Category: Preschool Reads

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

A search for the Biggest Puddle in the World and a lesson on the water cycle!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Biggest Puddle in the World, by Mark Lee/Illustrated by Nathalie Dion, (March 2019, Groundwood Books), $18.95, ISBN: 9781554989799

Ages 4-7

Siblings Sarah and Charlie go to stay with their grandparents for six days; at first, it rains, allowing the two to explore the old house, but they’re itching to get outside and wander. Finally, the weather lets up, and they head out, with their grandfather, on a nature walk. Big T, their grandfather, promises to show them the biggest puddle in the world, and encourages Sarah to keep a puddle map; all the while, explaining the water cycle: the rain comes down and collects in the puddles; the water in the air become the clouds in the sky. The clouds are made up of water from ponds and rivers and the biggest puddle in the world, which, the kids discover, is the ocean!

This is a great way to lead in to a discussion and/or lesson about the water cycle. The story and illustrations are all about the joy of being a kid: they enjoy spending time with grandparents; jump in puddles; explore nature, and find ways to keep themselves occupied when stuck inside on rainy days. Big T gives them a simple, illustrative way to understand the water cycle and how puddles collect, form bigger puddles, and eventually, become part of the clouds, which bring the rain. He encourages learning, and invites the kids to use hands-on learning by exploring and mapping their day.

The real and digital watercolor artwork is soft, with earth tones and faded colors, allowing nature to calmly take its place as the focal point of the story. Grasses gently move in an imagined breeze; the ocean stretches across a spread as Big T watches his grandchildren and their dog play, boots left on the sand.

A nice bridge between fiction and nonfiction, and a good addition to science storytime.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

A loving Moon watches and wishes…

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Moon Wishes, by Patricia Storms & Guy Storms/Illustrated by Milan Pavlovic, (March 2019, Groundwood Books), $17.95, ISBN: 9781773060767

Ages 4-7

A sweet bedtime story, a loving meditation from caregiver to child, Moon Wishes sees a gently illuminated moon overseeing nature, animals, and humans alike, and wishing all that’s good upon all it touches. The poetic text reads like a parent or caregiver’s loving murmur to a sleepy child, with phrases like, “If I were the moon, I would paint ripples of light on wet canvas and shimmer over dreams of snow…”, and “…if I were the moon, I would make myself big and bright and strong with love so that I could shine on you”. It’s soothing and gentle, comforting and and perfect to read to the little ones curled up in your lap or surrounding your storytime circle.

The watercolor illustrations give a dreamlike depth to the authors’ voices, presenting gently illuminated landscapes, a kind-faced moon lighting the way for animals and humans alike. The colors are soft and bright, landscapes moving from snowy icebergs through waters, forests, and towns. A lovely addition to picture book collections and bedtime storytime.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Want to catch a unicorn? It’s not easy!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

How to Catch a Unicorn, by Adam Wallace/Illustrated by Andy Elkerton, (March 2019, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky), $10.99, ISBN: 9781492669739

Ages 4-8

The latest How to Catch… book from Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton is all about catching the mythical, magical unicorn. Narrated by the unicorn, this rhyming tale takes readers on a wild unicorn chase through a zoo, where a group of kids try their best to use traps, treats, and tricks to capture the unicorn. The unicorn deftly maneuvers around each attempt, keeping his magic safe and entertaining readers with fun storytelling in rhyme, bright and bold colors, and, naturally, glitter fart jokes.

This is a fun book with bright, rainbow colors and cheery artwork. The unicorn is constantly on the move throughout the book; have your kids point out where they find him as the book progresses – his hindquarters are in most spreads, giving movement to the story as he escapes yet another trap; he also shrinks down and shows up in shadow, switching things up to keep readers excited and engaged.

Read and/or display with Do You Believe in Unicorns? by Bethanie Deeney Murguia and Kenny Loggins’s picture book take on his song, Footloose. I’m going to keep adding books from this series to my collection, because they’re just fun reading.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

I give you… STEVE, TERROR OF THE SEAS!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Steve, Terror of the Seas, by Megan Brewis, (March 2109, Kane Miller), $14.99, ISBN: 978-1-61067-825-4

Ages 3-7

Steve is the cutest, friendliest little fish in the sea, so why is everyone so afraid of him? Steve swims around the sea, explaining to readers that it’s not easy being Steve as creatures large and small swim away in terror. Could it be the company he keeps?

Steve, Terror of the Seas, is straight-up hilarious, relying on the end reveal to bring home the joke. Sharp-eyed readers may be able to guess beforehand, but make that reveal dramatic: get out hand puppets or felt boards for this one. The writing keeps the joke running, with Steve baring his little teeth, wondering if they’re “too bad”, or puckering up to a group of retreating fish as he utters possibly the best phrase in the book, “Finding love has been a challenge”.

The book presents fun facts about pilot fish (like Steve), and some other scary denizes of the deep, including pufferfish, viperfish, toadfish, anglerfish, and my favorite, the not-very-threatening blobfish. Being that Steve is a pilot fish, we get some facts about them, too… including their relationships with sharks, like Steve’s best friend, George.

The artwork is adorable and works hand-in-hand with the text to provide a reading experience with a great punchline. Make sure to sing Baby Shark and Slippery Fish for this storytime!

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Cover Reveal: A Crazy Much Love by Joy Jordan Lake

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Author Joy Jordan-Lake has her very first picture book debuting in September: A Crazy-Much Love is all about adoption, and the crazy-much love that just grows and grows. And I’ve got a cover reveal, right here!

A Crazy-Much Love, by Joy Jordan-Lake/Illustrated by Sonia Sanchez, (Sept. 2019, Two Lions),
$17.99, ISBN: 9781542043267
Ages 3-8

From Goodreads: “How MUCH is the crazy-much love?” This simple question is answered as a parent recounts the journey of adopting her daughter and the many milestone moments that follow. From the child’s first bath and first time riding a tricycle, all the way to her boarding that big yellow bus, the crazy-much love grows SO MUCH that it spills out the windows and busts down the doors. A warm, lyrical celebration of the deep love parents hold for their children, and a comforting message for kids about how there can be only one special YOU.

I can’t wait for this one. Get this on your Fall radar!

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Valentine’s Day Readaloud: Love, by Stacy McAnulty

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Love, by Stacy McAnulty/Illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff, (Dec. 2018, Running Press), $17.99, ISBN: 978-0-7624-6212-4

Ages 3-8

Stacy McAnulty and illustrator Joanne Lew-Vriethoff team up again for Love, a sweet companion to Brave and Beautiful. Here, Ms. McAnulty and Ms. Lew-Vriethoff explore the sweet side of love, illustrated by children undertaking the kindest, most gentle tasks. Stacy McAnulty’s words take on even greater significance when paired with Joanne Lew-Vriethoff’s illustrations. “Love at first sight” features a spread of kids hugging shelter pets and new siblings; greeting a new friend in nature or a new, adopted sibling at the airport; “Love needs special presents and designer greeting cards” sees friends visiting and giving gifts and making cards for others, be it a sick friend, a grandmother, or someone who just needs a pick-me-up.

Love speaks to the value of time spent with friends and family, doing good things for the purpose of seeing one another smile. As Stacy McAnulty concludes, “Because nothing else matters without love”. The colorful illustrations and multicultural group of characters will keep readers interested. It’s a comfort to read stories that remind kids (and adults!) that the simplest things are the most important, and most remembered: time spent with family, friends, and community.

Love has a starred review from Kirkus, which also notes that this is a perfect read “for balancing the commercialism of Valentine’s Day”. Have your storytime group make their own “designer greeting cards” to give to someone they love. Maybe create a list of good deeds, based on the ones here, for readers to take home, reminding them of the power of kindness. This one is a good add to your storytime and empathy collections. Stacy McAnulty has valentines and worksheets based on Love available for free download at her website!

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

I loved Under My Hijab!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Under My Hijab, by Hena Khan/Illustrated by Aaliya Jaleel, (Feb. 2019, Lee & Low), $17.95, ISBN: 9781620147924

Ages 4-8

This rhyming tale stars a young girl who observes members of her family and her scout leader, when they wear hijab, and when they don’t. Grandma wears it to work at the bakery, but at home in her kitchen, her hair is up in a bun. When Mama, a doctor, is seeing patients, she wears a pretty, bright hijab tucked into her coat, and at home, her hair is down as she plants her flowers. Auntie, an artist, has a funky hijab with a jewel, and when she’s home helping our narrator hang her own paintings, she’s got an equally funky hairstyle, complete with pink and purple streaks! Each woman in our main character’s life wears a hijab as individual as they are, and as our little friend tries on her own hijab at home, she plays with accessories and dreams of the bright future in front of her.

What a wonderful way to explain hijab to young readers! The colorful, bright Photoshop artwork speaks of individuality and fun, giving realistic, playful life to the upbeat, lively, and informative rhyme. Back matter explains the meaning of hijab and how some women choose to wear it, while others may not, noting that “it can be a beautiful expression of the Islamic faith”.

An absolutely must-add to your collections and storytimes.  Display and booktalk with Saadia Faruqi’s fabulous second grader, Yasmin, author Hena Khan’s award-winning middle grade novel, Amina’s Voice, and Aisha Saeed’s Amal Unbound. There are great Muslim middle grade and YA resources out there, too: here’s a list of picture books from No Time for Flash Cards; list of books from Diversity in YA; here’s a list from Goodreads, and a great list from Teaching While Muslim. There’s a great interview with author Hena Khan on kidlit ambassador extraordinaire John Schu’s blog, too!

Posted in Intermediate, Non-Fiction, picture books, Preschool Reads

Climbing Shadows: Poems inspired by children, for children

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Climbing Shadows: Poems for Children, by Shannon Bramer/Illustrated by Cindy Derby, (March 2019, Groundwood Books), $18.95, ISBN: 9781773060958

Ages 4-7

A small, sweet collection of poems inspired by kindergartners, Climbing Shadows offers a child’s-eye view of moments like a bad day at school (“I’m going to go home and tell my dad/today was hard it was so hard/I don’t want to go anymore/I want/to be a puddle”) or a child’s explanation of imagination (“I see things in my head come loose on the paper and there are my eyes here, and my names and my trees and faces and crazy squiggles and also this is a drawing of my family because I usually draw what I miss or what I love”). There are 20 poems in this collection, created by poet Shannon Bramer during the time she worked as a lunchtime supervisor for a kindergarten class. She eventually began reading poetry to them and explained that she was also a poet; the kids’ fascination grew as they learned that anyone could be a poet – “a poet could be a mom” – and a poem could be about anything. Shannon Bramer wrote these poems for her “kindies”.

The poems are sweet, short, and are a nice introduction to poetry for children; they show that a poem doesn’t have to rhyme, and can ramble, freely, like a thought or a stream. Cindy Derby’s watercolor, India ink, and digital collage illustrations are often dreamlike, with muted colors that set the stage for Ms. Bramer’s words to transport readers. It’s a great way to get kids writing about what’s on their minds at the moment. An author’s note explains how the author was inspired by the kids and is just as lovely to read as the poems are, with each child’s name illustrated around the page.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Storytimes, Toddler

New Books at Storytime: The Song of Spring and New York Day & Night

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I had storytime today, and decided to test drive two brand-new (coming in March) books that I received for review. They went RESOUNDINGLY well!

The Song of Spring, by Hendrik Jonas, (March 2019, Prestel Publishing), $12.95, ISBN: 9783791373799

Ages 3-6

We started off with The Song of Spring, since the weather here in New York has been… interesting. (It was 3 degrees last week; yesterday, 65. Today, 45.) In this adorable story, a little bird watches other birds call to one another with their songs of spring. One little bird can’t remember his song of spring, but he really, really wants to find a friend, so he takes a shot at it, opening his beak and shrieking… WOOF. A friendly dog answers, but the little bird is looking for a bird friend, so he tries again. And again. Various oinks, moos, meows, mehs, and hee-haws later, the little bird has quite a diverse group of friends, but still, no bird, until a hilariously unexpected fart sounds, and a pretty little female bird sitting nearby says she’s looking for a friend, too. The new friends happily celebrate their good fortune in finding one another.

The Song of Spring is adorable and unexpectedly funny, with a well-timed joke that got the kids in my storytime cracking up. I made a big deal of the sound, waving my hand by my backside, and the kids loved that such a giant sound would come from such a teeny, tiny bird. The book is wonderfully interactive, giving kids the chance to call out the different animals and make their different sounds, each of which gets a big, bold, fancy scripted black font for emphasis. The artwork looks like mixed media or collage – you can see book pages and notebook paper in the artwork – and adds some fun interest to the watercolor artwork. The animals pop off the stark white background, and the plain black story font lets the reader do the reading while the artwork and animal sounds take center stage.

The Song of Spring is going in my storytime collection, for sure. I even had a mom ask me for my copy when I was done with storytime! (So it’s also going in my order cart.) Pair this with Bark, George! by Julies Feiffer, and Sandra Boyton’s classic Moo, Baa, La La La! for an out of this world animal sound storytime!

 

New York Day & Night, by Aurélie Pollet/Illustrated by Vincent Bergier, (March 2019, Prestel Publishing), $16.95, ISBN: 9783791373782

Ages 3-7

This one got a great reception, too. A cat named Sandy and a squirrel named Frankie let readers see New York City through their eyes: the cat, by night; the squirrel, by day. Each sees very different things, aided by translucent blue plastic sheets that turn the Empire State Building into a rocket, the Guggenheim Museum into a spaceship, or a construction worker into a flying superhero.

New York Day & Night plays with perspective, and the idea that we see things differently in the light of day. Sandy, a nocturnal cat, sees the fantastic; Frankie, a diurnal squirrel, chastises Sandy, and sheds light – literally and figuratively – on what’s really happening. Or is it? Who’s to tell, in New York, right? The artwork is done in blues, oranges, and black and white, making for stark images that pop right off the page, boldly outlined and with easily recognizable New York icons.

My storytime group LOVED this one; I got cheers and gasps from parents and kids alike as I showed them a monster that turned out to be an elevated train (the community here lives near our own Queens elevated train) and King Kong beating his chest over the jungle that turns out to be Central Park. My favorite came in at the end – but I’ll let you get the book yourself to enjoy that one.

New York Day & Night is absolute fun, and a great way to extend a storytime by talking about colors, shapes, and city life. You can pair this with any books about a city: any of Kate McMullan’s truck books would pair well (I’m Big!, I Stink!); Julia Denos’ Windows; or Dave Eggers’ Her Left Foot are always good to go with.

I also read Have I Ever Told You, which I just wrote about a few days ago. It went over better with the parents than the babies; the artwork kept their attention for a little bit, but these were babies and toddlers; this one will be much better for a preschool and kindergarten storytime. I’ve read Hands Can to my babies and toddlers in the past, and it’s been a hit, so I’ll stick with that for the wee ones.

I also updated my songs for my Mother Goose Storytime (newborns to 18 months) and Toddler Storytime (18 mos-3 or 4 years) sessions. I try to change them up every season, so the families have time to get comfortable with the songs; I’ll insert one or two for different seasons or holidays, and I usually slot in a song in Mandarin and/or Spanish. (Mandarin for my community; Spanish, because I have a couple of Spanish-speaking families that I want to feel part of things, and because it’s fun to sing songs in different languages!)

And that was my storytime today!

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Blog Tour: Duck and Hippo – The Secret Valentine!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Duck and Hippo are back, spreading their messages of friendship and celebration, with their fourth adventure!

Duck and Hippo: The Secret Valentine, by Jonathan London/Illustrated by Andrew Joyner,
(Dec. 2018, Two Lions), $17.99, ISBN: 9781503900356
Ages 4-7

It’s Valentine’s Day, and Duck has a fun idea to bring her friends together to celebrate! Hippo, Elephant, Pig, and Turtle all receive mysterious cards, inviting them to meet their Valentine at the park at 4 p.m. Each friend has their own idea of who it could be, and when they get all dressed up and arrive at the park with their gifts, they’re in for a big SURPRISE!

The Duck and Hippo books are just adorable, and The Secret Valentine does away with the idea of having one set Valentine: everyone gets to share the day here! Sharp-eyed readers will spot Duck as she hides before being discovered, as she delivers her Valentine invites. There are great sound effect opportunities, too: there are water SPLOOPS, pizza dough SPLATS, street sweeping HUSHA-SHUSHA-SHUSHAS, and more, all emphasized with bold, colorful, oversized fonts. Great to get the kids pantomiming along! The whole idea of the book is perfect for a storytime or classroom Valnetine’s party: everyone gets a Valentine, and everyone gets to celebrate together. Like every Duck and Hippo book, the heart of the story is friendship and sharing – a lovely message to pass along! Jonathan London and Andrew Joyner have created adorable, memorable, children’s book characters with Duck, Hippo, and their friends. I look forward to spending time with them again and again.

Learn how to draw Duck and Hippo in this free downloadable activity page! https://www.andrewjoyner.com.au/activities/.

 

Jonathan London is the author of more than one hundred children’s books, including the Froggy series, illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz, which has sold more than fifteen million copies. Jonathan lives in Graton, California. Learn more at www.jonathan-london.net.

Andrew Joyner is an Australian illustrator and author whose work has been published in more than twenty-five countries. He has created the artwork for many picture books, and he is author and illustrator of a chapter book series about a warthog named Boris. Andrew lives in South Australia. Learn more at www.andrewjoyner.com.au.

 

 

One lucky winner will receive a copy of DUCK AND HIPPO: THE SECRET VALENTINE courtesy of Two Lions (U.S. addresses). Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance!