Day 197: Penny and Her Marble

Kevin Henkes is one of our favorite authors, so whenever I see a new one of his books on a library shelf, I excitedly check it out and bring it home right away. We just love Henkes' classics like Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Wemberly Worried, My Garden, and Kitten's First Full Moon, and Penny and Her Marble is no exception.  It's a early reader chapter book similar in style and reading level to the Henry and Mudge series (which we also absolutely love.)   I always love Henkes' darling illustrations of his mice protagonists and their friends, and his books always have a lovely message to which I think all kids can relate.  

In Penny and her Marble, sweet little Penny goes out for a walk and discovers a beautiful, shiny marble in the yard of her neighbor, Mrs. Goodwin.  The marble is so shiny and beautiful that Penny simply can't resist.  After deciding that it mustn't belong to Mrs. Goodwin, Penny picks it up, puts it in her pocket, and heads home.  Penny admires her marble all afternoon -- it's so smooth and fast, and looks like a piece of the sky -- until she sees Mrs. Goodwin standing in her yard, right where the marble had been.  Penny hides the marble in her dresser drawer and starts to worry.  Was the marble really Mrs. Goodwin's after all?  What should she do??  

All children face a finders-keepers scenario at some point in their lives, and I love the way this adorable story demonstrates how they might handle such a situation.  Penny's reactions and emotions throughout are so real in a way that is probably quite validating to children, I would think.  I also love how the story gently introduces the idea that sometimes people can feel sick just from worrying about something.  Fortunately, I don't think my children have ever had that experience, but as silly as it sounds, I like knowing that they now know that can happen sometimes.  Who knows, maybe that will help them make sense of their own feelings someday.  It's little things like this, along with Henkes' adorably charming illustrations, that make me love his books so much.  As a Kirkus review of this book claimed, "Henkes continues to plumb the emotional world of childhood as few authors/illustrators can."  YES.  I couldn't have said it better myself (which is why I didn't.)  

The ending is just perfect and my son (age 5) has been requesting to read this story each day since we brought it home from the library.  Although it is a chapter book, there are still illustrations on each page and the text is short enough that even my 2.5 year old daughter is perfectly content reading this story.  This is also a great book for children who have recently started reading independently but aren't yet ready for books without any or few illustrations.  I was thrilled to learn that there are several other books about Penny, as well.  Needless to say, they're at the top of our list for our next library trip.

** UPDATE:  We have since read the other two books in this series, Penny and Her Song and Penny and Her Doll.  While the other two are cute, Penny and Her Marble is our favorite of the three.  **

Day 111: Chrysanthemum

Choosing what to name our children was always an exciting and important decision.  Both times I was pregnant, we found out what we were having -- the first time a boy, the second a girl -- and I loved knowing so that, among other reasons, I could start calling the baby by name.  My husband and I were very much on the same page when it came to selecting names, fortunately, both preferring classic names to trendy or unique ones.  Both of our children have very traditional English names:  Will and Emma.  I'll admit that as teachers, two other factors crossed our minds during our name selection process:  when our children's teachers looked at their class rosters someday, they would be able to pronounce their names properly and know whether they were looking for a boy or a girl.  Silly, perhaps, but true.  We also hoped that our children would love their names, since to us, they were as perfect as our little ones themselves.  Chrysanthemum's parents felt much the same way.  "Her name must be everything she is," said her mother.  "Her name must be absolutely perfect," said her father.  And it was."  Chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum.  Kevin Henkes has created another masterpiece is this adorable and clever story.  Chrysanthemum loved every thing about her name -- the way it sounded when her mother woke her up or her father called her for dinner, the way it looked when she saw it written in ink on an envelope, in icing on her birthday cake, and when she wrote it herself with her fat orange crayon -- until she started school.  Other students laughed when the teacher read her name during roll call, and girls teased her:  "It's so long... It scarcely fits on your name tag... You're named after a flower!"  Each day after school, Chrysanthemum returns home feeling a bit sad and wilted, and each evening her parents manage to cheer her up.  Still, Chrysanthemum can't help but wish she had a different name... that is, until she meets the ever-so-fabulous music teacher, Mrs. Delphinium Twinkle.  Like so many of Henkes' books, this story is wonderful on many levels.  He is a master of addressing issues that are common among preschoolers and elementary aged children (in this case, teasing and wanting to fit in), while at the same time teaching children more appropriate ways to behave and treat one another.  In this case, he celebrates the beauty of being yourself and not only appreciating differences in one another, but celebrating them.  I also LOVE his illustrations and the way in which he portrays the unconditional love of his characters' parents.  There are so many clever little details in his drawings that are not to be missed:  the hilarious face on the very pregnant Mrs. Twinkle's dress, the map of Wisconsin and its cheese on the bulletin board, and especially the books Chrysanthemum's father can be seen reading throughout the story -- The Inner Mouse Vol. 1: Childhood Anxiety and A Rose by any Other Name... Understanding Identity.  We highly recommend this book to any young reader, particularly one whose name is different or who might be teased by her peers.  If you love Kevin Henkes as much as we do, you won't be disappointed. 

Day 101: Wemberly Worried

It's Labor Day weekend, which sadly marks the end of summer as we know it.  School has already started up again around here, and my little guy will be off to preschool in less than two weeks.  I can't believe it!  He seems to be excited about his new school, but I have a feeling we'll definitely experience a few tears on those first few days.  We've been talking about how fun it will be to play and make new friends, and have been reading some good books about starting school to get ready, as well.  I've already featured one of our favorites, The Kissing Hand, back on Day 48, but we found another great story at our last visit to the library by the always fabulous Kevin Henkes.  Wemberly Worried is an adorable tale that is one of my son's favorite books to read at the moment.  Wemberly, the sweet little lovable mouse, is a worrier.  She worries, and worries and worries, about big things, little things, and everything in between:  the crack in the wall, the noise of the radiators, her doll Petal, even that there wouldn't be enough cake for her friends at her birthday party.  Her mother, father, and flower-child, rollerblade-wearing grandmother try to help ease her worries, but Wemberly manages to find things to be nervous about anyway.  As Wemberly gets ready to start at her new nursery school, she is faced with her biggest worry of all!  I'll admit that I worried this book might make my son nervous about things he otherwise wouldn't have thought of, but fortunately he reacted the way I hoped he would and found Wemberly's worries to be silly.  "What if no one else has spots?  What if no one else wears stripes?  What if no one else brings a doll?  What if the teacher is mean?  What if the room smells bad?  What if they make fun of my name?  What if I can't find the bathroom?" and my son's favorite of all, "What if I hate the snack?"  Fortunately for Wemberly, her understanding teacher Mrs. Peachum introduces her to a new friend, and by day's end, Wemberly realizes that perhaps there isn't as much to worry about as she thought.  Henkes' delightful mouse characters are charming (look for Lilly of Purple Plastic Purse fame to make an appearance) and I think the story does a great job of addressing children's fears and feelings about starting school in a way that is both realistic and reassuring.   Henkes' illustrations are wonderfully expressive, as usual, and we love looking for fun, silly details on each page.  We highly recommend this book, especially if you have a worried Wemberly of your own.  Wishing you all a smooth transition back to school and a year full of new and wonderful things!

Day 56: Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

I'm so happy our friend Melinda introduced us to Kevin Henkes.  We just love his books!  My son has asked to read this story several times a day since we took it out of the library last week and it has quickly become a favorite.  There are so many things I love about this book that I'm not sure where to start.  Lilly is a sassy, precocious, red-cowboy-boot-wearing free-spirit of a mouse.  She loves school, especially her teacher Mr. Slinger, and wants to be a teacher just like him when she grows up.  Lilly writes stories and draws pictures of Mr. Slinger, and even stays after school to help him clap out erasers.  You could say she's your classic wannabe teacher's pet.  But when Lilly can't wait to show off her new purple plastic purse and her movie-star sunglasses to everyone in the class, she sees a different side of Mr. Slinger:  the firm teacher (aka "big, fat, mean, Mr. Stealing teacher!")  The tale that unfolds from here is one that I think everyone can relate to.  Who hasn't, at some time in his or her life, acted upon impulse, only to deeply regret it later?  There are so many great lessons to be learned from Lilly's decisions in this book (both good and bad), and I just love the way this story plays out.  The illustrations are fantastic, too, especially Lilly's expressions.  Be sure read the captions within the pictures, as well!  Children of all ages will relate to Lilly and her feelings, and this must be a favorite book of elementary and preschool teachers everywhere.  I find this particularly relevant to my son at the moment, who, at nearly three and a half, is definitely starting to push his limits with us a bit more.  I wonder if part of the reason he loves this book so much right now is that he sees a bit of himself in Lilly.  As parents, we're trying to help him see the importance of patience, forgiveness, good manners, and following rules, even when he doesn't want to.  And, just like Lilly, he sometimes learns the hard way that he has to accept responsibility for his actions. (One of his favorite parts of the story is when Lilly tells Mr. Slinger she is "really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really sorry."  He gets a big smile on his face every time we read it.)  These are important lessons for all children, I think, and I just love the way Henkes expresses them within such a delightfully fun story.  Definitely add this one to your must-read list.  Like Lilly's movie-star sunglasses, this book is simply fabulous!

Day 39: My Garden

I think it's finally safe to say that winter is gone here in New England (although it did snow at my grandmother's house in Maine the other day), and we're excited to enjoy the few days of lovely warm weather (and mud!) that spring brings before we're right into the heat of summer.  The buds are out on the trees, our azalea and daffodils are blooming, and it's time to start thinking about our garden!  We found this fabulous book on the "Spring" shelf the last time we were at the library and absolutely love it!  A little girl loves helping her mother in the garden, watering, weeding, and chasing away rabbits so that they don't eat all the lettuce.  Most of all, though, she loves to dream about what she would have in her own garden... flowers that bloomed forever, tomatoes as big as beach balls, seashells that grew out of the ground, and even a jelly bean bush.  "In my garden, the rabbits wouldn't eat the lettuce because the rabbits would be chocolate and I would eat them," and "the carrots would be invisible because I don't like carrots."  Her garden is even special at night, with morning glories that stay open, shining like stars, and strawberries that glow like lanterns. I love the sense of wonder and imagination that we feel when reading this lovely story, and Kevin Henkes' illustrations are, once again, beautiful.  We highly recommend this book and know it is another that we'll have to own ourselves someday.  What would you grow in your garden?

Day 18: Kitten's First Full Moon

In light of tonight's "Super Moon" -- the largest full moon in 18 years -- I thought it only appropriate to feature Kevin Henkes' adorable classic Kitten's First Full Moon.  This was another Melinda recommendation, and my little guy and I snuggled up and read it last night after admiring the moon rising out his bedroom window.  In this story, a persistent little kitten is determined to reach the bowl of milk she sees in the sky.  Try as she might, that pesky milk remains elusive, teasing her all the while.  "Still, there was the little bowl of milk, just waiting."  When she sees its even larger reflection in the pond, she becomes even more determined to reach it, but again comes up emptyhanded.  (Imagine how hungry she would be if she saw tonight's super moon!)   My son loves the beautifully simple yet expressive charcoal illustrations, and takes particular delight in knowing all along what the kitten does not:  the bowl of milk is really the moon.  Silly kitten!  Though she eventually gives up and heads home, dejected, kitten's story has a happy ending.  I know a book is good when my son has parts (or all) of it memorized.  As he was playing with his trains this morning, I overheard him reciting part of the story to himself:  "... She sprang from the top step of the porch.  But kitten only tumbled -- bumping her nose and banging her ear and pinching her tail.  Poor kitten!"   If you haven't checked out tonight's moon, take a look outside, and if you haven't checked out this charming book, add it to your library list.  You and your little one are bound to love it.