New Children's Books

I have just started ordering all of the picture books for the three branches of our library system and thought it would be nice to highlight some of the really awesome new titles.  Here they are:

One of my favorites is:  The Highway Rat by Donaldson.  "Inspired by Alfred Noyes' The Highwayman, the dashing but dastardly Highway Rat (sporting a hat and cape that would befit Zorro) travels the roads on his steady stead, plundering anyone and anything that he happens upon."  With rhyming text that uses the refrain of I am the Rat of the Highway, this is a rascally natural for story times.  I think that it would work well in a sharing and caring storytime. 

 

I love Sophie's Squash by Pat Miller.  Miller's debut, in which a little girl affectionately adopts a butternut squash, is a winner. After her parents buy that squash for dinner at the farmers market, Sophie commandeers it, giving it a face with markers. It proves just the right size to hold, bounce on her knee and love. "I call her Bernice," Sophie says. "I'll call for a pizza," says her mother."   With lessons on life, love, and vegetable gardening, this tale will be cherished by children, and their parents will be happy to read it to them often.—

E I E I O:  How Old MacDonald Got His Farm With a Little Help from a Hen by Judy Sierra is a wonderful addition to any farm story collection.  "The Little Red Hen gives old MacDonald some pointers on composting -- and a legendary farm is born -- in this rhyming, rollicking read-aloud. Once upon a time, Old MacDonald didn't have a farm. He just had a yard -- a yard he didn't want to mow. But under the direction of the wise (and ecologically sensitive) Little Red Hen, Mac learns to look at the environment in a very different way, and whole new worlds start to bloom with the help of some mud, garbage, horse poop, and worms! Judy Sierra's spirited verse, paired with Matthew Myers's exuberant illustrations, yields a fresh take on a children's classic, complete with raised-bed gardens and an organic farmers' market--making this a perfect story for armchair gardeners and devoted locavores of all sizes." -catalog.

 

Mr Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown is about a Victorian tiger who, well, goes wild.  He's tired of the proper life.  There's a nice twist in the plot and it's not too preachy about being yourself, but still gets that message across.

 

 

My Humongous Hamster by Lorna Freytag is so popular that I've been asked to order more.  Fans of Dave Pilkey's Dogzilla and Kat Kong will enjoy this one.

 

And finally, I must give a nod to Journey by Aaron Becker.  It's a wordless book.  Some folks really like them.  The art work is really nice.  Using a red marker, a young girl draws a door on her bedroom wall and through it enters another world where she experiences many adventures, including being captured by an evil emperor.

Well, there you have it.  New books!  What's not to like?  Find them at your local library...