My Fifth Grader has been working on a project where she has to read an historical fiction novel then transform it into a picture book that she will read with her third-grade Book Buddy. [Personally, I think this is a brilliant project, but that's a subject for another day!]
One of the grading points for the project is the book’s cover, which must be
“engaging … with colorful illustrations.”
For better or worse, a book’s cover is often the key determinant in whether or not someone (adults included) pick up a book. When covers and content come together, there is reason to cheer.
For this week’s set of book reviews, I’ve selected three irresistible books from Dawn Publications from our Reading Tub® book bag. As you’ll see in the comments, our reviewers enjoyed them from cover to cover! Click the covers and read them on BigUniverse.com
Read on Big Universe
Amy’s Light
written and illustrated by Robert Nutt
length: 48 pages
AR:
Amy is scared of the dark. When she sees small lights are flickering outside her window, she gets an idea. She retrieves an empty jar and goes outside to catch some fireflies to bring to her room. The light of the fireflies dims because they’re confined to the jar. Amy releases them into her room, the darkness has gone away, and she overcomes her fear of the shadows on the walls, falling asleep in peace. This is a story that brings together nature and a child’s fear of the dark.
Everyone can enjoy this unique story with its dream-like quality and wonderfully researched facts about fireflies. The illustrations are quite effective at telling the story, and are wonderfully created. There is so much info here, both entertaining and educational.
This is a bedtime story and can start conversations about being afraid of the dark, but it is also about fireflies. At the end of the book is also a page of factual info about fireflies and their decline in the environment, and how to preserve them.
My children (ages 2,4, and 6) enjoyed the book. However, not really having experienced fireflies, I’m not entirely certain this book hit home for them.
Read on Big Universe
In the Trees, Honey Bees
written by Lori Mortensen; illustrated by Cris Arbo
length: 36 pages
AR: | Interest Level: LG
This is a book about how honey is made by honey bees. Follow the day of a honey bee, with exquisitely detailed illustrations that are biologically accurate and just gorgeous to look at! This is a story about honey bees that also includes science information.
This is a great book that will catch the eye of most kids.
Gorgeous pictures, will grow with the attention span of the child. The story text is written at 2 levels: 1) a 2-year-old level, with just 2-10 words per page (short and sweet for a short attention span), and 2) a 5-year old level, with several sentences explaining the bees’ behavior in more depth.
My sons (ages 3 and 5) both loved the book. They both love learning about animals, so this book really spoke to their interests. The pictures gave them lots to look at, and the text was very interesting to them. I picked the book the first time, but they came back and asked for it a lot.
This wonderfully illustrated counting book portrays a variety of colorful ocean life. On each spread there is an underwater mother fish and her young, from 1 to 10, each with a short rhyme. This picture book is an undersea counting book that also introduces readers to ocean life.
Bright illustrations, short text, bonus material about teaching kids how to count, and “behind the scenes” looks at how the book was created make this book stand out.
My boys (2 and 4) liked this book. They both wanted to read it again, and my older son made associations between the illustrations here and other books. He also asked “what is that” about the other elements of the page. My 2-year-old is starting to learn to count, and the illustrations made counting fun.
The pages were colorful with lots to see, but they weren’t overwhelming.
There are lots of things to do with this book in addition to counting. You can explore the biology of sea life; and the rhyming lets you make it a musical story. The clay artwork may inspire kids to create their own works of art.
As the world “shrinks” we are more and more likely to hear new languages spoken around us. Not just in the big cities, but in smaller communities, too. In this multilingual world, we need books that speak different languages.
Young readers love to hear stories, whether it is in their own language or a new one. Having multiple language editions in the classroom – or at home – can help with learning to read or learning a new language.
Over the years we’ve had the opportunity to read lots of books by Sylvan Dell Publishing. Some, like Burro’s Tortillas by Terri Fields, embeds Spanish in the story. There are many others that have English and Spanish editions. And since kids love animal stories, I pulled some of our favorites from the Reading Tub archives!
In this ABC book each letter has a 4-line poem about an animal that stars with the letter (e.g., alligator, beaver, cheetah, etc.). The poem offers facts about the animal to help with learning. This picture book offers factual information about nature as it teaches kids their ABCs.
Wonderful illustrations and scientific accuracy offer layered learning for visual learners and those learning to read.
Its strength is not the ABCs but the science. It is an excellent animal science book.
A good choice for mixed age readers. From our reviewer: “My 2-year-old liked the animals. The 4-year-old was better able to appreciate the added information about each animal, including the illustrated details on each animal’s environment. They BOTH wanted to read it again. They liked pointing out details about the animals and made connections to ‘like’ animals.”
The illustrations were fantastic and well thought out. For example, in most books, hippos are portrayed in a zoo on land, or just a nose above water, but this hippo was shown swimming from under water – his true natural state! There is a rich amount of information from text and illustrations about each animal.
This is very geared to classroom learning, but it can be used at home for fun, too. Additional resources for animal flashcards are provided in the back of the book and online. There are themes of learning the alphabet, science, animals, and habitat.
This is a picture book with gorgeous illustrations of a variety of animals sleeping in their natural habitats. You’ll learn about animals that sleep standing up, upside down, underwater, and more. This rhyming picture book shows all types of animals and where they sleep.
Gorgeous pictures and wonderful depictions of animals make this a sweet book to read just before bed.
In addition to being a bedtime story, kids learn about habitat and behavioral differences among animals.
From our reviewer: “My son (3) was stimulated by identifying familiar animals and new animals alike. He would often add additional details about the scene or environment.”
There is a fill-in-the-blank section at the end that provides both a review of the animals and supplemental biology facts. These are geared toward older kids, maybe 4 to 6.
There weren’t enough words. I had to explain or discuss the pictures to fill out the story.
Henry is a young heron. He’s also very fidgety, always stepping on his brother’s and sister’s head in the nest. For months now, his mother has brought food to the nest to feed him. Now, he must go out on his own. Every time he tries to grab something to eat from the water, his meal escapes. The harder he tries, the hungrier he gets. When Henry runs into The Great Blue Heron, he learns a valuable lesson. This picture book wraps life lessons around factual information about Great Blue Herons.
Children will see themselves in Henry and enjoy this story of discovery and growth.
Every parent and child can relate to Henry’s predicament: sometimes the harder we try, the less likely it seems that we’ll reach our goal.
The illustrations are beautiful and add a lot of context to the story.
The facts about Great Blue Herons are more subtle than other Sylvan Dell books, but the material at the back makes up for that.
Some of the themes discussed in the extra material are not raised in the story (e.g., wetlands conservation). The publisher has done an exceptional job linking them to the book and adding value for readers.
The zoo and all the animals prepare for a big day of visitors. Using the familiar Twas the Night Before Christmas rhyme, we meet the animals in the zoo.
This is colorful and fun, and the science/learning material at the end is great.
Kids will love that all the animals are smiling and nice, not scary looking.
There is lots to explore with this book, from animal identification to animal facts. It also encourages letter recognition and sound, such as “what letter does turtle start with?” It wouldn’t take much to draw out themes of manners, either (llamas and spitting, giraffes and burping, etc.).
The end of the story was a little anti-climatic, partially because they were trying to fit the pattern of Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore.
These are books that have a long shelf life. Pre-readers and developing readers will love the pages and the story; as they get older there is lots more they can enjoy and learn. For parents whose native language is Spanish it is an opportunity to share time reading with their child!
When I first heard the news about “Black Thursday” I had to ask myself is there ever a night before anything anymore?
Now, I am not one of those people who get up at 4 o’clock in the morning to wait for a store to open … and I am not one of those people who will cut short my day to shop Thursday night. Still, its impossible not to notice the “creep” toward eliminating the anticipation … that night before.
I guess I shouldn’t whine too much, for years now Clement Clarke Moore’s beloved story A Visit from Saint Nicholas has been reshaped and molded into all sorts of tales. Most of us don’t even know it by that name! To us, it is ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.
Over the years we’ve read many versions. Some are “eh.” Some are truly fresh takes on the poem. So to get us in the holiday spirit, I thought I would offer some reviews of versions that are lyrical (like the original) and fun.
Runaway Dreidel
by Leslie Newman; illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker
Henry Holt and Company, 2002
On the first night of Hanukkah, a young boy receives a new dreidel. It spins on endlessly, engaging family, friends, and neighbors in an adventure to capture it.
The book is a fast read, and individuals of all faiths can enjoy this Hanukkah tale.
There is plenty of action and opportunities to teach/learn about Hanukkah in a way preschoolers can comprehend.
It will offer the kids’ enjoyment for many years.
This is a fun story, that is quite descriptive poetically and visually.
Our 3-year-old was instantly taken with the story (no doubt in part to the rhyming sequence) and asked to read it quite a few nights
Do pirates get Christmas treasure? So who does delivers it? No, it’s not Santa. Ahoy, it is Sir Peggedy and his eight trusty seahorses. This is a seaworthy retelling of Clement C. Moore’s classic poem.
My 7-year-old daughter shivered-me-timbers and laughed her way through this one.
Clever, clever, clever. This is probably the most clever re-modeling of the classic that I’ve ever seen.
The descriptions of the pirates and events are vivid and brought to life in wonderful colorful.
There is pirate jargon galore and the glossary in the back is a riot. So not only is it fun, you learn something, too.
In this seasonal tale, a school bus full of children visit a turkey farm. The students save turkeys about to be sacrificed for the holiday.
Our 2-year-old enjoyed reading this book, especially with friends. They got into the rhythm of the story. While s/he didn’t understand the impending danger that the turkeys were in, there was no hiding how the children had grown fatter as they re-boarded the bus.
This silly imitation of Twas the Night Before Christmas makes it even more fun will make reading this book a family tradition.
With such a fun imitation of T’was the Night Before Christmas, there’s ample opportunity for the story to grow with toddler and be a classic Thanksgiving tradition.
This one has all of the elements of the season: empathy, compassion, sharing, blessings and love.
As promised … I didn’t cut short our Thanksgiving celebration!
Do you have a favorite riff on ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas? We’d love to hear about it.
Odds are pretty good that you are part of an adoptive family or know an adoptive family. According to the 2000 US Census, more than 1.6 million children under the age of 18 live with their adoptive parents, and more than 100,000 children are adopted each year.
Thanks to international adoptions, the fabric of our society has become even richer, with families celebrating the heritage and cultures their children bring with them. According to the US State Department, between 1992 and 1999, the number of children adopted from abroad more than doubled from 6,720 to 16,396.
Every year since 1984, when President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first National Adoption Week, the US President issues a Presidential Proclamation that launches activities and celebrations to help build awareness of adoption throughout the nation.
Thousands of community organizations arrange and host programs, events, and activities to share positive adoption stories, challenge the myths, and draw attention to the thousands of children in foster care who are waiting for permanent families.
With adoption so integrally woven into the fabric of our nation, National Adoption Month offers us a chance to share stories that celebrate family, friendship, culture, and diversity. Three of my favorites for home and classroom are the As Simple as That series by Deb Capone and Craig Shemin.
Rain, a six-year-old girl, loves to make jiaozi (jow-za), a Chinese dumpling, with her mom. When she takes some to school for lunch one day, she learns that all over the world, families love to create, fill, and share dumplings.
This is a picture book that introduces diversity by celebrating the things cultures share in common.
The author introduces Rain’s adoption story again so you don’t have to read any of the other titles to understand the context of this one.
The story is sweet, with the emphasis on each child’s curiosity and discovery about another’s culture.
The story is simply presented, with layers that parents and teachers can use for their own purposes (culture, geography, diversity, etc.)
Parents and teachers can introduce a topic and then build on it with “real life” activities. Whether it’s cooking, learning more about a culture, or role-playing, there is plenty to share.
Families are Forever
by Craig Shemin and Deb Capone; illustrated by John McCoy
As Simple As That, 2003
Rain, a six-year-old girl tells us her story of how she came from China to live with her Mom and Bo, her stuffed hippo. This is a first-person story about becoming an adoptive family.
The story has great universal appeal. The story emphasizes how families come to be, with adoption playing a role, but not taking center stage to the love itself.
Children of all ages and cultures will relate to Rain and the relationship with Bo, her hippo.
Because of our child’s questions, we were able to introduce a “second plot” with our own adoption story. Although this is a story of Chinese adoption, we didn’t feel limited by it in our situation (which was a domestic adoption).
Every family can enjoy this story. It can help young children write their own story, adopted or not. It is a great way to introduce adoption as a concept of love.
Tooth Fairy Tales
by Deb Capone; illustrated by Stan Jaskiel
As Simple as That, 2005
Rain and her classmates are losing their first teeth. When Rain loses her first tooth, she starts to wonder what the Tooth Fairy does with all of those baby teeth. That’s when she learns that there’s more than just the Tooth Fairy collecting teeth. This is a story about the ways different cultures celebrate the magic of losing your baby teeth.
This is a fun story to read, as there is something for everyone to learn.
The story is broad, allowing children to understand that losing teeth is natural, and everyone celebrates the event in their own way.
The illustrations are simple. The writing clarity and child’s perspective take the “fear” out of the process for kids.
Depending on audience age, you can talk about myths and legends, growing up, diversity, and geography, as well as contrast/compare similarities and differences among cultures.
As a literacy passionista, I am always on the lookout for books that will engage new readers. I happened upon the award-winning Funny Bone Readers Family Fun Pack during BookExpo America, 2010, and it was love at first sight.
It is very easy to fall in love with these books. That two-page spread to the left is not your average easy reader imagery. Yes, lots of easy readers use bright colors and simple sentences. But more often than not each page is its own panel … this book has the feel of a picture book.
Going back six years to when my daughter was learning to read, picture books were her “comfort food.” Even as a new reader she wanted a story not just a collection of sentences. I’m sure my daughter was not alone in seeking out books that most closely resembled a picture book in shape, often with rhyme, and didn’t look like the books with Reading Level letters on them.
I wish I would have found these books sooner! They are the kind of books parents and librarians look for: they have a long shelf life.
The stories are meant to be read aloud, so they are perfect for sharing with young audiences (e.g., preschoolers) and then letting developing readers read independently.
They have “big questions” at the back that help adult readers who want help with ways to measure comprehension or start a discussion.
Each book has a theme that relates to character, choices, and personal growth …. life lessons we are always looking to promote.
Here are several books – all available to read on Big Universe – that I have also fallen in love with. The cover images and title link to the book on BigUniverse.com.
Its not much fun when your sister catches a fish and you don’t! So Bobby stomps off into the woods in search of a bear … he’s not afraid. Luckily the only bear is his sister growling! The story includes lessons in listening to one’s parents, wandering off, and sibling relationships.
Parents and teachers alike can use this as a discussion-starter about the importance of sticking together and following directions.
It is easy to parallel this scenario with others that kids will know: getting separated from a parent in a store, hearing “scary” noises, et al.
The story is realistic without “dumbing down” the lesson and beating kids over the head with it.
A Zany Zoo Day
by Barbara Bakowski
illustrated by Mike Brownlow
Anna and Max are bored. Even television isn’t much fun, so when mom suggests going to the zoo, the kids get very excited. As they visit each of the exhibits, Anna and Max try to copy the animal not just in sound, but in movement. To imitate a snake, for example, Max practiced the Cobra pose.
Wiggly, wobbly, active kids will enjoy listening to this book. Kids who are trying to read it independently will likely get up and copy Max and Anna.
Incorporating Yoga poses into the story is a wonderful way to engage the reader. Stretching = improving attention span.
The book is “shaped” like an easy reader, but can definitely be shared for story time with younger audiences. It would be a wonderful selection for teaching animals, colors, counting (how many flamingos?), etc.
Note: Although the title is alliterative, this is not a rhyming story.
Best in Show
by Barbara Bakowski
illustrated by Fian Arroyo
When you want to find a dog … the perfect dog for you, the best place to go is your local dog show. As she searches for a dog of the “very best kind,” a young girl introduces us to and describes all of the pooches she sees at the show. The “Big Question” at the end helps kids extrapolate the dog theme into how each of us is unique.
The rhyme scheme for this easy reader is excellent, deftly mixing multi-syllabic and single syllable words.
This easy reader expands a young reader’s vocabulary. You don’t often see Chihuahua or Dalmatian in books for emergent readers.
The bright illustrations are fun but don’t overtake the girl’s search for a dog.
I could go on for days talking about these books, but I’ll stop here.
In the interest of full disclosure and transparency, I first learned of Red Chair Press via the Mom’s Choice Awards. The Reading Tub, my nonprofit, is the official literacy partner of the Mom’s Choice Awards. During shows like BookExpo America, I work in their booth promoting literacy, reading, their award-winning products and interviewing Honorees.
One of the wonderful things about seasonal events is that they provide a backdrop to engage emerging and developing readers in something that is already part of their lives.
MaryRuth Books‘ trademark series of easy readers features Danny the dog. As founder and author Mia Coulton explains, the books center around “Danny’s escapades.”
What sets these (and other) MaryRuth easy readers apart for me is not just Danny (lots of children’s books do that), but that they have the look and feel of a “real book.”
Traditionally early easy readers are 6-inches by 9-inches and scream some form of “I can read” on the cover. These books are sized for small hands, but have a picture book shape. You’ll find all the important information about word count in the cover … but not in a spot the kids are likely to read.
Photographs (rather than illustrations) make the events more “real” for young readers and the photography makes the scenery more vivid for exploring and decoding.
The text encourages readers to explore the photos, not just use them for coding. For example, in Danny’s Five Little Pumpkins, there are no references to Danny in the story, but he is hiding in the corner of several pictures.
Other books in the Danny series are shaped more like chapter books, but these early readers have a comfortable square that remind kids of picture books and add to the confidence that I am reading a book just like the kind Mom reads to me. Here are three titles that will carry you from now well into winter! Click the title to read them on BigUniverse.com.
In a series of images, Danny shows readers what the season is. At the end, readers have the opportunity to name each of the seasons themselves.
This is an any-time book that you can pick up in any season. It is great not just for emerging readers, but also toddlers and preschool-aged kids still listening to books. The scenery offers the reader (adult) a chance to ask listeners to identify objects from the text (leaves, pool, flowers, snow) or from the photos (trees, chair, house, and colors).
On this fence there are five little pumpkins. One by one they disappear. Who is taking them away?
You won’t see Danny (or more specifically parts of Danny) on every page, but you see him frequently enough that kids will look for him as they explore the pictures. This easy reader blends math (subtraction) with reading practice that ends with Danny and five jack-o-lanterns.
Snow Danny
written and photographed by Mia Coulton
page count: 16
word count: 57
There are lots of things you can do in the snow: walk, dive, look at your shadow, even play in an igloo.
The text is simple but each sentence centers around action verbs. With several two-syllable words, this is a book where you’ll want to have young readers follow under the word with a finger so they can truly parse the digraphs and sounds. Kids will especially love the picture of Danny and Bee at the end.
MaryRuth Books has 30 of its titles that you can read on BigUniverse.com. These engaging books will help young dog, cat, fish, elephant, or horse lovers build their word banks AND a love of reading.
This is an updated version of a post I wrote for the PBS Parents blog Booklights as part of my “Bookworm Basics” series. The original article appeared in August 2010. Although geared toward parents, teachers and librarians may find these posts valuable as hand-outs on back-to-school nights or for sharing in parent-teacher conferences, or even on their classroom blogs!
Oh, how I have procrastinated filling the early reader shelf! This is a very fluid period, not unlike your child’s transition from crawling to pulling up to walking independently. Looking back, one probably came pretty quickly on the heels of the other. Finding easy readers that have longevity on your bookshelf can be a challenge, but not an impossible task.
As the kids in our lives start learning to read, they are quickly moving beyond recognizing individual letters to combining them into words. Students move fairly quickly from books with one word per page to two or three sentences on a page. From there it transitions to short paragraphs and then short chapters.
There are days when it seems like the process moves at a snails pace, but then comes the moment when it looks like we got there in the blink of an eye!
Should I Buy or Borrow?
Aggie and Ben series by Charlesbridge
The short answer is both. Because kids will move through these books at a steady pace,quickly, variety is definitely an ally!Your local library and your child’s school library have lots of excellent choices that will engage young readers.
You definitely want an early reader bookshelf at home, too. It is important for kids to own their own books and to have fun reading at their fingertips. Remember when your toddler “read” a story to you? It was probably one you read over and over.
That same level of repetition and reading aloud are what helps reinforce what those letter combinations look like as we see them over and over again. Beginning easy readers have lots of “sight words,” also called high frequency words that we see all the time. They often use rhyme, as well, to help kids understand word families.
Recycle & Repurpose
Did “rhymes” remind you of any books? If you still have them, pull out some of those toddler books that have pictures and simple words. They are established favorites, but now your daughter can read them and use them to build a “bank” of words she recognizes. Bonus idea: Let her create picture/word cards that she can hang up or make her own book with.
You might pull out some favorite picture books, too. If you think your son has memorized the story, then ask him to point to each of the words as he reads. That will force him to look at the page and the content. You might also try reading the book from the last page to the first.
Recommended Classics and New Titles, Too
Although easy readers are not generally literary classics, Dr. Seuss has shown us that there are are always exceptions! Just like Hop on Pop and The Cat in the Hat, there are easy readers that we keep and enthusiastically wait to share with our grandchildren.
Dr. Seuss is the master of the easy reader classic, but there are other authors who ascribe to his philosophy of great books for new readers. Some of those books, like Mo Willems’ Cat the Cat and Elephant and Piggy series have the “I Can Read” imprimatur on them. But some – like Duck! Rabbit! and Little Oink! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal – don’t scream “easy reader” but are delightful choices for new readers, too.
When searching for books that can double as read-along stories and developmental readers, look for simple illustrations and lots of white space on a page; short sentences; and/or rhyming text.
Do you have any favorite easy readers … or picture books that can double as perfect selections for developing readers? What’s most popular in your early elementary classroom?
Terry Doherty is a Stay-at-Home Mom, reading mentor, and a family literacy advocate. She is the founder and Executive Director of The Reading Tub(r), and is the force behind Share a Story – Shape a Future, an annual blog tour for literacy. You’ll find reviews by families for families on The Reading Tub website; and her ideas for reading on Family Bookshelf, her blog.
If it’s not what’s that? or why? its how does that work / happen?Kids have lots of questions!
Even though the questions may get repetitive and monotonous, the best thing we can do is feed that innate curiosity. Nonfiction picture books are a great way to engage learners of all ages. Pictures are a great way to entice those who are not confident readers. Even if there are words they can’t yet decipher, they can glean information from the images.
I have always loved Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books for their ability to reach kids “where they are.” With nonfiction that’s not always easy. Kids have big questions, some of them require pretty sophisticated answers. What Marshall Cavendish shows us in these picture books is that sophisticated doesn’t mean complicated or confusing.
How Do Waves Form?
by Wil Mara
Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2011
Start with wind, add time and distance, and you can create some waves! From the little ripple at your feet to damaging waves in a hurricane, this book answers this age-old question.
Using a “recipe” analogy brought the concept into our reader’s world and really demonstrated the scalability of a wave.
The image of the child blowing out the candles gave us a great idea for letting the kids experiment with the elements of a wave.
Eyes Have It
by Melissa Stewart; illustrated by Janet Hamlin
Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2012
Photographs and drawings illustrate this book that has an eye for everything. From the varying shapes and colors of eyes among species of animals to the gross things kids like to think about and do with their eyeballs, this upper-elementary nonfiction picture book has it covered.
The book grabbed us with the first sentence: Imagine being able to grab one of your eyeball and pop it out of your head. What kid hasn’t thought about that one?
I personally loved that it extended the science into everyday living … like reminding kids to blink when they overdo it with the computer screen!
Kids can pick this book up and start at page 28 if they want to. Being able to move back and forth among the topics, without having to go in order, will be very attractive to curious, wandering minds.
Glass (Use It! Reuse It! Series)
by Dana Meachen Rau
Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2012
This Easy Reader chapter book covers everything about glass from the practical to the aesthetic. Readers will learn about the elements that make glass, both in natural and man-made processes; different uses and shapes of glass; and how glass has been used historically, as well as in today’s world.
There are lots of pictures and inset text boxes that make it easy for young readers to navigate the pages.
The glossary is helpful, though it would be nice to have some of those definitions closer to the bolded words.
Readers can easily get a sense of the use of glass over time, offering a history lesson that is “digestible” for this audience.
Since November 2011 has been declared Picture Book Month by a group of authors and illustrators (to learn more about that, see a previous post: What are you doing to celebrate …), I want to share a few more things I have found related to picture books on some of my favorite sites!
Set a Poem to Music: After exploring a “singable” picture book as a class, each student examines a personally selected poem for rhythm to determine its musical meter. Using previous musical skills, students set the poem to music. As a final reflection, they create a two-page spread of a picture book that contains their “singable” poem.
Map it Out: Explore how illustrations contribute to the telling of a story by creating illustrations to accompany text, and then creating text to accompany illustrations. Students will explore picture books (without words) and discuss the specific elements of the illustrations that “tell” the story. They will learn to “read” illustrations as they look at the ways in which pictures reveal information about the characters, setting, and plot of a story.
Animal Habitats: Pre-readers are introduced to animal habitats through story, song, and dramatic play using children’s picture books. Students use chronological ordering and phonics to reinforce beginning literacy skills. Students explore a non-traditional method of book illustration and create their own story page
I was pleasantly delighted with what I was able to find when I went to various instructional resource site and simply searched for “picture books” since there were so many interesting finds! Besides the few sites listed above, here are the search results on Thinkfinity, netTrekker, Shmoop, LEARN NC, and even Learn360!
And remember, on Big Universe Learning, there is a whole category just especially for Picture Books that includes about 290 publisher books and 110 member-created books!
Let’s Celebrate Picture Books this month and all year long!!
*I created the image at the top by copying and pasting a list of picture book title to make a word cloud using Wordle.net (I used a tilde ~ between words to keep the words in the titles together)
Picture Book Month is an international initiative to encourage and celebrate literacy with picture books, says founder Dianne de Las Casas, an author and storyteller, who along with authors/illustrators Katie Davis, Elizabeth O. Dulemba, Wendy Martin, and author Tara Lazar have joined forces to spread the word that picture books are alive and well, especially in this digital age where an unprecedented amount of picture books have been made into ebooks and are on ereading devices such as the iPad, the Nook, and the Kindle.
“There is a picture book for every reader and a reader for every reader.”
“The wide range of themes, issues, words, and ideas reach out into classrooms like tentacles drawing in each member, regardless of the different learning styles, ages, reading levels, or prior experiences.”
“We need to think about all the students who can benefit from these books.”
“Picture books offer certain unique advantages when we deliver instruction.”
“Readers are more likely to comprehend material that interests them and that is written in a compelling way.”
According to C.S. Lewis, “No book is worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty.”
There are many possibilities for picture books:
Picture Books with Older Kids
Picture Books with Young Children
Picture Books with Reluctant Readers
Picture Books with English Language Learners
Picture Books to Build Background Knowledge
Picture Books to Teach Content
Picture Books that Challenge Kids to Think
On Big Universe Learning, there is a whole category just especially for Picture Booksthe includes about 290 publisher books and 110 member-created books!
Danny and the Four Seasons
Snow Danny
Did “rhymes” remind you of any books? If you still have them, pull out some of those toddler books that have pictures and simple words. They are established favorites, but now your daughter can read them and use them to build a “bank” of words she recognizes. Bonus idea: Let her create picture/word cards that she can hang up or make her own book with.
How Do Waves Form?
Eyes Have It
Glass (Use It! Reuse It! Series)
