mixed media reviews 1-3 years
4-7 years
The Frogs and Toads All Sang Arnold Lobel (author) Adrianne Lobel (illustrator)
14 book shelf
Swing! A Scanimation Picture Book Rufus Butler Seder If you can find an explanation for the magic that brings the pages of Rufus Butler Seder’s books to life, please let us in on the secret. It’s the artistic genius—no batteries required—that keeps the kids swinging bats, turning cartwheels, swimming laps, and cheering with every flip of the page. Easy to follow text adds happy rhymes for little ones, while the pictures will keep older children entertained for many, many readings. Cathy Jetter
Long before the award-winning stories of Frog and Toad became familiar members of every young reader’s library, author Arnold Lobel had told tales about their silly amphibious ancestors. Three newly-found books have been compiled as a series of sweet and silly poems where frogs and toads speak in rhyme and nothing turns out quite the way the reader expects. Adrianne, the author’s daughter, brings wonder and whimsy to Lobel’s original line drawings with her bright, bold watercolor brushstrokes. Cathy Jetter
7-12 years
STAMPEDE! Poems to Celebrate the WILD SIDE of School! Laura Purdie Salas (author Steven Salerno (illustrator) Bay Area schools will soon be teeming with all the creatures so vividly described in Salas’ rhymes: new kids struggling like mice in a maze, teachers guiding little ones like ducks in a row, and hungry students descending upon the cafeteria like a pack of wild dogs. Bring a little humor to the anxiety that can fill the first weeks back in class—ask your children if any of the crazy animals in Salas’ eighteen poems can be found roaming the hallways of their own schools. Cathy Jetter
» LOcal Author Spotlight Quickly: The Magic Spatula
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14
Bay Area Kids
Jeryl Abelmann and Miriam Kronish | Illustrated by Chason Matthams Published by Danville’s New Year Publishing, the whimsical story recounts how discovering one item—a spatula named Quickly (we won’t spoil why)—triggers warm childhood memories spent in the kitchen watching as Mommy made her famous silver dollar pancakes. A transcontinental accomplishment, Quickly: The Magic Spatula pairs San Ramon native Abelmann (a retired Teacher of the Year) with Massachussets resident Kronish. Bonus: the pancake recipe in question is included so you can recreate the fun in your own kitchen—but you have to BYOS (bring your own spatula). The world’s biggest pancake (over 49 ft. wide) was cooked in Rochdale, England, in 1994.
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