Submitted by Carol from Charlotte Hall!
The Doghouse is written by Jan Thomas. This book is a very simple story about a cow, mouse, duck, and pig. The illustrations are also very simple but so effective and crucial to telling the story. The animals are happy playing ball, until their ball suddenly rolls into “THE DOGHOUSE.” The doghouse is a very scary place. No one wants to go in to retrieve the ball. What will they do? Well, they decide Cow should go in first because, after all, he is BIG and BRAVE and STRONG. Cow goes in and never comes out. Who will go next? And will any of them come out? Read The Doghouse to find out!
Friendship
Leonardo the Terrible Monster
Submitted by Tess from Lexington Park!
Your pal Mo Willems presents Leonardo the Terrible Monster, a fantastic tale of a truly terrible monster. However, Leonardo isn’t terrible in the traditional sense–he doesn’t strike terror into anyone actually. He’s more terrible in the way it might mean “lousy.” He’s pretty ashamed of himself, for the fact he isn’t big, or weird, or scary. He’s doesn’t have 1,642 teeth. He’s actually kind of cute. But Leo has a plan: “He would find the most scaredy-cat kid in the whole world… and scare the tuna salad out of him!” After thorough research, Leonardo pinpoints his victim–a little boy named Sam, seemingly always on the verge of tears. But he’s not scared of Leonardo either! Perhaps Leonardo might be a terrible monster, but he could be a wonderful friend to Sam.
Duck Soup
Submitted by Carol from Charlotte Hall!
Duck Soup written and illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic. This is a very entertaining story about Duck, who loves to cook, mainly soups. He cooks for his friends and does not always make the most appetizing meals, such as cracker barrel cheese and marshmallow soup, and fish soup with curry and pickled lemon. One day he decides he wants to create his very own soup with his very own special recipe. He wants to be a great chef. His friends arrive and they can’t find Duck. They look in the kitchen and they see the soup Duck is preparing and there is a feather floating on top. OH NO!!!! Did Duck fall in? His friends panic and are determined to find out. They rush and get out the strainer. Join the fun as Dakota, Brody and Bebe try to rescue Duck. Will they succeed or will Duck become Duck Soup?
Korgi: Volume 1
Submitted by Tess from Lexington Park!
Korgi is a delight of worldless graphic novel for children, brought to us by former Disney animator Christian Slade. In it, we are introduced to a colorful cast of characters–all sorts of magical specimens–awaiting us in Korgi Hollow. There’s the mollies, small woodland folk, like Ivy, our diminuative heroine, and the Korgis (which uncoincidentally resemble our Pembroke Welsh Corgis), like Sprout, Ivy’s constant companion. One day Sprout chases a winged insect out of the Hollow and Ivy of course follows. They’re happy to explore the unfamiliar territory until they’re abducted by a gang of decidedly unpleasant creatures. How will this seemingly normal girl and her dog escape? Well it turns out Ivy and Sprout has a few tricks hidden up they’re sleeves… The best part: this book is just the beginning of more adventures to come!
Hug Time
Hug Time is an adorable story by Patrick McDonnell, creator of the “Mutts” comic strip series. Jules is a kitten who is so filled with love, he wants to give the whole world a hug, so he makes a Hug To-Do List and sets off. He hugs his friends, and all the birds in the park. He gets on a boat to find a whale to hug. He travels to Africa to hug an elephant. He explores the rain forest and discovers a new species (which he promptly hugs). He hugs a tiger, a panda, even a wombat (hooray)! He even goes to the north pole to hug a polar bear. While we may not be able to hug the world, we can start spreading the love by hugging those closest to us.
The Pet Dragon
The Pet Dragon by Christoph Niemann is an adorable tale of a little girl and her mythical animal companion, that also teaches basic concepts about the written Chinese language. Niemann was inspired by a trip to Asia, and a his first lesson about Chinese characters. The most memorable characters for him were the ones that most appeared to be symbolic icons for the ideas they represented. Through the illustrations in this book, Niemann demonstrates how the Chinese characters for words such as “tree” “dog” and “mountain” are all understandably indicative of what they mean. It’s also a really cute story, told like a folktale about a young woman who recieves a dragon, loses him, and then must find him again.