Kids Books

A big brace of sprightly verse about cities and the kids who live in them.  Prize-winning Canadian children’s book artist Philippe Béha supplies a flamboyant color illustration for every poem.

A new reprint of a fantasy first published in 1983, full of laughs and high suspense. When twins Tim and Verity set out to rescue their missing grandparents, their adventures take them to another world, where they must combat sinister Raoul Owlstone and his army of stone owls. Luckily, they have friends: Lew Ladybug, a tiny detective, powerful Fardels Bear, and prophetic Shelley Snail. Under option to be a movie. Some libraries report a run on this title when kids ask for more books like Harry Potter!

Nobody wrote better poems of Vermont life than the late James Hayford, beloved in his home state and too little known elsewhere. “Distilled genius,” says J. Patrick Lewis. This book collects the ones we think children will go for, arranged by the four seasons: about such things as nighttime milking, swims in a secret pond, the bliss of putting on snow-soaked socks warmed on a radiator. Michael McCurdy, widely acclaimed for his wood engravings and scratchboard work, supplies 27 black-and-white illustrations of starkly detailed beauty. Photograph of Hayford, biographical sketch, and introduction by the Kennedys.

Elefantina aspires to be a figure skater, but there’s no ice in the jungle where she lives. The tale of how this persistent girl elephant overcomes hardship, bests a jealous rival, and ends up doing a triple salchow in the worldwide Elympics is all told in infectuous verse. (This is a sister picture-book to the earlier Elympics, but it’s able to stand on its own.)

Competing in an elephant version of the Olympic games, Tristram, Trixie, Big Elmo, and other pachyderms try their skill at bobsledding, high diving, and other sports — with various degrees of success.

An other-worldly fantasy with laughs and high suspense. When giant killer bees invade the Land of the Moonflower and kidnap their half-brother, twins Tim and Verity set out on a chain of adventures that take them to a sinister school and surprising April Fool Isle. Backing them up are Lewis O. Ladybug, tiny detective, Fardels Bear, and a Shelley Snail, a pocket-sized prophet. This book carries on characters from Kennedy’s earlier fantasy, The Owlstone Crown, but the story is self-contained. Some libraries report a run on this title when kids ask for more books like Harry Potter!

While collecting poems for other anthologies, Dorothy noticed that whenever a poet writes about the wind the result is usually excellent. This anthology, a labor of love, gathers poems by A. A. Milne, Aileen Fisher, Russell Hoban, Karla Kuskin, Myra Cohn Livingston, Eve Merriam, Robert Louis Stevenson, and others. Sasha Meret’s energetic drawings bind the book together in a continuous whirl.

An update of a much-honored book first published in 1982 and continuously in print ever since. It’s written for kids to read for themselves, introducing them in friendly fashion to the elements of poetry and different kinds of poems (limericks, parodies, graphic poems, found poems, haiku, and songs). Illustrated with 179 short and engaging poems, both funny and serious. “If any book can win young readers to poetry, this one can.” – School Library Journal.

Poems to read aloud to small fry, sorted into categories such as Families, Just for Fun, Birds Bugs & Beasts, Rhymes & Songs, Magic & Wonder. Most of the favorite children’s poets are represented, and some poets you might not expect (e.g., Wallace Stevens). Copiously illustrated with beautifully old-fashioned-looking watercolors. An ALA Notable Book, a New York Times Best Children’s Book of the Year. “A perfect follow-up to Mother Goose.” – Booklist.

Dorothy M. Kennedy, editor:

I Thought I’d Take My Rat to School: Poems from September to June, illustrated by Abby Carter (Little, Brown, 1983). Poems about school, from a child’s point of view. $16.95.

By X. J. Kennedy:

Ghastlies, Goops and Pincushions, illustrated by Ron Barrett (McElderry Books, 1989). Screwball nonsense verse. $12.95.

The Beasts of Bethlehem, with full color drawings by Michael McCurdy (McElderry Books, 1992). Poems about the Nativity, after the legend that on Christmas Eve the animals can speak. $12.95

Uncle Switch: Loony Limericks, with full color illustrations by John O’Brien. All about a man who does everything backwards. $9.95

A few copies of other out-of-print children’s books linger on at Amazon.com and other booksellers’ sites. At this writing, Amazon.com has Uncle Switch for as little as $3.58, and Brats (used) for $2.50.