Children’s Books

May 12 – National Odometer Day

Posted by

0

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-are-we-there-yet

About the Holiday

In 1847 William Clayton invented a little add-on to the automobile that provides perspective, history, and interesting information on our beloved cars—the odometer! Whether you like to keep track of how many miles you travel on a trip, how economical your gas mileage is, when your next tune-up is due, or just marvel at how long your car has lasted, the numbers on the odometer tell the story. Today, take your car out for a spin—perhaps to the car wash or out to the open road!

Are We There Yet?

By Dan Santat

 

When you’re invited to a very special birthday party and it’s far away, what do you do? Pack up the car, of course, and head out on an adventure! Going to Grandma’s house is always exciting—at least for the first hour, but after that each minute seems to take for- ev-er. You might even think “Are we there yet?” or “This is taking forever.” Wait! Did you say that out loud? The look on your parents’ faces tell you you did!

You can only stare out the window at the landscape for so long. “But what happens when your brain becomes too bored? That’s when your whole world can turn upside down. Minutes feel like hours. Hours turn to days. Days seem like months and then years. Pretty soon that “quick trip” feels like a million years.

As you ride in the car, tucked in the back seat, feeling a little sick, needing to use the bathroom, your butt growing numb—and bored, bored, bored—could time actually be going backward? While you’re zipping down the highway suddenly a steam train is chugging past, trying to outrun a team of bandits. Now pirates have captured your car and sent it down the plank toward the briny deep! I hope you’re good with a lance because somehow your family’s the main attraction at the royal jousting tournament. And there’s no stopping for the bathroom in Ancient Egypt, or you’ll be put to work building a pyramid.

You think you’ve reached the end of your patience? You’ve actually reached the beginning of time. You may love dinosaurs, but you don’t belong in the Cretaceous Period. So play fetch with T-Rex one time and then climb aboard his back for a wild ride back.

But as quickly as you turned back time you can find yourself in the future—a future you don’t even recognize, where everything you love is gone. So take time now—yes, while you’re bored, bored, bored—to really look around you and see what’s going on. After all, you don’t want to miss this party—it’s the one you’ve been invited to.

Dan Santat’s Are We There Yet? is a rambunctious reminder to enjoy the moment you’re in, because Time is a wily beast that creeps up on you when you’re not paying attention. The art in this book is the star, with its full, two-page vibrant spreads and topsy-turvy format. An old steam train is chased by bandits in the western heat. A rag-tag crew of scallywag pirates menace the family at sword point. Crowds roar at a medieval jousting tournament. Ancient Egyptians toil in the golden sun overshadowed by the Sphynx and pyramids. And it’s love at first sight when the boy comes eye to eye with T-rex in the lush jungles of early Earth.

The scenes of the future, complete with flying cars, neon colors, and helpful robots make clever use of QR codes, and kids will relate to the funny twist ending.

Ages 4 – 8

Little Brown and Company, 2016 | ISBN 978-0316199995

Gardening for Wildlife Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-flower-dot-to-dot

Who’s in the Garden Dot-to-Dots

 

Completing a dot-to-dot puzzle can be a little like taking a trip—you go from stop to stop, not knowing exactly what you’ll find at the end. In these dot-to-dots, you’ll discover who’s hiding in the garden.

Printable dot-to-dot, page 1

Printable  dot-to-dot, page 2

May 11 – National Night Shift Workers Day

Posted by

0

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-frankie-works-the-night-shift

About the Holiday

Today’s holiday honors all the people—medical personnel, firefighters, police officers, bakers, maintenance workers, and others who work the 3rd or night shift. These night owls work to keep us safe and protected, prepare treats for our morning repast, and maintain our living and work spaces for the next day. Take some time to thank a night shift worker and ask them about their perspective on the world.

Frankie Works the Night Shift

By Lisa Westberg Peters | Illustrated by Jennifer Taylor

 

In a quiet town after most people have gone to bed, Frankie the cat begins his work. He keeps busy emptying a wastebasket and cleaning two counters. From his doorway he calls other night workers to three meetings.

When the geraniums need watering, he sees that they are fed. It’s also his job to inspect the tool shelves, and tonight he discovers a stray intruder among the hammers. He chases it as it makes for the ladders—up and down, up and down—between the nail bins, ad up the stairs, causing a mess where there had just been order.

Frankie’s bosses wouldn’t approve, but he can’t worry about that now. He has his important job to attend to. But tonight is a wild night, and Frankie has awakened the management. “Be quiet, Frankie,” they shout. From their comfortable beds they ask, “What’s going on? Some of us have to work in the morning!”

And then the day workers see it—“Agh! A mouse!” They give him a task: “Go get it, Frankie!” and try to help by pointing out its whereabouts here and there. But Frankie is good at his job and pursues it through the cat door and into the backyard. It’s a night’s work well done! Frankie yawns and stretches. As he looks back at his domain, he’s glad he doesn’t work the day shift—there’s so much to clean up!

Frankie goes to bed in his red paint bucket in the hardware store window and dreams of relaxing at the beach on his well-deserved vacation.

Kids will love Lisa Westberg Peters’ frisky Frankie who is only doing his job but ends up creating chaos. Sometimes when you’re all in and concentrating on the work at hand, it’s like that, as kids and adults involved in play or projects well know. Peters’ clever story builds from Frankie’s playful antics in the hardware store to his necessary role of family protector and mouse dispatcher. The story contains an element of counting (Frankie empties one trash can, cleans two counters, calls three meetings…) which serves to enhance the humor.

Jennifer Taylor’s stunning mixed media illustrations make excellent use of digital photography. You almost want to reach out and pet Frankie or catch the objects flying in his wake. And when the little mouse peeks out from the broom or scampers across the floor, kids will say “aww!” or “eek!” depending on their courage. The first page of the streetscape at night is arresting for its uniquely designed old buildings. When I opened to this page, my graphics-loving daughter exclaimed, “Oh! What’s this book?!” and settled in to read it with me. Definitely a great beginning to an enjoyable read!

Ages 4 – 8

Greenwillow Books, Harper Collins Publishers, 2010 | ISBN 978-0060090951

Gardening for Wildlife Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-cattails

Creative Cattails

 

Cattails are so cool, just like their namesake felines. They’re sleek and sophisticated and inside holds mystery that bursts out when you least expect it! Here’s a simple craft for making cattails that will enhance any bouquet or décor.

Supplies

  • 6-inch by 5/8-inch craft stick
  • 3/16–inch by 12-inch dowel
  • Chunky brown yarn,  
  • Green origami paper, 8-inch square
  • Green craft paint
  • Paint brush
  • Glue gun

Directions

To make the cattail:

  1. Paint the dowel green, let dry
  2. Glue 1 inch of the dowel to one end of the craft stick with the glue gun
  3. Starting at the bottom of the craft stick, glue an end of the brown yarn to the end of the craft stick meets the dowel
  4. Wind the yarn upward around the dowel and craft stick to the top. You will leave the 1/2 –inch curved part of the craft stick open.  Then reverse.
  5. Wind the yarn downward, going past the end of the craft stick about ½ inch to make the end of the cattail
  6. Wind the yarn upward once more to the top
  7. When you reach the top, put glue on either side of the curved top of the craft stick and pull a little of existing yarn into the glued area, pinching it closed.
  8. Cut the end of the yarn from the skein and tuck the end into the glued top.

To add the leaf:

  1. Cut a thin triangle from one side of the origami paper, starting with a 1-inch base and angling to the top of the paper
  2. Glue the base to the dowel about 1 ½ inches from the bottom
  3. Wind the paper upward around the dowel, leaving 5 inches unwound
  4. Glue the paper to the dowel, letting the 5-inch section stick up

If you’d like to make another craft using chunky brown yarn, see my April 7 post on The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Crazy Critter Race by Maxwell Eaton III to create a cute spool beaver.

May 9 – It’s Get Caught Reading Month

Posted by

0

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-the-whisper

About the Holiday

Supported by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), Get Caught Reading Month promotes literacy and reminds people of all ages how much fun reading is. Begun in 1999 by former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, President and CEO of AAP, the initiative brings together publishing industry executives, authors, illustrators, teachers, librarians, politicians, celebrities, and readers to spread the word about the joys of books. To join the celebration, take a picture of yourself or a friend reading, hold a book drive, challenge yourself to a reading goal, and/or read to someone else.

The Whisper

By Pamela Zagarenski

 

A little girl loves stories and the magical realms they can take her to. One day while waiting for school to be dismissed, she spies a book on a shelf. Her teacher allows her to take it home with her, and the little girl happily runs off with it when the clock strikes 3:00. On the way home, she doesn’t notice that all the letters are escaping from the book or that a wily fox is catching them in a net.

At home she secludes herself in her room, excited to read the mysterious book. She turns the pages, awed by the beautiful pictures. But by the time she has finished, she has tears in her eyes. “Where were the words? Where were the stories?” The girl flips through the book again, but this time she hears a small whisper: “Dear little girl, don’t be disappointed. You can imagine the words. You can imagine the stories.”

The whisper seems so knowing that the girl does at it suggests. She turns to the first page where a blue bear followed by a beekeeper walks under a honeycomb sun toward a brown bear. The girl stares at the picture and thinks of a title: Blue Bear’s Visit. Her story begins: “Blue Bear arrived on the first day of spring. He promised…”

Warming to the idea of creating stories, the girl examines the second picture. She notices the same white rabbit that was in the first picture. In the foreground a “magnificent ox” is listening to a man whispering into its large, soft ear. The Secret, the little girl titles this story, which starts: “Mr. Ox, you must please promise not to tell anyone, but we need your help. Last week…”

With the third picture the words tumble out more easily, forming sentences that give life to the massive white elephant, regal lion, and that rabbit again who are traveling the sea in a long, open boat. The Quest, she calls it. In Tigers Prayer, preparations are being made: tea is brewing, a clown with a pointed hat plays his accordion, a windhorse jumps through hoops, and the rabbit rides a golden ring as a lion hears what Tiger has to say. A Birthday Party comes next, and it seems Pan has planned a very secret party. An owl perches in the crook of a tree asking for the password with a “Hoo, Who?” which is answered quickly because the vanilla cake with raspberry filling and vanilla cream frosting holding 6 candles must be delivered.

The Magical Cloak sees the little girl’s imagination truly take flight as she decides the man in the “elaborate coat” is a wizard or magician whose bubbles come to life once released from the blower. Enormous whales now fill the harbor. They are beautiful, but something must be done….Next, hurry to meet the owl! He is picking up passengers at midnight. But what does the golden key in his beak open? Only the story The Golden Key locked in the little girl’s mind will tell.

Hours go by as the little girl creates tales for each picture in the book. As the night grows late, she sleeps, carried into slumber on dreams woven from the pictures and stories she imagined. When she wakes up, the girl wishes to spend more time with her new friends, but it’s time for school so she gathers up the book and hurries away.

On the path to school she meets a fox who is carrying a bag. “Excuse me, little girl,” says the fox. “I believe I have the words to your book.” The fox then explains how he caught the words as they spilled from the pages the day before. The fox gives her his parcel, but asks for a favor. The girl is happy to oblige and lets the fox stand on her shoulders to reach a bunch of grapes dangling from a nearby vine.

The girl rushes into school and apologizes for being late. She relates the story of the fox and the words and the magical night she has spent making up tales for the pictures in the book. “I have so many stories to tell you,” says the girl to her teacher. “‘I can’t want to hear,’” the teacher replies with a smile.”

Opening a book by Pamela Zagarenski is to fall into an alternate realm of such beauty and imagination that you forget the real world exists.  Her paintings are composed of rich, regal hues swirling with images and designs that overlap and float to create the kind of experience only the deepest, most complex dreams allow. The characters and details follow page to page uniting the pictures and, subtly, the stories the little girl discovers in them: The teapot, once introduced, waits under a tree on the next page and rides the waves of the whale-filled sea in the next. The bees and the rabbit are constant companions on each spread, and the animals will fill the reader with awe.

The little girl’s imagined stories are tantalizing with just the right mix of the mysterious and the tangible to entice readers to add more. The frame of the Aesop Fable The Fox and the Grapes is inspired and could lead to a conversation about how “life is what you make it.”

The Whisper is a book readers will want to linger over and dip into again and again, and would be especially fun on those days when there’s “nothing” to do. It makes a beautiful gift for any occasion.

Ages 4 – 9 (this book would also appeal to adults)

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015 | ISBN 978-0544416864

Gardening for Wildlife Month Activity

In addition to Get Caught Reading Month, May is Gardening for Wildlife Month. It’s the perfect time to celebrate the joys and colors of spring and enjoy the many plants, flowers, and wildlife nature provides. Whether your garden is small or large, just being planted or already blooming, you can be mindful to make yours wildlife friendly to help and protect the environment.

This week’s crafts and activities will revolve around gardens and plants of all types. I hope you enjoy them!

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-vase

Painted Bottle Vase

Do you often pick up a smoothie or other drink at the grocery store and then just throw away the glass or plastic bottle? Those containers, with their elegant shapes, make beautiful vases with just a little paint!

Supplies

  • Plastic or glass bottle
  • Multi-surface craft paint in your favorite color
  • Paint brush
  • Wax paper

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-vase-top

Directions

  1. Wash and thoroughly dry your bottle.
  2. Pour 3 to 5 tablespoons of craft paint into the bottle
  3. Invert the bottle on the wax paper
  4. Let the paint drip down the sides of the bottle, this may take several hours to overnight
  5. When the paint reaches half-way down the sides of the bottle, you can “help it along” with the paintbrush, filling in any empty spaces
  6. Let the bottle sit, inverted, until the paint dries. This can take one to several days, depending on the atmosphere.
  7. When the paint is dry, use the vase for artificial flowers.

Join me tomorrow to see how to make flowers to go in your vase!

Picture Book Review

May 8 – Mother’s Day

Posted by

0

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-cuddles-for-mommy

About the Holiday

Celebrating mothers dates back to the ancient Greeks and their annual spring festival honoring maternal goddesses. In the 1600s a Mothering Sunday was enacted in England, and employers encouraged their servants, apprentices, and any other employees who lived away from their families to visit their mother and bring her gifts. This tradition died out by the 19th century, but gained popularity again after World War II when it merged with the American holiday.

The first modern notion of Mother’s Day came in 1872 and belongs to Juliet Ward Howe. It wasn’t until 1912, however, after Anna Jarvis promoted the holiday through a letter-writing campaign to politicians and newspapers across the country that Mother’s Day was celebrated in every state. President Woodrow Wilson made it a national holiday in 1914. Now Mother’s Day is celebrated around the world. Today, let your mom know how much she means to you!

Cuddles for Mommy

Written by Ruby Brown | Illustrated by Tina Macnaughton

 

While Little Owl sits on the tree branch reading her book and watching her Mommy knit, she feels like giving her a cuddle. But what kind of cuddle should it be? There is the kind of cuddle that’s just right to say good morning. But it’s afternoon and Little Owl and Mommy have already had their good-morning cuddle.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-cuddles-for-mommy-book

Image copyright Tina Macnaughton, 2016, text copyright Ruby Brown, 2016. Courtesy of Little Bee Books.

Perhaps a goodbye cuddle then. Those always feel good when Mommy drops Little Owl off at school in the morning. But Little Owl isn’t going anywhere. Little Owl thinks and thinks. “What about the cuddle I give you when I’m sorry?” asks Little Owl. But Mommy reminds her that she hasn’t done anything wrong.

Then Little Owl has another idea: there’s a special cuddle Mommy gives when Little Owl is scared. That might work—except that Little Owl isn’t afraid now. After a while Little Owl says, “’I always give you a cuddle to say thank you. Like when you’ve brought me a new book.’” Mommy Owl tells her to hold on to that cuddle because they are going to the bookstore later.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-cuddles-for-mommy-cooking

Image copyright Tina Macnaughton, 2016, text copyright Ruby Brown, 2016. Courtesy of Little Bee Books.

Little Owl thinks and thinks. What other reasons are there to give a cuddle? There’s the excited happy cuddle, but while Little Owl is happy, she’s not excited. And cuddles come when Mommy is proud of her, Little Owl decides, remembering her trumpet performance last week. And when Little Owl is sick; Mommy always cuddles her then, but she’s not sick today. The good-night cuddle is always a favorite, but it’s far from bedtime now.

Suddenly, Little Owl has a fantastic idea. “I know what kind of cuddle I can give you RIGHT NOW, Mommy!” exclaims Little Owl. “She wrapped her wings tight around Mommy Owl and squeezed tight. The Mommy Cuddle! Just because I love you!”

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-cuddles-for-mommy-goodbye

Image copyright Tina Macnaughton, 2016, text copyright Ruby Brown, 2016. Courtesy of Little Bee Books.

Ruby Brown’s sweet dilemma makes for cuddle-perfect reading. The gentile and loving dialogue between Little Owl and her Mommy is a reminder for children that their mom is always there to make any day or event better with a hug and endless love. Kids will recognize and respond to all the different hugs and the nuances behind those squeezes.

Tina Macnaughton’s soft paintings of the adorable Little Owl and her Mommy are lit with glowing golds, greens, pinks and violets that reflect the love between them. Little Owl’s memories of all the different life events that elicit the cuddles she gives Mommy and gets in return are depicted with homey details that reinforce the closeness between mother and child. The special relationship between mother and child is evident on every page, where cuddles and hugs abound.

Little Owl is endearing in her earnest quest to find just the right hug for the feelings inside her, making Cuddles for Mommy an excellent book for bedtime or naptime—or for any time that a hug would feel just right. Cuddles for Mommy is a nice addition to a child’s bookshelf.

Ages 3 – 8

Little Bee Books, 2016 | ISBN 978-1499802030

Mother’s Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-paper-plate-owl

Make a Mother’s Day Hug Card

 

Moms love hugs on Mother’s Day—and any day! Make this Mother’s Day card that says “Owl always love you!”

Supplies

  • Paper plate
  • Brown, yellow, and orange colored pencils or crayons
  • Black, orange, and red markers

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-paper-plate-owl-open

Directions

  1. Fold the sides of the plate in toward the center, overlapping one on the other a little
  2. Trim the top and bottom of each folded half-circle to make room for a head and tail
  3. Draw eyes and a beak just above the round center of the plate
  4. Outline the eyes in back marker and add pupils
  5. Draw and color a beak with the orange marker
  6. Color the back and front of the plate with brown, yellow, and orange colored pencils or crayons
  7. Write “I Love You” or whatever you would like to say to your mom in the center of the plate
  8. Fold the wings closed

Give  your mom your card along with a hug!

Picture Book Review

May 7 – National Train Day

Posted by

0

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-locomotive

About the Holiday

Falling at the end of National Tourism Week, National Train Day honors the history of train travel and its importance to the opening of new frontiers as well as its continued  use for pleasure and business transportation. Train museums and train enthusiasts across the country celebrate with special events, rides, and educational opportunities for all ages. Some celebrations occur today, while others are held on May 14.

Locomotive

By Brian Floca

 

“Here is a road made for crossing the country, a new road of rails made for people to ride.” So begins Brian Floca’s sprawling paeon to the locomotive and its influence on America and the Old West. Amid the Clank Clank Clank of hammers on iron spikes, men from all over toiled from coast to coast to build the rail lines that carried the trains across the country: “Three strokes to the spike, ten spikes to the rail!”

Families who have sold all their possessions to pay for tickets for the week-long trip west stand on the platform in Omaha, Nebraska watching for the approaching train. Suddenly, they hear the clang of the bell and “see a puff from her stack—a puff of smoke, a smudge in the sky.” The awesome train pulls up at the station huffing “like a beast.”

Her crew—the brakeman, fireman, engineer, and conductor—make the train ready. They gather the passengers, stoke the firebox, push forward the Johnson bar, and get the train underway. The passengers sit back, ready for the long journey. The engineer “is the master of his machine, he knows her moods and tempers, where to set her bars and levers….Westward, westward runs the train, through the prairies, to the Great Plains, on to the frontier.”

In the cars the travelers read, play games, meet their neighbors. In winter they are warmed by a coal stove in one corner, while in the other corner a “modern” convenience is provided. Eventually, the train must stop to refuel. The passengers scramble to the railroad restaurant at the station. They have 20 minutes to eat what the menu offers: buffalo steak, antelope chops, or chicken stew (which tastes suspiciously like prairie dog).

As night falls a new engine is carefully attached to the cars by the switchman, who has learned to be quick to avoid the rolling, jumping cars that can take a finger. “Through the night the engine runs. Those up late hear her whistle, her wild and lonesome cry. It echoes on far hills and homes, it sounds in distant dreams.”

By morning the train has reached the mountains. The going is steep and slow. A second engine must be attached to give the train power enough to climb. On the other side of the mountains the terrain is rugged, and the train must traverse long, rickety wooden bridges. Days pass as the train travels through beautiful, mysterious country, skirting land formations such as Castle Rock, The Witches, Devil’s Slide, and the 1000 Mile Tree.

In Utah at Promontory Summit, the train comes to the meeting place of the tracks built from the East and the tracks built from the West. The passengers disembark and change trains, changing train companies also, from the Union Pacific that brought them here to the Central Pacific who will take them the rest of the way. Now the train passes through desolate, dry country, home to the Paiute and the Shoshone.

The mighty Sierra Nevada rises up ahead. A second engine is again required. If the tracks are slick, the “engineers can pull a handle to drop some sand down a tube, onto the tracks. The wheels hit the grit, the traction does the trick!” Closer and closer the train comes to its final destination, puffing through long wooden sheds that keep the tracks clear in winter and into dark tunnels blasted through the mountain rock.

Down, down the train progresses to the end of the line. The weary but excited travelers jump from the train to meet their friends or family or to start a new life in San Francisco!

If you love trains, American history, or the Old West, or if you are simply enamored of travel, you will want to read Brian Floca’s Caldecott Medal Winning and Silbert Honor book, Locomotive. Floca’s lyrical language makes poetry of the steam train’s inception, from the laying of the rails to the inner workings of the engine to the long journey westward. Fascinating facts of the train crews’ work, conditions for the passengers, and the territory crossed make this a page turner that any age will enjoy.

Readers can almost hear the sounds of the clanging bell and huffing engine, as these sounds are represented in a variety of typefaces and sizes, growing larger and larger as the train approaches the station. Every page is a joy. As the train chugs across the country, the paintings are swept in rushing brush strokes and the train whooshes into view from the edges, filling the page. The vast empty plains nearly dwarf the locomotive, and the mountainous regions pose chilling challenges for the iron horse. The nighttime scenes are beautifully lit by starlight and the single headlight of the train, reflecting the dreams of a new nation.

Although Locomotive is a longer picture book, its rhythms, depth of description, and gorgeous language will appeal to even very young children. Make some tea and hot chocolate and settle in for a cozy read of wonderful book!

Ages 4 – 12 and up (adults will also enjoy this book)

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013 | ISBN 978-1416994152

National Train Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-all-aboard-maze

All Aboard Maze!

 

Trains travel over intricate terrain, over mountains, across vast plains, and through exciting cities. It’s a little like finding your way through a maze! Have fun completing this printable All Aboard Maze! Here’s the Solution. Choo choo!

May 6 – International Space Day

Posted by

0

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-otter-in-space

About the Holiday

Each year International Space Day is observed on the first Friday in May to commemorate the extraordinary achievements, benefits, and opportunities of space exploration. The goal of International Space Day is to promote math, science, technology and engineering education to inspire students to pursue a career in science and especially a career in space-related fields.

Otter in Space

By Sam Garton

 

On Sunday Otter goes to the museum with Otter Keeper and Teddy to see the Space Exhibition. They see a Triceratops skeleton and meet a stuffed bear that must be Teddy’s cousin. On the walls are old paintings made before the invention of crayons, and ancient, interesting things are everywhere.

Otter likes all these exhibits, but her favorite is the room dedicated to outer space—there are buttons to push just like a real astronaut, videos to watch, and a rock that came all the way from the moon. At last Otter gets to go to the gift shop. She loads up her arms with toys, but Otter Keeper says, “One thing only.” The spaceship travels home with them, but Otter and Teddy really want a moon rock too.

The next day while Otter Keeper is at work, Otter and Teddy play with their new spaceship, but it’s just not as fun without a moon rock. Teddy suggests going back to the museum, but no one can drive them. Otter thinks and thinks and suddenly has “the best idea ever!” She and Teddy will blast to the moon and retrieve a moon rock.

Otter makes a very important list of very important things to do. After lunch she builds two space suits and starts training. Although Teddy has some trouble keeping his space suit on and with problem solving, his performance in anti-gravity training is impressive so they move on to constructing the spaceship. With ingenuity and a bunch of household items, Otter builds a rocket and takes it to the Launchpad.

With Giraffe at “mishun control” lift-off is easy, but the moon landing is a little bumpy. Otter’s suit gets torn, but she perseveres and discovers the perfect moon rock nearby. It’s huge! With a little trouble Otter and Teddy transport it back to Earth, where it makes a perfect companion, playing board games and pirates—until Otter Keeper comes home and says it has to go back where it belongs.

The discussion is carried over to dinnertime, and Otter Keeper relents when he sees how serious Otter is in her space suit. If Otter cleans the moon rock she can keep it, says Otter Keeper. But one more restriction has been added to the Otter DO NOT list: dig up moon rocks! That’s okay, though. There are other things to dig up on the moon—like a dinosaur!

Sam Garton’s Otter in Space is a cute, spot-on portrayal of the fantastic ideas kids get when exposed to new concepts or places. Told from Otter’s point of view, the text hits on the serious-yet-humorous observations of kids: the gift shop as the favorite museum “exhibit,” a lingering regret for the toy left behind, and “the best ideas ever!” to correct situations.

Garton’s colorful illustrations of wily Otter and her faithful Teddy as they visit the museum, plan their space trip with the help of Giraffe and other toys, and blast off wearing a cereal box space suit are endearing. Kids will giggle at Teddy’s anti-gravity training in the washing machine. They and their parents will also appreciate Otter’s crafty discovery of the moon rock in the garden and recognize with a laugh his adoption of it as a member of the family.

Otter in Space is a book kids will want to explore again and again!

Ages 4 – 8

Balzar + Bray, Harper Collins, 2015 | ISBN 978-0062247766

International Space Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-rocket

Create a Soft Book, Page 6—Rocket

 

Blast off with fun on Page 6 of your soft book with this shiny rocket on its way to an undiscovered planet! See previous posts from May 1 through 5 for each page of the book.

Supplies

  • Printable Rocket Template
  • Adhesive felt or foam letters
  • Tin foil
  • Felt, fleece, or foam in various colors of your choice (I used aqua, white, yellow, and purple)
  • Scissors
  • Strong glue or fabric glue

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-rocket-and-parrot

Directions

  1. Cut out the rocket and feet from tin foil
  2. Cut out the nose cone and body stripe from felt, fleece or foam
  3. Cut out the round window from white felt, fleece, or foam
  4. Cut out the planet from your choice color of felt, fleece, or foam
  5. Cut out planet’s ring from your choice color of felt, fleece, or foam
  6. Glue rocket and feet to page
  7. Fit ring around planet and glue to page
  8. Attach adhesive letters to page, making sure they are stuck firmly. If they aren’t use fabric glue

I hope you enjoy your book!

Picture book review

May 4 – International Firefighters Day

Posted by

0

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-this-is-the-firefighter

About the Holiday

International Firefighters’ Day was established to commemorate the dedication of firefighters to their communities and the sacrifices they make in dangerous situations to protect and rescue those they have pledged to help. It’s also a day in which current and past firefighters can be thanked for their contributions. If you know a professional or volunteer firefighter, let them know how much you appreciate their service. Today is also a good day to check your smoke detectors.

This is the Firefighter

Written by Laura Godwin | Illustrated by Julian Hector

 

“This is the firefighter. / These are his clothes. / This is his truck / And this is its hose.” With a lilting, catchy rhyme This Is the Firefighter takes children along as firefighters answer the bell at the station and rush to the scene of a fire. When the firefighters reach the burning building, flames are shooting from the fourth and fifth floor windows, and a crowd has assembled across the street.

The firefighters hurry up the stairs, knock down an apartment door with their ax, and rescue the people inside. With the building fully engulfed in flames, a worried couple appear at a window. But they needn’t be afraid; the firefighters know just what to do: “This is the ladder, / attached to the truck, / that reaches the lady / and man who are stuck.”

But there is one more rescue to be made. As the crowd and the news media watch nervously from below, a firefighter “climbs through the heat.” In a moment: “This is the rescue. / This is the cheer / that roars through the crowd / when the signal’s ‘All clear.’”

Out of the crush of people a little girl runs to hug her kitten, which is being carefully carried in the hands of the firefighter. Now that the fire is out and everyone is safe, a new light glimmers in the sky: “This is the smoke / as it drifts far away. / This is the glow / at the end of the day.”

Newly available as a board book, Laura Godwin’s look at a busy day in the life of firefighters will delight small children who are fascinated by the work of the men and women who protect and save lives under the most dangerous conditions. Godwin’s rhyming story contains just the right mix of reality and surprise to represent these heroes well for young children.

Julian Hector’s bright, detailed illustrations will satisfy children with a thirst for knowledge about everything connected to fire fighting. The fire station is clearly depicted. As the crew maintains the fire truck, kids can see the hoses, dials, and connectors that power the rig. When the alarm rings, the crew slides down the pole and rushes to put on their safety gear as their Dalmatian runs ahead. The scenes of the city and the burning building, along with worried faces of its residents and the onlookers on the street are particularly effective. Kids will also be alert to the secondary story of the little girl and her kitten that progresses from page to page and will cheer at its conclusion.

Young children will want to linger over these pages and hear the story again and again!

Ages 2 – 5

Disney-Hyperion, 2015 | ISBN 978-1484707333

International Firefighters Day Activity

 

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-fire-truck

Create a Soft Book, Page 4 – Fire Truck

 

Fire trucks are always fascinating with their hoses, ladders, and loud siren. Add a red rig to your book with this printable Fire Truck Template. See Sunday’s Post for how to make the book, the cover, and Page 1. Page 2 can be found here, and here’s Page 3!

Supplies

  • Printable Fire Truck Template
  • Red, yellow, black, white, and blue felt, fleece or foam
  • Adhesive felt or foam letters
  • Fabric glue
  • Scissors

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-firetruck

Directions

  1. Cut out the sections of the firetruck and doors from the red felt, fleece, or foam
  2. Cut out the windows and wheel centers from the white felt, fleece, or foam
  3. Cut out the sections of the ladder and the door handles from the yellow felt, fleece, or foam. Also cut out a background from the yellow felt, fleece, or foam, leaving a small rim around the edge
  4. Cut out the siren from the blue felt, fleece, or foam
  5. Cut out the tires from the black felt,  fleece, or foam
  6. Assemble the truck on the yellow background and glue it in place.
  7. Glue the fire truck to the page
  8. Attach the letters, making sure they are firmly stuck. If they are not, use fabric glue

Join me again tomorrow!