I've Got an Elephant

I've Got an Elephant
by Anne Ginkel; illus by Janie Bynum
32 pages; ages 4 - 6
Peachtree (paperback 2013)

This is a fun, rhyming counting book gull of elephants in PJ's, elephants in tutus, elephants who swim and fish and... pretty much do whatever it is a kid can imagine.

IT starts with an elephant who sleeps in bed.
"But when I go to school, he gets lonely and then...
he goes out and brings home an elephant friend."

Now the kid has two elephants who help with homework, but when she goes shopping with mom, the elephants get lonely and... they go out and bring home an elephant friend.

Then there are four, five, six... elephants accumulate and you've got to wonder just how many elephants can one kid have?


Review copy provided by publisher.

Fish for Jimmy

Fish for Jimmy
by Katie Yamasaki
32 pages; ages 6-10
Holiday House, 2013

The subtitle of this book tells a great deal: "Inspired by One Family's Experience in a Japanese American Internment Camp". It is, notes author & muralist Katie Yamasaki, a story based on the true experiences of her great-grandfather. But it is more: a tale of courage and love.

Jimmy and his big brother, Taro, live in California with their family. Then, one night in December 1941, they hear on the radio that Japan has bombed Pearl Harbor. FBI men pound on the door and take their father away, and later Jimmy, Taro and their mother are sent to live in tiny barracks surrounded by guarded fences and a desolate landscape.

Jimmy stops eating. The food is weird and he wants fish. Taro does something brave and dangerous: he sneaks a pair of garden shears in his pocket and, one night, snips through the fence and goes to the river where he catches fish for Jimmy. Yamasaki discusses Japanese internment camps at the end in a note to readers, and includes a photograph of the relocation camp where her family was sent.

This is a book my history-loving kids would have loved.
Review copy  provided by publisher.

Doggone Feet! ( a book with feet that can't be beat)

Doggone Feet!
written & illustrated by Leslie Helakoski
32 pages; ages 4-7
Boyds Mills Press, 2013

How can you resist a book that begins, "I followed Legs home from the park one fine day"? It's almost as hard as saying no to a stray who gives you that sad-eyed "feed me" look....

So, the book. I couldn't resist and I had to turn one page and then another. I like the silliness of a story told by a dog's under-the-table point of view. People are named by the feet they have: toes (barefoot), pink socks, blue boots.

I like the way the dog makes room for new people - and their feet - in her life. She starts with a complaint: blue boots banging on the table... "I DON'T LIKE THESE FEET!" and then the realization that there's room for another pair of feet.

I especially like the ending.... which involves more and more feet and is very sweet. And the bright, bold illustrations of All Those Feet!

Review copy provided by the publisher.