What We Found At The Library #14

Hi, all! Here are our favorite picks from our most recent trip to the library. I can't wait to see what you've found, too!

Mia's Favorite: The Seven Chinese Sisters by Kathy Tucker and Grace Lin

The problem with letting your child pick their favorite book to be posted in a blog-published list, is that you yourself may not like the book. Such is almost the case with this book. It's a perfectly normal book -- with perfectly beautiful illustrations -- but it has a bit of a morbid twist, to my little-girl-sheltering eyes. There are seven sisters in this story, each of whom are gifted with some special talent unique to herself. Third sister was a good counter, Fourth sister could talk to dogs, Sixth sister cooked a delicious soup, and so on. One fateful day, a fierce dragon was tempted down the mountain by the smell of Sixth sister's soup, and ended up taking tiny baby Seventh sister for his meal instead. And this is the part I wanted to change for the sake of my daughters: the dragon reaches in the house with his clawed hand and carries the baby girl away up the mountainside. I'm a grown woman, and I almost had nightmares about that picture. The story ends up happy ever after: the dragon was a skinny little thing, just hungry and lonely, and the sisters decide to take him some soup after they've saved their baby sister. Maybe this is some traditional Chinese folk tale, and maybe it has a good moral of each person using their unique talents to accomplish wonderful things, but I just took issue with the baby being snatched away by a dragon. That seems so anti-sweet-dreams to me. Alas, Mia loved the book, and had no nightmares (that I know of). I was compelled to not hate it after seeing her enjoy it so much.

Lauren & Mama's Favorite: Do YOU Have A Hat? by Eileene Spinelli and Geraldo Valerio

Lauren's favorite this time, though, I DID love. In this adorable book, characters from history are poetically and goofily described according to which type of hat they wore. Abraham Lincoln, Carmen Miranda, Daniel Boone, Amelia Earhart, Walt Whitman, Sally Ride...and the list goes on. Each character's hat is described and painted in such unique ways that readers are instantly drawn into the heart of what made the person so historically fascinating in the first place. This book would be perfect for leading school-aged kids into research about interesting figures in history -- there are so many to choose from in this book alone! But Lauren, being two (SOB!), was only interested in one thing: the repetitious 'Do YOU have a hat?!' at the end of each character description. Near the end of each page, she'd lean her head backwards and sideways to look into my face, and tell me, "Mama, say, 'do OO haffa hat?'" I, of course, followed her instructions. We had the best time reading this book, and it gets my highest recommendation. Check this book out SOON!

Daddy's Favorite: Lucky Pennies & Hot Chocolate by Carol Diggory Shields and Hiroe Nakata

Justin's a typical boy: he loves planes, trains, and automobiles, sports, animals, and history...but he's also a sucker for a sweet story. In this book about a little boy and his grandpa, the narrator tells us about his favorite things to do with his favorite person. He likes to tell knock-knock jokes, watch earth-movers at work, play dominoes, and drink hot chocolate. He likes having pancakes for breakfast, playing ball, and picking up lucky pennies. Throughout the story, we're led to believe it's the little boy who's listing his favorites, and getting excited for a weekend at Grandpa's house. But in a sweet surprise ending, the last pages say, "Here's what I like. I like lucky pennies, hot chocolate, and knock-knock jokes. And my grandson does too." This melted Justin's strong heart; he loved that the grandpa was so excited to spend time with his grandson because Justin's own grandpa was like a father to him. An instant favorite was born.

Now it's your turn! What did you find at the library?