AUTHOR:    Mo Willems
AGES:   2 – 6
REVIEW:    Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity is the sequel to Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale.  In Knuffle Bunny Too, our half-pint heroine Trixie is off to preschool with Knuffle Bunny for show and tell, but she finds out he's not so "one-of-a-kind."  For a complete synopsis of the story, check out Books Recommended by Robin's post.

What I like most about the Knuffle Bunny stories is the portraits of Trixie's dad.  In Knuffle Bunny, the dad somehow allows Trixie to leave/lose Knuffle Bunny at the laundromat.  In Knuffle Bunny Too, the dad has to make a middle-of-the-night exchange not dissimilar to an FBI hostage negotiation.  I think I may like how Willems handles the dad, because I believe dads get treated like second class parents in many publication.  So, author Willems portrays the dad a the humorous one that somehow is expected to create miracles.

Like the original Knuffle Bunny, Knuffle Bunny Too was also awarded a Caldecott Honor Book.  You can find out more about Knuffle Bunny and Mo Willems' books at his site, where there is artwork, updates and information about sites for his book tour.

 
 

This so rocks!  The American Library Association and the Association for Library Service to Children announce that The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick won the Caldecott Medal for picture book this year.   In an earlier post, I reviewed The Invention of Hugo Cabret and advocated for it to win the Caldecott medal.  I wasn't sure, however, it the judges would consider it a complete picture book.  Read About.com's notice of the winner, and they include a synopsis of the book as well.  At the homepage for Hugo Cabret, you can find out more about the history of the author, the history of the book and the history in the book.  You can also watch a slideshow for the opening sequence of illustrations in the book.

Janice Harayda at One Minute Book Reviews does an excellent job of reviewing the novel.  She gave it an 'A' for packaging and a 'C' for writing.  I liked it a lot more.  But what I like even more about Janice's review is that right below the review she includes s reading group guide to Hugo Cabret.  Awesome!  Michele Norris, one of the voices of NPR, also offers up a review of Hugo Cabret.  This one has a audio podcast, illustrations from the book and an excerpt.

If you would like to find out more about the Caldecott Medal, then check out About.com's article or to the ALA/ALSC's page for Caldecott for a list of winners back to 1938.