File This Under "Squee!"

Mo Willems posted an extra-cool sneak peek at his blog--news of a brand-new series! Woohoo! The first two "Cat the Cat" books come out next winter.

My co-worker and I discussed whether they were picture books or easy readers. They seem to fall into both camps, but then, we're just going by the covers. What's your take?

Book Review: The Doghouse by Jan Thomas

Book: The Doghouse
Author: Jan Thomas
Illustrator: Jan Thomas
Published: 2008

As Mouse, Pig, Duck, and Cow are playing ball, their ball bounces into the doghouse. The big doghouse. The dark doghouse. The doghouse surrounded by scary trees and a general aura of danger. Now the question is . . . who will retrieve it?

I've been meaning to review one of Jan Thomas' books for awhile now. She seems to be firing on all cylinders at the moment. Her books are snappily written, hilarious, easily readable even for beginners, and feature bright, expressive, simple illustrations that catch kids' eyes. It's the kind of writing and art that make people go, "Gosh, I could do that!" Silly people. Silly, silly people. It's easy to do; it's hard to do well.

The thing I loved best about The Doghouse is the unabashed self-preservation of Mouse. Let somebody go in that big, dark, scary doghouse, not him. And of course, the ending shows that our fears are never as huge as they seem.

More Online Books at Big Universe

I happened across this website in my Google Alerts. It has a huge number of picture books, scanned and up to read. You do have to have a membership to read whole books, but you can preview them for free.

My favorite is that there are a number of different skill levels represented. Picture books, easy readers, and even some graphic nonfiction.

Not quite as fab as holding the book in your hands, but a great resource all the same.

Awards Reactions

Now that everyone's had time to chew it over, here's what I think of the picture-book and early readers winners from the ALA.

Caldecott: I reviewed The House in the Night back in December and loudly proclaimed my love for it. When they announced this title on the webcast, I screamed so loud that my co-worker had to make soothing noises.

Geisel: Now I haven't read Are You Ready to Play Outside? But I have read other Elephant and Piggie books, and you have to admit, Willems really knows what he's doing in this field. The honors were what made me go, "Hmm!" I did love One Boy, which is one of those picture books that wasn't marketed as an early reader but works as one. I wasn't expecting a nonfiction book like Wolfsnail to show up (although it's not strictly prohibited here or in any of the other awards which normally go to fiction). I was interested to see that Stinky is actually a sort of very young graphic novel. I think I'll go use my ALSC and YALSA memberships to bug people for a GN award.

Coretta Scott King: I haven't read The Blacker the Berry. I hope that when I do, I'll understand why Before John Was a Jazz Giant just got an honor.

Agree? Disagree? Desperately craving an ice cream sandwich? Do share. Especially the ice cream if you got it.

Dash over to Confessions of a Bibliovore for my take on the YA and MG winners.

No Stupid Questions: Anastasia Suen Talks Early Readers

Welcome to the first in my (probably sporadic) interview series, called No Stupid Questions, where I interview an expert on some topic that I'm woefully underinformed on, and share the responses with you!

This year, the Cybils have introduced a new category: Easy Readers (also known as early readers). This was the brainchild of Anastasia Suen, who is also the first Category Organizer. Anastasia is a writer, educator, blogger, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that she fights crime on the side. The woman is exhausting.

I met Anastasia at the Kidlit 08 conference and after hearing her talk about easy readers for five minutes, I realized she’d forgotten more than I ever knew on the subject. As a children’s librarian in real life, I figured this was something I needed more information about. Anastasia agreed to take time out to answer a couple of stupid questions about easy readers and how parents, teachers, and librarians can use them.

What makes a book an easy reader?
Easy readers are books for kids who are learning how to read on their own. Learning to read isn't something that happens overnight. It's a series of small steps. So easy reader books are divided into three categories- emergents, early readers and transitional readers (or chapter books).

The simplest ones, the emergent readers, have just a word or a phrase on each page. Most of the story is told in the art.

The next step up, early readers, have more words in them. The art and the text work together to tell the story.

Chapter books are the third step. These books help kids transition from stories where the art gives clues to meaning of the words on the page to books where the art is decoration. (This is why teachers call these books, transitional readers.)

Who are the kids who read them?
Every child in school learns to read with easy readers. It takes time to learn all of the words in a story, so we begin with stories that have a few words and lots of clues in the art (emergents). As children learn to read more words, they can read longer and longer stories (early readers). The art becomes smaller and smaller until one day the child can read stories without relying on the art to help them figure out what is happening in the story (chapter books).

How should grown-ups use easy readers with the kids in their lives?
Children learn to read by reading the same words over and over and over. Practice makes perfect! Adults can support this by having lots of simple books available for children to read by themselves. At the same time, they can continue to read harder books to their child. (What a child can read independently and what a child can listen to are very different. It takes a long time for a child's reading level to catch up to his listening level.)

What are some of your favorite individual books or series?
There are so many wonderful choices! I love the classics, like Go, Dog, Go, by P.D. Eastman, the Fox books by James Marshall, Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel, and Commander Toad by Jane Yolen.

What do you think the outlook is for easy readers?
I think there will always be a need for easy readers. Kids need these simple books to learn how to read.

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Thanks, Anastasia! The Easy Readers shortlist, along with all the other Cybils shortlist, will be announced on January 1 and the winner on February 14.

In the meantime, check out Anastasia's new blog all about easy readers, Easy to Read.