You Will Be My Friend

You Will Be My Friend by Peter Brown
2011

     Lucy is back! After realizing that Children Make Terrible Pets, she decides that today is the perfect day to get back out there and find a new friend.  She is so excited! "I cannot wait to make a new friend! We're going to do cartwheels! And have picnics! And climb trees! And go swimming! And have dance party!"  Lucy tries to hang out with a group of frogs at a pond, but when she jumps in, she splashes all the water out. No pond, no frogs.  Things are not looking good.  She tries squeezing into a burrow, climbing trees, even dressing up as a kangaroo.  But as hard as she tries, things don't work out and Lucy finds herself frustrated and lonely.  She tries a new method: imposing her friendship of others. "Come back here and have fun with me!" She even scolds a little egg:   "You WILL be my friend! I can wait."  But nothing. Then finally, when she's about to give up and screams "Doesn't anybody want to be my friend?!" A bow-tie wearing Flamingo -a perfect match for Lucy's tutu- approaches her to give the book a perfect ending...there's cartwheeling, swimming, and dancing...just as she had wanted.
     You Will Be My Friend  is hilarious.  Peter's Brown text and illustrations complement each other beautifully, with some of the story being driven by the text bubbles and others just by the illustrations. I loved the page where Lucy is trying to calm herself down...I want to have that page as a poster in my classroom.  There are some cool details to discover during careful reads, like the foreshadowing of Lucy's visit to the frog pond -which you can see in the previous page as she walks away from home.  I believe I also saw a fish wearing a hat that I associate with Peter Brown.   It's a great read aloud that will have kids laughing the whole time.
Fish with Peter Brown's hat.  Forshadowing of the pond

Chowder

Chowder by Peter Brown
Illustrated by Peter Brown
2006

     So I guess at this point in my blogging "career" (48 continuous days blogging...not that I'm counting or anything!) I have to confess that I have become a Peter Brown fan.  He's going to be in downtown Manhattan this weekend at a beautiful bookstore called Books of Wonder. I'm really bummed because I won't be able to make it in to see him since we have tickets to see my four-year old's favorite musician, Dan Zanes (who I also love).   But anyways, back to the books... Chowder is the hilarious and  story of a dog who never quite fit in. "His owners liked to think of him as quirky, but most people thought he was just plain weird."  Chowder just doesn't do the normal dog things; he stops to smell the flowers, listens to music with headphones and surfs the web. But his favorite thing to do is to hang out in the balcony looking through his owner's telescope.
     While using the telescope, Chowder discovers that a new petting zoo has open and decides to go make some new friends.  Chowder shows us how you can be who you are, be complete happy, and find true friends.  The story is really endearing and the illustrations are just awesome -it's hard to come up with a better adjective.  You'll know what I mean, once you see them. And while you're at it, check out any of Peter Brown's other books, especially The Curious Garden, perfect for the upcoming Earth Day celebration.

Fight of the Dodo

Flight of the Dodo by Peter Brown
Illustrated by Peter Brown
2005

     Penguin is having a good day. It's nice outside and he's going for a waddle, when a goose poops on him. "If I could fly I'd at least watch where I pooped!"  This is the last drop. Penguin decides that he's had enough. It's time to figure out a way to fly.  So he gathers other Waddlers and finds a way to explore the skies.  Once up there he runs into trouble and needs the help of the Flappers...the geese.
     Flight of the Dodo is a hilarious story about not giving up on your dreams and the quest for adventure...and poop.  What kid can resist a book with a great storyline and beautiful illustrations that just happens to mention poop more than once? I can't think of any.  Peter Brown has definitely become on my favorite authors.

The Curious Garden

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
Illustrated by Peter Brown
2009

     In a dreary city, with no gardens or trees, a little boy named Liam decides to go outside and explore.  He finds a stairway leading up to abandoned train tracks, where he finds a little "patch of color", a group of wildflowers and plants in dire need of attention.   Liam decides to help the plants and becomes their gardener.  The garden begins to thrive and expand along the train tracks running throughout the city.
     In The Curious Garden, Brown's beautiful illustrations complement a wonderful story about how one boy can help nature transform a whole city.  The story is inspired by an actual garden that sprouted along abandoned train tracks in New York City.  The book will awake the desire to go out and help the environment in all young gardeners.

Children Make Terrible Pets

Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown
Illustrated by Peter Brown
2010

     I once read somewhere that you should try to write picture books as a script, to make sure there was plenty of dialogue.  Lately, I keep finding books that read just like a script (i.e. the Elephant and Pig series by Mo Willems) and Children Make Terrible Pets is one of those books.
    Lucy, a tutu wearing bear, finds a boy in the forest.  Against her mother's wishes, Lucy adopts him as her pet.  Soon, she finds out why children make terrible pets.