Book Review: You: A Story of Love and Friendship

Book # 17

Book Image:

Bibliographic Citation:

You: A Story of Love and Friendship.

By Stephen Michael King. Illus by author.
2010. 30p. Harper Collins, $14.99. (9780062060143)

Age Group:

 Baby - Toddler

Genre:

 Fiction

Awards:

 None listed.

Topics/Issues:

 Friendship, Best friends

ELS promoted:

 Print awareness, print motivation.

Format:

 Hardcover

Author/Illustrator sites:

www.stephenmichaelking.com

Categorization Tags:

 E King

Annotation:

Reveals the world as a colorful, musical, and exciting place where the most special thing of all is a best friend.

Reactions/Observations:

The reader follows the playful pup as he shares how colorful and music the world can be. He shares the good and the bad, but tells the reader what makes the world so great is "you" ( a friend).  The text is sweet and friendly.  The illustrations are a pleasure to flip through.  They are light, playful, and expressive.  The main character is easy to love with his simple yet expressive face. The composition of the illustrations create movement from page to page. Although I think the book may be best for the younger end of our target audience, preschool may appreciate this short story about best friends. Children will love to share and read this book with every person they love.

Book Review: In My Nest

Book #16

Book Image:

Bibliographic Citation:

In My Nest.

By Sara Gillingham. Illus. by Lorena Siminovich.

2009. 10p. Chronicle Books LLC, $8.99.(9780811865555).

Age Group:

Baby-Toddler

Genre:

Fiction

Awards:

None listed.

Topics/Issues:

Birds, Nests, Family

ELS promoted:

Print awareness, print motivation, narrative skills, vocabulary

Format:

Board book.

Author/Illustrator sites:

www.saragillingham.com

Categorization Tags:

E Gillingham

Annotation:

A bird describes what makes his nest a home.

Reactions/Observations:

A small felt bird moves within a nest of die cut pages.The text describes the materials that make up the nest and finally what makes up the bird's home: family. The books is sweet and soothing, easily enjoyable for a very young reader.
 
In my Nest is a beautiful book in board book format, allowing for easy handling for little hands on age group. The illustrations are bright and depict a bird’s home beneath several thick pages with cut outs to see the bird finger puppet inside. Children will appreciate hands on aspect of this book but will especially love the finger puppet friend. If you’re a fan, there are more books in this series!

Book Review: We've All Got Bellybuttons!

Book #15

Book Image:

Bibliographic Citation:

We’ve all got bellybuttons!

By David Martin. Illustrated by Randy Cecil.

2005. 25p. Candlewick Press, $15.99. (9780763617752)

Age Group:

Toddler-PreS

Genre:

Fiction

Awards:

None listed.

Topics/Issues:

Anatomy, navel, animals

ELS promoted:

Print motivation, print awareness, phonological awareness, and vocabulary

Format:

Hardcover

Author/Illustrator sites:

http://www.davidzmartin.com/

Categorization Tags:

E Martin

Annotation:

Various animals invite the reader to experience what their different body parts can do, including their tickly belly buttons.

Reactions/Observations:

 A variety of animals and their young explore the different ways their bodies can move and invite their audience to play along. Each page features a family of animals with an upbeat rhyme about a particular body part and motion.  The animals share all the amazing things they can do with their ears, hands, necks, and feet. The animals join together to inspect their belly buttons only to instigate a big tickle fest at the end. Children will enjoy following along with the animal’s gestures. 

The illustrations are cartoon like and playful, perfect for toddlers! The book is an easy way to engage young audience with its rhyming verse and bright colors. I recently used this book in baby storytime and in toddler storytime.  Both age groups seem to enjoy the book. In baby storytime, parents pointed at baby's body parts as the story mentioned different body parts and gestures.  In toddler storytime, children had fun participating by following the actions and naming the animals in each picture.  We've All Got Bellybuttons is great for vocabulary building as well as phonological awareness with the rhyming text.

Book Review: Bee & Brid

Book # 14

Book Image:

Bibliographic Citation:

Bee & Bird.

By Craig Frazier. Illus. by the author.

2011. 40p. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter, $16.99. (9781596436602).

Age Group:

PreS-Gr1

Genre:

Juvenile fiction

Awards:

None listed.

Topics/Issues:

Birds, Travel, Bumblebees

ELS promoted:

Print motivation, print awareness, narrative skills, letter knowledge

Format:

Hardcover

Author/Illustrator sites:

http://www.craigfrazier.com/

Categorization Tags:

E Frazier

Annotation:

In this wordless story, bee and bird share a travel adventure.

Reactions/Observations:

The bee sits on a red circle which turns out to be a bird.  The bird is sitting in a green cloud which turns out to be tree.  The pattern continues as we follow the bee and the bird travel from tree to the bee’s hive. The shapes are bright and simple, allowing children to identify the shapes that these images are made up of which is important for learning concepts like identifying letters and numbers.  I like the way the images are nested within each other to narrate a story. The book makes for great discussion about the shapes depicted as well as promoting talking about what is happening from picture to picture.  Children will enjoy describing their adventure to friends and family.  

Book Review: Duck! Rabbit!

Book #13

Book Image: 

Duck! Rabbit!

 By Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Illus. by Tom Lichtenheld.

2009. 40p. Chronicle, $16.99 (9780811868655)

Age Group:

PreS-Gr1

Genre:

Fiction

Awards:

Time Magazine Top Ten Children's Book of 2009, #1
ALA Notable Children's Book of 2010
PW Best Children's Books of the Year, 2009
Barnes & Noble Best of 2009 – Best Kids' Books, #3
2009 Parenting Media Award Winner – Book Category
National Parenting Publications Awards 2009 – Gold Award
2010 Texas 2×2 Reading List
Parents' Choice Silver Honor 2009
IndieBound Summer 2009 Top-10 Indie Next Kids' Pick
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, 2009 Best Book Award – Gold
A 2009 Junior Library Guild selection
Virginia Readers' Choice Elementary List – 2010-2011
Booklist 2009 Editors' Choice
Borders Original Voices 2009
Goodreads.com Best Picture Book of 2009 Nominee
Abilene Independent School District Mockingbird 2009 Reading Program Selection
About.com's Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2009

Topics/Issues:

Ducks, Rabbits, Animal Identification

ELS promoted:

Print motivation, letter knowledge, narrative skills, vocabulary, and print awareness

Format:

Hardcover

Author/Illustrator sites:

http://www.whoisamy.wordpress.com

http://www.tomlichtenheld.com

Categorization Tags:

E Rosenthal

Annotation:

Two unseen characters argue about whether the creature they are looking at is a rabbit or a duck.

Reactions/Observations:

As a mysterious creature presents itself, two off page narrators debate whether it’s a rabbit or a duck.  The “beak” can easily be called “ears” with a tilt of your head.  It’s easy to see how this simple line drawing can be confused for such different animal which is part of this book’s charm.  Rosenthal and Lichtenheld further illustrate the two sided nature of the drawing with additional dialogue and placing the image in context with props , scenery, and sound effects.  

I think this book is outstanding because the duality of the simple illustrations are fun and inspire conversation promoting letter knowledge and print motivation. The dialogue serves as great practice for talking through the story, promoting narrative skills.  Children will spend hours flipping the book vertically and horizontally to rediscover the duck and rabbit again and again. The story is simple enough to retell yet in combination with the images, allow for amusing retellings. The ability to re-read in new ways defines it as a book you can’t miss.  

Book Review: The Lion & the Mouse

Book # 12

Book Image:

Bibliographic Citation:

The Lion & the Mouse

By Jerry Pinkney. Illus. by author.

2009. 40p. Little Brown Books, $16.99. (9780316013567)

Age Group:

PreS-K

Genre:
Juvenile Fiction

Awards:
2010 Caldecott Award

Topics/Issues:  
Folklore, Cooperation, Mice, Lions, Fables

ELS promoted: 
Print motivation, narrative skills, print awareness, 

Format: 
Hardcover

Author/Illustrator sites:
http://jerrypinkneystudio.com/

Categorization Tags:
E Pinkney

Annotation:
In this wordless rendition of an Aesop’s fable, a mouse proves that a small creature can be capable of great deeds as she rescues the Lion.

Reactions/Observations:

The book retells a classic tale about a mouse that saves the King of the Jungle: Lion. She proves that anyone is capable (even someone as small as the mouse) of accomplishing great deeds.  The illustrations are warm and expressive. The only use of text is used to depict the sounds effects of the actions or for the animals. The story is told through the facial expressions and actions on each page. The compositions of the characters direct the reader’s eyes, allowing for a narrative to be formed even without words. 

I read The Lion and The Mouse in response to a fellow classmate’s discussion post.  It was shelved among the picture books by last name of the author. I agree that this book is great for the 0-4 audience.  Because the story is wordless, it allows for those who cannot read yet to retell the fable through the pictures. I’m not sure if this would be a good book for story time, but as a one on one book, it’s perfect.  The illustrations are beautiful. Parents can use the books lack of words as an opportunity to talk to their children about it.  I especially liked how what little text was used to create motion and give personality to the interaction between the characters. The words are part of the illustration rather than being used to narrate the happenings on each page.  It’s easy to see why this book won the 2010 Caldecott award.

Book Review: Just a Minute

Book # 11

Book Image:

Bibliographic Citation: 

Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book

By Yuyi Morales. Illus. by author.

2003. 28p. Chronicle Kids, $15.95.(9780811837583)

 

Age Group:

PreS-2

Genre:

Nonfiction

Awards:

2004 Pura Belpré Illustrator Award Winner

Topics/Issues:  

Folklore, Mexico, Death

ELS promoted: 

Print motivation, narrative skills, print awareness, vocabulary

Format: 
Hardcover

Author/Illustrator sites:

http://www.yuyimorales.com/

Categorization Tags:

PZ8.1.M7955 Ju 2003

Annotation:

In this version of a traditional tale, Señor Calabera arrives at Grandma Beetle’s door, ready to take her to the next life, but after helping her count, in English and Spanish, as she makes her birthday preparations, he changes his mind.

Reactions/Observations:
Señor Calabera comes knocking on Grandma Beetle's door to take her with him to the afterlife. But Grandma Beetle persuades him to stay and help her do one more thing and then another, slowly counting each task in both english and spanish. Señor Calabera becomes increasingly impatient until her long list of tasks result in a party where he is also invited!  He has so much fun that he bids Grandma Beetle farewell, giving her another year.


I was lucky enough to find this book on our story time reference shelf.  The illustrations are bright and playful, depicting various symbols of Hispanic culture like the papel picados and the piñatas. From your description I expected a darker and maybe a little sinister story when I read Death had come to take Grandma Beetle, but it was nothing of the sort. In fact, a child may miss that Grandma Beetle had cheated Death out of another year.  The dialogue is playful and smoothly integrates the Spanish language between bits of story and dialogue.  I think this book would especially work well for Día de los niños/de los libros story time