2009 K3 Nominees

1
Volunteer State Book Award

• 2009 K-3 Nominees

2
To Be An Artist by Maya Ajmera

• How do we define art? This photographic
  introduction explains, "Art can be just about
  anything." The vibrant snapshots show young
  artists from a wide variety of countries
  expressing themselves in universal ways drawing,
  singing, dancing, playing musical instruments,
  writing, acting, sculpture, and making crafts.
  The narrative introduces the various activities,
  but the photographs tell the greater story.
• -From
  Booklist-

3
I Aint Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont

• When Mama catches her son "paintin' pictures on
  the floor/and the ceiling/and the walls/and the
  curtains/and the door," she sticks him in the tub
  and declares, "Ya ain't gonna paint no more!"
  Fresh from his bath, the child rescues his hidden
  supplies and says, "So I take some red/and I
  paint my/HEAD!" Subsequent rhymes move from neck
  down to feet as he adds gobs of color to
  different areas.
• From School
  Library Journal-

4
Teachers Pets by Dayle Ann Dodds

• When Winston takes his pet rooster to school for
  sharing day, he neglects to bring it home that
  afternoon. This begins a curious pattern in his
  classroom. Each Monday a different child arrives
  with a pet, leaves it behind at the end of the
  day, and comes in on Tuesday with an explanation
  of why it is better off at school than at home.
  Miss Fry, who lives alone in her quiet little
  house, says yes to each newcomer, until her
  classroom is bursting with the happy noises of
  all the children's pets. When summer vacation
  rolls around, the youngsters retrieve their
  animals. However, one student bequeaths his
  cricket to Miss Fry's care.
• -From School Library
  Journal-

5
Cha-Cha Chimps by Julia Durango

• In this rollicking counting book, 10 little
  chimps sneak out of their tree house to go
  dancing at Mambo Jambas, where a pig band plays
  music all night long. One by one, each monkey
  jives with a different jungle animal, and a
  rhythmic verse describes that particular
  creatures style (Rhino hustles in/just to prove
  hes got the groove./Shake it, Rhino! Shake it,
  boy!/Lets see that body move). Meanwhile, the
  remaining siblings boogie to the repeated refrain
  (ee-ee-/oo-oo-/ah-ah-ah!/9 little chimps do
  the/cha-cha-cha).
• -From School
  Library Journal-

6
Lillys Big Day by Kevin Henkes

• When her teacher, Mr. Slinger, announces that he
  is going to marry Ms. Shotwell, the school nurse,
  the indomitable Lilly takes her role as flower
  girl at their wedding for granted. Of course, he
  hasn't asked her-yet-but the young mouse
  commences practicing her very slow walk, eyebrows
  raised, hands in front grasping her imaginary
  bouquet. Her parents give her reasons why her
  plan might go awry. Do you understand-? they
  ask. I understand that I'm going to be a flower
  girl, she responds. At school, she writes Mr.
  Slinger a note, declaring herself The World's
  Best and Most Famous Flower Girl. He finally
  persuades her to be an assistant to his niece,
  and Lilly rises to the rescue in a surprise twist
  that satisfies everybody.
• -From School Library
  Journal-

7
Tudley Didnt Know by John Himmelman

• A young painted turtle doesn't know much about
  what his species can and cannot do, so when a
  hummingbird accidentally drops her nest material
  into the water next to him, he flies up to return
  it. It turns out that he tries and succeeds at
  many things that were thought to be impossible
  for turtles, including flashing like a firefly
  and hopping like a frog. However, when he gets
  into trouble, it is the older turtles who can
  give him advice about how to rescue himself.
• -From School Library
  Journal-

8
Trosclair and the Alligator by Peter Huggins

• Trosclair loves living in Bayou Fontaine in
  Louisiana. He especially likes gliding in his
  canoe with his dog, Ollie, hunting turtle eggs in
  the Bee Island Swamp, although Pere has warned
  him not to go there because the rogue alligator
  Gargantua is dangerous. Then one day Gargantua
  tricks Ollie--who tricks the sly monster with a
  hive of bees.
• -From Booklist-

9
Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen

• This story's appealing premise is clear in the
  first sentence "One day, a lion came to the
  library." There's the expected uproar as the lion
  pads through the stacks, but librarian Miss
  Merriweather only asks "Is he breaking any
  rules?" The lion is not, and so he is allowed to
  stay. He makes himself useful and enjoys story
  hour until Miss Merriweather falls and breaks her
  arm. The lion roars for help, but his noise
  prompts a scolding from an uptight, oblivious
  staff member.
• -From Booklist-

10
Bats and the Beach by Brian Lies

• This is the quintessential book about going to
  the beach complete with overflowing picnic
  baskets, kite flying, singing around the
  campfire, and scratchy sand in places where no
  sand should be. Kids will certainly identify with
  the exuberant and familiar fun, but what will get
  them howling is the fact that the characters are
  bats that are visiting the beach in the
  moonlight. The rhyming text is grounded in
  reality with many inventive twists to keep the
  imagination rolling. There is moon-tan lotion,
  salted 'skeeters, and bat kites.
• -From School Library
  Journal-

11
Superhero ABC by Bob McLeod

• An alphabets worth of superheroes, from Astro-Man
  to the Zinger. Theres strong appeal here for the
  youngest comic-book fans, with many doses of
  humor along the way. Each figure has special
  powers, of course, which readers learn about
  through alliterative captions and action-packed
  illustrations. Danger Man, for instance Does
  Daring Deeds Every Day. A spread shows how He
  Duels with Dragons against a futuristic landscape
  filled with bright greens, reds, and pinks.
• -From School Library
  Journal-

12
Building with Dad by Carol Nevius

• In spare, rhyming text, a boy and his father, a
  builder, explore the site of the child's new
  school. Wearing hard hats, they watch throughout
  the year as the bulldozer clears the field and
  the cement mixer pours the foundation, etc.,
  until the building is ready for the first day of
  classes. Bold acrylic and colored-pencil pictures
  give the oversize book great appealit opens from
  the bottom up, and the striking illustrations are
  done from the boy's perspective looking up at the
  huge machines. The boy concludes, And when I'm a
  grown-up, I hope I will be/a builder like Dad
  with a helper like me!
• -From School Library
  Journal-

13
Fancy Nancy by Jane OConnor

• Young Nancy, like her literary predecessors
  Eloise and Olivia, is a glamour queen dropped
  into a boring worldNobody in my family is fancy
  at all. They never even ask for sprinkles. She
  determines to rescue her relatives from their
  humdrum existence by giving them lessons and
  accessorizing their mundane wardrobes.
• -From School Library
  Journal-

14
The Have a Good Day Café by Frances Park and
Ginger Park

• Mike loves his grandma dearly, but he's saddened
  by her constant yearning for her homeland of
  Korea. Having only arrived in America recently,
  she is also tired of sitting alone in the
  apartment all day. Despite the protests of her
  son, she joins the family as they set up a food
  cart on a busy park corner. Business starts
  slowing down when competition arrives also
  selling pizza and hot dogs, so quick-witted Mike
  comes up with a plan to serve Korean dishes
  instead of the usual American fare.
• -From School Library
  Journal-

15
Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare by Patricia
Polacco

• When Trisha's family moves from Union City to
  Battle Creek, her older brother makes her life
  miserable. He embarrasses her at school with
  rude, gross behavior at every turn, and they
  fight over which is better, ice hockey or ballet.
  At last she triple dares him in front of his
  friends to perform in her ballet recital. He has
  to accept, but does so only on the condition that
  she play on his ice-hockey team in the upcoming
  game.
• -From School Library Journal-

16
Welcome, Brown Bird by Mary Lyn Ray

• This begins on a North American farm, where a boy
  convinces his father not to clear the hemlock
  woods for a cornfield, since that is where a
  thrush lives each spring and summer. In May, the
  bird returns to the hemlocks and sings until
  fall, when it flies away. In a country to the
  south, another boy awaits the thrush and
  convinces his father not to harvest the trees
  where the bird lives. The thrush returns, sings
  until spring, then flies northward.
• -From Booklist-

17
If Not for the Cat by Jack Prelutsky

• Quiet in tone and, like traditional haiku, taking
  inspiration from the natural world, these 17
  poems express the points of view of individual
  animals, from mouse to moth, from skunk to crow.
  Each turn of the page brings a new verse,
  illustrated with a variety of media but primarily
  brushed ink and watercolors. The wide,
  double-page spreads offer plenty of space for
  illustrations, but Rand approaches the
  compositions with admirable subtlety and
  restraint in the use of color and detail, and he
  creates a series of dramatic scenes.
• -From Booklist-

18
Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds

• A rollicking story about a rooster that is a
  little smarter than the average barnyard animal.
  Farmer Nuthatcher's chickens are tired of their
  regular feed, and it just so happens that the
  rooster has been watching cooking shows over the
  farmer's wife's shoulder. He has some ideas,
  beginning with chips and salsa. Soon the ducks
  are inspired and give up fish for guacamole, and
  the pigs go for beans and chilies. With all of
  this southwestern cuisine, it's time for a
  fiesta.
• -From School Library Journal-

19
An Island Grows by Lola M. Schaefer

• This deceptively simple picture book traces the
  development of an island from an undersea
  volcanic eruption to a lush, bustling homeland.
  Similar in format and style to Schaefer's This Is
  the Sunflower (Greenwillow, 2000), it has large
  print and uses poetic language to describe a
  natural phenomenon Waves pound./Sands mound.
• -From School Library
  Journal-

20
Red, White, and Blue Good-bye by Sarah Wones Tomp

• As her father, a Navy man, prepares to go to sea,
  a young girl describes her feelings about his
  departure. She doesn't want to say good-bye, and
  he comforts her by pointing out certain
  imagesthe red flag on their mailbox, white
  clouds in the sky, and blue waterthat will help
  her remember him. Ultimately, she learns that
  while having her father leave is hard, there are
  ways to stay connected with him.
• -From School Library
  Journal-

21
Moses When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to
Freedom by Carole Weatherford

• Weatherford's handsome picture book about Harriet
  Tubman focuses mostly on Tubman's religious
  inspiration, with echoes of spirituals ringing
  throughout the spare poetry about her struggle
  ("Lord, don't let nobody turn me 'round"). God
  cradles Tubman and talks with her his words
  (printed in block capitals) both inspire her and
  tell her what to do ("SHED YOUR SHOES WADE IN
  THE WATER TO TRICK THE DOGS"). Nelson's stirring,
  beautiful artwork makes clear the terror and
  exhaustion Tubman felt during her own escape and
  also during her brave rescue of others.
• -From Booklist-

22
The Secret Science Project That Almost Ate the
School by Judy Sierra

• A nameless girl needs an idea for her science
  project. Her solution is to go on the Internet,
  where she comes across Professor Swami's Super
  Slimea mutant yeast with just a piece of dragon
  DNA. Of course, she orders it and doesn't follow
  the directions on the box do not open until the
  science fair, then feed the slime sugar until it
  expands to 1000 times its size and watch it
  explode into a harmless cloud of gas. The child
  finds herself with a large, green, slimy glob
  that begins to grow and swallow those who are
  rude to it her cat, which hisses her dad, who
  complains of a smell her third-grade
  teacherEeew! What is that big, disgusting
  creature?and so on.
• -From School Library
  Journal-