Perfect Picture Book Friday*
Mother Bruce (Disney Hyperion, 2015) by Ryan T. Higgins expresses humor from the get go with the title (Goose crossed out and Bruce written above it).
On the first page we discover, “Bruce was a bear who lived all by himself. He was a grump.” And his expression shows that. That are a lot of things he doesn’t like. But he does like cooking eggs into “fancy recipes that he found on the internet.” When he finds a recipe for “hard-boiled goose eggs drizzles with honey-salmon sauce,” Bruce gets the ingredients, and starts to cook, Bruce becomes “the victim of mistaken identity.”
I love the humor in this book with Bruce as the unlikely mother of this group of goslings. Whom he can’t get rid of!
Mother Bruce has won these awards: 2016 E.B. White Read Aloud Award, 2016 Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor, and a 2016 Kirkus Best Book.
A new Bruce book came out last October called Hotel Bruce. This is the third book by Ryan and sounds fun too. Read about it here.
You can see Ryan’s sense of humor on his about page where he says:
“Ryan T. Higgins is an author/illustrator residing in Southern Maine. He lives with his three dogs, three cats, two geckos, one tortoise, one son, one daughter, and one wife. As a child, he lived on a diet of cartoons, cheese sandwiches, and climbing trees. At the age of four he decided to become a cartoonist and he’s been making his own cartoons ever since.”
*I’ve joined with Susannah Leonard Hill on celebrating picture books on Fridays.
Category: Read-aloud
Snoring Beauty
Snoring Beauty (Harper, 2014) by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and illustrated by Jane Manning is a fairy tale retelling done right. And it’s even in rhyme.
The main character is Mouse who is “dreaming of his dearie” on the night before his wedding day. As his eyes are closing, he’s kept awake by Sleeping Beauty’s terrible snoring. He knows “someday a prince will come to break this spell,” but meanwhile how will he get his sleep? When Mouse rises to close the shutters he sees a prince and thinks he’ll get to “sleep within the hour!” Of course, it’s not that easy when the prince hears the snoring.
I loved the humor both in text and illustrations. The rhyme isn’t always exact as there’s some near rhyme, but it doesn’t stop my enjoyment.
Author Sudpita Bardhan-Quallen talks about how her writing journey in her bio. She’s written many humorous picture books and nonfiction as well.
Illustrator Jane Manning has worked for a number of publishers including HarperCollins, Scholastic, and Houghton Mifflin.
What I find interesting is that there’s another picture book of the same title:
Bruce Hale‘s Snoring Beauty about a princess turned into a dragon. It came out in 2008 from HMH Books for Young Readers and is illustrated by Howard Fine. The book description makes it sound hilarious. And that cover illustration of the dragon is great.
Another interesting fact is that Howard Fine has illustrated another of Sudipta’s books: Hampire!.
On My Way to Buy Eggs
I love this simple, but sweet picture book On My Way to Buy Eggs (Kane/Miller Book Publishers, 2003) by writer/illustrator Chih-Yuan Chen. Shau-yu is sent to the store to buy eggs. She has simple adventures as she enjoys pretending along the way. The book has a nice mixture of diversity and universal feelings.
I really like how the artist has let us see what Shau-yu is seeing, first through the blue marble, then through the glasses. I also like the use of shadows. Both of these you’ll have to look inside the book to enjoy.
On My Way to Buy Eggs was named a Best Children’s Book by Publishers Weekly.
Chih-Yuan Chen has illustrated and written The Featherless Chicken, Guji Guji (a story about a crocoduck), Best Christmas Ever, and Artie and Julie–all of which have been translated into English and Spanish, as On My Way to Buy Eggs has been. He also illustrated Mimi Says No and Mimi Loves to Mimic. Several of the books have also been translated into German and French.
Number One Sam
Number One Sam (Disney Hyperion, 2014) by Greg Pizzoli is a fast, fun read. Sam, a dog, is number one at the races. He’s used to winning. Until his friend Maggie, an elephant, comes in first. At the next race, Sam has to make a choice about winning or losing.
This book got a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly and has been chosen as Pennsylvania’s One Book, Every Child selection for 2015. At about 300 words is a good short picture book to study for writers and an easy book for beginning readers.
Author/illustrator Greg Pizzoli has written and illustrated 3 other picture books and illustrated 2 others. Read more here. His blog has some interesting posts, too.
Creepy Carrots
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown is one of those fun books where the images and words are telling different stories…or are they? I love the idea of the story–Jasper Rabbit can’t get enough carrots…until they start following him. This 2013 Caldecott honor book was published by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers in 2012. (Thanks to editor Dani Young for introducing me to this book last fall!)
Looking at author Aaron Reynold’s website, I see I need to read more of his books. Just by reading the titles, it’s obvious that his sense of humor extends beyond one title.
Illustrator Peter Brown has a vimeo on how he created the art. Visit his website at www.peterbrownstudio.com/. I was first introduced to Peter’s fabulously fun art with the book Chowder (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2007).
On either the illustrator or author website, you can see listings of the many awards and lists where this book is included.