King Hugo’s Huge Ego

King Hugo's Huge Ego
Now that it’s summer, we have some school age kids coming, and I find that I need to select some picture books with more words, more humor, gorgeous art, etc. They’ll sit politely for a couple of lift-the-flap books and one-word-per-page books, but then they need something for them. When the babies start wiggling and running and sharing snacks, I pull out the big-kid books.

August Shorts

Jabari Jumps
Pic­ture books you’ll want to add to your repertoire! Touch the Bright­est Star
writ­ten and illus­trat­ed by Christie Matheson
Green­wil­low Books, 2017. A night-time book, set­tling down for bed, qui­et­ly look­ing at the pages, hear­ing the sto­ry. An inter­ac­tive book? Yes, because the author/illustrator wise­ly invites the read­er and lis­ten­er to touch the pages, to help the mag­ic of the evening unfold.… more

Bookstorm™: Bulldozer’s Big Day

It’s Bulldozer’s big day — his birth­day! But around the con­struc­tion site, it seems like every­one is too busy to remem­ber. Bull­doz­er wheels around ask­ing his truck friends if they know what day it is, but they each only say it’s a work day. They go on scoop­ing, sift­ing, stir­ring, fill­ing, and lift­ing, and lit­tle Bull­doz­er grows more and more glum.… more

Lowriders in Space Companion Booktalks

  To get you start­ed on the Book­storm™ books … 13 Plan­ets: The Lat­est View of the Solar Sys­tem, by David A. Aguilar. Nation­al Geo­graph­ic Children’s Books, 2011.  Grades 2 – 6 Report mate­r­i­al galore, beau­ti­ful­ly organized Illus­trat­ed with a com­bi­na­tion of pho­tographs and dig­i­tal art Includes sev­er­al hands-on activities Car Sci­ence: an Under-the-Hood, Behind-the-Dash Look at How Cars Work, by Richard Ham­mond, DK Books, 2008.… more

Chris Van Dusen: Illustrating Leroy Ninker Saddles Up

Chris VanDusen
  Leroy Ninker first appeared in Mercy Watson Fights Crime as the criminal. Did you consciously change his appearance for Leroy Ninker Saddles Up to make him a more sympathetic character? I’m not sure that I consciously changed his appearance. I tried to make him look like the same character. In the original series he was wearing a robber’s mask which gave him a slightly sinister look.… more