Busy-busy, very full week and exciting events I will reveal in a few days.
[ADDENDUM:...an apology... I thought I had checked to make sure this book wasn't already on the list....and now I see that it has already been recommended last year.... my apologies....blame it on bad eyes and a thick head. I'll leave it up today as a personal pick anyway and you can check out Nessa Morris' review of the book here. Mea culpa, Susanna.]
My PPB pick today has been a personal favorite of mine this last year. I had the privilege to view a video interview of the artist, Patrice Barton, via Mark Mitchel’s How To Be A Children’s Book Illustrator class. I fell in love with her art and technique and Patrice, and have corresponded with her a couple times. There is part of the interview on the author, Shutta Crum’s website listed below. I’m sure you will enjoy this book.
(Susanna Leonard Hill is the originator of PPBF and you can find all the other PPB recommendations and links on her blog.)
Title: MINE!
Author: Shutta Crum
Illustrator: Patrice Barton
Publisher: Alfred A Knopf
Genre: Picture Book
Audience Age: 2 & up
Themes/Topics: Sharing
Opening Sentences: Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! (you get the idea)
Synopsis: A story about two very young children (a toddler and a crawling baby) and one adorable dog who don’t want to share a pile of toys. It’s a delightful playdate as the children and dog claim ownership over every toy and then some.
Why I like it: When reading this story together it elicited giggles, gasps, awwwws and even ‘oh nos!’, and that was just from me. My granddaughters love this book, one of the reasons being that they can read it. Mine! only has a vocabulary of two words in the whole book, yet speaks volumes. The toddler tries to gather all the toys before the crawler can get to any of them. Then the dog even gets into the action rounding up the toys and staking his claim with a, “Woof!” The baby is tickled by the antics of the puppy shaking a wet toy, which is my favorite scene in the book and one of the cutest and beautifully rendered baby illustrations I’ve ever seen. The baby has a final trick up her sleeve tho’ when she claims the final thing as MINE! – but I don’t want to spoil the ending for you. I first had this book on my e-reader and have read it over and over to the grand girls. But when I brought the actual book home from the library the 4-year-0ld hugged herself, squealed and said, ‘O Grandma, you got the real Mine!
For an author to craft a story around a single word is a credit to Ms. Crum’s storytelling ability. Of course with just two words the strong supporting cast is the art itself, beautifully hand drawn and colored in digital pastels by Patrice Barton. Ms Barton won the 2012 SCBWI Crystal Kite award for her illustrations in this book. You can go to her website to see more beautiful art from the book and a trailer as well.
Awards: Society of Illustrators Original Art Exhibit 2011 – School Library Journal Best Books of 2011
– NYPL’s list of 100 Titles for Reading & Sharing, 2011
– Texas 2×2 Reading List
- 2012 Crystal Kite Award, SCBWI
Activities/Resources: An article about teaching preschoolers to share with several links is here.
Games for preschoolers that teach sharing are here, just scroll about 1/2 way down.
Availability: The Board Book was just released last year. Readily available at all book stores. Amazon Barnes & Noble
Make Mine! yours – you’ll be glad you did.
Blessings and enjoy the book.
Laura (Grandmamiller)
We need this book in my house like last week. Glad you added this to the list. I’m adding it to my library “hold” list right now.
Oh – you will enjoy this! It makes us laugh and see how silly we are. I just love the reaction of the baby to all the silliness.
Adorable illustrations!
I know – the illustrations are as cuddly as the kids.
One of the advantages to being an author/illustrator, I guess. This sounds like a wonderful book. I can’t wait to see the “real Mine”.
Actually, Genevieve, this was not author/illustrator which makes it especially amazing.
Sounds adorable! I love no text pbs.
Me too – did you read the post below yours?
Fun! I just did a post on my blog about wordless picture books. Sounds like this should have been on my list.
Oh-wonderful – I will check it out.
In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with kids and dogs! It’s interesting that this wasn’t an author/illustrator. The author must have had a convincing query letter to go with the text.
I agree! I’d like to see it. Take a look at her website – and she seems like she’d be so much fun to meet.
That IS an art to craft a book with only two words! Sounds like a fun one to “read”, and so true of toddlers!
Toddlers??? you should see me scramble to put away all my stuff when the grandkids come over….:)
I adore this book and am also in awe of writing such a great story with just two words!
what’s that old saying about 2 ears to listen twice as much as we speak?….
This is a delightful book, Laura, and you are so right – it takes a master storyteller and artist to tell this good a story with only 2 words!
Susanna – I owe an apology—I added this to my post just now……[ADDENDUM:...an apology... I thought I had checked to make sure this book wasn't already on the list....and now I see that it has already been recommended last year.... my apologies....blame it on bad eyes and a thick head. I'll leave it up today as a personal pick anyway and you can check out Nessa Morris' review of the book here. Mea culpa, Susanna.]
I think I need to read this one again!
yes – and Julie, check out the trailers on both websites. Patrice’s interview and process is amazing and she is so humble.
Thanks Laura
Can’t wait to find this book! We had this exact scenario going on recently when our Princesses came to town! Thanks for the review!
That’s funny! Whenever our littlest grandson comes over ( 11 mo…he’s a crawler) our choc. lab, Jewel, runs to get her fav. toy. She lays down right next to him – then when he tries to reach for it she keeps backing up.
A great game!!
A very timely book for young children! Great pick. Love the cover and your review. Boy do I remember those days with my daughter!