More About Board Books: Bilingual!

Two notes to launch this post:
1) I received this set of bilingual board books from a publisher with no promise of a review of any kind. 
2) That delivery was a welcome surprise on yet another COVID19 Safer-At-Home day. I've had a long-standing friendship with our mail person for the many years, enjoying conversations that have ceased in these days in order to sustain physical/social distance. She knows me well. Through the window she smiled, shook the box, and mouthed: "BOOKS! It's a good day!"

I was not familiar with CANTICOS, a YouTube Channel for bilingual nursery rhymes and kids' songs (HERE). Their short English/Spanish videos incorporate adorable animal characters and one cardboard cutout who comes to life, Pin Pon. They populate the various short features, singing songs in both English and Spanish, delivered at a pace that sustains attention and allows for little ones to participate spontaneously. 

Now these characters, stories, and words are featured in a series of early concept board books. In case you missed it, I hope you'll read my recent post about an outstanding board book offering, EGG. In it, I mentioned some of the essential qualities of board books: durability, size, age-appropriate content, long-lasting appeal. 
The board books in this new series have those features and add several forms of interactivity (flaps, tabs, sliders, fanfolds, magnets, etc.). These elevate the appeal, although such features can make it challenging to prevent damage from little hands with unrefined motor control and unbridled enthusiasm. But these are made of sturdy materials and bindings, so I'm betting this set of books will survive repeated handling by eager little fingers. 

The publisher's materials enclosed with the books didn't state this, but I'm guessing that parent/caregivers of little video fans may have asked for books related to the series. These certainly should make preschoolers (and adults who care for them) happy with the effort. Tots will read/play/sing along with numbers, letters, colors, and nursery rhymes with monthly releases throughout the spring and summer. In the process, little ones will develop reading and speaking skills in both languages, fostering early literacy and exercising brain cells at a crucial time in their development. Engaged adults may also learn a thing or two!

These are not the types of books I typically feature, but several factors moved me to share them here. First, the overall design has been thoughtfully executed, with consistency of images and labels, font choices, and pacing to convey content effectively. Additionally, but not secondarily, I found these to be exciting offerings in early childhood bilingual language and literacy development. I readily admit that I am NOT an expert in this specialized area, and I view them from an English-speaker's perspective. As such, I feel confident in recommending the books to those whose primary language is English. 
I'll never stop advocating for increasing bilingualism in ALL children, but especially in typically monolingual American children. When additional languages are introduced through musical, visual, and engaging experiences, young minds absorb, expand, and retain languages with lifelong benefits,

I'd welcome insights and reactions from those whose primary language is Spanish.

Meanwhile, I can't resist a reference to Covid19 Homeschooling experiences. Teachers, students, and caregivers are gradually developing a new-normal approach to delivery of instruction. Even so, there's no doubt that some days (most days?) require doses of "out-of-the-box" approaches, time spent away from assignments. Exploring activities involving other languages could be exactly the kind of challenge to energize and engage when exhaustion and/or frustration loom. These little board books reminded me of how much FUN it can be to learn a new language, and how many resources exist to do so. Why not give it a try?

Roar Like A Dandelion: Celebrate the Alphabet

Congrats to the giveaway winner. Becki Kidd! Thanks for stopping by, Becki. I'll be in touch directly to make sure you really can get your hands on this book soon!
Sandy

Patience, please. 
I am steadily reading nominees in my Cybils Awards categories: nonfiction for elementary and for middle grade readers. You can take a look at the amazing titles that are currently stacked by my side as I write this. Narrowing this list down to two eventual "shortlists" is an enormous responsibility, but the reading is fun. If you wonder what I've been thinking as I read, check out some of my recent ratings and reviews on my GOODREADS posts, here.

 I'm not quite ready to launch reviews of nonfiction picture book nominees. I've also been reading some delightful fiction picture books that released recently. That's intentional. I'm reminding myself to focus not only on the high quality content in these nonfiction nominees, but also on the kid-appeal, word play, and general delightfulness of the books. The underlying criteria for every Cybils category are READER APPEAL and LITERARY QUALITY. 

HarperCollins October, 2019

Those two traits are embodied in an October release, an alphabet picture book that makes me smile from cover to cover: ROAR LIKE A DANDELION, with words by RUTH KRAUSS and drawings by SERGIO RUZZIER. I've been a fan of Ruth Krauss before I began paying attention to author names, and that's because she was writing books while I WAS A CHILD. Yikes! That's a long time ago!
That kid-appeal quality was always evident in the words and point of view Krauss provided in her books, and I adored them. You can read more about Krauss in this great article from Brain Pickings blog. 
Sergio Ruzzier does not need my praise to bolster his stellar career.  Even so, I can imagine that despite his success and award-winning  reputation he may have been a bit anxious about being selected to bring this unpublished work by Krauss to life. After all, many of Krauss's books were illustrated by Maurice Sendak and Crockett Johnson, icons of picture book illustration. 
So what makes this book so special? Alphabet books range from academic to storytelling to subject-specific. In this case, Ruzzier has managed to capture the glorious, enormous imagination of Krauss's words with delightfully detailed and impishly illogical characters. His images both illustrate and expand the imperatives Krauss imagined. The charm of the front cover invites a quick peek at the back cover, which launches the reading with a laugh. Endpapers do the same, offering an array of insect-ish critters exploring their inner roaring voices and attitudes.
Krauss offers letter-inspired directives to execute various actions, making her words a fun library or preschool exploration of action and vocabulary. Some are suited to simplistic thinking: Make music, Nod yes, Hold your arms out like a pine tree. Others nudge imaginations beyond the literal: Eat all the locks off the doors, Paint a picture of a cage wth an open door and wait, Undress to match the trees in winter. 
Ruzzier recognized the magical miracle of Krauss's words, even the seemingly mundane ones, providing a page-by-page parade of wild wonderings. His characters are both recognizable critters (whales, mice, bugs, pigs) but also wryly off-center, with exaggerated shapes, sizes, colors, and attitudes. Krauss's "Fall like rain" reveals a sky of plummeting elephants while a kitten on the ground extends a paw from under the umbrella to check the weather. "X out all the bad stuff" shows an irritated mouse-ish fella marking X's on three slightly-too-unusual critters.The ironic appearance of potential enemies within individual illustrations adds to the humor: "Go like a road" has mice walking the spine of a snake from tail toward face- Surprise!
When it comes time to review nonfiction picture books (soon), I won't expect this level of wacky wondering to be as evident. But the power of words and images to elevate and transform each other WILL be among the qualities I'll consider. The power of picture books to explore core concepts has a long and successful history, establishing a high bar for excellence. This new book is a great example of this and will remind me to keep those kid-appeal and literary excellence criteria in mind.

*** I received a copy of ROAR LIKE A DANDELION from the publisher with no promise of reviewing it.

Posthumous Poetry: H Is For Haiku

Ready for a tongue-twister loaded with truth?

A tiny, purpose-powered little publisher has packed a lot of punch 

since it was launched by a pair of poets in 2015. 

Any idea who that might be? 

It's PENNY CANDY BOOKS, founded by Alexis Orgera and Chad Reynolds. Their stated mission is "to publish children's literature that reflects the diverse realities of the world we live in, both at home and abroad. This means seeking out books by and about people and subjects that speak to a broad range of human experience." 

PENNY CANDY BOOKS, 2018

The most recent release in their blooming catalogue is H IS FOR HAIKU, by Sydell Rosenberg and illustrated by Sawsan Chalabi. Rosenberg, a charter member of the Haiku Society of America in 1968, spent her professional life as a classroom teacher in New York City, frequently writing for and with her students. She was prolific and wrote in many forms, but her poetic form-of-choice was HAIKU.

The comments above are written in past tense because Syd, as the author was known to friends and family alike, died in 1996 nearing the age of sixty-seven. By that time she had written and published countless poems, many in haiku form. She had also written about the nature of haiku, sharing her passion and talent while inspiring others (young and old) to write their own small moments as haiku. 

Publication of this collection was championed by her daughter, Amy Losak, whose note precedes the collection  with a "Dear Reader" address. In it she highlights the observant and intuitive nature required to recognize potential poems in everyday objects and events. The next page presents thoughts about Haiku from Syd's own writings, including this:

"Haiku is that fledgling moment, when the wingstrokes become sure-- 

when the bird has staying power in the air."

These individual poems were selected and lightly edited by Losak from among her mother's lifetime of creativity. Rosenberg always dreamed of producing an alphabet-themed collection of haiku for young readers and Losak strove to make that vision a reality. The premise of arranging the poems by the alphabetical order of the first words provides a structure. On that scaffold, though, multiple patterns and relationships provide additional  conversations between and among the poems. There is an urban sensibility to some of them, as in these examples:

"Queuing for ice cream-

sweat-sprinkled office workers

on Queens Boulevard"

and

"Room of first-graders

practicing the recorder

through a thunderstorm"  

Several others reflect the author's intense and somewhat wry observations of nature's creatures and the amazing planet we share with them, often oblivious to their beauty and grace.  This pair share a double-page spread:

"Neon wings of moth

exploding into headlights

on a country road"

and 

"On a ruby sun

two white swans cross their black beaks

as they meet, gliding"

Losak reveals even more of the back story about the book and about her mother, Syd, in a recent guest post on the POETRY FOR CHILDREN blog, HERE. 

Illustrator Sawsan Chalabi enhances the carefully curated poems and their engaging interactions by incorporating mutliple strategies to magnify meaning and to encourage reflection. The haiku FIRST LIBRARY CARD is posted on the spines of books. Each word of a poem about rain splatters the page inside a raindrop. 

Harking back to the premise on which I launched this blog many years ago, I believe picture books have important things to offer readers of any age. This format of books is ideal for learners at any stage because they are COMPACT, COMPLETE, and COMPELLING. This picture book exemplifies those qualities. Among the many forms of poetry, for any age, HAIKU can be said to offer readers the same benefits as picture books. Syd Rosenberg, somewhere in time and space, must be very proud of her daughter, of this book, and of the ways it will carry on her advocacy for reading and for writing HAIKU. 

April is National Poetry Month. H IS FOR HAIKU releases on April tenth but is available for pre-order at the publisher, PENNY CANDY BOOKS, HERE. That means you could receive your copy in time to share and enjoy it on INTERNATIONAL HAIKU POETRY DAY, April 17. 
Stay tuned for more April poetry posts here, including some on haiku collections and picture book stories told in haiku forms. Here's a prior post with other titles to keep you reading until your copy of H IS FOR HAIKU arrives.

Another Not-So-Easy List

In the last post I lamented the challenge of naming favorite anythings, but especially favorite picture book titles. My mental qualifiers regarding the intent, audience, and situations in which books are read or shared make it nearly impossible for me to zero in on a single title or even short list of favorites. That why I declined participating in the Picture Book 10 for 10 blog challenge, instead relying on others more decisive than I am to share their choices. 
I did feature two examples of favorites titles for specific purposes.

This post takes on another challenge, one that was issued by blogger Colby Sharp on the Nerdy Book Club Blog last August. He put out a call for classroom teachers to consider a book they planned to read aloud within the first two weeks of school, the one they felt the most excited about sharing with their students. If you think that's another challenge I declined, you're right.

In workshops for teachers I share the advice of Pat Cunningham that an elementary teacher for any grade level should, ideally, have at least five read-alouds each and every day. YIKES! FIVE?
Yep. 

1. An excellent picture book (Demonstrates that little books have big ideas, validity, for readers of all ages.)
2. A poetry selection (Provides wide experiences with language, forms, authors, sources, and topics of poetry in only a few minutes a day.)
3. A chapter of a longer selection (Provides shared experiences with text of high quality, builds a common frame of reference, and allows modeling discussions and sustaining meaning over time.)
4. Two or more non-fiction passages related to content area topics (Introduces quality authors and titles for research and exploration of current studies.)

With that in mind, the first two weeks in my classroom often involve 40-50 or more titles, all of the highest quality, and each of which I'm excited to share.

HARPER (Harper Collins Imprint), 2013

And yet, despite my reluctance to name favorites among them, I feel compelled to feature a marvelous back-to-school title here that might be especially suited to your child or classroom situation. Mike Boldt wrote and illustrated 123 VERSUS ABC. On the title page "1" and "A" introduce themselves and their conflicting intents for this book- to create a book about numbers/a book about letters.

Using lively expressive features and stick figure body language along with speech bubbles and loads of personality, each  claims the turf of this book with reason, volume, and increasing assertiveness. 

When the rest of the cast gradually appears the arguments continue:

1-Alligator

2-Bears

3-Cars... and so on.

As the numbers and creatures and their various activities continue, near hysteria develops before "1" and "A" agree that it is a book about both, letters AND numbers. 

Until, on the  last page turn, a blob of red appears asking for the book about colors.

This recent release is a fine example of the POWER of picture books- 

Compact, Complete, Compelling.

It is appealing, invites close scrutiny, resolves a problem, begs for retelling, and entertains.

It also reveals subtexts in the visuals, and offers various approaches to conflict resolution- an important topic in the early weeks of school.

Greenwillow Books, 2012

This would be a perfect pairing with  Z IS FOR MOOSE, the 2012 alphabet picture book written by Kelly Bingham and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky. In a previous post I examined that title closely and interviewed Paul and Kelly about its creation.

In both cases older students can explore similarities and distinctions between the two titles: the tongue-in-cheek nod to ubiquitous alphabet (and number) books with iconic visual symbols, characters in conflict, the "all about me" attitudes displayed, and the story arcs created in each. 

One step further would include comparisons of art styles and design, facial expressions, and ways that action and movement are portrayed. (See what I meant about little books having big ideas for older readers, too, even alphabet books?)

Here's hoping that as plans are made for the start of another school year both of these titles will find their way into classrooms of every age, generating thoughtful discussion, mindful comparison, and, above all else, a love of books.

As always, your comments about favorites (back-to-school titles, alphabet and number books, or any other topic) are welcome.

Z IS FOR ZELINSKY, AND BINGHAM, TOO!

Alert- this post is longer than usual. Rather than split it into two posts, just decide for yourself if you want to read it in two sittings. Betcha you'll want to read it straight through!

In last week's post I reviewed Z Is For Moose (Greenwillow Books 2012). Yes, Moose, with a considerable amount of help from you. This week I'm excited to have author Kelly Bingham and illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky join us with some thoughts about an alphabet book that deserves every positive adjective from awesome to zany.

Kelly and Paul, it’s wonderful to have you share your thoughts about the creation of Z IS FOR MOOSE. Its remarkable combination of humor, tension, and personalities will undoubtedly make it a classic. Kelly, your YA novel, Shark Girl, has won many awards and was on the Oprah booklist for kids. Paul, your titles are consistently award winners and included on all-time-best lists. I feel confident Z Is For Moose will be as long-lived and well-loved as your previous titles.

Paul: I hope so. 85% of the credit would go to Kelly Bingham. I’ll accept the other 15.

Kelly, dedications are often selected near the end of the process, but Moose insisted I begin by asking about yours:

“For Sam, who asked for a funny book, and for Benny, because I love you, too.”

So who are these people, and why isn’t Moose included? He insists there would be no story without him!

Kelly: Well, Moose has a point. Which I'm sure he knows. However, there would be no Moose if there were no Sam. Sam is my son, and when he was four, he began to learn the alphabet. I would go to the library and get a few ABC books out for him each week, and we'd read them over and over at night. One or two were funny, but most were pretty straightforward. Like--they'd be all names of flowers, or all names of animals or something. After we had exhausted every last book in the library, Sam asked me if I could please find more funny ones. "I want a funny book," he told me. Sam loved funny books. I looked and looked but to my surprise, there were hardly any funny ABC books to be found. (Keep in mind this was way back when, nine years ago.)

So what does a mom do? I thought, if there are no funny ABC books, then I will write him one. And I did. And I drew the pictures to go with it, and made a little book, and we looked at it together. And Sam liked it!

So, the book is dedicated to Sam, because without him asking for the book, it absolutely would have never been written. I was not a "picture book writer" at the time-- I was working on a novel. It never occurred to me to even try to write a picture book. But I tried for Sam.

As for Benny, well, he is my son, too. Therefore, as any parent knows, I could not leave him out. I mean, really. It would be like leaving Moose out. You just don't do it. And though he was a baby at the time Moose was written, he contributed in his own way by going to sleep early enough at night so that Sam and I could read our ABC books and get tired of them and decide to create our own. So--way to go, Benny! And Sam! I love both of you! EQUALLY.

Paul, Moose wants to thank you for catching his pre-show curtain peek before the title page. It’s clear he can hardly contain himself and he was happy to make an early appearance. In fact, the other alphabet players seemed quite composed. How did you make decisions about so many individual personalities?

Paul: Yes, Moose has to get a quick look at you, the audience, even from behind the endpapers (or sort-of endpapers—I had to put in an extra, simulated, endpaper to make this happen). As to all those characters, there are reasons for the way some appear, and not for others. Basically my attitude is “if you draw them they will come.” But I can be specific about a few. Queen, as some people have noticed, is an homage to Maurice Sendak’s Queen (Victoria) from Hector Protector. Ring has a ruby because it begins with R. The truck, I realized just recently, is based on a toy of my cousins’, which I painted very realistically in watercolor while staying in their house during the summer of 1975. The purplish Ball is a close relative of “Plastic” in Emily Jenkins’ Toys trilogy. It’s not Plastic herself, who is bright red, because Plastic belongs to a different publisher.

Kelly, were Moose and Zebra and their struggle for attention and control inspired by anyone you know?

Well, anyone with a child--particularly more than one child---knows all too well the "what about ME?" syndrome. Maybe even the "Is it MY turn yet?" syndrome. I would say the need for attention and the not-so-subtle undermining of Zebra was inspired by the interaction between my two sons, Sam and Benny. I WOULD say that. But I can't. I would never be forgiven for dragging them into this. They are currently very non-Moose-like and hate to be mentioned. So I guess I'll shrug innocently, and say: "No, I really don't know anyone at all who behaves like Moose. Except Moose, of course. He is one of a kind."
And to even hint that I can relate to Zebra? I would never do that.

Paul, many of the characters were seen in their “everyday” wear, or with personal items, but they assumed more traditional appearance and poses when their turns arrived. How did you decide on their “other lives” when they’re not “working” as alphabet actors?

It’s kind of funny, isn’t it, that they’re wearing clothes until they get onstage? But that’s how it has to be. You wear warm-up clothes in rehearsal. As to the things they’re holding in those lineup scenes, I have to admit to a failure. My plan was to give each character an attribute beginning with its letter. Some letters offered wonderful possibilities, like Ball holding a toy Bear. But others drove me crazy. Queen: Query? Quinine water? Holding a quince wouldn’t do it. I made lists, I searched through a dictionary (much easier with a real, paper dictionary!) and I finally gave up. In the end some of the cast have letter-appropriate items on or with them, some don’t have anything, and some just have whatever came to mind.

Kelly, how close is the final story to the one you started writing? For example, when you wrote your text originally did you include the dialogue bubbles and descriptions of the characters and action, or did that develop later in the process?

Yes, I did!

Actually, the story is pretty much word for word exactly what I wrote on my very first draft. The idea came to me almost fully formed and I could see it plainly in my head. I knew right away what the story would be about, and who the characters were--I knew what Sam would respond to, what he would enjoy reading and looking for. I knew he'd like the idea of a character who broke the boundaries and messed up the entire page and wrecked the text and drew on pictures and spoke freely. Also, I was working in the movie business at the time and had seen more than one scenario where someone got cut from a scene at the last minute because they'd been replaced by someone else. So the Moose and Mouse situation sprang to mind. The rest practically wrote itself!

I wrote the story in one sitting, in dummy form--drawing the pictures, the speech bubbles, etc. And made a small book of it. Later, I decided it might actually make a good "real" book. (When I say "I decided," I mean, my author friends insisted I submit it to a publisher, boosted my confidence in the piece, and basically pushed me into taking that step.) So I transcribed the text, dialogue, and necessary illustration notes into a manuscript, and with the help of my agent, sent it off.

I would like to add that I did not include any drawings when I submitted the story, and though some notes were necessary in order for the editor and artist to visualize what I had in mind, (for example, I had to describe the text being stomped on, and words being crossed out), I did not in any way contribute to the art or design of the book. All the credit for that goes to the extremely talented Paul O. Zelinsky.

It really was a remarkable experience to write this book- it came to me so complete all at once, it sold right away, and there were almost no revisions. I did have to wait a long time for it to be made....my four year-old Sam is now 13. (And sadly, has no memory of this all happening way back when.) But it sure was worth the wait!

Paul, I’ve often heard you speak about using models for your pictures. Did Moose have a hard time posing or did you use stand-ins?

My studio is not tiny, but it’s really not big enough to invite a moose in for portrait studies. So I had to go in other directions. Like a certain amount of moose picture research online, a very nice CD of moose videos shot by friends on a nature trip somewhere in the Northeast, and lots of moose doodling. The moose is such a crazy-looking animal! I especially like male’s furry wattle (I learned it’s called a bell) and the large hump on the shoulder. The essence of moose, though, is its wide, weird, down-curving snout. Trying to extract these bizarre qualities and make a character who’s not off-putting wouldn’t have been as hard if it hadn’t been done so many times already. I went to great lengths not to look at any pictures of Bullwinkle, but images percolate through the culture so much that I don’t think it mattered. I finally stopped worrying whether my Moose would look any different from all the other moose in cartoons, books or movies. He came out how he came out.

Moose also noticed that the dust jack of the book is different from the hard cover in several important ways. Moose doesn’t manage to make an appearance on the front of the hard cover. (He mentioned he likes the dust jacket much better.) What’s behind that difference?

Well, this project was Zebra’s brainchild: a nice, gimmick-free alphabet book. His plans didn’t turn out that well, so I thought the least I could do was to give Zebra the cover (it’s called the “case” in bookmaker jargon) he had in mind. We considered having the title there read “Z is for Zebra” but decided to leave it at “Z is for” and let the picture of Zebra speak for itself. That this image gets covered up by a dust jacket featuring Moose’s shenanigans is in keeping with the rest of the book, don’t you think?

Absolutely! Kelly, Moose also noticed that the back cover finally credits Z is for Zebra, but also for zipper, zero, zoo and zombie. Is another book in Moose’s future?

Hmm...I'm not sure. It wouldn’t take any hoof-twisting to get Moose to agree. He would love to do another one-he's made that painfully clear. Zebra is not sure. We may need to let him recover a bit before we can talk to him more seriously about the idea. Until then, I hope everyone enjoys MOOSE. He loves his readers, so thank you to everyone who has read the book!

Paul, Moose wants me to ask about a book trailer. He feels his performance more than deserves to be immortalized on the web.

You’ll be able to see the actual event in which Moose burst in and messed up Zebra’s plans for the book cover if you wait until my Z is for Moose trailer comes out. Normally a trailer is finished before the book is published, but in this case the trailer was my idea, and my handiwork, and I am not an animator. So it was taking a very long time, and may never have happened at all if Greenwillow had not taken pity on me and hooked me up with a real animator to make things work correctly. The finished trailer should be out in a couple of weeks. It’s a behind-the-scenes interview with director and cast members, and it features quite a stellar cast list of voices. Look on my website , on the Greenwillow blog, I suppose on YouTube, and I hope in a lot of other places.

I'll have to wait, but it won't be easy! Moose, calm down or you'll break something!

Kelly and Paul, I really appreciate having you both join me (Sorry, MOOSE, join US). And MOOSE, thank you for your help in preparing questions and in allowing Kelly and Paul to have their moment in the spotlight uninterrupted. (Yes, I will remind readers to add their thoughts about the book AND YOU in the comments.

Disclaimer: I met Paul many years ago, worked with him in school visits, and consider him a friend. None of that influenced me in any way. I purchased this book myself and am utterly infatuated by both the writing and the art.

I've never met Kelly (except through this cyber-interview) but hope to some day. I am in awe of the creativity and execution of her thoroughly original ideas.

Aw-w-w, MOOSE, what have you done?

Sorry, Kelly and Paul, but it's my guess this has happened to you before.










If you missed it, last week's post has a detailed review and links about Z IS FOR MOOSE.

Z IS FOR... MOOSE? SAYS WHO?

During the week of May 7-13 we celebrate the annual CBC - sponsored Children’s Book Week. I invited a unique guest to help us get in the right frame of mind: none other than Moose, co-star of the recently released Z IS FOR MOOSE, by Kelly Bingham, pictures by Paul O. Zelinsky.

A Horn Book review offers a detailed description worth reading. Moose insists that you check out this link before we begin, and also wants me to mention that the book has already earned
six starred reviews, including Horn Book, Publishers’ Weekly, School Library journal, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (CCB).

That said, Moose has signaled hoofs up to start discussing his book.

Six starred reviews? For an alphabet book? How hard can it be to create a simple alphabet book? With Zebra in charge and the other initial letter icons clearly experienced at this process, things should proceed without a hitch: “A is for apple, B is for ball” etc. Anyone could do that, right? Everyone has done that, right again?

Not with Moose in the line-up they haven't.

Even before the title page Moose is peeking under the curtain and dancing in anticipation while the other alphabet players calmly wait for directions.

And about that title page. Moose smugly eyes the large banner he has inserted which obscures the intended title, changing it to Z is for MOOSE. With just a squeak of foreshadowing tucked into the title “M”, the roll call begins without a glitch.
Each alphabet actor discards the everyday gear it is bearing or wearing (Ball has a bear, Cat wears a track suit, and Zebra wears suitably striped referee shirt and cap) to take its place on the platform and strike a traditional alphabet book pose. These are clearly composed, experienced icons, and Zebra is clearly running the show.

So far.

There’s just one problem- Moose. His eagerness, excitability, impatience, and raw exuberance (not to mention his size) dislodge the duck, edge out the elephant, hang over the hat, and otherwise manage to create mayhem while waiting for his turn on the M stage. To his horror (I agree, Moose, who can blame you?) he is appalled to find that “M is for MOUSE”!
From that point on the tension and chaos rapidly escalate through stages of denial, rage, depression, resignation, and on to a satisfyingly surprising reconciliation.

In an earlier post about the POWER OF PICTURE BOOKS I wrote that the very best picture books are compact, compelling, and complete, with layers upon layers of entertainment, imagery, and depth of meaning.
On every count, Z Is for Moose is one powerful book.

As an alphabet book alone it offers novel repetition of images, consistent sequence, and embedded “search” potential (W= Whale + wail; Y= YoYo + yank; T= Truck +teeth +tires +tail; S= Snake+ stripes+ stop+ +scratch out +scribble +sneer, etc.)

Character traits abound in both Moose and Zebra, but in every other player as well, offering potential discussions of imagined inner thoughts and subtext. That queen certainly looks like she'd have something to say, given half a chance. Take a look at the expression on Mouse to guess how he feels about all this.

Readers of any age may pause to consider the reasonable limits of enthusiasm, alternatives to intrusion, external control vs. self-control, freedom of expression vs. a time and place for order. Then there are questions of fairness, kindness, bullying, peer support, and personal space.

Okay, Moose, I agree. This book is funny and entertaining and none of this is necessary.
But give yourself (and Zebra and Kelly and Paul and your alphabet friends) credit for creating a book that wins on every level and is destined to be a classic.


I'm delighted to report that next week's post will feature interviews with Kelly Bingham and Paul O. Zelinsky discussing their creation of this remarkable book. That allows everyone time to read it before they pop in! (No, Moose, next week is their week, not yours. Yes, I'll let you ask some questions, too.)


I'd love to see what your thoughts are about the book, and be sure to stop back next week to hear from Kelly and Paul. If you've had a chance to share the book with kids, please comment on their reactions to Moose and Company. I'll bet Paul and Kelly would enjoy reading what they have to say.

If you are an aspiring PB creator yourself, this week I have a guest post at Rochelle Melander's blog with some tips and basics.