Tag: The Pop-Up Guide

Posted in Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Board Books and Pop-Ups Bonanza!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

It’s time for the latest board book bonanza! These books are great for collections and for stocking stuffers: let’s take a look.

The Pop-Up Guide: Animals, by Maud Poulain/Illustrated by Peggy Nille, (Sept. 2022, Twirl Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9791036345166

Ages 3-5

Twirl’s Pop-Up Guides are so much fun for toddlers and preschoolers. The fourth in this series is all about animals and their environments, with spotlights on nine areas: the African Savanna, the forest, the Far North, the rain forest, the backyard, the ocean, the desert, the river and the mountains. A brief factual paragraph gives kids introductory information to each area, and each spread folds out into a 3-D landscape. Animals are clearly labeled, as are environmental objects like pine cones, ice floes, and water lilies. The Pop-Up Guide are great ways to introduce new vocabulary and new ideas, with colorful illustration and sturdy pages that hold up to multiple reads. If you’re putting these into circulation, keep a reference copy on hand for storytimes. Great for a STEM storytime!

Pop-Up Topics: Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures, by Arnaud Roi, (Oct. 2022, Twirl Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9782408037512

Ages 3-5

Twirl has another pop-up series for young learners now! Pop-Up Topics has slightly more informational text and a more refined topic range for growing minds, while keeping the same exciting and eye-catching 3-D pop-ups that exploring fingers enjoy. Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric features includes 10 pop-up spreads on dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures with a short, informational paragraph on each, and at-a-glance statistics like region, size and weight, and time period. Fan favorites like Tyrannosaurus Rex Stegosaurus are here alongside the lesser-known Sarcosuchus, a prehistoric relative to the modern-day crocodile, and flying reptile Quetzalcoatlus. If your budget permits, pick up a back-up copy or two, or keep this in storytime reference; while sturdy, the flaps may not hold up to the beating that dino books take (at least, in my library!).

 

Happy Little Pets: I Take Care of My Puppy, Illustrated by Michael Slack, (Jan. 2023, Chronicle Books), $14.99, ISBN: 9781797205267

Ages 1-4

Happy Little Pets is an adorable new board book series from Chronicle! Combining pet care with learning, the books are a sweet introduction to having a pet. I Take Care of My Puppy has 15 interactive elements that let kids fill the puppy’s bowl, brush their fur, and trace their finger through a walk around the block. Moving parts, bold fonts, and a cheery, expressive puppy will appeal to readers. The final spread invites readers to take care of their own puppy for a week, with sliding panels to check off every day after they feed, walk, play, and take their puppy out for a potty run. It’s a great way to introduce responsibility into a conversation, and for preschoolers who may not have a pet, a chance to try a puppy on for size – accompany with a stuffed animal for a test run! Sliding panels can be a little fiddly with new books, but the pages are sturdy and will hold up.

 

Happy Little Pets: I Take Care of My Kitten, Illustrated by Michael Stack, (Jan. 2023, Chronicle Books), $14.99, ISBN: 9781797205274

Ages 1-4

I Take Care of My Kitten is the companion to I Take Care of My Puppy, with an adorable black and white kitten that readers can name, feed, brush, and pet. There are 15 interactive elements for toddlers and preschoolers to explore, and they can spend a week caring for their own kitten (Can be a toy! Get creative!) and marking off their progress at the end of the book. Kids can learn about the responsibility involved in having a kitten, including cleaning the litter box and helping them find a scratching post to sharpen their claws. Kid-friendly artwork and sturdy panels engage readers from the get-go.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Books about things that go

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

It’s time for a vehicle book roundup! I’ve got the new Sherri Duskey Rinker, a Pop-Up Guide, and a Do You Know? for the wee ones. Let’s roll out!

 

The Pop-Up Guide: Vehicles, by Maud Poulain/Illustrated by Charline Picard, (Sept. 2021, Twirl Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9791027609994
Ages 2-5
These Pop-Up Guides from Twirl Books are too much fun. The newest one is all about vehicles: what vehicles roll around in different locations and what they do. Visit a bustling city with street cleaners, buses, trains and more going about their workday, then visit a more rural area, where farm vehicles like tractors and harvesters get to work. Emergency vehicles help save people, and roads and rails get you where you need to go. You can travel through the sea and sky with vehicles, you can race them, and you can use them to transport all sorts of things! Ten spreads fold out to 3-D landscapes with colorful, labeled vehicles and local color, and a few descriptive sentences place the reader in each of the settings. There are elastic bands to hold pages and allow for hands-free reading and play; get some minifigs and small action figures and let the littles really explore! Keep a reference copy on hand for storytimes; the pages are sturdy but will heavily circulate.

 

 

Do You Know? Vehicles and Transportation, by Camille Babeau, Illustrated by Benjamin Bécue, Julie Mercier, & Cristian Turdera, (Oct. 2021, Twirl Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9782408029159

Ages 5-8

Another fun entry in Twirl’s Do You Know series hits shelves in just a couple of weeks! Vehicles and Transportation is full of facts and detailed illustrations of vehicles, from people (transportation had to start somewhere!) and animals, cruise ships, military vehicles, hot air balloons, and more. Chapters are organized into land, water, and air vehicles, with a final “More to Know” chapter that lays out the big points of all the content, including a travel timeline, a review of different machines, and future vehicles. Cross-section illustrations provide detailed information, and helpful Q&A sections run on each page. Learn answers how to recognize an emergency vehicle; how a steam engine works, and when you can try hang gliding! There is a wealth of information, laid out in a way that is easy and engaging to read. The book is fully indexed for easy reference, too. Make a display of Do You Know? books, or match this up with Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, Mike Lowery’s The Way Downtown and Nadja Spiegelman and Sergio Garcia Sánchez’s Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure. Have coloring sheets on hand!
Construction Site: Road Crew, Coming Through!, by Sherri Duskey Rinker/Illustrated by AG Ford, (Oct. 2021, Chronicle Kids), $17.99, ISBN: 9781797204727
Ages 2-5
Sherri Duskey Rinker, ruling headmistress of the transportation story, is back with a new Construction Site story! In this latest rhyming tale, the construction team heads off to their biggest job yet as they build a superhighway. Kids meet a group of new machines with exciting, big jobs: Water Truck squirts water on the ground to keep dirt and grit from flying around; Paver lays down asphalt and Roller smashes the asphalt down to make the surface even and flat; Striper Truck rolls down the road, spray painting yellow and white lines to keep the traffic moving. With teamwork like this, happy cars will be driving down the new mega-road in no time! Kids love these books, and it’s so easy to see why: Sherri Duskey Rinker’s text is cheerful, with happy rhymes about friendship, teamwork, and enjoying one’s work. AG Ford’s wax and oil crayon illustrations depict happy vehicles working and driving together, helping one another out, and getting the job done. An author’s note at the end calls the reader’s attention to a coyote at the beginning of the book, who shows up later, and mentions that road builders are increasingly taking local wildlife “travelers” into account and making special allowances to accommodate them. Visit Sherri Rinker’s website for more of her Construction Crew books (including some upcoming books!), and visit artist AG Ford’s website to see more of his gorgeous artwork, including his Children’s Book Gallery. Download activity kits, teachers’ guides, and watch videos at the Good Night Construction Site.
Posted in Early Reader, Non-Fiction, Preschool Reads

#HomesCool Pop Up Books for Little Learners

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Twirl Books is releasing incredible new books for little learners. I was thrilled to receive a big box of their new and upcoming books, and I’ve loved everything I’ve read so far. This post looks at two pop-up nonfiction titles for preschoolers that are going to love. Make space in your easy nonfiction and board book libraries: Twirl is taking over.

The Pop-Up Guide: Space, by Sophie Dussaussois/Illustrated by Charline Picard, (March 2021, Twirl Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9791036325199

Ages 3-5

A pop-up guide to space is just what the budding astronomer ordered! Ten spreads open up to reveal 3-D starscapes, our solar system, the lunar landing, the International Space Station, and more. Brief paragraphs provide a factual overview of each spread, and pictures are labeled to increase readers’ science vocabulary, with terms and proper nouns including “observatory”, “centrifuge”, “Buzz Aldrin”, and “Curiosity rover”. Illustrations are colorful and informative, with detail to engage readers. The pages are sturdy, but you’ll want to buy a copy to keep in reference to be on the safe side. Elastic bands on the corners of the front cover make for a nice hands-free reading experience, letting kids examine every inch of the illustrations on each spread. I can’t wait to see what other Pop-Up Guides Twirl has planned!

 

Ultimate Spotlight: Rain Forest Animals, by Sandra Laboucarie/Illustrated by Émilie Lapeyre, (March 2021, Twirl Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9791027608775

Ages 4-7

The Ultimate Spotlight series from Twirl is also has pop-up panels, but adds other interactive features like lift-the-flaps, movable tabs, and turn-the-wheel. Five spreads take readers through a rain forest, where they can see a 3-D representation of the layered forest, from ground up through emergent layer; play hide and seek with camouflaged denizens of the forest; meet animal families; discover gliding animals and see how they move, and explore a foldout visualizing of the rain forest by day and at night. Animals are clearly labeled and brief, factual sentences provide exciting new facts for animal fans. Pages will hold up to a lot of reading, but I’d consider a backup copy if your budget allows. I’d also reinforce the spines of both books with library tape if you have it; these are going to be heavily circulated. Illustrations are colorful, with the vibrant colors of the rain forests and its citizens nicely represented. Kids are going to love this and the other books in the Ultimate Spotlight series: Savanna Animals, Dinosaurs, Firefighters, Trains, and Astronauts.