Hello, Doctor / Bonjour Docteur by Michaël Escoffier illustrated by Matthieu Maudet. Bibliographic citation: Publisher: New York: Price Stern Sloan, (translation ©2012) ©2010 28 pages ISBN 978-0-843-17231-7 Age recommendation: 1-5 years Format: Board Book Awards/Selection lists: N/A Annotation: What happens when a wolf goes to the doctor? It's time to visit the doctor, and everyone is in the waiting room. The doctor treats a crocodile and an elephant first. Next up is a wolf. Will the doctor survive his cunning patient? In the waiting room, strange things can happen--and it's not necessarily the doctor you should be afraid of! Review: “Hello, Doctor. My teeth hurt” explains Crocodile to the busy doctor with a waiting room full of other ailing patients that includes a sheep, a duck, a bunny, an elephant and a hungry looking wolf peering sneakily over his newspaper. By the time the doctor is back in the waiting room calling the elephant into his office, an observant reader will notice the empty seat where the bunny used to be. When the doctor reappears, there’s but the sheep and the wolf. As luck would have it, the wolf is next. Moments later, the wolf in doctor’s clothing appears at the door and calls “Next!” to the unsuspecting sheep- who is sure to be his most tasty appointment of the day! Cleverly directed, this little story will have little readers on the edge of their seat, gradually solving waiting room mystery. The illustrations have a comic-like quality, which pop with bright color against a white background. Repetitive scenes of the waiting room with disappearing patients allow the reader to clearly witness the wolf’s plan unfold. It’s a wicked little tale with just right right dose humor to keep everyone in stitches! Themes/Issues: Doctor visits Early Literacy Skill Value: Print Motivation: Young readers will enjoy suspense and the funny characters and their ailments. Vocabulary: Encourages vocabulary learning through easily recognizable objects encouraging vocabulary exploration. Print Awareness: Minimal text appears in clear, bubble captions. Narrative Skills: Encourages narrative skills through effective use of illustration, depicting actions without the dependence of words. Phonological Awareness: N/A Letter Knowledge: N/A Author/illustrator website: N/A Anno’s Counting Book by Mitsumasa Anno Bibliographic citation: Publisher: Harper Collins, ©1977 32 pages ISBN 978-0-690-01287-3 Age recommendation: 3-7 years Format: Picture Book/ Hardcover Awards/Selection lists: Boston Globe Horn Book Award Nominee for Picture Book (1977) Annotation: A counting book depicting the growth in a village and surrounding countryside during twelve months. Review: "Every child is a natural mathematician, according to Mitsumasa Anno. Children start to count long before they learn their ABC's, for they are constantly comparing and classifying things and events they observe around them. As they try to bring sense and order into what they observe, they are actually performing basic mathematical feats." (Inside cover, Anno's Counting Book, 1977). This special concept book approaches numbers in such a narrative that there's more than meets the eye. It begins with a bare, snowy, watercolored landscape that represents the number, zero. Number one is represented with single objects that appear in the landscape: a house; a lone skier; the sun; a bird in the sky; a bridge. The number two page depicts pairs of bunnies and running friends, two trucks and two buildings. Each page represents the next number, changing seasons, a more populated landscape and many other 'mathematical relationships as they occur in natural everyday living.' It's just as much of a story about a growing village as it is about the concept of numbers- and a book allows a new discovery upon each reading. A wordless book encourage dialog and gentle discovery rather than factual truths that 1 comes before 2 and 9 comes before 10. When a child's interest is captured, their minds are much more open to learning and this book is a living lesson with beautiful, timeless illustration. Themes/Issues: Stories without words/ Seasons/ Country Life/ Counting Book Early Literacy Skill Value: Print Motivation: Readers of this book will enjoy watching the seasons and landscape change over the 12 months of the year. Vocabulary: Encourages vocabulary learning and discussion with parent through beautifully, detailed pictures filled with many different objects. Print Awareness: No text, but a table on each page that provides a guide for how many units are represented in the picture. Narrative Skills: Narrative skills are encouraged through interactive conversation that’s generated by picture-only content. Phonological Awareness: N/A Letter Knowledge: N/A Fleabag by Helen Stephens illustrated by Helen Stephens Bibliographic citation: Publisher: Henry Holt 32 pages ISBN 978-0-8050-8975-2 Age recommendation: 3-7 years Format: Picture Book/ Hardcover Awards/Selection lists: Dundee Picture Book Award, 2009 Annotation: A stray dog and a lonely boy become fast friends at a neighborhood park, but everything changes when the boy's family decides to move away. Review: What happens when a dog without a home meets a lonely boy? They soon become fast friends that are inseparable in the end. Fleabag is a stray dog without a person who initiates friendship through play with a boy in the park who appears to have no dog. One day, the boy learns that his family is moving and he is sad and fears losing his best friend. He makes a drastic decision to run away so that he won't have to be separated from his dog, but Fleabag saves the day by waking up the boy's people by barking, thwarting the boy's foolish plan. In the end, the boy's family warms up to Fleabag and give him a new home, too. The watercolor palette is reminiscent of the Golden Books era but the characters are more expressive and the line work more untamed and playful. This story touches deeper than on the fear of moving to a new place, but also loneliness, rejection and the power of love and friendship and loyalty. It's a sweet story that will serve both as a child's favorite to be read again and again- and a book that will encourage dialogue about these sensitive yet important topics. Themes/Issues: Friendship, Moving away, Adjusting to change Early Literacy Skill Value: Print Motivation: Young readers will enjoy the heartwarming tale of friendship between a boy and a dog. Vocabulary: Encourages vocabulary learning through generous use of descriptive words. Print Awareness: Text is easy to read and navigate from page to page. Narrative Skills: Clearly depicted actions encourage narrative skills. Phonological Awareness: N/A Letter Knowledge: N/A Author/illustrator website: http://www.helenstephens.com George Flies South by Simon James illustrated by Simon James Bibliographic citation: Publisher: Candlewick 40 pages ISBN 978-0-7636-5724-6 Age recommendation: 3-5 years Format: Picture Book / Hardcover Awards/Selection lists: Annotation: George does not feel ready to learn to fly, leave his nest, and go south with the other birds, despite his mother's encouragement, but when a strong autumn wind gets hold of the nest, he may have no choice. Review: What happens when it’s time to fly south and your little one is happy staying home in his nest? Will he overcome his fear and learn how to fly before it’s too late? George is content with the worms his mother brings to him and not at all interested in flying south for the winter. When she asks him if he’s ready to fly, he answers, “Not quite, I might fall. I think I like my nest best.” While Mom is off fetching worms, a winter gust of wind blows George and his nest from the safety of his branch and an harrowing adventure begins through the high and low places of the city. Landing with his nest first atop a moving car, he looks up at his mother and asks “Am I going south, Mom?” From a stack of planks on a ship high up onto a construction site, George is moving, but not in typical avian fashion. Safe but not quite ready to try, George and his mother rest overnight and wake to a hungry cat ready to pounce. When push comes to shove, George and his nest meet the air separately and there’s only one thing he can do. With encouragement from his patient mother, George gives it his all and the result is a flying success. With light, airy illustrations of wispy, black line and a cool palette of watercolor wash, this encouraging tale of growing up and overcoming fear will please the eye and the heart of young readers. Each page is laid out with sequential panels until the the end of the book that captures George in actual flight. It’s a winning message for both parents and children about patience, encouragement, taking new steps (in this case, flight) toward independence. Themes/Issues: Birds/ Growing up Early Literacy Skill Value: Print Motivation: Young readers will relate to this adventurous tale of the fear of trying something new for the first time. Vocabulary: Encourages vocabulary learning through introduction of new words. Print Awareness: Text is clearly ordered and legible; set on contrasting background. Narrative Skills: Encourages narrative skills through expressive illustrations. Phonological Awareness: N/A Letter Knowledge: N/A Author/illustrator website: http://www.simonjamesbooks.com The Boy From the Dragon Palace by Margaret Read MacDonald illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa Bibliographic citation: Publisher: Albert Whitman and Company ©2011 32 pages ISBN 978-0-8075-7513-0 Age recommendation: 4 years and up Format: Picture Book / Hardcover Awards/Selection lists: Annotation: A magical boy grants a poor flower-seller's every wish until the greedy and ungrateful man grows tired of the boy’s unpleasant behavior and sends him away. Review: An adaption of an ancient Japanese folktale, the story about the Boy from the Dragon Palace cautions against greed and selfishness in humans. With silly humor and vibrant, animated illustrations by Sachiko Yoshikawa, we meet a failed flower peddler who gives up his blossoms to the Dragon King who lives at the bottom of the sea. To thank the man for his offer to the Dragon King, a woman emerges from the sea with a small, snotty nosed boy. Promising to bring the peddler luck on the condition he feed the boy shrimp everyday, the woman gives the boy away and disappears. When the man discovers how easy the task is in return for whatever he wishes, he begins to wish for more and more and more fortune. The more he gets, the less interested he is in feeding the boy. Once he has everything, he no longer needs the boy and casts him off. We can guess what happens to the peddler's fortune and how gratitude and kindness always win out over greed and selfishness. The watercolor collage illustrations are digitally enhanced and they have a Japanese art sensibility in detail and form. Young readers will love the exaggerated angles (really making the peddler like a big headed man) and of course, the snotty nose of the boy and the magic and fortune his sneezes produce. Overall, this folktale adaptation delivers a good laugh, and even a better message. Themes/Issues: Folklore from Japan; Kindness wins over greed. Early Literacy Skill Value: Print Motivation: Young readers will enjoy this folktale with its exaggerated and humorous illustrations. Vocabulary: Encourages vocabulary learning through clear and familiar representations of objects. Print Awareness: Clear, readable text on contrasted background encourages print awareness. Narrative Skills: The descriptive illustrations encourage children's understanding to tell the story. Phonological Awareness: N/A Letter Knowledge: N/A Author/illustrator website: http://www.margaretreadmacdonald.com The Dark By Lemony Snicket illustrated by Jon Klassen Bibliographic Citation: Publisher: Little, Brown & Company, ©2013 40 pages ISBN 978-0-316-18748-0 Age recommendation: 3-7 years Format: Picture Book / Hardcover Awards/Selection lists: Annotation: Laszlo is afraid of the dark which lives in the same big, creaky house as him, until one night the dark pays him a visit. Review: In the big, creaky house lives Lazlo. Along with Lazlo lives the dark. Sometimes the dark hid in places that Lazlo would go, like the closet or behind the shower curtain; but mostly the dark kept to itself in the basement until night, that is. Every morning, Lazlo would open the basement door with the hopes that if he visited the dark, the dark wouldn’t bother visiting him in his room. He’d say “Hi, hi dark.” Of course, one night, when the night light burned out, the dark entered Lazlo’s room. But only to gently beckon him to the basement (flashlight in Lazlo’s hand, of course) where he finds a replacement light bulb in a friendly looking bottom dresser. After an eye-opening argument for how the dark allows us to see the stars, a dark closet houses your shoes and of course, without the dark (the story’s finest moment) “you would never know if you needed a lightbulb.” Ever after, the dark, who proved to be friendly and helpful “never bothered him again.” While the theme is familiar, what’s most striking is the persona of the dark comes to life with the text and even more with illustrator Jon Klassen’s use of black negative space on the page. Digital illustrations with gouache base in a muted palette give a solid sense of the dark’s character and sets a quiet and initially unsettling tone. Young readers will enjoy revisiting this story for its comforting message, though the pace is uneven at times. Overall, it will engage and of course, enlighten. Themes/Issues: Fear of the dark Early Literacy Skill Value: Print Motivation: Young readers will enjoy the suspense and friendly connection made by a boy and his fear of the dark. Vocabulary: Encourages vocabulary learning through generous use of descriptive words. Print Awareness: Clear, appropriately sized text set off of contrasting backgrounds encourage print awareness. Narrative Skills: Playful placement of text in short sentences will develop print and narrative skills. Phonological Awareness: N/A Letter Knowledge: N/A Author/illustrator website: http://www.lemonysnicket.com First, the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger Bibliographic citation: Publisher: Roaring Book Press, ©2007 32 Pages ISBN 978-1-596-43272-7 Age recommendation: 2-6 years Format: Picture Book / Hardcover Awards/Selection lists: Caldecott 2007 Honor Book, Theodore Geisel Honor Book Annotation: Using simple text and illustrations, shows how animals and objects change, including tadpoles to frogs and seeds to flowers, in a book with cutouts so that certain colors from the previous picture help create the next picture. Review: This book, First the egg, has a sweet, simple beginning, depicting first, the egg and through a clever cut out, this egg represents its transformation on the other side as the chick, then to the chicken. Painted, textured canvas and single image illustration, the reader sees transformations from the animal and plant kingdom move into the world of the arts: word to story; paint to picture. At the very end of the books, there is a painting of the chicken with again- the same age-old question. This time the answer is different and evokes a smile. A really clever and fun read. Themes/Issues: Growth, Developmental Biology Early Literacy Skill Value: Print Motivation: Young readers will enjoy the simple text and guessing the creative transformations from page to page. Vocabulary: Encourages vocabulary learning through clear representation of objects, colors, animals, etc. Print Awareness: Encourages print awareness using simple, clear text on contrasting background. Narrative Skills: Familiar concepts and imagery found here in this book encourage narrative skill development. Phonological Awareness: N/A Letter Knowledge: N/A Author/illustrator website: http://www.studiolvs.com Art 123 by Stefano Zuffi illustrated by Stefano Zuffi Bibliographic citation: Publisher: Abrams, ©2011 32 pages ISBN 978-1-4197-0100-9 Age recommendation: 3-8 years Format: Picture Book / Hardcover Awards/Selection lists: Annotation: Simple, rhyming text invites the reader to count from one to twelve and more, while illustrations introduce works of art by such masters as Gainsborough, Van Gogh, and Matisse. Review: If you're an art history buff, or like counting, or enjoy looking for clues in pictures, or reading rhyme- you will become a fan of ART 123. This square format book, by Steano Zuffi, has an attractive cover (Roy Lichtenstein- Sunrise, 1965) and opens to question: "Woman gazing into the sun. Is it setting or has the day just begun?" The work of art opposite the question is by Caspar David Friedrich (Woman Before the Setting Sun, c. 1918). Zuffi places the silohouette of child's hand holding one finger to represent the one woman, or the sun. Continuing on to the number 12 (plus an extra at the end), we see works from Caravaggio's Renaissance to Magritte's Surrealism. The book poses thoughtful questions that appeal to any age and introduce young readers to the world of art history criticism while working on counting and number representation skills. Themes/Issues: Art History / Art Appreciation / Stories in Rhyme / Counting Early Literacy Skill Value: Print Motivation: Young readers will enjoy the simple rhymes and different styles of art represented in this counting book. Vocabulary: Encourages vocabulary learning through depictions of clearly represented objects and text. Print Awareness: Clear, bold text set against contrasting background encourages easy print awareness. Narrative Skills: Some images are representative and encourage narrative skills while others are slightly more abstract depending on text. Phonological Awareness: Encourages phonological awareness through rhyme. Letter Knowledge: N/A Author/illustrator website: N/A Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage illustrated by Stephen Savage Bibliographic citation: Publisher: Scholastic Press, ©2011 32 pages ISBN 978-0-439-70049-8 Age recommendation: 3-7 years Format: Picture Book/ Hardcover Awards/Selection lists: Notable Children’s Books- 2012 Annotation: Follow Walrus on a journey through the city, as he tries on different hats to disguise himself from the chasing zookeeper. Review: Where’s Waldo? Who? What we want to really know is Where’s Walrus? He’s fled from the zoo and the zookeeper is in hot pursuit. Will he find him amid lunching businessmen? the riverside painters? dancing ladies? In this wordless adventure, the reader is gifted with highly stylized illustrations that bring to mind the artwork in Miroslav Sasek’s 1962 picture book classic, This is San Francisco. Blocks of fresh color, visual rhythm and bold lines of perspective make it visually pleasing to the eye. Young readers will enjoy the narrative at play and grown ups will appreciate the sensibility of promise captured with scenes of building and creating and community that takes place in many of the scenes. Find that walrus. He’ll capture your heart! Themes/Issues: Hats / Disguises/ Zoo keepers/ Stories without words Early Literacy Skill Value: Print Motivation: Young readers will enjoy the adventure through humor and visually exciting illustration. Vocabulary: Encourages vocabulary learning through depicting clearly represented objects that encourage questions and discussion. Print Awareness: No text in book. Narrative Skills: Encourages narrative skills through brilliant use of expressive illustration. Phonological Awareness: N/A Letter Knowledge: N/A Author/illustrator website: http://www.stephensavage.net |
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