Media Mix
With Great Power: The Marvelous Stan Lee, an Unauthorized Biography
Written by Annie Hunter Eriksen, illustrated by Lee Gatlin
Stan Lee is known for being the creator of Spider-Man and many more superheroes, but few know that Stan was born Stanley Lieber and that while he was growing up in the Bronx, his family could hardly afford to buy groceries.
Stan was able to escape the confines of the tiny apartment his family lived in by reading books. Soon he had stories of his own going through his mind and, at 16 years of age, he headed out to find a job so he could help provide for his family.
A great introduction into the life of the man who gave the world so much. About being a hero, however, he would say, “. . .anyone can be a hero, as long as they stand for what’s right!”
A Tree Is a Home
Written by Pamela Hickman, illustrated by Zafouko Yamamoto
A Tree Is a Home is a beautifully illustrated nonfiction picture book that captures one year in the life of an oak tree and the six animals who call that tree home.
The book opens in summer and introduces the animal inhabitants: raccoon, acorn weevil, opossum, gray squirrel, blue jay and chipmunk. As the seasons change, so does the tree, and so do the activities of the animals within the tree.
When winter arrives the narrator explains, “The animals are surviving the cold in many ways. Like the dormant tree, some are inactive, hibernating for most of the season. Others stay in their cozy homes only during the worst weather but still venture out for food that provides energy to keep warm . . .”
Included in the book are descriptions of the life cycle of an oak tree and each of the animals who live in the tree.
Interrupting Chicken: Cookies for Breakfast
Written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein
The next in the Interrupting Chicken series, Interrupting Chicken: Cookies for Breakfast does not disappoint.
Still silly, still poetic and still interrupting. What’s a little chicken to do when she awakens early, hungry for cookies? Awaken her father, of course, with a breakfast (of cookies) in bed!
Papa isn’t going for it, however, so the two decide instead to read nursery rhymes. Which gives little chicken a chance to interject her fondness for … cookies!
“There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,” one of the nursery rhymes begins. “She had so many—cookies, she gave me a few!” interrupts little chicken.
Papa responds, “We are not having cookies. I’ll make you a healthy breakfast as soon as I get up.” A few nursery rhymes later it’s Papa who’s hungry.
What is the healthy breakfast he makes? Does little chicken get her cookies for breakfast? Will little chicken stop interrupting? Grab a copy of this delightfully illustrated book and find out!
Sandy Foster is a writer and blogger (NadinesBakery.com) who li ves in the Kansas City area.