rhyming picture books

in honor of teachers

~ jama ~ 34 Comments

“Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.” ~ Japanese proverb

Hooray for September and a brand new school year!

As a grade school student, I loved having new clothes, fresh school supplies, putting covers on assigned textbooks, making sure my quarter for lunch was safely stashed in my coin purse. I could hardly wait to open my spiral notebook and write on a clean page with a freshly-sharpened No. 2 pencil.

Most of all, I looked forward to meeting my new teacher.

Reading The Teachers I Loved Best by Taylor Mali and Erica Root (Doubleday BFYR, 2023) brought to mind my own favorites, making me appreciate them even more.

In his uplifting rhyming ode, Mali celebrates the extra-special, dedicated educators (classroom teachers, principals, librarians) who leave a lasting impression on all of us. “A great teacher is anyone who makes you work hard — harder than you ever thought you could — who makes you want to be better than just . . . plain . . . good.”

He goes on to laud their willingness to go above and beyond to bring out the best in their students, whether coaching from the sidelines to instill confidence, gently pushing to keep them on track, or being demanding “with the goal of commanding understanding.” The teachers he truly loved most were the ones who challenged and inspired him to give his all every single day.

He mentions his science teacher, who had the class dramatize the way the solar system worked, an art teacher he madly loved who dressed in “white paint-splattered smocks all of the time,” and every music teacher he ever had who encouraged him despite his bad, off-key singing voice.

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[tropical review] Aloha Everything by Kaylin Melia George and Mae Waite

~ jama ~ 30 Comments

Care to swim with the sea turtles, soar high above the earth with regal hawks, or hear wondrous tales of heroic voyagers navigating the Pacific by wind and stars?

Then join a young Hawaiian girl as she takes a magical journey around the Islands in this gorgeous new picture book, Aloha Everything by Kaylin Melia George and Mae Waite (Red Comet Press, 2024). Through the traditional storytelling dance of the hula, she learns about the history, culture, and folklore of her homeland while embracing the true meaning of “Aloha.”

We first meet little Ano one enchanted night:

In the hush of the night
with the moon still aglow,
a small baby was born
where the koa trees grow,

where lehua blooms bright,
where the mo'o give chase,
where the ocean spray's kiss
meets the sky's close embrace.

With her curls kapa soft,
breath like breadfruit so sweet,
this dear child evermore
shared the island's heartbeat.

This fierce-spirited, courageous child, so swift and smart, grew in both mind and heart. She was indeed special, but still had much to learn. What did hula teach her with its generations of treasured stories and rich lore?

First, she learned how the islands were formed, and about the evolution of plants and wildlife. As “humble seeds burst to blooms,” and “rock eroded to sand . . . a world born ablaze turned to lush wonderland.” Soon creatures filled the land, sea and sky from “mauka to makai.” Clinging to a hawk’s wings, the girl surveyed all these wonders from her perch amid the clouds, while the majestic bird imparted his wisdom: “To our ‘āina be just./When we care for our earth,/then our earth cares for us.”

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[review] Miss MacDonald Has a Farm by Kalee Gwarjanski and Elizabet Vuković

~ jama ~ 15 Comments

Veggie lovers: grab your trowels, spades, and watering cans. Warm weather’s here and it’s time to make delicious things grow.

In Miss MacDonald Has a Farm by Kalee Gwarjanski and Elizabet Vuković (Doubleday BFYR, 2024), we’re all invited to tag along with busy Miss MacDonald as she cultivates, harvests, and then cooks colorful crops of healthy, flavorful produce. With a pick-pick here, and a shuck-shuck there, she takes us from seed to table with hard work, patience, and careful tending.

Debut author Gwarjanski’s upbeat female-centric spin on the traditional “Old MacDonald” song, with its rhythmic, rollicking text, is equally fun to sing or read aloud. Since the verse scans so well, those familiar with the song will likely find it hard to resist vocalizing, especially with the jaunty tagline “E-I-E-I-GROW.”

So what is Miss MacDonald actually growing? Lettuce, peas, tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, potatoes, corn and pumpkins. She begins by planting lettuce:

Miss MacDonald has a farm.
She loves things that grow.

And on that farm,
she has some lettuce.

E-I-E-I-GROW

With a seed-seed here
and a sow-throw there,

here it shoots, there it sprouts,
everywhere it sprout-sprouts.

Miss MacDonald has a farm.
She loves things that grow.

(I can hear you singing!) 🙂

She then goes on to complete a different task for each of the other vegetables: waters her peas, weeds her tomato plants, picks her green beans, prunes her zucchini, hills her potatoes, shucks her corn, and finally washes and cans her pumpkins.

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[perky review] Taxi, Go! by Patricia Toht and Maria Karipidou

~ jama ~ 13 Comments

Good Morning! It’s a brand new day, and everybody in the city has something to do, somewhere to go. Who will help them get there?

Speedy, spunky TAXI, that’s who!

Look, here he is now 😀.

Cabs are resting in a line.
Wake up, Taxi. Rise and shine!
Fill the tank, Check the tires.
Roof light on — now for hire!

Taxi . . . GO!
Get on your way —
today will be a busy day!

In Taxi, Go!, a zippy new rhyming picture book by Patricia Toht and Maria Karipidou (Candlewick, 2024), we follow spiffy red Taxi from morning till night as he transports passengers young and old to a variety of destinations.

After his morning fuel-up, he first picks up a woman who can’t be late for an important business date. Taxi races ahead, weaving left and right through an alley-way as “Heavy rain comes crashing down.” When sirens wail, Taxi has to STOP! for an emergency rescue (cat up a tree).

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[author chat + giveaway] Patricia Toht on Pick a Perfect Egg

~ jama ~ 25 Comments

We can’t think of a better way to celebrate the season of blossoms, bunnies, chicks and eggs than by talking to Patricia Toht about her brand new picture book, Pick a Perfect Egg (Candlewick, 2023).

This third title in the wonderful series that includes Pick a Pine Tree and Pick a Pumpkin is once again beautifully illustrated by British artist Jarvis, and is, in many ways, a perfect book. 

Pitch perfect rhyming text? Check. Lively, inventive, never predictable rhymes frolic and sing as the narrative hums along. An absolute joy to read aloud. 

Illustrations that perfectly detail each story beat while capturing all the joys of the season? Check. Gorgeous colors and textures showcase spring loveliness, while an endearing main character positively sparkles as she picks, dyes, decorates, and hunts for eggs with neighborhood friends. And her adorable dog is always smiling. So much fun!

Pick a perfect egg
with care --
choose a white one
nestled there.

From farm fresh egg to Easter egg, this story is eggsactly what the Easter Bunny ordered. Sure to be a perennial favorite, it’s proof positive that when it comes to authors and illustrators, Toht and Jarvis are perfectly paired. 🙂

Welcome back, Patricia!!

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Author Patricia Toht

Please share a fond Easter egg memory from your childhood. How did you like to decorate your eggs? 

I grew up in a big family, so we had lots of coloring going on! My parents would spread a big drop cloth on our long table, and line it with mugs. I loved the fizzing tablets that dissolved in water to reveal their colors, and the smell of vinegar that was added to set the color. 

The “Easter Bunny” hid the colored eggs around the house, along with plastic eggs…until the year the dog ate all of the hard-boiled eggs, and we woke up Easter morning to find a very vomit-y dog! 

Childhood pic of Patricia (left front) with her family.
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