Blog module icon

Displaying all posts tagged with:

'humor'

Nov 18

Break the 4th Wall by Genesis Gaule

Posted to Campbell Unclassified on November 18, 2022 at 10:50 AM by Genesis Gaule

12 Interactive Picture Books

Do you remember the last time a book spoke to you? Now, I’m not talking about the one that deeply touched your heart. Rather, a book where the characters leap from the page and speak directly to you, the reader–otherwise known as “breaking the fourth wall.”

Perhaps yours was The Book with No Pictures or Harold and the Purple Crayon? The one that imprinted most clearly on me is the classic Sesame Street picture book “The Monster at the End of this Book” by Jon Stone. As you turn each page, cute furry Grover, afraid there is a monster at the end of the book, (rather adorably) begs you NOT to finish the book and constructs elaborate obstacles to thwart your progress. Of course, that only builds your own curiosity as to what exactly is at the end.

Breaking the fourth wall adds an interactive–often comedic–quality to picture books. Done right, the author reaches out and immerses you directly in the book's struggles, antics, and in some cases, even allows you to help the characters solve their problems. You are no longer simply a spectator of these storiesyou are an active participant!

Are you and your little one ready to become part of the story? Check out these delightful, wall-breaking reads:

Reader Participation:

When your actions influence the story/book or contain call-and-response actions

High Five

by Adam Rubin & Daniel Salmieri

From the author of kid favorite Dragons Love Tacos! Animals present their hand slapping skills to the reader, just in time for the annual high five contest.


This Book Just Ate My Dog!

by Richard Byrne

When her dog disappears into the gutter of the book, Bella calls for help. But when the helpers disappear too, Bella realizes it will take more than a tug on the leash to put things right.


Can You Make a Scary Face?

by Jan Thomas

What kind of a face would you make if a tickly green bug were sitting on your nose? Or eek! inside your shirt? Could you make a scary face to frighten it away? Yes? Then better get to it!


Press Here

by Herve Tullet

Each page of this imaginative touch book instructs the reader to push the button, shake it up, tilt the book, and who knows what will happen next!


From Head to Toe

by Eric Carle

This energetic book will have young readers clapping their hands, stomping their feet, and wiggling their toes along with its colorful assortment of animals.


Characters Talk to the Reader:

First person perspective (ex: "I walked to the store") with a twist!

Life on Mars

by Jon Agee

In this sneaky, silly picture book, an intrepid—but not so clever—space explorer is certain he’s found the only living thing on Mars. Readers will love being in on a secret that is unbeknownst to the explorer.


Reader as Narrator:

A variation of character and reader interaction, where you become the narrator of the story

The Panda Problem

by Deborah Underwood & Hannah Marks

Every story needs a problem. But Panda doesn't have a problem. Lose control of the narrative in this delightful, funny, and adventurous ode to what makes a story—and what makes a story great.


Counting to Bananas

by Carrie Tillotson & Estrela Lourenço

A banana wants to be the star of this rhyming counting book, but the narrator has other plans.


The Book is Part of the Story:

Where the book itself becomes a character or story element

i cannot draw a horse

I Cannot Draw a Horse

by Charise Mericle Harper

This book can draw a shape. It is a "nothing shape" that can be used to draw a cat, beaver, bunny, dog, turtle, and bear...but what about a horse? The cat really wants a horse. But the book cannot draw a horse. Can the quick-draw book appease the horse-obsessed cat with an impressive collection of “nothing shape” alternatives?


We are in a Book!

by Mo Willems

Gerald and Piggie discover the joy of being read. But what will happen when the book ends? Mo Willems' Elephant & Piggie books usually have at least one fourth wall breaking moment per book but this one does away with the wall entirely!


Breaking Out of Character:

Characters who go in and out of character or make asides to the reader during the story--almost like getting a backstage pass to the action "on set"

Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book)

by Julie Falatko & Tim J. Miller

Snappsy the alligator is having a perfectly normal day when a pesky narrator steps in to spice up the story.


See the Cat: Three stories about a dog

by David LaRochelle & Mike Wohnoutka

What happens when the book gets it wrong? Max is not a cat--Max is a dog! But much to his dismay, this book keeps instructing readers to "see the cat." How can Max get through to the book that he is a dog? // Also check out the sequel: See the Dog: Three stories about a cat



Apr 25

Book Notes 4/25/2022

Posted to Campbell Unclassified on April 25, 2022 at 12:37 PM by Genesis Gaule

Blog Book Notes

4/25/2022


Calling all K-5 kids--it's time to get ready for our 2022 Summer Reading Program! Registration begins May 1. More information...


Bring Your Baggage and Don't Pack Light by Helen Ellis

In gloriously comic and moving essays, Ellis shares thoughts on friendship among grown women. She dishes on married middle-age sex, sobs with a theater full of women as a psychic exorcises their sorrows, gets twenty shots of stomach bile to the neck to get rid of her double chin, and gathers up the courage to ask, "Are you there, Menopause? It's Me, Helen."

814.54 ELLIS


The Power of Fun by Catherine Price

How to Feel Alive Again // Through years of research, journalist Catherine Price has learned the truth: far from being frivolous or a distraction, fun is actually the secret to achieving our goals. If you reorient your life around what you personally find fun-true fun-you will be happier and healthier. You will be more productive, less resentful, and less stressed. You will have more energy, for yourself and for other people. You will find community and a sense of purpose. You will feel alive again.

155.418 PRICE


Carry On by John Lewis & Andrew Young

national geograhpic photographyReflections for a New Generation // Organized by topic ranging from justice, courage, faith, mentorship, and forgiveness to the protests and the pandemic, and many more besides, this book collects the late Congressman John Lewis's thoughts for readers to draw on whenever they are in need of guidance.

328.730 LEWIS


The Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach

100 Recipes and a Real-Life Plan for Eating Less Meat: A Cookbook // Organized by meal type, this book offers one hundred recipes like Pizza Salad with White Beans in the Bowls and Salads chapter, Cauliflower Cutlets with Ranch Dressing in the chapter Skillet Mains, and Squash and Black Bean Tacos in the Tacos and Tortillas chapter, with excellent and practical tips, and food for thought written in the author’s engaging, witty, and relatable voice.

641.56 ROSENSTRACH


If you need help accessing any of these titles or using front door pickup, email or call us and we will be happy to assist you!

View Book Notes PDF archive

Mar 14

Book Notes 3/14/2022

Posted to Campbell Unclassified on March 14, 2022 at 1:24 PM by Genesis Gaule

Blog Book Notes

3/14/2022


Minne-Murals™ are here again! This month will be about the Bald Eagle, remember to pick up your kit at the library then join us on Zoom Wed, March 23 @ 6:30 pm to color with us. More information...


Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend by Ben Philippe

Notes from the Other Side of the Fist Bump // Ben takes his role as your new Black friend seriously, providing original and borrowed wisdom on stereotypes, slurs, the whole "swimming thing," how much Beyoncé is too much Beyoncé, Black Girl Magic, the rise of the Karens, affirmative action, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other conversations you might want to have with your new BBFF. This book is a conversational take on topics both light and heavy, universal, and deeply personal that reveal incisive truths about the need for connection in all of us.

305.80 PHILIPPE


Woke, Inc. by Vivek Ramaswamy

Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam // This book begins as a critique of stakeholder capitalism and ends with an exploration of what it means to be an American in 2021--a journey that begins with cynicism and ends with hope.

322.3 RAMASWAMY


Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh

We face a potent intersection of crises: ecological destruction, rising inequality, racial injustice, and the lasting impacts of a devastating pandemic. The situation is beyond urgent. To face these challenges, we need to find ways to strengthen our clarity, compassion, and courage to act. Nhat Hanh make it blazingly clear: Mindfulness and the radical insights of Zen meditation can give us the strength and clarity we need to help create a regenerative world in which all life is respected.

294.3927 NHAT HANH


Frequently Asked Questions about the Universe by Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson

Daniel and Jorge offer short, accessible, and lighthearted answers to some of the most common, most outrageous and most profound questions about the universe they've received. This witty, entertaining, and fully illustrated book is an essential troubleshooting guide for the perplexing aspects of reality, big and small, from the invisible particles that make up your body to the identical version of you currently reading this exact sentence in the corner of some other galaxy.

523.1 CHAM


If you need help accessing any of these titles or using front door pickup, email or call us and we will be happy to assist you!

View Book Notes PDF archive