Review: The Big Bed by Bunmi Laditan and Tom Knight

9780374301231

$16.99

From Bunmi Laditan, the creator of the Honest Toddler blog, The Big Bed is a humorous picture book 

about a girl who doesn't want to sleep in her little bed, so she presents her dad with his own bed—a camping cot!—in order to move herself into her parents' big bed in his place. A twist on the classic parental struggle of not letting kids sleep in their bed.

This went quickly from "looks cute, I'll order it," to "reading parts (and then all) out loud to the person next to me," to, "wait, I'm taking this home to read to my husband!" 

I'll probably let the kids read it, too, but this is definitely a book to make the adults laugh out loud. The voice of the young protagonist is both very real and very adult. Anyone who ever hears their own words and reasoning coming back to them out of a pint-sized mouth (while you cover your own so you don't get caught laughing) will relate. The illustrations, particularly facial expressions, are spot on.

Hmm...maybe I won't let the kids read this, particularly the Catnip Kid - that little con man does not need any additional ideas! You, however, need this book, whoever you are. Hi. larious.

Review: Lola Dutch by Kenneth and Sarah Jane Wright

9781681195513
$17.99

From the best ways to serve breakfast — an elegant feast! — to the ideal sleeping spot — a majestic blanket fort, of course! — Lola is inspired all day long.

Her dear companion Bear sometimes says she is just too much, but Lola is rich with imagination and originality, which even Bear will agree is AMAZING.

Does this description remind you of any young person you know? Someone who loves to go all out and make things bigger, better, grander, more exciting? Someone who goes all out, full throttle, all day long? Or does it remind you of any grown-up you know? (E.C., I'm looking at you!)

Whether you know someone who is the high-energy Lola, the happy accomplice gator, Pig or Crane, or the quietly shaking-his-head, there-when-you-need-him Bear, this is just an all-around great gift book. Give it to someone having a birthday, expecting a new baby, or embarking on a new project. And by all means, get one for your library shelves so everyone can enjoy it!

Review: Up, Down and Other Opposites with Ellsworth Kelly

9780714876290

$10.95

Ellsworth Kelly's paintings and sculptures take center stage in this creative visual presentation of opposites. The pairings range from together/apart to vertical/horizontal, from full/empty to front/back [of a canvas!], providing readers with both expected and unexpected visual vocabulary. Images include Ellsworth's most famous works, as well as some lesser-known pieces, providing a stunning representation of colors and dimensions.

Concept books are a popular genre for board books. This series uses those concepts (in this case, opposites) to also introduce the work of a particular artist. I had never heard of Kelly myself, but abstract art is a perfect foil for this genre, with its simple clear lines and shapes. At times it seems as if the text is being forced to fit the art (I don't know that I would say a half is an opposite of a whole), and it would have helped if the opposites in texture had surfaces you could feel as well, but overall the comparisons are clear enough for little ones. The text goes a bit further than some others in that it actually uses the word "opposites" over and over, whereas most just offer examples.

A solid addition to your board book collection. Other books in this series include:

Blue and Other Colors with Henri Matisse

Squares and Other Shapes with Josef Albers

Birds and Other Animals with Pablo Picasso

One and Other Numbers with Alexander Calder

We will most likely be ordering these for our collection soon!

Today is Brought to You by the Letter A!

Very, very beginning letter studies with Shane and Grace! Once a week Grace's teacher sends home worksheets for her to trace letters. Gosh, that's exciting. And, seriously, homework for preschool?? (No, we don't do them.)

It seems a bit counter-intuitive to have a child with fine motor issues trying to trace letters she can't identify, so we are starting with just recognizing letters - no sounds, no writing, that can come when they are ready. Shane already knows some of his letters, while Grace just guesses "G" for each one (it is the most important after all!), so we are starting at the beginning. These are just some fun activities we did to help cement that first letter in our heads:

These are free printables found at totschool.shannons.org

She has all sorts of fun activities, and you have to love her tagline: "Because I can't handle another episode of Barney." There aren't any posts from the past few years - I hope that doesn't mean Barney came calling - but she still has her old posts up to explore. It occurred to me recently that we haven't used our dot markers in a while, so this was a great way to introduce the letter and practice motor control.

Anything with foamy shapes is a win. I just opened the tub and challenged them to see how many As they could find.

Grace is an all-or-nothing kind of gluer. Some got barely a dot, while others...

While they were working, I did a Google image search for "letter a", and printed out a few pages of results. I cut them into strips and told them to pick out the ones they wanted to cut out and glue on another paper.

The choice seemed to be "all of them", which was great! They are both doing a super job with scissors, and Grace kept running to me to show me "I cut in the lines!"

Ignore coil of wire, I was supposed to be putting up a chicken fence.

They had so much fun, they both wanted to do multiple pages, so I told them to get more paper out of the art drawer. Somebody apparently had already used this one. 

Shane refused to cover it up.

I printed out several "A" coloring pages and we did different things with them. This one was supposed to be colored in one color per space, but they decided at this point they weren't doing what the teacher told them to:

Sheridan helped Shane cut out his (purple) one, while Gracie did her own. Her scissor skills are actually coming along, not too long ago she would have cut right through the middle!

That pretty much signaled we were done for the day, but we will continue later by coloring the other A's in different ways - painting, thumbprints, and gluing cereal on them. Next up: snack time with Scrabble crackers, during which we will eat all the "A"s we can find!

Book Review - Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones by Sara Levine and....T.S Spookytooth?

9781467794893

$26.65

Did you know that we have mostly the same bones as a dinosaur? Sure, they are shaped a bit differently, and in different quantities and places - but we both have skulls, vertebrae, phalanges, femurs, etc. What kind of dinosaur would you be if your vertebrae extended further on both ends of your body?

This introduction to types of dinosaurs (always a hot topic in itself) uses comical illustrations of what humans might look like with the same features. At the end the relationship between dinosaurs and birds is discussed, inviting children to go outside and look for these "theropods" around them. A glossary and pronunciation guide (thank-you!) round out the final pages, along with a list of books and web sites for further exploration.

Illustrations are colorful and silly, without sacrificing accuracy in the actual dinosaur skeletons. Your young readers may be inspired to try drawing themselves or family members as different dinosaurs, or as other animals. Be sure you really want to know how they see you, though, before you propose that activity!

Review: A Queen in Jerusalem by Tami Shem-Tov, Rachella Sandbank and Avi Ofer

9781512444414

$17.99

In Jerusalem, in the early 20th century, a little girl named Malka—"queen" in Hebrew—dreams of dressing up as Queen Esther. It is the festival of Purim, and all the kids are looking forward to celebrating in their costumes. But Malka's mother doesn't have time to prepare a Purim costume for her. Where can Malka get a costume in time for the holiday?

"I hope it doesn't rain and get the laundry wet," says Malka's mother, hanging a shirt on the line.

But Malka hopes it will rain and get the laundry wet.

The opening lines perfectly capture the petulance of a child who did not get her way. Malka's mother did not have time to put together a costume, presumably because she has been busy with everything else that goes into life. Maybe it's the busy Mom in me, but I would have liked to see a little more sympathy expressed towards her by the end. It can never hurt to remind children who are moving developmentally out of the egocentric stage that there are other people in the world besides them. (If she's old enough to wander the streets of Jerusalem, she's old enough to help Mom out a bit!)

From feeling "cold and grey" like the streets, Malka steps into a seemingly magical place where beautiful miracles are created - what a fantasy world for a little one! This world is based on the very real Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, and young readers are introduced to its founder, Boris Schatz. A brief biography is included at the end, and may inspire young readers to find out more about him and the Academy. If not, the story itself should inspire a bit of dress-up around the house, for Purim or just for fun!

Book Review: I Got a Chicken for My Birthday by Laura Gehl and Sarah Horne

9781512431308

$17.99

I remember one Christmas asking for a brown stuffed dog. Every time we were at the mall, I dragged my parental unit in to the store to point out the exact stuffed dog I wanted. On Christmas morning, I opened my gifts and found a brown stuffed...bear.

We've all been there, right?

The heroine of our story asked her Abuela over and over for tickets to the amusement park. On her birthday, she got...a chicken? Okay, that's not even remotely close. In fact, I would venture a guess that the chicken and the amusement park tickets were not even sold in the same store. 

Not that chickens are all bad. In fact, we just picked up half a dozen ourselves, and this weekend I bled all over the chicken coop I am fixing up for them. Nothing beats real, fresh eggs! But...her chicken is too busy to lay eggs. What on earth is she doing??

Children will love gleaning hints from Horne's fun illustrations, while adults will get a smile out of the wry humor in Gehl's sparse text. All can appreciate the message that sometimes what we get is better than what we thought we wanted. This is sure to tickle my Medium Guy in particular, and I predict it will make the rounds of several bedtimes before I can wrestle it back to the library to catalog it. Pick it up if you want something a little different and fun for your shelves!