★
REVIEW TEAM FAVORITE
The Little House
By: Virginia Lee Burton
Medal Winner
Reviewed by: Jeannette Tulis
Recommended age: 3 and up
Also read and recommended by: Lara Lleverino, Sandy Hall, Sarah Kim, Sherry Early
This is the life story of a little house built out in the country in the pioneer days at the top of a hill with only a few houses visible in the distance. First we see the little house in the four seasons surrounded by nature and then time passes and progress happens in the form of horseless carriages, roads, many more surrounding houses. Next we see surrounding houses giving way to apartment buildings, which are replaced by taller buildings and finally skyscrapers with subways running over the head of the little house and even underground the now deserted little house. But one day a descendent of the family who first built the little house sees it amidst all the downtown buildings and structures and decides to rescue the little house and find a place for her like her first home out in the country. She is again inhabited by a family and is able to enjoy the natural world around her. Such a sweet story, a classic for a reason. The soft colored illustrations add much to the charm of this sweet sweet story. Suitable to read to the very young as well as to be enjoyed by the older child.
Dash and Dart
By: Mary & Conrad Buff
Honor
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Recommended age: Ages 4 and up
In the great forest, two fawns are born in the spring and must learn from their mother how to survive. The story follows their lives through the year’s seasons from spring to summer and fall and then winter. The illustrations by the authors, Mary and Conrad Buff, are mostly done in monochromatic sepia-tones, reflecting the lovely gentle baby deer. There are also a few soft full-color two-page spreads of the deer in their mountainous forest environment. With a combination of poetry and prose, the lives of the deer are told with lots of inviting white space on the pages. A true living book, Dash & Dart helps children learn about how deer live as they experience the story. There is a sequel to this book: Forest Folk. Mary and Conrad Buff, a husband-and-wife team, collaborated on fourteen books for children and were four times the runner up for the Caldecott and Newbery Medal. I highly recommend their story version of the William Tell legend, The Apple and the Arrow.
★
REVIEW TEAM FAVORITE
Marshmallow
By: Clare Turlay Newberry
Honor
Reviewed by: Tanya Arnold
Also read and recommended by: Jeannette Tulis, Sandy Hall, Sarah Kim, Sherry Early
This is a perfect book for anyone who owns a pet, especially if that pet is a cat, and most assuredly if an additional pet has been added to the family. This is a delightful, humorous and sweet story about a cat, a bunny and friendship.
