I'm Your Bus
by Marilyn Singer
illustrated by Evan Polenghi
3-Year-Old: Thumbs Up
Mom: Mixed
Summary: A happy bus describes his day starting from the break of dawn when he wakes up, to the evening when he goes to sleep.
Review: This is another rhyming book that didn't capture me. The rhyming seemed forced and there wasn't much plot, but my son loves it. In fact, we had his best friend over (another 3-year-old) and he loved it too. I think their favorite part of the book is the art. They both pointed out the funny face on the bus and the fact that the street light at the beginning had a face on it. Then my son noticed that in the row of busses, each bus had a different nose and mouth. The book talks about how the bus looks out for the children and is there for them. I think they responded to the happy tone of the book and the playful art.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Llama Llama Misses Mama
Llama Llama Misses Mama
by Anna Dewdney
3-Year-Old: Thumbs Up
Mom: Thumbs Up
Summary: It's little Llama's first day of school. He is not excited by all the new faces and doesn't want to participate in any of the activities. At snack, he breaks down and cries because he misses his mama. The teacher and children assure him that his mama will come back. Llama finally has some fun with the other children and realizes he likes school.
Review: A librarian read this book at storytime. I liked the book and decided to buy it to help prepare my son for his first time being dropped off at preschool. It worked well. We read it for a few weeks before school. He would often choose this book to read before bedtime. Then as I was driving him to school, I reminded him what the teacher said in the book when Llama missed his mama: "she will come right back for you." He internalized this and asked me - "You'll come back?" Then after school when I did come back, he gave me a hug and said, "You came back!" I think the book played a significant role in making this transition a positive one.
Interestingly this book is written with rhymes. In my previous post, I mentioned that I don't care for rhyme, but this book is clearly an exception. I think the rhymes work in this book because they don't feel forced and actually add to the story. My son and I both like the artwork.
His preschool teacher read a related book called Owl Babies by to help the kids with separation anxiety. Although this is not a new book, I also recommend this one for helping children adjust to drop-off programs. In the story, three owl babies discover that their mother is missing. They wait and wait and wait and wonder what happened to her and when she will be back. Finally, the mother owl returns and asks what all the fuss was about - they knew she would come back.
When the teacher read this one, the room was very quiet. Almost too quiet - usually there was always some kind of background noise from distracted kids, but with this one, all eyes were on the book. You could tell it really struck a chord with the kids.
by Anna Dewdney
3-Year-Old: Thumbs Up
Mom: Thumbs Up
Summary: It's little Llama's first day of school. He is not excited by all the new faces and doesn't want to participate in any of the activities. At snack, he breaks down and cries because he misses his mama. The teacher and children assure him that his mama will come back. Llama finally has some fun with the other children and realizes he likes school.
Review: A librarian read this book at storytime. I liked the book and decided to buy it to help prepare my son for his first time being dropped off at preschool. It worked well. We read it for a few weeks before school. He would often choose this book to read before bedtime. Then as I was driving him to school, I reminded him what the teacher said in the book when Llama missed his mama: "she will come right back for you." He internalized this and asked me - "You'll come back?" Then after school when I did come back, he gave me a hug and said, "You came back!" I think the book played a significant role in making this transition a positive one.
Interestingly this book is written with rhymes. In my previous post, I mentioned that I don't care for rhyme, but this book is clearly an exception. I think the rhymes work in this book because they don't feel forced and actually add to the story. My son and I both like the artwork.
His preschool teacher read a related book called Owl Babies by to help the kids with separation anxiety. Although this is not a new book, I also recommend this one for helping children adjust to drop-off programs. In the story, three owl babies discover that their mother is missing. They wait and wait and wait and wonder what happened to her and when she will be back. Finally, the mother owl returns and asks what all the fuss was about - they knew she would come back.
When the teacher read this one, the room was very quiet. Almost too quiet - usually there was always some kind of background noise from distracted kids, but with this one, all eyes were on the book. You could tell it really struck a chord with the kids.
Green Wilma, Frog in Space
Green Wilma, Frog in Space
by Tedd Arnold
3-Year-Old: Thumbs Up
Mom: Mixed
Summary: Green Wilma, a happy frog who is chasing a fly for breakfast, is mistaken for an alien child and is brought onto a spaceship. Green Wilma continues to chase the fly and in doing so hits some controls so that the ship returns to Earth. At this point, the alien mom and dad realize that Green Wilma is not their alien child, Blooger, and switches the two back at the pond.
Review: I am not a huge fan of rhyming stories, especially when the language seems forced in order to complete the rhymes. Also, I don't think my son really understood the storyline. I had to explain to him what was happening.
That said, my son really likes the book. When he sees this book on our coffee table with other books, he picks this one for us to read. I think he enjoys the colorful art and fun language, like when the spaceship goes into "boogie-woogie drive."
by Tedd Arnold
3-Year-Old: Thumbs Up
Mom: Mixed
Summary: Green Wilma, a happy frog who is chasing a fly for breakfast, is mistaken for an alien child and is brought onto a spaceship. Green Wilma continues to chase the fly and in doing so hits some controls so that the ship returns to Earth. At this point, the alien mom and dad realize that Green Wilma is not their alien child, Blooger, and switches the two back at the pond.
Review: I am not a huge fan of rhyming stories, especially when the language seems forced in order to complete the rhymes. Also, I don't think my son really understood the storyline. I had to explain to him what was happening.
That said, my son really likes the book. When he sees this book on our coffee table with other books, he picks this one for us to read. I think he enjoys the colorful art and fun language, like when the spaceship goes into "boogie-woogie drive."
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Willoughby and the Moon by Greg Foley
3-Year-Old: Mixed
Mom: Thumbs up
Summary: At bedtime, Willoughby sees the moon in his closet. He goes through the door and finds a snail on the moon who has lost this ball. Willoughby tries to help the snail find his ball and in doing so does things the snail is reluctant to do. But when the snail goes into a dark cave, it is Willoughby who is reluctant to go. He finally decides to be brave and follow the snail into the cave. He is rewarded by finding his snail friend (who had found his ball in the cave) and playing a wonderfully fun game of ball.
Review: I quite liked the book. In the story, the main character seems fearless compared to the snail, but later, must face his fear of the dark. By confronting his fear, he is rewarded and at the very end is able to rest peacefully. This is a message that I would like my son to learn so I felt happy with the 'moral of the story' depicted as it was. Because of the way the message was portrayed, I felt that the storyline was more sophisticated compared to so many other children's books and I liked this. The art has no color - the pictures are black, white and silver. At first, I thought this style was a bit stark for a children's book, but given that the pictures are interesting, I now think it works well with the style of the book.
My son usually just listens when I read, but with this book, he asked me questions and made many comments. For example, he pointed out the moons when we first opened the book. I talked to him about the phases of the moon. He pointed to the round things that were hidden when the snail and Willoughby were were searching for the ball. He asked me what a space pod was. He didn't ask me to read it again immediately, though (an immediate "again" is my thumbs up indicator). He did ask me to read it again later in the day ... but the next day when I ask him which books we should return to the library, he picked this one. I asked him why and he said that he got sad when Willoughby wouldn't go into the cave (That's the part when Willoughby is frightened of the dark.) So instead of remembering the happy ending, he seemed to fixate on Willoughby's fear. Maybe I'll try to read it again to him when he's older.
3-Year-Old: Mixed
Mom: Thumbs up
Summary: At bedtime, Willoughby sees the moon in his closet. He goes through the door and finds a snail on the moon who has lost this ball. Willoughby tries to help the snail find his ball and in doing so does things the snail is reluctant to do. But when the snail goes into a dark cave, it is Willoughby who is reluctant to go. He finally decides to be brave and follow the snail into the cave. He is rewarded by finding his snail friend (who had found his ball in the cave) and playing a wonderfully fun game of ball.
Review: I quite liked the book. In the story, the main character seems fearless compared to the snail, but later, must face his fear of the dark. By confronting his fear, he is rewarded and at the very end is able to rest peacefully. This is a message that I would like my son to learn so I felt happy with the 'moral of the story' depicted as it was. Because of the way the message was portrayed, I felt that the storyline was more sophisticated compared to so many other children's books and I liked this. The art has no color - the pictures are black, white and silver. At first, I thought this style was a bit stark for a children's book, but given that the pictures are interesting, I now think it works well with the style of the book.
My son usually just listens when I read, but with this book, he asked me questions and made many comments. For example, he pointed out the moons when we first opened the book. I talked to him about the phases of the moon. He pointed to the round things that were hidden when the snail and Willoughby were were searching for the ball. He asked me what a space pod was. He didn't ask me to read it again immediately, though (an immediate "again" is my thumbs up indicator). He did ask me to read it again later in the day ... but the next day when I ask him which books we should return to the library, he picked this one. I asked him why and he said that he got sad when Willoughby wouldn't go into the cave (That's the part when Willoughby is frightened of the dark.) So instead of remembering the happy ending, he seemed to fixate on Willoughby's fear. Maybe I'll try to read it again to him when he's older.
Purpose of Blog
I am always interested in finding new books to read to my son. Since we all know about the classics, I thought it might be fun to read recently published books and review them ... not just from my perspective, but from the view of my three-year-old child. So, we started our journey by visiting our local library and checking out some books published in the last three years.
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