Albie Newton by Josh Funk and Ester Garay

Little Albie Newton

was a thinker from the start.

He built a mega-stroller 

after taking his apart. 

The day that Albie learned to count, 

he ran to Mom and cried. 

He couldn't reach infinity,

despite how hard he tried. 

The star of Albie Newton is clearly a genius. He can do anything; even paint like Van Gogh and write sonnets (while other kids are drawing stick people and writing simple words). But, now he's just starting at a new school in the middle of the year. He wants to make friends, so he decides he's got to make something special -- a gift for the class -- and he must finish it before the school day ends. Albie sets to work gathering parts. Some might call it stealing, the way he keeps running off with things people are using or playing with, but Albie is oblivious. He's so immersed in his creation that he's causing trouble.

Dave propelled a wind-up plane across a classroom rug.

Albie picked it up and pulled its wings off with a tug. 

Evie tried to read a book with Adra and Raúl as

BOOMING PANDEMONIUM descended on the school.

So, everyone's unhappy with Albie. Until his fellow students see what he's created: a combination spaceship and time machine. Everyone hops on and the final panel shows kids in spacesuits playing with a caveman, an alien or two, a dinosaur building a pyramid, Shakespeare trying to balance a stack of books. Albie may be lost in his own world of inventions, but he has definitely created a fun invention on his first day of school.

Highly recommended - If this book has a theme, it's probably that we're not all alike in ability but we can find a way to get along. That's lost a bit in the sheer fun of the story, another rhyming tale that is a delight to read with a few giggle-inducing illustrations. I love the crazy spaceship-slash-time machine that's unveiled in the end and just the idea of it. Imagine if your (probably 1st grade) classmate was able to take you to other worlds. It's imaginative fun. And, I particularly love the "booming pandemonium" that describes how everyone's getting worked up and frustrated with Albie before they realize that he's actually got good intentions. An imaginative book about a smart kid adapting to a normal classroom in a big way.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Daddies Do by Lezlie Evans and Elisa Ferro

Who tangles and wrangles

and wrestles for fun,

then cries, "I surrender!

You're tougher. You won!" 

Who takes you on outings

and simply won't care 

if you've picked your own outfit 

or have messy hair?

DADDIES DO. 

THAT'S WHO!

Daddies Do by Lezlie Evans and Elisa Ferro is a sweet, rhyming book about the joy of spending time with daddy. The daddies in this book are, as you can see from the cover, animals. The lion on the cover is the daddy who wrestles his son and says, "I surrender!" A mouse daddy measures his child and gushes about how tall the child is growing, a peacock helps his little one build an airplane and says, "I'm glad that you tried" when kiddo makes a gluey mess, a penguin daddy catches his little penguin when he slides down an icy hill, and so forth.

Recommended - I was thinking about criticizing the book for being a little too rhythmic, but then I remembered that my children loved books that were heavy on the rhyme, when they were small, so I would count the natural rhythm as a plus, now that I think about it. The illustrations are charming, bold, cheerful, and brightly colored, really a feast for the eyes. Daddies Do is a happy book, about all the good times that can be had with a father. Because of the rhythm, it'll probably hold a child's attention at a pretty young age and I'd expect some of them to memorize Daddies Do and claim to be reading it when they're below reading age. An excellent book to buy and hand to a daddy who loves reading to and playing with his children.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Nature's Lullaby Fills the Night by Dee Leone and Bali Engel

Moths with powdery wings so soft

gently stir the air aloft.

Their flitter-flutter lullabies

barely whisper, "Close your eyes."

So begins Nature's Lullaby Fills the Night, a gently rhyming book about the sounds of nature at night.

Willow branches bend with ease,

slowly dancing in the breeze.

Back and forth their long arms sweep, 

shushing, shushing all to sleep. 

The title occasionally appears in the verses but I wanted to show you, in particular, the softness of the words in this book because they are truly special. Nature's Lullaby Fills the Night is the perfect, calming bedtime read. You can read it in a hushed voice and it's incredibly soothing. I can easily visualize the sound of a parent's voice calming a fussy child as the book is read. It really is a lovely, relaxing rhyme.

Highly recommended - Gentle nighttime images and soothing rhymes make Nature's Lullaby Fills the Night a book that will undoubtedly rock a few fussy little ones to sleep. I read it to my cats, of course, since my grandchild is over 1,000 miles away. Izzy and Fi have never loved being read to but they blinked happily, a good sign that the book is relaxing even to fussy furballs. Nature's Lullaby Fills the Night is another new favorite. I closed it wishing I had a child to read it to.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

This Old Van by Kim Norman and Carolyn Conahan and a Fiona Friday pic

This Old Van by Kim Norman, Illustrated by Carolyn Conahan
Copyright 2015
Sterling Children's Books - Picture Book/Counting (Ages 4 - 7)
30 pp.


This old van, she passed TWO,
friendly flaggers wave her through.

With a click clack rattle rack,
tooting at the crew,
this old van says,
"GOOD-BYE, TWO!"


Before I said "yes" to reviewing This Old Van, I already knew I couldn't pass up a book starring a van covered in the old "flower power" and peace-sign design. My hippie soul adores such things (I am, in fact, wearing a peace sign T-shirt as I type). And, I did indeed love the illustrations starring a couple of aging hippies and this crazy van racing across the countryside every bit as much as I expected. But, the bonus is in the rhythm. You can tell from the excerpt above (if you know the song) that the rhythm of the verses in This Old Van is the same as that of the song "This Old Man."

So, I actually sang the entire book to the cats. No, nobody has come to haul me to a room with mattress wallpaper, yet. And, in fact, the cats seemed to enjoy it but not as much as I'm sure my granddaughter will when I send it to her.

Highly recommended - A wildly fun counting book that has friendly, upbeat illustrations with plenty of detail to study, a super rhythm that allows you to sing the book to an old-fashioned tune, and unique things to count. On the page with two friendly flaggers, for example, there are also two dogs, two birds in hard hats, two bulldozers, two goats, two signs warning about falling rocks and two unexpected animals in hard hats. Loads of fun for kids and adults. Grandparents who remember the 60s will appreciate that crazy van.

It's Friday but I wanted to squeeze in a review so you get a combination post, today, including a combination of cats for Fiona Friday. I always love those moments when I find the two kitties squashed up next to each other.  It happened two or three times, this week, and I managed to catch the kitties between grooming and playing with their ribbon, on one occasion. It's possible somebody wiggled her fingers to get them to stop looking down.

Happy Friday!

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.