February and Hugs!

There is so much going on in February and so many books I want to share with you that I will be posting on Mondays and Wednesdays this month.  I want to give you some great Valentine's and love book recommendations and I also want to share with you some great books for Black History Month.

I am going to start out with a very simple book.  It's not your traditional Valentine's book or love book but it is a great book to share with those you love. 

Hug by Jez Alborough is a simple board book with one word... HUG!  Little monkey Bobo sees all the other animals giving each other a hug.  He is sad and wants his own hug.  He goes in search of a hug, not having any luck until he finds his mama!  His mama gives him a giant hug and Bobo is happy again.  The book ends with all the animals hugging one another. You can't help but want to hug anyone near you after reading this book, but especially those that you love! It's great to read with little ones because they will quickly catch on and start "reading" the one word text with you.  For bigger kids they will enjoy examining the pictures, that tell a little more of the story.  No matter what everyone can relate to Bobo and his need for a hug!

Start out this month by cuddling, reading with and hugging those you love!

Happy Reading!

Laura

Fun Words

When picking out a board book for your littlest baby sometimes it is good to try to find a book that has really fun language and a rhythmic text.  Any book that is more song-like than book-like is a good choice.  Babies find the rhythm calming and the more fun words we can get into our babies ears the better.

Dancing Feet by Lindsey Craig is a perfect example of a book with fun words and rhythmic text.  Dancing Feet is a sing-songy book about animals, their feet and the sounds their feet might make.  The book includes repetition, silly words and rhyme, three things little babies love in their books! It is so fun to read words like tippity, thumpity and stompity and the question and answer format will engage a baby's curiosity.   Your baby will be sure to clap along to this fun read aloud.  At first it was always the book my daughter picked off the shelf to read and now she is saying, "again" when it is finished.  Even the pictures, by illustrator Marc Brown, appeal to kids. I love the footprints that trail throughout the book and the big animal feet that are on the question pages.  His illustration help give clues to the children about what animal it might be dancing around.

Lindsay Craig and Marc Brown have also collaborated to make Farmyard Beat a book very similar using farm animals.

Happy Reading!
Laura

My First Day

Steve Jenkins and Robin Page have combined to write and illustrate over 15 books, all of them informational.  Sometimes good informational books for reading aloud are hard to find but not when it comes to this amazing duo.  Jenkins is definitely one of my favorite informational authors.

One of his newer books, published in 2013, is called My First Day. In this book Jenkins tells the story of the first day for over 20 different animals.  Some of the animals you have probably heard of before like the manatee and the giraffe, but other animals are more obscure like the sifaka and the megapodes. The entire book is written in first person, so each animal tells the reader what they did on their first day.

Jenkins has a gift of giving a lot of information in only a few sentences.  For example.  In two sentences we learn that it is very cold when a baby penguin is born and that a baby penguin snuggles into his dad's feathers to stay warm.  A muntjac has to stay by itself, blending in with the shadows, while mom goes and looks for food.  If you want even more information about a specific animal you can turn to the back of the book where Jenkins has included information about where the animal lives, what they eat and other fun facts!

Children will love this book not just for the interesting facts, but for the pictures and all the baby animals!  It is definitely worth checking out, especially if you have never read a Steve Jenkins book.

Happy Reading,
Laura

Why?

Do you have a curious little one that loves to ask why?  Why do birds tweet?  Why do squirrels have busy tales?  Why? Why? Why? Well if you do I have the perfect book for you! Why? by Lila Prap takes all those questions kids asks you all day long and answers them in a funny yet informative way.

Take, for example, the question, "Why do rhinos have horns on their noses?"  Well, I don't know about you but I am not really sure why rhino's have horns and if my child answered this I would stumble to find a suitable answer probably making something up that sounds about right.  Well in Prap's book she gives all those silly answers that a parent would make up on the spot like- "They wouldn't grow anywhere else."  But she also gives the real answer in a short, one paragraph explanation.  FYI- rhinos use their horns for protection and fighting.

If you have a young one who is really curious try making a why book with them.  Together you can record the questions that they come up with then pick a few and research the answers.  Parents can scribe the text and children can work on the illustrations.  A perfect snow day project when someone has a bad case of the why's!

Happy Reading!
Laura

Who am I?

Here is another book to share with toddlers that either 1) love animals  2) love lift the flap books 3) love guessing what something might be.

City Animals by Simms Taback is dubbed as a "giant fold-out book" because the flaps are huge!  On the left side of every page the book has the words, "Who am I? with just a fraction of the city animal showing.  The right side of the page gives a clue that you can then flip up to reveal another clue and more of the animal.  When you fold out the second clue a full picture of the animal is revealed as well as the animal name.

Here are some pictures of how the book works.

My toddler loved lifting the flaps of this book so much I thought- we should just make our own!

Here is how I did it:

Materials
- 1 piece of 18x11 construction paper
- Glue
- 3 pictures of objects your child is interested (I printed mine from the internet, just make sure they are about a 1/2 page when printed)
- Scissors
- Instruction on how to make a mini-book found here

1) Use the 18x11 piece of construction paper to make the mini-book.

2) Cut the 3 printed pictures into rectangles and then fold into fourths so that your picture looks like this.

3) Cut one slit in the middle of the picture like this:

4) Glue only the bottom half into the book like this:

5) Then you can add the text to your book, like this:

6) Now your book is ready for your little one to enjoy!

You could make this type of book for or with almost any aged child.  Obviously, my toddler could not make the book, but he loves reading it.  If you have an older child they could help with the cutting, gluing and writing!

Happy Reading!
Laura

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

Back for round 2 of Informational Fridays.  This week I want to dispel the myth that all informational books are wordy, technical and difficult to read aloud.  Steve Jenkins is a very popular author of children's informational books.  His book What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? is a great example of informational books that can be used for primary children.

This book has a question and answer format.  On the first two page spread a question is posed and on the next two page spread the question is answered.  For example, on the page, "What do you do with a nose like this?" there are pictures of 5 different animal noses.  It is fun for kids to try to guess which animal the different noses belong to.  When you turn the page it shows each of the 5 animals in full with a fact about how that animal uses its nose, "If you're a hyena you find your next meal with your nose."

The book is perfect for younger children because of the short facts and their ability to interact with the text by guessing what animals the author might be getting ready to teach you about.  It also gives children many opportunities to connect with the book by sharing their own knowledge of any of the over 30 animals that are represented.  As an added bonus, if the child or class you are reading to has a particular interest in one of the animals you can turn to the back of the book to find out more information.

So I will leave you with one question for the weekend.

What do you do with a tooth like this?

Happy Reading!
Laura