Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Where has the time gone?





 

Summer reads and back to school reads: a little late to post in October, but operating on the idea that it truly is better late than never, here are a few of the new books for the summer and early fall. Will try to keep more timely in the future!


Back to School Picture books


Not This Bear: A First Day of School Story
By Alyssa Satin Capucilli; Illustrated by Lorna Hussey
 

For Bear’s first day of school, Mama hugs him tight and drops him off at Bear School. While there are many fun things to do at school, Bear is hesitant to participate, repeating the phrase: Not This Bear, whenever the teacher suggests he do something. But, Bear gradually warms up to the school and to the fun activities that he can take part in. By the time Mama comes to get him in the afternoon, he is part of the gang and not at all ready to go home. A cheery introduction to the first day of school and one that gives parents many opportunities to talk about what school is like.

My Humongous Hamster Goes to School by Lorna Freytag
My Humongous Hamster Goes to School
With realistic drawings of children juxtaposed with a hamster ten times their size, Freytag has made the humongous hamster story into a humongous joke! The hamster dresses in a tutu for dance class, eats all the drawings the students produce in art and gets stuck on the slide on the playground. Freytag continues the humor with this as an ending from the narrator: “When Mom picks us up, she asks if I’ve had a nice day. I just say, ‘Nah, it was boring.’ I don’t want to get my hamster in trouble, do I?” For kids who love school and kids who are anxious about school starting up again, this is the perfect back to school book!

Summer Vacation Books


Duck’s Vacation by Gilad Soffer
Duck's Vacation
While Duck enjoys his vacation in a beach chair in front of the soothing ocean, the reader ruins it all by turning the page. With a postmodern twist, Duck addresses the reader and becomes increasingly agitated when the page turns result in a different scenario. Whether you like to vacation at the beach or at the mountains, the idea of a vacation that stays the same with no changes is one that can be explored with this laugh inducing book.

Water is Water: A Book About the Water Cycle by Miranda Paul; Illustrations by Jason Chin
 
A perfect summer read as children explore the nature of water, how it changes from liquid to gas to fog to snow and back to liquid again. The seasons play an important part in this changing world and the content is given in repetitive poetic language. Content material is supplemented with explanations and definitions in the back and additional reading is suggested. This is a book that I would not mind reading over and over!

The Whale in the Swimming Pool by Joyce Wan
 
A little boy goes out to swim and finds a whale blocking his small backyard pool. He tries to negotiate with the whale to no avail, but finally comes up with a solution that works for both of them to enjoy the cooling effects of water on a hot summer’s day. An excellent example of the theater of the absurd that ends up giving us a good life lesson.

Luna & Me by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
 22718704
A fictionalized version of a “true story of a girl who lived in a tree to save a forest,” Kostecki-Shaw tells how Julie “Butterfly” stayed in a redwood tree for over two years to prevent it being cut down. The backstory gives more details and explains how the activism started and why the group was anxious to save the tree they had named Luna. This is an excellent book for exploring ideas of the environment, activism, civil disobedience and the rights of living things, plant or animal. While Luna is presented using personification, the illustrations are none-the-less exquisite and worth the price of the book.

 Let me know if you would like a copy of one of these books by commenting on this post. It could happen!


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