Picture Book: Crow Not Crow by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple

Illustrated by Elizabeth Dulemba

2018 The Cornell Lab Publishing Group

HC $16.95

36 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.93 - 120 ratings

My rating:  5/Excellent
Endpapers:Deb Grocery Bag Brown

1^st line/s:  "The first day Dad took me out birding, the sky was the color of Mom's old pearl ring.  The trees were draped with birds.  It was very noisy."

My comments: This book was written for me....or a kid just like me.  All birds look the same to me.  But this ingenious way to teach beginning birders how and what to look for when they're birdwatching is a super-great idea.  The book ends with a few of the birds described in the book, and a few other common North American birds. Lovely illustrations.

Goodreads: New York Times bestselling children's author, Jane Yolen, and her son, Adam Stemple, have teamed up to write this gentle tale of a father introducing his daughter to the joys of bird watching using the "Crow, not Crow" method for distinguishing birds. Elizabeth Dulemba's delightfully warm illustrations bring the story to life..

Christmas Storytime at the Library

I read three books aloud to preschoolers today, I chose ones with three different animals as protagonists. Then we glued sequins for ornaments, drew garlands with glitter crayons, and topped the pre-cut green construction paper tree with a sticky star.  Very cute, and manageable for little hands.  I had eight books to choose from and the ones I chose were big hits:

Merry Christmas, Merry Crow
by Kathi Appelt
Illustrated by Jon Goodell
2005, Harcourt, Inc.

     "Wind's a blowin'
Sky's a snowin'
     Where's this feathered
               fellow goin'?"

The crow glides through each double-page spread, collecting all sorts of tinsel and trinkets he finds laying around, to decorate a tree for all his flying friends.  Gorgeously illustrated, with no white edges (I love edge-of-page to edge-of-page illustrations), the continuous snowfall and merry Christmas shoppers and carolers make this a happy, fun book to share with kids.
     Goodreads rating:  3.93 - 87 ratings

Stowaway in a Sleigh
Written and illustrated by C. Roger Mader
2016 Houghton Mifflin

"It was the darkest hour of night when Slipper heard strange footsteps in the house."

Well, of course she went to investigate, and discovered Mr. Fuzzy Boots...and crawled into his now-empty cozy red bag. After she was whisked away to the North Pole where she made new friends, Santa made a special trip back to Slippers' house to return her.  My little listener was at first a little distressed when she realized that Slippers might not be able to get home again, but enjoyed the story and the illustrations greatly.  Again the gorgeous illustrations covered each entire double-page spread from edge to edge and accentuated the story superbly.
     Goodreads rating:  4.15 - 161 ratings

Bear Stays Up for Christmas
by Karma Wilson
Illustrated by Jane Chapman
2004, Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster

"The day before Christmas,
snuggled on his floor,
Bear sleeps soundly
with a great big snore."

Bear has such a tough time staying up once his friends awaken him for Christmas...it is time for his "big sleep" after all, but when it comes time for them to doze off on Christmas Eve, he has a wonderful time preparing surprises for them to find in the morning.  A very cute story, again with many double-page spreads.  Three winners today!
     Goodreads:  4.28 - 6,938 ratings