Goodnight Moon

Like you need me to tell you anything about Goodnight Moon. We have two copies, and I'm sure you have more. But I have to tell you this story.

We've been reading Corduroy and Goodnight Moon religiously twice each day for a couple of months now, right before sleep. A long time ago a professor advised that I should always tell the name of the author and illustrator of each book I read. So I do. Why not?

Well, Nana babysat last night. When we came home she said she picked up the two bedtime books and read the title, "Goodnight Moon". Maya immediately said, "Marget Wi Brown, pictures Clem Hud." Which is her translation of, "By Margaret Wise Brown, pictures by Clement Hurd."

She always waits to show off to the new guy I guess.

Speaking of bedtime, here's how I found Maya the other morning. How does she sleep like that?

Who Am I?

Last week at Jammies Storytime I had to give an apologetic look over to the librarians when we sang a song about Two Little Dinos, "...one named Quiet and one named Loud". This week when we sang it as Two Little Kittens, we left that verse out.

Maya got a little loud in the library herself when she figured out the book/toy Who Am I? (a novelty book by Begin Smart Books). It doubles as a mask with two eye holes in the middle and handles on the edges. Each page has a different animal face. Just hold the book up to your face and make a noise.

When Maya found the cat page she began running around the library, "MEOW! MEOW!" Thus our quick departure (of course we checked out the book and took it with us).

Now Maya did have trouble figuring out that she needed to point the kitty away so others could look at it. So at home we tried it in front of the bathroom mirror. That worked well.

Here's a picture of Maya in another disguise. See if you can guess which piano key plunker she is.

Good Luck Bear

Maya's second birthday last week was close enough to St. Patrick's Day that we made it an Irish affair. We had corned beef and cabbage with shepherd's pie on the side. Not bad. On the day, Maya got a green bowler from her Aunt Marty, who loves all things Irish.

For storytime Tuesday night we inserted an appropriate book into our dinosaur theme. Good Luck Bear, by Greg Foley, is about a lucky little bear who is searching for a four-leaf clover. He's having trouble finding one, and the other animals aren't helping at all. Monkey says there's no such thing, Rabbit finds one but eats it, and Groundhog asks, "If you don't find one, does it mean that you're unlucky?"

Poor Bear feels like the most unlucky animal. But he is lucky. Why? Because he has a friend like Mouse, who brings to him not a four, but a five-leaf clover.

In the past, I usually ignored St. Patty's Day, because I couldn't find any books I liked. But now I'll keep this one on my list for years to come.

I mentioned Maya's birthday. Here's a picture of her blowing out her candles with a little help from Cousin Addy, who had experience from a couple months before.

Dinosaur vs. Bedtime

If you're on facebook, you've seen those 25 Random Things About Me lists. One of Nathan's, a librarian friend of mine, is that his new favorite storytime book is Dinosaur vs. Bedtime, by Bob Shea. We of course immediately checked it out from the library.

Maya loves it. Like Maya (though she's building her lexicon daily), Dinosaur is a creature of few words. In fact his most used word is one of Maya's favorites - ROAR!

Dinosaur takes on all comers. "Dinosaur vs. a bowl of spaghetti! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! CHOMP! CHOMP! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! DINOSAUR WINS! ROAR! ROAR!" I think you can see the draw here. There are a minimum of three roars on each page.

A nice side effect is that Maya now trots around the house saying, "ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!" in various tones of voices. It's pretty funny.

Dinosaur finally meets his match when it comes to bedtime. The ROAR begins to be drawn out and turns into a snore. "Bedtime wins. Good night, dinosaur."

I suppose a bad side effect would be if Maya adds roaring to her anti-bedtime routine. So far so good.

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?

Well, were in that stage when Maya pretty much wants to read one book, and one book only. For the last couple of months it's been Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?, by Eric Carle. She asks for it by name; "More Brown Bear, Brown Bear."

It's no wonder. This simple book has it all. There are, of course, animals. And there's repetition that Maya's already picking up on. And she's even just getting started on learning her colors with the end pages. In fact, Maya often forgets to read the book, choosing to just point at colors.

Oddly, aside from bear and dog, which were the first animals and animal noises she learned, Maya is really taken with the teacher. Before the holidays we were in a bookstore, and she started to say, "Teacher, teacher." Sure enough there was a poster of Brown Bear, Brown Bear showing the teacher.

So, I now can join Nicole in saying I have a side gig. Next week I'll start doing a pajamatime storytime at our neighborhood library as a volunteer. Patty and Maya showed their support by sewing for me a beautiful felt night cap. Now I'm off to find some bunny slippers.

Wabi Sabi

It's Caldecott/Newbery time again. Here is my pick to win the Caldecott this year. Wabi Sabi, by Mark Reibstein and illustrated by Ed Young, is clever in both word and image (though for the award the committee must think only about image).

The book is verticle, which makes it difficult to hold open for a long time but is mighty clever. I suppose that is because Japanese is read verticly, isn't it? But the book does read left to right.

Wabi Sabi is the story of a cat with the titular name who goes on a journey to understand it's meaning. It's very complex, so this is definately a book for older readers.

The kicker for me, a fan of haiku, is that there are two poems on each page, one in English and one in Japanese. The translations for the later are in the back and do not adhere to the 5-7-5 format, which is an English adaptation. Both poems are actually part of the story. It's like a Sunday NYT crossword.

Ed Young uses a variety of media, mostly collage. But also photographs, drawings, etc.

All in all and absolutely beautiful book.

We are the Ship

I would be happy if We Are the Ship won, too. Kadir Nelson is quickly becoming a favorite artist. He got a nod last year, but theoretically that shouldn't matter.

More later.