The lost boy's gift by Kimberly Willis Holt illustrated by Jonathan Bean

 

Daniel has had to move to a new town, a new house, a new school and a new neighbourhood. Daniel, aged nine, is not happy. He desperately misses his dad who is now living and working far away. His mum seems remote and distracted. Nothing, nothing, nothing seems to happen in his new street called While-a-Way Lane. Luckily Daniel is a boy with an imagination. He is an observant boy and a curious one. He sees his elderly neighbour Tilda Butter talking to herself. He watches the mailman Dewey Wonder and thinks his behaviour is suspicious. There is also something very odd about the piano teacher. Daniel decides to become a spy. 

Now let's meet Tilda. She has lived in this same house in While-a-Way lane since was a very young girl. Her parents were performers and one summer they left Tilda with her Aunt Sippy. Her parents never returned. Aunt Sippy died a long time ago and so now Tilda lives alone with her dog Fred. But Tilda has a gift. As the title implies perhaps Daniel has one too. Tilda's gift means she can understand the language of animals - all animals such as spiders, ants and even a small snake that lives in her garden. The only animal she cannot understand is her dog Fred. 

Living in this town there are lots of fireflies. When she was young the fireflies were attracted to Tilda and now it seems they have found Daniel:

"He saw a group of tiny twinkling lights in front of him. Was it a falling star? The sparkles moved closer and surrounded Daniel, casting a glow on him like a spotlight. Fireflies! ... Daniel peddled quickly past Tilda Butter's mailbox to see what the fireflies would do. To his amazement, they kept up, circling him like a hug."

At school Daniel discovers there are plans to stage the play of Peter Pan. This is Daniel's favourite book. He longs to get a role as one of the lost boys.  Yes he is a lost boy in real life. Over the coming weeks Daniel will score a small part in the play, he will make friends with Tilda along with a girl who has a lemonade stand. His anger will subside. He will ride the town Ferris wheel. Things will change for Tilda too. And for Dewey Wonder!

The lost boy's gift is an easy read (ages 8+) but the story packs a real punch. I loved the way each chapter alternated between Daniel and Tilda. The Tilda chapters are quite delightful especially the scene where she serves tea to the spider who resides in her garden and the gentle unfolding of her relationship with Dewey Wonder. I also enjoyed the town map which has such delightful names - Tooth Fairy Dentistry; This n'That Street; Fly me to the Moon kite shop; and Penny's Pogo Stick Store.

Read Chapter One here. For more plot details read the Kirkus Star review. Here is the website for Kimberly Willis Holt; and my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has a post about Jonathan Bean.

The town of Falling Star Valley reminded me of Rosetown and the relationships in The Truth of Me.  Older readers might enjoy a similar book - Walking with Miss Millie.

Little Rat sets Sail by Monika Bang-Campbell illustrated by Molly Bang

Little Rat's parents sign her up for sailing lessons but Little Rat is utterly terrified of falling in the water. She is wearing a life jacket but it does not give her courage:

"Little Rat felt shy and nervous.
She looked different from everybody else.
Her life jacket was gray, with a big red stripe across it and laces up the sides.
Everybody else had on neat yellow-and-orange zip-up life jackets.
Everybody else was cool.
Little Rat felt like a dork.
She wanted to go home."

Luckily for Little Rat, the instructor, Buzzy Bear, is patient, intiutive, kind and a terrific teacher and so over the coming weeks of summer Little Rat tries new things, there are no terrible disasters, and Little Rat surprises herself by learning to sail and discovering she actually likes it!

Here are some of the important words for new sailors: mooring, heeling, capsize, centerboard, tiller, mainsail, cockpit, jib. There is also an excellent labelled diagram included.

Little Rat is a brave little sailor with her own shy appeal and Bang’s charming illustrations are impossible to resist. Kirkus

It is such a shame that I am so late coming to this book because it is out of print and because I missed so many opportunities to put this gem of a book into the hands of keen readers in my former school library. I am sure this would have been a popular book so many of the children at my school were sailors or lived in families with boats. Yes we did have a copy of Little Rat sets Sail, and no you can't read every book, BUT I do wish I had taken the time to read Little Rat sets Sail and the sequels. With just 45 pages, and five chapters this is a PERFECT book for a keen sailor, for a reader who is curious about sailing, and for a newly independent reader. I am happy to see this book is still available in my old school library but sadly this other very special book, illustrated by Molly Bang, has been disposed:

Molly Bang is the mother of Monika Bang-Campbell and I was not surprised to discover Monika is a keen sailor. The sailing vocabulary and experience are so accurately explained in this story.

Here are the other two books about Little Rat:

If you are looking for a couple of other books to share with your young sailor or keen boating person.
You might find these in a well stocked library:

And for an older student you could look for Fort Island from the Aussie Bites series:

Almost Anything by Sophy Henn

I take huge delight in reading picture books like Almost Anything. The premise seems almost obvious. Has any other picture book author thought of this idea? Belief in special magic, shared by a wise elder, can give you the courage to try new things.

Little George the rabbit has huge doubts. He thinks he is a failure or he has fear of failure so he declines every invitation by his forest friends. No he won't try kite flying. He won't dance or roller skate. He is certain he cannot paint or even play a game of skittles. While everyone is busy with "this and that" George did nothing.

A wise old bear observes the scene. The bear takes a piece of paper and folds it:

"For you,' said Bear as she handed him a small paper hat. 'It's magic.' 
'Really?' asked George.
'Really,' said Bear. 'If you wear this hat, I'm quite sure you will be able to do almost anything, even roller skating."

George puts the hat on and tries roller skating but he is just too wobbly. Bear reassures George that he can ride those skates he just needs to give the magic a little more time to work. This is all the encouragement he needs. George preservers and after a little more practice he finds he can roller skate. This gives him the courage to try other things like dancing, painting, reading, knitting and even a game of chess. Keen eyes will notice something though. The hat is gone!  What will George do now? Can Bear step in and offer more gentle wisdom - of course she can.

This is the first time I have encountered Sophy Henn but I now discover she has an impressive body of work including board books and other titles for preschool children.  Take a look at this review where you can see inside this book.  Almost Anything has been short listed (see image below for all the shot listed titles) for Oscar's Book Prize (2019) which is a UK prize awarded to the best preschool book of the year. The winner for 2019 was How to be a Lion by Ed Vere. Click the title to see a video of the book and watch out for the word meandering - how wonderful to see this use of vocabulary in a book designed for the youngest readers. I am keen to check out more of these short listed titles.

Corduroy by Don Freeman

Corduroy is one of my top five picture books and if you consider the hundreds and hundreds of picture books I have read over thirty three years as a Teacher-Librarian this is a fairly huge claim. There is an official Corduroy web site. Here is a wonderful set of discussion questions from the site Teaching Children Philosophy.

Why do I love Corduroy (1968) and the sequel A Pocket for Corduroy (1978)?

Corduroy
I love the eye contact between Lisa and Corduroy as she is led from the store by her mother. Kirkus call this poignant
I love the way Corduroy perseveres when he is looking for his missing button
I love the imagination of Corduroy - could the escalator be a mountain, could the furniture department be a palace
There is real tension when the night watchman discovers Corduroy hiding under the bed
I love that Lisa uses the money from her own piggy bank to pay for Corduroy
The final lines of the first book make me smile :

"You must be a friend,' said Corduroy. 'I've always wanted a friend.'
'Me too!' said Lisa, and she gave him a hug."

Corduroy the DVD/Video
There are so many joyous extras in the Western Woods film:
When Corduroy realises his button is missing he rubs the spot on his overalls just to check
Corduroy discovers a train in the toy department. He twists the 'button' and finds he is careering around the track at high speed
Up in the furniture department the night watchman nearly catches him. Luckily Corduroy places himself in a camping display complete with hat and fishing rod
Pulling off the mattress button the threads break one strand at a time creating wonderful anticipation
When Lisa sews on a new button she asks about his name and decides the name Corduroy will be perfect. Corduroy looks directly at the viewer and moves his head ever so slightly - a magic moment that always delights me.

A pocket for Corduroy
I love talking to the children about how laundromats work and linking this with another famous book Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
A random comment about checking pockets sets up a new mission for Corduroy to find one for himself
I love the way the artist customer rescues Corduroy and then he thoughtfully dries out his overalls. "He unbuttoned Corduroy's shoulder straps and put his overalls in the dryer ... Then he helped Corduroy put on his warm, dry overalls. ... Corduroy was gently placed on top of a washing machine."
I love the optimism of Corduroy when he is stranded in the laundromat
Again the final lines are to be treasured.
"Oh, Corduroy! Why didn't you tell me you wanted a pocket?' asked Lisa. ... (and) he and Lisa nuzzled noses."

My little Corduroy toy is also very precious to me.