Celebrate Children's Book Week 2010

Get ready for the 91st annual Children's Book Week May 10-16th. It's a nationwide celebration of children's books and the love of reading. I'm kicking off the celebration with a selection of some of my favorite picture books.

FLIP, FLAP FLY: A Book for Babies Everywhere   by Phylis Root, Illustrated by David Walker.

A snappy, happy rhyming picture book with pauses and page turns that make a this a fun book to read aloud.  The book starts with a mother bird teaching her baby to fly. "In the blue, blue sky, where the wind blows Whish/"Look!" cheeps the baby bird"/"I see a...(page turn)/ "Fish."  The book goes on following the pattern with other animals and has a circular, satisfying ending.  Your little one will want to read this book again and again.  

LEAVES  by David Ezra Stein.   In this beautifully illustrated picture book, A baby Bear is surprised to find the autumn leaves falling from the trees. "Are you okay?" he asks.  At first he tries to catch the falling leaves and put them back on the branches (he pokes leaves onto the bare branches).  "but it was not the same."  So, tired, he fills a hole with fallen leaves and hibernates.  He wakes up in spring to find tiny new buds unfolding on the bare arms of the trees.  "Welcome!  he cries."  "And he thought the leaves welcomed him."  A quick and satisfying read.

THE QUIET BOOK by Deborah Underwood Illustrated by Renata Liwska.  A New York Times Bestselling book and an Amazon Book of the month pick for April 2010. This book deserves all the attention it's getting - It's truly a gem.  The book starts out  with "There are many kinds of quiet" and goes on to note all the peaceful kinds of quiet there are  throughout the day.  From the "first one awake quiet" to the "coloring in the lines quiet" to the "Right before you yell "surprise" quiet."  The soft illustrations of the animals (rabbit, bear, owl, etc) give this book a cozy, quiet feel.

THE ROBOT AND THE BLUEBIRD by David Lucus.     In this picture book written in prose, a broken down, broken hearted robot ends up on the junk heap.  After trying to talk to the other scrapped machines in the heap, to no avail, a bluebird lands on him.  The bluebird is going south for the winter and convinces the robot to come with her.  Along the way they become friends and he shelters her from the cold along the way.  In the end, the robot's energy wears down and has to stay put.  The bluebird finds a perfect place for her nest...inside this lovable, rusty robot, near his broken heart. I was surprised to find that some reviewers found this book "almost too sweet."  I found it charming - and there is always a place in a child's heart for a sweet story.