Americana – Shannon Ozirny

Gee-Haw Whimmy-Diddles and Other Non-Fiction Casualties O’ the Day

It’s not every day that a King’s bones are dug up. So let’s celebrate with some bones we dug out of our non-fiction collection today!

Preface: I’ve been in my department head position for almost a year and a half. I made a conscious effort not to kick off any big weeding projects until I had been on the job for a full year so I could get a good sense of our patrons and what the community was digging. Now that I have a sense of things, we’re off to the races! While my colleagues do a brilliant job of all the nitty-gritty work, I take a quick pass through everything before it goes out the door. I present to you the top casualties of the day.

The Days When Animals Talked — Something about this super-jacked half rabbit/half man makes me cock my head in confusion. Same with the wolf/human and his spectacles.

Padre Porko — Perhaps an ancestor of James Marshall’s Portly McSwine?

Sasquatch! — Copyright 1973!!! Note the author: I guess this is what Mr Green was up to pre-Looking For Alaska. This is essentially a compendium of Canadian Sasquatch sitings. I’ll be taking this treatise next time I head into the deep bush, for sure.

And, finally, the book that gave this post its name:

Gee-Haw! — This little gem hasn’t circulated in 15 years. WHY THE HECK NOT!?

I am in love with this book. My favorite excerpt:

Don’t hook this book

My young whippernap,

For nickels and dimes

It cost-ed my pap.

Don’t know if that qualifies as a whimmy-diddle or not.

I think it’s also worth noting that the author, a Mr. James Still, has a bio in the back of the book that says “Critics have hailed his verse and fiction for its beauty, humor, and integrity.”

And keeping with our old bones theme, I give you my favorite Grade 7 slow dance jam.

The Biebs and Ivan Connection: My (Serious) 2013 Newbery Insight

For the sake of clarity: this post is about making the connection between two very talented people from different spheres (Katherine Applegate and Justin Bieber) and how social media has contributed to the buzz about those talents. It is not a post about calling into question these people’s talents (even if Justin Bieber isn’t your cup of tea, he writes songs, plays several instruments and is a pretty dang good singer while bouncing around on stage).

I do not think Katherine Applegate won a Newbery because of Twitter. I think she won one because she is extremely, undeniably talented. Same thing with Bieber: I don’t think he wins awards because of Twitter. I think he wins them because he is also talented.

While anyone can, of course, disagree with my opinions on what constitutes talent, I want to make it clear that this post is about observing a tremendously positive, exciting change in the way readers are celebrating books for young people on social media. I think Twitter has changed the level of excitement about the Newbery in a very good way. I do not think Twitter had anything to do with the fact that a very deserving book – The One and Only Ivan – won the Newbery. No matter the state of technology when it was published, Ivan would have won. I really believe that. So…

Stay with me on this one.

So in November, Oprah interviewed Justin Bieber and commented that he is like no other celebrity in history because of social media. Essentially she says (and quite smartly, I think) that Biebs can’t really be considered on the same level as Elvis or The Beatles or even Michael Jackson because of the role that Twitter played in his rise to success.

Y’all, I think the same thing happened to The One and Only Ivan this year. It’s a Newbery game changer.

BieberIvanOhYeah — I don’t have Photoshop. Can you tell?

To my knowledge, this is the first time there has ever been a real concentrated rallying around a particular Newbery contender on Twitter. Sure, there have been predictions and fan favorites and things, but nothing like what Mr. Schu and Colby Sharp started; from Twitter chats to vlogging to hashtagging ’round the clock, I’d say there was a definite Ivan movement. In 2011, there certainly wasn’t a Moon Over Manifest movement as no one had read the dang thing. And while I remember tons of buzz around When You Reach Me for the 2010 prize, I don’t think there was the kind of mobilization that there was with Ivan. And in January 2009, only the really cool kids were on Twitter.

To further my point, has a Newbery award winner ever thought of a blogger(s) immediately after hearing the news of winning the award?

And has a Newbery award winner ever thanked a Twitter community or blogger(s) in their acceptance speech? Not that I know of, and I’ll betcha my little blue bowler hat that’s gonna happen come Chicago.

It’s the future, folks. Let’s celebrate with this song from The Jetsons movie that, when I was eight years old, considered THE MOST ROMANTIC THING OF ALL TIME.

A Better Reason to Mock Lauren Conrad

Yes! LC is back in the news! Ya heard she went all Edward Scissorhands on Snicket, yes?

Behold this awesome photo I threw together in library school using Microsoft Word, cut and paste and alotta heart (I don’t have Photoshop, obvs).

It’s not the kind of thing I should probably admit publicly, but I have seen every single episode of Laguna Beach, The Hills and The City. We all have our vices.

Okay, full disclosure: I also own a Lauren Conrad for Kohl’s white blazer. That I wore today (seriously). But it was a cute outfit! I’m going to go take a picture of it right now to prove it to you.

I have a deep and complex love/hate relationship with Lauren Conrad that is mostly hate. I used to tweet about it a lot way back in ’09. Even Heidi and Spencer were following me for awhile (if you don’t know who those people are, you are richer for it). I also wrote an unnecessarily long paper about Lauren Conrad and transmedia in library school. This involved having to read L.A. Candy. Thankfully only the first book of the trilogy was out at the time.

When I was researching the paper, I read a lot about Lauren’s views on writing. I got to thinking afterwards – who is the antithesis of Lauren Conrad when it comes to words of wisdom on writing for young people? The answer is Katherine Paterson. Duh. And this blog post was born.

The most annoying thing about Lauren Conrad is not the fact that she cut up perfectly good books. The most annoying thing about her is that she seems to take herself really seriously as a writer. She talks about her “process” and all this other nonsense when she is really a celebrity with a ghost writer. I think that, when you are a reality television start turned author, you either have to own up to the fact about that you have a ghostwriter and/or formally acknowledge them (a la Hilary Duff) or be so drunk and crazy all the time that you never talk about your own book seriously (a la Snookie)

So let’s make fun of Lauren for being a pretentious wannabe writer.

Then you can make fun of me for buying a Lauren Conrad blazer.

Then we will all get what we deserve.

Sad.

All this joyful crying at the Olympics got me thinking: why not take a tearful look back at the last seven months to see just how many books have made me cry? It’s only three so it won’t be too painful.

I should preface this by saying that I’m not a big crier while reading. So 2012 has been a particularly productive year thus far.

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler. Illustrations by Maira Kalman

Did this book make me cry out of sadness? No. Oh no. This book made me cry out of pure, unfiltered rage. Is there anyone I hate more in this world than Ed Slaterton? Probably not.

To counter the sadness and rage blackout, this Amazon interview with Handler and Kalman brings the LOLs. I love how awkward the whole thing is with the interviewer and am especially tickled by their description of the “working process” that starts around 5:10.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Who doesn’t cry reading this book? I mean, really. The interesting thing about TFIOS is that it has a major Charlotte’s Web effect on me. That means that I can be anywhere, doing anything, and reading the last line of the book will put tears in my eyes. I was trying to pester our Summer Reading Club assistant into reading TFIOS and actually got damp peepers in front of her when I flipped to the back page. And it convinced her to check out the book! Note to librarians: teary eyes sell books. And make you look like a crazypants.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd. Illustrations by Jim Kay.

Hoo boy, I have never, never cried so hard reading. I literally had to put down the book, take off my glasses and put my head in my hands and sob. That was followed by crying steadily for the last 40 pages. It is such an exquisite, articulate, seemingly effortless portrayal of loss and self-doubt and fear. Brilliant.

And you know, while we’re on this whole sad theme, let me also share the only book trailer to ever make me cry. This is the trailer for Pussycat, Pussycat, Where Have You Been? by Dan Bar-el with illustrations by Rae Maté.

WHAT IF THE CAT NEVER CAME BACK!?! Oh, it makes me so sad.

And just for good measure, the movie that has made me cry the most is a bit of a shocker so I’ll throw it in here too. It’s completely ridiculous, but I bawled through most of District 9. I was so, so, so concerned for that little alien baby! Thank goodness for the internet, because someone has made a bad quality clip montage of the alien baby with “Dust In the Wind” in the background! YES!

Every Day by David Levithan

You wanna know what makes a quality young adult romance? One that really sticks out from the pack and just kicks you right in the nuts of your heart?

INCONVENIENCE.

That’s right. There is no romance more exciting to read than one that centres around really inconvenient love. Figuring out how to love someone when you both have cancer? Inconvenient. Deciding whether or not you should return to consciousness post-auto accident for your boyfriend? Super inconvenient. Trying to love someone you thought was a girl but then turned out to be a boy? Definitely not on the list of the top ten most convenient things.

Of course, those three scenarios refer to some of my recent favorite lurve-themed YA books: John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars, Gayle Forman’s If I Stay and Brian Katcher’s Almost Perfect. They are brilliant in different ways (and of course deal with many other themes beyond love), but all feature characters who must really, seriously give ‘er to earn what their heart desires. I think this theme of inconvenient love is so powerful that it can even carry a the book in the absence of really terrible writing (see: Twilight).

But what does all this talk of inconvenience have to do with David Levithan’s new book, Every Day? It is officially one of the most inconvenient cases of love I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The book’s main character, simply called A, wakes up in the body of a different person every day. The body might belong to a male or female, a straight, gay or bisexual person, a person of any race – the only consistency is that all the bodies belong to sixteen-year-old people. This is all going along fine until A meets Rhiannon. A falls in love with Rhiannon. And then things get SUPER INCONVENIENT. Because how can you love someone when you have a different body every day? How the heck can that possibly work?

It’s a conundrum and a half, and that is why Every Day is so addictive. As readers, we want to find out how someone in such an impossibly difficult, inconvenient situation could make it work. Because if some genderless being with no body can make it work in love, then certainly we all have a shot, right?

This novel is not only exceptional in its premise, but in the brilliant points it subtly makes about the fluidity and elusive nature of gender. Is this the first YA romance featuring a protagonist with no assigned gender? I think so. And that is a really big deal. When this book inevitably becomes a Hollywood blockbuster, I just hope that A remains genderless, and we don’t discover at the end that the character’s “true” form is actually Taylor Lautner. Or Selena Gomez. Or the dog from The Artist.

And, like every David Levithan book, Every Day is dripping with descriptions of emotions and feelings that are normally impossible to put into words. I swear that there is something on every page of his books that I want to have printed on a t-shirt so I can run out into the street and shout “This is exactly how I feel! Don’t you ever feel like this too!?”

If the human heart had a spokesperson, if would be David Levithan.

No offense, Maya Angelou.

Lincoln! (or, when pop culture aligns with your current obsession)

I am am so excited for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln which now has a release date of November 9. The Chicago Tribune says this may be the year that the Lincoln wave “crests.” Get me a surfboard, yo!

Now I have been late to the party on a few things. When it comes to my Abraham Lincoln obsession, I’m about a century and a half late on that trend.

This all started in February. I am an audiobook fiend as I am unable to read in a moving vehicle without spewing. I also like to spice up mundane tasks like folding laundry or steaming my dresses by listening to an audiobook (note: that last sentence is going to appear in the personal ad I post at age 85). Basically, if I’m not reading a book I’m probably listening to one.

I randomly downloaded Chasing Lincoln’s Killer on audiobook. I knew nothing about Lincoln other than the fact that he wore noteworthy hats. Within 25 minutes of listening to James L. Swanson’s book, I was hooked.

There is no better audiobook in the world. Will Patton narrates and he does an impeccable job.

This is the thing: I am Canadian. Presidents don’t get much stage time on our curriculum. This is about the most excitement we get from a national leader (which, granted, was a big deal):

So before listening to Swanson’s book, I didn’t really get the Lincoln thing. I certainly had no idea how insanely CRAY the events were before and after his assassination. The General Seward bit!? Mother of Pearl, I almost had a heart attack.

Since listening to the audiobook of Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, I have watched several Lincoln documentaries and am slowly savouring Candace Fleming’s The Lincolns: a scrapbook look at Abraham and Mary. No matter what is going on in my life, reading that dang scrapbook totally takes me away. If I’m having a bad day, it always helps to know that I don’t have to tackle the abolition of slavery. For some inexplicable reason, anything Lincoln-related has an uncanny ability to distract and comfort me. This is exactly how those five-year-old boys who are obsessed with dinosaur books must feel.

So if The Chicago Tribune is right and the Lincoln wave is coming, that will no doubt trickle down to children’s books as all thing tend to do. And I can’t wait. It’s been tough for me to get Canuck kids and teens interested in Lincoln stuff (or, indoctrinate them with my obsession) because they have no point of reference and don’t really care about American presidents. And there is so much great Lincoln stuff out there already, with some notable 2012 titles. These are on my to-read list:

AbrahamandFred — Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: The Story Behind an American Friendship by Russell Freedman. Houghton MIfflin Harcourt, 2012

Magic Tree House #47: Abe Lincoln, At Last! by Mary Pope Osborne. Random House, 2012 (also has accompanying non-fiction Magic Tree House Fact Tracker)

LincolnDAulaire — Lincoln won the Caldecott,obvi. Abraham Lincoln by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire, 1940.

LincolnShot — I need a bigger purse to carry this. Lincoln Shot by Barry Denenberg and Christopher Bing. Feiwel & Friends, 2008.

To close, here I am in a state of bliss outside the animatronic Lincoln Disneyland feature a few weeks ago post-ALA Saturday. There was no line, because people are suckas and don’t realize that an animatronic Lincoln rivals Splash Mountain.

How Liar & Spy Relates to One of My Darkest Secrets

I want to begin this review by making a confession:

I own an Insight From the Dalai Lama calendar. You ever wonder who buys those for 75% at the bookstore? It was me. I admit it.

It is one of those page-a-day rip-off style ones with a new quote for each day. Except for the weekends – there is only one quote/page for Saturday and Sunday. I guess the Dalai Lama needs some time off too.

What does this have to do with Rebecca Stead’s new book? Two things.

First, I was incredibly eager to see if Liar & Spy was going to live up to the Rebecca Stead of When You Reach Me. Like everyone else on the planet, I fell deeply in love with that book and Stead’s writing style. To me, Stead is the Dalai Lama of children’s books. Her prose are at once deep and moving but always optimistic and full of love. She writes with such economy and clarity. If Stead’s words had a body, I think they would look like the Dalai Lama: smiley, comfy and a just a little bit kooky (have you heard the Dalai Lama laugh? It’s a bit kooky. But enjoyable so).

I worried that this mix of loveliness and faith that permeated When You Reach Me was a bit of a fluke, and Stead was going to come out next with a dystopian adventure set in Norse mythology or something. Or that her next book would just be WYRM 1.0. But Liar & Spy isn’t WYRM 1.0. It’s just as good. It might even be better.

The second reason I bring up my Dalai Lama calendar is because I believe owning one is highly embarrassing. Isn’t it just one step away from owning a Chicken Soup For the Soul book? I mean, really. And I don’t just own the calendar, people. I save some of the quotes and put them on my fridge. I take them down before I have company, much like a murderer would hide the arms and legs of her latest victim before having a friend over for sushi and Mad Men.

I bring this up because it relates to one of the themes I found particularly intriguing about Liar & Spy, which is the theme of lying to oneself. I can’t get into detail without blowing the lid off Stead’s now-signature surprise awesome endings, but both main characters – Georges and Safer – have trouble coming to grips with aspects of themselves. That’s really all the plot synopsis you need. This “coming to grips” theme usually makes up the whole plot of a middle grade book: kid can’t come to grips with the fact she has an absentee parent, kid can’t come to grips with the fact he is partly some sort of magical beast or wizard or whatever, kid can’t come to grips with the fact he is a horn growing out his butt. You get the idea. But the brilliance of Liar & Spy is that figuring out our protagonists’ weaknesses compromises the book’s big climax/revelation – it’s not the whole dang show. And that is cool.

Others have done much better Lia & Spy reviews wherein they don’t divulge personal oddities and/or affection for the Dalai Lama. Travis Jonker has a great one over at 100 Scope Notes and Betsy Bird included it in her recent post on 2013 Newbery predictions (my money is on her money that it is going to be a Random House vs. Random House kinda year).

To end this post, I think we should all enjoy this moment of the Dalai Lama not understanding a joke about pizza.

ALA: 7 Published Books, 7 ARCs and Some Susin Nielsen Love

In total, I brought home 14 books from ALA. Of those 14 books, 6 were published books I paid for, 1 was a free published book and 7 were ARCs.

I had heard a lot about people going wild in the exhibits, gunning for stuff like a scene out of Life As We Knew It. And there has been much buzz about that 22 minute ALA book haul video that’s floating around. Stacked has a very thorough post on the whole thing. I’ll admit to watching most of it and being overtaken with jealousy at the Gary D. Schmidt ARC.

It might just be me and my 700 square foot world, BUT WHERE DO PEOPLE PUT ALL OF THESE BOOKS? I have three very skinny, small Ikea bookcases to my name. One shelf is taken up entirely by The Series of Unfortunate Events. Another houses the complete works of Leonard Marcus. That leaves me with 2.75 teensy bookcases. Thus, I have to be extremely selective about the books I bring into my life.

Perhaps the best solution to all of the debates around people going crazy on the ALA exhibit floor is to simply ban exhibit entry to those who live somewhere with an affordable housing market. Us Vancouverites and New Yorkers would be very dainty and respectable because we barely have room to brush our teeth, let alone store an extra book or two. I kid, I kid.

For those interested, this is what I scooped up:

6 Published Books I Purchased

ALApurchased — From L to R: Stay by Deb Caletti, I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, The Monster’s Monster and Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell, Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S.King, Amulet #1 by Kazu Kibuishi

Stay completely floored me in the sense that I was never able to sympathize with girls in relationships with scary dudes before reading this book. Jon Klassen is Canadian (!) and I Want My Hat Back has saved my butt zillions of occasions in storytimes with rowdy six-year-olds. Patrick McDonnell makes my heart warm. A.S. King makes complex things easy to understand. A signed Kazu Kibuishi will bring me tons o’ cred with nine-year-old male patrons for the foreseeable future.

1 Free Published Book

My pal Kay and I are apparently the only people in the world who have yet to read this book. Please don’t tell Mr. Schu. But it will get read!

6 ARCs

ALAARCs — L to R in order of pub date: Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead, Everyday by David Levithan, Amulet #5 Prince of the Elves by Kazu Kibuishi, Drama by Raina Telgemeier, In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz, Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

I think these were probably on most school and youth librarian’s lists to grab, so nothing terribly original here. But I want to tell you – especially you Yankees – about this, the seventh and most blessed ARC:

ReluctantJournalofHenryKLarsen — The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen by Susin Nielsen. Tundra Books. Pubs September 11, 2012

Susin Nielsen is the next big thing. There is an episode of The Simpsons where Bart brings Santa’s Little Helper in for show-and-tell and Milhouse proudly brags “I knew the dog before it came to class!” Not to liken Susin to a cartoon dog, but this captures how most Canadian librarians feel about Susin Nielsen. We are going to feel very smug and brag alot when she gets 200 person signing lines at future ALAs.

She is a mix between Tom Angleberger, Jack Gantos and Susan Juby with just a touch of a teenaged Dav Pilkey (she isn’t afraid of some potty language). She was a screenwriter for Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High (the original series pre-Drake). Degrassi taught every Canadian born between 1979-1984 about being a teenager. She is funny, smart and somehow has access to the brain of a Grade 7 boy. If you haven’t read Word Nerd or Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom, you are missing out. My buddy Vikki has a great review of Clooney here.

The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen is about a thirteen-year-old boy (named Henry K. Larsen, not surprisingly). Henry’s brother shoots a classmate before shooting himself. Tough stuff? Yes. Will Susin Nielsen somehow manage to infuse this terrible tragedy with enlightening-but-sensitive humour? If her track record is any indication, yes. I will be celebrating Canada Day this weekend lounging in Saskatchewan and reading this book (right after I wrap up a Quill & Quire review of another Canadian favourite’s new YA novel). I can’t wait.

Board Books I Have Loved (as mentioned on Vancouver Co-op Radio)

Well, I haven’t blogged in a coon’s age. But let’s all be thankful that the Age of the Coon has passed and I am blogging right now!

I was on Vancouver Co-op Radio’s It Takes a Village parenting show today talking about books for babies: why to share ’em with your little one, how to choose ’em and ones that particularly tickle me. Here is my list of favourites, in no particular order.

1. I Like it When… by Mary Murphy. Harcourt.

When I was a student librarian at Vancouver Public Library, one of the librarians there pointed out the beauty of this book to me. Because the penguins are genderless, there are so many possibilities for their relationship. They can be mom and tot, dad and tot, grandparent and tot, big sibling and tot, foster parent and tot – it’s totally multipurpose and applicable to any family situation. Plus, I love that their bellies look like scrambled eggs.

2. Hickory, Dickory Dock & Other Mother Goose Rhymes by James Marshall. Out of print 😦

Every baby needs a Mother Goose book. Sadly, it may not be this one because it’s out of print (don’t forget Abebooks, people!). I love this book because I think the illustrations will tickle adults and, as I mentioned on the radio, it’s really important for big people to enjoy the books that they’re reading to babies. This book also has wonderful potential to grow with baby and remain a favourite even until Kindergarten when they can really laugh at the pussycat who has gout.

3. Bow Wow board books by Mark Newgarden & Megan Montague Cash. Harcourt.

I found out about these on Phil Nel’s blog and fell in love with them. This is another one adults and older siblings will appreciate while still remaining totally baby friendly with their flat, bright colours and thick outlines.

4. I Kissed the Baby! by Mary Murphy. Candlewick.

The black and white contrasting images are obviously perfect for babies, but I love the back-and-forth dialogue in this book. Without realizing it, you start doing voices and intonation and it becomes a lil’ lesson in conversation with babies. It’s also fun to ask the “Did you kiss the baby?” question to your baby, pause, and await their babbling response. It also makes a nice, very simple felt story for the 2-3 year old crowd.

5. All of Baby Nose to Toes by Victoria Adler. Illustrations by Hiroe Nakata. Dial.

I was insane over this book when it came out in picturebook format and I was so pumped last year when it came out as a board book. I love to share this one at babytime because there is so much room for interaction. It ends up being a bit of a massage session as almost every part of the body is rubbed or snuggled or kissed. So lovely.

6. Any board book by Hervé Tullet. Phaidon.

He’s simply the bomb. A total original. Love.

7. Black on White (or White on Black) by Tana Hoban. Greenwillow.

I think these books are boring, but that is because I am not a baby. Looking at these books for a baby is akin to watching Jurassic Park for adults – it’s exciting, captivating and really awesome.

8. Welcome Song for Baby by Richard Van Camp. Orca.

This is one that will be old news for British Columbians as it was in the Books for BC Babies bag a few years ago. But for anyone who doesn’t know it, it’s the ideal baby face picture book. The images are beautiful and inclusive and the text has the most wonderful rhythm. Tried and true, this book is.

9. Any of the Simply Small books from Simply Read Books

Beyond the ridiculous cuteness factor, these are the some of the best baby books with a light narrative. The stories are short and simple, the outlines are clear and bold and little makes me happier than a big-eyed beaver named Bitsy.

Canuck and Yankee Picturebooks: Best o’ the Best in 2011 (so far)

I am going to be on Vancouver Co-op Radio’s “It Takes a Village” parenting show on Thursday, August 18th from 4-5pm PST to talk about chidlers, reading, and some of my favorite picturebooks this year. I will be mentioning some of these while I’m on the show.

Oh Canada

My dear mentor and friend, Professor Judi Saltman, is the lady responsible for my fierce sense of nationalism for Canadian children’s books. So let’s start with those produced close to (my) home:

Alligator Bear Crab: A Baby’s ABC by Lesley Wynne Pechter. Orca.

The alligator on the first page manages to look both friendly and sort of menacingly hungry at the same time. Sold! But really, the animals that make up this alphabet book have a quirky character that tickles me, and that I think will tickle parents and tots. I love the inclusion of distinctly Canadian animals (including a Canada goose, moose and orca) without all the stereotypes – which is often what happens when artists set out to do a deliberately Canadian alphabet book.

Cinnamon Baby by Nicola Winstanley. Illustrations by Janice Nadeau. Kids Can Press.

It’s difficult for me to write about this book without my heart exploding with happiness. It is the dearest, dearest tale of Miriam and Sebastian’s crying, colicky baby. The illustrations (Parisian and quaint) show fountains of tears springing up from the pram with the words “The baby cried at the sky. It cried at the flowers. It cried at the sunshine and the wind in the trees and at everyone who passed.” Miriam finally figures out what to do to make the baby stop crying and it speaks so beautifully to the bond between mother and child. Perfect for new mothers, new big siblings and a Kindergarten read-aloud.

Kitten’s Summer by Eugenie Fernandes. Kids Can Press

Librarians run around like crazy people whenever the seasons change, trying to get their hands on all things seasonal for patrons. Eugenie Fernandes’ Kitten books are my hands-down faves for the circling of the planet and my review for Kitten’s Autumn explains why. Kitten’s Winter will be coming out in September. Kitten’s Spring is available now. The set is complete in 2011!

Ones and Twos by Marthe Jocelyn. Illustrations by Nell Jocelyn. Tundra Books.

What would this country do without Marthe Jocelyn? Probably curl up and die, that’s what. From simple concept books to middle grade to YA, this woman can do it all. This book is brilliant because it doesn’t take the ol’ one to ten approach to counting. It focuses on finding pairs and the combinations are so vibrant and dear. I especially like “One sings, two talk” which matches the cover illustration. This book is illustrated by Marthe’s daughter, Nell Jocelyn, and her bright, busy collages are Uh. Maze. Ing.

Pussycat, Pussycat Where Have You Been? by Dan Bar-el. Illustrations by Rae Maté. Simply Read Books.

When a Canadian picturebook gets mentioned in the New York Times, it is a big dang deal. And this book deserves it. Bar-el’s continuation of the classic nursery rhyme is just divine. The perfect gift for a person who has just entered the world.

What Are You Doing? by Elisa Amado. Illustrations by Manuel Monroy. Groundwood.

This book shows children all the amazing things they will get to do when they learn to read – from enjoying comics to understanding hieroglyphics! It’s great. But don’t take my word for it. Listen to Sarah Ellis.

Predicted Favourite: A Few Blocks by Cybele Young. Groundwood.

Okay, this one just came out about three weeks ago and it hasn’t come in at the library yet. But the reviews have been fantastic (not surprising since everything that Groundwood cooks up is generally fantastic) and I can’t wait to get my paws on it.

Yankee Doodles

My Baby Blue Jays by John Berendt. Viking.

Author John Berendt was lucky enough to have a pair of baby blue jays nest on his balcony and smart enough to take pictures of the whole thing! This true story, accompanied by amazing photographs, details the building of the nest, the laying of the eggs, the hatching, the feeding and the first flight. Some of the photos are a bit blurry but I think this actually lends a realistic charm. A perfect choice for children growing up in urban settings.

Loon Baby by Molly Beth Griffin. Illustrations by Anne Hunter. Houghton Mifflin.

This book…this book! There is no cuter lil’ baby in picture books this year; this little scrap of feathers reminds me a lot of Tango in Tango Makes Three. He has such a scruffy little personality. The story is a simple one of a baby worrying that his mother will not return, and the northern setting and lyrical language makes it a great bedtime or storytime read-aloud. My favourite line ever: “The breeze ruffled his fluff.” Perfection.

Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell. Little, Brown.

I have a black little heart but this book actually made me cry. At my desk. AT WORK. There is no better choice for encouraging a curious heart in a child. This story of a young Jane Goodall and her stuffed chimpanzee (Jubilee) will stay with me forever.

Monday is One Day by Arthur A. Levine. Illustrations by Julian Hector. Scholastic.

I see so many working parents every day in the library and this book perceptively deals with the separation anxiety that children (and adults!) feel when the weekend comes to an end. The rhyming text lists all the fun that the weekdays can bring;I particularly love “Friday’s last-tie day: Can you help me pick the one?” I also can’t say enough about the illustrations which portray all kinds of families from all sorts of backgrounds.

Perfect Square by Michael Hall. Greenwillow.

An artistic approach to the concept of shapes from the Shape Master, Michael Hall (My Heart is Like a Zoo). Bonus points for lots of craft extension potential.

The Rain Train by Elena De Roo. Illustrations by Brian Lovelock. Candlewick.

Every library in Vancouver needs this book. Better make that the entire Pacific Northwest. It’s a triple threat as it’s got 1) the rain. Aka: all that ever happens in this region of the world 2) trains, 3) bedtime story potential. Oh – and 4) STELLAR ONOMATOPOEIA! I’m talking “Ca-shish” and “Spitter-spat-spit” and “Ping-itta-pang.” I can’t wait to read this one at a rainy day storytime. Which is basically every storytime in the Vancouver area.

Roly-Poly Egg by Kali Stileman. Tiger Tales.

When it comes to illustrations alone, this one about a bird named Splotch may be my overall fave. Splotch’s…well…splotchiness is so energizing and joyful and I love the added bonus of kids developing fine motor skills while tracing the path of the egg. The big flaps at the end are also a nice touch. This is another one begging for a Kindergarten class art project.

Tweak Tweak by Eve Bunting. Illustrations by Sergio Ruzzier. Clarion.

A sweet cumulative story with a very classic feel. Mama Elephant tells Little Elephant to tweak her tail twice if she has any questions. Many tweaks later, Little Elephant has learned a bunch. After reading this book once, I felt like I had known it my whole life. Hard to put my finger on exactly what it is, but it’s a winner. It also contains one of the most interesting alligator illustrations I’ve seen in awhile; he’s sort of chubby and docile. Not like that hungry guy back in Alligator Bear Crab.

Plus One From the French

Would any Best Books of 2011 list be complete without this? I mean, really. As the kids call it in my library, it’s the “magic” book.