The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear

by Don & Audrey Wood

illustrated by Don Wood

A little Mouse is preparing to pick a strawberry when you, the reader, come across him and ask what he is doing. The Mouse stands smiling near a ladder propped next to a large strawberry. You reply, "Oh, I see. Are you going to pick that red, ripe strawberry?" The mouse always responds not with words, but with body language and very telling actions. You inform little Mouse about the big, hungry Bear, "Ohhh, how that Bear loves red, ripe strawberries!" You follow Mouse through his perplexing (and hilarious) attempts to save his strawberry from the big, hungry bear.

Audrey and Don Wood combine again to create yet another of my favorites. This one would have to be in my top 5. Large, beautiful pictures, simple (yet perfect!) text, and a great ending.

Have a little fun: This is a great book to help teach about predicting. In my teaching experience, I was so sad to come across children who wouldn't even make a guess at what might happen in a book. The words "I don't know," have no place in prediction because it wouldn't be predicting if you know the answer! The more you encourage prediction, you will be delighted at how creative and detailed your child's answers will become.

Before reading, ask questions about what the mouse is doing on the cover, and other questions stemming from the title. You can stop a couple of times during the story to have your child predict what they think the little Mouse is going to do to protect his strawberry.

Another Idea: Supply your child with glue, magazines, a red piece of construction paper, and scissors (that's right, I said scissors. How else are they supposed to learn to use scissors?). Cut the red paper into the shape of a large strawberry and have your child search out the color red in the magazine. Have them cut out the red object, and paste it, collage style, on the paper. Enjoying themselves? Move on to finding green to cut out for the stem. Make enough to have one for everyone in the family (sharing is a theme in this book), write family names on them and leave them by plates at the dinner table!

image via grundycountylibrary.org

King Bidgood's in the Bathtub

by Audrey Wood

illustrated by Don Wood

King Bidgood is having such a great time in his bathtub, he doesn't want to leave! In order to coax him out of the tub, the knight, the queen, the duke, and members of the court, each try to remove him from the tub by reminding him of his other kingly deeds to do. To their dismay, the king chooses to perform his activities from the bathtub! It's the small page  who finally gets the king out of the tub.

The pictures are fantastic! It's no surprise this book won a Caldecott. The story moves by quite quickly, sometimes with only one sentence on the page-not nearly enough time to look at everything going on in the pictures! The story's "poetic lyrics" might take a little practicing to get a good rhythm. Once you figure that out, the story has a fun bounce to it. I do like the story, but like I said, it's the amazing pictures that make this book a home library must-have!

Have a little fun: Look ahead in the book before you read it together. As you're reading it together, stop just before it is revealed how the king gets out of the tub. Ask your child to predict how the king finally got out of the tub.

p.s. I referred to this book as one that uses the name Page. Although s/he's an actual "page" in the story, I think a child with that name would appreciate it far more as a name than an occupation.

The Apple Pie Tree

by Zoe Hall

illustrated by Shari Halpern

The book begins, "My sister and I have a tree that grows the best part of an apple pie. Can you guess what that is?" This is my favorite book about seasons (ok, to date...my favorites are always changing). You follow a girl and her sister through the seasons, watching their apple tree (and the robin's nest inside the tree) go through the progression that occurs with the seasons.

The pictures were made with bold colored cut paper, adding dimension to the pages. That paper technique makes the large pictures both simple and intricate at the same time.

This book comes complete with a simple illustrated explanation of bee pollination at the end, and a recipe for apple pie!

Have a little fun:  (like you couldn't see this one coming...) Visit an orchard and make an apple pie!

A little more fun:  No orchard nearby, or it isn't apple-picking season? Teach your child a memorized poem with actions (progress down to 0 apples in the apple tree). Could be sung to the tune of "This Old Man"

Way up High in the Apple Tree

(hands up)

Five little apples smiled at me

(5 fingers, followed by pointer fingers twisting at the cheeks)

I shook the tree as hard as I could

(like you're shaking a tree)

Down came the apples

(lower hands)

Mmm, were they good

(pat tummy)

-Author unknown

image via bankstreetbooks.com

How I Became a Pirate

by Melinda Long

illustrated by David Shannon

Jeremy Jacob is building a sand castle at the beach when Braid Beard and his pirates row ashore. They immediately admire Jeremy's digging skills and decide to bring him on board to help bury their treasure.

Jeremy has a great time being a pirate. No one tells him how or what to eat, no one tells him to go to bed...it's paradise!...until nightfall. Jeremy Jacob learns that sometimes it's nice to have someone around to take care of him.

The pictures are great, but I love, love, love the text! You absolutelycannot read this book without a pirate accent. Don't even bother reading it if you aren't willing to pirate-speak, "Aye, treasure!"

Have a little fun: Make new traditions! Start celebrating International Talk Like A Pirate Day on September 19th, and make a whole pirate theme for the day. Start the day reading this book! Since you know about it now, you've got months to make yer map, build up yer pirate booty, and brush up on yer "arr!"

image via smallfoz.typepad.com

Gallop!

by Rufus Butler Seder

Prepare to be amazed by this picture book. I guess I shouldn't call it that, because it's unlike any other picture book I've seen. My son, Luke, calls it the "movie book." That seems very appropriate. Prepare to be amazed by this movie book.

The picture below is not featured in the book. It's actually a "kineticard"(greeting card) also by Rufus Seder. Really, this is how the animals move as you turn the page. I guess he has patented it, and calls it "Scanimation." Alright, slightly better than "movie book." My guess is, this is the first of many Scanimation books.  Check out this YouTube video to give you an idea of what to expect from the actual book.

The text follows a predictable pattern, starting with "Can you gallop like a horse?" It then moves on to other animals and changes the action word. "Can you strut like a rooster?" and so on (dog, cat, eagle, "chimp," butterfly, and turtle). Simple text, but in this case, you really aren't purchasing the book to read the text.

Have a little fun with it: I always thought it was "persistence of vision" that made possible the illusion of movement in still pictures. Many places on the Internet will talk about it as well, but according to Wikipedia.com, it isn't. Oh well. Regardless of whatever it is in our brains that makes this happen, it's neat. If your child is truly fascinated by this book, instead of taking it apart (as I am SO tempted to do!), go to this neato site featuring old fashioned moving picture machines. Download the free pdf to make your own optical toys like the zoetrope or thaumatrope. And check out the phenakistoscope while you're there.

image via pemshop.com

Where's the Dragon?

by Jonas Hook

illustrated by Richard Hook

After years of telling George tales of dragons, his grandfather decides to take George on a dragon hunt (even though his grandfather hasn't actually seen a dragon himself). You can also go on a dragon hunt as you search for all 76 dragons hidden throughout the book. The illustrations are beautiful, but what really makes them stand out, is that they stand out! The embossed pages allow you to "feel" the dragons, and spot laminations add another dimension as well. What I really like about this book is that it doesn't entirely rely on clever illustrations. The book actually has an entertaining story to go along with the entertaining pictures.

The end of the book gives you a clue as to how to find out how many dragons are hidden in the book (I've cheated and told you here). Identify the dragons you can readily see as you read through the first time, but then go back and try to find them all!

I'd Really Like to Eat a Child

by Sylviane Donnio

illustrated by Dorothee de Monfreid

You want to go out and buy this book just from the title alone, don't you?

Achilles is a crocodile whose parents usually serve bananas for breakfast. One morning, Achilles decides he would prefer to eat a child. Being concerned parents, they try to deter Achilles from eating a child by offering him a sausage, and even chocolate cake. They finally sit down and cry because their child won't eat what they have put before him (sound familiar, anyone?).

Achilles starts to feel weak because he hasn't eaten breakfast, so he decides a swim would help. At the riverbank he spots a girl and says, "Finally, I'm going to eat a child." I'm not one for spoiling a book, so I'll just say this is a good book for teaching your children to eat the healthy things mom and dad provide. Also, some goals are accomplished with time and effort.

I got a good laugh from a review of this book that was concerned about frightening those children who read this book in crocodile infested areas. I think I would be more concerned about teaching children that crocodiles eat bananas for breakfast, but I think someone missed the point that this book is supposed to be silly. Enjoy a good laugh!

Have a healthy snack when you're finished reading. This would be a good time to find out if your child even knows what a healthy snack is. How about a banana?

image via withrow.vcworks.org

Round Trip

by Ann Jonas

Take a trip to the city and back with these black and white illustrations that stretch your mind to see the story. Turn the book upside-down to get home. To quote the publisher, "This book isn't just the story of a round trip--it is a round trip." 

Great for teaching perspective.

The day trip takes you over a bridge...

the return home (on the same page) takes you past telephone poles against a starry night.

images via barnesandnoble.com and best-childrens-books.com

Bark, George

by Jules Feiffer

George is a dog, but he certainly doesn’t sound like one. His mother takes him to the vet to recover his bark. Great surprise ending that encourages discussion. Simple pictures, but I love the pictures of the mother in her moments of frustration and delight.

image via gigcat.midhudson.org