It's March, let's read!

Books abound for young readers and listeners. No matter what interests your young readers, you will find something here to keep them interested. Patterns, animals, real and imaginary, and interactive books that travel with you through a rich landscape: who could ask for anything more? 

I See a Pattern Here by Bruce Goldstone

Using famous works of art as well as patterns found in nature, Goldstone explores how color, shape and repetition can work together to form beautiful patterns. Throughout the book, he also gives definitions and examples of mathematical terms. This would be a super book for any math teacher and useful with children in  primary and intermediate grades.

If I Were a Lizard by Lauren Gates Galvin

 

A simple board book with extraordinarily read and colorful pictures of a variety of lizards. Galvin manages to catch the eerie stare of the lizard seeming to view life with a grouchy demeanor, while conveying oodles of facts about these real-life prehistoric creatures. Perfect for preschoolers to catch their attention, but also useful to introduce older children to a unit on amphibians.

Woodpecker Wham! By April Pulley Sayre, Illustrations by Steve Jenkins

With Jenkins’ bright paper collage images, how could this book go wrong? And Sayre’s words are an equal complement to the gorgeous illustrations of woodpeckers in a variety of environs. Each page includes a short poem with strong words to spike the interest of little ones who like birds, and maybe even those who don’t. “Raise that crest./ Bob and Bow./ Flash those wings./ It’s time to wow!” The author ends with several pages of facts about woodpeckers as well as a list of further reading, both books and websites.

Your Baby’s First Word Will be Dada by Jimmy Fallon, illustrated by Miguel Ordonez

In the tried and true silly fashion of Jimmy Fallon, this book progresses through a number of baby animals. Each animal’s father is dictating, “Dada!” To which the baby replies, “Moo” or “Quack” of “Bzzz.” Every parent wants to hear his baby (or her baby) say Dada or Mama first, Fallon just voices this desire. And who other than a celebrity would be able to get a children’s book published based on a silly idea?

I, Fly: The Buzz about Flies and How Awesome They Are by Bridget Heos, 

Illustrated by Jennifer Plecas

A multi-racial classroom plus a talking fly gives you a book with all you need to know about flies. Just like butterflies, they go through the process of metamorphosis, but according to the talking fly, they are so much cooler and useful to society. Several cool facts come to the surface here including the fact that one fly can have 191 gazillion offspring in a matter of 30 days or less. Makes you wonder why the world is not awash with flies, doesn’t it. My mother used to pay us 1 penny for every fly we killed. Should have bred them, then killed the majority and I’d be a rich woman today!

Spare Parts by Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley

 

Rebecca and Ed Emberley are a daughter/father team who have done some wonderful picture books with simple drawings and engaging text, notably The Crocodile and the Scorpion and other traditional tales. Spare Parts features a robot who is missing a part, and spends the pages of the book trying to locate a heart. The story here is more complex than their other works, and the pictures are busy to the point of being confusing. Oh, for the simple drawings found in the other books where they have teamed up! While this is not appealing to me, I will check it out with the grandson and won’t be surprised if he loves it!

Hedgehugs by Steve Wilson and Lucy Tapper

For a family with hedgehogs on the family crest, there is nothing cuter than a hedgehog, unless it is a book with hedgehogs trying to hug. The solution to put on a sock and nibble out the heel, then snuggle up close without those pesky spikes. Love this book and not just because the hedgehogs are so cute.

We’re in the Wrong Book by Richard Byrne

 

Another Postmodern offering from Richard Byrne, the author of This Book Just Ate my Dog!  Bella and Ben are back, jumping across the page of the book when Bella’s dog knocks them off the page and into another book. Jumping, hopping, sailing and flying from page to page, they get to see the Egyptian pyramids, Little Red Riding Hood, and pastoral nursery rhyme lands. Eventually they find their way back to their original book and Bella’s dog. A fun way to explore different genres all within one original book. Hoping Bella and Ben will return again!