Duck! Rabbit!

Written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

Most enjoyed by everyone!

Look at that book cover. What animal do you see? You're right! Now go grab a friend, preferably one who can read, and open the book to the first two pages. You read one page, your friend reads the other. Are you laughing already? Good. Keep going until the end. Now try putting the book away. Bet you can't without reading it again. And again. And.....

Intrigued? Just ask a Zion student in Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade what they thought of 'Duck! Rabbit!'. Not only will you get a big smile but you'll hear 'I wanna read that book again!'. The best praise any book can have.

A Day With No Crayons

Written by Elizabeth Rusch
Illustrated by Chad Cameron
Most enjoyed by Kindergartners through 3rd graders

Liza loves her crayons. Her completed pictures are everywhere - the fridge, the bathroom, her bedroom. When Liza runs out of paper one day, what should she draw on but a blank white wall. Mom's not too happy with this and takes away Liza's crayons. But will this stop Liza from creating? Of course not! The world is full of color, as she soon discovers, and those colors aren't limited to a crayon box.

This is a wonderful story about creativity and how it can blossom when barriers and boundaries are removed. Liza is a free spirit that many young readers will identify with. The illustrations combine nicely with the story. For example, when Liza's crayons are taken away, the color illustrations switch to black and white, signifying how dark her world seems without color. Watch what happens, though, when Liza gets a grass stain on her jeans, then rubs in some yellow from a dandelion and orange from a tiger lily. Color reappears!

I'd pair this book with 'My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks', reviewed here. The emphasis on art in both books makes them naturals to be used as an introduction to a collage art project.

Creating can be such fun, and you'll find 'A Day with No Crayons' to be a perfect source of artistic inspiration!

My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks

And Other Funny Family Portraits

Written and illustrated by Hanoch Piven

Most enjoyed by all ages

Looking for something to do this weekend? Why not try a fun art project inspired by the book 'My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks'?

Our narrator is a young girl who isn't satisfied with the pencil drawing of her family her teacher asked her to create. Instead, she makes her own portraits using objects she's found that describe her family members. Dad is as jumpy as a spring and as fun as a party favor. Guess what shows up in her portrait of Dad? His eyebrows are real springs and a party favor creates one of his eyes. The family dog referred to in the title is created by things that he smells like, such as a sock and a can of tuna. Everyone in the family has their own portrait, brought to life by the things that characterize that person in the narrator's mind.

The end pages of the book give examples of actual portraits created by children in the cancer ward of Schneider Children's Medical Center in Israel. They're fun to look at and provide lots of inspiration. Dig through the recycling bin and raid the cupboards to see what you can use to create your own family portrait!

Imagine a Place

By Sarah L. Thomson

Illustrated by Rob Gonsalves

Most enjoyed by readers of all ages

This book is hard to describe and yet it has incredible appeal for anyone looking for something thought provoking. 'Imagine a Place' invites readers to imagine places they have been or someday might be. It asks us to let our imaginations soar, from the night sky to the ocean to mountain tops. To help us, illustrator Rob Gonsalves has created illustrations that meld two images into one. Take a look at the cover image above. Your eye sees houses that appear to be floating in boats, a seemingly ridiculous idea. But as your eye follows the houses to the lower right corner, you discover they are anchored to the ground, surrounded by wooden fences, the same wooden fences that become the boats the houses float in. The image gives us the idea that our thoughts and dreams can soar while the accompanying text asks us to image our ships full of what we know but pointed to a horizon of promise.

You'll find more fantastic images like this one inside the pages of 'Imagine a Place'. It's the type of book you can come back to over and over, seeing or imagining something new each time.

Picturing America Artwork Received!

It felt like Christmas today here in the library. Back in May, we were awarded a Picturing America grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association. I've been anxiously awaiting it's arrival and today was the day!

Included in the set of 40 images are paintings, sculpture, architecture and decorative art that span several centuries of American history. You can make out a few of images in the picture above, but to get a better look, check out the Picturing America website. The collection, heavily laminated so it will last for years, will be used in our classrooms and in the library to expand our knowledge of art and to supplement our study of American history.

Many of the pictures included in the collection will be displayed throughout the halls of Zion this year. Take the time to stop and enjoy them. You may find that your child learned something about that picture today!

Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Trucks and Trains

By Ed Emberley

Great for all ages

Looking for something to do next week during TV Turn-Off week? Grab some paper, a pencil or two and your favorite markers. Then pick up this book and start drawing! Ed Emberley is well known for creating books that show us how to draw. Here, he focuses on how to draw trucks and trains of all sorts. The amazing thing about any of Ed's books, and we have two of them in the library, is that after following his directions for a few drawings, you begin to be able to draw things pretty well on your own. It may be that your eye gets trained to see things differently; what once was something that looked too hard to draw now becomes easier because we see it as shapes and angles and lines. Or perhaps Ed's easy-to-follow directions give us more confidence to tackle other pictures on our own. Whatever the reason, 'Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Trucks and Trains' is great for the motor vehicle lover in your household.