Book Store Review: Bay Books, San Diego

Hello from California! I'm in the middle of a 9 day vacation, the first half of which I spent in San Diego. While there I ventured into Bay Books, on Coronado Island's lovely Orange Street. About half a block away from the famous Hotel del Coronado, this small dark bookshop specializes in military history, foreign language books, and, of course, Children's books.  It is a cool and quiet respite from the heat and the (yes, beautiful) bright sun.

It's Children's section took over the back wall--with several short tables for kids to sit at and read. They had a whole wall dedicated to new picture books: hardcover new releases on top, paperback older releases on bottom. And they had many titles I had not yet seen (which I will have to review when October begins and I start doing new releases again). These included:

+ A Giraffe Goes to Paris by Mary Tavener Holmes and John Harris
+ Mr. Elephanter by Lark Pien
+ Beaver is Lost by Elisha Cooper (but they didn't have Farm, sadly.)
+ Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown.
+ Lulu and the Brontosaurus, by Judith Viorst and illustrated brilliantly by Lane Smith

And speaking of Lane Smith: I finally purchased It's A Book from Bay Books in Coronado. And I am very glad.

P.S. Coronado Island is where L. Frank Baum wrote the Wizard of Oz series--he spent every winter on the island.

Boys and Reading

Uri Schulevitz: good for boy's imagination!

I want to direct your attention to a great article by Thomas Spence, of Spence Publishing, in Dallas, in this morning's Wall Street Journal, about the problem of getting boys to read:

According to a recent report from the Center on Education Policy, for example, substantially more boys than girls score below the proficiency level on the annual National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test. This disparity goes back to 1992, and in some states the percentage of boys proficient in reading is now more than ten points below that of girls. The male-female reading gap is found in every socio-economic and ethnic category, including the children of white, college-educated parents.

The good news is that influential people have noticed this problem. The bad news is that many of them have perfectly awful ideas for solving it.

Everyone agrees that if boys don't read well, it's because they don't read enough. But why don't they read? A considerable number of teachers and librarians believe that boys are simply bored by the "stuffy" literature they encounter in school. According to a revealing Associated Press story in July these experts insist that we must "meet them where they are"—that is, pander to boys' untutored tastes.

For elementary- and middle-school boys, that means "books that exploit [their] love of bodily functions and gross-out humor." AP reported that one school librarian treats her pupils to "grossology" parties. "Just get 'em reading," she counsels cheerily. "Worry about what they're reading later."

Ooooh, boy, this prescription really gets my goat. (And his too. Read his professional and personal take--he has 6 boys!--here.)  He points to video games as a real culprit--boys are much more easily absorbed in something like a video game or computer game than girls are. 

There is also an essential problem with the way we address boys reading.  The money quote from Spence's article, to my mind, is "People who think that a book—even R.L. Stine's grossest masterpiece—can compete with the powerful stimulation of an electronic screen are kidding themselves."  Gross out humor and badly written gory obsessed books like Goosebumps are no competition because they are so empty.  Video games may be the junk food of the imagination, but Goosebumps will starve the poor child.

I'm going to have to address this at length on a less busy morning, especially focusing on chapter books, but I wanted to bring it up with you, especially since several of you have boys (or several boys!).  In the meantime, here are some of my favorite books for boys (though, of course, not exclusively so):

+ Saint George and the Dragon, by Margaret Hodges and Trina Schart Hyman (review)

+ The "Little Tim" Books, by Edward Ardizzone (review)

+ The Book of Dragons, by Edith Nesbit (review)

+ James Thurber's The Wonderful O and The 13 Clocks (review: O, I still need to write my 13 Clocks review!)

+ Rascal by Sterling North

+ Let's Do Nothing by Tony Fucile (review)

+ ANYTHING by Uri Shulevitz, shown above (review)

What are your favorites?  What were your (or your brother's) favorites when you were a kid?  How do you get your boys to read?

Music Week: Good Advice by Allan Sherman

We basically grew up on Allan Sherman. Of course, I didn't understand half the puns, but just like Looney Tunes, I learned so much about comedy from these songs (and, frankly, about music). Since Allan Sherman often used popular tunes (tunes that I loved in their originals--Frank Sinatra hits, etc.) I thought it was just funny to hear different words and puns.

He is best known for Camp Granada--but that is hardly his funniest song. This isn't his best either, but it was one of our favorites as kids. We knew enough about the things he talks about (Columbus, the Model T, the wheel) that we laughed and laughed (almost as loud as Dad did).

Music Week: Sweet Violets and other Doris Day hits

Doris Day, as far as kids music is concerned, is for the sentimental "Que Sera Sera", which she sang in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. But here are two songs I like much better!






UDATE: Oooops. The "Sweet Violets" is actually sung by Dinah Shore, not Doris Day. Reader Mike wrote to inform me of the mistake (thanks! Golly, they sound alike!). PLUS, he recommended the following Doris Day songs to add to our collection:

A GUY IS A GUY
A PURPLE COW
DAFFA DOWN DILLY
I SAID MY PAJAMAS

Music Week: Go Waggaloo

I would just like to say that the word "waggaloo" is perhaps the best nonsense word ever. This song was written by Arlo Guthrie, and is sung here by his granddaughters and great-granddaughters. And it is so fun. It's part of Sarah Lee Guthrie's excellent Go Waggaloo album (or MP3 if you prefer).

Music Week: Slumber My Darling

This week is going to be insane, so I decided I'd do something I've been planning on for quite a while: highlight my favorite songs for children. Today's is really the loveliest of lullabies, written by Stephen Foster (who is the best American songwriter, ever). Performed by Allison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma, this lovely recording of "Slumber My Darling" can be found on their album Appalachian Journey. (This album also has the only James Taylor song I can stand: his version of "Hard Times" also by Stephen Foster.)



Slumber, my darling, thy mother is near,
Guarding thy dreams from all terror and fear,
Sunlight has pass'd and the twilight has gone,
Slumber, my darling, the night's coming on.
Sweet visions attend thy sleep,
Fondest, dearest to me,
While others their revels keep,
I will watch over thee.

Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest,
The wandering dews by the flow'rs are caressed,
Slumber, my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm,
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm.

Slumber, my darling, till morn's blushing ray
Brings to the world the glad tidings of day;
Fill the dark void with thy dreamy delight--
Slumber, thy mother will guard thee tonight,
Thy pillow shall sacred be
From all outward alarms;
Thou, thou are the world to me
In thine innocent charms.

Slumber, my darling, the birds are at rest,
The wandering dews by the flow'rs are caressed,
Slumber, my darling, I'll wrap thee up warm,
And pray that the angels will shield thee from harm.

Some Books to Look Forward To

Zita the Spacegirl isn't the only book I am looking forward to being released in the next few months.  Here are a few more I can't wait to get my hands on.

+ 13 Words by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by the great Maria Kalman.  As with all Lemony Snicket books, there is little known about this book.  Little besides the 13 words: 1. Bird; 2. Despondent; 3. Cake; 4. Dog; 5. Busy; 6. Convertible; 7. Goat; 8. Hat; 9. Haberdashery; 10. Scarlet; 11. Baby; 12. Panache; 13. Mezzo-Soprano. I don't know that I've ever seen such an intriguing list of words!

+ Man Gave Names to All the Animals by Bob Dylan and Jim Arnosky (left). This is one of my favorite Dylan songs, and I really wonder why it hasn't been made into a picture book before (especially after the success of 2008's Forever Young--which, frankly, I thought was pretty lame).  Well, Jim Arnosky is the guy to do it--his animal world is lush and vibrant and so full of the life newly bestowed by our creator.  (This reminds me: I've never told you about Paul Simon's AWESOME illustrated version of the Simon&Garfunkel song At the Zoo. How can I have left you in the dark for so long?! I shall do this next week!)

+ Jules at 7imp alerted me to these two reprints: the hilarious, madcap The Day the Cow Sneezed by Jim Flora and A Long Piece of String by William Wondriska (hows that for an awesome name) (shown above).  I vaguely remember both these books from my childhood, and can't wait to revisit them.  Visit Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast for the full details (and lots more images!).

+ Last but certainly not least, I must remind you all that the third volume of Toon Tellegen's marvelous series of animal short stories, Far Away Across the Sea was released last week.  It's on its way to me now, and I promise a full report.  Goodness, how I love love love love love love love these books.

Also, if you all could weigh in for a moment: This site clearly gets most of its traffic during Christmastime, as people are looking for excellent presents.  Last year I did two weeks of Christmas posts starting the monday after Thanksgiving, and then I focused on the best of 2010.  I'm wondering how I should proceed this year, and would love your input. Which do you care more about or are more likely to be looking for as Christmas rolls around?  Should I start doing Christmas books earlier in the fall (before Thanksgiving)?  Let me know your thoughts, because, of course, this blog is for all of you!

How Rocket Learned to Read, by Tad Hills

Then together they began to read.

TITLE: How Rocket Learned to Read
AUTHOR + ILLUSTRATOR: Tad Hills
PUBLISHED BY: Schwartz & Wade, 2010
ISBN:  978-0375858994
PURCHASE: Amazon

I know it is a cop out to post a video instead of a review, but I don't think anything I could say would ever match the enthusiasm of these kids as they read this charming delightful book. I just got it by chance and immediately fell in love. Do check it out, especially if you have a kid who is reluctant to read, or is just starting to read.

...he sounded out words...

TON by Taro Miura

TITLE: Ton
AUTHOR + ILLUSTRATOR: Taro Miura
PUBLISHED BY: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 978-0811852463
PURCHASE: Amazon

Taro Miura is a well known Japanese illustrator, whose books have been published here in the US by the ever dependable wonderful Chronicle Books.  They aren't really basic concepts books.  Rather, Miura takes one concept (in this, the mathematical make-up of a ton) and expands it into full picture book length.

I gotta be honest with you--I don't find the math (which is alarmingly simple) very interesting.  But the illustrations are so wonderfully simple, and the subject (construction and shipping) so manly, that I just fell in love with the book anyway, and bought a copy for my favorite 3 year old boy.

(His other books look great, too, especially Tools and  Crazy Days.)