★
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
NOT REVIEWED
All his friends thought Sid, the pigeon, very uppity indeed. He lived in the loop of a huge B in an electric sign up on a skyscraper in San Francisco. The view of the bay was magnificent, and besides, the warmth from the lights in the sign kept him cozy and protected him from the chill wind.
Sid may have been a little lonely, because he asked a lovely dove, Midge, to share his home. They were very happy together, contentedly picking up crumbs scattered in the park by a kind old man—or flying in glorious swoops high over the bay and low over the water.
But one morning, while Midge was taking her turn sitting on two eggs, and Sid had gone to the park as usual, for his breakfast, disaster struck!
How all ends happily is told in story and beautiful pictures that give the reader a true feeling of the sweep of the sky and sea, and wide views of the fabulous Golden Gate City.
From the dust jacket
