Inside Outside by Anne-Margot Ramstein & Matthias Aregui

(I do not know what was going on with the lighting on my camera for this one, but it is wonky. So don't think the book has some weird, yellowish color scheme. That's just me!)

I love this book! It is an oversized, wordless look book that gives a lesson on perspective.  

Inside the egg and outside the egg.

Cave

This one took me a minute, because I thought they were the same thing. But then I saw the difference of the cage lines.

A boat on a stormy sea.

I don't know what this style of illustration would be called, but it reminds me of Hergé's illustrations in Tintin. 

Inside and outside a whale. 

This reminds me of Burt Dow, Deep Water Man

Ski lodge

Driving slow through the southwest

The beating heart inside a bungee jumper. 

Isn't it fun? The bright colors, the cartoonish style of illustration, and the perspective shifting pictures are great for looking at again and again. 

Frankencrayon by Michael Hall

The crayon monster lives.... 

My kids enjoyed this nosensical book. From the get-go, the publisher makes sure you know THIS PICTURE BOOK HAS BEEN CANCELED. But somehow, there is a book. So what is up with that? 

So while the pencil wants to just tell everyone to go home, nothing to see here, the crayons want everyone to know what happened. 

So the stage is set....

And suddenly a screaming scribble rents the page! 

Consternation in Crayonland. But that's okay, the cleaning crew will take care of it. 

Except the cleaning crew just makes it BIGGER. So everyone tries to help push it off the page.

But the scribble was out of control!

So everyone had to leave and the book was cancelled. Except.....

...nobody told Frankencrayon who had been told to wait on page 22. 

Frankencrayon gave the scribble a mouth so he could figure out what was going on.

And then we get to the lessons learned--

1. Don't forget to tell everyone when a story has been canceled! 

2. Don't try to unscribble a scribble by scribbling on it.

3. Even a messy scribble can be a lovely  thing. 

The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson

This book!!

Well I mean, what would you expect from two rock stars in the kid lit world? 

Kwame Alexander wrote this poem for his newborn daughter in 2008, right after Obama had been elected. 

He wanted to honor all the African-Americans that had faced so many obstacles and leapt over them like Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics. 

Those who survived America by any means necessary...

And those who didn't. 

This blank page--so powerful. 

This is for the undeniable

the ones who scored

with chains 

on one hand

and faith 

in the other.

Luminaries.

...To save an imperfect Union.

Kadir Nelson's pictures are amazing! Every time I pick up one of the books he has worked on I am blown away by the attention to detail, the intensity of each subject. 

And this page really gets me right in the gut. The lives given to fight for this country that enslaved them because they refused to believe that men could be that unremittingly vile forever. 

The audacity of hope. 

...the unspeakable.

Modern unpeakables.

A roll call of famous African-Americans athletes....

...and the undiscovered.

Musicians

How does Kadir Nelson get that glimmering, almost-crying look in people's eyes so perfectly? HOW? 

There is so much hope and love and optimism on this page that it gets me every time. 

This is for you. 

Kate, Who Tamed The Wind by Liz Garton Scanlon & Illus by Lee White

I was all set to fall deeply in love with this book, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. I think I thought this disproving girl was going to tell the wind a thing or two, but really, this book is about the benefits of creating windbreaks. Granted, it is told in a charming and interesting way, but it was definitely different from what I thought I was going to get. 

We start out with a farm on the tip top of an outrageous hill. I would like to see the farmer who decided that was an ideal farm....

And here he is, doing laundry and losing laundry. 

Surprisingly at the tip top of the hill, the wind was very whippy. 

It even stole his hat. 

What to do?

Fortunately for Farmer Bad Choices, Kate lives in the town at the base of his hill. She knows a thing or two about the wind. 

So she applies her knowledge to this problem and comes up with a workable plan. 

And up she goes to the tip-top to share her plan with the farmer

Together they planted trees all around the hill.

Over time, the trees grew and grew until they were grown up. 

Kate and the farmer got older as well. 

And with the cleverly designed wind break, they could eat outside without any bother from the wind.

I should love this book more. I mean, trees, problem solving, nature, weather., ecologically responsible solutions.. but somehow I am just not crazy about it. It is a useful book that I will definitely read to school classes, but it isn't a book I am going to buy so I can treasure it on my bookshelf at home. 

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak

I am a little overdue with this one, but... we just had our first killing frost, so really, not too far behind. 

I picked some leaves and flowers to take pictures and while I was setting them up, I saw this little stowaway. For my daughter's sanity, I relocated her (the spider, not my daughter) to the great outdoors. But she fit into the color scheme rather well. 

Kenard Pak always has such a soft and gentle palette, rather dreamy. 

Overall, this book is rather soft and gentle. There isn't a real driven plot, just a kid walking through his world, noticing the changes happening around him. It is a nice read, but it isn't a MUST READ NOW kind of book. 

Pak has a book like this for each season now--this main character goes through his world, noticing all the little signs of the approaching season. He interacts with the animals who tell him what they are doing to prepare for the upcoming fall.  

Even the clouds get into the conversation, 

My low rumble from far away, My clouds loom over the open fields and quiet hills. 

And then he heads into town to see all the town signs of approaching fall.

Leaves!

Cozy, evening light...

....and crisp fall morning. 

Fall has been casually sauntering towards us for a few weeks now, but tonight, when I headed into the woods with the dogs it was like it had started galloping and I hadn't noticed. Leaves are so deep and vibrant right now, geese flying over, leaves all over the ground, ferns dying, that fall wood smell....

Fall is here!  

Hope your fall is beautiful!