FernFolio » Picture Storybooks

That Book Woman by Heather Henson and David Small

fernfolio — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:34:08 +0000

Young Cal has watched the Book Lady on her sorrel mare ride the long trail up to his family’s farm every two weeks to deliver books. While his younger sister Lark loves to read and would happily have her nose in a book from dawn to dusk, Cal has never learned to read, and feels that he was not born to “sit so stoney-still a-staring at some chicken scratch.” Since money is scarce and there are no schools for the children to attend, Cal spends his days working with his Pap around the farm.
But, when a long, hard winter settles in, keeping Cal and his family housebound, and still the Book Lady rides through the cold and snow to deliver her books, Cal begins to wonder what might be in those books that makes getting them into the hands of readers would be so important. He asks his sister Lark to teach him to read, and finds, to his amazement, that this winter “of deepest snow, of cold eternal,” passes happily, as he discovers the joy of reading.
Charmingly written in dialect, and illustrated with the gentle water colours of David Small, That Book Woman is a jewel of a story about a young boy who discovers the power – and magic – of reading.
FernFolio Editor

Clancy with the Puck by Chris Mizzoni

fernfolio — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:56:31 +0000

Traded to the Hogtown Maple Buds near the end of the regular season, Clancy Cooke helps his new team make the playoffs. With his skating and stick handling, Maple Buds fans believe, the team has a real shot at the Stanley Cup.
The visitors take an early lead in that seventh game of the finals, but Clancy scores two quick goals to tie it up. It looks like the game will go into overtime when the visitors get another goal past the Buds’ goalie, putting the score at four goals to three for the visitors. With seconds to spare, Mackenzie gets a break away and goes flying down the ice toward the visitors’ net, only to be tripped. Mackenzie cannot take the penalty shot with his twisted knee, so the Buds’ coach calls on Clancy Cooke.
As Clancy responds to fans’ cheers, eying the visitors’ goalie who stands quaking before his net, he dreams of winning the Stanley Cup for Hogtown Maple Buds and securing his place in hockey legend. Can the great Clancy Cooke put the puck in the goal and take the final game into overtime?
Written in rhyme and wonderfully illustrated by the author, Clancy with the Puck, by Chris Mizzoni, is sure to capture the imagination of anyone who has wanted to succeed at something so badly that they could taste it!
FernFolio Editor

Don’t Say That Word! by Alan Katz and David Catrow

fernfolio — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:10:56 +0000

When Michael gets home from school, and his mother asks him about his day, he regales her with stories about his classmates, stories that celebrate bodily functions. Michael tells his mother about the booger that comes to decorate the top of a birthday cookie, she responds with, “Don’t say that word!” Michael fairs no better when he recounts what happens when Don gulps down his cider too quickly, or when Ms. Grant, his teacher, steps into some unpleasantness in the school yard.
Even after some time on the time out chair, Michael continues to get into trouble with his accounts of Max’s upset stomach and the class’ art lesson. Eventually, his mother resorts to washing out the poor kid’s mouth with soap, before telling him to get into his pyjamas and get off to … In the end, his mother is not the only one who finds some words unacceptable!
Told in rhyme, Alan Katz’ humorous story about rude words slyly incites the reader to utter the words that Michael is banned from saying. Amusingly illustrated by David Catrow.
FernFolio

Buttercup’s Lovely Day by Carolyn Beck and Andrea Beck

fernfolio — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:29:38 +0000

Buttercup is a black and white dairy cow who spends a lovely day grazing in the fields with the rest of the herd and taking pleasure in everything that she discovers around her – the blue sky dotted with clouds, the rolling hills covered in tender, green grass, the creek that wends its way through the fields, the creatures that live in the trees and burrows at the edge of the fields. When the sun goes down and it is time to return to the barn for milking, Buttercup delights in the journey and the farmer who walks it with her. As her day ends, as “softly, slyly, sleeps slips in,” Buttercup reflects that it has truly been a lovely, lovely day.
Beautifully told in rhyming couplets by Carolyn Beck, and charmingly illustrated by her sister, Andrea Beck, this delightful tale about Buttercup, a philosopher cow, will have children smiling, and will remind adults to stop and appreciate the joy in life’s every moment.
FernFolio Editor

Guji Guji by by Chih-Yuan Chen

fernfolio — Sun, 31 May 2009 20:16:01 +0000

An egg rolls down the hill and into a duck’s nest, and, when that egg hatches, out comes Guji-Guji, distinctly unducklike in appearance, with his scaly blue-grey skin, his four legs that end in long claws, and his sharp teeth. But Guji-Guji learns to swim and walk, along with his duckling siblings, Crayon, Zebra and Moonlight, and basks in the affection of Mother Duck, who loves all of her ducklings just the same.
Then three crocodiles come crawling out of the lake, one day, and laugh at Guji-Guji whom, they say, walks like a duck. When he tries to explain that he is a duck, they tell him that he is, in fact, a big, bad crocodile, just like them. They order Guji-Guji to bring the ducks to the lake so that they can catch and eat them, informing him that crocodiles help one another.
Guji-Guji must then take a long, hard look at himself, and acknowledge that he is, in fact, not exactly a duck, at least on the outside.
Wonderfully written and illustrated by Chih-Yuan Chen, this lovely story proves that, if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. A good book to have on hand for anyone caught between who others says he or she is, and who they know themselves to be!
FernFolio Editor

Hands by Lois Ehlert

fernfolio — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:50:29 +0000

In Hands, author and illustrator Lois Ehlert tells the story of growing up to be an artist. In simple words and richly evocative images that capture the experiences through a young child’s eyes, Ehlert documents the work her father and mother did with their hands, her father’s woodworking, her mother’s sewing, and their gardening. She details how she learned to saw and hammer and cut and sew and plant and weed by watching and doing, and how these experiences led to her decision to become an artist, and join hands with her mother and father.
Hands celebrates the creative process, and reminds us of the importance of passing on what we learn from our parents to our children.
FernFolio Editor

Such a Prince by Dan Bar-el and John Manders

fernfolio — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:12:37 +0000

The Once Upon a TIMES reports that Princess Vera is deathly ill, and that her father, the King, is frantic. Fortunately, Libby Gaberchik, fairy and healer, knows just what is wrong with the dear girl. Love. The princess is starved for it.
So Libby tells the king that Vera must eat three perfect peaches and marry within a week of eating them. Soon young men from all over have flocked to the castle, each bearing three peaches, but none of them are perfect peaches.
In a small cottage lives a poor widow with her three sons, Sheldon, Harvey and Marvin. Sheldon, the eldest, picks the three best peaches in their orchard and tries his luck with Princess Vera, but reckons without Libby Gaberchik, whom he meets in the forest that surrounds the castle. Sheldon’s rudeness proves to be his downfall, and he returns home in shame. Harvey fairs no better, so, finally, the youngest, Marvin, takes his chance.
Unlike his older brothers, Marvin is skinny and kind to a fault. When he meets Libby Gaberchik in the forest, he passes her test with flying colours and earns her quiet help in his quest to win Princess Vera’s hand in marriage, and bring his poor old mother to live with them in the castle.
Marvin is going to need all the help that Libby can give him, for the King fancies someone more polished and important than Marvin for his only child, and is prepared to do anything he can to prevent a marriage between them!
Told from Libby’s perspective, this fairy tale of Princess Vera and her kindly but rather hapless suitor, Marvin, is warmly engaging and fun. A terrific story about two young people, and the charmingly plain-speaking and unassuming fairy who steps in to help them. Lovely illustrations by John Manders!
FernFolio Editor

Mattland by Hazel Hutchins, Gail Herbert and Dusan Petricic

fernfolio — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:32:05 +0000

When Matt’s parent move again, this time to a new house in a new subdivision, Matt finds himself with no one – and nothing – to play with. Standing on bare ground littered with scraps of construction materials, Matt sees a stick and feels like breaking it, or hitting something with it, but when he picks it up it feels comfortable in his hand. So Matt draws a line with the stick, one that quickly fills with water, and so is born Snake River, the first feature of a young boy’s imaginary world.
Using rocks and puddles and mounds of earth, as well as the building scraps, Matt creates rivers and lakes, mountains and hills, farms and cities, roads and railway lines. He does it all with the help of the outsider, a girl who appears and offers him first a popsicle stick, and then all of the small treasures that she can find, berry containers, pine cones, metal keys, and broken bits of tile.
Then the rain begins and threatens Mattland until help comes unexpectedly, saving the children’s creation and forming the basis on new friendships.
Mattland is written by Hazel Hutchins and Gail Herbert in words and phrases that slip comfortably from the tongue to create images that evoke the best of childhood. The illustrations, by Dusan Petricic, are wonderful; his use of perspective and colour underscore the central messages of friend making and the imagination.
FernFolio Editor

One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by Katie Smith Milway and Eugenie Fernandes

fernfolio — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:07:12 +0000

Young Kojo, who lives in a small village in Ghana, has had to quit school to help his widowed mother collect firewood to sell at the local market. The twenty families of Kojo’s village have agreed to save money so that each family in turn can borrow all of the savings to buy something important. When it is finally Kojo’s mother’s turn, she buys a cart to carry firewood to market and loans her son enough to buy a hen.
In its first week, that one brown hen lays five eggs, one each for Kojo and his mother, and three which he sells in the market. It takes him two months, but the young boy eventually repays his mother for the loan, and then starts to save money to buy more hens. In six months, he has three hens, and in a year, he has a flock of twenty-five hens. With the income from the eggs, Kojo is able to pay the fees so that he can return to school.
At school, Kojo works hard to catch up with his classmates and learn about farming techniques. He wins a scholarship to an agricultural college, and starts to dream of owning a poultry farm, one that will provide good jobs for all of the people of his village.
Charmingly told by Katie Smith Milway and beautifully illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes, One Hen tells the story of how one small loan changed the lives of a young boy and his mother, and, eventually, those of entire community for the better, and celebrates the microcredit lending program. A wonderful addition to the literature of social justice!
FernFolio Editor

Chester by Mélanie Watt

fernfolio — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:02:25 +0000

When Mélanie Watt, the award-winning author and illustrator of Scaredy Squirrel, tries to write a book about a mouse, her story is taken over by a large tortoiseshell cat named Chester. Armed with a red marker, Chester packs the mouse onto an air plane destined for someplace far, far away, and moves into the story. Literally. When Mélanie tries to regain control of her mouse story, Chester outwits her, and soon the author-illustrator and the cat are engaged in a hilarious game of strategy and one-upmanship to get their story told!
Engagingly written by Mélanie Watt and Chester, this picture storybook about an unexpected character who runs amok, is funny, fast paced and sure to capture the hearts of both young and old!
Chester won the 2009 Blue Spruce Prize!
FernFolio Editor