The Queen of France

The Queen of France
By Tim Wadham
Illustrated by Kady Macdonald Denton
Pub. 2011

"When Rose woke up that morning, she felt royal."

I can only hope that my little girl will grow up with an imagination like Ted Wadham's character Rose.  She's not only imaginative, but also charming, sweet, curious, polite as can be, and a pro at dress-ups.  She knows that a Queen of France has her own Royal Physician, never has to clean her own room, and has servants to read to her anytime she likes.  Rose is lucky to have parents kind enough to humor her imaginings and loving enough to convince her that they would miss her dearly if she traded places with the Queen of France.  The fun watercolor illustrations complete this delightful story of a young girls' playtime.

Click here to find The Queen of France on Amazon

Magnus Maximus, A Marvelous Measurer

Magnus Maximus, A Marvelous Measurer
By Kathleen T. Pelley
Pictures by S.D. Schindler

"He filled his house with all kinds of clocks and scales, thermometers and barometers, and telescopes and periscopes.  With his glasses perched at the end of his nose, he measured wetness and dryness, nearness and farness, and everything else in between.

"Magnus Maximus is a marvelous measurer," people said to one another.

This one is just a gem.  This old, balding, mustached man, loves to (of all things) measure things.  He's good at it too.  So good that after saving the town from a terrifying escaped circus lion, the mayor declares him the towns official measurer.  He carries on, measuring "all kinds of NESSes, from the wobbliness of a jellyfish to the itchiness of an itch."  Eventually though, a fortunate accident leads him to realize that although it is terribly fun, there might just be more important things in life than endless counting and measuring.

Click here to find Magnus Maximus, A Marvelous Measurer on Amazon

The Pout-Pout Fish

The Pout-Pout Fish
By Deborah Diesen
Pictures by Dan Hanna
Pub. 2008

"Deep in the water 

Where the fish hang out

Lives a glum gloomy swimmer

With an ever-present pout.

I'm a pout-pout fish

With a pout-pout face,

So I spread the dreary-earies

All over the place."

This book is a ton of fun!  The illustrations of every unique kind of fish you could imagine are bright and colorful, and the rhyming and repetition make it fun to read out loud.  This constantly glum fish travels through the ocean meeting one sea creature after another that think his "hulky-bulky sulking is an unattractive trait!"  But he continues with the sulking anyway.  That is, until one silent silvery shimmery fish convinces him to change his ways. 

Click here to find The Pout-Pout Fish on Amazon

The Absentminded Fellow

The Absentminded Fellow
By Samuel Marshak
Translated from the Russian by Richard Pevear
Pictures by Marc Rosenthal
First Published in the Soviet Union in 1928,
Translation published 1999

"'Driver, stake me to the drain!

Striver, brake me to the strain!

Let me explain,

It's fairly plain . . .

Turn down that lane,

Arrive by five!'

The driver was so startled 

He forgot how to drive.

Oh, that absentminded fellow from Portobello Road!"

We all sometimes have those mornings when we put the milk away in the cupboard and the cereal away in the fridge.  This fellow is doing things like that from the moment he wakes up until he makes a very humorous train mistake, all the while too absentminded to notice the confused and protesting looks from those around him.  It's a silly, funny, lighthearted read with great illustrations.

Click here to find the Absentminded Fellow on Amazon

Julius: The Baby of the World

Julius: The Baby of the World
By Kevin Henkes
Pub 1990

"I am the queen [. . . ] And I hate Julius"

I laughed out loud really hard the first time I read this to my little girl. The illustrations (and writing within them) make this story hilarious. Lilly is a small girl who couldn't be less thrilled about her new baby brother. She keeps asking about "after Julius goes away", tries to make him disappear. My favorite is how she sabotages his ABC's and 123's and whispers "I hate you, you're ugly" into his crib. Oh and the story she tells him (I have a lot of favorite parts). I feel like it was written by extremely amused parents who were smart enough to know that she would pass through this attention starved phase in no time and come to love the new addition to their family. Which (*spoiler*) she does.

Click here to find Julius: The Baby of the World on Amazon

Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum
by Kevin Henkes
Pub. 1991

"Chrysanthemum loved the way her name looked when it was written with ink on an envelope. She loved the way it looked when it was written with icing on her birthday cake. And she loved the way it looked when she wrote it herself with her fat orange crayon."

I love Kevin Henkes style. His illustrations are unique, fun, and vibrantly colorful; his prose, always clever. His stories are great at capturing the ridiculous way that children experience emotions-- one minute their world is crumbling to tear-filled pieces and the next they are positively beaming and happy as can be. That's what happens to Chrysanthemum as she goes from thinking her name is "absolutely perfect" to "absolutely dreadful" and back again. I love the little details like "her outfit with seven pockets", her evenings filled with "hugs and kisses and Parcheesi", and her classmates collection of seriously short names (Don, Eve, Al, Kay, Max, Sue, Ken, Jo etc. . . ) . Henkes also throws in little laughs for the parents like the fathers reading choices as he tries to comfort Chrysanthemum through her name crisis: "The Inner Mouse Vol. 1 Childhood Anxiety" and "A Rose by Any Other Name: Understanding Identity." Perfect book to share with any small child needing a perspective on others name-calling (which I can only imagine will shortly be on the rise. Weird names seem to be trending, no?)

And on an educational note, here is what a real Chrysanthemum actually looks like, just in case you didn't know.

Click here to find Chrysanthemum on Amazon

Here we go

Hi.  I'm starting this blog to chronicle the kids books I love.  When I first became interested in childrens books and started reading any I could get my hands on, I couldn't believe the poor quality I encountered right and left.  I realized quickly that truly quality kids books are hard to find.  This blog is an effort to find the gems in the slush pile--those childrens books that are genuinely creative, fun, and well illustrated.