Ages 2-4
Book Review: Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Written & Illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger Published by Roaring Brook Press on January 1, 2012 Genre/Topics: Nature, Color Ages: 2+, 36 pages Awards: Caldecott Honor Book 2013
Can a book that focuses on one color be exciting to read? Green is a beautifully illustrated book that displays the many hues of the color green. Some greens are standards such as forest green, lime green, fern green, and pea green. Other greens are more creative with a tiger hiding in green grass, a chameleon in khaki green, faded green on signs, and fireflies with a glow green. Along the book, there are die-cuts giving a sneak into the next green. You can guess the next picture. My favorite die-cuts are the pages with the green fireflies that then turn to red apples on a green tree when you turn the page. There’s a page showing all the green shades. The book also displays pages with no green, such as a red stoplight and a white snow scene. The illustrations appear very lovely like a canvas with bold brush strokes and vivid colors. The last two pages show a young boy planting a tree then shows a grown tree that is forever green.
This is a wonderful book to explore the many shades of green. It’s perfect for younger ages, because there’s only a few words on the page. The book also can be used with older ages to view the unique canvas-like illustrations to then create art. Green is a great book to explore our naturally green world that hopefully stays green.
Book Review: Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert
Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z
Eating the Alphabet is a simple alphabet book with no actual story, instead the reader enjoys colorful fruits and vegetables illustrations. Most letters appear either on one or two pages. Every fruit and vegetable is written twice – once in all capital letters and the other all lower case letters. It’s a great way for children to really view how letters are displayed in words. I really enjoyed this book, because most letters are represented with 3-6 fruits and vegetables. It’s not your typical ‘A is for Apple. B is for Banana.’, instead Eating the Alphabet highlights fruits and vegetables that are new to young children and perhaps even adults too. Some examples are avocado, artichoke, cauliflower, eggplant, jicama, kumquat, lime, okra, papaya, and xigua. Does the child need to know each food? Of course not, instead it introduces the colorful world of fruits and vegetables besides apples, bananas, and carrots. It goes beyond a simple food alphabet book and opens discussion about healthy foods, finding the fruits and vegetables in the store, and of course tasting the foods that are in the book. There is a food glossary at the back with brief information about each fruit and vegetable. This is also a great book to teach colors, since the illustrations are so vivid and colorful. I highly recommend this alphabet book in your child’s book collection.
Book Review: Al Pha’s Bet by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal Illustrated by Delphine Durand Published May 12, 2011 by Putnam Juvenile Genre/Topics: Alphabet, Humor Ages: 4+, 32 pages
How exactly did the twenty-six letters form the alphabet that we know today? Well, it occurred long ago when a king announced that he wanted someone to arrange the twenty-six letters. A man named Al Pha made a personal bet with himself that he would indeed make the perfect arrangement for the letters. It started with A for his name then gradually everything seemed to naturally fall into place as he organized the letters. When his friend Jay came to visit HI J was formed. Near the middle Al became discouraged, but he told himself NO that he needed to finish. Finally, Al Pha presented his arrangement to the king who then sang the letters. Well of course the king asked Al if ‘this time won’t you sing with me?’ The king loved Al Pha’s letter arrangement and decided it would be known as Al Pha’s Bet.
I absolutely loved Al Pha’s Bet! The writing was fun and humorous with brilliant pictures to match the writing. The alphabet slowly forms on the pages as you read. After reading Al Pha’s Bet you’ll almost agree with how the letter arrangement formed. I’m sure children and even adults will laugh while reading this book.
Book Review: Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett
Extra Yarn
Written by Mac Barnett
Illustrated by Jon Klassen
Published Balzer + Bray on January 17, 2012
Genre/Topics: Magical Realism, Sharing, Humorous
Ages: 4+, 40 pages
Awards: 2013 Caldecott Honor and the 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
Perhaps, I enjoyed Extra Yarn because I love to knit and crochet. Annabelle and her dog discover a small box filled with yarn of every color. Her entire town is either white due to snow or gray from the chimneys. Well, you can just imagine what Annabelle decides do to with all this colorful yarn. She knits a simple sweater for herself and dog, however there’s still extra yarn. Annabelle knits sweaters and hats for everyone in town, but there’s still extra yarn. Soon the town is no longer in shades of white and gray, but cheerful colors created with all the extra yarn. The words are simple with a few sentences on each page.
As a knitter and crocheter I agree, there’s always something you can make with a little extra yarn left over. Perhaps I should share some of my yarn creations.
Book Review: The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins
Written & Illustrated by Pat Hutchins Published by Macmillan Publishing Company in 1974 Genre/Topics: Humorous, Rhymes Ages 3+, 32 pages
We’ve all experienced a really windy day when we need to hold our hat tight and hope nothing gets blown away. Well, everything seems to blow away in the book The Wind Blew. It begins with an umbrella being turned inside out. (Living in a ‘rainy’ city, it always makes me laugh when I see people attempt to hold an umbrella on a rainy and windy day.) Soon the wind blew hard enough that it swept up a balloon, hat, scarf, judge’s wig, and much more. The words are simple and somewhat rhyme. It plucked a hanky from a nose and up and up and up it rose. The book is fun, because you can guess what may get blown away next. Here’s a small clue: the object is something on the previous page but you’re not exactly sure what it is. I read this book in a classroom and the students thought it was funny. I’d also like to highlight that this book was written in 1974, which proves that great books can be discovered anytime.
Book Review: Leaf Man
Written & Illustrated by Lois Ehlert Published by Harcourt Children’s Books on September 1, 2005 Genre/Topics: Season, Environment, Science Ages: 3+, 40 pages ALA Notable Children’s Book
Leaf Man is a colorful book that describes a leaf’s journey. The leaves begin joined together as a ‘man’, but then the wind blows it in all directions. Instead of stating leaves blowing, the book states it as though it was a leaf man travelling. The wind blew the leaf man over vegetable gardens, over meadows, flowing along a river, and flying over mountains with birds. Each page the leaves formed into the descriptions, such as leaves attached to become fish-like when it traveled along the river. Throughout the book it states ‘a Leaf Man’s got to go where the wind blows’. The pages are die cut that together create a landscape. The author collected actual leaves then made the illustrations to closely resemble the leaves. On the back, there are pictures of each leaf and its name. I really enjoyed Leaf Man.
Book Review: Lola at the Library
Written by Anna McQuinn Illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw Published April 4, 2006 by Charlesbridge Publishing Topics: Reading, Library, Books Ages: 2+, 32 pages
Every Tuesday, Lola and her mommy visit the library. She carefully puts all her books in her backpack to return. Lola enjoys spending time in the children’s area where she listens to stories and songs. After storytime, Lola takes her time and picks new books to check out. When Lola and her mommy are finished checking out books they get a snack after visiting the library. Before bed, Lola’s mommy reads a library book to her.
Lola at the Library is a simple and sweet story about a young girl visiting the library. The book is a great introduction about the library. It takes many trips to the library for children to become comfortable, feel safe, and most importantly desire to come back. Now that I’m an adult it sometimes feels weird if I didn’t make my weekly library visit! Thanks Mom! 🙂
Celebrate National Library Week!
April 8-14, 2012
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