Prairie Bud Nominees 2012-2013

Raczka, Bob

Publisher's Weekly Summary: In creating this nostalgic collection of haiku, Raczka (Summer Wonders) cites the form's brevity and its emphasis on nature and the present as reasons why it's "a wonderful form of poetry for guys like us." Categorized (as haiku traditionally are) by season and progressing through the year, his "guyku" poems celebrate the mud of spring, the campfires of summer ("With the ember end/ of my long marshmallow stick,/ I draw on the dark"), the transformation of fall, and the joys of winter, with plenty of giggling thrown in—"Penny on the rail,/ You used to look like Lincoln/ before you got smooshed." Reynolds (The Dot) provides an expressively drawn vignette for each haiku in muted tones of mossy green, sepia, and watery blue. This is childhood as adults remember it, or want to remember it: no flat-screen TVs, no computers, no cars or cellphones. Whether children will recognize their own lives in these wistful visions is not clear, but they will certainly appreciate Raczka's humor: "If this puddle could/ talk, I think it would tell me/ to splash my sister."

Grade Level: K-3
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Thomson, Bill

Three children discover a magical bag of chalk on a rainy day (wordless book).

Grade Level: K-3
Publisher: Amazon Childrens Publishing

Tingle, Tim

Bee stings on the backside! That was just the beginning. Tim was about to enter a world of the past, with bullying boys, stones and Indian spirits of long ago. But they were real spirits, real stones, very real memories… In this powerful family saga, author Tim Tingle tells the story of his family's move from Oklahoma Choctaw country to Pasadena, TX. Spanning 50 years, Saltypie describes the problems encountered by his Choctaw grandmother—from her orphan days at an Indian boarding school to hardships encountered in her new home on the Gulf Coast.

Grade Level: 2+
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press

Van Booy, Simon

A perfect bedtime story, this gentle tale follows Pobble and her father as they stroll through the snowy woods near their home one evening and, in Pobble's imaginative and unique way of looking at things, nature transforms: a winter mushroom becomes frog umbrella, a floating leaf turns into a butterfly boat, and a feather is a tickle stick. In the excitement of imagining worlds transformed, Pobble does not notice when her pink mitten falls from her pocket. Soon the woodland animals gather and begin to wonder whether the soft, pink addition to the forest is cotton candy, a mouse house, a wing warmer, or a fish coat. With luminous paintings and lyrical language, this picture book celebrates family, nature's beauty, and the power of imaginative thinking.

Grade Level: K-2
Publisher: Flashlight Press

Willems, Mo

Gerald is careful. Piggie is not. Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can. Gerald and Piggie are best friends. In We Are in a Book! Gerald and Piggie discover the joy of being read. But what will happen when the book ends?

Using vocabulary perfect for beginning readers (and vetted by an early-learning specialist), Mo Willems has crafted a mind-bending story that is even more interactive than previous Elephant & Piggie adventures. Fans of the Geisel Award-winning duo won't be able to put this book down—literally!

Grade Level: PK-3
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children