PICTURE BOOK - Maple - Lori Nichols

Illustrated by the author

2014 Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin

HC $16.99

32 pages

Goodreads rating: 4.25
My rating: 4/Delightful

Endpapers:  pale lime green with pale white drawings of leaves, trowels, watering cans, sprouts; rear end papers the same except light blue

Title Page: single page, facing white; top and bottom large maple leaves, title in cursive brown.

Illustrations: "Pencil on mylar, then digitally colored."  The girl's face is nicely expressive.

1^st line: Maple loved her name.  When she was still a whisper, her parents planted a tiny tree in her honor!"

My comments:  I was looking for new picture books at the library and grabbed this one for two reasons - I love books about tress, and because all the others appeared to be anthropomorphic...which aren't my favorites.  It was really cute, and quite joyous.  And - it's a wonderful book for a child that's about to have a new baby join the family.

Goodreads:  Lori Nichols’ enchanting debut features an irresistible, free-spirited, nature-loving little girl who greets the changing seasons and a new sibling with arms wide open.
          When Maple is tiny, her parents plant a maple tree in her honor. She and her tree grow up together, and even though a tree doesn’t always make an ideal playmate, it doesn’t mind when Maple is in the mood to be loud—which is often. Then Maple becomes a big sister, and finds that babies have their loud days, too. Fortunately, Maple and her beloved tree know just what the baby needs.

57. Word After Word After Word - Patricia MacLachlan

Katherine Tegen Books, 2010
For: younger middle grades
HC: $14.99
128 pgs.
Rating: Hard to say....great for this word-lover adult, but kids? We'll find out, because I'm going to start the year by reading this aloud and teaching a Patricia MacLachlan author study. That means I have to have it ready for n-e-x-t w-e-e-k!!!

This is a simple, lovely story of a children's writer who shares her love of words with a classroom of kids - and we meet five of them. Friends, each with their own unique qualities and stresses, who meet after school under a lilac bush and discover they love to write - and they CAN write.

Told from the point-of-view of one of the kids, a girl who is sad, whose mother is going through chemo. However, this is NOT a sad book. It's a thoughtful look at the way that kids think, and the way that kids relate to one another

Brand-New Baby Blues - Kathi Appelt

Illustrated by Kelly Murphy
Harper, 2010
$16.99
"ages 3-6"
32 pages
Endpapers: Almost-dark blue

Yay for Kathi Appelt, one terrific poet!
"Once upon a time
I was the only one,
I was the cat's pajamas,
I was the moon and sun.

It was me and only me --
I was the icing on the cake.
I was the royal pooh-bah,
the chocolate in the shake.

Now everything is different,
everything is changed.
I'm not the one and only.
My whole life's rearranged.

Those good ol' days are over.
It's official, it's the news!
With my brand-new baby brother
came the brand-new baby blues!"

I think I'll wait until Ella's new baby brother is a few months old before I read this to her, I don't want her to get any preconceived ideas. The story goes on to show all the attention that a new baby gets, but eventually comes to the place where the girl realizes that once her baby brother is no longer a baby she'll have a great playmate!

Super rhyme and rhythm.Cute illustrations - particularly all the facial expressions that totally accentuate the story. Fun.

Sophie Peterman Tells the Truth - Sara Weeks

Illustrated by Robert Neubecker
Beach Lane Books, 2009
$16.99
32 pgs.
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Bright orange

What a nice combination of illustration and font to accentuate the clever storytelling in this book. As Sophie Peterman discusses everything that is disgusting about little brothers, we sympathize with her fully. and when she does come to the realization that maybe she can, indeed, live with him....she is rewarded with a bit of a surprise.

Very cute.