Review of Phoebe and Chub by Matthew Henry Hall and Illustrated by Sheila Aldridge

After we brought this home from the library, my son wanted to take it in the car to look at on the way to school. He's nearly three - so he wasn't reading the words, he was just looking at the pictures. He was captivated, so I assumed the pictures must be expressive.

Then we read the book. The pictures are expressive, but the themes (indicated as "rules" and numbered 1-3) add a level of sophistication the illustrations alone can't convey.

The story is about a tree frog (Phoebe) and a fish (Chub) who live at the bottom of a canyon. They make lots of friends, who are then able to help Chub give Phoebe a special birthday wish - the chance to fly.

There are several qualities about the illustrations that I particularly like. The first is that each drawing is packed with little details for the child invested in searching them out. A parent could easily prompt, "Where is the catepillar? Where is the ladybug? Where is the snake?" and keep a child closely looking at the pictures. Another thing, mentioned before, is that the animals have very expressive faces - Phoebe looks happy or relaxed or surprised. Other animals wave, or listen, or dance. There's a lot in the expressions to engage a child as well. In Dr. Michelle Borba's book about "Building Moral Intelligence" she encourages parents to develop their child's ability to read emotional states from outward expressions by analyzing faces and body language. She says that if children don't build a vocabulary for describing a range of emotional states (in part by recognizing them in others) they have a harder time labeling and defining their own range of emotions.

Sheila Aldridge uses two tools in this book that I've noticed elsewhere and really like as part of a book's illustrations. One is orienting one two-page spread differently from all the others. In this case, she switches from the usual horizontal approach of using two pages side by side to having them create a tall, vertical illustration (to show how deep the canyon is and to contrast the bottom where Phoebe lives with the rim where her friend the California condor lives). The other thing - which perhaps was the decision of an editor or designer - is one two-page spread with no text. I love the effect this creates. With nothing to read, my son and I instead discuss the picture. We've spent more time talking about this picture than any other in the book, and in this case it represents the climax of the story. I love the idea that the climax is better represented by the picture alone than could be done with picture and word together.

The last page includes "A note from the author" about the endangered status of a number of the animals represented. I feel like this is a bit too much for my son. I'm not ready for him to worry about the safety of animals - but for older kids, especially those studying the environment or ecology in school, this might be a nice layer to the story.

Review of When It Starts to Snow by Phillis Gershator Illustrated by Martin Matje

I bought this book in an airport bookstore as my 20-month-old and I were about to board a cross-country flight. He was, at that point, still a lap child and I remember reading this book to him at least 10 times before the plane had even left the ground. I had recently accepted a job that would move our family from snowy Boston to sunny Arizona, and was already feeling nostalgic about the snow storms we would miss.

This book is the most beautiful combination of poetic verse and subtle teaching, all seen through the frame of a little boy who can't wait to enjoy the pleasure of the snowy world outside. The format of the book takes us through a range of animals and their reaction to the coming snow - geese fly south, fish swim deep, horses await the farmer with feed.

Matje's illustrations are absolutely charming. Each animal appears in its habitat, and animals that share the same environment (beaver and fish, pig and horse) are on opposite pages. My favorite visual tool in this book is the choice to have one page that is just an illustration - no words - and a very spare and simple illustration at that. In the text it falls just before the cadence of the repetitive verse changes rhythm, and it causes a meditative pause. The no-text page is mostly taken up with a wide expanse of snow, although it also includes the little boy peeking out from behind a tree, and for those who look closely, subtle footprints pressed into the white snow.

Another clever aspect of the illustrations is that on some pages we only see part of an animal, with the rest of the animal revealed only on the book's cover illustration. In fact, sometimes when the main character is seen, it is only his red hat that appears in the picture. I also like the way that, in places, the animal sounds are not in the same font as the rest of the text, but are drawn much larger to become a part of the page's overall graphic design. It means that my son can point out those words - the "Honk, honk, honk" of the geese or the "Oink, oink, oink" of the pig because of the way they stand out.

I mentioned that this book is educational - it actually works in scientific information about how animals adapt or hibernate in winter and what kinds of homes and dens they live in. But it's never heavy handed, which is a lovely way to learn.

Even after reading it dozens of times, many of them that first day on the plane, I still love this book, its calming text, and soothing illustrations. And because of its repetition, my son happily chimes in, especially at the end when the little boy cheers for snow - "Hip, hip, hooray!"