Books for Children

Book Fiesta

How very appropriate that the first trade book about Children’s Day/Book Day should be enthusiastically penned by the founder of this holiday, celebrated annually since 1996 on April 30, the same date as Mexico’s Day of the Child. This call to arms for connecting kids and books exhorts everyone to read and have fun in whatever language and locale they choose: “Hooray! Today is our day. ¡El día de los niños! Let’s have fun today reading our favorite books. Toon! Toon!” The straightforward, bilingual text in Spanish and English is beautifully illustrated in bright, bold, acrylic paintings that integrate books and letters into timeless scenes of multicultural children cavorting, exploring, and, of course, reading. Turn to the back of the book for more on Mora’s inspirations and suggestions for celebrating children’s literacy in your own community, and include this book in displays and read-alouds along with Judy Sierra and Marc Brown’s Wild about Books (2004) and Born to Read (2008) to make every day un día de los libros.

Silent Letters Loud and Clear

As in Punctuation Takes a Vacation (2003) and Nouns and Verbs Have a Field Day (2006, both Holiday House), Pulver and Rowe tackle another grammar lesson with humorous examples and whimsical illustrations. The students in Mr. Wright's class have decided that they have had enough of silent letters; they can't be heard and they make spelling too tough. After listening to their complaints, their teacher urges them to email the local newspaper to demand the banning of silent letters. When the letters find out, they decide to escape from the missive and teach the class a lesson. The editors of the newspaper respond with an editorial criticizing the children's "poor" spelling, whereupon the letters reappear to convince the youngsters of their importance and that practice will make the children better spellers. The acrylic cartoon art floats in mid-air against a vivid blue background, yet the usage depicted in each example is clearly matched with the speech each letter is trying to make. This topic could have easily resulted in a didactic lesson, but the story line and examples of silent letters or letter pairs appearing in everyday words lighten the presentation.—Lynne Mattern, Robert Seaman School, Jericho, NY

The Lightning Bug Queen

This is the first Silly Safari Children’s Book. A fanciful tale about kids who care for the environment and all of Earth’s creatures, even the bugs! As good conservation stewards, two sisters are rewarded by the Lightning Bug Queen for taking such great care of her royal subjects.

Captured By Pirates

Grade 4 Up—In the style of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series (Bantam), Pirates allows readers to control where the story goes, using both fairly lengthy prose and comic-book-style pages to move it along. The medium works well with the second-person narration, and Witt's illustrations provide an excellent reflection of the tone created by the Fonteses. The only downside to the story is the lack of happy endings; in many instances, "you" end up either dead or mourning the loss of a parent. One possibility leaves the story completely open-ended. Where variations on the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series are popular, this is sure to be a hit.—Alana Abbott, James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford, CT