Grump: The Fairly True Tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

I always enjoy reading a classic fairy tale that has been fractured to tell the story from a different character's point of view.

Grump the dwarf was born too close to the Earth's surface and therefore isn't suited for life in the mines - he becomes physically ill when he goes too far underground. He longs to go to the surface of the Earth and see what life is like, and when he begins working in the mine, he finally finds a way to sneak to the surface. He meets Snow White and the evil queen and the traditional tale unfolds from there, told from Grump's point of view.

I love the details that Liesl Shurtliff provides about life underground in the dwarf community, especially their diet and the way the dwarves are named.

Visit Shurtliff's website to find out more about her and see her list of works.
World Over interview with Liesl Shurtliff
Book Trailer for Red
Book Trailer for Rump
Book Trailer for Jack

Author Birthday: Aaron Reynolds

A very Happy Birthday to author Aaron Reynolds! His picture books are filled with vibrant illustrations that keep children engaged, and fun word play that will have adults rolling on the floor laughing.

Chicks and Salsa is one of my favorites. The chickens at Nuthatcher farm are getting sick and tired of eating the same ol' chicken feed. The rooster leads the charge to raid the garden and create homemade salsa. When the rest of the barnyard animals catch of whiff of that spicy goodness, a fiesta is on!

Of course, when the farmer and his wife find out, they copy the animals' idea and all the veggies they need for salsa disappear. Naturally, the chickens have to figure out what culinary style they're going to try next.

Aaron Reynold's website

Ninja Tales

Every year, I save fractured tales for the end of the year. We read the original, then 2 or 3 fractured versions and create a chart showing which parts of the tales have been changed, or fractured, from the original.

As I was gathering books for this year's Fractured Fairy Tale Extravaganza, I decided I needed a few new ones. Scrolling through Amazon, I came across these two ninja variations by Corey Rosen Schwartz. My Kinders and first graders thought they were hilarious!

The poor wolves in these stories get schooled by these unlikely ninjas and everyone learns the importance of hard work and dedication.

Corey Rosen Schwartz website
Dan Santat website

The Rabbit Listened

     This book was sitting in our school library return basket today, and it caught my eye. I read it while waiting for my class to finish checking out books, and it completely bowled me over.

     Little Taylor is heartbroken when his beautiful creation gets knocked over. His animal friends come along one by one to offer their help and advice - one wants to talk it out, another wants to get angry, yet another encourages revenge, and, of course, one wants to fix it for him.

     But Taylor doesn't want or need to do any of those things. As he sits alone, struggling to figure things out, the rabbit sits down next to him and just listens.

     And that is exactly what Taylor needed.

    Doerrfeld is both author and illustrator of this simple story of loss and grief. She addresses the need to have someone just listen with clarity and honesty.


Cori Doerrfeld website
Brightly interview with Cori Doerrfeld
Drawing demo with Cori Doerrfeld

I'm a Big Sister

     This week, I'm visiting grandbabies. Miss Betty and I have been busy reading and rereading all her favorite books. At this point in her cute little life, her collection mainly consists of board books, but thanks in large part to Grandma's Book of the Month Club, she's got plenty 😉

     Like most little ones, she likes to read the same books over and over again. Grandma doesn't mind. I finish a book and say, "Would like to choose another one for Grandma to read?" Most of the time, she replies, "We gonna read it again." I happily oblige. There's nothing I would rather do.

     We've read this big sister book several times a day since I've been here. With new brother, Baby Bobby,  having arrived, she enjoys the pictures about all the things she likes to help Mama and Daddy do. It's wonderful reinforcement of her newfound big sister skills, and the illustrations are adorable.

     I love to watch her beautiful face while we read. Her eyes are bright, she smiles, and giggles, and snuggles up. On many pages, she has a favorite word or phrase or part of the picture that she wants to show me and they are the same every time we read that story. It is a joy to watch her developing as a reader.

Ms. Rapscott's Girls

Just finished this little gem - if you like A Series of Unfortunate Events, you'll like this book. It has a lighter touch that ASOUE. The premise is that a group of 4 girls whose parents are too busy to parent, are packed into boxes and shipped to Ms. Rapscott’s School for Girls Whose Parents Are Too Busy. 

Ms.Rapscott (think tactless Mary Poppins) teaches them how to do all the things they haven’t been taught at home - how to bathe and brush their teeth, do laundry, cook, be safe crossing the street, entertain themselves without tv, do basic household chores, and how to have an adventure. 

The ending nicely opens the way for a sequel.

Visit the author's blog to learn more about her and her work.

Happy Birthday, Doreen Cronin!

A very Happy Birthday to Doreen Cronin! 

Her books are just plain fun - from her Click Clack series to the Chicken Squad books, you will enjoy her rhythmic, rhyming style and Betsy Lewin's playful illustrations.  

She says her 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Cooper, was the first person to tell her that she was a writer and encouraged her to work at her craft. After earning a law degree and practicing for a few years, she quit and started writing full-time. Thank you, Mrs. Cooper. If it wasn't for your influence, we may not have ever had the opportunity to enjoy Doreen's fantastic contributions to children's literature.

Doreen Cronin website

Betsy Lewin website
Interview with Doreen Cronin
Betsy Lewin on Reading Rockets

11 Birthdays

A couple of years ago, a group of girls in my class were absolutely crazy for Wendy Mass books, so I added a few of her books to my classroom library, but I didn't make time to read them to see what all the fuss was about. I recently read this one and really enjoyed it. Think Henry and Beezus meets Groundhog Day. 

Amanda and Leo share a birthday and have celebrated together for the past 10 years. But this year, they have had a falling out and they are not celebrating together.

Amanda is anxious for the day to be over so she can forget about Leo and the fight they had. Unfortunately for Amanda, when she wakes up the next day, it's her birthday AGAIN.

Besides the Willow Falls series, which begins with 11 Birthdays, Mass has also authored the Space Taxi series, the Twice Upon a Time series, as well as 10 stand alone books. 

Wendy Mass website
KidLit podcast with Wendy Mass
KidLitTV interview with Wendy Mass

How Toddlers Thrive

As we approach Miss B's second birthday, this excerpt from the book How Toddlers Thrive: What Parents Can Do Today for Children Ages 2-5 to Plant the Seeds of Lifelong Success popped up in my newsfeed. It was a quick, helpful read and now I have the book in my Amazon cart.

I remember well how frustrating it was to have not one, but two willful little people running around our apartment, hollering, "No!" and "Mine!" and melting down for "interesting" reasons such as:

or this:

or this:

See more pictures on this website

Parenting can be exhausting and bewildering. I wish I'd had a book like this to reassure and remind me that all of the demanding, defiant, and seemingly irrational behaviors are a natural part of growing up, and that children NEED to go through this stage in order to become happy, resilient, empathetic, self-regulating human beings.

One of the best things about grandkids is that we have another chance to do things better than we did the first time.

The Hula-Hoopin' Queen

This vividly illustrated picture book from 2017 is a fun story about a young girl who wants to be the hula-hooping queen of her neighborhood. So far, she hasn't been able to beat the reigning champion.

The opportunity to compete again almost ruins the birthday celebration of her beloved elderly neighbor. In a very cool twist, the girls find out who the real hula-hoopin' queen is.

This delightful reading at Storyline Online is by Oprah Winfrey, hula hoop aficionado, who gives it some extra sauce.

Author Thelma Lynne Godin tells this story in a way that tells readers she is familiar with the way preteen girls interact with one another and the feelings they experience as they try to figure out how to navigate between their family life and their social life. Visit her website to see her list of favorite characters in children's lit.

Award-winning illustrator Vanessa Brantley-Newton is known for representing diversity well in her work. She has a great website that includes video clips of her reading aloud Grandma's Purse, a book she authored and illustrated.

This is a woman who knows how to use her influence for good. Take a look at some of the interviews and presentations she has done:

• Here is her TEDX talk on the diversity and adversity.  
• Her YouTube video interview on KidLit TV.
• Her tutorial on making a collage.
• Her New York Times video on illustrating The Youngest Marcher.

El Dia del Los Muertos

If you're celebrating Day of the Dead tomorrow, this book is a must-have. Here's the link to my review.
 

Grandma's Book of the Month Club: A New Family Tradition

About 10 years ago, when my brother's first child was born, I decided that I wanted to send a book to him each month. They live in another state and I wanted to be an influence on his life. Our family has no living grandparents or great-grandparents for these littles, and I wanted him to have a taste of what it would be like if his Grandma Jean was still with us.

I chose some of my favorites, and loved reading them with him whenever I would visit. Then my youngest brother had his first child, and she joined Aunt Carrie's Book of the Month Club as well. Then came 2 more nieces who could enjoy all of the well-loved books Aunt Carrie sent to Utah. (Thank goodness for Amazon Prime!)

I had such fun choosing books that I thought they would enjoy and read over and over again. In fact, I enjoyed myself so much that I decided to start Grandma's Book of the Month Club when my Little Gingersnap was born.

She lives even further from me than my nieces and nephew do, and it hurt my grandma heart to think of not being able to see her as much as I would like, but with Grandma's Book of the Month Club, I feel like a little part of me is with her every single day as she reads and rereads the books I've selected especially for her.

I admit that Grandma sends more than one book a month and I may even take multiple books when I go to visit Sweet Lovey. I like to wrap them up and label them by month so she and Mom and Dad can enjoy opening them throughout the month or open them all at the beginning of the month, whatever they want to do.

Miss Betty has quite a collection of books now, and she is following in her father's reading footsteps.

^ One of her FAVORITES! A few weeks ago, her mama turned the pages while I recited the book from memory over the phone - that's how often we read this story!

I learned pretty quickly to purchase board books rather than standard hardcovers or paperbacks. She loves her books and they get toddler-handled. Every once in a while, I find a book I cannot resist that isn't a board book, but her parents are teaching her well about caring for special books :)

When I started this tradition, I created a Wish List on Amazon titled, what else, Grandma's Book of the Month Club. When I see or hear about a book that I want to share with Queen B, I add it to the list. 

When the holidays roll around, I do an Amazon search for board books about that holiday and check them out. I prefer to add books to my list that allow me to preview the inside pages so that I can tell whether or not the story and illustrations will be engaging for a little one.

She loves animals, so many of the books I buy for her feature animals, but I also include books about colors, numbers, shapes, old classics, and newer soon-to-be classics.

We are a family of readers, so books are often our go-to gifts. We created a shared Google Doc that we add titles to as we purchase books for Miss B to avoid duplicates.

Here are a few of the books from our Grandma's Book of the Month Club. Be sure to check these out and if you order via these links or the link at the top right of the blog, I might get a small commission, so your purchases via this website are much appreciated.

Notice that The Itsy Bitsy Leprechaun (Bottom row) is on sale right now for $2.62!

Do you have any book recommendations I can add to my Wish List? Please comment below - I love getting recommends from other book lovers!