August was a fairly crazy month for me. I squeezed in as much reading as I could, but it was not enough. I mostly read tons and tons of picture books. These four were my favorites:
Jake at Gymnastics by Rachel Isadora (picture book)
The illustrations are dynamite, the text is simple and clear, and it's a perfect book for storytime because many of the stretches are easy and fun to do (side split, peekaboo, hopping, crawling, pretending to walk a balance beam). It's a treasure trove of silly movements and playing pretend!
Tiny, Perfect Things by M.H. Clark (picture book)
I really like the idea of looking for the beauty in our surroundings, whether we're out for a walk, running errands, or going about our day-to-day business. I like the strong sense of family in this book, the stunning illustrations, and simple language. My favorite moment of the book is when side-by-side pages flip out and the author invites the reader to find their own tiny perfect things. I cannot wait to ask toddlers to help me find those tiny perfect things in my next storytime!
I wasn't impressed with Carle's reasons for his favorite bug. He basically used it as a platform to brag about himself. Despite the rocky start to this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the variety of illustrators and how they demonstrated their affection for the bugs they chose. Some wrote a little poem and a few shared stories from their childhood. Maggie Rudy's Katydid is my favorite. I think a few of the poems will work well for a bug storytime.
City Mouse, Country Mouse by Maggie Rudy (picture book)
This is an incredibly sweet story that highlights a friendship between a country mouse and a city mouse and the lovely compromise they make to be near each other. The illustrations are incredible. Imagine having tea inside a cafe that is actually a tea kettle and pushing a mouse-sized wheelbarrow that can only hold one strawberry.
No comments:
Post a Comment