Category: Early Reader

Posted in Early Reader, Fantasy, Fiction, Fiction, Intermediate, programs, Storytime, Summer Reading

Storytime: Nobody Likes a Goblin, by Ben Hatke

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

nobody-likes-a-goblinNobody Likes a Goblin, by Ben Hatke, (Jun 2016, First Second), $17.99, ISBN: 9781626720817

Recommended for ages 5-10

If you read my stuff enough, you know there are a few authors and illustrators that I adore; Ben Hatke is one of them. From Zita the Spacegirl to Mighty Jack and Little Robot, he creates fun, exciting characters, very human stories, and beautiful art. I am eternally grateful that he has also started sharing the love with picture book readers; first, we had Julia’s House for Lost Creatures, and now, Nobody Likes a Goblin.

It’s the sweetest little book about a homebody goblin who lives in his cozy dungeon and hangs out with his best friend, Skeleton. One day, a gang of dumb old adventurers barges in, loots Goblin’s treasure, and makes off with Skeleton – RUDE. Goblin sets out to rescue his friend despite the oft-repeated cautionary advice, “Nobody likes a goblin.” But Goblin doesn’t care, because he has a friend to save!

goblinImage Source: GoodReads

How cute is this book? It’s got adorable messages about friendship and being brave, not worrying who likes you or not, and just doing what you do. I decided to read this one to some of my slightly younger kids on a preschool-aged summer camp visit a few weeks ago, and they seemed to enjoy it. They kind of “ewwww’d” my poor Goblin at first, but when I told them that he was just a nice little guy and didn’t bother anyone, they were more sympathetic. By the end of the book, they were cheering for him. I encouraged them to hiss and boo the adventurers who were mean and went into poor Goblin’s house, breaking things up and stealing his toys, and was that very nice? NO.

Posted in Early Reader, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction, Preschool Reads

Gear Up! Sports Illustrated Kids Talks Hockey!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

si_hockeyMy First Book of Hockey: Mostly Everything Explained About the Game (A Rookie Book), by the Editors of Sports Illustrated for Kids (Sept. 2016, Sports Illustrated), $11.95, ISBN: 978-1618931771

Recommended for ages 4-8

Sports Illustrated Kids’ Rookie Books series are great for burgeoning sports fans, big or small. Hey, I’m honest: whenever I’ve needed to learn something from the bare bones, I’ve gone to the children’s section. It’s how I learned to crochet more than a basic single stitch, it’s how I’m relearning all the high school Spanish I forgot, and it’s how I learned exactly what goes on during a hockey game.

An illustrated, cartoony “rookie” appears on the endpapers and throughout the book, acting as our guide. through Hockey 101. He gears up in the beginning, putting on all of his protective hockey equipment, and shows up on every spread, offering fun side commentary over the action photos.  There are photos of real NHL players from several teams (don’t ask me who they are, please, I just learned what a slap shot is), with comic book word bubbles, big, fun fonts, and simple explanations to give readers a good starting point on understanding and enjoying hockey. Digital numbers add to the sports feel as the book, divided into three “periods” like a hockey game, breaks down what happens during each period.

There are great photos – think Sports Illustrated photography, after all – a glossary of terms, and a friendly introduction to the sport. Other books in the Rookie series include My First Book of Baseball and My First Book of Football. If they ever decide to release a My First Book of Soccer, I can guarantee it will circulate like wildfire in my library!

If you have sports fans in your community, these are a must-have. I’ll be adding a few of these to my shelves, and suggesting that my colleagues, who have field hockey teams in their communities, add My First Book of Hockey to theirs.

Posted in Early Reader, Fiction, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Blog Tour: Race Car Dreams by Sharon Chriscoe!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

race-car-dreams_1

A race car finishes his race and gets ready for bed in this adorable rhyming bedtime story. Going through his nighttime rituals: he washes his rims, fills his tummy with oil, and heads to the library for a book to snuggle down with for the night. It’s a story that’s just perfect for bedtime, as my 4 year-old will gladly attest to; it’s entered our nightly reading routine, and the gentle rhyme and bright but subdued, kid-friendly art is a lovely transition from go-go-go running around all day to slowing down and getting ready for bed.

RaceCarDreams_int.indd

The endpapers bring us into and lead us out of the story with black and white checkered flag; in auto racing, it’s the checkered flag that waves when the winner has crossed the finish line; it’s a fun fact to add to a storytime and it adds both to the beginning and end settings for the story.

RaceCarDreams_int.indd

Cars fans, racing fans, boys and girls alike will enjoy this sweet bedtime story. I love that the race car snuggled down on its own with a good book, showing that while snuggle time with Mom or Dad is great, you can also be perfectly content to cuddle up with a night time read all on your own.

Is your little one a fan of “just one more book” at bedtime like mine is? Add Sherri Duskey Rinker’s Steam Train, Dream Train to the reading rotation for another rhyming dream story.

You can pick up a copy of Race Car Dreams for your little racer on September 13th. It’s available via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or IndieBound. Support your local libraries and borrow it, too! Don’t forget to add it to your GoodReads!

Make sure to visit more stops on the RACE CAR DREAMS blog tour!

9/6 My Word Playground

9/7 MomReadIt

9/8 Unleashing Readers

9/9 Once Upon a Time…

9/10 Stacking Books

9/11 Geo Librarian

9/12 Flowering Minds

9/13 Unpacking the POWER of Picture Books

9/14 Little Crooked Cottage

9/14 MamaBelly

9/15 #kidlit Book of the Day

9/16 Just Kidding

Posted in Animal Fiction, Early Reader, Fiction, Humor, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

The Zoo’s about to cut FOOTLOOSE!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

footloose_1Footloose, by Kenny Loggins/Illustrated by Tim Bowers, (Oct. 2016, MoonDance Press), $17.95, ISBN: 9781633221185

Recommended for ages 2-6

Where are my fellow ’80s children at? Kenny Loggins, who basically soundtracked the ’80s, has given new life to Footloose – a song that I will still unabashedly jump off and dance to whenever I hear it (usually to my eldest teen’s mortal terror) – for the little ones! He was inspired to rewrite the song into a fun story for his grandchildren; what we get is a fun rhyming story about what goes down after a zoo closes to the public for the evening.

First things first: Yes, I absolutely did find a karoake version of Footloose on YouTube and played it while I sang this book. In the privacy of my bedroom, sure, but I did it and it was fabulous! The song and story line up nicely, and if that’s your kind of thing, and you have an audience that may be receptive to it, print out a set of the lyrics for the parents and go for it.

This is a fun story for kids about party animals getting down after dark, with Zookeeper Big Jack witness to the whole business. There’s rhyming, there are great illustrations of animals swinging from trees, dancing a tango, and turning it loose – Footloose!

footloose_2

footloose_3

footloose_4For me, this is a no-brainer add to my shelves – my storytimes include a lot of movement, my little ones love animal books, and I can easily read this, Eric Carle’s From Head to Toe, Lindsay Craig’s Dancing Feet, and Sandra Boynton’s Barnyard Dance to get the kids up, moving, and laughing. If you have animal picture book fans, it’s a great addition to your collections. If you like to sing and dance with your little ones, be it in your own living room or the storytime area in  your library, add this one. And if you want that karaoke link, here’s the backing track (just the music), and here’s one with the lyrics, in case you want to track how your reading goes compared to the pace of the song.

Posted in Early Reader, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Blog Tour: Beautiful, by Stacy McAnulty

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

beautiful_1Beautiful, by Stacy McAnulty, (Sept. 2016, Running Press), $16.95, ISBN: 978-0-7624-5781-6

“Every girl is unique, talented, and lovable… Every girl is BEAUTIFUL.”

Sure, sugar and spice and everything nice, is fine for some, but snips, snails and puppy dog tails are pretty great, too. Stacy McAnulty’s Beautiful sends an empowering message: You can be beautiful when you’re dressed like a pirate, when you’re digging in the garden, or you’re creating your own robot army. Loving yourself is beautiful, and Stacy McAnulty’s empowering message is conveyed by Joanne Lew Vriethoff’s gorgeous artwork, which shows beautiful little girls in all shapes, sizes, colors, and abilities, laughing, having fun, being brilliant, and being beautiful.

This is the best kind of diverse book, because it encourages, it empowers, all kids to embrace life and joy. The message is clear, with pictures that interpret the text in the best way:

BEAUTIFUL_int.indd

BEAUTIFUL_int.indd

The endpapers carry this celebration of beauty by featuring a field of pink, with crayon-drawn butterflies and flowers, and overlaid with brightly colored frogs, bugs, and snails.

This book is for everyone: for the little girl who knows she wants to be the president-ballerina-astronaut when she grows up; for her mom, who wanted (and maybe achieved) the same. For the dad whose little princesses sing “Let it Go” while playing with their Transformers, and the brothers whose sisters are right next to them, scaling a tree on a lazy day. Boys and girls, men and women alike, all need Beautiful in their lives, to remind them to embrace all forms of beauty where they discover them.

You can pre-order Beautiful from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound. You can also add it to your GoodReads.

Make sure you check out the rest of the stops on the BEAUTIFUL blog tour!

8/29 Flowering Minds
8/30 Kids’ Book Review
8/31 My Word Playground
9/1 Stacking Books
9/2 Unpacking the POWER of Picture Books
9/3 MomReadIt
9/5 Enjoy Embrace Learning
9/6 Geo Librarian
9/7 A Foodie Bibliophile
9/8 MamaBelly
9/10 Diapers and Daydreams
9/11 The Late Bloomer’s Book Blog
9/12 Unconventional Librarian

 

Posted in Animal Fiction, Early Reader, Fiction, Preschool Reads

Paying it forward: Cara’s Kindness

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

caras kindnessCara’s Kindness, by Kristi Yamaguchi/Illustrated by John Lee (Oct. 2016, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1492616863

Recommended for ages 3-8

Cara the Cat is practicing her ice skating routine and thinking of the perfect song for it when she notices Darby the Dog, who wants to skate, but is afraid to try. She helps Darby overcome his fear, telling him to “pass on the kindness”, setting off a chain of good deeds, with each friend helping someone else and telling them to “pass on the kindness”. The cycle of good deeds comes full circle when a friend creates a song especially for Cara’s performance. The story concentrates on the good feelings of paying it forward – doing a kindness for someone and asking others to do the same – and how karma works like a boomerang; it’s the old adage, “treat others as you would be treated”, brought to life with adorably drawn animal characters in situations that speak to young audiences.

Olympic medalist Kristi Yamaguchi has written children’s books before, featuring Little Pig (It’s a Big World, Little Pig! and Dream Big, Little Pig!), who inspired readers to follow their ambitions and dreams. Maybe Cara and Little Pig will meet up in a future story?

This is a good book to pair with other books on kindness, like Carol  McCloud’s Have You Filled a Bucket Today? (“bucket filling” was huge when my tween was in elementary school), Philip Stead’s A Sick Day for Amos McGee, and the classic fable, The Lion and the Mouse. Encourage kids to pay it forward by doing something nice for someone of their choosing.

 

Posted in Early Reader, Intermediate, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction

Celebrate diversity with The Barefoot Book of Children!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

barefoot_1The Barefoot Book of Children, by Tessa Strickland and Kate DePalma/Illustrated by David Dean, (Oct. 2016, Barefoot Books), $19.99, ISBN: 9781782852964

Recommended for ages 3-8

“Every morning, millions of children open their eyes and start another day.”

Using broad statements and insightful questions about how we live, love, and play,  The Barefoot Book of Children introduces readers to children all around the world. David Dean’s bright, hand-painted illustrations show how families around the globe live; dress; and pray and worship. We get glimpses into the treasures we all keep, the stories we all have to tell, the meanings behind our very names. With questions like, “How do you share your love?” and “What will happen in your story?”, the book invites kids to come together and talk about their lives and their families, learning how we are unique and the same, all at once. Illustrated notes at the end of the book provide a deeper examination of the book, focusing on homes, special places, and hobbies featured in the book.

I’m from Queens, New York; one of the most diverse places in the country. The Barefoot Book of Children is what every library, every school, in my borough should be reading and making available to the kids we serve, because every child here will see themselves in this book. That’s tremendous. It brings us together by introducing us to other cultures through the familiar: play, family, home. The bright artwork is so inviting, you can’t help but pull up a comfortable seat and spend some time getting to know your world better.

I loved this book, and I think parents, educators, and most importantly, kids, will, too. Take a look at more of the book and consider adding it to your wish lists.

barefoot_5

barefoot_6

barefoot_4

 

Posted in Early Reader, Fiction, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Blog Tour: Busy Builders, Busy Week! Interview with Jean Reidy!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis
busy builders_1Busy Builders, Busy Week, by Jean Reidy/Illustrated by Leo Timmers, (June 2016, Bloomsbury), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1619635562

Sunday! Dream day! Study, scribble, scheme day. Map, measure, plan a treasure. Gather up a team day!

The author-illustrator team that brought us All Through My Town – a storytime staple at my library – comes together to bring readers a book about working together! Over the course of a week, animal characters pull together to build a brand new playground in their community. Each day brings new things to do, from planning, to digging, to fixing and planting!

This is such a fun story to read out loud, and has entered regular rotation at home. Kids can practice their days of the week and get lost in the rhyming story, which has the added benefit of showing readers how to group tasks to get things done in the best way. On Sunday, the builders come up with plans for their big job ahead; on Monday, they clear the area. Tuesday is for infrastructure: cement, pipes, boards, fixing fences. On Wednesday, we load everything up and take it on the road. Thursday is for getting the place shaped up: drills, nails, rake and spread. Friday, the plants go in and the final details, like painting and sanding, get the park ready for their big opening on Saturday!

I love Leo Timmers’ bright, bold acrylics here. The bright colors and cartoony animal characters are a perfect accompaniment to Jean Reidy’s bouncy, happy rhyming text. Even the endpapers bring on the fun, with yellow, diamond-shaped construction signs featuring different animals working at different tasks leading readers in and out of the story.

Transportation books have done well at all of my libraries, so this is a no-brainer for my collection. If your readers love books like Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site, by Sherri Duskey Rinker, and Kate and Jim McMullan’s series (I Stink!, I’m Brave!, et al), this is a perfect fit. Busy Builders also lends itself to a days of the week read-aloud, right next to fun books like John Himmelman’s Chickens to the Rescue!,  or Albert Bitterman’s Fortune Cookies.

I was lucky enough to get a few minutes with author Jean Reidy, and we talked about Busy Builders, Busy Week! Read on!

 

MomReadIt (MRI): I love the idea of the characters coming together to create a playground! Did you decide on the idea of building the playground as the best way to talk about the days of the week, or did the story come together separately?

Jean Reidy (JR): A little bit of both, I’d say. When my editors at Bloomsbury asked me to write a days-of-the-week book for their list, I loved the idea. So I brainstormed a variety of approaches that ranged from the mundane to the wildly weird. But that’s the way I like to work, creatively uncensored, putting all the possibilities out there. I’ve always wanted to write a construction trucks book, so when I hit on the notion of a “construction week” the only decision left was, “What can we build in a week that will resonate with a child?” Well, a playground, of course. Even better, a playground designed by illustrator Leo Timmers. And while the premise was fun and uncomplicated, the idea of a community coming together to transform an old, abandoned city lot into something fun and beautiful felt like it added an additional layer of meaning to the essential story. I like that layer. I think it gives readers more to talk about. And Leo did a fabulous job bringing it to life.

MRI: When you were working on the text, did you plot out the different phases of construction to help you group together the tasks the characters undertake each day?

JR: That would have been really smart, eh? But my process was a little looser than that. I tried to keep my free association of the topic going as long as I could before I forced it into any kind of order. I wanted to fully explore all the fun possibilities for structure and language. So, I developed word lists—starting with the days of the week and then all the construction actions, sounds, vehicles and tools I could think of. I played with those lists until I sounded out the bouncy rhythm and rhyme scheme I wanted for my young readers. From there, I made sure that the construction tasks were logically ordered and grouped so that the artwork could then bring sense to the process of building the playground.

MRI: You’ve also written a book called ALL THROUGH MY TOWN that features animals as the main characters. Do you think these two books could take place in the same storytelling universe? Could the kids from All Through My Town come and play at the new playground built in Busy Builders, Busy Week?

JR: Oh my goodness! What a brilliant idea! I love unexpected connections, surprises and meta moments in storytelling. So let’s play that out. ALL THROUGH MY TOWN is loosely modeled after the Chicago suburb in which I grew up—a self-contained town with its own shops, library, gardens, fire department and only thirty miles from Chicago. The Chicago and Northwestern train line—now called the Metra—whistled through multiple times each day, taking commuters to and from the Windy City. BUSY BUILDERS, BUSY WEEK! takes place in an urban area where the characters transform an old empty lot. So yes, let’s have our town characters hop on their train and visit their city friends—all meeting up at that brand new playground. Bloomsbury, how ‘bout it? Readers, toss me a title! Let’s do this!

 

Jean Reidy photoJean Reidy is a two-time winner of the Colorado Book Award. Especially gifted at writing for very young children, Jean is a frequent presenter at national and local literacy, writing, and education conferences and at schools across the country—in person and via Skype. She is a member of the Colorado Council International Reading Association and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and she serves on the board of Reach Out and Read Colorado. Jean writes from her home in Colorado where she lives right across the street from her neighborhood library, which she visits nearly every day. Visit her at www.jeanreidy.com and on Twitter: @JeanReidy.

 

Follow Jean on the BUSY BUILDERS, BUSY WEEK! tour!

Mon, Aug 22 Cracking the Cover
Tues, Aug 23 Literary Hoots
Wed, Aug 24 NC Teacher Stuff
Thurs, Aug 25 Mom Read It
Fri, Aug 26 Unleashing Readers
Sat, Aug 27 Booking Mama
Mon, Aug 29 Bluestocking Thinking
Tues, Aug 30 Jean Little Library
Wed, Aug 31 Geo Librarian
Thurs, Sept 1 Mrs. O Reads Books
Fri, Sept 2 Where Imagination Grows

Click here for a free classroom curriculum guide and storytime kit!

Enter a Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to receive a copy of BUSY BUILDERS, BUSY WEEK! (U.S. addresses, please.)

Posted in Early Reader, Graphic Novels, Intermediate, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction

A touching portrait of a Canadian strongman: The Great Antonio

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

antonio_1The Great Antonio, by Elise Gravel (Oct. 2016, TOON Books), $12.95, ISBN: 978-1-943145-08-9

Recommended for ages 6-8

Antonio Barichievich was a bear of a man: he weighed as much as a horse, once wrestled a bear, pulled passenger buses full of people, and could eat 25 roast chickens and a dozen donuts in one sitting. He was also a beloved figure: an immigrant from Eastern Europe who loved his adopted country of Canada and its people. He was a wrestler and a strongman; he was a kind and gentle soul who twirled kids around on his gigantic braids, who lived simply, and could often be found in his neighborhood donut shop.

Even if you’re not familiar with The Great Antonio – I wasn’t, before this – this is a sweet tribute to a beloved public figure. The book is accessible to anyone, because it’s a story about a larger-than-life person who did larger-than-life things. Add bright and bold illustration to a story about a man that some people thought of in Paul Bunyan-type terms, even joking that he may have been from another planet – and you have a modern tall tale for a new audience.

A note from the author/illustrator at the end of the book explains her interest in Antonio. She “illustrates a little “About Me”, showing readers things she likes, like fart jokes, grumpy unidentified things, and strong and funny girl characters, which assures that I should probably become BFFs with her, because I like those things too, and my kids and the kids in my library know it. This will make life so much easier when I booktalk this book (and try to find more of her illustrated books in the US).

Check out Elsie Gravel’s website for more of her artwork and books. The Great Antonio‘s page on TOON Books will also have a link to an educator’s guide closer to pub date, so keep it bookmarked. The Great Antonio is a Level 2 TOON Book, so it’s appropriate for readers in grades 1-2 (but you can read it to younger – my 4 year old loved seeing Antonio swing kids from his braids and wrestle a bear). If your kids’ school uses Guided Reading, the book is appropriate for levels G-K, and it’s a Lexile BR-240.

As a biography, it’s pretty niche, at least here in the U.S., but as a story about a person who touched lives and made headlines, it’s a great read.  I love the art and the story, so I’ll see how this one does in my collection, especially with some booktalking/storytimes.

 

antonio_4