Professional Reading

Low has compiled more 650 rhymes, fingerplays, poems, and songs. Her introduction supports new storytime planners as well as veterans who might need an additional song or poem for a previously planned program. The final pages provide major indexes for authors, titles, and first lines. However, beware that the entries are indexed by "a," "and," and "the." There is also a secondary index by type, such as "Counting and Math Rhymes" or Spanish rhymes. Organization is alphabetical by animal from "Alligator" to "Zebra." Rhymes about multiple animals are in a separate listing. Simple musical scores are provided for the songs. Add this title if additional professional material is needed to freshen up activity collections.—Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA

An eminent Canadian scholar and children's book author offers a dense, wide-ranging attempt to define children's literature. Nodelman explores what he sees as "a fatal contradiction at [the] heart" of texts intended for children. He describes children's literature as belonging to a genre, unlike any other in literature, defined by its audience. Yet he notes that children's books are produced, distributed, analyzed, and purchased by adults, who construct their own varying images of childhood. He has chosen six texts as case studies: Maria Edgeworth's "The Purple Jar," Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle, Beverly Cleary's Henry Huggins, Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day, and Virginia Hamilton's Plain City. His provocative discussion engages and synthesizes many serious works of contemporary scholarship, both inside and outside the field of children's literature, from critics as diverse as Jacques Lacan, Edward Said, and John Rowe Townsend. This major theoretical study, the capstone of a long and distinguished career, by an author who relishes the complexity and ambiguity he finds inherent in books intended for children, belongs in all academic libraries, as well as large public library collections.—Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams

In her latest compilation, Schon evaluates 1231 reference books, fiction, and nonfiction, mainly published in the last five years. Entries are arranged alphabetically by author and include a grade level for each book. The majority of the fiction are translations of titles by popular and well-known American authors and classics and award-winning juvenile titles by authors from diverse cultures, genres, times, and languages. Schon also includes a number of original titles by Spanish writers, some of them contemporary, such as Carlos Ruiz Zafón and Jordi Sierra Fabra, and others from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Underrepresented are works by Mexican, Caribbean, and South American writers as well as materials by Latino writers living in the United States. Schon examines and recommends materials based on the quality of the Spanish language, literary appeal, and the versatility of the translators, paying special attention to the effective use of Peninsular Spanish or the Spanish from the Americas. This annotated bibliography will help selectors in public libraries and media centers to develop existing Spanish-language collections. However, those interested in building a new collection must consider this resource in conjunction with other selection aids that provide a more extensive number of original Spanish titles and that reflect the flourishing of the publishing industry in countries like Colombia and Venezuela, barely represented in this volume.—Freda Mosquera, Broward County Library, FL

This essential collection of Latino rhymes, songs, finger plays, and riddles offers a variety of flexible program ideas for babies, toddlers, prescholers, and school-age children "for whom Spanish is the language spoken in the home." Programs were developed by an experienced children's librarian who fully understands the needs of her colleagues serving Latino populations. In the first chapter, the author shares tips on how to reach the audience and to promote the programs, with instructions in English and Spanish. An appendix includes a list of the resources for each program, an annotated bibliography, a discography of music for children, and craft ideas. This volume can easily become a basic reference resource for English-speaking and bilingual librarians and teachers. Librarians who follow Treviño's recommendations can not only present successful bilingual storytimes, but also fulfill the educational and recreational needs of Latino parents and children who are trying to adjust themselves to a different culture.—Freda Mosquera, Broward County Library, FL

This collection features mostly original tales, starring the youngest member of the Bear family, Teddy Bear. The stories are a mix of gentle life lessons and family dramas, adaptations of traditional stories, and concept guessing games. The author includes scripts and directions for 20 stories, suggestions for additional books and activities, patterns for creating the characters and props (which are also on the CD-ROM), and theme and subject indexes. The best feature here is the recycling of the characters in each tale, so storytellers only have to fabricate these figures once. The selections have a lot of child appeal. The directions and patterns look basic and easy to use, but they do require some artistic ability and familiarity with flannel/magnetic board storytelling techniques. Yousha does not always include patterns for the Bear family's clothing, and it is difficult to figure out which pieces are required for which tale, since the patterns are grouped by category and not by story. While this title does not reach the quality or the breadth of Judy Sierra's The Flannel Storytelling Book (H. W. Wilson, 1997), it could supplement larger collections.—Rachel G. Payne, Brooklyn Public Library, NY