Divabear.com

Great Reads                       
for Mom & Dad, young children,
A+ teachers:

Brother Sun, Sister Moon: Saint Francis of Assisi's Canticle of

the Creatures, reimagined by Katherine Paterson and illustrated

by Pamela Dalton, ages 4-8.  Paterson lyrically modernizes the

original prayer, written in 1224. Mortal sin is out, but deep religiosity

is respectfully maintained. There is historical and literary significance

and exquisite art in this work.

Squish: Super Amoeba, ages 7-10. Aimed at boys and non-girlie girls,

it features a one-celled but not one-dimensional character. There are

 the usual problems at school--tardiness, cafeteria food, friends and

bullies. The struggle between good and evil and the quest for courage

are major themes.

To Market, to Market, by Nikki McClure, ages 5-8. A timeless cut-paper art

helps extol the timely virtues of buying fresh, local and organic. A mother

and son wander through the farmers' market eagerly gathering produce and

stories along the way.

Holm's Babymouse: Mad Scientist, with illustrations by her brother,

Matthew Holm, ages 7-10. Having grown mold on bread, the irrepressible

Babymouse  declares, "I am sure Einstein felt exactly the same way after

he figured out the theory of relativity." The mold turns into an amoeba that

turns into a spin-off titled Squish:Super Amoeba.

For comments on these books, E-mail  books@sfchronicle.com

She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story, by Audrey Vernick and

illustrated by Don Tate. For ages, 5 -10 .In this compelling story with fantastic art,

we learn about a forthright African American woman who refused to accept the

status quo. She led a successful boycott of Harlem businesses that refused to hire

black salesclerks, and later managed the business of the Newark Eagles, which she

and her husband Abe Manley started in 1935.

Hammerin Hank Greenberg: Baseball Pioneer.  Profiles the so-called

"Jewish  Babe Ruth". This young adult biography chronicles Greenberg's early life

as the too tall son of Romanian immigrants (he was 6 feet 3 in eighth grade), growing up

among Yiddish speakers in New York City and traces his career with the Tigers.

By Shelley Sommer, ages, 10 - up.

10 Easter Egg Hunters: A Counting Book. This features the same diverse,

round-faced cast of apartment dwelling tots, this time decked out in pastels and

hunting for eggs the Easter Bunny has hidden. The action moves briskly with

catchy rhymes and they find all 10 eggs in time for the Easter parade. 

By Janet Schulman, illustrated by San Francisco artist Linda Davick, ages 4 - 8.

Making All Kids Smarter-- Strategies that help all students reach

their highest potential. This is a hands-on guide for challenging

all kids to think, create and aspire! By John DeLandtsheer.

Mindful Learning: 101 Proven strategies for student and teacher

success. Research-based classroom-tested instructional strategies

for using learners' prior knowledge, immersing students in active

learning, making content relevant, differentiating instruction for

diverse learning needs and providing gender-fair, equitable instruction.

By Linda Campbell, Bruce Campbell

A Sick Day for Amos McGee, ages 2 - 6. Written by Philip C Stead. Delicate
pencil drawings, accented with pale color, whimsically expand a wry story
about an elderly zookeeper who catches cold and stays home. What happens?

Remembering Cystal, ages 3 and up.  When her tortoise friend dies, it takes con-
certed effort to focus on memories of their happy times together. These touching
tales nail remembrance and resilience. By Sebastian Loth.

Madeline at the White House, ages 4 - 8. The art is delightful, the story whimsical
and there's even a magic rabbit.  By John Bemelmans Marciano.

Citydog, Country Frog - ages 3 - 6,  written by Mo Willems and illustrated by Jon
J Muth. How do you comfort a child? When it comes to loss, two soothing and
very satisfying piture books ease the way. Lush watercolors follow an unlikely
friendship through the seasons.

The Year of the Rabbit: Tales From the Chinese Zodiac, ages 4 - 8 by Oliver Chin.
Curious rabbit Rosie likes to eat new things and meet new people, so she ventures
into a vegetable garden and gets caught by a boy named Jai and his Po-Po (grandma)
Boy and bunny get into some scrapes but become fast friends.

The Would-Be Witch, A heavy dose of fantasy, time travel and magic for young readers!

One of many books by Ruth Chew. Other titlers are; The Magic Coin, and Trapped in Time


Aunt Mary's Rose, by LeUyen Pham. An autobiographical story about a family's rosebush that has been  lovingly attended for generations. Douglas Wood's story is illustrated with sepia-tone snapshots of the past. Aunt Mary instructed young master Woods to care for this rose, and one day there will be a little bit of you inside it. And a little bit of it inside you. Douglas' life, one of change and loss is simply told.

The Kinesthetic Classroom byTraci Lengel, Mike Kuczala
Research shows that regular physical activity helps children perform better in school. This inspiring book
illustrates how to integrate movement within classroom instruction, ranging from short activity breaks
to curriculum enhancing games.

Poetry for Young People: Maya Angelou, the people's poet.
Stirring, inspiring and beautifully illustrated.

Teaching Young Children with ADHD, Successful Strategies

Baby Shoes by Dashka Slater
(Bloomsbury Children's Books) uses rhyme and repetition to tell the story of a baby's adventure in his new "high-jumping, fast-running, fine-looking shoes that become speckle-spotted, polka-dotted, puddle-stomping, rainbow-romping, go-go-going shoes" after a day's activities.

Pancakes for Supper! by Anne Isaacs; illustrated by Mark Teague, ages 3-5.
Toby strips down to her long johns in this gender update of the Helen Bannerman "Little Black Sambo" plot. Five scary animals grant a cheeky girl safe passage in exchange for her finery. Marin County author Anne Isaacs spins a yummy yarn, squarely set in New England, with pancakes, butter and maple syrup.

How To Be - by Lisa Brown, ages 2-5.
Kids love to pretend. But if they need pointers about being animals, help is on the way. San Francisco author and illustrator Lisa Brown offers tips in this imaginative picture book that features two kids doing funny demos. There's a lot of robust playfulness and a gentle point about just being yourself.

Good Boy, Fergus - by David Shannon, ages 3-6.
Positive reinforcement doesn't always work on a positively adorable pooch in this endearing study of unconditional love. In fact, he bounds through the bright pages, chasing cats, knocking over plants and begging table food, all in sight of his obedient master. Sadly, dog not included.

Bebe Goes Shopping - by Susan Middleton Elya, ages 2-5.
Learn 32 Spanish words in this merry romp about a trip to the supermercado with Mama and Bebe. Northern California author Susan Middleton Elya writes in bouncy rhymes that naturally accommodate both English and Spanish and some chaos too.

Jackie's Bat - by Marybeth Lorbiecki; illustrated by Brian Pinkney, ages 5-8.
It's 1947 and a white batboy comes clean about his own prejudice in this moving account of Jackie Robinson's first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The baseball history is factually accurate. The rest is imagined. Graceful watercolors mirror Robinson's gentlemanly courage and the boy's fitful change of heart.

Shlemazel and the Remarkable Spoon of Pohost - by Ann Redisch Stampler;
illustrated by Jacqueline M. Cohen, ages 5-8.
Work-schmurk, foundshmound. Chagall-like watercolors bring to life a tumbledown shtetl in Eastern Europe in this colorfully retold tale about a lazy man who learns to make his own luck, finding work and a wife in the process. All that's needed is a grandmother with a Yiddish accent to do the reading.

Landed - by Milly Lee; illustrated by Yangsook Choi, ages 8-up.
Drawing on a family story, Santa Rosa author Milly Lee spins a gently unsettling but ultimately uplifting tale about a 12-year-old Chinese boy who must prove his true identity by passing a difficult test on Angel Island to gain entry in the United States around 1915.

Flotsam - by David Wiesner, ages 5-8.
Kids make up their own take on things in this imaginative wordless book set at the shore, where a curious boy finds an oldtime camera and develops its roll of film. Out come surrealistic undersea images and intriging snapshots of kids from different lands and eras. It's delightfully well-crafted, cryptic, cinematic and circular.

Discovering Nature's Alphabet - by Krystina Castella and Brian Boyl, all ages.
There's an "A" shape in some branches and "Z" embedded on a beach rock. Elegant photo-compositions, not one of them staged, highlight the alphabet and many beautiful sights in a lovely browsing book, more about visual literacy and love of nature than letter recognition. California figures prominently.

Clever Ali - by Nancy Farmer; illustrated by Gail De Marchken, ages 5-8.
A generous boy and a greedy homing pigeon precipitate a crisis at the court of Cairo's cruel sultan around 1200, in this exciting and exotic tale, based on real events. It's adapted by Menlo Park author Nancy Farmer and Illustrated with a combination of representational and traditional Islamic art.

Blackie, the Horse Who Stood Still - by Christopher Cerf, illustrated by Paige Peterson, all ages.
Marin-ites love their statue of Blackie, standing in a bayside pasture in Tiburon. The real swaybacked Blackie is the subject of this evocatively illustrated "biography," told in Seuss-like verse that covers his Midwestern roots working life in the rodeo and Yosemite, and legendary status as environmental symbol and mascot to a town.

Mom and Dad Are Palindromes - by Mark Shulman; illustrated by Adam McCauley, ages 5-10, Palindromes are words and phrases spelled the same way backward and forward. Bob finds more than 100 in his school, town, family and, yes, his very own name. There's just no escape, even with things moving along at "race car" speed.

Books In a Box: Baby Animals. This pint-size stories feature 18 different animals-- from fuzzy seal pups to waddling ducks-- and consist of a few short sentences and photographs sure to hold a young child's attention.

Best of The Best for Children. Denise Perry Donavin, Editor.
American Library Association’s librarians recommended books, magazines, videos, audio, software, toys & travel.

Hush Little Baby, by Marla Frazee.
Orff resource for early childhood.

I’ll Tell You A Story, I’ll Sing You A Song. Christine Allison.
Collection of Classics; A parents’ guide to the fairy tales, fables, songs & rhymes of childhood.

Learning Through Songs. Gail & Herbert Levin.
Foster educational skills & concepts through music at the primary level. For children of all ability levels, helps develop cognitive skills in language, reading, classification, math & science, while encouraging children to explore their feelings and develop interactional skills.

The Lion Treasury of Children’s Prayers. Susan Cuthbert.
Collection of prayers from around the world—Scots, Celtic and Russian to Melanesia Islander’s. Includes prayers authored by notables like William Penn to St. Patrick.

Author preserves nursery rhymes & children’s folklore. My Very First Mother Goose. Iona Opie, Editor.

Singing, Chanting, Telling Tales, Arts in the Language Classroom.
Jazz Chants; Poetry; Formula Poems; List Poems; Telling Tales; Tales about Places; A Birthday Party Poem; Music - Sample Song Lyrics; Children's Songs.

Poetry For Young People by Emily Dickinson.
Delight in the hidden secrets of the everyday world. Insects, birds, animals, the grass, the sun and the moon, trees, flowers, the sea and even Emily Dickinson's thoughts about herself... Stunning, full-color drawings capture each poem's mood, and definitions and commentary invite you to jump right into the poetry and vision of one of America's best-loved poets.

Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou illustrated by Tricia Tusa.
Mrs. Spitzer is a wise teacher who knows many things. She knows about gardens. She knows about children. She knows how similar they are. And how they will flourish if tended lovingly.

Dr. Gardner's Fairy Tales For Today's Chldren by Richard A. Gardner, M.D.
illustrated by Alfred Lowenheim. CREATIVE THERAPEUTICS.
Fairy tales are an extremely effective method of communication and among the most powerful vehicles for attracting the attention of children and transmitting messages to them. Unfortunately, most fairy tales are filled with elements that are unhealthy and maladaptive. Because of these detrimental factors, there are some who would dispose of them altogether. Dr. Gardner believes that this would be a mistake--that we should try to retain those elements of the fairy tale that have proven useful and discard that which appears to be harmful...

Other books by Richard A. Gardner, M.D. :

The Boys and Girls Book About Divorce

Therapeutic Communication with Children: The Mutual Storytelling Technique

Dr. Gardner's Stories About the Real World, Vol. I & II

Dr. Gardner's Modern Fairytales

The Boys and Girls Book About One-Parent Families

Say Hello! by Caldedott Award winner, Rachel Isadora. Walk through Carmelita's neghborhood with her small dog greeting each neighbor and shop owner in their native language;  "Buenos dias!" "Shalom!" "Kiniichiwa!" "Al salaam a'alaykum!"

Little Quack's Bedtime, by Lauren Thompson.
With all that's going on will Little Quack ever get to sleep?

Goodnight Moon 123, by Margaret Wise Brown.
A bedtime classic. Count up to 100 stars in Goodnight Moon.

How Do Dinosaurs say Good Night? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. Ages 2-4.
For preschoolers who have been known to throw tantrums when it is time to go to sleep.

My Library of Bedtime Stories and Rhymes, Ages 2 and under.
Includes: Wee Willie Winkie, Little Miss Muffet, Little Boy Blue and other classics.

A Child's First Bible, by Sally Lloyd Jones. Ages 2-6.
Brings Bible stories to life with interective questions.

So Sleepy Story - by Uri Shulevitz, ages 3-5.
Everything is still in this quaint and quiet bedtime story until "a sleepy sleepy boy in a sleepy sleepy bed" notices some activity. Despite drifting music and dancing dishes, little eyelids will droop thanks to the soothing lullaby-like words and the watercolors. A dream of a book.