Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen, illustrated by Mark Beuhner

You know how you remember little bits of a story, but not enough to find it again? That is what happened to me with Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm. All I remembered was balloons growing out of the ground and how much just the idea made me smile. I tried looking up books about balloons, but could not find the book that niggled at my memory. (You would think I would have remembered it was a FARM!)

Then, one day while walking my dog with illustrator and fellow writer, Carolyn Conahan, I mentioned my search for the balloon book. "Oh, Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm!" said Carolyn. "We have that." And sure enough, that was it, a Balloon Farm! I can't believe I did not remember the cow on the cover.

Rereading it, I felt that same feeling: what a wonderful idea! The plot is a bit thin, but the pictures more than make up for it with fields full of bright, candy colored, balloons. This book is just a bit different. Farmers in overalls dancing under the moon. Monster balloons growing out of the ground. I particulary like that the first person main character is a black girl, even though there is no mention of race or gender in the text. Read this and smile and wish it were true. A Balloon Farm!

• Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen, illustrated by Mark Beuhner
  
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (April 29, 1994)
• ISBN-10: 0688078877
• ISBN-13: 978-0688078874

Double Trouble in Walla Walla by Andrew Clements, illustrated by Salvatore Murdocca

There are some books that work best as read-a-louds. Double Trouble in Walla Walla is one of them. It almost doesn't work when read silently. Instead the rhythm and exuberant excess of the "wibble-wobble word warp" that happens in Walla Walla needs to be heard. Just remember to breathe (and practice!).

Andrew Clements went on to write a whole slew of school stories with Frindle at the top of the list, but, for younger students, I love this one. There is barely a plot, but so what! As readers, we get to follow Lulu and her teacher into the word warp. Full of tongue twisters and double slang, this book is just fun. The illustrations are bright and cheerful, but it's really the word warp that pulls you in.

"Fie-fie, my my, rag-bag, tie-dye! Beep-beep, ho-ho, paw-paw, dodo!" This is how we rap in the Northwest!

• Double Trouble in Walla Walla by Andrew Clements,
• Illustrated by Salvatore Mudocca
  
• Millbrook Press (September 1, 1997)
• ISBN-10: 0761302751
• ISBN-13: 978-0761302759

Fox by Margaret Wild, Illustrated by Ron Brooks

Fox by Margaret Wild is one of those picture books that is not for young children. This story is dark and scary and one of the most emotionally intense stories I have ever read.

Dog and Magpie are both damaged; Dog is blind in one eye and Magpie has a burnt wing. But they forge a friendship which transcends grief and create a "new creature" that tugs on your heartstrings. Then fox comes and tests their bond. It doesn't go well.

Wild shows us despair and grief, jealousy and hatred, loyalty and betrayal. All in 32 pages. I've read this to rowdy 4th graders and had total quiet. One kid just kept saying "Wow."

The illustrations by Ron Brooks are gorgeous and powerful with scratched black lines, bird-like, as if Magpie could draw. Painted with a palate of reds, browns and black, the illustrations match the burning metaphors of Wild's poetic text. "He flickers through the trees like a tongue of fire."

Wild is one of the best known children's book writers in Australia. If Fox is any indication, we should know her work better. I've heard this story referred to as "epic" and like a Greek tragedy. There is even an opera written in Australia that is based on Fox . This is one allegorical story that will haunt you in a good way.

Teacher Notes: There are some very detailed lesson plans for FOX on the internet. Check out:http://www.gardenstheatre.qut.edu.au/downloads/Fox_Teachers_notes.pdf

• Fox by Margaret Wild, Illustrated by Ron Brooks
  
• Kane/Miller Book Publishers (September 2006)
• ISBN-10: 1933605154
• ISBN-13: 978-1933605159

Mrs. Biddlebox by Linda Smith, Illustrated by Marla Frazee

Mrs. Biddlebox is struggling... struggling to stay positive and struggling to get noticed. First published by HarperCollins with a wild and abstract- primarily black and white- cover showing Mrs. Biddlebox wrestling with a bad day, the book quickly went out of print, even though it won some awards. Reissued by Harcourt a few years later with a new, blue, more traditional cover and a subtitle, Mrs. Biddlebox is still not well known. Which is too bad.

The story is relatively simple - a woman wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and makes a great effort to become positive. The rhyme is great with some wonderfully quirky images that reflect a different take on being positive. "She rolled the sky like carpeting." Mrs. Biddlebox is determined to wack that bad day and the energy is great. Linda Smith wrote the text while battling cancer and died before it was published. Though it is not a depressing book, it does have an emotional intensity that is unusual in picture books.

But the illustrations make this story! I'm not always a fan of Marla Frazee. I often find her work overly done and self-conscious, but I love these illustrations. They are loose and humourous and detailed and abstract all at the same time. I don't know if she was inspired by Smith's metaphors or just wanted to loosen up, but I'd love to see her do more in this style. For those who feel that the concepts and illustrations are too abstract for children, please give it a try. I've read this to many classes of all ages and immediately gotten multiple stories of how to "beat the blues".
Don't underestimate children!

• Mrs. Biddlebox , Her bad day and what she did about it.
  
• Harcourt Children's Books (October 1, 2007)
• ISBN-10: 0152063498
• ISBN-13: 978-0152063498

Stick Horse by Ken Raney

Stick Horse by Ken Raney is a wordless ride through space and time. I'm not sure why it didn't catch on, perhaps it is because it was published by a small press. But it is worth checking out. Especially for young boys.

There is a bit of a disconnect between the carefully rendered color pencil illustrations and the time travel theme, but I like it. At first glance it seems like a simple sweet story with a tow-headed boy and then, wow, he is zipping past the Statue of Liberty. What fun!

The pictures are very easy to follow; it is almost a wordless easy reader. There is not much of a plot, but the concepts of time travel, replete with dinosaurs and a possible boy from the future make this a fun read. I can't imagine many five year-olds that wouldn't love this.

Unfortunately, it is very hard to find. Sometimes you have to wonder about an industry that dumps its babies and moves on so quickly. Don't get me started!

Stick Horse by Ken Raney
1991
Medlicott Press
ISBN10: 0962526142
ISBN13: 9780962526145

A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert

Ok, A New Coat for Anna may not be that weird, but I do love it and just discovered that there is a new Chinese version, which I find a bit strange.
I recently spent some time in China and found myself looking for children's books in Shanghai and HongKong. I found lots of Disney and some Scholastic titles and a few original books, but not much else. (Miss Frizzle had been changed into a man! That was surprising.)

Even as a Librarian at a school with a good population of Chinese immigrants, I had a hard time finding books in Chinese. But here is A New Coat for Anna and I also found Owl at Home -in Mandarin! I think someone saw a market. How many people in the world read Chinese? Wow. Brilliant!

I can imagine that A New Coat for Anna is a story that would appeal to the Chinese. It is a lesson in community, frugality and resourcefulness - all virtues honored in China. The story shows how a girl's coat is made from gathering the wool, to dying, weaving and tailoring and how her mother trades to pay for it. A basic economics lesson, it takes place in Europe after WWII. It is sweet and educational and Anita Lobel's illustrations are lovely.

Just not a book I would think of to translate into Chinese. I need to keep my mind open... (I swear the cover illustration that I saw had darker hair!)

Owl at Home by Arthur Lobel

I just discovered that I seem to have "lost" my last copy of Owl at Home and will have to get another. I do tend to lend them out as this is one of my all time favorite books. There is a new edition, which is great as old ones are not that easy to find. Frog and Toad are wonderful, but there is something about Owl that just captured my heart. I know that this book is on a number of teacher lists, but I still don't feel it is fully appreciated.

There is only one book about Owl rather than the collection of Frog and Toad and I think I know why. Because Owl at Home is special. Lobel has done something here that is VERY different and difficult. He wrote an entire book with just one character.

Maybe it is because I'm a bit of a loner, but I totally appreciate these stories. There are no friends, no real relationships, just Owl and his imagination. Owl talks to the wind, Owl sees his feet as bumps, Owl makes tea, Owl, runs up and down the stairs, Owl watches the moon. I'm afraid that, if there had been more Owl stories, they may have seemed repetitious, but, in one book, they are brilliant.

My favorite story is Tear-water Tea where Owl thinks sad thoughts so he can cry into a teapot and then, drinking his tea, remarks that "it tastes a bit salty, but Tear-water Tea is always very good." Such self-therapy! The pathos, the drama, the concept. As a writer, I am in awe. And it is an Easy Reader. So hard, so good.

Teacher notes: I have used Tear-water Tea as a writing prompt with 2nd and 3rd graders. What funny/sad things would they think of to cry about for Tear-water Tea? The only response I remember years later is: "TV where the only show is Barney!"

• Owl at Home by Arthur Lobel
  
• Publisher: HarperCollins 1975
  
• ISBN-10: 0064440346
• ISBN-13: 978-0064440349