★
REVIEW TEAM FAVORITE
Time of Wonder
By: Robert McCloskey
Medal Winner
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Recommended age: Ages 4-8
Also read and recommended by: Jeannette Tulis, Lara Lleverino, Sherry Early
Beginnings and endings form a lovely cycling in this picture book by Robert McCloskey. Time of Wonder has the start and end of summer as well as the start and end of a hurricane during that season. The realistic illustrations are reminiscent of a childhood full of wonder, of the vacations of times long past, and flow across each two-page spread.
If you are planning a vacation to Maine or another coastal area of the Northeast, I highly recommend this lovely picture book to read to your children before you go or while you are there. I love how the mother helps calm the children during the hurricane by reading to them and leading them to sing loudly "...eyes have seen the glory."
Anatole and the Cat
By: Eve Titus
Illustrated by: Paul Galdone
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
Anatole — "the mouse of action, the mouse of honor, the mouse magnifique" — sets out to solve the problem of the mice of the world since the days of Aesop — the belling of the cat.
One night and his friend Gaston, busy at their cheese tasting, heard a You-Know-What. They left the Fromagerie Duval in great haste and the next evening Gaston refused to go to the city until That Animal left the cheese factory.
"Voila! If a man may build a mouse trap, then a mouse may build a cat trap!" thought Anatole. And it was such a clever trap that Gaston declared: "I said it before and I say it once more — HE IS A MOUSE MAGNIFIQUE! VIVE ANATOLE!"
From the dust jacket
Fly High, Fly Low
By: Don Freeman
Honor
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Recommended age: Ages 4-8
In San Francisco, a pigeon invites a friendly dove to his nest where she lays two eggs. The nest is in the letter B of an electric sign on a building high above the city. One day when the pigeon is away from the nest, men come to take down the sign. Realizing there is a nest in the letter B, the men decide to place the letter in a new place. But the pigeon has no idea where. The story continues with the pigeon going from place to place through the city to find it. The illustrations by Don Freeman are soft and gentle and appear to be done in colored pencil. The drawings vary from close-ups of the two birds to spanning vistas of the city of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. If your children are learning about birds, in this case two common birds, or you are planning a trip to San Francisco, this book would be a delightful picture book to read together.
