PSU Magazine Winter 1988

~ ~ Books for Holiday Giving Compiled by Peggy Sharp, Eric Kimmel and Doris Kimmel For younger children: Baby's First Christmas, written and illustrated by Tamie dePaola. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1988. A boardbook for preschoolers introducing com– mon objects of the Christmas season. The Chanukkah Tree, by Eric A . Kimmel, il – lus. by Giora Carmi. Holiday House, 1988. The foolish people of Chelm discover that their Chanukkah tree is not such a silly idea after all. Goldilocks and the Three Bears, retold and il– lus. by James Marshall. Dial , 1988. Some pic– ture books are too hard. Some picture books are too soft. This picture book is just right with the author's inventive additions to this favorite story. I Want a Dog, by Dayal Kaur Khalsa. Potter, 1987. She really wanted a dog, so she practiced with a roller skate. Nicky the Nature Detective, by Ulf Svedberg, illus. by Lena Anderson. R & S Books, 1988. Nicky observes her surroundings in order to answer all her questions about why birds si ng. how a spider spins its web, and much more. The Polar Express, written and illus. by Chris Van Allsburg. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1985. A boy boards a mysterious night train which takes him to the North Pole to receive the first gift of Christmas from Santa himself. The Scarebird, by Sid Fleischman , illus. by Peter Sis. Greenwillow, 1988. A lonely man learns about friendship with the help of a stuffed companion. But Kimmel sees children moving away from problem-solving literature. "They ex– perience enough of that nitty gritty stuff in their everyday lives. The books they want to read tend to be more fanciful , more im– aginative, more romantic." A trend that is disturbing to many parents of teenagers, added Kimmel, is the renewal of interest in romance series like Sweet Valley High and The Cheerleaders, that portray girls and women in very traditional roles. What children ultimately demand from their literature, according to Kimmel , is reflected in the simple statement, "Tell me a story. Show me a character I like, I understand , I can identify with ." Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast, by Jack Prelutsky, illus. by Arnold Lobel. Greenwillow, 1988. Ac– curate information about the dinosaurs presented in humorous and thoughtful poems. For older children: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , by Lewis Carroll , illus. by Anthony Browne. Knopf, 1988. A perfect marriage between a classic text and a great illustrator for this generation. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson, illus. by Judith Gwyn Brown. Harper & Row, 1972 . The worst kids in town muscle their way into the Christmas pageant and make it truly the best one ever. The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt, by Patricia Maclachlan. Harper, 1988. Minna is a musician, her mother is an author, and the only way they can really communicate is through letters. How Things Work , by Michael Folsom and Marcia Folsom, illus. by Brad Hamann . Mac– mi llan, 1988. How more than 100 familiar ob– jects found at home, school and office work . as well as how they are related to each other. Miracle on 34th Street, by Valentine Davis, il– lus. by Tamie dePaola. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich , 1984. A richly illustrated version of a Christmas classic that started as a mov ie. Ramona: Behind the Scenes of a Television Show, by Elaine Scott, photos by Margaret Miller. Morrow, 1988. This photo- essay takes the reader backstage to learn how the television show was made. "Kids like to have somebody to root for," Sharp explained. "They like it when the child in the book is an underdog and has a chance of winning, because in their own lives they're not very often in charge." Kimmel noted that books for children , as contrasted with books about children , tend to depict "children acquiring power or mastery over themselves through magic, through self-control , through in– sight, or through growing and learning." E.B. White's Stuan Little, which follows a shy little mouse through adventures that help him find his direction in life, is a classic example of a character and plot that intrigues children. There's an Awful Lot of Weirdos in Our Neighborhood, by Colin McNaughton. Simon & Schuster, 1987. Irreverent and outrageous poems about some wacky eccentrics. For all ages : Dear Mili, by Wilhelm Grimm , illus. by Maurice Sendak. Farrar, 1988. A Grimm fairy tale discovered in 1983 that tells of the ev ils of war as well as the glorious blossoms of parad ise. Kenneth Lilly's Animals: A Porlfolio of Pain– tings, text by Joyce Pope. Lothrop, 1988. A beautiful collection of paintings by Kenneth Lil– ly showing animals in their natural habitat. The Power of Light, by Isaac Bashevis Singer, illus. by Irene Lieblich. Farrar, Strauss & Giroux , 1980. Eight tales for the Chanukkah season by a Nobel Prize winning author. Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems. Scholastic, 1988. A collection of poetry illustrated by nine Caldecott award artists. The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree , by Gloria Houston, illus. by Barbara Cooney. Dial , 1988. Ruthie's fam ily has the honor of donating the town Christmas tree, but her fat her has gone to fight in the war. While Sharp believes that children prefer happy endings to their stories, she agrees with Kimmel that respect for the reader's intelligence should be paramount. Sugar-coating is seen by children as a form of condescension , a common mistake of the unskilled or insensitive children's writer. " I always get a little anxious when someone says to me, 'I want to write a children's book ,"' said Sharp. " People ap– proach it thinking, 'Oh , well , it's for kids, anybody can do it ,' when in reality it's much more difficult because you've got to be so much more careful with the words you choose." PSU 7