Happy Thanksgiving with Turkey & Balloons!

We in the U.S. are preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving--very often by serving turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, cranberry sauce, and --I can hear the table groaning under the weight of all that food. What a wonderful time of food, family, and friendship--unless you are the turkey! 

Author Wendy Silvano's Turkey Trouble  is a funny picture book for ages 3-8, but if you are the adult reading it, you will laugh, too. Turkey realizes that he must save himself from being Thanksgiving dinner. He tries a variety of disguises until he finally finds one that works! The twist at the end leaves the farmer and his wife eating a non-traditional Thanksgiving meal and lets Turkey continue to enjoy farm life.  Lee Harper's illustrations enhance the humor. Text and pictures work together to allow children to predict Turkey's next move until the surprise ending. This book won a Children's Choice Award.

While your turkey is roasting, you may watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Did you know that some of the giant balloons were made in my city by Raven Industries? And did you know that these giant balloons are actually puppets, invented by puppeteer Tony Sarg? Never hear of him? Most of us hadn't until Melissa Sweet wrote and illustrated the non-fiction book Balloons Over Broadway. This picture book tells the story of Sarg's ingenuity in making the very first Macy's parade and balloons and has won the 2012 Robert F. Sibert Medal and the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award.

Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving!

What are your favorite Thanksgiving books?

Welcome Spring! Welcome Back, Birds!

It's funny that during the winter I don't think about missing the birds' songs. But as soon as they're back, I am so happy to hear them!

To celebrate both spring and birds, I'd like to introduce you to 3 books that, though published for children, are great for all ages. These books are fun to read, beautifully illustrated, and full of information.

Every Day Birds by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, illustrated by Dylan Metrano, is brand new and already receiving acclaim, including being named a Junior Library Guild selection. Rhyming text and paper-cutting illustrations teach about birds that many of us see every day.

What makes a bird a bird? Feathers, of course! Melissa Stewart has written Feathers: Not Just for Flying to help us understand what feathers are used for. This multiple-award-winner, illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen, When you find a feather on the ground where you walk, you'll think about this book. What bird dropped it? How did the bird use this feather?

Finally, what's better than a reassuring, rhyming good-night book that features birds? By masterful storyteller poet Jane Yolen and her daughter Heidi Stemple and illustrated by Melissa Sweet, You Nest Here With Me describes the the nests built by 14 different birds, ending each stanza with the comforting title refrain.

I hope you appreciate bird songs this spring and share the joy with friends young and old. Where I live, we get excited to see the first robin--a true spring harbinger. Enjoy this song by Kaija Bondi and East of Westreville: