Animal Stories For Our Children

Animal Stories For Our Children

Picture books
You know what they say about good intentions. After a trilogy
of cat and dog books I'd planned to move on. Then three hours of
shelving at the Orono Public Library netted me a fine stack of picture
books. Nearly half had a certain common denominator.

"Mama Bear wades the swift river.
Baby Bear follows.
Suddenly a fish leaps.
'Mama! Who splashed me?'
asks Baby Bear.
'That is the trout, Mama says.
Baby Bear sees brown."
In Ashley Wolff's Baby Bear Sees Blue a bear and her new cub
venture out of their den. Baby Bear frolicks joyfully in a brand new
world of color. Mama Bear patiently answers all of his questions.
Eventually a thunderstorm drives them back to their home where they
cuddle up to sleep.
Author/illustrator Wolff was inspired by the loving mother bear
and baby bear relationship in Robert McClosky's Blueberries For Sal.
One day she saw a photograph of a bear in the midst of colorful autumn
leaves. Fortunately for readers, she knew what to do.

A bear of another shade, I think rather polarish, is the star of
Tracey Corderoy and Sophie Allsopp's Flower in the Snow. Bear lives
in an icy kingdom with his chum, a girl named Luna. They do
everything together from skating on a frozen lake to nursing colds.
One day bear finds a dancing yellow flower growing through the snow.
At first Luna is delighted. But when the flower wilts she does too.
Bear knows what he has to do. He sets off on a quest that takes
him pretty much around the world. He must return home empty pawed.
Only Luna is delighted to see him. And she has a surprise of
her own.

If you're in need of an utterly adorable counting book, Sandra
Markle's How Many Baby Pandas? is a perfect acquisition. It's a book
a child can grow with. Little ones practice numbers skills with
pictures of juvenile pandas doing things like climbing, wrestling, and
chewing bamboo. Older kids can learn how pandas grow from birth on.
Did you know a newborn giant panda is 6" long and weighs 4 ounces?
Holy Hannah!
There is a strong conservationist slant to the book. Readers
learn why pandas' numbers are dwindling dangerously and what people
are doing to reverse this trend. A listing of books and web sites
provides a source of more information.

Devin Scillian's Memoirs of a Parrot will amuse both child and
parent. Brock is a bird with attitude. He and Tik Tok are the only
parrots in the pet store. They share species membership but have very
different temperments.
"What is it with these people?
They keep asking, 'Polly want a cracker?'
This is terrible grammar, by the way.
Tik Tok says I should just try to enjoy the attention.
Please. I'd rather gargle a pine cone."
One day a guy starts coming in and pestering Brock. Tik Tok
says the guy might buy Brock. Brock would rather eat a pile of stink
berries. But he has no choice in the matter.
His new home lives down to Brock's expectations. It's a tiny
house near a freeway. His new person gives him crackers and (worse
yet) is learning to play the ukelele. Brock would rather kiss a
rattlesnake than stay...
...until an unexpected crisis changes his perspective.

Even the most hesitant read alouder will thrive with Courtney
Dicma's Harold Finds A Voice and an attentive child listener or
two...or twenty.
Harold the Parision Parrot has an unusual talent. He can make
all the sounds he hears in his apartment from the bweeeee of a blender
to the flussshh of a toilet. He wants to learn some new noises.
One day Harold sees a chance to escape and goes for it. The
outside world is full of amazing sounds both large and small. But in
the middle of this aural plethora a little but insistant question pops
into his head: what would his own voice sound like?

Like Harold Finds A Voice, Stephan Shaskan's Toad on the Road:
A Cautionary Tale will be a book young listeners will want to hear
again and again.
A clueless toad in the middle of a road is intent on catching a
fly, oblivious to all around him. Several critters in various
vehicles wipe out trying to avoid him. There's a lot of Skid!
Screech! Bam! action. Each encounter ends in a lilting rhyme that,
when memorized, will give a child "I can read that pride and
satisfaction."

Imagine that you're in the bathroom brushing your teeth.
Suddenly from out of nowhere a rather large woodland creature
materializes beside you. I don't know about you, but I'd be kinda
freaked out. Maybe put in a call to animal control?
Fortunately the red haired protagonist of Ed Shankman's I Met A
Moose in Maine One Day is a bit more creative. When his new guest is
a tad large and klutzy to be an indoor companion, they go to town,
dazzling and sometimes terrifying neighbors and shop keepers, doing
everything from dancing to shooting pool.
But that's just the beginning of their sky high adventures.

On a personal note, I'm working the food service shifts I can get. I
volunteered at library and community garden after work Tuesday. It's
misting today.
A great big shout out goes out to the incoming freshpeople who are on
campus for orientation.
jules hathaway


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