This children’s picture book by Timothy B. Ering debuted in early 2017, and is a wonderful story about the power of music. Captain Alfred is sailing home with some new ducks and a very special surprise for his wife in his fiddle case : a duckling egg. But a fierce storm hits the small boat and the newly hatched young duckling finds himself alone, floating in a fiddle case. He happens upon the fiddle in the water, and embraces it, and it makes the most beautiful sound. It tames the huge dog that Alfred stumbles across once on land. And the wife, fearfully waiting on the porch for her husband to return from sea, hears the sound as well and races to the duckling’s rescue. And guess who else hears it? A perfect story for this year’s summer reading program!
Archive for the ‘Children’s Readers Advisory’ Category
The Unexpected Love Story of Alfred Fiddleduckling
May 8, 2018Mock Caldecott
January 31, 2018
The youth librarians of Rockland County held a Mock Caldecott event yesterday to choose the most distinguished children’s book with respect to artistic excellence. It was quite an interesting experience: four groups were formed with 10 books each to whittle down eventually to one winner. Then the 4 winners were ranked by the entire group as a whole. The results were: winning with the most number of first place votes was “Blue Sky White Stars“, illustrated by Kadir Nelson; a picture book about patriotism whose original art was beautifully done in oils on canvas. Our honor award book with the most second place votes was “Windows“, written by Julia Denos and illustrated by E.B. Goodall. This is a story about a late afternoon- early evening stroll through the urban neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts. A young boy walking his dog peeks into neighbors’ windows to see the small scale theater that takes place within each. So on Monday, February 12, we will find out how close we came to the ALA Caldecott Committee’s choices for a winner! Here is a clip of the process of writing Windows, and a review of Blue Sky White Stars…
Loss of a pet & parent titles for youth
June 17, 2017
The NY Times Book Review this weekend has profiled five new books for youth that deal with loss: four picture book titles that tackle the loss of a pet, and one teen novel that deals with the loss of a mother. Splotch by Gianna Marino & Goldfish Ghost by Lemony Snicket both look at the loss of a pet goldfish; Hey, Boy by Benjamin Strouse deals with a boy and a dog, and Colette’s Lost Pet by Isabelle Arsenault takes a glimpse at a young girl’s attempt to fit into a new neighborhood by inventing the loss of a pet bird.
The teen novel is Speed of Life, by Carol Weston, which I have read and enjoyed. A young teen loses her mother suddenly and must deal with her father dating again. To make matters worse, her dad’s girlfriend has a daughter, Alexa, who is about the same age as Sofia, the protagonist, and is less than thrilled about her mom dating Sofia’s dad. Plus Alexa is not very friendly to Sofia, who turns to an advice columnist, “Dear Kate” for help in dealing with her loss. Recommended for teens in grades 7 and up.
A Dog’s Purpose: A Novel for Humans
April 18, 2017
This novel by W. Bruce Cameron is told from the dog’s perspective and is very entertaining. Usually cats are thought to have nine lives; here it is a puppy that experiences being born four different times. He tries to figure out his purpose in living four different lives, and as he comes full circle, becoming Bailey once again, he realizes his purpose at last. A great read, especially for dog lovers. The sequel to this title is A Dog’s Journey: Another Novel for Humans, for those who enjoyed Bailey’s adventures. Children will enjoy Bailey’s Story: a Dog’s Purpose Novel, and Ellie’s Story.
“Boat of Dreams”
March 1, 2017Rogerio Coelho is an internationally known illustrator of children’s books. In 2015, he won Brazil’s Jabuti Award for the best children’s illustrations for his book “Boat of Dreams.”
Eighty pages in length, “Boat of Dreams” is a wordless children’s book that will appeal to a wide range of juvenile readers. The story probably asks more questions, at first read, then it will answer. Since the story is told visually, the first step for the reader is just to look at all the intricate illustrations, which the author/illustrator has done using a limited palette of blues and sepia shading.
After this first look, the reader can return to the first page and begin to interpret the drawings and create a narrative. Perhaps, 
even a third reading might be needed to draw some conclusions about the man and the boy. Are they two different people or one individual? Are they separated by only distance or also by time? Are they dreaming of the future or of the past?
This wonderful story would be a great book for a child to be read with an adult. As each explores the illustrations, they could create their version of the meaning of “Boat of Dreams”on their own voyage of imagination.
