marine life – Page 2

Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Intermediate, Middle Grade

Dewdrop is the cheerleader we all need right now

Posted on March 24, 2020March 23, 2020 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Dewdrop, by Katie O’Neill, (Apr. 2020, Oni Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9781620106891

Ages 3-7

One of the ruling monarchs of All That is Adorable, Katie O’Neill – whom you may know from her Tea Dragon series, Aquicorn Cove, or Princess Princess Ever After graphic novels – now gives us a cheerleading axolotl named Dewdrop, in an upbeat, sweet graphic novel.

Dewdrop and his underwater friends are practicing their skills to show off at the yearly sports fair. Mia is a weightlifting turtle, Newman the newt is a musician, and three minnows fancy themselves as chefs. Dewdrop? He’s a cheerleader! And as his friends practice for the fair, Dewdrop visits each one of them to cheer them on and get them past their fears, which is perfect practice for his own skills: cheering! Dewdrop is a sweet story with tips about mindfulness, positivity, and friendship, and it turns some antiquated gender tropes on their heads: Dewdrop is male. A pink, cheerleading, adorable male. Mia is a female turtle, rocking a little flower head decoration, and she’s a weightlifter. Having a male character radiate positivity – something we’ve often seen as the female characters’ responsibility – sends a refreshing, reassuring message to all children about how easy it is to be a good friend. Katie O’Neill is fantastic at upending outdated gender roles, and Dewdrop continues to deliver upbeat, inspiring messages through colorful and bright artwork with charming characters.

Katie O’Neill is an award-winning author and graphic novelist. Her author webpage has more of her illustrations, information about her graphic novels, and an online store.

Want to learn more about axolotls? Live Science has pictures and facts, as does National Geographic. Author Jess Keating has the cutest axolotl coloring page, and her book, Cute As An Axolotl, is all about “nature’s cutest weirdos”.

Middle Grade, Non-Fiction, Non-fiction, Tween Reads

Ocean: Secrets of the Deep is STEM fun!

Posted on July 20, 2019July 19, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Ocean: Secrets of the Deep, by Sabrina Weiss/Illustrated by Giulia De Amicis, (April 2019, What on Earth Books), $19.99, ISBN: 97-1-9999680-7-6

Ages 7-12

We’re heading to Florida on the first road trip we’ve had in ages, so I’m all over the beachy reading right now. My little guy is excited, because his grandpa lives right by the ocean, so we’ve been enjoying this book immensely.

Ocean: Secrets of the Deep is loaded with facts and figures about the underwater world, and I am in love with the bright, bold illustrations and infographics! The information is presented in bite-size chunks that kids can easily enjoy and digest, and the minimailst artwork is bold and gorgeous. Not just a fact book, there is info about myths and legends (including one of my faves, the Kraken); sections on each of the ocean’s zones, with numbered renderings of each form of life living in each zone; animals who work together in the deep; animal sizes and sounds, and migration patterns. There are sections on environmental concerns and challenges, including overfishing, pollution, and climate change, and a call to action that encourages and empowers kids to act. A glossary and index complete this beautiful volume.

Natural history and environmental studies units would benefit from adding this book to shelves, and you can easily use Ocean in your library STEM programming. When we had our Discovery Club at my library, we did a unit on the ocean, and had the kids create their own ocean zones display on a wall in our meeting room. Print out pictures of different fish featured in Ocean, and invite the kids to color and stick their own marine life to the zones in your library or classroom! It’s a great multi-week project, if you want to spend time creating the monochromatic zones, then working on the marine life.

Ocean is absolute fun and absolutely gorgeous.

Intermediate, picture books, Preschool Reads

Monsters and Mermaids bring fantasy fun!

Posted on June 12, 2019June 11, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Two fun picture books are coming up in August and September! If you’re looking for books for your late Summer/early Fall shopping carts, give these a spin.

Alfred’s Book of Monsters, by Sam Streed, (Aug. 2019, Charlesbridge), $15.99, ISBN: 9781580898331

Ages 5-8

Alfred is a little boy who loves monsters, not boring old tea times. Aunty thinks monsters are dreadful, and constantly interrupts Alfred’s precious reading time by calling him to tea. Alfred decides to invite the monsters he reads about: the Nixie, the Black Shuck, and the Lantern Man, to tea time; when they take him up on the invitation, they have a fabulously terrible time! Poor Aunty never knew what hit her.

This is the picture book for the kids who enjoy a good, morbidly amusing story. Have Neil Gaiman or Lemony Snicket fans? Do you have storytime kids who giggle time and again at I Want My Hat Back? Do you just want a fun Halloween read in your back pocket? This is the book for you and your readers. Baby goths and kids who love monsters will get a kick out of this story, which has a lovely Victorian vibe going for it, with bold, black lines and brown and black artwork, occasionally punched up with washed out greens, pinks, yellows, and blues for effect. The story alternates between Alfred’s monster stories and tea time, letting you switch voices back and forth to get your readers squealing with monstrous delight. The artwork was created by scanning and combining old paper, ink splotches, and spooky sketches, and was influenced by antique books and Victoriana; the endpapers sport a dark brownish-red rose wallpaper with framed photos of Aunty, Alfred, and an assortment of pets, people, and tea sets.

Less spooky than humorous, this is a fun book for storytime. Make some puppets and bring your own monsters to tea!

Five Little Mermaids, by Sunny Scribens/Illustrated by Barbara Vagnozzi, (Sept. 2019, Barefoot Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9781782858317

Ages 3-7

This adorably rhyming story is an underwater take on the popular counting tale. A multicultural group of five little mermaids decide to go swimming to “see what they could see”, each of them leaving the group when they meet with various turtles, penguins, giant squid, and jellyfish. Together, the group travels through the world’s oceans, then comes together back home to talk about what they’ve seen. It’s a soothing, familiar rhyme scheme with cheery, bright art that uses vivid colors and brings readers through a lovely underwater world. Back matter includes spreads on the world’s oceans and their properties; notes about mermaid legends from different cultures (Greece, Japan, Central America, New Zealand, and West, Central and Southern Africa); marine life that appears in the book, and finally, sheet music for the song. There will be a CD and downloadable copy available, read by jazz vocalist Audra Mariel.

Barefoot Books always puts a great message out there in such a fun way. The mermaids play alongside their ocean friends and come from all around the world. The back matter provides interesting mermaid and ocean information using a one world, many cultures approach, taking myth examples from cultures including African, Asian, and Central American.

If you want to explore some videos from Barefoot Books, their YouTube channel is a good place to start. I find some of their mindful and diverse kidlit videos good professional development, and I’m sure Five Little Mermaids will have a book trailer up as the release date gets closer.

Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Tween Reads

STEAM into Summer!

Posted on June 10, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Summer Reading is the best – and craziest – time for librarians. We’re planning intense levels of programming, ordering books and putting lists together like mad, and just waiting for that last day of school, when the kids will storm the library like… well, let the Avengers tell you.

It’s real.

NatGeo Kids was kind enough to send some books my way to check out and talk up for my STEM programs this summer. Let’s take a look!

This Book is Cute! The Soft and Squishy Science and Culture of Aww, by Sarah Wassner Flynn,
(March 2019, National Geographic Kids), $12.99, ISBN: 9781426332944
Ages 5-12

Can you believe there’s a science to cuteness? Of course NatGeo Kids would get to the bottom of this! Cute foods! (More attractive to eat!) Cute (human and animal) babies! (Trigger emotions in us that make us protect and care for them!) Cute clothes and toys! (We can’t get enough of ’em!) This Book is Cute is 112 pages of high-pitched squealing, science, and lists of cute animals, cutest jobs ever (I would like to apply for the Cat Cuddler spot, please), even appliances. Put up a bulletin board and see how many cute animals or food your kids can identify, or test their Cute IQ using the quiz in the book. This Book is Cute! is absolutely adorable; kids will go crazy for it and so will you.

Captain Aquatica’s Awesome Ocean: Amazing Animals! Wild Waves! Super Sharks! The Deep Sea!,
by Jess Cramp with Grace Hill Smith & Joe Levit,
(June 2019, National Geographic Kids), $17.99, ISBN: 9781426332920

Ages 8-12

A companion to Dr. E’s Super Stellar Solar System and Dirtmeister’s Nitty Gritty Planet Earth, Awesome Ocean takes readers underwater exploring with cartoon superhero Captain Aquatica and her hammerhead shark sidekick, Finn. Shark researcher and marine conservationist Jess Cramp is the real-life version of Captain Aquatica, and leads readers through chapters on the ocean; waves, tides, and water; sharks and marine life; underwater technology; ecosystem engineering, and the critical importance of conservation. Moving back and forth between a comic book adventure and factual explanation, the book is loaded with incredible photos, fact boxes, and easy experiments that kids and families can do at home. There are scientist profiles – I love these, because they introduce readers to even more scientists than they’ll meet in our biography aisles – a glossary, index, and book and website resources for more exploration. NatGeo books are amazing because they always make sure to empower kids to make the world a better place, providing ways to get involved and start making changes. Their photos are consistently fantastic, and I love having as many of their books as possible in my library. If a parent or kid comes in looking for nonfiction about the natural world or animal book suggestions, I bring them to NatGeo books first. Display this set together, if you have them, and direct your readers to a series that looks at the big picture: earth, ocean, and space.

Luna: The Science and Stories of Our Moon, by David A. Aguilar,
(June 2019, National Geographic Kids), $17.99, ISBN: 9781426333224

Ages 8-12

NatGeo wouldn’t let a Summer Reading theme go by without a book for us to give to the kiddos! Luna is all about our friendly satellite, the Moon. It’s a compact volume, at 64 pages, packed with all the info a middle grade space enthusiast could want. There are beautiful photos, callout quotes and facts, and full-color diagrams, and thought-provoking chapters cover topics including moon myths and hoaxes; the famous “dark side” of the moon; how our moon stacks up against other moons; lunar phases, and – naturally! – the 1969 lunar landing. There’s a fun make the moon activity (get your old t-shirts on; this one involves Plaster of Paris), a viewing guide, and tips on drawing the moon. There’s an index and a list of additional resources. This is one of the best middle grade volumes on the moon that I’ve read since Elaine Scott’s Our Moon (2015), and a solid add to your 520s. Mine are always in high demand (along with my dinosaurs), and with the outer space theme for this year’s Summer Reading, I imagine I’ll need a second copy of my own to use for programming.

Thanks again to NatGeo for always keeping nonfiction interesting and fun!

Early Reader, Intermediate, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction, picture books

Seashells: More Than a Home, more than decoration

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Seashells: More Than a Home, by Melissa Stewart/Illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen, (Apr. 2019, Charlesbridge), $16.99, ISBN: 9781580898102

Ages 6-9

Kids love seashells. They’re the ultimate summer souvenir, coming in all shapes and sizes, with beautiful patterns and colors. Seashells: More Than a Home looks at 13 different seashells and lets readers in on their little world: their colors, patterns, and functions in protecting the marine life that live within them, keeping them safe and fed. For instance, a nautilus’s design allows it to sink and float like a submarine, while the screw-shaped burribella can anchor itself into the sand, allowing its sea snail to stay in place. Watercolor illustrations and soothing earth and sea colors make this a beautiful book to look at and learn from. Endpapers illustrate shells and a map, highlighting their locations, and back matter includes author and illustrator notes, and additional resources.

Seashells: More Than a Home is a companion to Melissa Stewart and Sarah Brannen’s book, Feathers: Not Just for Flying (2014) and a nice addition to nonfiction shelves and STEM storytimes. Get some seashells and pass them around; invite the kids to talk about what they see and feel. Melissa Stewart’s author website has free, downloadable educator activities, readers’ theatre scripts, and curriculum guides.

picture books, Preschool Reads

I give you… STEVE, TERROR OF THE SEAS!

Posted on February 20, 2019February 20, 2019 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!

picture books, Preschool Reads

Fables and Fairy Tales from Henry Herz

Posted on August 9, 2018August 8, 2018 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I fell in love with author Henry Herz’s book, Mabel and the Queen of Dreams, back in 2016. It was a wonderful way to introduce some magic to bedtime, and a nod to The Bard himself. Mr. Herz has two more books coming out this September; one is a fun fable about a selfish squid, and the other, another nod to magic, this time, courtesy of a little girl named Alice.

How the Squid Got Two Long Arms, by Henry Herz/Illustrated by Luke Graber, (Sept. 2018, Pelican Publishing), $16.99, ISBN: 9781455623884

Ages 3-7

Once upon a time, a squid had a splendid silvery scarf knitted for him by his mother, but he was still cold. Rather than go home and bundle up, our little cephalopod decides to steal an octopus’ sweater and a fiddler crab’s mitten; when he tries to snatch an eel’s hat, though, he discovers that taking things without asking can only end one way: trouble! The eel grabbed one of the squid’s 10 arms, and the octopus and crab catch up to get hold of his other arm and get their clothes back! When all is said and done, the squid is still cold, and now he has two really long arms: and a sneaky fish sneaking up to steal his scarf! The straightforward story is a gentle way to reinforce that taking things that aren’t yours is wrong; a nice morality tale set in the friendly ocean. The artwork brings a dose of fun to the story, with wide-eyed marine life and exaggerated expressions (and an eel in a hunter’s cap is pretty fantastic). An author’s note provides a photo and a little bit of background on squid.

My little guy thoroughly enjoyed this story; he had a big-eyed laugh when the squid got his comeuppance, and pointed out all the animals we’d seen at the aquarium a couple of weeks before. It’s a nice add to your shelves, and a fun add to fables, stories about empathy, and books with marine life. And here are some squid coloring sheets, to enhance the storytime!

Alice’s Magic Garden, by Henry Herz/Illustrated by Natalie Hoopes, (Sept. 2018, Familius), $16.99, ISBN: 9781641700320

Ages 5+

Alice in Wonderland fans, get ready: the subtitle here, “Before the rabbit hole”, lets you know what’s going on. Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Alice, who went to the dreariest school in all of England. While escaping her awful headmistress and cruel classmates, Alice happens upon a small, walled garden, and begins tending it, caring for a few of the inhabitants: a caterpillar and a lory bird; she even chases a smiling cat away from a rabbit. Her kindness is paid back at school, when her benefactors leave her tasty treats and take care of those bullies, telling Alice that they are friends “now and forever”. There are wonderful references to the classic tale throughout the story, and readers will fall in love with the magical realism of the garden. The artwork is colorful and calming, delightful for fairy tale fans, and the story itself is all about the power of paying it forward. This one is great storytime reading, and may nudge Mabel aside as my favorite Henry Herz book. Print out some Alice in Wonderland coloring sheets, have a mad tea party, and read this one to your littles.

Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Board and Picture Book Rundown!

Posted on November 5, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I started this post in Hershey, PA while I attended KidLitCon17 – which was amazing, but kicked my butt! – so I’m finishing up now that I’m back home and getting ready to great a new week. More to come on the conference, but for now, let’s talk board books! I’ve been on a board book kick at work, having weeded a bit of the collection, so let’s take a look at a few that have just hit shelves. I’m on the lookout for fun, new, and different board books to get in front of the littles, and to keep up the momentum for my Mother Goose lapsit storytime. The Rodgers & Hammerstein board books are a must, and these look like big fun, too.

ABC for Me: ABC Baby Signs: Learn baby sign language while you practice your ABCs!, by Christiane Engel,
(Oct. 2017, Quarto Group), $16.95, ISBN: 9781633223660
Recommended for parents for kiddos 0-2

Sign language with babies has increased in popularity over the years. I used a couple of signs with my now high-schooler, and it blew my mind to see him communicating before he was fully forming words. It made things easier, too; he was able to express himself when he was hungry, for instance, and I was able to put together when he was fussy because he was hungry rather than running through a flow chart of options that always ended in tantrum. I use ASL in my toddler storytime to teach the kids a hello and goodbye song, so ABC for Me: Baby Signs is going in my distributor cart for my November order. This one goes in my Parenting collection, and I’ll use it in a storytime, too. With adorable illustrations and small call-outs with arrows and movement to show how to fully communicate signs, this book is a great new parent gift, too.

ABC Baby Signs is part of the ABC for Me series of board books, which includes ABC Yoga and ABC Mindful Me.

Little Concepts: ABC Color: Apricot, Burgundy & Chartreuse, 26 cool new colors are out on the loose!,

Illustrated by Ingela Peterson Arrhenius, (Nov. 2017, Walter Foster Jr), $12.95, ISBN: 9781633223363