Day 231: Sophie Scott Goes South

We discovered this lovely gem at our library a few weeks ago, and with two fresh hardcovers side by side on the library shelf, I had a good feeling about it.  (I don't know if that's really a sign that a book is great, but I figure if a librarian orders more than one copy of a brand new book, it must be worth reading.)  We have long loved Alison Lester's Imagine and have enjoyed several of her other geography-minded books, as well, so were eager to get home and read about Sophie Scott's adventures in Antarctica.

Sophie Scott Goes South tells the story of a 9 year old girl's journey to Antarctica on the Aurora Australis, an ice breaker captained by her father.  Over the course of her month-long trip, Sophie keeps a diary and takes pictures of her adventures, from being stranded in a blizzard and enduring rough seas on the ship to seeing penguins, whales, icebergs, and even the southern lights after which their ship was named.  The story is based on Lester's own journey to Antarctica as an Antarctic Arts Fellow, so it's no wonder that her descriptions are so wonderfully vivid and informative.  The scientific, historical, and geographic facts scattered throughout the story are fascinating, and the combination of actual photos, diagrams, maps, and drawings are bound to appeal to curious readers.  My 6 year old son loves this book (and is now ready to head off to Antarctica!), though it is a bit lengthy to hold the full attention of my 3 year old daughter (though she does love all of the pictures of the animals and reads alongside of us for most of the time.)  I love this book, too, especially Lester's little details that paint a picture of what such a journey is really like.  I'll include a few at the end of this post so you can see what I mean.

If your child loves learning about new places or is the adventurous, explorer type, this is one book you won't want to miss.

"Last night, the ship was rocking and rolling like crazy.  Anything that's not tied down goes flying and I have to hold on al the time. Sometimes a wave bashes the ship so hard that it feels as though we've hit a rock. The dining room portholes go underwater every time the ship does a big roll. It's like we're eating inside a washing machine."

"She welcomed everybody and told us the station rules, then we helped put away supplies.  There were huge boxes of toothpaste, toilet paper, coal and shampoo, and massive amounts of food, like 5400 eggs and 165 tubs of ice cream!" 

"The ground was rough and rocky, with patches of snow. Thick ropes linked all the buildings and Sarah told me this is to stop you from getting lost in a blizzard."

"Before we got out, we hooked spiky chains under our boots because the ice was as slippery as glass."

"The ice has been so thick it's taken us three days to get this far. This morning at sunrise we saw some killer whales beside the ship. Their shiny black bodies stood out against the golden seas.  Some were putting their heads right out of the water as we went past. This is called spy-hopping."

Day 200: The Magic Tree House Series

 

Our 200th book feels like a big milestone, even though we still have many more to go!  In honor of the occasion, I wanted to feature a book that is especially fabulous and amazing and well-loved in our house.  Actually, it's a whole series of books:  The Magic Treehouse by Mary Pope Osborne.

This is our first foray into the world of what I will call "real" chapter books with our 5 year old son.  Not the early reader kind like Henry and Mudge that we love so much, but paperbacks with illustrations only every few pages.  I can't imagine a better series of books with which to start this grand adventure.  They are amazing!!  Creative, educational, historical, entertaining, and all-around fantastic!  We still read plenty of picture books and will for some time, but if you're looking to start introducing your young reader to chapter books, this series is the perfect place to start. 

In these stories, brother and sister duo Jack and Annie travel through time in a magical treehouse (filled with books!), visiting famous places and people, solving riddles, and going on incredible adventures.   Whether it's to the moon, ancient Egypt, the Great Wall of China, Ancient Greece, or to meet William Shakespeare, each story takes us to a new time and place, and I just love the way history is brought alive along the way. 

I have to say, though, that while I've had the pleasure of reading a few of these wonderful books with my son, they have been in daddy's domain from the beginning.  My husband is usually the one who reads our little guy at bedtime, and I absolutely love that they have this tradition now.  It makes me so happy to know that someday they will both look back so fondly on reading these stories together.  

To say that my son loves these books is an understatement.  He can't get enough of them! We've been flying through the series incredibly quickly, taking 5 or 6 books out from the library at a time and reading one almost every night.  Thank goodness there are 49 books in the series! (with a 50th slated to come out this July.)  Most local libraries seem to have the whole series, though we've had to make the rounds a bit to get the exact one we need.  (Although there is a prologue at the beginning of each book to explain the background of the story, the series is most enjoyable if read in order.)  Each book has 10 chapters, is about 75 pages, and takes us about 45 minutes to read aloud.  It makes for longer bedtime reading than usual, but the books are simply too exciting to be read over multiple nights!  

Here's what my little guy has to say about the Magic Treehouse books:  

"My favorite thing about the Magic Tree House books is that we get to read new ones all the time!  Annie is silly and can make friends with animals.  Jack loves notebooks and writes about animals and other things that they see.  There is Morgan La Fey living in the treehouse.  She is an enchanted librarian.  Jack and Annie take the treehouse to all kinds of places -- like under the sea, to see the dinosaurs, on ships, and to visit the moon.  They also get to go on the Titanic!  Jack and Annie have to get a gift from someone or something and they free Morgan and Teddy from spells.  There's a dog named Teddy.  The dinosaur one is my favorite because I love dinosaurs.  But I love all of them!"

We hope you do, too!

Day 150: If I Built a Car

This fabulous book came in my son's Easter basket this past weekend and I think it's safe to say it has already become a family favorite.  We first discovered Chris Van Dusen when we picked up The Circus Ship at our local library a while back, and have loved every book of his we've read since.  If you haven't heard of Chris Van Dusen or read any of his books, you should!  I feel like he is one of those authors who doesn't have nearly the fame and huge fan base he deserves, though hopefully I'm wrong.  His rhymes are clever, fun, and downright impeccable -- right up there with Dr. Seuss and Bill Peet, in my opinion.  In fact, I just noticed that If I Built a Car won the E.B. White Read Aloud Award in 2006.  Most well-deserved!  This book is so much fun to read aloud, and the pictures make it even more fun to look at as you listen.  His illustrations are brilliant, with bright, bold colors that jump out of the page and a unique retro style that I just love.

Most of all, though, I love the way this book highlights the wonderful creativity and imagination of childhood.  Drawing inspiration from zeppelins, trains, jet engines, and even the Weinermobile, our young narrator's car is fantastically awesome in every way.  Complete with old Cadillac-style fins, a pool, snack bar, fireplace, couch robot auto-pilot and more, this car can do it all:  become a boat, cruise underwater like a submarine, even blast off and fly in the sky!  "My car will be cool!  My car will be keen!  My car will be one big fantastic machine!  The toast of the town! The cream of the crop! The belle of the ball and the tip of the top!  My car will be famous from here to Peru... If I built a car, that's just what I'd do."  Be sure to check out Jack's drawings and plans inside the front and back covers of the book.  I love Van Dusen's dedication, too.  (I guess we just love this book from cover to cover!)  Cuddle up and read this fabulous story with your child and then let your own imaginations run wild.  What kind of car would you build?

Day 118: Flotsam

This book has caught my eye several times at the library before (perhaps because it looks like there is a big eye staring at me from the cover), but I always told myself I would save it for another visit.  Finally, the other week, we got around to checking this one out.  I'm so glad we did!   This has to be one of my favorite wordless picture books out there.  David Wiesner's illustrations are impeccably detailed, and I am amazed by the elaborate story they are able to tell in and of themselves.  Flotsam takes us on a fabulous journey through magical undersea worlds, imagination, and adventure as a young boy discovers an old, underwater camera washed up on the shore as he is playing on the beach one day.  After confirming that no one on the beach has lost it, he opens it up and finds a roll of film inside.  Curious about where this camera might have been, the boy takes the film to a one-hour photo shop to be developed, being sure to replace the film with a new roll while he is there.  Upon viewing the photos, he is fascinated by what he sees:  a magical underwater civilization where mechanical fish roam, sea turtles swim among seashell palaces, and giant starfish islands play.  The most curious image of all, however, shows a girl his age holding a photo of another child, who is holding a photo of another child, who is holding a photo of another child... and so on and so on, around the world and back in time.  Of course, in the end, the boy takes his own photo in a similar fashion and casts the camera back into the waves.  Unlike him, though, we are lucky enough to see where it travels before being discovered by another child in a land far away.  Flotsam is brilliantly creative and such fun to read to children of all ages.  What I love most about this book is the sense of wonder and imagination it instill in its readers, and the way it encourages anyone, child or parent, to be their own storyteller.   Each image is truly worth a thousand words in this book, and the endless details found within the story allow to it to be told and retold time and again.   Flotsam is also one of those rare books that is truly appropriate and enjoyable for a wide range of audiences.  As a middle school teacher, I can imagine my students loving this book just as much as my preschooler does.  I love the photo on the back jacket cover of Wiesner on the beach at age 5, too.  My son loves playing on the beach more than just about anything, and I'm sure we'll think of this book the next time we are playing in the waves and exploring our own undersea worlds. 

Day 108: We're Going On a Bear Hunt

"We're going on a bear hunt.  We're going to catch a big one.  What a beautiful day!  We're not scared."  Come along with a father, his four children, and their faithful border collie as they set out for an afternoon of adventure in Michael Rosen's fabulous version of the classic We're Going On a Bear Hunt.  My son has become quite fond of this story lately, and with good reason.  It's delightfully fun to read, and we can't help but feel the excitement building with each turn of the page.  Will they ever find a bear?  Once they do, will they be able to outrun it?  Will they shut their door in time??  The sound effects, of course, are my son's favorite part, and I always find my pace quickening along with the family's footsteps at the end of the book as they race towards home:  "Back through the cave!  Tip toe, tip toe!  Back through the snowstorm!  Hooo woooo, hoooo woooo!  Back through the forest!  Stumble trip, stumble trip!  Back through the mud!  Squelch squerch, squelch squerch!  Back through the river!  Splash splosh, splash splosh!  Back through the grass!  Swishy swashy, swishy swashy!" Never being one to go around, over or under things, my son also loves that the family has no choice but to boldly go through each obstacle they encounter.  Why go around the mud when you can squelch right though it?  Helen Oxenbury's illustrations are wonderful, and they do a great job of making the story come alive and feel exciting rather than scary.  One of my favorite images is the one on the last page, with the bear slowly heading home along the beach, hanging his head in defeat as the sun sets over the water.  As Rosen asks in his introduction, what is the bear thinking there?  This book is sure to make your child laugh with delight and ask to read it again and again.  I would prefer to stay snug under the covers, but perhaps after reading this story, your little adventurers will be asking to go out on a bear hunt of their own.

Day 93: A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee

Calling all campers!  This book is a must for you!  We first fell in love with Chris Van Duzen when we read The Circus Ship back on Day 61.  He is a master of fun, rhythmic verse (much like Bill Peet, in my opinion) and his illustrations have that certain je ne sais quoi.  I particularly love the way he is able to depict light and water in his art, with beautifully bold colors and a nuanced touch that bring his animated images to life.  A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee has a fabulously cool retro feel to it, too, from the style of the car and camper to Mr. Magee's glasses.   I just love it!  In this playful tale, Mr. Magee and his little dog, Dee, head out to the mountains for some good ol' camping fun.  They find the perfect spot -- high on a hill overlooking the mountains and a beautiful waterfall -- and settle in for the evening.  "Dee gathered pine cones and branches and logs.  Magee made a campfire and cooked some hot dogs.  And as the sun set behind far distant knolls, they sat roasting marshmallows over the coals."  But as Dee and Magee drift off to sleep, a marshmallow hungry bear comes along... setting them off on a silly, wild, precarious ride!  Having survived several different camping comedies of error myself, I can't help but be amused by this story; especially the very end.  I usually find myself craving s'mores after reading it, too.  Whether your idea of camping is pitching your tent after a long backwoods hike or checking in at the Marriot,  A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee is sure to delight you and your child.