Test-Folder

/ . / B O O K S ➻ . . , . & A G E S ' , % 22 25 24 26 Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller ➸ So Kansas is talking to his best friend Nebraska one day when he realizes that he's bored sitting in the middle of the country never going anywhere or and never meet- ing anyone new. One thing leads to another and the two states are hosting a party for all fifty states, where, over a spread of New York cheese- cake, Boston Baked Beans, and Idaho potatoes, they all agree to switch places to see a new part of the country. Excite- ment follows, quickly followed Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst ➸ Poor Alexander is having a rotten day – the shoe store doesn't have the sneakers he wants in his size, Dad gets mad at him when he visits his oYce, he gets in trouble for fighting with his brothers even though it's not his fault. Instead of turning us oZ with what could easily come across as whining, Viorst instead reminds us that for kids, the little stuZ is the important stuZ. The little stuZ is, in fact, everything. –Jenny Gorky Rises by William Steig ➸ An exploration of our dreams of escape, of tran- scending our circumstances and striking out…only to take comfort in home. A frog named Gorky mixes up a magic potion in his parents' kitchen one day, as any boy frog would want to do. He drinks it, and begins floating up into the sky. Up through clouds, through a rainstorm, into the heavens, where he is suspended, "like a coat on a hanger." Looks down on the world from whence he came, ponders life. Comes back down to earth, lands on 10 mil- lion year old Elephant Rock, which suddenly comes alive. Is reuinted with his loving family. Favorite little moment: "What a magical, cloverous smell!" –Andy Life Story by Virginia Lee Burton ➸ Any book that begins like this: "Eons and eons ago, our sun was born, one of the mil- lions and billions of stars that make up our galaxy, called the Milky Way;" and, sixty eight pages later, ends like this: "The drama of Life is a continuous story, ever new, ever changing, and ever wondrous to be- hold"…is a book you're going to want to own. How we came to be is the eternal question, and Burton answers it eYciently, poetically, beautifully. –Andy 23 What People Do All Day by Richard Scarry ➸ I'm guessing that the overlap between kids who like dollhouses and those who like the large-scale illustrated books of Scarry is significant. In this one, Scarry takes us around Busytown where we see, among other exciting things, how a letter is mailed, how tonsils are removed, and where bread and wood come from. We even take a trans- oceanic voyage involving a dramatic rescue at sea. All the Scarry signatures are here: intricately detailed cross- sectioned buildings, slapsticky sideplots unfolding in the margins, raccoons flying planes ("Wrong way Roger!"), and, of course, Lowly worm turning up somewhere unexpected. I spent hours with this one when I was a kid and I was delighted to see it had the same eZect on Abby. –Jenny by dismay—Minnesota, who switched with Florida, gets a sunburn, Hawaii, who was stuck with Kentucky and West Virginia, longed for peace and quiet, Kansas, in Hawaiian turf, is lonely out in the Pacific – and pretty soon, the lesson becomes obvious: It's good to seek adventure, as long as you remember your roots. Note: This book set oZ a U.S.A. map obsession with my 5-year-old nephew. –Jenny Meanwhile by Jules Fei9er ➸ In the summer before first grade, Phoebe discovered this book at our local library. It's about a boy who loves comic books – loves them so much that he dreams he is living inside of one, fighting pirates and running from mountain lions and floating weightless through outer space. From there, it was a short trip to Phoebe trying to draw her own comic books (called "Mini Man," which drew, um, heavily from FeiZer), and then onto The Adventures of Tintin (#39). And Amulet (#61). And Amelia Rules (#50). And Bone (#54). And Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield and any comic book she can get her hands on. Five years later, Phoebe is still staring up at the world from the bottom of a deep, deep graphic novel hole. And it all started with Meanwhile. –Andy 27 7

• Cover