Outfoxing the Fox in Doctor De Soto

Doctor De Soto. Farrar by William Steig, Straus and Giroux, 1982.

Anthropomorphism lightens this harrowing tale. Written in a nursery tale style, the story of Dr. De Soto’s escape from the wiley fox feels like a modern Little Red Riding Hood or Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The husband and wife dentistry team, mice, take pity on a fox and repair his tooth, but through ingenuity they “outfox the fox” and thwart his plan to eat them. Bold outline illustrations with watercolor details illustrate the story.

Caps for Sale!

Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and their Monkey Business by Esphyr Slobdkina. HarperCollins, 1940.

Slobodkina’s use of an adult protagonist empowers children one cap at a time. As he tries to reclaim his caps from the mischievous monkeys, the child-reader is one step ahead, seeing the solution to his problem before he does. The author highlights this through simple illustrations that make use of the same or similar scenes and angles in most spreads, drawing attention to the small details that change. Throw in some number and color concepts, onomatopoeia, repetition, occasional internal rhyme, and a classic is born.

I’m still slightly bothered that the man never got his lunch. A lesson in delayed gratification perhaps?

Song of the Waterboatman

The Song of the Waterboatman and other Pond Poems by Joyce Sidman. Houghton Mifflin, 2005.

Stunning illustrations. And lovely poems. I’m not sure they capture essence as well as Zolotow. I’m perhaps looking for an Annie Dillard of children’s poetry, but maybe Sidman is more accessible to a child than Zolotow (who is more Dillardy).

• --The Caddis Fly is fascinating and I love the use of the word whorled. What a cool word!
• The NF sidebars are clear and concise, but I found myself wishing they were a little more lyrical.
• Colors used in the illustration for Season’s Campaign are delicious. I wanted to roll in them, to wake up there. That poem reminds me of an eternal favorite and classic, Hailstones and Halibut Bones.
• Water Bear is fascinating too. This is why macro-evolution takes far more faith than I can muster.

Classics and Caterpillars and Chocolate Cake!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, 1969.

Concept book in disguise!

A little caterpillar eats too much, gets a tummy ache, then rights his eating habits and turns into a butterfly. The story itself is engaging, but it also teaches the days of the week, counting, one-to-one correspondence (reinforced through the unevenly cut pages and tactile holes), nutrition and metamorphosis. Bright colors and lots of texture in the simple illustrations contrast with white space to make the book all at once straightforward but worth a few extra seconds per page of lingering.

No wonder this was a favorite when I was a child, and a favorite for my own children now. Pie and Fish especially love the page with the cupcake and watermelon and salami and sausage (shaushage, said Fish when he was younger). Of all Carle's books, this is my absolute favorite.

Dark Tales of Dark Times

Darkness Over Denmark by Ellen Levine. Holiday House, 2000.

The moving story of Danish resistance to Hitler’s reign of terror. Levine finds the human stories in the history and weaves them together deftly, putting a face on events that would otherwise be abstract and distant from contemporary youth. Some thoughts:

• Details: that’s where the devil is, to be sure. Levine’s text is drenched in detail, adding authenticity and making her scenes memorable.
• Personal stories: stories of individuals obtained through research and interview are interwoven with the history to enhance and illumine the narrative.
• Vivid: The writing is clear and precise, yet passionate. The author’s interest in and enthusiasm for this topic is clear on every page. I kept remembering the urgency and horror of Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five.

Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say. 1993.

I read this book for a children’s lit course way back in college (1997 or so). While I appreciate the family story and love the skilled watercolors, I’m not now and wasn’t then overly enthusiastic about this book.

Artistically, the pictures are very posed (stiff) and though lovely, do not create a sense of movement, an urgency to flip from one page to the next. I suppose they could be seen as poised (vs. posed), like pictures in an old photo album. But does that increase the sense of movement, or further distance the reader?

And although the story gives a sense of history and place, it’s so nostalgic that I wonder if it can really capture a child audience. A lovely tribute to a grandfather, a multicultural travel story, but Great Children’s Literature?

The book is stunningly illustrated, but perhaps one of those (growing number of) picture books more aimed at adults than children.

Mike Mulligan, Guilty As Charged

Am I the only parent who uses the "abridged" bedtime story? What I mean is, I skip parts of longer books. Even shorter books. Like Cat in the Hat - he only spends one page standing on the ball in my version. I just can't take more "cake on the ball on the rake, etc." I abridge quite a bit of Mike Mulligan, too, despite the clever and rhythmic text. But for my purpose here, I read the whole thing. Promise.

Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton, 1939.

Repetition, alliteration, fully developed plotline. All of these fine qualities combine as poor Mike Mulligan, who loves his steam shovel Mary Ann, must find his place in a world changed by technology. He takes on the job of digging a new town hall and, despite antagonist Henry B. Swap smiling in a rather mean way, succeeds. Through an unexpected twist, Mike secures a future for both himself and his beloved Mary Ann. A few further thoughts:

• Tidy illustrations personify Mary Ann, illuminating the text and Mike and Mary Ann’s friendship.
• Henry B. Swap changes by the end, coming to appreciate Mike and Mary Ann and to smile in a way that’s not mean at all. A nice dynamic.
• But the book is a little long for a contemporary read-aloud. It’s difficult (tedious) to complete at one sitting. So don't beat yourself up if you skip a line here or there.