Marmalade Magic

Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam by Juliette MacIver, illustrated by Sarah Davis

When Marmaduke Duck makes some marmalade, he is soon surrounded by an eager assortment of animals, all desperate for a taste of the sweet treat. Finally the llama arrives on the scene, gobbling up the whole lot, and leaving Farmer Palmer to save the day by inviting everyone to a feast.

Despite the slight story, the outstanding rhythm combined with compelling internal rhyming structure, interesting and entertaining vocabulary and strong repetition, make this a 'read again' choice for children from 3+. Although the very intensity of the rhyming can turn it into a bit of a tongue-twisting challenge for the unprepared reader.  You'll be more confident with the second or third repetition.

Then down came a llama to view the panorama.
And following the llama came a farmer in pyjamas
shouting "What's this game?"
You'll all alarm my llama, cried llama farmer Palmer.
The llama sure was calmer though, before the farmer came.

An outstanding example of the 'three Rs' in children's stories: rhyme, rhythm and repetition.
The bounding rhythm carries you through this story at breathtaking speed; the clever rhymes encourage children to begin to play with words, and the repetition encourages participation in the story.

Sarah Davis' illustrations are stunning, with bright bold colours and the expressive faces on the animals help tell the story.  I have absolutely fallen for the llama who "went WHAM! in the jam, and ate the whole lot"
The large bright coloured illustrations, make this clearly visible to the back row of the story-time group (though spotting the gnat can be a challenge!); while also offering extra detail to reward closer inspection.

This has been an outstanding read-aloud success to large groups (15 or so kids), as well as being one of Mitchell's all-time favourites.  While the story appeals to children from 3+ - who will happily join in the chant of "Marmaduke Duck eating marmalade jam!"; older children will really enjoy the clever word play: "quick, slick, lick of the jam in the pot"; and sophisticated readers will enjoy the homonyms (words spelled differently but which sound the same: llama, pyjamas, calmer).
It's definitely more suited to confident readers - and not recommended for those who find English challenging.

Shortlisted for the New Zealand Post Children's Book Picture Book Awards, for 2011 (and my personal pick for best in show).

An absolutely stunning book by a novice author. Here's hoping that we see many more.

The Sky is Falling

Chicken Little by Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley

A stunning re-telling of the classic Chicken Little story, using delightful language and imagery. 

Chicken Little was not the brightest chicken in the coop. He was very excitable and prone to foolishness.

The straightforward story is very appealing to kids, with the various birds joining Chicken Little in running away, until they all meet up with Foxy Loxy, who has a different end in mind for the silly birds. 

The sly editorial comments encourage the children to feel superior to the birds - they can see what's coming, even if the birds can't

"Oh My," said Henny Penny 
and being witless herself, 
joined in without any further questions. 
And off they ran.
Still no plan.

My only criticism (and it's not been one raised by the kids), is that there is no explanation of how the birds escape from Foxy Loxy. Is it an accident? Do all the feathers make him sneeze?  

The delightful (and silly) exclamations "Bonk, Eep, Ack," as the growing band, hidden under the umbrella, run into one character after another, appeal enormously to children, and encourage them to join in gleefully on subsequent readings.

But it's the gorgeous saturated colour of the cut-paper collage illustrations that are the real selling point of this story. The vibrant and exciting characters with their mad ringed-eyes, fit right into the pre-school art environment.  Full double page spreads, with close ups of the birds, put the story right in the laps of the back row kids. 

A real winner as a read aloud to big groups of kids. I've had 25 children from 2-5 riveted by the story, and it's a favourite read-again at our house. The big bold print, and short lines, make it an easy read-aloud for less confident adults, despite the occasional unusual word (excitable, scrambled noggin, momentarily, frantic)

I can also see it working well as a puppet show and/or a magnetic board story.

One of these things is not like the others...

Blue hat, green hat by Sandra Boynton

I do like Sandra Boynton's board books. They manage to introduce simple concepts (colour and clothing in this one), while also engaging in some deeper learning (pattern recognition, and socialization, this time). All this, and humour pitched at just the right level for toddlers.

Watch the elephant, moose and bear each put on a piece of clothing in a different colour. All is well until the silly turkey puts the clothing on the wrong part of his body - Oops!

Yellow pants,
Red pants,
Green pants,
Oops.

Toddlers love to show off their mastery of words (colours and clothes); and growing sense of the 'right' way to do things - pants don't go on your head, you don't go into the swimming pool with all your clothes on. There will be lots of giggles as they recognize the 'oops' moments! The underlying message, that it's OK to laugh at mistakes rather than getting upset by them, is another good reason to choose this book.

It's great to read the words provided for the first couple of times, to get the sense of the story through to the kids; then switch to questions and let them tell you the story.

This is one of those stories where the pictures are much more important than the text. In fact, I've seen kids pick this up and 'get' the humour of the illustrations without an adult there to read to them.

Heavily outlined illustrations, with strong primary colours for the clothes, let the characters stand out clearly on the white pages.

Because of the small board format, this really only works for groups of up to six children. And is best suited for the 1-3 age range - though older children may still enjoy the humour of the out-of-step turkey.

Like most of Sandra Boynton's books, this one has been around for a long time - originally published 1984 - must be good to have lasted all this time.