Alice Cary

When Blue Met Egg is a delightful story about a spunky bluebird named Blue who lives in Central Park. When a snowball flies through the air and lands in Blue’s nest, Blue adopts the newcomer, mistaking it for an egg, and taking it everywhere for several wintry months.

Newcomer Lindsay Ward combines this charming story with funky illustrations created from cut-paper collages and sketches, taking readers on a bird’s-eye tour of New York City. Blue and Egg travel to Columbus Circle, the subway, an art museum, the opera, the top of a skyscraper and to a telescope pointed at the Statue of Liberty. A wonderful fold-out section features Blue and Egg perched atop the Brooklyn Bridge.

Look closely at these illustrations and you’ll see bits of newspaper in Blue’s nest, skyscrapers fashioned from test answer forms, crossword puzzles and graph paper in the Central Park snow, maps in the East River. The beauty of Ward’s style is that these fragments are a seamless part of each illustration: present, but not overpowering the art. Blue’s nest appears so cozy that you can practically feel its softness, while the snow appears to fall from the sky in a panoramic skyscraper scene.

Ward moves the story along with gentle humor, as Blue unsuccessfully tries to share a hot dog with Egg, or reads The Golden Egg to her friend. Finally, Blue tries to feed Egg soup as Egg begins to melt, but (as with the hot dog) it doesn’t go well.

When Blue Met Egg is about hope, friendship and undying optimism. When Egg melts, Blue panics, but ultimately finds happiness: She discovers a pink flower in Egg’s melted snowball puddle, and exclaims, “Egg, you’ve bloomed!” Blue always sees a glass as half full, which is a sweet, lasting message for young readers.

In the world of children’s literature, Maurice Sendak, the beloved creator of Where the Wild Things Are, is a giant, and fans have been waiting 30 years for him to both write and illustrate another book. The wait is finally over with Bumble-Ardy, a riotous birthday tale that began as a character Sendak first developed in 1971 for an animated short on “Sesame Street.” Over the years, Sendak transformed the character from a boy into a pig—a poor, poor pig who is about to turn nine and has never had a birthday party.

Sendak tells the story in narration reminiscent of Edward Gorey’s wonderful black humor, explaining that Bumble-Ardy’s parents “frowned on fun” and didn’t celebrate birthdays. Then, things got even worse. When Bumble turned eight, his family “gorged and gained weight. / And got ate.”

Luckily, Aunt Adeline, a cosmopolitan working pig, adopts the orphaned Bumble. June 10 approaches, which is Bumble’s (and Sendak’s) birthday, so Bumble decides to throw himself a party while his aunt heads to work.

A riot of fun ensues, with costumed pigs guzzling Aunt Adeline’s brine. Eventually, Bumble’s aunt returns home, shouting at the revelers to scram. Meanwhile, Sendak fans have been treated to page after page of the master’s wild, wonderful illustrations.

Let’s hear it for Maurice Sendak and these delightful party animals!

Although my youngest children are twins entering fourth grade, I still take notice of new books by Rosemary Wells, one of our favorite storytellers and illustrators. Her latest is Yoko Writes Her Name. Yoko, who is Japanese, worries that she won't graduate from kindergarten after her classmates pronounce her Japanese writing "scribbling." Things get worse when Yoko shares her favorite book with her classmates, who tease her about reading from right to left. Luckily, Angelo comes to the rescue, complimenting Yoko on her "secret language," and asking her to share her knowledge. Mrs. Jenkins catches the excitement, adopting Japanese as her class' second language. As always, Wells' illustrations are bright, fun and filled with heartfelt characters. An added bonus is Japanese calligraphy, so young readers can try Japanese writing themselves.

READY, SET, GO!

Mrs. Miller's students are heading to Elm School in Off to First Grade, a delightful book written by Louise Borden and illustrated by Joan Rankin. This is truly a story about beginnings, taking a slightly different approach than most first-day books: it's all about the getting ready and going, and not about what happens once everyone gets there.

The story is told from the 23 students' points of view, in short snippets, as the children share their enthusiasm, hopes, fears and questions that first morning. They all have something to share, starting with A for Anna and ending with Z for Mr. Zimmerman, the principal. Mostly there is excitement, as Anna brags to her little brother about the "zillions of books" she will read to him, and Otto admires his new red sneakers. Of course, there's some nervousness: Ignacio is a newly arrived immigrant and Yoshi isn't sure he's ready. By the end of the book, all 23 children stand in a circle around Mrs. Miller and Mr. Zimmerman, who is ready to read them a book (a copy of Off to First Grade is tucked under his arm). Rankin's lovely watercolors make each student jump to life, and give this book about "going" great forward motion.

BEARLY THERE

Poor Boris. He's the star of Carrie Weston's The New Bear at School. The students in Miss Cluck's classroom are initially excited about the newcomer, hoping for a fluffy, pink bear, a Paddington-type bear, or any kind of teddy bear. However, when the door opens and a grizzly bear walks in, everyone screams.

Things go downhill from there, as Boris breaks his chair. When Boris grins, everyone panics at the sight of his sharp teeth. Chaos erupts, and Boris feels ostracized. That is, until a gang of bullying rats preys upon some students after school. Boris unwittingly scares them off, just by appearing and smiling (his sharp teeth have a way of exciting everyone). Boris ends up a hero, and suddenly the hairy, scary bear has been transformed into a soft, cuddly friend. Tim Warnes' pastel-toned illustrations are just right (he was inspired by watching cartoons with his kids).

COPING WITH THE BIG DAY

Michael Wright's bright, bold illustrations in Jake Starts School look like they are a cartoon! The book is full of humor and funny bird's-eye view perspectives, and it's Homer Simpson-esque in a good, ages four-to-seven kind of way. I love, for instance, the big spread in which Jake's parents turn to him in the car, saying, "Big day, son!" and "Isn't this exciting?" They both have big heads that fill the page. Meanwhile as Jake spots students and the bus outside the car window, the narration states: "As they arrived, Jake was surprised to see so many kids." In true-to-life fashion, Jake screams and bolts the minute he lays eyes on his red-headed teacher. He grabs his parents' knees for dear life and refuses to let go. When no one can pry Jake away, he and his parents go through the day glommed together, and it is quite amusing indeed. Of course, the situation resolves itself, and Jake finds happiness in his classroom, as we hope children everywhere will this fall.