Tag: animated

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Fried Rice & Marinara and VOOKS!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I’ve been catching up on emails, and have been chatting with a publicist who sent me the cutest book link on an app called VOOKS. Have you heard of this? I swear, being away from day-to-day children’s librarianship, I feel so out of the loop (one of the reasons I still fight to keep working on my blog!). VOOKS is a storytime app with animated, read-along narration. It’s adorable! There is a subscription fee for the app, but you can also watch videos for free on their YouTube channel; that’s how I enjoyed Fried Rice & Marinara, a VOOK original story by NFL Network anchor Mike Yam.

Fried Rice & Marinara, by Mike Yam/Illustrated by Laura Dong, (Apr. 2023, VOOK Books),
ISBN: 9781737726951 ($17.99 for a hard copy available)

Inspired by Yam’s cultural heritage: growing up with a Chinese immigrant father from Hong Kong and an Italian mother, this rhyming story celebrates diversity and family. Young Mikey Yam’s fourth birthday is coming up, and he’s got a big choice to make: what kind of food should he have at his party? He loves all the delicious Italian foods on his mom’s side of the family, but there’s also such amazing Chinese food on his dad’s side! What’s it going to be: “Ravioli or Dumplings? Linguine or Lo Mein? All of these options were hurting his brain.” He asks his grandmothers, Bahboo and Nonna, but he’s still not arriving at an easy answer until the most delectable decision of all comes to him: why choose just one? The animation and rhyming narration is fun to listen to, and kids will love the expressive cartoon artwork. The story depicts a multicultural, multigenerational family and friends that come together to celebrate and cook together – Mikey’s friends help create the final dish – and celebrate Mikey’s party and everyone’s rich cultural differences.

Posted in Intermediate, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Non-Fiction

National Geographic talks Angry Birds!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

angrybirds_natgeoNational Geographic: The Angry Birds Movie-Red’s Big Adventure, by Christy Ullrich Barcus (Apr. 2016, National Geographic Children’s Books), $14.99, ISBN: 978-1426216848

Recommended for ages 8-12

The Angry Birds have arrived on the big screen, and NatGeo Kids is there to celebrate with the release of their twelfth and latest Angry Birds title, Red’s Big Adventure. The book, set in the world of the Angry Birds movie, is set up in four levels: Bird Island, Bird Village, The Search for Mighty Eagle, and Beyond the Island, readers are introduced (or, really, familiarized with – they likely know most of these birds already) to the Angry Birds: Red, Matilda, Chuck, Bomb, Terence, Judge Peckinpah and Cyrus, the Mighty Eagle, and that rascally pig, Leonard. Each character gets a spotlight and a bio, and Red’s adventure is a thread that runs through the course of the book.

What we also get are breathtaking pictures and facts on  the animals and plants, the environments and natural wonders of the world’s islands, from Greenland to Galapagos. Learn how a bird’s beak is better than a Swiss Army knife in terms of multi-purpose use: it’s a weapon, a utensil, a mating signal, and a sensory organ. Learn about mountain ranges and how glaciers are formed; learn to create maps or navigate using the stars, like our forefathers did. Find out about some of the biggest animal migrations in history, or discover an island inhabited by pigs (is that were Leonard and his friends came from?)!

I love the NatGeo books. They have the perfect combination of fun and learning, whether it’s their handy, schoolbag-sized fun facts books, like the Angry Birds and the Weird But True books, their sticker books (my living room coffee table currently has all the Dino Sticker Activity book stickers on them, like it’s a mini-Jurassic Park), the First Big Books, or their atlases and almanacs. The photos are incredible, and the information is easily digestible and exciting in its presentation. My kids love them, and the kids at my library go berserk for them. I celebrated the Angry Birds movie release with an Angry Birds Treasure Hunt around the children’s room, where they had to locate different pictures of the birds and pig for a prize. I honestly wasn’t sure how it was going to go over: were younger kids that into Angry Birds anymore? The answer was a resounding YES.  About 30 kids took part in the treasure hunt, ensuring that this book and the 11 other NatGeo Angry Birds books will be in my next ordering cart.

Add to collections where nature books and Angry Birds are popular. You’ll be happy you did!