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The Adventures of Taxi Dog by Debra and Sal Barracca

May1

Barracca, Debra and Sal. The Adventures of Taxi Dog. Illustrated by Mark Buehner. Dial Books for Young Readers, 1990.

My name is Maxi
   I ride in a taxi
      Around New York City all day.
I sit next to Jim
   (I belong to him)
      But it wasn't always this way.


Maxi is a homeless dog in the Big Apple until one day he meets Jim, a taxi driver. Jim takes Maxi home and feeds him and ties a red scarf around Maxi’s neck. Then Maxi gets to ride in Jim’s taxicab every day and “see all the sights . . . uptown and down.” Maxi and Jim pick up and transport all sorts of interesting fares: a businessman, an opera singer, a pregnant lady about to give birth, two clowns, and even a chimpanzee. And Maxi sometimes provides a bit of entertainment for the passengers as they ride through NYC to their destinations.

“The art for this book was prepared by using oil paints over acrylics. It was then camera-separated and reproduced in red, yellow, blue, and black.” I don’t know exactly what that process looks like, but the result is colorful, crowded montage of city life with black and yellow taxicab frames around many of the pages that contain only text. The illustrations fill the other pages with Maxi mostly at the center of each picture.

Children will love the rhyming text and the dog’s-eye view of New York City, which is why this Reading Rainbow book made the grade to be added to the Expanded Edition of Picture Book Preschool. The author blurb in the back of the book says that Debra and Sal Barracca were inspired to write The Adventures of Taxi Dog after riding in a taxi whose owner kept his dog with him in the front seat. I wonder if that taxi driver knows that he and his dog inspired a beautiful and vibrant picture book.

I just found out, by way of another private lending librarian, that there are at Least three more books by the Barraccas about Maxi the Taxi Dog:

  • Maxi the Hero
  • Maxi the Star
  • A Taxi Dog Christmas

If you want to donate one of these other Maxi books to the library, I won’t turn it down. I’m quite fond of dogs–in books.

You can check out The Adventures of Taxi Dog along with other books listed in Picture Book Preschool under the themes of Farms and Cities as a part of the PBP Farms and Cities Picture Book Treasure Box from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

A Walk in the Rain by Ursel Scheffler

Apr10

Scheffler, Ursel. A Walk in the Rain. Illustrated by Ulises Wendell. Translated by Andrea Mernan. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1986. A Picture Book Preschool book.

I don’t know how I discovered this under appreciated and mostly unknown German picture book, but I know I loved it at first sight, more than thirty years ago. Published in German in 1984, this one is simple, but it stands the test of time for me. It’s out of print, but at present multiple copies are available online, used for less than $10.00.

“Josh loved visiting his grandparents, especially on rainy days. Because Josh’s grandmother loved to walk in the rain.”

So begins our story. Josh appears to be four or five years old, and his grandmother is grey-haired but healthy enough to walk on logs and pretend to be a tightrope walker with Josh walking ahead. The narrative simply details the various things that Josh and his grandmother see and do as they walk in the (gentle) rain: a ladybug, birds sheltering from the rain, leaves collected near a drain in the street, the logs in the forest, mushrooms sprouting.

Josh’s grandmother answers his questions, feeding him a little bit of information about rain and its effects, in answer to his questions. “[T]he birds’ feathers are covered with oil, which helps keep them dry in the rain just like a raincoat.” Mushrooms “sprout everywhere when it rains.” But mostly Grandmother just lets Josh explore the rainy day and the various wonders that the two of them find on their walk.

Before the walk Josh’s grandparents give him a yellow raincoat and rain boots, and afterward the nature explorers dry off, and Grandfather reads a story to Josh as they look out the window at the rain. The illustrations are just as simple and delightful–and rainy–as the story. Artist Ulises Wendell used soft colors, mostly blues and greens and yellow, for the raincoats, and brown for the trees and the dog. Wendell, now deceased, was a prolific illustrator of more than fifty picture books and other children’s books in Europe, mostly published in Spain or Germany.

I like to walk in the rain myself, and I must like the theme of a walk with grandparents because two other books in Picture Book Preschool have this basic plot. In Rain by Sam Usher, a boy goes out to mail a letter with his grandfather after the rainstorm is over. In Gramma’s Walk by Anna Grossnickle Hines, Donnie and Gramma, who is in a wheelchair, take an imagined walk to the seashore and smell the salty breeze, walk barefoot on the warm sand, observe animals, and build a sand castle. Those are both lovely books, but A Walk in the Rain complements the other two rather than replacing them. Read Mr. Scheffler’s simple story specifically before a walk IN the rain, and then take that walk and see what you and your young child or grandchild discover on a rainy day nature walk.

You can check out a copy of A Walk in the Rain from Meriadoc Homeschool Library

Knight Owl and Early Bird by Christopher Denise

Jan17

I read and reviewed Christopher Denise’s Caldecott Honor book, Knight Owl, last year, and I added it to the new edition of Picture Book Preschool. It’s a fair to say I’m a fan of Denise’s storytelling and his beautiful, colorful illustrations. And Knight Owl, the character, is adorable as well as brave.

Well, Knight Owl is back, with a new, adorable—and brave—friend, Early Bird. Early Bird is Knight Owl’s “biggest fan.” She wants to be a knight just like Knight Owl, and she’s very vocal with lots of questions about how and when and where she can begin her knighthood journey. Unfortunately, while Knight Owl quietly guards the castle during the night and sleeps during the day, Early Bird begins the day at dawn, “making a great deal of noise.” How can Knight Owl mentor or even tolerate such a noisy, chatty, questioning Early Bird?

Some sequels are a disappointment, and others are just O.K. This one has illustrations just as good as Knight Owl, and I liked the story even more than I did the the story in the first book. In Knight Owl, the little owl manages to tame a dragon, an eventuality for which I was willing to suspend disbelief. However, I tend to think the “dragons aren’t so bad” trope that is common nowadays is a bit of a cop-out. Dragons are meant to be villains. In this story, however, we have true danger (wolves!), and Early Bird gets to save the day with his early warning and his noisy ways.

The illustrations are so expressive. Knight Owl looks sleepy and grumpy and watchful and frightened in turn, all as a result of something that Mr. Denise does with the eyes and the lighting and the interplay with the text of the story. Early Bird manages to look admiring and innocent and industrious all at the same time. And the two-page spread in which Early Bird goes out into the forest in the snow because Knight Owl is exasperated with all the questions and noise—what a masterful illustration of a sad and forlorn little bird!

I read this book out loud to myself, and it reads well. I can’t wait to read it to some children for storytime or to my own grandchildren. Perfect read aloud, published in 2024, fun and fanciful, Knight Owl and Early Bird will be my next purchase for the library, and it’s one of my favorite picture books of 2024.

*Now available for check out from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Come Again, Pelican by Don Freeman

Oct10

Freeman, Don. Come Again, Pelican. Viking, 1961. Republished by Plough Publishing, 2024.

Come Again, Pelican tells the story of a boy, Ty, and his day at the beach, and his pelican friend. Ty and his family come to the same wind-swept beach for their family vacation every year. This year Ty says he is “old enough to learn how to fish,” and his parents turn him loose for the day to do just that with only a couple of general cautions: “Be sure to stay away from the big waves.” “And be sure not to lose those new boots of yours.”

I don’t know how old Ty is; the book doesn’t tell. But I’m fairly sure that in our overprotective times, Ty would not be allowed to spend the day fishing in the ocean and talking to a pelican—all by himself. Of course, Ty does have a bit of an adventure when the tide comes in behind him while he is sitting on and fishing from a post that was once part of an old pier. In the meantime, the pelican is fishing for his supper, and Ty and the pelican eventually exchange gifts and fishing tips as the tide rolls back out.

This one is such a gentle story, not a cautionary tale, not a high-stakes adventure, just a beautiful little story about a boy and a pelican and a day of growing and self-education and independence-within-boundaries at the beach. The illustrations by the author, Don Freeman, are similar to those in Freeman’s other more well known books such as Corduroy, Mop Top, and Beady Bear. These pictures are appropriate for a beach story–lots of blue and yellow and orange. And Ty is an all-American boy in his T-shirt and beach trousers and captain’s hat.

I’m nostalgic and find myself wishing we could return to simpler times as portrayed in this picture book. But if we can’t return, we can at least read about it. Come Again, Pelican is the perfect book for reminiscing if you grew up near the the ocean, and even if you didn’t, you’ll enjoy the story about Ty and Mr. Pelican and fish and Ty’s red boots. I added this one to the Beach/Seashore week in Picture Book Preschool, and I was especially happy to do so because Plough Publishing has brought it back so that a new generation can easily purchase it and enjoy the story.

Going Places by Aileen Fisher

Oct3

Fisher, Aileen. Going Places. Designed and illustrated by Midge Quenell. Bowman, 1973.

Poet and author Aileen Fisher wrote over a hundred children’s books, and all of those that I have seen are delightful. Her poems are easy to read and accessible, mostly about animals and the natural world. Going Places is a poem in picture book format, illustrated by Midge Quenell.

“How do you travel, bird in the sky?

Sometimes I glide, but mostly I fly.

How do you travel. fish in the sea?

Swimming is always in fashion with me.”

The poem becomes more detailed and vivid with each animal’s locomotion that is described, but the rhythm and rhyme and vocabulary remain simple and preschool-appropriate. Ms. Fisher tells us in poetry how snails, rabbits, snakes, bees, beetles, hornets, crickets, mice, frogs, koalas, opossums, and penguins move about and travel through their various habitats. Finally, the poem moves to a description of how school children travel by various ways and means, and “sometime, though probably not very soon, we’ll purchase a ticket and go to the moon.”

Midge Quennel’s watercolor illustrations accompany and support the text of the poem well. And the lettering by Paul Taylor gives the travel saga a whimsical look that also goes with the poem itself quite handily.

The last week, Week #52, in Picture Book Preschool is titled Going Places, so this book fits comfortably into that niche. It’s out of print but used copies are still available as of this blog posting at a reasonable price. And this book would be perfect for preschool story time or for a morning time picture book, quick and engaging food for the imagination. What other animal movements could you talk about? What are some other ways that people travel that are not in the poem?

This Picture Book Preschool book can be borrowed by member families from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Have You Heard the Nesting Bird? by Rita Gray

Sep19

Gray, Rita. Have You Heard the Nesting Bird? Illustrated by Kenard Pak. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.

I read this picture book through once, quickly, and thought it was rather slight, not much to it. Then, for some reason, I decided to pick it up again, and this second time I read through it slowly–and aloud. It’s a book meant to be read aloud because it includes all of the bird songs. For example, the wood thrush says “ee-oh-lay”, and the cardinal says “cheer-cheer-cheer-purdy-purdy-purdy”.

To rewind back to the beginning, two children, a boy and a girl, are outdoors, watching and listening to the birds that are singing their various songs. So the children, and the reader, are introduced to about a dozen species of birds in the pictures and in the text that gives an approximation of their songs. However, the children keep coming back to the tree where there is a robin in a nest and asking each other, “But have you heard the nesting bird?” The nesting bird doesn’t make a sound.

The story ends by revealing what the nesting robin has been doing and why she is so quiet. And a sort of appendix called “A Word with the Bird” has the mother robin answering questions, such as “why are you so quiet in your nest?” and “do you have a song?”.

So, to my delight, there was more here than at first meets the eye. In fact, it’s a book about birds and bird songs, and I added it to Picture Book Preschool under the heading of Hearing and Touching because of all of the bird sounds that are introduced. There’s a note in the back that tells readers that they can hear more robin songs and sounds at a certain web address, but it doesn’t work. Broken web addresses are an occupational hazard, I suppose. Try this website, All About Birds, instead.

This Picture Book Preschool book can be borrowed by member families from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Mossy by Jan Brett

Sep5

“One summer morning, my husband, Joe, and I were dangling our feet from our dock on Goose Lake. I was watching some waterweeds on the bottom, thinking they looked just like a giant turtle. Suddenly, they swam up toward us. It was a turtle, a huge snapping one, with an underwater ‘garden’ on its shell.”

Author illustrator Jan Brett was inspired by the turtle with a garden on its back to write Mossy, the story of an eastern box turtle who also grows a garden on her carapace (shell). In the story Mossy the turtle becomes the showpiece of Dr. Carolina’s natural history museum, but Dr. Carolina’s niece, Tory, isn’t so sure that Mossy is happy in her museum habitat. Romance enters the picture when Mossy meets Scoot, a handsome male turtle with ruby-red eyes. But will Mossy be able to get back to Lilypad Pond where Scoot is pining for her?

The book is laid out in Jan Brett’s signature style with lush, colorful illustrations in a central large page or two-page spread painting, framed by smaller pictures of minor characters and objects from the story. Mossy herself is a delightfully expressive turtle with a garden full of leaves and mushrooms and flowers and wild berries on her back. Her male counterpart, Scoot, doesn’t have a garden, but he is indeed a handsome turtle. The human characters–Dr. Carolina, Tory, and a couple of sisters named Flora and Fauna–are dressed in late nineteenth century/early twentieth century clothing to give the book a quaint old-fashioned feeling that goes along with the story very nicely.

Box turtles “generally live for 25-35 years but have been known to survive to over 100 years old,” according to my internet research. The author implies at the end of the book that Mossy. with her turtleback garden, might still be living near Lilypad Pond where she first appears in the story. I certainly hope so.

I’ve added this book to Picture Book Preschool under the heading of Reptiles and Fish. (Turtles are reptiles, right?) I have two other Jan Brett title listed in Picture Book Preschool: The Hat and Brett’s illustrated version of The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clark Moore. However, Ms. Brett is a prolific author and illustrator, and I have many of her books in my library. Do you have a favorite Jan Brett book? Tell us all about it in the comments.

This Picture Book Preschool book can be borrowed by member families from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Maybelle The Cable Car by Virginia Lee Burton

Aug29

Burton, Virginia Lee. Maybelle the Cable Car. Houghton Mifflin, 1952.

Maybelle the Cable Car! A San Francisco treat!

Virginia Lee Burton wrote and illustrated the classics Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and The Little House and Katy and the Big Snow. Maybelle the Cable Car ranks right up there with Ms. Burton’s other lovely books. Set in San Francisco, this picture book tells the story of how Maybelle and the other cable cars work hard going up and down the many hills of the city. In their big green barn at night, Maybelle and the other cable car reminisce about the good old days in San Francisco when the city was smaller and slower and every one knew everyone else and everyone appreciated the cable cars. Now the cable cars, who work for the city government, are neglected, and Big Bill the Bus says they are “too old and out of date, much too slow and can’t be safe.”

Like Mary Anne, Mike Mulligan’s steam shovel, Maybelle is in danger of becoming obsolete and being scrapped. But, of course, the book is named for Maybelle, so that can’t happen. “Virginia Lee Burton’s . . . classic story recounts actual events in the city of San Francisco’s efforts to preserve and protect its cable cars and illustrates how the voice of the people can be heard in the spirit of democracy.”

The story of Maybelle the Cable Car might require some explanation of how votes and petitions and ballots work and how people can band together to ask their government leaders to change their plans. But you could just read the book and answer questions afterwards, if asked. Children often don’t need to understand everything in a picture book in order to enjoy it. There are also some technical details about how cable cars work at the beginning of the book that will be of great interest to some children and not so much to others.

I’m adding this book to my guide, Picture Book Preschool, in the new, expanded edition under the subject heading of United States History. It really does show the history of San Francisco from the perspective of the cable cars who remember how the city grew and changed. And with so many picture books and children’s books set in New York City and on the east coast, it’s good to have one that takes place on the west coast. Now, if only I could find a fantastic picture book set on the Gulf Coast!

This Picture Book Preschool book can be borrowed by member families from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell

Aug22

Waddell, Martin. Farmer Duck. Illustrated by Martin Waddell. Candlewick, 1991.

Some people take their picture books way too seriously. I thought this story of a lazy farmer and his rebellious animals was a great read. A bare-chested farmer sits in bed and eats chocolates while the duck does all the farm work. The only dialog in the book is the farmer asking the duck, “How goes the work?” The duck replies, “Quack.” Finally, the duck is so exhausted and discouraged that the other farm animals take pity on him and come up with a plan to relieve his misery by taking over the farm.

Yes, it’s Orwell’s Animal Farm, without the nasty, autocratic pigs. Yes, the ending has the animals working happily together to run the farm. Yes, the farmer is forced to run away, barefoot and still bare-chested, never to return. Yes, it’s a socialist animal-run utopian dream. But I just don’t believe any child (or adult) will become a good little communist after reading this book. However, some of the reviewers on Amazon certainly found the book to be subversive. “Communistic.” “Scary and violent.” “Propaganda book.”

On the other hand, the jacket blurb calls the story “a fable.” If it is a fable, perhaps it IS teaching a lesson. But I don’t believe it’s a communist lesson. Maybe it’s just a lesson about laziness and how eventually the worker duck will get fed up and worn out if he has to do all of the work. Maybe it’s a lesson about helping and working together and “the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (I Thessalonians 3:10). Or maybe it’s just a funny story with a happy ending and great illustrations.

Author Martin Waddell received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2004. Helen Oxenbury has won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal, the British librarians’ award for illustration, twice and been runner-up four times. So the team has a reputation. As far as illustrations go, the duck’s expressive face, “sleepy, weepy, and tired” all at the same time, was particularly well done, and I loved the story.

This Picture Book Preschool book can be borrowed by member families from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Richard Scarry’s Busiest Fire Fighters Ever!

Aug15

Scarry, Richard. Busiest Fire Fighters Ever!. Golden Books, 1993.

Richard Scarry wrote and illustrated more than 300 books during the course of his prolific career. And they have been and continue to be some of the best-selling and most popular picture books in the world. I must admit that I rather avoided Busytown when I was reading aloud to my own children because, well, Busytown can be awfully busy. The big Busytown books, such as Cars and Truck and Things That Go, What Do People Do All Day? and Busy, Busy Town, have multiple storylines going on at the same time on multiple levels on the page, and lots of characters, and it’s hard to find the correct sequence to read the story in, and . . . well, kids love them, but I didn’t, at least not for read aloud time.

However, the Little Golden Books by Scarry cut all of that busyness in Busytown down to size. In Busiest Fire Fighters Ever, Sparky, Smokey, Snozzle, and Squirty (pigs) are the fire fighters. They help the people of Busytown by solving all sorts of problems from lost keys to pigs stuck in trees. They also stand ready to respond to a fire call. But when the fire fighters put out the wrong fire and spoil the Greenbug family’s barbecue, they are quick to respond by hosting the Greenbug family at the firehouse for a fire fighter barbecue.

There’s only one sequential story in this book, just a fun little story about how fires can be good or bad and how fire fighters can be helpers in the community in many different ways. It talks about fire in a way that recognizes the dangers of uncontrolled fires, but isn’t scary for young children. Somebody on Amazon wished the fourth fire fighter pig wasn’t called “Squirty”, but I thought the name was cute and appropriate. Squirty squirts the firehose. Mr. Frumble makes an appearance in the story, too, and he’s always good for a preschool laugh or two.

I added this Little Golden Book to the lists in the new edition of Picture Book Preschool. The other Picture Book Preschool book by Richard Scarry is Richard Scarry’s Please and Thank You Book.

This Picture Book Preschool book can be borrowed by member families from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.