A Really Rotten Halloween Story

Rotten Pumpkin 
by David Schwartz; photos by Dwight Kuhn
32 pages; ages 3-5
Creston Books, 2013

theme: Halloween, nature, STEM

Here I stand, bright with light, proud and round. 

This is a tale of the demise of a Halloween pumpkin. Jack, the pumpkin, is the first of 15 voices to tell the tale. He begins with his glory days, as a bright Jack-o-lantern. But once that flame is spent, he’s tossed unceremoniously back to the garden.

From there, various animals – and fungi – take over the tale. A mouse, squirrel, and slugs tell how they nibble, gnaw, and scrape the pumpkin shell. Insects and mold continue their cheerful tale of how they do in the rotting pumpkin.

But not everything rots away. A single seed survives and, covered with soil enriched by the rotted goo, sprouts. 

What I like about this book: The photos that document Jack’s decomposition are amazing to look at. Dwight Kuhn helps readers see beauty where others might just see a moldy mess. And David’s use of the different voices to tell the story allows us to think about nature in a different way. There’s also Back Matter! A glossary and three investigations that a curious nature lover might want to do with their past-prime Jack-o-lantern.

Beyond the Books:

If you forgot a seed or two when scooping out the gloppity gloop from the middle of your pumpkin, now’s a good time to rescue them. Rinse them off, let them dry, and then put them in an envelope. If you know what variety of pumpkin you have, write that on the envelope. Otherwise “pumpkin 2020” will do. Next spring, plant them and see what comes up.

Write a letter to – or from – your pumpkin about it’s very short life. Feel free to pull in some local animals to tell their side of the story.

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Rainbow Weaver

Rainbow Weaver
by Linda Elovitz Marshall; illus. by Elisa Chavarri
40 pages; ages 6-9
Children's Book Press, 2016

themes: diversity, art, family

High in the mountains above Lake Atitlan, Ixchel watched her mother weave thread into fabric as beautiful as a rainbow.

When Ixchel asks if she can weave, Mama suggests she help count threads. But Ixchel wants to weave. She wants to help pay for her books and school.

What I like love about this book: Ixchel sets off to find her own weaving materials. She kicks aside the plastic bags that people have discarded on their way home from market, and gathers tall grasses to use on a loom she makes from sticks. When they don't work, she gathers bits of wool and twists it into yarn. Dissatisfied with that, she tries weaving with plastic bags - after all, they are everywhere!

I love that author Linda Marshall traveled to Guatamala to meet weavers and learn how they recycle unwanted plastic into products that they sell in the market place. She wrote about that trip earlier this year here. In an author's note, Linda tells how she was inspired to write this book by a friend who sells the weavers' placemats, coasters, purses, and baskets. And I love that the endpapers resemble Mayan textiles. Oh, and did I say that the book is bilingual? Lo puedes leer en español.

Beyond the book:

Read how some people are turning plastic bags into mats for homeless people. They cut the bags into strips and crochet the strips into thick mats - it takes more than 500 bags for each mat!

Want to weave a plastic rug or mat of your own? All you need is a loom - here's how to make one out of cardboard. There are links to weaving techniques - all you need to supply are the warp strings and plastic bags.

Or try making a coiled basket or coaster. Here's how.

You can find out more about Linda and her books at her website.

Today is PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. Review copy provided by publishers.

Rain Fish

 Rain Fish
by Lois Ehlert
40 pages; ages 4-8
Beach Lane Books, 2016

When blue sky turns gray and it rains all day, sometimes rain fish come out and play.
They swim among discards and debris. Do you see them, too? Or is it just me?

I love the lyrical text that flows through the pages - and the wonderful fish recycled from things one might find on the ground: a ticket stub, bit of cardboard, twig, fallen leaf. A lost sock. A feather. A mix of natural and man-made things lost, then found. I also love the fun fish, the unexpected texture of orange peel and paper; the bright colors.

Earth Day craft

Now it's your turn. Collect things from your walks... and turn them into art. They don't have to be fish... you can make "found item" collages of flowers, trees, animals, bugs.


 This is National Arts in Education week. Check Sally's posts every day this week for arts activities and book reviews. Review F&G provided by publisher.

Glamorous Garbage

Glamorous Garbage
by Barbara Johansen Newman
40 pages; ages 5-8
Boyds Mills Press, 2015

theme: cleaning up your bedroom; recycling, Earth Day

Bobbie and Joanie are cousins. Best cousins. You met them a couple years ago when Joanie needed glasses.

Now Bobbie has a problem. She loves to invite Joanie over to play in her bedroom, but Bobbie's bedroom is too messy! It's no fun to play there because toys get lost and there's no room to sit down.

So Mom lays down the law: "I'll give you two weeks to decide what stays and what goes. After that, I get to decide."

What I like: This is a subject we can all identify with: clutter. And the need to declutter. And dreaming about what your room could look like given a chance to do-over. Bobbie, though, starts collecting things for her "new" room before she even gets rid of all the junk on her floor and under her bed and spilling out of the closet. Finally she asks her mom for help and together they clean and paint and fix and finally.... Bobbie has space to create the room she wants.

Beyond the book: This book is perfect to read before Earth Day (which is next Wed). Why? 
Reuse. Bobbie and her mom strip and re-paint old furniture, making it "good as new". Bobbie also finds old barrels and crates that she "glams" up to use in her room.

Reduce. Cut the clutter, Bobbie's mom says. Use less. Or at least figure out what you really need to keep, and a good way to store it (whether it's sports equipment, shoes, or unfinished manuscripts...). Do you really need all your stuff? What do you have in your room that you can get rid of?

Recycle. One way to recycle is to figure out a new use for things. Like turning a box into a doll house, or making a stool by belting a stack of magazines together and putting a cushion on top. But there's only so many sock puppets and tin-can flower vases you can make, so sometimes you need to think of recycling outside the house. That's what Bobbie does. She holds a yard sale, but there are other ways of sharing old things that are still useable. What ways do people in your town use to recycle old furniture, tools, and other stuff?

 Today is PPBF (perfect picture book Friday) in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books.  Review copy from the publisher.

Recycling Day

Welcome back from Summer Vacation. Yes - it's Labor Day. A day to celebrate the work people do. Here's a book about the kind of work anyone - even kids - can do to make their world a better place.

Recycling Day
by Edward Miller
32 pages; ages 4 - 8
Holiday House, 2014

Once there was a vacant lot between two buildings. It was a nice, sunny place, full of ants and worms, grasshoppers and flies. Until...

People started tossing trash.Then the rats moved in. Big rats. Mean bullies who pushed and shoved and took what they wanted. Until ...

A girl came by and posted a sign: "Recycling Day. This Saturday help us clean up this lot!" Kids showed up with rakes and bins and work gloves. They tossed glass in one container, cardboard in another, sorted cans and plastic, and started a composting bin. Then they planted seeds.

The story is accompanied by text boxes filled with facts and statistics about trash and how it can be taken out of the waste stream and recycled into new products. Backmatter lists more recyclables: toys, electronics, batteries, fabrics ... and includes information about reducing the amount of garbage that goes to dumps.

Don't let the talking worms and eye-patch-wearing rat fool you: this book is crammed with facts. And the issue of trash attracting rodents is so serious that New York City has created a "Rodent Academy" to teach people how to "rat-proof" their homes and businesses. NPR recently ran a story on the "Rat Academy" - you can read and listen to it here.


Today is Nonfiction Monday. Hop over to the Nonfiction Monday blog where you'll find more book reviews. Review copy provided by publisher.