Kids Book Corner: The Importance of Summer Reading

BY JO PERRY

Studies show that children’s reading skills erode over the summer months and that the skill-deficit continues in following school year. Researchers report that this loss is especially severe for kids struggling with reading. In fact, by the time a struggling reader reaches middle school, summer reading losses can accumulate to a two-year lag in reading achievement. But the same research offers a remedy: Kids reading six to ten books during the summer will retain, even strengthen their reading skills.

The best way to get your kids to read is to connect reading with pleasure. Let kids read about subjects that interest them — sports, fashion, sci-fi, mystery, cooking, entertainment, animals­­–and make books a regular part of play, recreation time and your life as well.  Below you’ll find three classic titles and two new books to enjoy:

Willo Davis Roberts’s classic, The Absolutely True Story: How I Visited Yellowstone Park with the Terrible Rupes is funny and suspenseful. When Lewis and Allison are invited to accompany their neighbors, the Rupes, to Yellowstone, the Rupes’ indifferent parenting and the strange men following them make for a memorable trip. (Boys and girls 9-12.)

Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer Sixteen year old Jenna Boller is good at selling shoes but doesn’t like herself very much: She’s too tall, too heavy and her hair is red. Everything changes when the irascible CEO of the shoe company hires her to drive her on a business trip. Touching, funny, and wonderful for girls 12 and up.

Orangutans Are Ticklish by Steve Grubman and Hugo and the really, really, really long string by Bob Boyle are new books that should delight kids 3 to 7 years.  Animal photographer Grubman presents incredible photos with fun animal facts and accounts of what it was like for him to photograph each animal. Hugo tells the story of a mysterious red string that leads across a river, underground, through town and to a wonderful surprise.

The Legend of Spud Murphy by Eoin Coffer. When Marty and Will must spend their summer days in the library where the dreaded librarian Spud Murphy rules, things are very funny — and full of surprises. (Boys 8 and up.)

Happy Reading!

Jo Perry has a Ph.D. in English, taught literature and writing, and worked as a college administrator and as a television writer and producer. She is a reviewer for BookBrowse.com and is an ongoing contributor to kidsLA Magazine for which she writes about the city, children’s books, and conducts interviews. For two years she wrote the Kids’ Book Club column for the L.A. Times’ Kids’ Reading Room page.

Kids Book Corner: Books that Welcome Summer

BY JO PERRY

These books will inspire outdoor adventures and projects that kids can share with the special grown-ups in their lives––Dad, Mom, a grandparent or a special grown-up friend:

If camping isn’t your thing, don’t worry: You needn’t leave home to enjoy Cooking in a Can: More Campfire Recipes for Kids by Katherine L. White.  Just throw some sleeping bags and a tent in the back yard and get cracking. This cheerful and exuberant guide to outdoor cuisine covers everything from fire safety and campfire lighting to cooking in cans, paper bags, in leaves, on rocks, in pits, on spits, in solar ovens and of course, on campfires. What’s best is that White explains everything: how to build a solar oven, a tin can grill and other outdoor cooking methods, and describes how each one works.

Treehouses and Other Cool Stuff: 50 Projects You Can Build by David & Jeanie Stiles is more ambitious than campfire cooking, but also promises more long-term fun. The authors explain how to build projects that kids will love, among them an A-frame tree house, a Tarzan swing, a lemonade stand, an exploding cannon, a downhill racer, a playhouse bed, a secret lock box, a tree fort, a bird house and a treasure chest. What’s best is that all projects are designed for adults and kids to build together, some in only one afternoon, and some using everyday materials.

A Child’s Garden: 60 Ideas to Make Any Garden Come Alive for Children by Molly Dannenmaier is a perennial favorite of mine. You and your children will enjoy looking through it and finding ideas to make your own back yard a joyful, messy and surprising place this summer. Dannenmaier explains what kids love––water, bugs, secret places, dirt, sand, and opportunities for climbing, pretending, and growing things––then offers wonderful ideas for ponds, paths, mazes, peepholes, magic gates, kid-sized furniture, swings, play areas and enchanting spaces for growing vegetables and flowers––even in small spaces.

Once your family is back indoors, even your three year old will love creating a delicious three or four-course meal for Dad or a special friend with Annabel Karmel’s Mom and Me Cook Book as the perfect guide. It’s all about having fun and creating delicious, simple and beautiful food. Clear, cheerful photos explain each recipe’s ingredients, and demonstrate what to do—so kids who can’t read aren’t at a disadvantage. Karmel’s recipes include scrambled eggs, crepes, pizza dough, pasta, potato mice, sweet-and-sour chicken, “Avocado frog dip” and “Fishy fruit dip,” cupcakes, cookies, smoothies, frozen pops and sundaes––everything you’ll need to cook up a feast.

P.S. Don’t forget to tuck some books into the tree house, the sleeping bag, or in a corner of the garden: Kids who read during the summer not only maintain reading skills, but often strengthen them. Make sure your kids read for fun—joke books, books about sports, fashion, cooking, vampires –– whatever truly interests them.

Jo Perry has a Ph.D. in English, taught literature and writing, and worked as a college administrator and as a television writer and producer. She is a reviewer for BookBrowse.com and is an ongoing contributor to kidsLA Magazine for which she writes about the city, children’s books, and conducts interviews. For two years she wrote the Kids’ Book Club column for the L.A. Times’ Kids’ Reading Room page.

Kids’ Book Corner: Be Kind to Animals Week

BY JO PERRY

May 2-10 is Be Kind to Animals Week, a time to appreciate the animals that enrich our lives and an opportunity to renew our commitment to animals in need.

Two new picture books present endearing animal characters and celebrate their collaboration with human friends: Pantaloon by Kathryn Jackson, deliciously re-illustrated by Steven Salerno, is the classic Golden Book story of a bicycle-riding standard poodle hooked on pastries who longs to work in the local bake shop.

Erroll by Hannah Shaw tells the story of a boy who discovers a talking squirrel in a package of nuts. Nutty and wonderful illustrations enhance the simple story of camaraderie and adventure.

The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John tells the story of a lonely girl and a rare white giraffe that becomes her friend. On the night before her eleventh birthday, a fire takes the lives of Martine’s parents and destroys her home. More shocks come when Martine learns that she must leave England and live on a South African game reserve with a grandmother she’s never met. The Sawubona reserve is home to wild and rescued ostriches, wildebeest, kudus, leopards, warthogs, baboons and waterbucks.

By day elephants and zebras graze beneath Martine’s bedroom window; at night she hears lions’ roars. But Martine’s remote grandmother tries to keep her away from the animals, and the caretaker insists that rumors she’s heard about a rare white giraffe are only stories. Then one gusty night the white giraffe appears outside Marine’s window and she braves the storm to join the solitary creature. The two enjoy a secret and joyous friendship until Martine makes a careless mistake and the giraffe disappears.

Be Kind to Animals:

The Humane Society (HumaneSociety.org) offers two contests for animal-loving kids — a Kindest Kid and A Lemonade for Shelter Aid Contest. The organization suggests six ways to be kind to animals this week and throughout the year:

Adopt a pet from a shelter or breed-specific rescue — you could save a life, in addition to finding a loving companion!

Report animal abuse — doing the right thing could mean stopping someone who abuses not only pets, but also people.

Spay or neuter your pets — in a world where millions of pets are euthanized due to overpopulation, it’s critical to do your part.

Live humanely with wildlife — it’s important to peacefully coexist with deer, bats, skunks, squirrels, raccoons and all living creatures.

Get active in local animal welfare policies and legislation — sign up to receive action alerts about issues affecting animals.

Teach humane values to kids — If you’re an educator at a school, shelter or library, download our Be Kind to Animals Week activities for students K-12.

Jo Perry has a Ph.D. in English, taught literature and writing, and worked as a college administrator and as a television writer and producer. She is a reviewer for BookBrowse.com and is an ongoing contributor to kidsLA Magazine for which she writes about the city, children’s books, and conducts interviews. For two years she wrote the Kids’ Book Club column for the L.A. Times’ Kids’ Reading Room page.

Kids’ Book Corner: Earth Day Books

BY JO PERRY

Celebrate spring and Earth Day with three interesting new books:

The Falling Raindrop by Neil Johnson & Joel Chin tells the story of the water cycle through the journey of a single drop as it emerges from the turbulence of a storm cloud and descends to earth. The brave little blue water drop is sure to be a hit with kids afraid of thunder, or timid about change.

We Planted a Tree by Diane Mudrow, illustrated by Bob Staake. New Yorker fans will recognize the work of illustrator Bob Staake in this story of two trees—one planted by a family in Brooklyn, the other by a family in Africa. What I like best about this colorful book is the way the trees affect their worlds—bringing shade, food and life to those who planted them. I think the simplest of Staake’s illustrations are more successful than those with dizzying perspectives, but the joyful colors work every time and the complex images reward close inspection.

S is for Save the Planet: A How-to-Be Green Alphabet by Brad Herzog, illustrated by Linda Holt Ayriss. Beautifully illustrated, this alphabet has earth-friendly information delivered in poetry, with sidebars containing more complex information appropriate to older readers or adults. Covering recycling, litter, conservation, global warming and other topics—the book is upbeat and fun to read. I especially like Ayriss’s detailed illustrations of diverse children and families.

Jo Perry has a Ph.D. in English, taught literature and writing, and worked as a college administrator and as a television writer and producer. She is a reviewer for BookBrowse.com and is an ongoing contributor to kidsLA Magazine for which she writes about the city, children’s books, and conducts interviews. For two years she wrote the Kids’ Book Club column for the L.A. Times’ Kids’ Reading Room page.

Kids’ Book Corner: Two Trashy Books and Two for St. Pat’s

BY JO PERRY
Many kids love the garbage truck. Mine used to stand outside and wait on the curb for it on trash day. If yours are fans of refuse and the trash collector’s modus operandi, then these two inventive titles are sure to please:

Jonah Winter collaborated with Red Nose Studio to produce the visually-wonderful Here Comes The Garbage Barge!, a retelling (with liberties) of the infamous and true story of the Mobro 4000, a garbage barge that departed in 1987 trash-choked Islip, Long Island, with a haul of almost 3200 tons of trash and, it turned out, nowhere to dump it.

We follow the barge and its tugboat on its over 6000 mile trip from North Carolina to New Orleans, to Mexico, Belize, Texas, Florida and finally to Brooklyn. The 3-D illustrations built from found objects, wire, wood and fabric complement the story. And inside the dust jacket, kids can see how the illustrations were assembled. (4-8 years but artistic, older readers will find the illustrations fascinating.)

Aidan Potts’ witty and percussive Smash! Smash! Truck! begins with trash day from the point of view of some items in the recycling bin, then travels from the bang and clatter of cans and bottles to the loudest bang of all–the Big Bang–to show kids that the universe and our earth recycles itself. It’s a wild, very noisy ride. (5-8 years)

Kids with an Irish heritage, St. Patrick’s Day fans, or followers of the Magic Tree House series will welcome Mary Pope Osborne’s Leprechaun in Late Winter and its nonfiction companion, Leprechauns and Irish Folklore. Set in 1900’s Ireland, Jack and Annie meet and enjoy an life-changing magical adventure with a girl who later grows up to become folklorist Lady Gregory, known for her association with Yeats and the Irish Literary Revival.

The nonfiction companion has many illustrations and covers leprechauns, Irish folklore, fairies, fairy places, and leprechaun gold–all great fun. (7-12 years)

Jo Perry has a Ph.D. in English, taught literature and writing, and worked as a college administrator and as a television writer and producer. She is a reviewer for BookBrowse.com and is an ongoing contributor to kidsLA Magazine for which she writes about the city, children’s books, and conducts interviews. For two years she wrote the Kids’ Book Club column for the L.A. Times’ Kids’ Reading Room page.

Kids’ Book Corner: Celebrating love and animals

BY JO PERRY

Think back to your first love and most likely you’ll remember the profound and generous affection you felt for an animal or a pet, and the love that animal returned to you.  My Valentine’s Day-themed picks, two classics and one new, celebrate this love:

Our Farm by The Animals of Farm Sanctuary, poems by Maya Gottfried, paintings by Robert Rahway Zakanitch is a cheery and loving celebration of the inhabitants of The Farm Sanctuary farms in Orland, California and Watkins Glen, New York, both shelters for neglected and abused farm animals.

Poet Maya Gottfried volunteered at the New York farm and got to know the subjects who speak to the reader in poems illustrated with brilliant watercolors. Children will adore Ramsey the sheep, goat Clarabell, Gabriella the chicken, and the haiku written by rabbits Cece and Barnaby.

The Goat Lady by Jane Bregoli tells the true story of French Canadian Noelie Houle, an elderly Dartmouth, Massachusetts neighbor of the book’s author and illustrator, Jane Bregoli. Houle’s rundown property is full goats, geese and chickens that fascinate Bregoli’s children. Bregoli’s children finally meet Houle, who introduces them to her “kids,” Darcey, Dottie, Elaine, June and Vincent, and teaches them how to feed, care for and milk them.

Houle explains how raising goats and drinking their milk helped her overcome an illness, and explains that she shares her goats with needy people in other countries through the Heifer Project. But neighbors think Houle’s ramshackle property and her animals are a public nuisance.  Bregoli paints a series of portraits of Houle that reveal to her community what a treasure Houle and her kids really are. The paintings in the book are the paintings from Bregoli’s show.

Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant collects a dozen short stories about the human-animal connection.  Kids 10 and up (up means adults) will long remember these deep, powerful and elegant stories about animals –a wild boar, a dog, a goldfish named Joshua, a hermit crab, among them—and their indelible effect on the people who know them.

Jo Perry has a Ph.D. in English, taught literature and writing, and worked as a college administrator and as a television writer and producer. She is a reviewer for BookBrowse.com and is an ongoing contributor to kidsLA Magazine for which she writes about the city, children’s books, and conducts interviews. For two years she wrote the Kids’ Book Club column for the L.A. Times’ Kids’ Reading Room page.