Month: July 2016

July 10 – Don’t Step on a Bee Day

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About the Holiday

With the bee population declining, today is a reminder to protect bees and preserve their habitats. Without bees and the pollination they provide, the world’s food supply is threatened. Pollution, pesticides, and colony collapse all endanger the health of bee colonies around the globe.

Bee Dance

By Rick Chrustowski

 

In the warm sunlight a honey bee leaves the hive in search of nectar. A sweet scent in the pleasant air entices the bee toward a prairie in bloom, where tasty wildflowers await. With its “bendy-straw tongue” the bee sips the delicious food. The bee races back to the hive and as the other bees welcome it home with a buzz of excitement, the Scout climbs the honey comb to deliver its news.

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Image copyright Rick Chrustowski, courtesy of us.macmillian.com

The bee communicates its story through a “waggle dance.” It forms a figure 8, twirling one way, running up the middle, and then twirling around the other side. To indicate direction and distance, the Scout bee waggles faster and for a longer period of time. When the dance is completed, the other bees know exactly where to go. They swarm out of the hive and easily find the wildflower prairie.

Forager bees collect nectar from the tall flowers and fill pouches on their legs with pollen. They zip from flower to flower until daylight fades. In the growing twilight the bees head for  home once more. Back in the hive they unload their cargo in the combs and rest for the night. With dawn the cycle and the dance will begin again.

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Image copyright Rick Chrustowski, courtesy of us.macmillian.com

Rick Chrustowski’s Bee Dance is a lyrical introduction to the fascinating and mysterious world of bees. Focusing on the communicating dance Scout bees perform to relay information is a familiar and excellent choice for young children used to following and inventing meaningful motions. The boldly colored illustrations give children an up-close view of the flying, sipping, and pollen gathering behavior of bees. The Scout bee’s dance is depicted clearly, and kids may love to replicate it. Further details of the life and work of honeybees at the end of the book add compelling information that kids will want to explore further.

Ages 4 – 8

Henry Holt and Co., 2015 | ISBN 978-0805099195

Visit Rick Crustowski’s webste to discover more about his books and how to make a Bee Kite!

Don’t Step on a Bee Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-bee-coloring-page

Honeybee Coloring Page

 

Honeybees and wildflowers go hand-in-hand or is it wing-in-petal? Either way they go together and make a beautiful, natural sight! Decorate this printable Honeybee Coloring Page with pencils, crayons, or markers—or make a collage using cut or torn tissue or craft paper!

July 9 – National Sugar Cookie Day

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About the Holiday

Sugar Cookie Day may be one of the sweetest holidays on the calendar! With a few simple ingredients you can bake up delicious, melt-in-your-mouth confections that are perfect by themselves, with a cup of tea or milk, or served with fruit. The basic recipe can also be dressed up with all kinds of flavors and chips. Whether you slice the dough in circles or roll it thin and use cookie cutters, making sugar cookies is a fun way to spend time together!

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons

Sugar Cookies: Sweet Little Lessons on Love

One Smart Cookie: Bite-Sized Lessons for the School Years and Beyond

Written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal | Illustrated by Jane Dyer

 

Baking is such an ideal metaphor for life and one that children can understand and appreciate from a very early age. A child’s familiarity with and love of cookies make Cookies, Sugar Cookies, and One Smart Cookie perfect ways to teach children the lessons of good manners and social skills. Newly released in board book form, Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons opens to a curly-haired girl and her rabbit and Boston Terrier friends gathered around a mixing bowl. They are cooperating as the animals pour in the chocolate chips while the little girl stirs.

Having patience is often hard for young children. A girl and her sailor-suited Scotty dog stare into the glowing door of the oven, reminding kids that they are often already successful at this much-needed skill.  Once the cookies are baked, kids learn how to be proud of their accomplishment while also showing modesty, and they see compassion at work as a little boy reaches across the table to share his cookie with a cat whose cookie has fallen to the floor.

Two rabbits see the same half cookie on a plate very differently: One, trim in her blue bow, is pessimistic, while the other, rakish in his backward baseball cap, is optimistic. Honesty and courageousness are both learned when a contrite sheep tells the truth about taking a cookie: “I have to tell you something. The butterfly did not take the cookie—I took the cookie.” And “It was not easy for me to tell you that I took the cookie, but I took a deep breath…and made the words come out.”

Loyalty means sticking by a friend even if other kids have bigger cookies, and being open-minded is demonstrated when you try your friend’s new recipe even if the result looks a little odd. Contentment is found “sitting on the steps—just you and me, and a couple of cookies.” New insight closes the book with “I used to think I knew everything about cookies, but now I realize I know about one teeny chip’s worth.” After digesting these and other etiquettes, including respect, trustworthiness, fairness and unfairness, generosity, greediness, politeness, envy, and regret, children will be well on their way to life’s wisdom.

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Sugar Cookies offers equally perceptive notions on love, defining such words as endearment, considerate, heartfelt, compassionate (“when you burn the cookies to a crisp, I’ll be there to give you a hug.”), selfless, tenderness, adore, cherish, protect, supportive, admire, requited and unrequited, forgive, unconditionally, and more.

One Smart Cookie gives kids direction as they navigate the social constructs of school and activities, defining terms such as prompt, organized and unorganized, prepared and unprepared, compromise, curious, ponder, empathy, integrity, contribute, and more with the same astute and homey ingredients as the previous books.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Cookies series offers life lessons with gentle encouragement in a loving, conversational tone as well as comforting advice for those times when situations and emotions can be difficult. The beautifully written text does not simplify the terms or talk down to children, but treats them with the respect, intelligence, and maturity that they will learn when applying these concepts.

With just the right combination of old-fashioned and modern charm, Jane Dyer (and Brooke Dyer as co-illustrator of One Smart Cookie) infuses each concept with enchanting depth. Gorgeous full-page paintings of children and animals dressed in comfortable sweaters, homespun dresses, overalls, and rolled up pants, paired with fine typography create pages worthy of framing. The children and their rabbit, cat, sheep, frog, horse, and dog friends display pride, happiness, patience, sadness, indignation, and love through facial expressions and body language that kids will recognize and respond to.

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons, Sugar Cookies: Sweet Little Lessons on Love, and One Smart Cookie: Bite-Size Lessons for the School Years and Beyond should find a place on every child’s bookshelf.

Ages 4 – 8

HarperCollins Publisher:

  1. Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons, Board Book Edition, 2016 | ISBN 978-0062427397; Hardcover 978-0060580810
  2. Sugar Cookies: Sweet Little Lessons on Love, 2009 | ISBN 978-006174072
  3. One Smart Cookie: Bite-Size Lessons for the School Years and Beyond, 2010 | ISBN 978-0061429705

To explore Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s books for children and adults, her short films, and much, much more, visit her website!

Visit Jane Dyer’s website to learn more about her and view a gallery of her books for children!

National Sugar Cookie Day Activity

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Catch the Cookie! Maze

 

Sometimes you just need a cookie! Help the little girl find her way to her favorite cookies with this printable Catch the Cookie! Maze and Solution.

July 8 – Cow Appreciation Day

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About the Holiday

The cow is a moo-st amazing animal! Its importance to the world cannot be overstated. It has sustained humankind throughout history and even played an integral part in the defeat of small pox. It was discovered that most milk maids did not get small pox because they regularly contracted cow pox (a less virulent cousin of small pox) and built an immunity to the more serious disease. From this revelation, a vaccine for small pox was developed, saving thousands of lives every year.

Cows, with their gentle demeanor and soft, brown eyes, have always been beloved picture book characters. My own early favorite was the classic The Story of Ferdinand written by Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson. The author/illustrator of today’s book carries on that cherished tradition.

The Cow Who Climbed a Tree

By Gemma Merino

 

Tina is a very unique cow. Unlike her sisters who are only interested in “fresh and juicy grass,” Tina is very curious and always inventing new ideas. Her sisters proclaim her notions “‘Impossible! Ridiculous! And Nonsense!’” One day while exploring the woods, Tina decides to climb a tree. Branch by branch she swings herself to the top. Up there among the owls and squirrels Tina discovers a dragon—a friendly one, and a vegetarian to boot!

“All afternoon they talked about wonderful dreams and incredible stories.” Tina is excited to tell her sisters, but when she gets home they aren’t impressed. The whole idea of cows climbing trees and dragons is “‘Impossible! Ridiculous! And Nonsense!’” The next morning Tina never shows up for breakfast. Her sisters find a note that reads “Gone flying with the Dragon of the Woods.”

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Image copyright Gemma Merino, courtesy of gemmamerino.blogspot.com

Her sisters decided this nonsense has to stop, so they head out to find her. As they leave behind their familiar farmland and enter the forest, they can’t believe how beautiful it is. Suddenly a pig wearing a backpack dashes past them and shimmies up a tree. Even though they consider this “impossible,” one sister follows the pig. The others join her. From a treetop branch they three find that “the world beyond the fields was extraordinary.”

Still, Tina is nowhere to be found. The sisters look left, right, down, and up. Up! “It was impossible. It was ridiculous. It was nonsense. But it was true! Tina was flying!” She and other animals are taking flying lessons from the dragon, and while they don’t have wings, they soar just fine with a little help. From her lofty place, Tina asks her sisters to join her, and they say something she has never heard before: “Yes, why not?” They float, drift, and glide in the sunlit sky, and ever afterward find that nothing is “impossible, ridiculous, or nonsense.” Now all four sisters can’t wait to see what else is possible.

Gemma Merino’s mooving tribute to people who live and dream large will inspire young children to reach for the treetops and beyond. The plucky heroine who doesn’t cower under her sisters’ reproach is a confident and likable role model, happy to include her sisters when they finally see the light. Merino’s sweet, soft-hued illustrations humorously depict the dichotomy between the sisters’ grass-focused existence and Tina’s vivid imagination. The cows’ home has sage green walls, furniture, and floors. The pictures on the walls, the flowerpot on the windowsill, and the planter are all full of various types of vegetation, and the jars in the pantry contain such ingredients as Pickled Leaves, Meadow Mix, Dried Petals, and Herbal Tea. But Tina’s imagination and the forest she loves to visit are infused with reds, ambers, blues, and teals; even the greens are more brilliant. For anyone contemplating the unknown, The Cow Who Climbed a Tree is rousing fun!

Ages 4 – 7

Albert Whitman & Company, 2016 | ISBN 978-0807512982

To learn more about Gemma Merino and her books visit her website!

Cow Appreciation Day Activity

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Cud-dly Cows Find the Differences Puzzle

 

These two farms may seem identical, but if you look closely, you’ll find eleven differences that make them unique. Print your Cud-dly Cows Puzzle here!

July 7 – Tell the Truth Day

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About the Holiday

While the truth may sometimes seem elusive, today’s holiday provides an opportunity to clear the air and resolve any misconceptions that might be lingering. If there’s a truth—either positive or a little harder to say—consider taking a chance today. You never know—the truth doesn’t always get you into trouble and it can lead to unexpected opportunities or relationships!

Tell the Truth, B. B. Wolf

Written by Judy Sierra | Illustrated by J. Otto Seibold

 

The Villain Villa Senior Center is getting a makeover. The Big Bad Wolf and his equally evil friends are doing the repairs. Suddenly, the air hums with the tune “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.” “‘Quiet!’” the wolf shouts, “‘I have to answer my phone.’” It turns out that Miss Wonderly at the library wants B. B. to come in and tell the story of how he met the Three Little Pigs. He’s excited to take part, but one thing worries him: He wasn’t a hero in the story.

Rumpelstiltskin tells B. B. Wolf to spin the story; the crocodile advises a happy ending. B. B. Wolf changes into his best clothing and, vowing to try these suggestions, hurries over to the library. Ensconced in a cozy chair, B. B. begins with a song: “Hard luck always follows me, and Trouble is my middle name.” But this ploy doesn’t fly with one little attendee (a pig with the number 1 on his hat) who reminds B. B. that his middle name is B-A-D.

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Image copyright Jotto Seibold, courtesy penguinrandomhouse.com

Undeterred, B. B. Wolf launches into his story after amending his song to include that he is always blamed for any crime that occurs. It seems that one day B. B. Wolf was out innocently picking dandelions. While blowing on the puff to make a wish, he inadvertently blew down the straw house of a little piggie. The poor wolf was on the run as the piggie chased him. This version of events brings an oinkburst from the back of the room: “‘Tell the truth, B. B. Wolf!’”

As he ran, B. B. Wolf continues, he suddenly smelled smoke and dashed over to help. He found a little piggie playing with matches next to a pile of sticks that were on fire! He only blew on the sticks to put out the fire. From his place on a shelf Pinocchio thinks he sees the wolf’s snout growing bigger. Charged by this second piggie, B. B. Wolf says, he kept running until he collapsed at the door of a little brick house. Tired and thirsty the wolf begged to be let in. But the mean porker merely said, “‘Climb up on the roof and slide down my chinny-chin-chimney.’”

That ridiculous fib causes an uproar in the children’s section. “‘No one is falling for your story,’ cracked Humpty Dumpty.” And the Gingerbread Boy added, “‘It’s a cooked-up, half-baked tale.’” “Tell the truth, B. B. Wolf,” orders Pig 3. Deflated, B. B. Wolf lets out “a dismal huff and a small, sad puff.” He admits that he hasn’t told the truth because the truth is so embarrassing. But “‘what’s important is that I’ve changed. Really I have,’” he says. The three pigs demand that he apologize, and B. B. stutters over the words. Try as he might, B. B. cannot say it. But he can sing it!

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Image Jotto Seibold, courtesy of penguinrandomhouse.com

Down on his knees, he sings a heartfelt and perfectly rhyming apology. The Three Little Pigs take pity on their former enemy and give him a second chance. “‘But your middle name is still Bad,’” the third pig reminds him. Taking advantage of where he is, B. B. grabs a dictionary from the shelf and flips through the B words. He finds many to his liking, and before he leaves the library with an armful of books, he’s changed his name and even added a B! “‘From this day forward, I am the one and only Big Bodacious Benevolent Bookish Wolf,’” B. B. B. Wolf announces on his way out the door.

The wolf was even better than his word. Once home he straightaway began designing a big, beautiful house for his new friends, and when it came time to build it, all the villains helped. The Three Little Pigs were so thrilled with their “piggyback mansion” that they composed a song to thank B. B. B. Wolf: “The wolf was mean and vicious. / He thought piggies were delicious. / Then he lied and told a story / that was wrong and he was sorry. / Now he’s changed. He’s not pretending. / That’s a very happy ending!”

Judy Sierra writes a hilarious and enchanting story of personal reinvention which reveals that while people may not be able to escape their past, they can make up for it. Through fast-paced, clever dialogue and characters with a compelling stake in the action, Sierra’s howler of a story will have kids wondering what excuse the wolf will devise next. The circular plot line ties up the beginning and ending neatly and is a satisfying resolution to this favorite fairy tale in fractured form.

J. Otto Seibold has drawn the Big Bad Wolf as he has never been seen before. Sporting a kitschy plaid suit and green top hat, B. B. Wolf grows more and more disheveled as his falsehoods fall flat. The wolf’s tall tales are vividly illustrated to comic effect, bridging the wolf’s attempt to refurbish his reputation and the absurdity of his invention. Kids will love to point out the many storybook characters that populate the pages and will giggle throughout at the wolf’s misadventures.

Ages 3 – 8

Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2010 | ISBN 978-0375856204

Tell the Truth Day Activity

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Dot-to-Dot Coloring Pages

 

After the Big Bad Wolf admitted the truth, he and the Three Little Pigs made up! Here are two printable dot-to-dot coloring pages that bring them together for fun!

Picture Book Review

July 6 – National Fried Chicken Day

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About the Holiday

Fried chicken with its crispy outside and tender, juicy inside is the star of American Southern home style cooking. The tradition, brought to America by Scottish immigrants, is a favorite for summer picnics and has spawned many an on-the-go restaurant. There’s only one way to celebrate this holiday…well, maybe two—sink your teeth into some delicious fried chicken and devour today’s book!

Hensel and Gretel Ninja Chicks

Written by Corey Rosen Schwartz and Rebecca J. Gomez | Illustrated by Dan Santat

 

The times, they are a’menacing. A fox is prowling and has already chicken napped Hensel and Gretel’s ma, shaking up their pa. Hensel and Gretel know just what to do—they enroll at the 3 Pigs Dojo and “they trained in the art of ninjutsu / and practiced their wing throws and blocks. / They learned how to creep / without making a peep / so they wouldn’t fall prey to that fox.” Their training proves advantageous as the day soon comes when Hensel and Gretel have to put their training into practice.

One day they return home to find that their pa has also been nabbed by the fox. While they may be chickens the sisters definitely aren’t chicken so they go in search of their pop. They drop crumbs on their trail to lead them back home, but the forest grows “twisted and tangled” and they soon discover that the breadcrumbs are gone. Bravely, they trek through the woods until they see a light. “It came from a cottage of corn bread! / ‘Let’s eat!’ Hensel clucked with delight. / She nibbled away till she heard someone say, / ‘My dear, come on in for a bite.’”

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-hensel-and-gretel-ninja-chicks-menacing

Image copyright Dan Santat, 2016, text copyright Corey Rosen Schwartz and Rebecca J. Gomez, 2016. Courtesy of G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Caught off guard, Hensel enters the house but quickly realizes her mistake when she sees a pan in the oven. In the corner she finds her pa locked away in a crate. The fox grabs her and adds her to the crate with her dad. While she is fattening up, the fox tells her, he’ll eat another hen from his stock. That hen turns out to be Hensel and Gretel’s mom! Meanwhile, Gretel has squeezed her way through the chimney “with ninja-like silence and speed.” She frees her ma and with “one feathered sweep” blocks the fox’s advance.

The fox fights back, but Mama comes to Gretel’s rescue with a well-aimed wok just as Hensel and Papa break free. But the crate doesn’t stay empty for long: “With one wicked spin, / Hensel kicked the fox in! / ‘You’re done with your chick-frying spree!’” Back home Hensel and Gretel are congratulated, and “from then on they made it their mission / to rescue, protect and defend. / They’d work night and day / to liberate prey / till bird-napping came to an end.”

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Image copyright Dan Santat, 2016, text copyright Corey Rosen Schwartz and Rebecca J. Gomez, 2016. Courtesy of G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Ninja pandemonium is back! This time the martial arts are served up chicken style in Corey Rosen Schwartz and Rebecca J. Gomez’s take on Grimm’s Hansel and Gretel story. All the intrigue and suspense of the original is here, but blazingly spiced and fried up with delicious puns, sizzling verbs, and some of the most riotous rhymes you’ll ever read.

Dan Santat again lends his agile artwork to the springs, spins, and stealth of the world of the dojo. Feathers fly; the fox leaps, chops, and winces; and Hensel and Gretel perform some serious Kiya! Santat’s forest is gloomy and forbidding, the air shimmers with the force of well-placed kicks, and the large close-up images put readers in the middle of the action.

Everyone from small-fries to hens and roosters will flip over Hensel and Gretel Ninja Chicks. It’s a must addition to any child’s library.

Ages 4 – 9

G. P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2016 | ISBN 978-0399176265 | ISBN 978-1338203868 (Paperback, 2017)

Watch Hensel and Gretel kick some tail feathers in the trailer for their book!

To discover more books by Corey Rosen Schwartz as well as fun activities and how to be a Book Ninja, visit her website.

Activities, tips, books, and more by Rebecca J. Gomez can be found on her website.

A gallery of art, list of books, and more information about Dan Santat is available on his website.

National Fried Chicken Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-chicken-craft

Turn Over a New Chicken

 

A long-handled wooden turner makes a plucky decoration for your room or kitchen! With a few simple additions, you’ll have a cute companion you’ll want to crow about!

Supplies

  • Printable Comb and Scarf Template
  • Long-handled wooded turner, available in kitchen supply stores
  • Red felt
  • Yellow bakable clay
  • Fabric, 12 inches square
  • A small piece of white felt or fleece (optional)
  • White paint (or any color you would like)
  • Black marker
  • Fabric glue
  • Glue gun
  • Paint brush

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Directions

  1. Paint the wooden turner, let dry
  2. Cut the scarf from the piece of fabric
  3. Make a beak from the yellow clay and bake it according to package directions

To make the comb

  1. Cut out the comb from the red felt
  2. Fold the felt in half and glue the end together with the fabric glue
  3. Cut short strips from the folded top of the felt, about ½-inch to ¾ -inch in length
  4. Round the corners of the strips slightly

To make the scarf

  1. Fold the fabric in half
  2. With the long, straight edge of the scarf template along the fold, cut out the scarf
  3. With the fabric glue, glue the two sides of the scarf together so that you have two “right” sides
  4. Let dry

To assemble the chicken

  1. Pinch the bottom of the comb together so that the strips open and the felt pleats a little
  2. With the glue gun attach the comb to the back of the painted turner, keeping the bottom pinched together
  3. Attach the beak to the front of the turner
  4. Draw eyes on the chicken with the black marker
  5. Tie the scarf around the neck of the handle, hold in place with a drop of glue in the back if necessary
  6. To make tail feathers in a turner with a hole in the handle, pinch together a small folded piece of white felt or fleece and push it through the hole in the handle of the turner.
  7. Cut or arrange to look like feathers

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You can find Hensel and Gretel: Ninja Chicks at these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | IndieBound

 

July 5 – It’s National Culinary Arts Month

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About the Holiday

July is designated as a time to recognize the creativity and dedication of professional chefs and anyone who makes the world a more delicious place. The way to celebrate this month is a no-brainer! Visit your favorite restaurants, cafes, and bakeries—and discover new ones!

How to Bake a Book

By Ella Burfoot

 

A little girl decides to bake a book. She gathers her ingredients and begins: “I’ll break some ideas into a cup. / I’ll beat them, whisk them, mix them up.” To the dough she adds words both small and big then feelings, colors, and pictures for flavor. To set the scene she drops in “watery words,” choosing from “splish, splosh, splash, or sprinkle”—or would “glug and gurgle” or “squelch and twinkle” be better? She cuts out characters of all kinds and sets them aside to play.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-how-to-bake-a-book

Image copyright Ella Burfoot, courtesy ellaburfoot.co.uk

With the dough set, the girl puts the lid on the bowl and waits while it rises. When it’s ready, she rolls it out, finding out what her story is all about. She lays the crust in the pan, letting her characters jump right in. Next she stirs up “the middle, the action, the filling” and adds a “spoonful of good and a pinch of bad” to get the pot bubbling and the plot to thicken.

A dash of good grammar finishes it up, and then the ending is pressed down tight. A cover design and a glaze of happiness are brushed on to make the book shine. Finally, the book is ready for baking. It comes out of the oven baked looking tasty. The little girl cuts a big slice and gets to reading her delicious book.

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Image copyright Ella Burfoot, courtesy ellaburfoot.co.uk

Ella Burfoot’s delightful recipe for writing a captivating book will enchant children who love to read and may spark an interest in writing a story themselves. The rhyme is as light and fun as chiffon and the homey ideas as satisfying as a warm chocolate cookie. Kids will love poring over Burfoot’s bright, colorful illustrations. The girl’s baked-up pages burst with dragons, knights, princesses, animals, kites, and more. There’s even a witch who’s having a tough time staying on her broom. The kitchen is a cook’s and crafter’s paradise with pantry shelves well stocked with jars of periods and capital letters among the monster flakes, alphabet spaghetti, porridge oats, and other writerly puns and ingredients.

A reading of How to Bake a Book would be a fun lead-in to getting out the pots, pans, and paper and creating an original recipe/story.

Ages 3 – 6

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2014 | ISBN 978-1492606512

To discover more books by Ella Burfoot visit her website!

National Culinary Arts Month Activity

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Don’t Whisk Losing Your Page Bookmark

 

The author’s of your favorite books have cooked up such fantastic stories that you don’t want to risk missing a word! To make sure that doesn’t happen, use this culinary-themed bookmark!

Supplies

Directions

  1. Print your bookmark
  2. Glue it to the poster board
  3. Cut out the bookmark
  4. Slip it into the book you’re reading now!

Picture Book Review

July 4 – Independence Day

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About the Holiday

On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies that then made up America claimed their independence from England. After much debate and with a majority—but not unanimous—vote, delegates to the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. While the vote may not have been unanimous, delegates from all 13 colonies signed the document penned by Thomas Jefferson. John Hancock, who was President of the Continental Congress, signed his name “‘with a great flourish’ so England’s ‘King George can read that without spectacles!’” The action led to the Revolutionary War and ultimately to a break with England.

On this United States national holiday most cities host parades, fireworks displays, and other special events.

Lady Liberty’s Holiday

Written by Jen Arena | Illustrated by Matt Hunt

 

Shortly before the Fourth of July Lady Liberty is feeling down. Year after year she has stood in the same place holding aloft a torch in one hand and cradling a tablet in the other. She turns to her friend Moe, the pigeon on her shoulder, and expresses her dissatisfaction. Moe has a suggestion: “‘Lady, you need a getaway!’” Lady Liberty thinks about it and about the vastness of America. She has only seen a small corner of it. That night Lady Liberty pries herself from her pedestal and sneaks away.

She walks the wide beaches of New Jersey, builds a huge sandcastle on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod, and dips her feet in Niagara Falls. With her long strides it doesn’t take her long to reach the Mississippi River. She finds a seat atop the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri and watches the Ol’ Man river slip past. In Kansas she plays in wheat fields that “tickle her feet” and are as good for making angels as snow. In South Dakota she photo bombs at Mount Rushmore, and she takes a quick hike over the Rocky Mountains. After all this fun Lady Liberty needs a rest, so she takes a nap on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

But the people in New York have noticed the Lady’s absence. The Fourth of July is only three days away and no one is in the mood to celebrate without her. “Tourists were gloomy. Cops were cross. Even the stock market was down.” The mayor is even considering cancelling the holiday! Moe is worried Liberty might not come back.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-lady-liberty's-holiday

Image copyright Matt Hunt, courtesy of Jen Arena (jenarenabooks.com)

And Moe is right! Lady Liberty is enjoying herself too much to think about returning. The grandeur of the Grand Canyon makes her feel small—it’s a nice change, she thinks. She drinks water from a geyser in Yellowstone Park and sleeps under the stars in Texas. With a hop and a skip she’s dancing in New Orleans, and the Florida Keys make excellent “stepping stones” to her next adventure. She doesn’t even mind schlepping through swamps in the deep south, and an alligator that latches onto her toe is dispatched with a shake.

Lady Liberty suddenly hears the familiar flap of Moe’s wings. Moe tells Liberty how things are in New York. When she hears that they are thinking of cancelling the Fourth of July, she “bolts up as if she’d been struck by lightning.” Yes, says, Moe. “‘Nobody feels like celebrating without you.’” But after her cross-country tour, Lady Liberty knows that “‘the Fourth of July isn’t about me. It’s about America!’” Without another thought Liberty is racing north.

As New Yorkers wake at dawn, they see Lady Liberty happy to be back overlooking the Harbor, “where she had stood for over a hundred years.” Her copper dress shines in the early morning sun. Later that night she glows again in the colors of fireworks and enjoys a very Happy Fourth of July!

The final two pages tell the story of Lady Liberty’s creation, installation, and meaning. Tantalizing tidbits about the statue of Liberty are also revealed.

Jen Arena’s Lady Liberty’s Holiday is an engaging introduction to the story of the Statue of Liberty and American geography. A road trip across America was once a staple of childhood, and Arena replicates the excitement and wonder of viewing the country’s monuments and splendor through Lady Liberty’s walking tour. As each page brings readers to another awe-inspiring landmark, kids will want to learn more about the parks, states, and history of America.

Matt Hunt’s vibrant, full-bleed spreads are as expansive as the American landscape. The blue waters of Niagara Falls roar over the edge, creating white mist; the rock-hewn faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln gaze out from the peak of Mount Rushmore; and the spume of water from a Yellowstone geyser dwarfs the tourists below. As Liberty towers over cruise boats and trees, lounges across the Golden Gate Bridge, and flicks away a pesky alligator, kids gain an excellent perspective on the size of the Statue of Liberty as well as the monuments and natural landmarks she visits.

Like the postcards that Liberty sends to her friend Moe from stops on her journey, Lady Liberty’s Holiday is a welcome snapshot of America any time of year.

Ages 4 – 8

Knopf Books for Young People, Random House Kids, 2016 | ISBN 978-0553520675

To learn more about Jen Arena and view the books she’s written , visit her website!

A gallery of Matt Hunt‘s work can be seen on his website!

Independence Day Activity

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Fourth of July Coloring Page

 

The 4th of July celebrations mean flags, fireworks, and fun! Here’s a printable Fourth of July Coloring Page for you to make your own holiday festivities. You can even make it sparkle with a dash of glitter!