Tag: easy readers

Posted in Early Reader, Fiction, Preschool Reads

Tow on the Go!: A fun Easy Reader series to watch

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

It’s always a good day when I get to review Easy Readers! They’re so much fun, I can still read (most of) them at storytime, and I hardly get to review them. This new series, Tow on the Go!, is part of the Ready-to-Read series, and is all about vehicles – which, as I’ve said in the past, is an insta-win with my Corona Kids.

Tow on the Go! The Mambo Rescue!, by Patricia Lakin/Illustrated by Chiara Galletti, (Aug. 2023, Simon Spotlight), $4.99, ISBN: 9781665920063

Ages 4-6

Tow Truck Mo is a happy yellow tow truck who’s ready to pull his friends out of a jam – just give him a sec to play mambo music, because mambo makes Mo go! In this first Tow on the Go! adventure, Mo zooms through the snow to help 10 cars who have gotten stuck. How does he do it? Mambo, baby! Once he gets his friends grooving to the mambo beat, they’re able to get moving… right out of the snow. Adorable rhymes make this a great readaloud, with lines like “Mambo music does the trick. / It will free you super quick!” This is a great excuse to get the kidlings up and moving during storytime, too. Happy anthropomorphic trucks sport bright colors and big expressions; Mo is a happy tow truck ready to help. Large font helps emerging readers get the hang of reading and recognizing loads of sight words.

 

 

Tow on the Go! The Splish-Splash Puddle Dance!, by Patricia Lakin/Illustrated by Chiara Galletti, (Dec. 2023, Simon Spotlight), $4.99, ISBN: 9781665920094

Ages 4-6

The more recent Tow on the Go! book has a new character: Race Car Ro is having a great time splish-splashing in puddles after the rain, but he accidentally gets stuck in a hole and needs some help: it’s Mo to the rescue once again! What happens when Ro is too ticklish for Mo’s hook and his lasso won’t catch? Time to mambo free! This sweet series is all about looking on the bright side, and finding new solutions: “Can you mambo just like me? Dancing just might set you free!” Friendly-faced, bright cars and rhyme make these a delight to read out loud and gets kids – and grownups – moving. I hope readers get to meet more cars and trucks as Mo dances a mambo through more books.

 

 

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

Halloween Reads for Littles!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Halloween is my favorite holiday! I get to be spooky and goofy and dress up, encouraging everyone around me to do the same. Halloween storytimes are also my favorite, for the same reasons. I’ve got a few Halloween books to book-shout, but let’s start with the wee ones first, shall we?

Peekaboo: Pumpkin, by Camilla Reid/Illustrated by Ingela P Arrhenius, (July 2023, Candlewick Press), $9.99, ISBN: 9781536229813

Ages 0-3

Any time I get to enjoy Ingela P Arrhenius’s artwork is a good day. Peekaboo: Pumpkin is the latest in the Peekaboo series from Reid and Arrhenius, taking little readers through a series of rhyming words and accompanied by sliding panels, surprises, and adorable illustration. Sliders let little fingers explore a pumpkin’s shifting eyes, light candles, enjoy a game of peekaboo between a ghost and a cat, a frog and a spider, and other delightful pairings. A mirror reveals itself at the end, inviting a game of lapsit peekaboo. Arrhenius’s illustrations have expressive, cheerful characters, colors pop off the page. The pages are sturdy and the sliding panels will hold up to a great deal of exploring. This one’s a keeper for collections.

 

 

 

Holiday Magic: Happy Halloween!, by Harriet Stone/Illustrated by Giovana Medeiros, (Aug. 2023, Kane Miller), $14.99, ISBN: 9781684646401

Ages 0-3

Blend a fun Halloween rhyme with Venetian window panels and playful illustration, and you have a great interactive board book. Happy Halloween features shifting panels and clever cut-outs to create a rhyme about how vampires, mummies, werewolves, and black cats all get ready for Halloween, letting each friendly character change before a reader’s eyes: “This mummy’s tangled bandages are startingto undo! / Underneath, a skeleton jumps up and shouts out, BOO!” Perfect for a Halloween storytime, kids will delight in seeing a vampire morph into a bat, a mummy into a skeleton, a little boy into a werewolf, and a black cat into a witch in front of their eyes. The characters are friendly, never scary, and use of purples and dark blues, plus gratuitous smiling spiders, pumpkins, and other Halloween touchstones set a playful stage for Halloween. Buy a copy for your storytime reference, as the shifting panels may get worn out by curious learners who will open and close the book repeatedly to see how the change takes place. Holiday Magic: Happy Halloween! is a holiday companion to the Animal Magic series from Kane Miller, which includes In the Jungle, In the Ocean, In the Night, and In the Snow, all of which employ Venetian paper design. (And there will be a Merry Christmas book, too!)

 

 

See the Ghost: Three Stories About Things You Cannot See, by David LaRochelle/Illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka, (July 2023, Candlewick Press), $9.99, ISBN: 9781536219821

This is one of the best Easy Reader series in recent years. If you loved See the Dog and See the Cat, you’re going to go bananas for See the Ghost, which brings Dog and Cat together with a Ghost and a Fairy for three hilarious stories. Each story can be read as a standalone, but they also build upon one another to create a laugh-out-loud trilogy. The first story, “See the Ghost”, has Ghost scaring Dog and Cat… and eventually, themselves! In “See the Wind”, the Wind gets a bit carried away, blowing everything off the page: including the words to the story! “See the Fairy” introduces Trixie, a fairy “so small that you cannot even see me”. Trixie is a playful fairy with a mischevious streak, and Dog, Cat, and Ghost have to teach Fairy how to play so that everyone has fun. Easy-to-read sentences make this a great book to give emerging readers, and large fonts and colorful, playful illustration makes for an easy readaloud. Spreads use an omniscient narrator and word bubbles; sentences get tossed to an fro with the wind, playing with format.

See the Ghost has starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist. Download fun activity sheets and a teacher’s guide at publisher Candlewick’s website.

 

Posted in Early Reader, Fiction

Two more #Nocturnals easy readers bring laughs and love!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Nocturnals: The Best Burp, by Tracey Hecht/Illustrated by Josie Yee, (Apr. 2020, Fabled Films Press), $12.95, ISBN: 9781944020323

Ages 4-6

Another fun night out with the Nocturnals has Bismark (of course) competing in a burping contest with a new friend, Bink the Bat. As Bismark and Bink bicker (hee hee… alliteration is fun), Dawn emerges to suggest that maybe a burping contest isn’t the way to be their “best selves”. A cute story about recognizing that burps are natural, but sometimes, polite behavior calls for an “excuse me”, The Best Burp also has a cute side joke that involves my poor buddy, Tobin, as the butt (the burp?) of the joke when Bismark and Bink try to blame the other for the burping contest, which leaves them both pointing toward Tobin, who’s standing the in the middle. Adorably fun with a nice lesson about manners, to boot. Kids will love (and cafeteria aides will relate to) the characters and the tempting fun of the burping contest. Parents, educators, and caregivers will appreciate Dawn, ever the voice of reason, stepping in to negotiate more polite behavior.

 

The Nocturnals: The Weeping Wombat, by Tracey Hecht/Illustrated by Josie Yee, (Aug. 2020, Fabled Films Press), $5.99, ISBN: 9781944020330

Ages 5-8

Can you believe this is the eighth Nocturnals adventure? This time, we’ve got a sensitive story about Walter, an emotional, highly sensitive wombat who’s made fun of because he has a tendency to cry easily. The Nocturnals friends rally around Walter, letting him know that they all cry sometimes – even Bismark, who gets emotional just thinking about his Grandpa Guffy. Walter feels so much better after Dawn wisely explains that weeping is “just another way to show how we feel”, and that it can even make us feel better. A very sweet story about sensitivity and emotions, The Weeping Wombat is a nice addition to social-emotional learning texts for storytime.

Each book has a Nocturnals Fun Facts section that introduces readers to the Nocturnals. Don’t forget to visit their Nocturnals website, which is updated often and has great resources for homeschooling and nature camp activities. You’ll find Nocturnals character masks, book club questions, sight words games, and Common Core, Science, and Social-Emotional Learning Guides, all free and available for downloading.