Book Review: Leaves

Title: Leaves

Author: David Ezra Stein

Illustrator: David Ezra Stein

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, July 29, 2010 (board book edition)

Age: 2 - 4

Topic: Changing Seasons, Fall, Autumn, Leaves, Bear

Opening: It was his first year.

Book Summary: The story follows a very young bear who experiences his first autumn. All is going well until the first leaf falls. Then soon, all the leaves begin to fall on his quiet island. At first he is confused and tries to put them back but soon he gives up and sadly watches all the leaves drop. He gathers up all the leaves and uses them to make a soft bed for a very long winter nap. When he awakes, he finds a wonderful surprise waiting for him.

Resources:
Autumn is a great time to be out and about in nature. Go for walks and allow your child/ren to explore and observe the changes happening all around them. Why do leaves turn colors? Find our here as well as find science projects for children to do. What makes them fall? A very simple answer can be found here: )

Some other activities can include: at the beginning of autumn when there are still a few ‘green’ leaves, have children create leaf collages. Collect the leaves of various trees. In some regions, there are trees that do not fall, learn about these trees. Got lots of energy, jump into a leaf pile.

Find lots of leafy activities and crafts here.

Why I Like This Book:
I love the author’s simple text, warm illustrations as he allows young bear, and young readers, to explore the beauty and changes of autumn. He shows the mix feelings that the young bear feels as he experiences autumn for the first time. But by the end of the book, children learn the nature of the seasons; that the leaves do come back in the spring. This is a great book to use to enhance a lesson plan on Fall/Autumn. Granted only three of the four seasons are shown in this book, it still opens up for a lot of discussions for the teacher to have with students.

Book Review: Duck & Goose Find A Pumpkin

Title: Duck & Goose Find A Pumpkin

Author: Tad Hills

Illustrator: Tad Hills

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade Books, July 28, 2009 (Oversized Board Book Edition)

Age: 1 - 4

Topic: Pumpkins, Animals, Nature, Seasons, Friendship, Directional Prepositions

Opening: Nice pumpkin, Thistle.

Book Summary: Duck and Goose see that Thistle has a really nice plump pumpkin. They want a pumpkin too. So they search together looking through fallen leaves, a downed log, a pond and a tree stump. But they can’t seem to find a pumpkin until Thistle suggests a great spot to find one.

Resources:
Nature walks. For learning about preposition, send your child/ren on a hunt using the prepositions in the book: on, in, up, under. Learn about other fall foliage including those shown in the illustrations, apples, acorns, leaves and more. And then there is always Pinterest for great ideas.

Why I Like This Book:
Short and Sweet. Amazing illustrations rendered in oil paint. Aside from the fact that I just love Duck & Goose as much as my toddler class does, the author beautifully captures autumn in this book as the adorable friends search for their pumpkin. Children will see colorful fallen leaves, apples, and an acorn as well as pumpkins. This book is great to add to a fall themed lesson plan. It can also be used for introducing prepositions to young children. I also love the potential of interactivity with the book. As I read the book to my group of 15 – 20 month old toddlers, I didn’t really have to prompt them to answer along with duck & goose. When the time came, they would all say, “No,” shaking their heads as I read it. J It is an often requested book to read a circle time (yes, my one year old classroom has circle time that we actually can get through an entire book! J )

Book Review: A Book of Sleep

Title: A Book of Sleep

Author: Il Sung Na

Illustrator: Il Sung Na

Publisher: Knopf  Books for Young Readers, January 11, 2011

Age: 1 - 3

Topic: Animals, Sleep

Opening:

When the sky grows dark
and the moon glows bright,
everyone goes to sleep . . .
except for the watchful owl!

Summary: Join owl on a moonlit journey as he watches all the other animals settle in for the night.

Resources:
Animal recognition: point at all the animals and name them. Talk about the sleeping style of each animal.
My Thoughts: A sweet bedtime story that children will love to read over and over again. I love that owl appears on each page as he watches over all the sleeping animals. With wonderful illustrations and spare text, children learn how various animals sleep, including owl.

Book Review: The Mitten

Title: The Mitten

Author: Jan Brett (adapted)

Illustrator: Jan Brett

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile, October 4, 1996

Age: 1-3

Topic: Seasons: Winter, Woodland Animals, Sharing

Opening: Once there was a boy named Nikki. He wanted mittens as white as snow.

Summary:
When Nicki drops his new white mitten in the snow, some curious woodland animals find it and crawl in for warmth. First comes a mole, then a rabbit, a badger and others, each one larger than the last.

Resources:
These animal masks would be great for a play reenacting The Mitten story. For this art activity, cut out the mittens and the animals and let them crawl in just like the animals in the story. Teach story sequencing using sequence cards from Creating & Teaching's blog. Homeschool Creations has lots of printables to use with the story. With my one-year olds, they glued yarn on an oversized poster board cutout of the white mitten

Why I like this book:
In this lovely illustrated story, a lonely white mitten becomes a cozy winter resting place for a variety of woodland creatures. It starts off with a small rabbit, and as more creatures appear, the larger they get until a bear squeezes in with the other critters. But when a tiny mouse tries to make his way in, the creatures get a big surprise! I love this edition because of it's brevity yet beautiful illustrations. The toddlers in my classroom love to look at it and listen to the story.

Book Review: Global Babies

Title: Global Babies

Author: The Global Fund for Children

Illustrator: Photography

Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing; February 10, 2006

Theme: Multiculturalism, People & Places, Geography, Baby Faces

Age: 0 - 2

Summary: Appealing photos of babies from seventeen cultures around the globe are woven together by simple narration. Global Babies presents children in cultural context. Diverse settings highlight specific differences in clothing, daily life, and traditions, as well as demonstrate that babies around the world are nurtured by the love, caring, and joy that surround them.

Resources:
Ideas: Dress up clothes from a variety of countries. Music from variety of cultures. Ethnic food tasting. Multicultural coloring pages. Find the different featured countries on a map or globe.

Why I like this book:
Short and sweet, straight to the point, just the way toddlers like it. No matter who you are or where you are from, babies everywhere are loved! :D The photos are absolutely beautiful. I read this book to my toddler classroom all the time and they love it. It is great for observing and describing what they are looking at. I also keep a copy in their classroom library so that they can get it any time they want to look through the book. The photos are colorful and grabs their attention. A great book to have at home and school to introduce and promote diversity.

To see a complete listing of all the Perfect Picture Books with resources, please visit author Susanna Leonard Hill’s Perfect Picture Books.  Or click on the Perfect Picture Book Fridays  badge in the right sidebar.

Book Review: Quiet in the Garden

Title: Quiet in the Garden

Author: Aliki

Illustrator: Aliki

Publisher: Green Willow Books: Feb 3, 2009

Suitable for: 4 – 8 years

Topics: Gardens, Animals, Food

Opening: I love to go into the garden.
I sit quietly.
I see flowers and plants.
It makes me feel peaceful.
If I am very still,
I see birds, insects,
and creatures I had
not noticed before.
I can even hear them!

Book Summary: Sitting quietly in his garden, a little boy observes the eating habits of birds, butterflies, bugs, and other small animals.

Links to resources:

The book includes instructions on how to make your own garden and detailed illustrations of plants typically found in a garden

Classroom Activities from the publisher.

Garden Activities for Children 

Garden coloring pages 

Garden Critters coloring page 

Why I like this book:

Quiet in the Garden takes children on a journey through a garden. They learn about the animals that live in our gardens. It starts off with a little boy sitting quietly in his garden enjoying the peace until he realizes the garden is alive and busy. Turns out, the garden is not so quiet after all with all the munching and conversations of the different animals. In the end, the little boy has a picnic with all his garden friends. Quiet in the Garden encourages children to safely explore nature, respecting the animals that live in nature. Children will notice that the little boy does not disturb or interfere with the animals as he watches them, quietly.

To see a complete listing of all the Perfect Picture Books with resources, please visit author Susanna Leonard Hill’s Perfect Picture Books. Or click on the Perfect Picture Book Fridays badge in the right sidebar.

Book Review: Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayres

Title: Up, Down, and Around


Author: Katherine Ayres


Illustrator: Nadine Bernard Westcott


Publisher: Candlewick; March 13, 2007


Age: 2 and up (But my one year olds love it!)


Topic: Vegetables, Opoposites, Healthy Foods, Gardening


Opening:
In the dirt we'll dig a row, drop some seeds and watch them grow.


Summary:
From seeds dropped into soil to corn bursting from its stalks, everything in this garden is on the move! Join in this rollicking good-time celebration of gardening.


Resources:
Teacher guide for the book. One Book has a very extensive activity guide for a variety of age levels.
Kid's Wings has some fun activities and web extensions to go with the book.

Why I like this book:
A cute book that shows a garden come to life as children learn about a variety of vegetables, some of which grow above the ground, some underground and others still that grow around and around! Children are taken from the very beginning of planting seeds then watching as the plants grown to the finale, a fun picnic in the garden featuring the vegetables in the book. My toddler classroom really enjoys the book. It helps that I have the BIG book edition where they can see the wonderful details of the plants and bugs :)

Book Review: I Love My Mommy Because......... Laurel Porter-Gaylord

Title: I Love My Mommy Because...
Author: Laurel Porter - Gaylord
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, March 30, 2004
Ages: 1 +
Opening:

I love my mommy because she reads me stories.

Book Description:
In this book young children learn to appreciate how phrases and actions from their own experiences also apply to animal babies. This book begins with an affectionate scene between a human mother and child, but moves on to care giving in animal families. "She listens when I talk" shows a mother cat and her mewing kitten.

My Review:
This is such an adorable book. My toddler classroom love this book as well. As we go through the pages, we name the different animals and what they are doing in the pages. The illustrations are just wonderful and captivating. My toddler students often like to gaze at the different creatures in the book. The sturdy pages has allowed the book to survive at least three transitions of new toddlers in my room :) 

*****
Five Stars!!!!!!

Book Review: The Big Red Barn Margaret Wise Brown

Title: The Big Red Barn
Author: Margaret Wise Brown
Publisher: HarperFestival, January 6, 1995
Ages: 1 +
Opening:
By the big red barn
In the great green field,
There was a pink pig
Who was learning to squeal.
Book Description: Follow a family of farm animals as they spend a typical day on their farm.

My Review:  
This is another classroom favorite. It is usually one of the first books the children reach for when we sit down for circle or one on one bonding time with the children. I often find the children off on their own flipping through the pages looking at the pictures of the animals. The Big Red Barn is fun to read because of the rhyming. It has quite a few words for a board book in a young toddler classroom but it flows so smoothly and the illustrations keep them captivated as listen to the story. This book is great for learning about farm animals and animals sounds.

*****
Five Stars!!!

Book Review: In My Flower Sara Gillingham

Title: In My Flower

Publisher: Chronicle Books; Board book edition (December 30, 2009)

Book Description: Turn the colorful die-cut pages of this irresistible board book to discover just what makes little butterfly's flower so cozy. Bright pictures, sweet reassuring messages, unique layered pages, and an adorable finger puppet combine to create interactive reading and playtime fun!

My Review:Show More

Show Less

 My toddlers love this book especially when I stick my fingers in the butterfly puppet and make it fly. This book was added to our spring curriculum as we talked about flowers and things associated with flowers. The last page reinforces family as the butterfly is seen with her family. The thick pages are great for young hands just learning how to turn pages (and teething). It is colorful and simple to read, which is great because it will quickly become a favorite and you will have to read it over and over and over again! :D

*****

Five Stars!!!!

Book Review: Eight Spinning Planets

This week our center book fair landed during "Our Solar System" curriculum week. When I saw this book, I HAD to get it. Along with fun rhyming information about the planets, great illustrations, it had bubbled planets that the children loved touching. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! :D This book gets all the stars in the universe :D

Book Review: The Jolly Postman or Other People's Letters

For "At the Post Office" week, I read this book to my toddler classroom. It was a bit over their heads but they loved it anyway. The story was more appropriate for them as the illustration captivated them. They also loved the fact that there were letters in all the envelopes. Only a couple of the children cared to listen to the letters and soon lost interest, but when I read the story without the letters, they were able to make it to the end of the book. =) The story basically follows a postman as he delivers mail and packages to different people in the town. He also has a cup a tea at everyone's home that he delivered to. I personally liked the letters and think older children (Pre-K) would enjoy the letters and the humor in them. I give this book 3.5 stars! (only because it is better suited for a Pre-K classroom and not a toddler classroom)

Book Review: The Very Quiet Cricket

A cute book about a cricket that is really quiet. The children also learn about a variety of bugs and the sounds they make. My only problem with the book was the repetitive phrases that was repeated on each page the cricket met a new bug. It made the book a bit long and a few of my toddlers got bored. I had to improvise to keep their attention. The cool thing I liked about the book, however, was the cricket sound it made at the end of the story when the very quiet cricket met another very quiet cricket. They loved it! I would give this book a solid 3.5 :)

Book Review: Lucky New Year

I bought this book to add to my curriculum during our week of learning about Chinese New Year, traditions and festivities. This book was really neat. It was colorful and easy to read to the children. Its interactive features made learning a fun experience for them. It had flaps, a turing wheel, an orange to smell and shiny fire crackers they could touch. The finale was a beautiful pop-up dragon at the end of the story! I give this book a 4.5!

Book Review: The Story of My Feelings

I love this book!!! It is one of our favorite books in the classroom because no matter what is going on or how upset our children get, as soon as we turn the cd on and open the book, they all come sit and listen to the story of a little girl who pretty much reflects their lives and emotions. She gets sad, happy, angry and peaceful. The children love to point to the little girl's puppy friend as we go from page to page. Seriously, we call this book our 'magic' book! Sometimes children have really hard drop offs, after listening to it once, they begin to calm down and stop crying, by the second time around they either want to hear it again or are ready to go play and explore the classroom! It has a very calming effect on the children. I really like it! it has saved my sanity on many a rough days!!! :) 

A cute story: A midnight Snack

This is a wonderfully written and illustrated story about a little boy who wants a midnight snack. His mother makes a cake that he is itching to have more of though he really should be in bed sleeping. This rhyming tale has suspense and a wonderful ending!

Book Review: Puff the Magic Dragon

Doing storytime with 7 toddlers and "Puff the Magic Dragon" made me remember just how much I liked the story and song growing up! This a wonderful tale filled with youthful imagination, amazing imagery, colorful illustration and a soothing melody. I borrowed this story from the 2 year-old classroom since we had the song on our computer. I played the song while showing the pages to my one year-olds. They were mesmerized as the music and song played. The illustrations captured them and kept them glued to the pages as I turned them and sang along (I have found, my toddler students prefer hearing teacher's voice along with the recorded voice when listening to musical stories.) They even requested the book and song "again!" They loved the dragon and they recognized the "boat". I will definitely invest in having a copy for my room.

Book Review: The Farmyard Jamboree

I have a new favorite book for my classroom! The Farmyard Jamboree is a very cute counting story about a boy and his growing number of farm pets. Sung to a very nice, soothing melody, the pictures capture my students attention, while the music calms them. It is a very good intro to math concepts as well, they are introduced to the multiples of 2. Such a cute story and song :) I give it 2 thumbs up!!

Book Review: Hug Time

This is a wonderfully sweet story of just how perfect and simple love can be. Aside from that fact that I love little cats, the lesson given is, love is a powerful but gentle force. Something as simple as a hug brings peace and harmony The pictures are simple but profound. I read this whenever I'm having a rough day :)