Kevin Henkes is a wonderful author and illustrator.  He won Newbery honor awards for 2 of his chapter books.  He won the Caldecott Medal for the illustrations in Kitten’s First Full Moon, and this year he won a Caldecott honor and a Geisel honor for the book Waiting.

This gentle book has a calming influence on me, and I assume on children as well.  Children were relaxed and attentive as I read it.  It speaks to a valuable skill – learning to be patient while waiting.  These toys are always waiting to see something outside.  I think it is a terrific springboard to go outside when it is nighttime, windy, raining, snowing – or just to look at clouds.

My other books were silly this week. Duddle Puck: the puddle duck is a new book by Karma Wilson – best known for The Bear Snores On series of books.Duddle loves to waddle around making animal noises, but he never Quacks.  The other animals want him to Quack, and finally they get together and quack very loudly to teach him.  He has a silly reply and then a surprise at the end.

Finders Keepers begins with a squirrel hiding an acorn.  Ordinarily I would read this book in the fall, but I decided the weather is so mild – with no snow on the ground – that children may see squirrels digging around for acorns.  The squirrel in this story puts his red hat on the ground to mark where the acorn is buried.  Other animals find it, so it makes its way all over, only to return to where it began.

We ended with Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Everyone loves the pigeon, and they were very good this day in stopping the pigeon from driving the bus.

~Maureen