Picture This: Flora and the Flamingo

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

In this wordless picture book, Flora and the flamingo navigate friendship through dance.

I don't know how else to describe this unique picture book. We are introduced to Flora through her right, finned foot. Once fully in the frame, we see that Flora is not only outfitted with fins, but with a swimsuit and a floral swim cap. Flora watches and copies her friend flamingo, but plays dumb when flamingo takes a peek. When flamingo finally catches Flora, she gets angry at her, leaving Flora hurt. Seeing this, flamingo invites Flora to join her. Together they dance a lovely ballet.

The book contains flaps that can be folded down to reveal movement, facial expressions and gestures (to be honest I don't know that i loved this feature or thought it entirely necessary). Idle, not surprisingly, got her start in animation. Her understanding of movement and facial expressions is apparent on every page. The dancing is elegant, while the facial expression vary from funny to serene. It truly is a lovely dance they perform together, and the bliss they feel in dancing is visible.

Arctic Monkeys, you rock my world

I saw them in concert last night. This is the second or third time I've seen them live and it was the best yet. They even played my favorite song! (well, there's more than one, but this one for sure) Alex wore a glittery copper blazer, with his 50's greaser hair, skinny black pants, pinky ring, and what were probably Beatle boots. He spent the evening moving to the music with twisting feet and jutting hips. When I think of trying to describe how good he looked, how sexy he is, I mostly come up with phrases involving expletives, so I'm not gonna try.

Picture This: Nelly May Has Her Say

Nelly May Has Her Say by Cynthia DeFelice, illustrated by Henry Cole

Nelly May Nimble lives in a tiny cottage with her twelve siblings until she gets a job as a housekeeper and cook for Lord Ignasius Pinkwinkle. She moves in to learn that Lord Pinkwinkle has special names for just about everything, and he expects her to use his names for things. He himself is "Most Excellent of All Masters," while his bed is his "restful slumberific," his boots are his "stompinwhackers," his dog is his fur-faced fluffenbarker," his dog's tail a "wigger-wagger." It's exhausting, and she must decide whether it's worth it to continue working as his fuzzy-dust-and-fooder.

Based on Joseph Jacobs's "Master of All Masters," DeFelice's version maintains the folktale quality, but with updated, significantly more complicated (and funnier) names for things. The word-play is a lot of fun. Cole's colorful illustrations bring movement and humor to the pages. All the special names build to a humorous climax. This is a lot of fun, and kids will love it. (though it may not be something you'd want read over and over, because it is a mouthful.)

Picture This: The Boy Who Loved Math

The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbably Life of Paul Erdos by Deborah Heiligman, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Paul Erdos loved math. Growing up in Budapest, he played with numbers constantly. As a child, he would ask someone what their birthday was and then tell them how many seconds they had been alive. He looked for patterns in primes numbers. As a young adult he became known as the Magician from Budapest, and he started to travel the world, meeting other mathematicians and discussing math.

This attempted intro to the book just doesn't do it justice. Heiligman has included all sorts of quirky details about Erdos--like the fact that he didn't learn to butter his own bread until the age of 20, or that he was arrested when he climbed over a fence to look at a radio tower, that as a house guest he would sometimes wake up his host at 4am to announce his readiness to get to work: "My brain is open!" He really did think about math continuously. But the book is just as much about his connection with other people as it is his math skill. He spent his life collaborating with and visiting people around the world--to such an extent that mathematicians would talk about their Erdos number, representing your degree of separation from Erdos. Heiligman fills her text with numbers as well as mathematical language. ("He couldn't exactly solve the problem. But Paul knew that when summer came, Mama would be home with him all day, 100% of the time.")

Heiligman's fun story is brought to life by LeUyen Pham's colorful, number-filled illustrations. They exude energy and transmit Erdos's excitement about numbers. And I mean it when I say they're number-filled. In the first spread, numbers decorate all the background buildings (see below), and a stream of numbers floats out of Erdos's young mind. Numbers adorn almost every page, but that's not all. Mathematics itself is represented throughout as well. She incorporates mathematical equations into the illustrations. One one page his travels are illustrated by arcing lines with equations on them (see below). These equations are the partial results of the Erdos distinct distances problem. The numbers she depicts floating across pages are never random. For example, in the spread below, those are amicable numbers. LeUyen researched Erdos and the time period and places and people associated with him, and included details like Erdos's tendency to flap his arms when excited, or a Hungarian mathematical journal of the day, or depictions of specific mathematicians. All the information about these details can be found in the illustrator's note at the back.

It's apparent that Heiligman and LeUyen did extensive research to be accurate as well as paint a vivid picture of Erdos and all his eccentricities. The result is story as interesting, quirky, and animated as its subject that both those who love and avoid math can enjoy.

If you click on this image and expand it you'll see all the numbers embedded in the buildings in the background. 

In this spread you can see that each journey has an equation attached. The explanations of all the background math are found in LeUyen's notes at the back.

Independent Reading: Penny and Her Marble

Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes

Penny is out with her doll, Rose, when she spots a pretty blue marble on the lawn of her neighbor's house. She picks it up and takes it home, loving the color, the smoothness and how it rolls. But then she sees her neighbor, Mrs. Goodwin, looking at the spot where it was sitting, and Penny realizes she didn't ask permission to take it, and that now it's missing. She hides the marble in drawer, but she starts to feel guilty. What will Penny do?

This is the third Penny easy reader from Kevin Henkes. I thought Penny and Her Song was boring, I liked Penny and Her Doll, and Penny and Her Marble is easily the best of the three. It's sweet, funny, and childlike. One of my favorite moments is when Penny can't eat the peas and oranges on her plate because they remind her of marbles. In the end, Penny decides to put the marble back where she found it. She's sad to lose the marble, but she feels much better giving it back. When she runs into Mrs. Goodwin, she learns that Mrs. Goodwin intended for someone to find the marble and keep it, so Penny keeps the marble happily (instead of guiltily). Penny and Her Marble has some substance to it--the kind of moral dilemma that many children face at one time or another--and along the way the story is entertaining and the illustrations pleasant. I wouldn't be surprised to see this on the Geisel list.

Henkes's depiction of childhood imagination was spot on and sweet.

Picture This: That is Not a Good idea!

That is Not a Good Idea by Mo Willems

One day, while walking, Fox and Goose lock eyes. Fox invites Goose on a walk. She blushes and says yes. But a group of watching goslings immediately comment, "That is NOT a good idea!" The date continues with a walk into the woods and to Fox's kitchen, all the while the goslings are screaming "That is REALLY NOT a good idea!" Will dinner go as planned or will the secret ingredient disrupt the romance?

This hysterical picture book is told like a silent film. Opening credits announce the title ("Mo Willems presents That is Not a Good Idea"), and pages of illustration are followed by pages of intertitles. The "film" is interrupted by spreads of increasingly frenzied goslings lamenting just how bad an idea what they're watching unfold is. Of course these moments are a perfect opportunity for audience participation, much like in Willems's Pigeon books. And there's a great, hilarious twist at the end. Just take a gander a couple of spreads and the trailer:

Picture This: Perfectly Percy

Perfectly Percy by Paul Schmid

Percy the Porcupine's favorite thing is balloons.

Do I really need to say more? This concept alone was enough to make me fall in love. The dilemma of the story is this: "Happy little porcupines with balloons are soon sad little porcupines." So Percy goes to members of his family for advice.

It's a simple story with simple illustrations. It's nothing mind-blowing, but it's humorous, and, like I said, a fantastic premise.