What kid hasn’t taken a pile of junk (aka treasures), combined it with a heavy dose of imagination, and then spent untold hours making something wondrous?  Violet Van Winkle does just that in Violet the Pilot.  Written and illustrated by Steve Breen (Dial 2008), this picture book captures the imaginative spirit that all kids seem to possess.

 While other girls her age play with dolls and tea sets, Violet plays “with monkey wrenches and needle-nose pliers.”  Violet also has the amazing good fortune of living next to a junkyard (how cool is that?), and thus has access to all kinds of amazing stuff (can you believe someone threw this away?)

 By the time she’s eight, Violet is creating “elaborate” flying machines.  Machines like the Bicycopter (think bicycle-powered helicopter), the Pogo Plane, and the Wing-a-ma-jig. 

Naturally, kids at school don’t understand Violet, and they tease her.  Perhaps if Violet wins the airshow, she can win some friends too . . .  But what if Violet can’t make it to the airshow at all?

This cliffhanger and others such as “What exactly is a Tub-bubbler?” are explored in Violet the Pilot.  Let your imagination soar with this fun picture book that encourages kids to dream big.

What do you do if you’re the new girl at school and no one smiles at you or talks to you or sits by you at lunch?  Well, if you’re Lissy, you make a friend.  You make an origami crane to be your new friend at your new school.

Author/illustrator Grace Lin uses wonderfully vibrant patterns and colors to tell the story Lissy’s Friends (Viking 2007).  As the new girl, Lissy hasn’t made friends yet, so she makes a paper crane to be her friend. 

After school Lissy’s mother asks her, “Did you make any friends in school today?”  She answers, “Well . . . I did make one friend.” 

Lissy makes herself more and more origami animals.  Soon she has a whole flock of origami friends.  And these paper friends keep her company and help her . . . until she can make people friends of her own.

In March I attended the Missouri SCBWI Agents Day.  One of the agents praised Dan Yaccarino’s The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau (Knopf, 2009) and sure enough, this is a fantastic picture book–biography, science, and nature all rolled up with wonderful text and artwork.  Check out this trailer.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”  A fire fighter, an Olympic speed skater, a veterinarian, maybe president of the United  States?   So You Want to be President? written by Judith St. George and illustrated by David Small (Penguin) gives the real scoop about being president. 

There are good things about being president:  a big white mansion, a swimming pool, a bowling alley, and a movie theatre in your house.  There are bad things about being president too: dressing up all the time, having people throw cabbages at you (ask William Howard Taft about that one), and nonstop homework.  

“Lots of people want to be President.  If you want to be President, it might help if your name is James.  Six presidents were named James.”  It also might help if you live in a log cabin.  “People are crazy about log-cabin Presidents” (there have been eight).

This fun, non-fiction picture book shares quirky, interesting facts and quotes from past presidents.  For instance, did you know that a female reporter once caught John Quincy Adams skinny-dipping in the Potomac and she “snatched his clothes and sat on them until he gave her an interview?”  John Quincy Adams also said being president was “the four most miserable years of my life” (perhaps because he couldn’t skinny-dip without paparrazi on his tail). 

So You Want to be President? is the perfect book for that kid who loves trivia and random facts.  You know, the kid who remembers obscure details about Albus Dumbledore’s family tree and would be a natural on the TV game show Jeopardy.

David Small’s Caldecott-winning caricatures of the presidents add an extra layer of humor.  Richard Nixon scowls as Warren Harding wins a presidential beauty contest and George H.W. Bush sits backstage green with envy (literally) as Ronald Reagan gets wild applause. 

Originally published in 2000, So You Want to be President?  was updated in 2004:  three presidents were now named George instead of just two and there was another father/son presidential duo.  With Barak Obama’s election, author Judith St. George will need to update the book again.  This time she’ll need to make an even bigger change:  deleting the words “No person of color has been President.” 

So You Want to be President? gives you plenty of inside presidential buzz.  Because, after all, if you want to be president when you grow up, it’s never too early to start preparing.

Guaranteed, Malia and Sasha Obama are going to be famous first daughters.  But long before  Malia and Sasha made the White House their home, long before Jenna and Barbara, Chelsea or Amy, was Alice Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt’s oldest daughter and perhaps the most famous and celebrated first daughter ever.

What to Do About Alice?  How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! by Barbara Kerley and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham (Scholastic, 2008) tells the story of rambunctious Alice Roosevelt, who greeted White House guests with her pet snake, joined an all boys club, zoomed around Washington D.C. in her roadster, and danced all night at parties.  Her father Teddy “called it ‘running riot.’  Alice called it, ‘Eating up the world.’”

“I can be president of the United States, or I can control Alice.  I cannot possibly do BOTH!” said President Roosevelt.  Although her mother died when Alice was two and Alice wore leg braces for many years as a child, Alice possessed just as much “bully” as her bold and adventurous father.  Her “zest for fun” made her a 1900′s celebrity and irresistible material for gossip columns.  Nicknamed “Princess Alice,” Alice had babies named after her, songs written about her, and famous shenanigans that boosted her father’s popularity.   

Spunky kids everywhere (and kids who wish they were) will love reading What to Do About Alice?  The book offers an adventurous romp into the life of the spunky first daughter who was so famous she was called “the other Washington Monument.”

Since it’s summer, probably the last thing you’re thinking about is a snow day.  But in some ways, summertime seems like one long snow day–no school, a change in the schedule, extra family time.

Snow Day! by Lester Laminack and illustrated by Adam Gustavson (Peachtree, 2007) praises those magical days (to kids and teachers at least) when school is cancelled and everyone gets to stay home. 

It all starts when a boy hears the weather report:   “Did you hear that?  Did the weatherman just say what I thought he did?  Did he say . . . SNOW?  Oh please, let it snow.  Lots and lots of snow.”

Think of all the great things a snow day means:  “No alarm clock ringing.”  “Tomorrow we’ll have a PJ day.  We’ll pile on the sofa and snuggle under that old blue blanket.”  “We can build a snow fort down by the walk.”  “We’ll go sledding in Mrs. Cope’s field.” 

The snow begins to fall and the weather report says it’s getting colder.  “Maybe we’ll get TWO snow days.”  The family goes to bed as snow begins to fall.  Except . . .

. . . sometimes the weatherman is wrong.  And everyone has slept in.  And no one’s ready on time.  And you’d better hurry because you can’t be late! 

Sometimes the weather just won’t cooperate.  “Drat!  I really needed a snow day.”

What if your family had no soap, milk, sugar or shoes?  Such is the case for Katje and her family in Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming and illustrated by Stacey Dressen-McQueen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003).  Set in Holland just after World War II, Katje and her little town of Olst are struggling to get by.  Katje is thrilled when one spring morning she gets a surprise package from America, “the land of plenty.”  The box contains a cake of soap, a pair of wool socks, a chocolate bar, and a letter:  “Dear Dutch Friend, I hope these gifts brighten your day.  Your American Friend, Rosie Johnson.” 

Katje is so excited to have these three treasures.  How long it has been since she’s had nice soap, warm feet, and any chocolate or sweets (that will make kids think).  Although Katje is tempted to keep the bounty for herself, she quickly decided to share.  Katje writes a thank you note to Rosie and soon they are pen pals.  Each note of Katje’s leads to another precious package from Rosie. 

When winter comes, it is “snow-deep and bitter cold, the worst winter anyone could remember.  The townspeople of Olst layered whatever clothing they had.  They huddled close to their small fires, ate sparingly from their almost empty cupboards, shivered, and prayed.”  How would they survive?

With the help of boxes for Katje.  Rosie and the townpeople of Mayfield, Indiana send boxes and boxes of supplies that help not just Katje and her family, but the entire town of Olst.   As thanks, the people of Olst, Holland send tulips bulbs to plant throughout Mayfield.

Boxes for Katje gives children a slice of history along with a beautiful story of friendship and sharing.  Rosie shares with Katje and Katje in turn shares with her family and friends.  The tulips that Olst sends as thanks give and give as they bloom each year. 

Boxes for Katje is also based on the true experiences of the author’s mother.  The afterword to the story explains that the winter of 1945 was “the worst winter of the century–plunging temperatures below zero, and in some places, piling up thirty feet of snow.”  Katje’s family and their plight tugged at the heartstrings of the people of Mayfield, Indiana and “grew into a churchwide effort to support Katje’s family through the hard winter.”

My next door neighbor just got two puppies, so naturally my kids are now clamoring for one.  It seems like every kid at some point asks “Mom, can I get a dog?”  Nice parents (like my neighbor and my sister) say, “Sure honey.”  Mean parents (like me) say “Who’s going to vacuum up the dog hair and clean up the yard?  Who’s going to walk it and take it to the vet?  Who’ll watch it while we go on vacation?  Dogs are messy.  Vets and kennels are expensive.  A dog will end up costing us a fortune.  No, no, no!”

The Best Pet of All written by David LaRochelle and illustrated by Hanako Wakiyama (Dutton, 2004), gives all those kids who have always wanted a dog the victory they deserve.  For three days straight the hero of our story asks if he can get a dog.  The answer is always no.  Finally, the little boy asks if he can get a dragon.  “If you can find a dragon, you can keep it for a pet,” says his mother.

He searches and searches and finally convinces a dragon to come home with him.  Then the trouble starts.  Dragons don’t like to pick up their toys.  “They do not like to help with chores.  And they make a mess in the kitchen.  They roast hot dogs in the living room.  And they dance to loud music all night long.”

Naturally his mother does not like this pet dragon.  But it won’t leave.  The little says, “Too bad we do not have a dog . . . Dragons do not like dogs . . .  A dog would chase the dragon away.”  Smart thinking!

I guess my kids will be asking me for a dragon next.

Jack Prelutsky’s The Dragons are Singing Tonight (illustrated by Peter Sís and published by Greenwillow, 1993) is a poetry books about dragon–pet dragons, lazy dragons, mechanical dragons, disconsolate dragons, baby dragons–dragons of all shapes and sizes.  My sister read this book often to her five boys when they were little and they love it to this day.

Using wonderful rythms and imagery, The Dragons are Singing Tonight tells the secrets of a dragon’s life.  What should you do if your dragon gets sick?  The poem My Dragon Wasn’t Feeling Good has the answer:

(This post is in honor of my mother Marian, one of the wisest–and kindest–women I have ever known.)

The Owl and the Pussy-cat is a famous nonsense poem written by the English poet, author, and illustrator Edward Lear.  A contemporary of Lewis Carroll, Lear first published the poem in 1871, and it has been illustrated and re-illustrated ever since.  The edition to the left was illustrated by Paul Galdone (Clarion, 1987).   Jan Brett also illustrated a Caribbean-style version in 1989 (Philomel).

The Owl and the Pussy-cat  is charming and silly, lilting and eminently memorizable.  When I was a girl, my mother recited this poem and had us children memorize it (the other great nonsense poem we learned being “The Purple Cow” by Gelett Burgess).  I believe all of my six siblings can still recite ”The Owl and the Pussycat” to this day (and shame on them if they can’t). 

After the owl and the pussy-cat sailed away in “a beautiful pea-green boat,” Owl serenaded his lovely Puss by the light of the stars.  Being a liberated female,

Not to worry.   After “sail[ing] away for a year and a day,” the couple finds an enterprising Piggy who is delighted to sell them his nose ring.  They are married the very next day by a turkey and celebrate with a magnificent feast using runcible spoons (a term coined by Lear and now in the dictionary).  They end the perfect wedding with dancing on the beach “by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon.”

Really, could there be anything more romantic?

So here’s to my mother, Marian.  Intelligent, compassionate, wise, and abundantly unselfish.   How we miss her.