Lots of books about friendship and adventure. Let's all make a new friend this week and go on an adventure!
Will you Be My Friend? By Susan Lurie, Photographs by Murray
Head
A little mouse is looking for a friend in the woods, rhyming
his way around the trees and animals. When a grumpy bird starts giving him
advice, the mouse tries to find the friend being alluded to. But, it takes him
a while to figure out that the grumpy bird wants to be his friend. Superb
photos illustrate this book of nature at its most whimsical.
Little Elliot, Fall Friends by Mike Curato
Elliot and Mouse are back enjoying the fall in the country.
When Elliot hides so well that Mouse cannot find him, Mouse bakes a pie and
tricks him into coming out of his hiding place. All is well with the little
polka-dotted elephant who enjoys the world in all its splendor!
Tomo Explores the
World by Trevor Lai
Tomo does not want to be a fisherman like his father,
grandfather and great-grandfather before him. He wants to be an inventor and
when he discovers his great-grandfather’s journal, he also wants to be an
adventurer. A great book to encourage kids to try new things, use their
imaginations and explore the world. Side note: Tomo has a best friend Maya who
likes to study plants and animals. She stops what she is doing to go along with
Tomo on an adventure. It might be worth exploring this theme with children.
This book could give the impression that boys are the planners and girls are
the followers. We wouldn’t want that, would we?
A New Friend for
Sparkle by Amy Young
Sparkle and Lucy are back, but Lucy has a new friend, Cole
who brings his toys over to play with. Sparkle does not like being left out and
literally “horns” in on the fun. When Lucy realizes that all three of them can
play together and have fun all is well. A great book to share when children are
having a hard time making a three-way friendship work. Good to discuss whose
feelings are getting hurt and why and how to avoid hurt feelings altogether.
And who could not love a unicorn/goat named Sparkle?
The Jelly Bean Tree
by Toni Yuly
Start with torn tissue paper pictures, create a blue giraffe
and name it Jelly Bean and soon you have a story about a young giraffe who
becomes a tree because a bird had built a nest on his head. Conceptually, this
is a story that young children will love. What could be more appealing than a
giraffe who has to stand still for days and days so he doesn’t disturb the
bird’s nest on his head? Yuly uses torn tissue paper collages for her
illustrations. This gives a fuzzy effect for the edges of the giraffe and other
animals depicted, which is very appealing and makes them look almost like
stuffed animals. So many things to discuss here: what would you do for a
friend? How do all the animals help each other so the eggs can stay in the nest
until they hatch? What is the life cycle of a bird? Have fun!
Hector the Collector
by Emily Beeny, Illustrations by Stephanie Graegin
Let me just say right up front, I LOVE THIS BOOK. I love how
Beeny starts out at the beginning of a collection. The simple act of picking up
an acorn leads to a collection of acorns. I love how she describes what a
collection is and how it comes to be. I love how the teacher (a tall giraffe,
by the way) honors Hector as a collector when the children in the class are
making fun of him. And I love how she ends the book with a description of other
collections and gives notes about museums and their collections at the end.
What a perfect book!
Someone Like Me by Patricia MacLachlan, Illustrations by
Chris Sheban
A girl who loves to listen to stories, who loves to read and
who “writes about talking dogs and chickens who scratch stories in the dirt.” A
girl like Patricia MacLachlin who becomes a writer. A great anchor text for
getting children to write about themselves. I can see this being used in a
classroom during writers workshop.
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