Some of my favorite book have themes of flight – The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois; Tuesday by David Wiesner; and Peter Pan.  Maybe it’s because my zodiac’s an air sign, or maybe i just like the carefree, leisurely feeling that flying themes generate.

This month’s picture book roundup covers books dealing with flight, clouds, and other above-ground subject matter: The Flying Locomotive by William Pene du Bois; The Little Cloud by Eric Carle; Night of the Gargoyles by Eve Bunting, illustrated by David Wiesner; Sadako by Eleanor Coerr, illustrated by Ed Young; and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz commemorative pop-up by L. Frank Baum, engineered by Robert Sabuda.

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There’s been a lull in my blogging in the last couple of weeks, as my maternal grandfather, Lolo Jaime (lolo is grandfather in Filipino), had a massive stroke, and finally passed away last Sunday, at the age of 89.

This is the first death of a grandparent that I’ve experienced (my paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother died when I was too young to understand), and there is something about my Lolo’s passing that makes me feel as if I’ve lost a part of my childhood.

Even though I saw my Lolo only once or twice a year (he lives in my parents’ provincial hometown in Isabela, Negros Occidental, a plane ride and two-hour drive away), we talked frequently on the phone, and I had a special bond with him — I inherited his artistic inclinations, and he was my biggest fan.

I had a feeling his time was drawing near when we got the news that he got a stroke two weeks ago, and I was preparing a special picture book roundup for him, except that death got to him first, and for the past few days I couldn’t bring myself to write this piece without breaking down.

But he would have wanted me to keep on writing — he loved my writing as much as my art — so in honor of my Lolo, I’m doing the year’s first picture book roundup, featuring the books Brown Paper Bear by Neil Reed; Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman, illus. by Stephen Gammel; and You’re Only Old Once by Dr. Seuss.

(Will resume working off the 2009 backlog after this post.)

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It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!

I’ve been having trouble updating my blog because of the sheer busy-ness of the season, with Christmas parties left and right, endless shopping and giftwrapping, and I’ve been attending the dawn masses (at 4:30 am) at church as well (today was the last one!).

I’ve been poring through some Christmassy picture books for the holidays, (i didn’t realize I had so many on my shelves!)  so here’s another picture book roundup, flash review style.

(Oh, and this doesn’t include How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which I already reviewed a few months back).

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I’ve been fascinated with postmodern picture books ever since I took a course in children’s books back in college. Since then I’ve been building up my collection of po-mo picture books, and I’ve now got over 20 of them, mostly from rummaging through bargain bins.

I love how po-mo picture books challenge the reader to look at things in a different way, offering an enjoyable experience to both the young reader, the parent reading to the child, and even an older reader randomly picking up the book and flicking through the pages.

The multiplicity of meanings also encourages creativity and imagination in constructing the meaning of the text or illustrations, as well as the interest to reread a book.

I also marvel at the writers and illustrators’ creativity in taking the craft of picture books one step further,  defying convention and structure

I have several books in this picture book roundup: The Story of a Little Mouse Trapped in a Book by Monique Felix; Wolves by Emily Gravett; Zoom and Re-Zoom by Istvan Banyai; Bamboozled by David Legge; and Pinocchio the Boy, or Incognito in Collodi by Lane Smith (books 175-180 for 2009).

(In case you missed it, I previously discussed the characteristics of po-mo picture books in the post I did on The Three Little Pigs.)

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It’s been months since my last picture book roundup, and I miss doing it, even though it takes a bit longer to put one together. I love picture books and have a growing collection of them, because buying them doesn’t make me feel guilty about adding to my TBR (hehehe!)

So far I’ve done eight picture book roundups this year (here they are if you want to check them out:  one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and a special on The Three Little Pigs), and I’m aiming for at least ten for this year, so here’s another one.

Today’s roundup covers some vintage picture books I’ve acquired lately: An ABC of Children’s Names by Doris and Mary Ewen (facsimile of the Oxford edition); The Real Mother Goose (75th Anniversary Edition); Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine by Evaline Ness; Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag; and Curious George by H.A. Rey (books #145-149 for 2009).

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