{"id":20000,"date":"2020-04-02T20:56:02","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T01:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/?p=20000"},"modified":"2020-04-03T08:02:20","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T13:02:20","slug":"picture-book-highlights-author-cro-cze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/2020\/20200402-20000.htm","title":{"rendered":"Picture Book Highlights (Author CRO-CZE)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We read 74 children&#8217;s picture books in the month of March &#8211; which, given that we only visited the library once the whole month (and that only to pick up less than a dozen books on hold!) is quite a feat, I think.<\/p>\n<p>Our physical libraries are closed at least through the middle of April, so I&#8217;m guessing my &#8220;read every book&#8221; goal is going to have to take a pause while we spend more time reading what we already have in our home collection.<\/p>\n<div class=\"center\"><strong><em>The Really Groovy Story of the Tortoise and the Hare<\/em> by Kristyn Crow, illustrated by Christina Forshay<\/strong><\/div>\n<p><img src='http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/photoindex\/2019-04\/IMG_20200310_194201075.jpg' alt='The Really Groovy Story of the Tortoise and the Hare' class='ngg-singlepic ngg-none' \/><\/p>\n<p>A fun rhyming retelling of the classic story, set in modern day Chicago (I think) with a fast-moving city hare and a slow-and-steady country tortoise. <\/p>\n<div class=\"center\"><strong><em>Just as Good: How Larry Doby Changed America&#8217;s Game<\/em> by Chris Crowe, illustrated by Mike Benny<\/strong><\/div>\n<p><img src='http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/photoindex\/2019-04\/IMG_20200310_194715909.jpg' alt='Just as Good' class='ngg-singlepic ngg-none' \/><\/p>\n<p>Homer, a young Cleveland boy, is ecstatic that Larry Doby has joined the Cleveland Indians. Here at last, is a chance to prove that Jackie Robinson is not just a fluke, that black folks can be just as good as white ones. Homer and his father eagerly listen to the fourth game of the World Series, rejoicing as Larry Doby makes a home run &#8211; one of the two scores to win the 2-1 game. In the morning, Homer and his dad see a picture of Doby and white teammate Steve Gromek hugging in the newspaper &#8211; and they feel that, at last, change is coming for black people.<\/p>\n<div class=\"center\"><strong><em>Only You<\/em> by Robin Cruise, illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine<\/strong><\/div>\n<p><img src='http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/photoindex\/2019-04\/IMG_20200306_141010153.jpg' alt='Only You' class='ngg-singlepic ngg-none' \/><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m a bit of a sucker for &#8220;precious&#8221; picture books with very few words and a general theme of &#8220;I love you&#8221;, clearly intended to be read to babies and young toddlers. This is a very nice example of the genre &#8211; sweet without being saccharine, expressing a parent&#8217;s delight in a child without romanticizing bad behavior (as some books of the type occasionally do.) I also appreciate how the illustrations show a diverse selection of children and parents &#8211; boys, girls, men, and women black, white, and brown. <\/p>\n<div class=\"center\"><strong><em>Ten-Gallon Bart Beats the Heat<\/em> by Susan Stevens Crummel, illustrated by Dorothy Donohue<\/strong><\/div>\n<p><img src='http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/photoindex\/2019-04\/IMG_20200306_141017984.jpg' alt='Ten-Gallon Bart Beats the Heat' class='ngg-singlepic ngg-none' \/><\/p>\n<p>Texas is so hot that Ten-Gallon Bart (the dog) heads up to the Yukon to cool off (and maybe prospect for a bit of gold). When he gets buried in a crazy snowstorm, his friends head north to dig him out and bring him back home. This is not fine literature, but it&#8217;s fun. The children enjoyed the story, mama enjoyed the Texas drawlin&#8217; and the fun cut paper illustrations. Crummel and Donohue also wrote two books about Ten-Gallon Bart before this (but that we read out of order): <em>Ten-Gallon Bart<\/em> and <em>Ten Gallon Bart and the Wild West Show<\/em>. We thoroughly enjoyed all three in this series.<\/p>\n<div class=\"center\"><strong><em>The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles<\/em> by Michelle Cuevas, illustrated by Erin E. Stead<\/strong><\/div>\n<p><img src='http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/photoindex\/2019-04\/IMG_20200311_102211104_HDR.jpg' alt='The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles' class='ngg-singlepic ngg-none' \/><\/p>\n<p>A man has the lonely job of uncorking ocean bottles and taking them to their recipient. He dreams of having a bottle addressed to him, but knows there is little chance since he has no friends. But, as Tirzah Mae pointed out: &#8220;Well, then, he should make some friends!&#8221; And so he does, with the help of an anonymous bottle. A sweet and lovely book.<\/p>\n<div class=\"center\"><strong><em>The Cello of Mr. O<\/em> by Jane Cutler, illustrated by Greg Couch<\/strong><\/div>\n<p><img src='http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/photoindex\/2019-04\/IMG_20200317_153642882.jpg' alt='The Cello of Mr. O' class='ngg-singlepic ngg-none' \/><\/p>\n<p>A young girl grows up in a war zone. Wednesday afternoon relief trucks are the only thing she has to look forward. Until a bomb strikes the relief truck and their drop-off point is cancelled. But the neighbor, Mr. O brings out his cello and plays in the center of the empty war-ruined square, giving everyone hope. This is a weighty book, but a wonderful one. <\/p>\n<div class=\"center\"><strong><em>The Little Fire Truck<\/em> by Margery Cuyler, illustrated by Bob Kolar<\/strong><\/div>\n<p><img src='http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/photoindex\/2019-04\/IMG_20200310_194308884.jpg' alt='The Little Fire Truck' class='ngg-singlepic ngg-none' \/><\/p>\n<p>A relatively simple book with thick, tear-proof pages. Each page starts &#8220;I&#8217;m a little fire truck&#8230;&#8221; and can (generally) be sung to the tune of &#8220;I&#8217;m a little teapot.&#8221; Louis (who is obsessed with trucks) and Beth-Ellen (who is obsessed with singing) particularly enjoyed this title, requesting it over and over and over again until I had no voice to sing and had to refuse to read it again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We read 74 children&#8217;s picture books in the month of March &#8211; which, given that we only visited the library once the whole month (and that only to pick up less than a dozen books on hold!) is quite a feat, I think. Our physical libraries are closed at least through the middle of April, &#8230; <a title=\"Picture Book Highlights (Author CRO-CZE)\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/2020\/20200402-20000.htm\">Read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Picture Book Highlights (Author CRO-CZE)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20000"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20000"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20043,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20000\/revisions\/20043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}