintage feel and beautiful illustrations, as well as its understanding of childhood, it reminds me of works by Charlotte Zolotow.  A young boy asks his mother to tell him about when she was "small."  Not young, small.  And so the mother interprets the request literally, and poetically tells him about when she and her doll were the same size, when she could wear a daisy for a sunhat, and lived in a dollhouse.  Lyrical, beautiful, original.  This one's going on my to-buy list.  I'll also be placing a hold on When You Were Small by the same pair at the library and checking out anything else by either the author or the illustrator, as well as the publisher, Simply Read Books.

Please, Louise! by Frieda Wishinsky and Marie-Louise Gay.  This story about an older brother, Jake, who wishes that his little sister Louise were a dog because she just won't stop bothering him is spot-on in its portrayal of sibling relationships.  When Jake thinks that his wish came true, he realizes how he should have been more careful about what he wished for.

Oonga Boonga also by Frieda Wishinsky. Another book about older-brother-younger-sister siblings.  Here, the older child is the only one who can comfort his baby sister.  This is a nice, empowering read for a new older sibling.  The baby here is also named Louise, so I thought this might be the same pair of sibs as in Please, Louise!, but alas, the older brother here is Daniel.

How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman, illustrated by Allen Say.  The story of how the author's American sailor father and Japanese mother met and tried to master each other's eating habits is a charming tale of overcoming and even embracing cultural differences as well as showing what unites us all.

I Gotta Draw by Bruce Degen.  The seemingly autobiographical story of a boy who loves to draw, the real heroine here is the teacher who finally realizes that she has to change her teaching methods rather than punishing her student for doodling.  When she lets him spell words as he draws them and incorporates his art into other areas of learning, she finds it has enormous benefit for him as well as the rest of her class.  I love how it shows that teachers learn from their students.  The dedication, while ambiguous, is, I bet, to the real teacher on whom the fictional teacher is based.

Goldilocks and Just One Bear by Leigh Hodgkinson.  Another book that turns the Goldilocks story on its head (like Mo Willems's Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs which I review here), this one inverts the story so that it is a bear who makes himself at home at someone else's apartment.  The unexpected twist at the end adds to the humor.

No Bears by Meg McKinlay, illustrated by Leila Rudge.  Ella thinks bears have no place in books.  A book needs pretty things and funny things, and even scary things - as long as those scary things are not bears.  Of course, the joke is on Ella...

Chloe and the Lion.  This Mac Barnett-Adam Rex collaboration is my favorite of theirs so far.  In it, the the author directs the illustrator how to illustrate his story about Chloe and the lion and predictably, conflict ensues.  Suddenly, Chloe and the lion themselves get into the act to complain about the plot and how they are depicted.  Unique and funny.

Have you read any of these?  What did you think?

Sibling Math: The Age Gap and New Baby as Plot Device

I'm sure you've noticed how authors (and TV sitcom writers) often add a new baby to a family as a way to give them new plotlines.  (Weddings, the other big TV plot device, are not, for obvious reasons, as prevalent in children's books.)  But did you ever notice how siblings in books are often spaced far apart?  Off the top of my head, I can think of the Ramona books (Beezus is 5 years older than Ramona, Roberta almost 10 years younger), Peter and Fudge and eventually Tootsie Hatcher (there's a 5 year age difference between Peter and Fudge and 8 or 9 between Peter and Tootsie) of the Fudge series and, in the books about Anastasia Krupnik, the title character and her little brother Sam (with an age gap of around 10 years).  Less well-known, Johanna Hurwitz's Riverside Kids books also feature siblings with a big age gap: Russell Michaels is 5 years older than his sister Elisa, who in turn is 4 or 5 years older than their new baby brother.

The reason, I think, is that the dialogue and action between the two siblings can be a lot funnier this way.  A two-year-old can't really star in a chapter book... unless he has a much older sibling who reacts to his antics.  There are, of course, books about siblings much closer in age (The Pain and the Great One, another Judy Blume series comes to mind) but I did find it striking that several of the best-loved children's books have brothers and sisters who are pretty far apart, age-wise.

Can you think of other fictional siblings with a big age gap?

Library Round-Up #4

This week's library haul in brief (some briefer than others):

Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan, pictures by Brian Selznick.  I found this book via Annie and Aunt (who currently have a great series of posts about books for the very earliest of emerging readers) and I can't say enough good things about it.  From the amazing black-and-white illustrations by yes, that Brian Selznick, to the wonderful writing, this book is a winner and perfect for Women's History Month.  It is not quite non-fiction, but is based on a true event and the author smartly includes a note at the end detailing what parts are true and where she took liberties.  Of course, it doesn't hurt that the story, about the friendship and adventures of two of the most admired women of the mid-twentieth century, provides great material.  This one's going on my to-buy list.  And now I'm interested in the author's book about Marian Anderson, too.

Posy by Linda Newbery and illustrated by Catherine Rayner.  This simple story about a cat's activities is elevated by the clever rhymes ("whiskers wiper/crayon swiper") and expressive illustrations.  I do wish, however, that the color palette had been enlivened a little.  The brown, black and light orange of the calico cat don't make for the brightest color scheme so less muted colors for the other items in the illustrations would have been nice.


Maudie and Bear by Jan Ormerod, illustrated by Freya Blackwood.  I can't decide what I think of this collection of five stories, well-regarded in its native Australia.  As the book jacket says, "Bear's world revolves around Maudie.  Maudie's world also revolves around Maudie."  The bear is clearly a stand-in for a parental figure and somewhat of a martyred one at that.  The sacrificial aspect and the second story, a take-off on the Three Bears which I think explores the guilt Goldilocks must have felt, don't sit right with me, but the quiet prose and illustrations are lovely.  I especially like how the illustrations, not the words, provide the punchlines in both The Bike Ride and Telling Stories.

Prudence Wants a Pet written by Cathleen Daly and illustrated by Stephen Michael King.  Another (I think Australian) book I'm ambivalent about.  Prudence wants a pet so desperately she adopts all kinds of inanimate objects until her parents finally succumb.  On a first reading, my girls thought the story was hysterical, but it didn't hold up as well upon rereading.  Truly clever moments (adopting a shoe and calling it Formal Footwear, since that is what it says inside) seem to highlight that the rest of the book falls short.  The part of the story about "sea buddies" was confusing to us (what are they exactly?  some type of plant?) and neither my girls or I were sure whether the pet at the end was a cat or a dog!  On the plus side, I love how the adults in the story are only depicted from the waist-down, a true child's eye view of the world (and reminiscent of the grown-ups in Charlie Brown).  Strangely, it is the third book I've read recently with inanimate objects as pets - the tween novel, When Life Gives You O.J. by Erica S. Perl and Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume were the others.


Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray.  I have a soft spot both for retro-looking illustrations and unique alphabet books and this book scores high  on both counts.  I can't think of another alphabet book that actually tells us a story like this one, although there must be one, right?  Also going on my to-buy list.




 
A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka.  Justly deserving of its Caldecott for the illustrations (I love the colors) but I found the plot of this wordless book a little thin.

My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco.  A great semi-autobiographical book about sibling relationships with photos of the author and her real rotten redheaded older brother on the endpapers.

Listen to My Trumpet! by Mo Willems.  The latest in the Elephant and Piggie series, this one was definitely not my favorite.

Dumpling Days by Grace Lin.  The third book in Grace Lin's semi-autobiographical middle-grade series about Pacy Lin, a Taiwanese-American girl, which, like the first two (The Year of the Dog and The Year of the Rat), successfully explores immigrant identity and the difficulties of just growing up.  The kind and wise parents remind me of the Quimbys.  My only complaint is that the books are not very subtle, but that may be all for the best considering the target age group.

Have you or your kids read any of the above?  What did you think?

It's Hard Being a Big Sister

A new book of poems understands that it's hard being a big sister.  Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems, by Kristine O'Connell George, is the picture book equivalent of a novel-in-verse.  The non-rhyming poems, read together and in order, especially the last few, tell a story.  That concept really excited my older daughter, who requested that we buy the book and, surprisingly, my younger daughter loved it too (she made me read it 5 times the other day - in a row!).

I love how the poems capture the contradictions and complexity of the sibling relationship.  The sisters know each other better than anyone else.  The elder "translates" the younger's baby talk; the younger knows when the older one needs comforting.  They push each other's buttons like no one else can.  The big sister experiences feelings of annoyance, guilt, responsibility and even schadenfreude.  But ultimately, these sisters love each other.  These poems ring true to me, both as an older sister myself and as the mother of two girls.   The realistic, warm illustrations complement the poems perfectly. 


I hope the author writes another set of poems from the perspective of a little sister.  Here's my attempt, written from the point of view of my younger daughter:

I want to be near you.
Every second of the day and night forever.
Because you're the funnest and the smartest and you
know
everything.
You are the best at playing family and school and
when you tell me to sit
criss-cross applesauce
and not move until after recess
I always do it.
Mommy and Daddy come in and ask why
I have been sitting still
not moving for
10 minutes and I tell them,
"The teacher said 'Don't move!'"
You are only six but
you ride your bike and read
like a ten-year-old.
I want to marry you
but
Mommy says I can't.

She Started It!

My 6-year-old, H, frequently complains that her younger sister, M, is "bothering" her, while her sister does absolutely nothing.  In fact, it is M's very existence which bothers H.  She's going through a phase (a long one, I suspect!) where she wants privacy and time alone, whereas her sister wants to be with her all the time.    On the other hand, last week I took H alone to a gym/playspace that I usually take the girls to together (M was sick).  Afterwards, I asked her whether she preferred going alone or with her sister.  "With M!," came the immediate reply.

Judy Blume really gets both sides of this.  And in The Pain and the Great One, she shows both sides - literally.  This 1974 picture book is really two books - one read from the front and told from older sister Abigail Porter's (the "Great One" as her little brother not-so-affectionately calls her) perspective and one flipped over and read from the other front, from little brother Jake's (the Pain's) point of view.  At the crux of all sibling relationships is, of course, competition for parental attention and love and each book ends with the words "I think they love him/her more than me."  But just as with my two, when the kids get what they thought they wanted - Jake to build with blocks alone, Abigail to stay up late without her brother - they are lonely and bored.  And I love the tag line: "Little brothers are never wrong!/Big sisters are always right!"

Many years after writing the picture book The Pain and the Great One, Judy Blume began a chapter book series featuring the same characters.  The chapter books stay true to the theme of sibling rivalry and love.  While these two may not always get along, they always stand up for each other.  The fact that the picture book exists is a nice way to segue a child into early chapter books (although these would have to be read to a beginning reader).  Of course, Blume's Fudge books, which I read as a child but have not (yet) revisited, are also great books about siblings.

In Mimmy and Sophie, the two eponymous sisters find adventure and joy in everyday life growing up in Depression-era Brooklyn, just as the author did.   In my favorite, Mimmy, the older, gives voice to my older daughter's exact feelings when she yells at her younger sister "[W]hy do you always have to be where I am?  Can't you go somewhere else?" To which her not-quite-5-year-old sister replies, quite logically, "Where?"  At the end, in response to Sophie asking "Am I still your sister?" Mimmy draws a picture of them with their arms around each other, in chalk, on the sidewalk.  It looks remarkably like the drawing H did of herself and her sister the other day.  As with The Pain and the Great One, Cohen followed the initial picture book with a chapter book, Mimmy and Sophie All Around the Town.  Thanks to Storied Cities for the recommendation! 

I love the way Shirley Hughes does siblings, too.  From her Alfie books (particularly Annie Rose Is My Little Sister) to Dogger (our favorite!), siblings annoy each other, play with each other, protect each other, help each other, and comfort each other.  Hughes's illustrations are pitch-perfect, from the loving mom who looks like someone you could meet, to the messy toddler.

In Charlotte Zolotow's Big Sister and Little Sister, the ability of the girls to comfort each other is the focal point of the story.  Irritated by Big Sister's bossiness, Little Sister runs away.  In a nice role reversal, Little Sister ends up comforting Big Sister as Big Sister sobs when she can't find her younger sibling.  The book closes with a lovely thought: "And from that day on little sister and big sister both took care of each other because little sister had learned from big sister and now they both knew how."  I love the illustrations in this one, too! 

The Frances books almost go without saying on any list of great sibling books.  In A Baby Sister for Frances, the Hobans perfectly capture Frances's jealousy and resentment "Things are not very good around here anymore," she says after Mother does not have time to iron her favorite dress or buy her favorite oatmeal topping.  (Books about the arrival of a new baby are admittedly a whole separate genre, but here the series continues as the girls grow, so I figured it was fair game.)  In later books, they again sum up the essence of having and being a sibling.  My favorite is in A Birthday for Frances when Frances, in an attempt at generosity, buys little sister Gloria a birthday present (gumballs and a candy bar) but ends up eating most of it herself! 

These books are all great on the theme of sibling relationships but they are also just all great books, period that the kids and I all love.  Of course, there are tons of books about siblings.   What are your favorites?