Man, does Mary Lyn Ray know kids. I’m serious. This is someone who has a great memory of what it was like to be a kid, or pays attention to the kids she knows, or both. Some adults—climbers, geologists, craftsy sorts—notice rocks, but for the most part, they turn a blind eye. They pull into […]
Review of Color Zoo
Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert is a quietly impressive little book. I’m not the first to think so: it was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1990. Still, it is worth a few words because of just how well done it is. There’s little or no story here, but there’s no need for one. It’s a […]
Review of Harold and the Purple Crayon
The full title of this DVD is Harold and the Purple Crayon…and more stories to spark the imagination. I picked it up from my library because Crockett Johnson’s 1955 Harold and the Purple Crayon is a classic children’s book. More than that, it is a book that foregrounds drawing and the power of drawing. In […]
Review of Harold and the Purple Crayon book
Since I recently watched videos of several of the stories in the Harold and the Purple Crayon series (and learned there was more than one story), I decided to go back and reread the books, in order, starting with the only one I’d known before now (Harold and the Purple Crayon). I checked the 60th […]
Dear Duck, Please Come!
There’s a nice pacing to Sarah Mackenzie’s 2024 picture book Dear Duck, Please Come! There are just a few words to a few lines per page, carefully arranged near colorful and easily understood images (by Charles Santoso). It would be easy to guide a young reader through the book with a finger and a pause, […]
Deja Boo!
You’ve heard of deja vu, the sensation that you’ve seen something before? Well, yesterday I experienced deja boo. My library has an area where they put free books and magazines. I glance through the offerings every so often. Sometimes there is treasure. Yesterday, there was a very odd kind of treasure. I picked up a […]