Chrissie Writes, Vol. 42
Hello, readers!
July is the best month of the year: it’s the only month that school doesn’t touch, allowing for deeper reading and more creative capacity than I can muster during the school year. I’ve read some incredible novels, and I am getting ready to query a picture book project I adore. That, plus hiking, swimming, and berry-picking galore. I can’t help but be a little melancholy that it’s almost over.
That said, I’ve got a sensational stack for you. Let’s get to it.
The Read Aloud Test
Usually, this corner of my newsletter is stocked with picture books that passed the read-aloud test — ones that wowed the crowd when read aloud over and over again. Since it’s summer and I’m out of the library, I haven’t read these to a group yet, but they’re the ones I truly cannot wait to share with kids when school is back in session. (Stay tuned for my conclusions in a future edition of Read Alouds, Ranked.)
Meanwhile, I am slowly working my way through Jane Smiley’s 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel. Smiley asserts that we should read novels broadly, because it is reading itself that “will teach [the reader] not only what she likes but what there is to like, and why.”
I’m taking this on as a mantle of sorts for the library: how might we, through the read-aloud, help kids discover what there is to like, and why? How might we provide a broad menu of delights, so that kids can find themselves as readers among the offerings? Today’s selections offer one such menu.
Bear for a Day by Corey Tabor: Time and again, Corey Tabor produces some of my most memorable read-alouds, and he’s at it again. The setup is a simple question: if you were a bear for a day, what would you do? But the execution is infinitely more wily (and delightful). We’ve got metafiction, we’ve got plot twists, we’ve got a mysterious cast of characters commenting on the story as it’s told… we’ve got one hell of a picture book that begs for re-reading.
I Am the Mountain by Steven Weinberg: I love books that stop kids in their tracks and make them marvel, “Wait… a picture book can do that?” Here, they’ll encounter a book told from one spot, a book that makes demands of all their senses, a book told by a mountain. The art is some of my personal favorite of the year, and I love how the language invites kids to marvel without feeling like it’s showing off for the grown-ups in the room. This would make a playful pairing with last year’s Stalactite and Stalagmite by Drew Beckmeyer.
The Cow in the Dark At Night by Jess Hannigan: it’s official.. this is my new favorite Jess Hannigan. Every year, the best antidote to my back-to-school blues is having a book that I cannot wait to read aloud. And this year? This is the book. A sweet and bumbling cow just wants to know what happens on the farm after dark, and boy is she in for a surprise — or five. (Yes, there are aliens.) The first person cow POV and the ensuing dialogue will be especially fun to voice as a read aloud.
The Great Frog by Katie Palazzola: if the cast of Charlie Brown hallucinated an episode of Stranger Things. This is a sweet brother & sister story with whispers of science and scifi; its gentle conversational cadence will read aloud like a dream.
Short Chapter Hits
At the start of the summer, I placed a flurry of holds on books from the NYRB Children’s Collection, and boy was I rewarded, particularly with this pair of short chapter books:
Meet Monster: The First Big Monster Book by Ellen Blance and Ann Cook, illustrated by Quentin Blake: this is a compilation of early readers in a single volume, and it accomplishes what most compilations don’t: the stories build on one another, rewarding the reader with characters that develop and a plot that progresses, rather than the customary episodic whiplash. Readers will feel both satisfied and proud, and now I want 100 more. (And look at that art — how lovable is Monster!?)
The Marzipan Pig by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Quentin Blake: this is going to be very niche, but this book feels like if The Oldest Bitch Alive were a children’s chapter book. If you’re a fellow litfic enthusiast intrigued by the notion of a polyphonic narrative that decenters humans and elevates the objects and animals surrounding a household, you will love reading this with your kids. Plus, it’s from the author of the Frances books, AND it’s hilarious.
Get Graphic
…and the hits keep coming! This month’s graphics include a personal favorite of the year and one I predict will circulate like hotcakes in the library.
Aurora and the Orc by Lewis Trondheim, translated by Montana Kane: I can’t remember the last time a book made me cackle this much: out loud, at regular intervals from start to finish, to the distraction of every member of my household (who are all now taking turns to read the book, even my husband). It reads like Hilda meets I Do Not Eat Children, crackling with audacious humor that takes grown-ups to task for the way they govern the structures of childhood. When my fourth grade son read it, he remarked, “This book is translated? They must have really good books in France!” Indeed. *a favorite of the year
Wolf’s Belly by John August and Simon Estrada: Think Little Red with swagger. This book bobs and weaves through familiar fairy tale beats, but does so with both more philosophy and more ferocity than our tepid Disney imaginings. Of note: lightning-fast action and a great font size. The similarity of the art to Endlessly Ever After will make this a particularly seamless recommendation for fans of that volume who have aged up.
This Month on Chrissie Writes
Here’s a roundup of my other posts from the past month. Feel free to upgrade to a paid subscription to access my full archive. Don’t miss my favorite read-alouds from last school year.
Happy reading,
Chrissie
