Category: Preschool Reads

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Tiger Days: Let the animals be your guide to feelings!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Tiger Days: A Book of Feelings, by M.H. Clark/Illustrated by Anna Hurley, (March 2019, Compendium), $16.95, ISBN: 978-1-946873-41-5

Ages 3-6

Tiger Days helps kids understand their emotions, and how to describe their feelings, by using animals to illustrate them. Ever feel like a rhino? So stubborn, no one can move you or change your mind? How about a silly monkey, all wiggly arms and legs, full of mischief and fun? Each spread is vividly colored, featuring a different animal, and characteristics of that animal that map to different moods. The background color of each page adds to the feel of each feeling; bright greens and yellows for happy rabbits and monkeys, who play across the pages; soft purple for a shy turtle; red for an angry bull. Each drawing is boldly lined and bright, popping off the page; fonts are capitalized to emphasize key words.

Tiger Days also lets kids know that their feelings are normal. No feelings are presented as “good” or “bad”; they just are, and this is how they can make people feel. I’d easily add this to one of my storytimes, including a yoga storytime, where I use animal poses. The kids’ favorite one tends to be the Lion Pose, where they get to open their mouths wide and roar. Linking feelings to mindfulness is a great way to help kids understand their feelings and be present for them, allowing them to describe and name what’s going on and furthering communication. Encourage your storytime kids roar, stamp the ground, or curl into their shells to describe different feelings! This would made a good time to break out some emoji flash cards, too; let the kids color the different faces and match them to animals mentioned in the book.

Tiger Days is a good book to have in your bookshelf, especially when you’re working with kids who are learning not only how to communicate with you, but to put words to things happening within themselves.

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Dream Big: Be like the Marshmallow!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Most Marshmallows, by Rowboat Watkins, (Apr. 2019, Chronicle Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9781452159591

Ages 3-6

Did you ever consider the marshmallow? Well, Rowboat Watkins has, and the discoveries are pretty inspiring. Marshmallows, it turns out, are a lot like we are: they’re born to loving parents, live in houses and apartment buildings, and do a lot of the same things we do: they go to school, they celebrate birthdays, and they watch TV. BUT, did you know that some marshmallows know that ALL marshmallows can secretly do anything, including fly spaceships or scale mountains? What if we can, too?

Most Marshmallows is an absolutely adorable book with an uplifting message for readers. Illustrated with line drawings and real marshmallows, the cute level is through the roof as we see fluffy white marshmallows with adorable facial expressions sitting at family dinners, boarding school buses, and rocking little furniture, including tiny bookshelves and table settings. The text encourages kids to dream big by illustrating all the “normal” things marshmallows do, which happen to be the same things we humans do. Absolute fun, absolutely adorable, and absolutely perfect for storytime and anytime. Get this one on your shelves.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Friendship has been around since the beginning: Cavekid Birthday

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Cavekid Birthday, by Cathy Breisacher/Illustrated by Roland Garrigue, (March 2019, Charlesbridge), $16.99, ISBN: 9781580898768

Ages 4-8

Caveboy and Cavegirl are best friends, born on the same day in side by side caves. Caveboy loves rocks, while Cavegirl enjoys working with tools and painting on cave walls. One birthday, each wants to give the other a gift, but what to get? They each visit Caveman’s Collectibles, separately, and find the perfect gifts. Caveboy trades his rock collection to get a box for Cavegirl to put her tools and paintbrushes in; Cavegirl trades her tools and paintbrushes to get a box for Caveboy to store his rock collection. When they exchange gifts, they figure out ways to put their new gifts – and existing talents – to work.

An updated, kids’ version of O’Henry’s The Gift of the Magi, Cavekid Birthday is a story about friendship, and it’s a story about creative thinking. Caveboy and Cavegirl’s friendship means so much to the other that they’re willing to trade their prized possessions away to get each other the perfect gift – and once they have those perfect gifts, they put them to creative use. But as they start to miss their rock and tool collections, they use their creative talents in another way in order to barter and get them back. Cavekid Birthday has a message about resourcefulness that encourages kids to think outside… well, the box.

The cartoon artwork is mostly earth-toned, with tonal greens and browns, and bright yellows and oranges that perk up the landscape. The characters are expressive and cute, and will keep readers interested. The storytelling leaves room for discussion throughout; ask the kids what they predict will happen when each Cavekid goes to the store, and what will happen when they unwrap each other’s gifts. A nice add to storytime collections.

Posted in Non-Fiction, picture books, Preschool Reads

It’s Spring… time to raise the butterflies!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Butterflies in Room 6, by Caroline Arnold, (March 2019, Charlesbridge), $16.99, ISBN: 9781580898942

Ages 3-7

Spring is getting closer and closer, and that means that science classrooms all over the place are going to introduce their little ones to the life cycle of a caterpillar/butterfly. We’ve done it in my home, and each of my kids has done it in school, and it’s exciting every time. Butterflies in Room 6 revisits the Kindergarten students of Room 6 – a new group, since Hatching Chicks in Room 6 was published in 2017 – as they raise butterflies, starting from teeny, tiny caterpillar eggs.

Full-color photographs and informative text take this STEM/STEAM story through the step-by-step process by which the class observed and cared for their caterpillars; feeding them, observing the stages of life, moving the chrysalises to a larger, netted environment, the exciting emergence of the painted lady butterflies from their cocoons, and their release into the world! Leaf-shaped callouts throughout the book provide additional caterpillar and butterfly facts, and back matter provides butterfly questions, vocabulary, and a nice list of online and print resources for further reading.

Butterflies in Room 6 brings a real-world look into a primary classroom – it’ll get kids excited about science, especially if this is one of your classroom projects. Pair this with The Very Hungry Caterpillar and the classic that my kids all read in their kindergarten classes, Deborah Heiligman’s From Caterpillar to Butterfly.

Posted in Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Red Bunny & Yellow Bunny: The one that slipped by me!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Red Bunny & Yellow Bunny, by Claire Garralon, (March 2019, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky), $7.99, ISBN: 9781492680147

Ages 0-4

I sent off my Board Books post this morning, then realized I forgot one! Red Bunny & Yellow Bunny is the latest board book from Claire Garralon, who gave us the adorable Black Cat & White Cat in 2016. In Red Bunny & Yellow Bunny, two bunnies meet, fall in love, and have an orange baby bunny! What happens when that baby bunny grows up and falls in love? Keep reading!

I love how Claire Garralon communicates ideas about gender, social issues, and community for our youngest readers. The bunnies are genderless – no male or female pronouns needed; they are different colors, yet come together, fall in love, and have a baby that adorably blends their colors (red plus yellow makes orange, after all!). Bunnies fall in love with other bunnies, regardless of color, and create a rainbow of happy baby bunnies, all of whom play and live together. We saw a similar story emerge from Black Cat & White Cat, where two different color cats have to find a neutral place to play so they can see one another.

Naturally, we also have a sweet story that uses color concepts: explain that yellow and red make orange, and then ask what a yellow bunny and blue bunny’s baby would look like, or a red bunny and blue bunny’s baby. There’s a free, downloadable color mixing resource available on Teachers Pay Teachers, that you can hand out and let kids play with for a storytime activity. Let them fingerpaint and discover their own colors, or grab some Do a Dot! art markers.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

A boy learns to live between Here and There

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Here and There, by Tamara Ellis Smith/Illustrated by Evelyn Daviddi, (March 2019, Barefoot Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9781782857419

Ages 4-8

Ivan is a biracial child who splits his time between his two homes: Here, where he lives with his mother, and There; his father’s new home. Here, Ivan is comfortable; he sits in a tree and chatters with the birds. There, he curls into a chair, pulled into himself, ignoring his father’s attempts to engage him. Dad knows how to reach his son, though: he starts playing a song on his guitar, and Ivan can’t stop the good feelings from flowing through him. As Ivan negotiates living Here and There,  he knows there is music, there are birds, and there are people who love him at each place.

Here and There is a touching story about living as a child in a divorced family. Being taken out of his comfort zone; his home, makes Ivan feel off-balance. He isn’t Here, with the familiar; he’s There. He may even feel different around his father, bein gin this different place, with his father not where he’s supposed to be. But music builds a bridge between father and son: Ivan has an affinity for music, as we s

ee early on, when he chatters with the birds in his mother’s home. Once his father’s guitar music opens the door to conversation, Ivan reaches a new comfort zone, and finds himself discovering new birds in his father’s neighborhood, too. He’s building a new life for himself, understanding and working through feeling guilty for being happier in one place or another.

Here and There will speak to many kids who split their time between two households. The text uses the concepts of “Here” and “There” to explain Ivan’s familiarity and initial discomfort  as he learns to navigate between his mother’s and father’s home.  The pencil, acrylic paint, and collage artwork presents multiracial characters with soft, gentle facial features. Back matter includes 12 different birdcalls, with phonetic pronunciation, for kids to try out. Display and booktalk with The Mirror in Mommy’s House/The Mirror in Daddy’s House by Luis Amavisca, which uses a mirror to connect a child with two households.

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Storytime Fiesta: One is a Piñata!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

One is a Piñata, by Roseanne Greenfield Thong/Illustrated by John Para, (March 2019, Chronicle Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9781452155845

Ages 3-5

The duo behind concept books Round is a Tortilla and Green is a Chile Pepper are back with a counting book! This rhyming, bilingual English/Spanish concept book takes readers through the preparation for a fiesta, with maracas, calaveras, salsas, and plenty of sonrisas! The illustrations’ rich colors and the story’s lively, upbeat text will have readers counting down to a part of their own. There are wonderful Latinx touches to the artwork, including luchador masks and caleaveras; papel picado decorates the background, and a string of twinkling lights dangle across the endpapers. Count from 1 to 10, uno al diez, with your storytime group.

I love Roseanne Greenfield Thong’s multicultural concept series, and am so happy to see a counting book join her shapes and colors books. Invite your school-age kids to make their own papel picado to display, and let the little ones color some Sesame Street Spanish/English flash cards. Back matter includes a glossary with phonetic pronunciation of the Spanish-language words used in the book.

So… does this mean Roseanne Greenfield Thong and Grace Lin will team up on a counting book to accompany Round is a Mooncake and Red is a Dragon?

Roseanne Greenfield Thong is an award-winning author of over a dozen children’s books, including ‘Twas Nochebuena, Día de Los Muertos, and her multicultural concept books, Round is a Mooncake, Red is a Dragon, Round is a Tortilla, and Green Is a Chile Pepper.  John Parra is an award-winning illustrator who has three Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor awards, including one for Green is a Chile Pepper.

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

Natural world nonfiction for young learners: See to Learn: Forest

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

See to Learn: Forest, by Kate Moss Gamblin/Illustrated by, Karen Patkau, (March 2019, Groundwood Books), $16.95, ISBN: 9781554988792

Ages 4-7

This first book in a new nonfiction picture book series encourages little learners to look at a location – in this case, a forest – and really see: see different footprints that travel the forest floor; the different leaves carpeting the ground; moss covering a stump. Forest encourages readers to think: is that moss older than your grandparents? What changes do seasons bring with them? What happens during the passage of day to night?

The quiet text promotes introspection, curiosity, and presence, and the interrelationships between nature – trees are referred to as our “cousins” – and our planet. Everything here exists for readers to observe and ponder, and Forest encourages them to think of nature, the world, and their place in it.

This is a great way to talk about the natural world and basic concepts with kids: talk about colors, talk about different functions, talk about different stages of life, whether you’re a human grandparent or a young caterpillar. We all age; we all exist; we all interact with the natural world. Let kids see themselves in nature, and they’ll respect it and care for it. Further reading provides additional resources for younger and middle grade readers. An author’s note explains the rationale and thinking points for the series.

I’m looking forward to more books in this series. See to Learn: Forest is a great addition to primary and elementary science collections and programming. This will fit nicely with Kate Messner’s nonfiction books, Over and Under the Snow, Over and Under the Pond, and Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, for elementary readers; for primary readers, you can’t miss with Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s books, Green and Blue; and Denise Fleming’s In the Tall, Tall Grass, and In the Small, Small Pond.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Your heart cannot handle the adorableness of Tiny T. Rex!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug, by Jonathan Stutzman/Illustrated by Jay Fleck, (March 2019, Chronicle Books), $15.99, ISBN: 9781452170336

Ages 3-7

Tiny T. Rex wants to hug his sad friend, Pointy the Stegosaurus, but there’s one problem: he has very tiny arms! He seeks advice from his parents, aunt, and siblings, and ultimately decides that practice makes perfect: but it’s sometimes precarious!

I have been squealing about this book since I first saw it at a Book Buzz a couple of months ago. A combination of smart writing and adorable cartoony artwork makes Tiny T. Rex one of the cutest, funniest books I’ve ever read. Tiny T. Rex is every kid, from preschool age on up, who has to contend with weird adult responses to big childhood dilemmas. When he asks his new age-y Aunt Junip for hugging advice, she recommends “balance and freshly squeezed cucumber juice”, to which T. Rex responds, “That is disgusting. I will ask my mother for help instead”. Mom’s advice isn’t much more helpful; she falls back on the traditional mom answer (which I’ve used quite a few times, myself): “It’s okay if you can’t hug. You are good at many other things… You are tiny, but your heart is big!” You can almost see his little eyes roll when he responds, “I cannot hug with my heart, mother”. When T. Rex decides to take his siblings’ advice and practice, he creates a hug strategy blackboard that kids will love: he’s considering being shot out of a cannonball, parachuting into the hug, and several other hilariously adorable ways to accomplish the hug. As he starts putting his ides into practice, he learns that trial and error can be a little painful, but ultimately, that the best hugs are the ones given with all the love you have to give. The artwork is heart-exploding levels of adorable. T. Rex and his fellow family and friends are bright and bold, with bright, cheerful foliage all around them.

It’s impossible not to squeal when you first lay eyes on this book: I have a dining room full of librarians and educators that backed me up, when Chronicle debuted this at the book buzz. With a sweet storyline about compassion and determination, eye-catching graphics that kids and adults alike will love, and text that was made for storytime reading, Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug is a home run. Now, we wait for another adventure…

Illustrator Jay Fleck has a video on drawing Tiny T. Rex – invite your storytime kiddos to give it their best!

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Josh Funk’s latest fractured fairy tale takes on Hansel and Gretel! Plus, a Giveaway!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

It’s Not Hansel & Gretel, by Josh Funk/Illustrated by Edwardian Taylor, (March 2019, Two Lions), $17.99, ISBN: 9781503902947

Ages 4-8

One of my favorite picture book people, Josh Funk – seriously, have you followed him on Twitter? – has another entry into his fractured fairy tales “It’s Not…” series. This time, he’s setting his sights on Hansel and Gretel, who just can’t believe their loving parents would hatch an evil plot to leave them in a dark forest all alone, or that a sweet old lady who’s doling out candy could possibly be an evil witch!

Set up as a back and forth between our omniscient narrator and the characters, the story is set in motion. The narrator has a lot more information about the story handy than do our characters, and the back and forth between them is laugh out loud funny. Gretel chastises the narrator for making Hansel cry at the very insinuation that their parents have an evil plot to get rid of them; the narrator is exasperated when the kids go to town on all the candy that the witch puts out for them. Gretel adds a smart, feminist slant to the story, asking why it’s always “Hansel and Gretel”, when Gretel clearly comes first alphabetically; she also points out that Hansel gets to sit around and gorge himself while she, the girl, has to cook and clean, exclaiming, “Get with the times-this is the fifteenth century!” There’s a wink, nudge nod to jokes about food allergies, a fabulous unicorn makes a guest appearance, and a Happily Ever After that will satisfy and amuse readers.

Sharp-eyed readers will spot some great fairy tale cameos (was that a flying monkey I saw), and the endpapers are loaded with enough candy and treats to tempt any reader into sampling what lies inside. Josh Funk’s got a gift for snappy, fun dialogue, and Edwardian Taylor’s bright, digital art is fun and explodes with the energy Josh Funk loads his story with. I read this with my 6 year old; he voiced the characters, I voiced the narrator, and we had a blast together. A perfect add to your fractured fairy tales shelves!

 

Want a shot at winning your own copy of It’s Not Hansel and Gretel? Try this Rafflecopter giveaway!

 

Like Hansel and Gretel, Josh Funk doesn’t like being told how stories should go—so he writes his own. He is the author of a bunch of picture books, including the popular Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast series, illustrated by Brendan Kearney, and recently, How to Code a Sandcastle, illustrated by Sara Palacios, and Lost in the Library: A Story of Patience & Fortitude, illustrated by Stevie Lewis. He lives in New England with his wife and children. Learn more about him at www.joshfunkbooks.com and follow him on Twitter @joshfunkbooks.

 

Edwardian Taylor has worked as a visual development artist and character designer in the game and animation industry. He illustrated the picture book Race!, written by Sue Fliess and the chapter book Toy Academy: Some Assembly Required, written by Brian Lynch. He lives in Texas with his partner and their four dogs. Learn more about him at www.edwardiantaylor.com and follow him on Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter @edwardiantaylor.