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Category Archives: picture books for pairing
herman and rosie and jacques cousteau
THE PAIR:
Herman and Rosie by Gus Gordon
&
Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by Eric Puybaret
Herman and Rosie
Herman. Crocodile. Likes boysenberry yogurt. Sells things.
&
Rosie. Deer. Likes toffee that sticks to her teeth. Works in a restaurant.
(Guys, Gus Gordon has a serious way with stories.)
They live in New York, that big bustling noisy wonderful city that can also be a little on the lonely side. While living close to one another Herman and Rosie have never met.
They’re quite different these two. But there are very important things they have in common:
1.) MUSIC. He plays oboe, she sings jazz.
&
2.) They both watch FILMS ABOUT THE OCEAN.
“Once upon a time in a very busy city, on a very busy street, in two very small apartments, lived Herman Schubert and Rosie Bloom.”
The amazing thing is how these two frequent the same streets and subways and cafes, but never meet (which can happen in a big city).
But once they happen to hear each other’s tunes (oboe, jazz), they get stuck in their heads (“like good tunes do”).
Behold, when depressed, both Herman and Rosie both watch their “entire Jacques Cousteau underwater film collection.” It’s simply destiny that these two meet. And they do.
Here’s what I love about this book:
*The Mark Twain quote on the copyright page.
“Ditto the description there: ‘a groovy little jazz number’ brings together a lonely crocodile and deer.'”
*The beauty of finally meeting someone with a shared passion after the dark night of loneliness.
*The oboe looks real (and actually may be collage) in the picture below.
*The little Jacques Cousteau bits you’ll find if you search the illustrations for them.
Manfish
To me, the obvious choice to pair with Herman and Rosie is a book about Jacques Cousteau, that crucial minor character in their story.
What better way to dive into some Jacques Cousteau than with the picture book Manfish! I so admire Jennifer Berne‘s bio books. And this one is a must-read.
“As he grew, Jacques fell in love with the sea. He dreamed of breathing beneath the waves and swimming as gracefully as a fish. In fact, he longed to become a manfish.”
And of course, as you know, he did. The boy who loved water grew into the man who loved the oceans of the world.
I can get teary just thinking about the beauty of this book, along with Cousteau’s legacy. The innovations (aqua lung), the explorations, the films. The red cap!!
Jennifer Berne’s author’s note explains Cousteau’s mantra was: “We must go and see for ourselves.” So, let’s go! Let’s listen! Let’s start with these two lovely books.
picture books on love and friendship
Since International Book Giving Day is February 14th, I’m figuring what better way to celebrate than by giving or donating picture books that touch on love and friendship?
A valentine to read all year!
(The super fun poster’s by Mariann Maray.)
The folks who put it together recommend three ways to give books:
1. Give a child a used or new book (or lend one).
2. Leave a book in a waiting room or lobby (or little free library?).
3. Donate a book or books to children’s hospital, library, shelter, or other organization you know of.
Without further ado, here are eight books that fit the bill. Some gems about friends and love:
Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts, illustrated by Noah Z. Jones.
A story about wanting the cool shoes everybody else has turns into a story about wanting to give to a friend despite your own lack. I love how this one plays out.
The Lonely Beast by Chris Judge.
Everyone gets lonely without someone including the lonely beast. The ending = sweet city.
Because Amelia Smiled by David Ezra Stein.
A simple story of kindness: Amelia smiled and her smile traveled around the world. Sometimes that’s what happens with a good vibe.
Little Treasures by Jacqueline K. Ogburn, pictures by Chris Raschka.
This one explores pet names for loved children all over the world. Plus it’s the reason I started calling my cat “little flea” in French.
One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, pictures by David Small.
This is such a charmer! And not only is it about a boy and his penguin friend (they both wear tuxedos), but the father/son duo is delightful.
The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrations by E.B. Lewis.
Friendship despite obstacle, namely a fence separating the white side of town from the black. So good.
The Sea Serpent and Me by Dashka Slater, illustrated by Catia Chien.
An all-time favorite of mine, the friendship of a girl and a sea serpent who, one day, has to go to its true home. On love and growing up and letting go. If you have a heart, you will cry.
The Robot and the Bluebird by David Lucas.
This is the kind of book I fall in love with. A broken heart. Friendship. Healing.
Thanks goes to Zoe at Playing By the Book for the heads up about International Book Giving Day!
And since there’s a veritable plethora of books on love and friendship (as there should be) here are some I’ve posted about here in the past:
Lost and Found (my very first post!!)
Penguin and Pinecone/Squid and Octopus
To books as very special valentines!
5 favorite picture books from the 40s & 50s
The very best picture books stand the test of good old time. They hold memories. They tell truths that last.
My first in a series of PICTURE BOOKS BY THE DECADE, here are my favorites from the 40s & 50s:
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (1955).
I love the metanarrative of this book and how that tradition still inspires picture books today. And that it’s about Harold’s imagination and ingenuity, but also about bedtime. Where his mind takes him and then the comfort of coming home. It’s a classic for a reason.
A Hole is to Dig by Ruth Krauss, pictures by Maurice Sendak (1952).
Ruth Krauss so knows children. This is a compilation of inventive definitions that are far from dictionary. Delightful, full of play, and let’s face it, deep! They’ve been called funny but I find them incredibly heartfelt:
“Hands are to hold.”
“The ground is to make a garden.”
“The sun is to tell you when it’s every day.”
Browse the book here.
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, pictures by Crockett Johnson (1945).
Ruth Krauss again. Such a good, simple story ahead of its time: A boy believes his carrot seed will grow when no one else does. To be read when facing a challenge.
The Plant Sitter by Gene Zion, pictures by Margaret Bloy Graham (1959).
While no one would be fooled into thinking this is a current book, it’s still a great read. I admire this industrious little kid who cares for vacationers’ plants, filling up the house with them. His parents’ reactions are hilarious and his eventual winning over everyone to greenery is delightful.
Marshmallow by Clare Turlay Newberry (1942).
For me this one is all about the illustrations. Simply, fluffily exquisite.
Please do add your favorite picture books published in the 40s and 50s to the comments!
picture books on looking for the sun and the moon
THE PAIR:
Pongo by Jesse Hodgson.
&
Red Knit Cap Girl by Naoko Stoop.
Pongo the orangutan lived deep in the rainforest and searched for the sun. Red Knit Cap Girl lived in another forest and she longed to see the moon.
Beyond this main commonality of characters reaching for celestial orbs, both in this pair are books that make the world slow down. Which is my very favorite kind—and something a picture book has the unique power to do.
Pongo
“Pongo lived deep in the dark, dark depths of the rainforest. The trees grew so tightly together that hardly any sunshine ever reached down to the forest floor.”
Pongo was lonely and gloomy. He wanted to find the sun way up high, the sun that was bright and orange, a bit like him.
He met others on the journey up, creatures he mistook for the sun by their color. A snake, a babboon’s bottom(!), a beehive.
I love the way Jesse Hodgson‘s depiction takes us into the story, so many spreads are like extreme close-ups. It’s as though we’re actually in the rainforest, climbing, seeing with Pongo.
Finally, he meets Papaya, another orangutan. Together, they see the sunrise. Pongo, Papaya, and the long-awaited sun. Lonely and dark no more.
Thanks to Flying Eye Books for images!
I was provided a review copy of this book; opinions are my own.
Red Knit Cap Girl
“…most of all, Red Knit Cap Girl wonders about the moon. ‘Could I ever get close enough to the Moon to talk to her?'”
Red Knit Cap Girl and her everpresent friend White Bunny tried to get close to the moon in the sky, but it was hard to do. As she continued on her quest, she, like Pongo met other creatures who advised her.
Instead of reaching the moon, the girl devised a way to ask the moon to come to her. She and her friends planned a celebration and with one final touch, dark falls and the yellow moon appears.
Naoko Stoop‘s animation-like drawings are given so much depth, texture, and spotlighting because she painted on plywood with the grain of the wood showing through.
(If you’re a fan of Naoko Stoop’s work, there are plenty of prints featuring Red Knit Cap Girl in her etsy shop. There’s also a second book, Red Knit Cap Girl to the Rescue, with more to come in the series!)
Thanks to Naoko Stoop for the images!
picture books on loss
While I love the joy of picture books, I also like the sad ones. The simple, straight to the heart ones about life and loss and heartbreak. Like these three.
THE PAIR (OKAY, TRIO):
Rabbityness by Jo Empson. On losing a friend.
The Tenth Good Thing About Barney by Judith Viorst, illustrated by Erik Blegvad. On losing a pet.
The Scar by Charlotte Moundlic, illustrated by Olivier Tallec. On losing a parent.
Rabbityness
First, Jo Empson‘s exquisite, exuberant illustrations. Second, a rabbit who likes both rabbity things and non-rabbity things (like painting and music-making). Then, the rabbit disappears.
The woods go from exuberant to gray and sad and lonely. Until. Until! Until the other rabbits discover the gifts the other rabbit left them.
Thanks to Jo Empson for the images.
It’s as though loss isn’t even the subject of this book, the way it touches it so gently. But it is. Because when we begin this book we have no idea we’re going to lose this rabbit we’ve just been so charmed by. But we will. And we’ll be okay. We’ll even paint and make music thanks to him.
The Tenth Good Thing About Barney
“My cat Barney died last Friday. I was very sad,” the boy tells us in the first lines of this one from 1971.
Who wouldn’t be sad? I love how this book offers a great coping mechanism: remembering the good. The boy’s mom tells him to think of ten good things about Barney the cat. At the funeral, he recites nine.
After talking to his dad and his friend, the boy thinks of a tenth. And the tenth is about Barney in the present, in the backyard. The tenth one is acceptance.
The Scar
Boy is this one heartbreaking. But it’s also told honestly and beautifully and even, at moments, with humor. Even so, there’s no getting around that this is a story of a boy who loses his mom. The first line is a bit of a shock: “Mom died this morning.”
The special perfect part of this book (aside from Olivier Tallec’s red and white and black drawings) is the boy. The way he assumes that with his Mom gone, he has to take care of things and take care of his dad. He feels this great responsibility that shows his empathy, his grief, and the way he’s avoiding his own sadness.
THE SCAR. Original text and artwork copyright © Père Castor/Éditions Flammarion, 2009. Translation copyright © 2011 Candlewick Press. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA on behalf of Flammarion Jeunesse.
This book could be helpful if a child has lost someone or if they know someone who’s lost someone. It’s fiery, red, difficult subject matter, but it tells us that we’ll all bleed. And that we’ll wear the scars.
And on a bit lighter note, I give you my series on books to overcome the doldrums for a dash of hope!
