The vanishment of Thomas Tull by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

The Vanishment of Thomas Tull is a book from my permanent read-a-loud collection.  I have a handful of books that I read to students every year and Thomas Tull is one of them.  The Ahlbergs are master story tellers - you might know this from The Jolly Postman, Each Peach Pear Plum, Peepo, and Jeremiah in the Dark Woods to name just a handful of their special titles.

"When Thomas Tull was seven years old he stopped growing, which was bad, and began shrinking, which was worse.  By the time he was seven and a half none of his clothes fitted him at all; and when his eighth birthday arrived he had to stand on a box to blow his candles out."

These are the opening lines of The Vanishment of Thomas Tull.  Don't you love that word 'vanishment'.  Thomas is clearly shrinking - will he completely vanish?  Mrs Tull is hysterical with fear and berates her long suffering husband Mr Tull to do something!  A cast of interesting characters arrive after Mr Tull advertises :

"1000 Pounds  REWARD
One thousand pounds reward is offered to any man woman or child who is able to prevent Master Thomas Tull of 158 Balaclava Road from shrinking away.  A further one thousand pounds will be paid to anyone who can restore this well-loved but unfortunate boy to his former size."

The family try food cooked by world famous chefs and doctors from around the world like the Honorable Doctor Chop-Chop from China who uses an Enlargero-Phonotron - but it does not work only his rabbit gets bigger.  Other people come trying to claim the reward.  A little girl even tries to blow Thomas up with a bicycle pump.  Thomas also dances with a duchess and flies with a Baron but Thomas keeps shrinking and then one day he disappears!  Here is a hint - all the downstairs furniture from the Tull's house also disappears that night.

There are detailed line drawings all through this book. I especially like the page where Dr Gristlebone tries to stretch Thomas.  This is another one of those little out of print books but you might be lucky and find a copy in your library I even found one this year in a local second hand bookshop.  You might like to read about Janet and Allan Ahlberg here.

Tuesday by David Wiesner

David Wiesner is one of those super talented illustrators who creates master pieces in the form of picture books. The first David Wiesner book I read was June 29, 1999. It introduced me to some oddly named but real vegetables like arugula.

Tuesday is an almost wordless or textless picture book - it contains an amazing fantasy story all told through rich night time illustrations. The story begins on Tuesday evening around eight.  The scene is a swamp and the moon is rising.  The first surprise comes as you turn the page - two huge frogs sitting on lily pads which are floating above the swamp and so the adventures begins as the frog take off over the neighborhood.  At 11.21 a man sitting in his kitchen enjoying a late night snack sees the frogs outside his window.  Later the frogs fly in the open window of an old lady as she dozes by the television. At 4.38  they flee a slobbering dog.  As the sun rises the frogs arrive back in their swamp.  That morning the town's people and police awake to the mystery of discarded lily pads lying all over the town.  The final twist, though, is on the last page - the time is next Tuesday at 7.58pm.

If you have not seen books illustrated by David Wiesner you are in for a real treat.  Take a look at his web site.  Here is a video of Tuesday. Discussion Questions. We have all of his picture books in our school library so ask to borrow one today.  Here is one word from a review that sums up this quirky book - nifty!

Footprints in the butter by Peter Mayle illustrated by Arthur Robbins

If I am famous for anything it is probably for introducing hundreds of children to Chilly Billy the little man who lives in your 'fridge and turns the light on and off.  The Amazing adventures of Chilly Billy is long out of print which is so sad.  An even more obscure book is the sequel Footprints in the butter.  In 1988 when I read Chilly Billy to a group of Year three children one of the parents from this group spied the sequel at a remainder book shop.  I am so lucky that she bought it for me.

Before you get really excited Footprints in the butter is a fun book to read but it is not nearly as fabulous as The Amazing Adventures of Chilly Billy.

As the story opens Lily or Chilly Lily as she is now known, spies footprints across the top of the butter.  Billy makes a sword from an icicle and the two set out to look for the culprit.  They don't find anyone but Billy has another wonderful tool in his collection (do you remember his amazing stretchy pole for cleaning?) - a Snooper - which lets him find anything that is breathing in the 'fridge.  The Snooper goes BeepBeepBeep near a large bump of ice.  Inside the ice is a ladybird - a gentleman named Spotty.  Now Lily and Billy have a huge dilemma - how will they free Spotty from his ice prison. Just like in the first book, Billy calls for help using his walkie talkie tuning into the I.C.E. (In Case of Emergencies) wavelength.  The Mad Jumper, Stripy Norman, Cousin Albert and a new character Orville the Very Fat Beetle all arrive to help.

Orville is very fat - can you guess how they crack the ice?  All Orville wants for a reward is a nice chunk of liver sausage.  As a thank you Spotty takes Lily and Billy on a flight around the 'fridge.

As in The Amazing Adventures of Chilly Billy, Footprints in the butter has delightful colour illustrations by Arthur Robbins and this second book is a larger format which allows you to get up close to the eccentric cast of characters.

I cannot say look for this book in your library because it won't be there but perhaps one day a publisher will discover this little gem and it will be republished - fingers crossed.

Hailstones and Halibut bones Adventures in colour by Mary O'Neill

My love of this old poetry book begins with the front cover.  I am a major fan of lighthouses.  This illustration comes from the poem What is Blue?  Each poem has a title like this - What is Red? What is Gold? and so on.

My favourite poem is What is Green?  Here are some lines that I love:

Green is the grass
And the leaves of trees
Green is the smell
Of a country breeze
...
Green is coolness
You get in the shade
Of the tall old woods
Where the moss is made.
...
April is green
Peppermint too.
Every elf has
One green shoe.

In my library I have an old video that compliments this lyrical book.  This book was first published in 1961 but reading it now still feels as fresh as that country breeze.

Here is a set of lesson ideas.  You can see some of the illustrations by Leonard Weisgard here.

You might also like The Black book of Colours. I met the illustrator Rosana Faria at the IBBY Congress in London this year.

Wishbone by Janeen Brian illustrated by Kilmeny Niland

There is a little book in our library called Green Fingers by Emily Rodda from the Solo series.  The premise is that if you plant something - anything - it will grow.  So the boy in this story plants parts of a bicycle and yes!  he grows a bicycle.

In this book Wishbone, Henry is desperate for a dog.  This is something I really identify with.  All through primary school I wished desperately for a dog and then in Year 7 I got one - a beautiful Labrador crossed with Border Collie called Charlie. He was smart and handsome and my very best friend.

Living next door to Henry is a dog called Wagger.  Wagger belongs to Mr Perry and while Wagger is fun to play with Henry really wants a dog of his very own.  Then one day Wagger gives Henry a special bone. Henry plants the bone beside his mother's bean seeds and each day he waters his bone and waits.  The beans grow up big and strong but no dog comes.  "Days passed and the bean plants great tall and green and rambly.  But the place where Henry had planted the bone stayed brown and bare.  Then one morning Henry heard a small excited bark ..."

When I sat down to blog this book tonight I had a lovely surprise because I had not realized the illustrator was Kilmeny Niland.  I went to a tribute exhibition of her work earlier this year. Sadly she died in 2009.

It is fun to read books about dogs and we have so many in our library.  Among my favourite picture books are Cannonball Simp by John Burningham, Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion, Francie's Paper Puppy by Achim Broger and Let's get a pup by Bob Graham.  I know Wishbone is the perfect addition to this collection and I will add it as another one to read aloud.  I also collect toys so I have all the special dog characters like Kipper, Clifford and Spot.

You can take a look inside this book here and a review worth reading too.

Letters to Missy Violet by Rebecca Hathaway

For about an hour yesterday I was living in an African American neighborhood in about 1929 - such is the power of the writing in this book - I was totally transported.  Letters to Missy Violet is a small but powerful book.

I have now discovered that this is the second book in a series (the first is called Missy Violet and me) but I can honestly say this book does stand alone since I had no sense that I was reading a sequel.

One of the things I should do when I read books is record how I came to find them.  Thinking about it I remember I put this book onto my Kindle because I saw a review in Horn Book and when I see books with one or two stars (their highest rating) I often stop and consider purchasing them.  I will now buy a print copy of this book for my library because I do think students, especially girls, in senior primary classes would enjoy meeting Viney.

Viney is the narrator of this story set in the rural south.  As the book opens the children in this small country school have a new teacher and Viney's friend Miss Violet has left to look after her brother who lives in Tallahassee. Miss Violet is the town midwife and she is a lady of wisdom who has has great skills with healing using plants.  Viney has been learning about these remedies along with assisting with baby catching.  Rebecca Hathaway tells this story through a series of letters between Viney and Miss Violet.  Viney talks about school, her family and the community and we gain a very intimate insight into her life and the lives of those around her.

"When Missy Violet and I are not catching a baby we visit the sick and shut-in. She takes them teas and poultices and creams. Sometimes she just sits there and talks to them. I like that part of helping the sick.  I like helping people get better. It gives me a good feeling inside. And I like to hold new babies after they are born."

I especially liked the characters in this book - I felt as though I was part of the family or perhaps one of the children in Viney's class.  Along with the small town story the bigger picture of the Depression, African American rights, poverty and even the KKK are mentioned.  Also there is a strong (but not overly didactic) message in this book about the value of education which as a teacher I did appreciate.

The Kirkus reviewer said : Like a warm cup of alphabet soup, this offering packs several essential ingredients--hope, love, despair, courage, family, honor--into a hearty, child-size blend.

You can read a detailed review here.

The mummer's song by Bud Davidge and Ian Wallace

In Australia our Christmas is very different from the one celebrated by our Northern Hemisphere cousins.  The day will be sunny and in some places very hot.  Families may enjoy prawns or a barbecue  and children will wake early to the sound of birds and the light of sunshine.  Oddly though we still have trees with snow on our Christmas cards and pictures of stockings hanging beside warm fires.

This is why I enjoy finding books with different Christmas traditions.  When I was in Canada many years ago I bought this book The Mummer's Song.  Mummers are a Christmas tradition in Newfoundland bought there by the early settlers from Ireland and West Country of England.

For 12 days after Christmas you can expect a knock at the door. You will be greeted by a group of local people in outlandish fancy dress.  Invite them in and try to guess who they are.  Share some hospitality and fruit cake and enjoy some music and dancing.  My copy of this book came with a cassette tape but you can hear the song here.