Pied Piper Pics

Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School is the story of a new classmate who just doesn’t do things the way the other kids do, he is just different from the way he sets up his desk to what he eats at lunch Marshall Armstrong marches to his own beat. When the class is invited to Marshall’s birthday party no one thought they would have a good time but Marshall and his parents have planned a great birthday and the class has a great time.

This is a book about acceptance and how to be a friend to someone different then yourself.  This would be a great book for teachers or parents to read as a back to school book.

Check the WRL catalog for Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School.

Peanut Butter and Homework Sandwiches by Lisa Broadie Cook, is about a boy trying his very best to get his homework turned in and all the unfortunate things that happen to those assignments. Any child or adult who has had a homework assignment will be routing for poor Martin and his homework problems.

Read this with your favorite school age child. Have fun!

Check the WRL catalog for Peanut Butter and Homework Sandwiches.

Baby Pie by Tom MacRae is a book you cannot judge by it’s cover! At first I was curious as to how the author would be able to tell the tale of 3 trolls wanting to make baby pie and searching for a baby to put in it. It sounded a little gross to me but as I kept reading, I kept assuring myself, there was no way any author would write a picture book where the baby actually gets cooked! Of course Tom MacRae kept the baby safe and the trolls were in for such a surprise when they finally found the baby!

I plan to read this book to school age children, they will be able to be a little scared and then laugh at what happened to the trolls at the end of the story.

Check the WRL catalog for Baby Pie.

In the book Don’t Wake the Baby by Dawn Apperley, Lily-Lu is busy playing all through the day when every mishap she makes has the potential to wake the baby. There are s lot of  CRASHES and SLASHES all the youngest listener’s will enjoy and of course, the repeating words Don’t wake the Baby! I plan to use this book often with our baby storytime crowd.

Check the WRL catalog for Don’t Wake the Baby.

Patricia MacLachlan has such a beautiful way with her words. Her book Who Loves Me? is the very simple story of a little girl asking her cat, who loves me? The cat tells the little girl all of the ways her family loves her until they are both tired and they snuggle up together and fall asleep. This is a wonderful way to reassure any child as to who loves them, young children will love thinking of way each of their family members love them too.

Check the WRL catalog for Who Loves Me.

Hush Little Polar Bear is a very sweet bedtime book that you will just have to sing.

The artwork is big and little ones will have no trouble following the little polar bear as he travels all over the world until it’s time to settle down and sleep soundly in bed.

This is a great book for a bedtime storytime, Jeff Mack is the author and illustrator and he’s created a beautiful book.

Check the WRL catalog for Hush Little Polar Bear.

Alan MacDonald has created a very funny twist to the classic 3 bears story, in his book Beware of the Bears!

Like all stories with the 3 bears this one starts out as the bears go  for a walk and come home to find their house a mess but then decide to give Goldilocks a taste of her own medicine. The bears have a blast with a food fight, pillow fight and water battle. Goldilocks comes home to a very funny conclusion, poor Mr. Wolf.

Have fun reading this one to all you storytime friends, it’s a great read for all ages.

Check the WRL catalog for Beware of the Bears.

This book is for any family who has a child who wants a pet, an unusual pet!

Petunia LOVES skunks and that’s what she wants, of course her parents say no and that’s when the adventure starts. Petunia tries to convince her parents how wonderful a pet skunk would be and tells them all the ways she will take care of it, but of course, they say no.

Petunia decides she can no longer live with such “mean” parents and runs away to live in the woods, she doesn’t get far before the wanted pet crosses her path and Petunia finds out why skunks do not make good pets.  Petunia heads for home and decides she likes her stuffed pet skunk best but not before declaring real skunks are Awesomely Stinky!

This is a fun storytime book, I’ve used it for a mostly school aged crowd but will work for any age as long as they have some experience with Awesomely Stinky Skunks!

Check the WRL catalog for A Pet for Petunia.

Eula is a square cat whose shape sometimes makes her life difficult. Her favorite round skirt won’t fit, getting up after a fall isn’t easy and mouse holes are impossible. Things get so bad Eula eventually loses her purr. Enter Patsy and Maude, two round cats, who try to help Eula feel round. Eula tries hoop earrings, eating doughnuts and skipping in circles and just when she starts to feel round she tips over. “Which as you know isn’t good for a square cat.” Pick up this book at the library and find out what Patsy and Maude do to become square cats just like Eula and how Eula realizes that being square has its advantages too.

Check the WRL catalog for Square Cat.

Alison Jay has managed to start with a book about colors, a beautiful book about colors, and by combining that with Mother Goose rhymes has ended up with a spectacular book you will want to read over and over again.
“Little boy Blue’s asleep in the hay. His sheep and his cow have run away.” “Poor Humpty’s purple from his fall. These men will try to mend it all.” “The Owl and the Pussycat set to sea…in a beautiful boat as green as a pea.” Each page, like the examples above, will combine a rhyme and a color and give you the chance to search for the hidden character, recall and recite the rhyme and talk about all of the other colors on the beautifully illustrated pages.

Check the WRL catalog for Red Green Blue: A First Book of Colors.

One red square equals infinite possibilities. Each day of the week the square meets a different fate. It’s cut into pieces, poked full of holes, torn or snipped, and yet instead of feeling ruined it reinvents itself into something beautiful. At first glance you might think this is a book about shapes and colors and you’d be right but there is also a message about making something out of everyday difficulties. Our square is a perfect example of the “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” philosophy. What will happen on the last day of the week when the square is left alone? Will it find one more way to reinvent itself?
You’re going to enjoy this book’s easy text, simple illustrations and eye catching colors. You may even be inspired to get a square of your own to investigate its infinite possibilities.

Check the WRL catalog for Perfect Square.

Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley are different in almost every way yet they are best friends. How is that possible? Pearl loves to solve mysteries and talk talk talk. Charlie is a quiet guy who likes to sit and think. If you’re looking for a book about the power of friendship, your job is done. Pearl and Charlie’s friendship demonstrates how opposites attract and different personalities can complement one another. Families will enjoy this short but meaningful book.

Check the WRL catalog for Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley.

One day while in the park lonely Mildred found what she thought was a stray puppy. After taking him home and discovering he only liked to eat one thing she decided to name him Peanut. Peanut wouldn’t roll over, fetch or bark but he loved to squash cereal boxes, water the plants and snuggle on the couch. He just seemed different from the other dogs. Is it possible Peanut wasn’t a dog at all?
Mildred and Peanut eventually meet up with Peanut’s owner and Mildred allows him to take Peanut away, to the circus! Peanut is happy to be home with his circus family but Mildred is lonely again. So back to the park she goes where she finds a stray…kitten…or maybe it’s not a kitten at all.

Check the WRL catalog for Peanut.

Bob is a boring bear who likes to count toothpicks, practice humming and sit around in parking lots. As a matter of fact he’s so boring he thinks you probably won’t want to read this book. His Panda friend Jack is just the opposite. Jack loves to do anything that’s wild, wacky or crazy, yet these two bears are the best of friends. Bob and Jack are perfect complements to one another. Their friendship will help kids understand that everyone is different and it is those differences that make life interesting.

Check the WRL catalog for Hello, My Name is Bob.

You and your toddler are going to love this book! The question and answer format will spark lots of conversation and the fold out pages are always a hit with this age group. Each page contains a question; for example, “if a calf grows and becomes a cow, can a shovel grow and become (open flap) a plow?” Every fourth page will recap and give you a yes or no answer to the four previous riddles. “Yes to cats no to hats, yes to goats no to coats, etc.” The art is bold and colorful, the riddles are witty and fun and you just might decide that you want to make up your own rhyming game.

Check the WRL catalog for Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow?

Kids will love this fun rhyming book about Bunion Burt who has feet that hurt. Everyone that Burt comes into contact with tries to help him feel better. They suggest home remedies like mud and ice and sun but absolutely nothing works. While most young readers won’t know about bunions, they most likely will be able to guess why it is that Burt’s feet hurt so badly.
The characters have silly rhyming names like Granny Gert, Mama Myrt, Cousin Kurt and Old Doc Smurt. The illustrations are big, bold, amusing and just plain goofy. The plot is engaging and will keep a kid’s attention right up until the end. Be sure to check this one out!

Check the WRL catalog for Bunion Burt.

Every year on her birthday Cynthia wishes for a pony she can name Marigold. This year, while eating some birthday cake, Cynthia spies the present from her parents and thinks it must be a very small pony. But, it isn’t a pony at all. Can you guess by the title of the book what the present turns out to be?
Cynthia’s magical fish agrees to give her what she wishes for if she’ll take him to the lake to set him free. Since Cynthia doesn’t want him anyway, they start out for the lake. When they arrive there will Cynthia let him go or has she had a change of heart? Is it possible that Cynthia’s fish could be even better than a pony?

Check the WRL catalog for The Birthday Fish.

Wolf loved to eat. “As soon as he finished one meal, he began to think of the next.” So you can imagine how happy wolf was to spot a perfect, delicious chicken just when he was craving chicken stew. But this wolf didn’t just grab the chicken and run. He thought that a better idea would be to fatten up the bird. So far several days, he cooked and baked and left food at the chicken’s doorstep. And what do you suppose that he found when he finally arrived to pluck the chicken for his meal?

Keiko Kasza has illustrated this book with beautiful watercolors on wide open white pages. The characters of wolf and chicken are wonderfully captured by the illustrations. I especially liked the picture of wolf mixing pancake batter while holding the cookbook open with one foot.

This is a wonderful book that is filled with humor and is suitable for sharing with a small group.

Check the WRL catalog for The Wolf’s Chicken Stew.

This brightly colored follow-up to ABC Kids features the numbers from 1 to 20. The cartoons rendered in what Publishers’ Weekly
describes as “manga meets video game style” are easy for children to count. The left-hand page of each spread includes a large-scale numeral, the word for each number, and a line showing where this number lies in the sequence of numbers. The pictures and sentences on the right side feature animals and objects demonstrating each number. “Six greedy penguins gobble juicy jelly beans.” or “Sixteen lost clouds find their way home.”
The large size of the book makes it suitable for small groups. Larger groups can probably enjoy the numbers up to 10. After that, the size of the individuals begins to shrink.

Check the WRL catalog for Basher 1 2 3.

Simon Basher has been producing books for the elementary student on various sciences and now has created books for the youngest learners. ABC Kids features each letter of the alphabet in upper and lower case formats. Alliterative sentences on the left side of the double-page spread include both unusual and familiar words for vocabulary enrichment. A stand-alone image is opposite.
The chunky, cartoon style illustrations are a mix of Japanese and European graphic styles. They are set on brightly colored backgrounds.
This title is equally useful with individual children or groups.

Check the WRL catalog for ABC Kids.