Category: picture books

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Birdie’s Beauty Parlor esta abierto!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Birdie’s Beauty Parlor, by Lee Merrill Byrd/Illustrated by Francisco Delgado, (Aug. 2020, Cinco Puntos Press), $15.95, ISBN: 9781947627284

Ages: 4-7

Birdie’s grandmother looks tired. It’s time for a spa day! Birdie, a young Latinx girl, pampers her grandmother while narrating this very sweet story in both English and Spanish, laying out steps like having Abue/Grandma lay on her bed while Birdie empties her drawers on the bed; powdering Grandma’s face and putting on makeup; giving her a much-needed foot massage and dressing her up. Abue looks stunning, and Birdie is ready for her next customer! This loving story about playtime with Grandma is bold and vibrant in color, with decorative text swirling around the pages but always remaining easy to read. It’s a playtime most of us probably remember, whether we played beauty parlor or barber shop with our parents, our siblings, or other relatives or babysitter. The story will evoke sweet memories while setting the stage for new memories.

I found this adorable craft on Instagram and think it would be perfect as a companion activity for Birdie.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

More rockin’ storytimes with Akashic LyricPop!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Remember back in June, when Akashic released four picture books set to pop music titles? If visions of babies in revolt, set to Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It are still stuck in your mental gears, this post is for you. Akashic has released the next four books in their LyricPop series, and they are SOOOO GOOD.

Move the Crowd, Song & Lyrics by Eric Barrier & William Griffin/Illustrated by Kirk Parrish, (Oct. 2020, Akashic Books), $16.95, ISBN: 978-1-61775-849-2

Ages 2+

The lyrics to Eric B. and Rakim’s 1987 hit Move the Crowd come to life in this story as we see a young boy get sucked into his boom box (I’m Gen X, I know I’ve dated myself with that reference) and dropped into a world that desperately needs his help: it’s a grey, dismal world he lands in, but he brings the music, and with it, a colorful vibrancy that transforms the surroundings! Everyone gets an instrument, there’s a riot of color and movement, and sure enough, the crowd is moving! Endpapers showcase giant boom boxes, and the mixed media/cut paper artwork is just incredible, with depth and movement all coming together to tell a story that you won’t want to listen to while standing still.

 

Respect, Song Lyrics by Otis Redding/Illustrations by Rachel Moss, (Oct. 2020, Akashic Books), $16.95, ISBN: 978-1-61775-844-7

Ages 2+

All hail to the Queen! Respect, the song written by Otis Redding and made iconic by Aretha Franklin, gets its proper due as a picture book and a lesson all in one. A young girl, her family, and her friends all imagine different futures for themselves within the context of respect: a lawyer or a judge dispending justice; a doctor caring for patients; construction workers and scientists; teachers, and soldiers. All set to Otis Redding’s lyrics, with the freedom to dream of a world where everyone is equally respected and valued. Cute asides like family members, including the dog, chiming in with background “oohs” and “re, re, re, res” make this such fun to read and offer an open invitation for your littles to sing along – that’s the point! A multicultural group of children dance across the letters to the word Respect, and the artwork is colorful and cheery. A note on what “Respect” means to readers as a song and a concept, plus questions for further exploration, completes this book. Visit Akashic’s Respect page for more information on the Otis Redding Foundation, and interviews with illustrator Rachel Moss.

 

These Boots Are Made for Walkin’, Song Lyrics by Lee Hazlewood/Illustrated by Rachel Moss, (Oct. 2020, Akashic Books), $16.95, ISBN: 978-1-61775-875-1

Ages 2+

The song made popular by Nancy Sinatra gets a new spin in this story of a possessive cat who isn’t thrilled when a new puppy joins the family. Front endpapers show the pampered cat enjoying her human’s sole attention, but as the story unfolds, a new puppy joins the household and the cat… well, the cats gets on their walkin’ boots to fight back! Gradually, the two pets gets used to one another, sharing their human’s affections, and the back endpapers reveal the two new friends equally spending time with their human, cowboy boots and all. Adorably illustrated, this is a sweet read for animal lovers and an invitation for kids to jump up and let their own boots start walking. Let kids color in some boots printables and hang them up!

 

We Got the Beat, Song Lyrics by Charlotte Caffey/Illustrated by Kaitlyn Shea O’Connor, (Oct. 2020, Askashic Books), $16.95, ISBN: 978-1-61775-836-2

Ages 2+

One of my all-time favorite songs, the Go-Gos hit We Got the Beat comes to gloriously neon ’80s life in this book! People and animals alike all have the beat here as they rock up and down the book. The colors are bright, popping off the page, with sunglass-wearing flamingos, horses wearing go-go boots, and super-cool kids bopping across pages. You won’t be able to sit still as you read this. Have inflatable instruments? Hand ’em out and dance to the beat!

Each book is a musical experience in your hands. Play the songs, invite your kids to dance, and hold your very own storytime dance party!

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Interactive fun: This is Frog, This is Crab

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I fell in love with This is Owl, by Libby Walden and Jacqui Lee, a year ago. It’s interactive fun for storytime and anytime, and it lets you be absolutely silly with your littles! Two more This is… books have hit shelves, thanks to Kane Miller; both authored by Harriet Evans, with Jacqui Lee staying on as illustrator, and they are every bit is adorable and fun as This is Owl. Pep up your storytime!

This is Frog, by Harriet Evans/Illustrated by Jacqui Lee, (July 2019, Kane Miller), $14.99, ISBN: 978-1-61067-997-8

Ages 2-6

More interactive animal fun! The narrator invites us to gently shake the book to help Frog jump, and then we assist frog in moving flies toward him for some food, avoid being a toucan’s snack, find shelter from the rain, and find his way back to the water. The text invites readers to help out on every page, with flaps to lift and pages to shake. Frog is wide-eyed and looks vaguely concerned, which will give readers gleeful giggles as they jiggle, hug, and lead him around the book. I read this during a Facebook Live storytime and received several messages from parents telling me their littles loved it! The book is largely rendered in lush greens with bright backgrounds to pop against. Perfect for toddlers and preschoolers with exploring fingers.

This is Crab, by Harriet Evans/Illustrated by Jacqui Lee, (Jan. 2020, Kane Miller), $14.99, ISBN: 978-1-68464-064-5

Ages 2-6

More die-cut, interactive silly fun! Crab opens up a wealth of possibilities for finger-clacking, shuffling shenanigans. We start off by gently tempting Crab out of his cave, then accompanying him in a walk across the ocean floor. Readers need to be mindful – Crab has a bad habit of pinching others, and tries to take things that don’t belong to him! Readers steer him away from Octopus and negotiate how to play nicely with a decorator crab, and play a game of underwater hide and seek. When cracks show up in Crab’s shell, readers also have a chance to help Crab shed his old shell. Too much fun, with a colorful underwater playground to wander in. Let your readers clack their crab pincers and shuffle sideways to add to the fun!

The This is series is essential for storytime collections. They’re just too much fun to read and explore.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Small and Indie Spotlight!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

As I continue catching up to my TBR, I’ve got more independently published books for you to enjoy. Take a look!

Tucker and the Garbage Truck, by Sarah Brown/Illustrated by Oscar Franco, (May 2020, Independently Published), $12.97, ISBN: 979-8648207370

Ages 3-6

Tucker is a little truck who discovers a big garbage truck winding its way through his neighborhood. Tucker approaches the garbage truck and asks him about his job, and the garbage truck invites Tucker along as he makes his stops, explaining why he enjoys his job. He’s too big to be one of those itty bitty trucks or cars, and he likes helping keep the town clean! At the end of the day, Tucker is happy to have made a new friend and has learned about a new job: Garbage Truck!

Digital illustrations are cute, and the text is easy to read. Kids who Disney’s Cars movies and shows, plus vehicle books like Kate and Jim McMullan’s I’m Fast! and I Stink! and Byron Barton’s board books (Train, Trucks, Planes) will enjoy this one.   Author Sarah Brown has a series of Tucker books available on her Amazon author page.

 

Carrie’s Flight (Grandma’s Closet #1), by Lois Wickstrom/Illustrated by Francie Mion, (March 2019, Independently Published), $12.99, ISBN: 978-1090828224

Ages 4-7

A little girl named Carrie discovers some of her grandmother’s boxes in a closet, and pulls them into her room, where she video chats her grandmother to ask what they are. When Grandma invites Carrie to open the boxes, she discovers feathers! And wings! Donning a pair of wings for herself, Carrie soon realizes she can fly like the starlings outside her window, and joins them in flight. She heads to her grandmother’s home for a visit, and when the birds beckon her home, she flies back. A gentle Icarus story for younger readers, this is a sweet story about a girl and her grandmother, with a fantasy spin. The artwork is dreamlike, with soft colors, and the text has emphasized fonts on certain words for added interest. If the text were laid out over and around the images, it would flow better, but the overall story is cute and will appeal to younger readers. A nice bedtime story to share. An author’s note on how starlings arrived in North America and their environmental impact adds an interesting nonfiction touch to the book.

 

How I Made a (Tiny Wacky) Friend (My Crazy Stories), by Daniel Georges, (Aug. 2019, Independently Published), $15.99, ISBN: 978-1088442432

Ages 5-8

This is my first dip into the My Crazy Stories series, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. William is a kid who likes keeping to himself. He likes to spend time by himself, making spooky masks in his room, and enjoys being out and about when there’s no one else around: until “this kid” shows up: a new kid moves into the neighborhood, and William starts seeing him EVERYWHERE. It’s really cramping his style! When his parents invite the kid and his family over for dinner, William is ready to give the kid the scare of his life – but when he puts on one of his scariest masks, the boy is THRILLED. He loves scary stuff, too! The two new friends bond over their shared love of monsters, and Willy and Olly – that’s “this kid’s” name – become fast friends, spending their days at the playground and reading monster stories together. They even bestow secret code names upon each other, because “Good friends always have secret code names”. A spread at the end of the book invites kids to put pictures of themselves and their friends into the book, and give themselves secret code names.

The book is fun, narrated in the first person by William, and is so relatable to kids, especially kids with more introverted tendencies (or children dealing with a new sibling). The artwork is fun, colorful, boldly outlined. I was really happy with this book, and will keep an eye out for the other books in the series. A fun book to help kids break down complex emotions.

Dana Digs In, by Laura Pedersen, (Apr. 2020, Independently Published), $8.75, ISBN: 979-8638193270

Ages 4-7

Dana is a biracial girl who lives in an urban community and does not like the taste of the tomatoes in her salad. It’s not that she doesn’t like tomatoes, she doesn’t like the store-bought tomatoes her parents have bought! Her father explains that tomatoes are often picked before they’re ripe, and ripen on a truck, which gets Dana thinking about waste and pollution. She’s determined to find a better way to get good food, so she researches how and where to start a community garden – and discovers the perfect spot in a future building area that she can use for a few months. After getting the seeds started and learning to compost, she’s ready – and she gets help! The community pitches in and they have a healthy harvest, a portion of which Dana donates to the local food pantry. When it’s time to relocate the garden, Dana discovers that she’s got a couple of options – exciting! Dana Digs In shows how dedication, ingenuity, and research makes all things possible, no matter what age.  The artwork uses word balloons to illustrate dialog and nicely shows the steps involved in figuring out how to set up and run a community garden. Read during a Discovery Time/STEM program and encourage kids to start their own seeds – or do a food scrap program and show kids how to start their own crops from food scraps in their kitchens!

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Halloween Books: Bears and Boos

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Bears and Boos, by Shirley Parenteau/Illustrated by David Weber, (July 2020, Candlewick Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9781536208375

Ages 2-5

In the seventh Bears outing by Shirley Parenteau and David Weber, the bears are getting ready for Halloween and couldn’t be more excited! They rifle through a box of costumes, but as they get excited, manners give way to chaos, and little Floppy’s knocked right on her plushy behind! Floppy decides to let everyone else have their turn, but when the fuzz clears, there’s nothing left for Floppy but a crumpled sash. The other bears realize their mistake, and each takes a turn in giving part of their costume to Floppy, creating a wonderful costume. Now that they’re all ready for Halloween, they can all enjoy their holiday. As Shirley Parenteau writes, “When the bears all share, the bears all win. Let the Halloween celebration begin!”

A gently rhyming story that makes for a wonderful readaloud about sharing and kindness, kids and adults alike will recognize the chaos that can happen when emotions run high and even small tasks, like choosing a costume from a box, becomes a free-for-all. Having the teddies empathize with their friend and share their costumes with Floppy teaches a valuable lesson about kindness. The acrylic artwork is soft in color and depicts the teddies in their different colors, with cheerful costumes. Soft orange endpapers feature hanging ghost decorations for a fun Halloween feel. A fun Halloween addition to an adorable series.

Shirley Parenteau’s author website has downloadable resources for educators and caregivers, including writing prompts and drawing sheets.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Halloween(ish) Stories: Do Not Go in There!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Do Not Go in There!, by Ariel Horn, (July 2020, imprint), $18.99, ISBN: 9781250189493

Ages 3-7

Two monsters. One door. One monster wants to go in, and the other is too afraid to consider it. Bogart and Morton are two best friends who see things a little differently. Where Morton is excited and ready to embrace the unknown, Bogart is terrified! So when a closed door presents the opportunity to go discover what’s on the other side, Bogart says no way: there could be wolves! Morton, on the other hand, is drawn to the shiny doorknob and the bright red door: what if it smells like candy? The two debate back and forth on what scenarios lay behind the door; Bogart imagining unknown terrors, Morton turning those fears around into exciting new adventures. Who will win out?

A fun look at optimism and pessimism, Do Not Go in There! also shows kids that we can all be different and still be friends. And where one friend is scared, another friend can soothe that friend and help them try something new. It also illustrates how our imaginations work, whether to overwhelm or take us away to new heights. The artwork is cheery and bright, and the text color changes to reflect Bogart’s and Morton’s sides of the conversation. Bogart and Morton are adorably fuzzy, gently colored monsters that kids will love. Invite readers to each adopt a character and read out loud, or imagine fun Halloween scenarios that would be behind the door: will there be witches flying on lollipop brooms? Werewolf puppies? Teachers Pay Teachers has free, adorable Halloween clipart that you can invite readers to use to illustrate their story. A perfect not-so-scary story for preschoolers!

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Some Dinosaurs Are Small… but some are quite large!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Some Dinosaurs Are Small, by Charlotte Voake, (Aug. 2020, Candlewick Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9781536209365

Ages 3-6

Some dinosaurs are small. Some dinosaurs are big! A small dinosaurs wanders through the jungle with a little shopping basket, gathering food to munch on. Three bigger dinosaurs start following our little friend, looking for their next meal. Those bullies are in for a big surprise, though… An adorable story with factual text for beginners – “Some dinosaurs are small. / They have tiny flat teeth for munching through fruit and leaves. / Some dinosaurs are big. / They have huge pointy teeth and sharp claws” – the story takes a very satisfying turn that will leave readers giggling and cheering. The watercolor and ink artwork tells a playful story, while the text gives readers the facts; together, they create a fun story that will delight dino fans.

Charlotte Voake is an award-winning author and illustrator.

Education.com has some fun dinosaur worksheets, including this A to Z activity, a lowercase alphabet dot-to-dot, and an uppercase dot-to-dot.

Some Dinosaurs Are Small has starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal.

Posted in Non-fiction, picture books

A look at an ecosystem in crisis: If You Take Away the Otter

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

If You Take Away the Otter, by Susannah Buhrman-Deever/Illustrated by Matthew Trueman, (May 2020, Candlewick Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9780763689346

Ages 5-8

A moving look at how ecosystems are connected, If You Take Away the Otter begins with a discussion on the kelp forests in the Pacific Coast waters. Towering kelp trees can grow up to a foot a day, and are full of living creatures: abalones, clams, sea stars, and more find their shelter within the kelp. Sea otters hunt in these waters, requiring about a quarter of their own body weight in food to keep warm (kids would need to eat about 24 hamburgers a day as an equivalent!). Otters keep the food web in balance. In the 18th century, the international fur trade came to the Pacific waters, and otters were hunted for their pelts: which caused a disastrous fallout in the ecosystem. With the otter population decimated, sea urchins proliferated, eating the kelp forests to their bottoms, forming “urchin barrens”. When people above noticed the change, they enacted laws to protect the remaining population; the otters returned, got control of the urchins, and new kelp once again flourished. As the story says: “Those forests are homes again for crabs and snails, sea worms and shrimps. They make safe places for the fish and their eggs. There is food for the seaweed eaters; there is food for the hunters. There is just enough of everything to help the kelp forests, and all that depend on them, thrive”. An author’s note highlights the importance of food webs in our ecosystems, and how a change in one part of the web affects both the ecosystem and the people – in this case, the Indigenous Peoples of the northern Pacific –  who depend on them to survive and thrive. There are resources available for further reading and research.

Mixed media illustrations run primarily blue and green, showing both a thriving and a struggling underwater world. The otters are rendered in beautiful detail, and the floating kelp is almost tangible as it dances across the page. The artwork is just brilliant and gives real life to the factual text. Small callouts throughout offer deeper reading about the effects of environmental change.

A solid book to have in your natural history collections. When my Corona kids come in looking for food webs/ecosystems information, this is a book I want to have handy for them.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

It’s Fox vs Sloth in My Book (not yours)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

My Book (not yours) (Lento & Fox), by Ben Sanders, (Sept. 2020, Kane Miller), $14.99, ISBN: 978-1-68464-065-2

Ages 3-6

Lento the sloth has a heck of a story for us readers… after a little nap, that is. But while Lento snoozes, Fox decides to steal the show! The book is a comical back-and-forth between the two as Fox and Lento jostle one another out of the way to take center stage, breaking the fourth wall and making this a great read-aloud for two readers, or for one reader to get some voice practice on. Lento dons Valkyrie horns and braids to sing about being the book’s star, while Fox does a soft-shoe with hat and cane to say otherwise; Fox takes off in a hot air balloon as Lento pleads with the audience to stick with him. Can these two figure out a way to share the page? You have to read and find out!

A giggle-worthy book, My Book (not yours) will leave the littles in stitches as Lento and Fox become more outrageous in their attempts to take control of the book. Bright red Fox and teal Lento come alive off the spare white page, with minimal design to take the focus off the two. Their actions speak louder than their words: hilariously so.

Toddlers and preschoolers will recognize themselves as the two jockey for attention in progressively wilder ways, each proclaiming that “it’s MY book!”, and adults will get a laugh as they see their own littles in Fox and Lento. For readers of a certain age (ahem), the book evokes memories of the old Mad comic Spy vs. Spy – albeit a much kinder version. Enjoy.

Originally published in Australia in 2019, Lento and Fox have another book, My Pet (not yours), which looks like it’s another laugh-out-loud read. Let’s hope they visit the U.S. shores soon!

My Book (not yours) has a starred review from Kirkus.

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

The Blue Giant needs your help to save the oceans!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Blue Giant, by Katie Cottle, (June 2020 Pavilion), $16.95, ISBN: 9781843654452

Ages 3-7

A young girl named Meera and her mother head to the beach to have a relaxing day, when a large, friendly, blue giant emerges from the water. He’s made up of water and sea life, and he tells them that he needs their help! Meera and her mom put on their scuba gear and head underwater, where the giant swirls around, showing them all the pollution underwater: bottles, plastic bags, fast food containers, it’s just a mess! Meera and Mom immediately start pitching in, but they realize this is too big a job for just two people: once back on land, Meera and Mom recruit others, who also recruit others, to clean up the beaches. Like the book says, “…when everybody helps out… even the biggest messes can be fixed!” A note at the end offers ways to reduce single-plastic usage, including easy ways for kids to help out, like taking a canvas bag to the store or carrying a reusable water bottle.

This is a companion to Katie Cottle’s 2019 book, The Green Giant, and examines a different area of pollution this time; where The Green Giant looks at deforestation and destruction of green spaces, The Blue Giant pleads the case for our waters, which are horrifically polluted, primarily by single-use plastics.

The illustrations are primarily rendered in shades of blue, with sweeping underwaterscapes that show incredible levels of junk floating around. A particularly moving panel shows the Blue Giant swirling around Meera and her mother, stirring up a whirlwind of garbage to surround them. Keep both this book and The Green Giant together for natural-world storytimes and Earth Day storytimes, activism and social justice storytimes.