Here is a great round-up of picture books to entertain you this fall:
“On the day the science project hatched, our whole class was amazed. We’d never seen Mr. Stricter so excited.” Mr. Stricter has always wanted a pet. But when the class pet, Bruno, grows from a tadpole into a giant hippopotamus, classroom life gets a little wild. “Everyone could see that Bruno was trouble. Everyone expect Mr. Stricter.” Mr. Stricter thinks all the roaring and snoring during silent reading, sneezing, desk eating and show-and-tell farting is adorable — and that the class is overreacting — until the Hippo swallows him whole. How will the class save their teacher? The Teacher’s Pet by Anica Mrose Rissi is a hilarious yet endearing tale of a memorable classroom pet. Zachariah OHora’s (The Not So Quiet Library, My Cousin Momo) illustrations are bright, colourful and radiate Bruno’s energetic personality.
“Who wouldn’t travel anywhere to get an apple or a pear? / And if a chum hands you a plum, be fair and share that tasty treat!” In Nothing Rhymes with Orange, Adam Rex (School’s First Day of School, XO, OX: A Love Story) presents a clever celebration of anthropomorphized fruit. Peaches, bananas, figs, kiwi, cantaloupe and even quince are among the many fruits that are included in the celebratory rhyming verse. But what about Orange? None of the fruits have a coined a rhyme for Orange. Poor Orange feels left out and mopes about as the fruit parade around singing their verses — “Sigh. I’m just gonna hang out on the next page.” The other fruit, “feeling rotten, ’cause there’s someone they’ve forgotten” come up with a rhyme to ensure Orange feels involved in the fun: “It’s the orange. He’s really smorange. There’s no one quite as smorange as orange… totally awesome in every way.” A smart and silly read-aloud that underscores the importance of inclusion.
Aaron Reynolds and Caldecott Honor-winner Peter Brown (the duo who created Creepy Carrots!) have paired up for a sequel, Creepy Pair of Underwear! In his return, Jasper Rabbit is underwear shopping with his mom, where he spots the most glorious green pair of underpants. He must have them. His mom thinks that the underpants are way too creepy but Jasper emphasizes that he is a big rabbit now and he no longer wants to wear plain white. The ghoulish green underpants are purchased. Despite stressing that he is a big rabbit now, Jasper cannot sleep because the Frankenstein-faced underpants (which creepily change facial expressions throughout the story) lurk in his room at night and keep it aglow in ghoulish green. Jasper tries to get rid of the underpants — he hides them in the laundry hamper, he mails them to China and he throws them in the trash — but the underwear keeps returning to his bedroom. Brown’s illustrations are brilliant: the black and white illustrations and the bright green glow of the underpants add a level of spookiness to Reynolds’ narrative. A wonderfully absurd thriller for fans of Lemony Snicket’s The Dark and Mac Barnett’s The Skunk.
“But was Rapunzel frightened? Oh no, not she! If the witch could use her hair to get in, Rapunzel could use it to get out.” The princess is not waiting to be rescued in this story — in fact, this fairy tale does not mention the predictable prince charming. Bethan Woollvin’s clever picture book retelling of Rapunzel, a follow-up to her darkly amusing tale of Little Red, presents a feisty female protagonist who devises a secret plan to escape the confines of her tower prison. Through close reading of How to Defeat Witches and some help from forest animal friends, Rapunzel creates her own escape that sends the witch to her demise. Woollvin’s picture book is a visual wonder with a bold colour palette of black, white, gray and yellow, and is complete with striking endpapers that frame the tale. The front endpaper presents the witch searching for the golden-haired Rapunzel and the princess hiding behind a tree, and the final endpaper presents the short-haired, masked girl bravely riding on horseback searching for the other frightened witches of the land. A must-read.
Visit your local library to borrow these great picture books, and be sure to ask your children’s librarians for more book recommendations.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Natalie Schembri works at Port Moody Public Library.
