Balzer and Bray on the Brain

In Honor of New Releases From Balzer + Bray

I’ve been thinking a lot about Balzer & Bray lately. I like the work they do, at least the picture books and middle grade I know. They have two of my favorite authors in Mo Willems and Bob Shea, and two editors who’ve been nothing but nice to me in Ruta Rimas and Alessandra Balzer (yep, one half of B+B).

So I’m kind of excited about this post. No analysis, no breakdowns, just books I love.

The first up is Bob Shea’s I’m a Shark. Shea is the master of the braggadocios four-year old with a whimsical touch of vulnerability. I’m a Shark is every bit as good as Dinosaur vs. Bedtime. Clipped phrases, a boastful main character, with lots of dialogue. An easy read aloud or an easy reader, whichever works best for your little dinosaur (or shark).

The plot: Shark isn’t afraid of anything. Well, there is that one thing, but… I can’t give away the punchline. Let’s just say adults will find Shea’s ending accurate and comical, and children will see more than a little bit of Shark in themselves.

I saw Alessandra discuss (OK, dissect) this book at the SCBWI Winter Conference in New York. Knew from that moment I was going to have to study it. More on the dilemma this presents in my next post).

Mo Willems has a habit of creating characters that can anchor an entire series: Pigeon, Elephant and Piggie, Cat the Cat, and so on. This times he takes a shortcut and puts his series in just one book: a collection of short stories featuring Amanda and her Alligator. Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator! centers on an imaginative, impulsive child whose best friend is a stuffed alligator. I think I also encountered this book in NYC and found it adorable. (Yes, grown men can use that word when discussing children’s books.)

Amanda has a wild side in her, reminiscent of Pigeon, but there’s a soft side, too, like Piggie. Hard to put all that in a picture book, but Mo does it again.

Both I’m a Shark and Hooray for Amanda & her Alligator! were released today. The third book I’d like to discuss isn’t available until May 3rd: Eric Luper’s Jeremy Bender and the Cupcake Cadets.

Eric’s second book with Balzer + Bray is also his first middle grade. I’ve taken an interest in middle grade lately since Ruta suggested I give it a shot. So will do. I’ll be picking up Eric’s book at Hudson Children’s Book Festival on May 7th. Can’t wait to see him again (and read about Jeremy Bender!).

In the meantime, here’s the book trailer. Enjoy Eric, times two.

5 Great Bedtime Stories for Your Young Reader

I’ve seen several newspaper articles that say bedtime stories are dead. Passé. You know, like newspapers. Or picture books. I don’t know. I have my doubts. Yes, I’ve largely stopped reading them to my 7 year old, who generally reads on his own at bedtime, but from ages 2 to 5 it was a nightly ritual.

 

Back then, it was all Thomas all the time. Thomas the Tank Engine books, stories I recapped from the series, and original stories as they came into my head. I also read plenty of Dr. Seuss, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and even my own rough drafts of children’s books (plenty of my picture books were born while putting Johnny K to bed).

 

So, do you still read bedtime stories to your children, or is The Baltimore Sun, et al, right?

 

5 Great Bedtime Stories

 

1.      Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea – a dinosaur defeats everything from spaghetti to pajamas, but he can’t beat sleep. Complete with a tiring *yawn* at the end, this funny picture book reminds your young dinosaur they have to sleep some time.
 

2.      Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson – Harold goes on plenty of dreamlike, moonlit adventures before returning home to the comfort of his own bed for a goodnight’s sleep.

3.      Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems – sure the pigeon does what every child does – fights to get away with staying up late, but the more he protests, the more tired he gets until zzzzz…

4.       Harry and Horsie by Katie Van Camp – Harry gives up going to bed to play with his best friend Horsie, the stuffed animal he sleeps with every night. They undertake an out-of-this world adventure captured in retro art right out of a 1950s comic book or the Sunday funnies.

 5.      Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown – OK, so this is the all-time classic kidlit goodnight. Rich artwork, simplistic story, and a child who says goodnight to everything. What’s not to love? A reminder throughout that bedtime is coming (and pair this with Peggy Rathmann’s Good Night, Gorilla for a funny ending…)

Hard to recommend 5 books when you want to list 50. I tried to stick to largely contemporary works, though Goodnight Moon and Harold were just too good to pass up. That said, I also love Maurice Sendak’s brilliant Where the Wild Things Are or the pastoral works of Kevin Henkes. Consider folktales filled with Jerry Pinkney’s wonderful watercolor, the traditional stories of Hans Christian Anderson, the long-winded but delightful works of Oscar Wilde…

 

So many great stories to put your little one to sleep. So what are your favorite bedtime stories? What tales do you remember best?