picture book review

May 28 – It’s Get Caught Reading Month

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About the Holiday

You can never read too many books! This idea is definitely supported by the Get Caught Reading campaign that makes people aware of all the benefits of sitting down with a fantastic book—whether it’s fiction, non-fiction, drama, or poetry. To celebrate this holiday, get involved with a literacy program, a book drive, or thank a teacher or librarian for always supplying you with great reads!

Baby Wren and the Great Gift

Written by Sally Lloyd-Jones | Illustrated by Jen Corace

 

From a narrow crevice a little brown wren peeks out of her nest. Her vantage point gives her a view of all the wonderfulness around her. Monarchs flutter in the Milkweed, breezes whisper in the switch grass, and the glittering river flows along. Emboldened, the baby wren hops onto the canon ledge just as a kingfisher dives down to the river and captures a fish.

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Image copyright Jen Corace, text copyright Sally Lloyd Jones. Courtesy of Zonderkidz

“Oh! How wonderful!” the little wren exclaims. The kingfisher invites her to come along, but the wren tells the bigger bird that she can’t dive. As the kingfisher flies away, the wren wonders why she can’t fish too.

Next, two frisky ring-tailed cats cartwheel by. “Oh, how wonderful!” little wren says. The ring-tails want her to play with them, but the wren says that she doesn’t have a ring tail, so the cats cartwheel away leaving the baby wren wondering why she isn’t a ring-tail cat who can cartwheel.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-baby-wren-and-the-great-gift-kingfisher

Image copyright Jen Corace, text copyright Sally Lloyd Jones. Courtesy of Zonderkidz

Just then some sunfish splash in the water nearby. The little wren also declines their invitation to play, saying that she can’t swim. As the sunfish hurry down the river, the wren wonders why she isn’t a sunfish who can swim. Overhead two eagles glide on the winds of a gusty storm. “Oh, how wonderful,” the wren says. “Come and see the thunderclouds,” the eagles tell her. But the baby is afraid of the big storm, and the eagles soar higher and higher and away. Watching them, the wren regrets that she isn’t brave and wonders what she can do that is wonderful.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-baby-wren-and-the-great-gift-sunset

Image copyright Jen Corace, text copyright Sally Lloyd Jones. Courtesy of Zonderkidz

Suddenly, the sun paints the canyon pink. The baby wren looks and looks and looks. The beauty of the sky and the canyon “bumped into her heart, it dazzled in her eyes, it pushed on her throat until the tiny trembling bird with all her tiny might sang by herself a song.”  Her glorious carol echoes through the canyon, and the eagles soaring overhead call to her: “‘You are only little, but your song fills the whole canyon.’” And as the kingfisher, the ring-tailed cats, the sunfish, and the eagles listen, the little wren fills the air with singing.

Sally Lloyd-Jones’ inspirational story is perfect for this time of year when baby birds are just leaving the nest and children are moving on to new grades or new experiences. Jones’ lyrical and gentle tale offers comfort to those wondering just where they fit into the world. As baby wren discovered, everyone has innate talents that shine when the time is right.

Jen Corace’s vibrant illustrations of the baby wren’s canyon home employ bright yellows and vivid contrasting greens and blues to evoke the “wonderfulness” that so captivates the little wren. In each spread the baby bird is depicted as the tiny creature it is surrounded by vast mountains and other, larger animals, but as her song flows out of her in a soaring collage of all the colors and silhouettes of her new-found friends her stature grows. She is happy with her place in the world.

Ages 4 – 8

Zonderkidz, 2016 | ISBN 978-0310733898

Discover more about Sally Lloyd-Jones and her books on her website!

View a portfolio of illustration work by Jen Corace on her website!

View the Baby Wren and the Great Gift book trailer!

 

Get Caught Reading Month Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-bird-in-nest-coloring-page

Baby Bird Coloring Page

 

Baby birds love the cozy safety of their nests as much as you like snuggling under the blankets with a good book. Print the Baby Bird Coloring Page and have fun with it—instead of just coloring it, how about making a collage? You can attach different colors of torn paper to decorate the bird and use grasses or twigs for the nest! Use your unique creative talents to make a one-of-a-kind picture!

Picture Book Review

May 27 – It’s National Family Month

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About the Holiday

National Family Month was established by KidsPeace and is observed in the weeks between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to encourage families to spend time together. Now that the school year is coming to a close, it’s the perfect time to plan some fun activities!

Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team

Written by Audrey Vernick | Illustrated by Steven Salerno

 

When the weather warms and kids’ thoughts turn to sports, the afternoon air rings with the sounds of slamming doors as players race from home to the baseball diamond. Back in the 1920s and ‘30s, the same door slammed not once or twice, not three or four times, not even eight or nine! The door shut behind 12 brothers! Anthony, Joe, Paul, Alfred, Charlie, Jimmy, Bobby, Billy, Freddie, Eddie, Bubbie, and Louie Acerra. These 12 boys also had 4 sisters—but this is a story about baseball, and back then girls didn’t play ball.

It could be said that “baseball set the rhythm of their lives.” Neighbors couldn’t remember a time when Acerra boys weren’t throwing or hitting a ball or running the bases at the local park. And there was an Acerra on the high school baseball team for 22 years in a row!

In 1938 the nine oldest brothers formed a semi-pro team and competed against other New Jersey teams and teams from New York and Connecticut. Their dad was their coach. The brothers all had different skills—Anthony could hit homeruns, and even hit a couple into the Atlantic Ocean from a seaside park; Charlie was a slow runner; and Jimmy had a knuckleball that was unhittable and uncatchable.

But playing had its dangers too. In one game Alfred was going to bunt, but the ball bounced badly off the bat and hit him in the face. He was rushed to the hospital, but the accident caused him to lose an eye. Everyone thought he would never play again. But after he healed, his brothers helped him recover his skills and his courage.

During World War II six of the brothers joined the war effort and spent years apart. Far from home they dreamed of the days when they played together on warm afternoons. When the war ended all the Acerra boys came home to their very happy mother. The brothers got back to what they loved doing best. Now Anthony was their coach, and from 1946 to 1952 they won the Long Branch City Twilight Baseball League championship four times—much to the pleasure of the crowds that came out to watch the Acerras play.

As time went on the Acerras got jobs, married, and had families of their own. In 1952 the brothers played their last game as a team, having made history as the longest-playing, all-brother baseball team ever. Even though the Acerras played many, years ago, people have not forgotten them. In 1997 they were honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame. The surviving seven brothers made the trip along with one sister and more than a hundred relatives. Now Jimmy Acerra’s uniform and glove are on display alongside exhibits about Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Willie Mays. If you visit the Baseball Hall of Fame, you can see them too!

Interesting and personal author’s and artist’s notes follow the text.

Baseball fans will love Audrey Vernick’s exciting, true story of this most unusual team. Her focus on the close relationship of the Acerra brothers elevates the tale from merely a sports story to one that reveals deep affection and support during difficult times. The different personalities of the brothers shine through in Vernick’s easy, conversational tone, and the inclusion of the Acerra brothers’ induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame shows that this story lives on for all generations.

Steven Salerno’s evocative illustrations will transport readers into a past where neighborhood leagues enjoyed the same level of loyalty as the majors. Capturing the brushed style, colors, and portraiture of pictures of the period, Salerno shows kids not only what it meant to be a baseball player in the 1930s and 40s, but what it meant to be a family.

Ages 4 – 9

Clarion Books, 2012 | ISBN 978-0547385570

National Family Month Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-we-are-all-family-word-search

We Are All Family English – Spanish Word Search

 

This month is all about family! Find the words for special relatives in this English – Spanish dual language word search! Print the We Are All Family word search puzzle here! And here’s the Solution!

May 26 – It’s Mystery Month

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About the Holiday

There’s nothing like a mystery to rivet your attention. Odd sounds, sudden darkness, unusual circumstances, eerie apparitions, and other unexplained phenomena have beguiled people since the beginning of time. We can’t help investigating to find out who, what, why, or how? Today read  great mystery—or solve one!

It’s Only Stanley

By Jon Agee

 

“The Wimbledons were sleeping / It was very, very late, / When Wilma heard a spooky sound, / Which made her sit up straight.” Walter goes out into the yard to investigate.  He finds their dog Stanley howling at the moon. A little later that night their daughter Wendy is wakened by a clanking sound below her floor. Walter goes down into the basement to investigate. There’s Stanley fixing the oil tank.

Next comes young Willie: “it was even later still, / When Willie smelled a funky smell / That made him kind of ill.” So Walter goes to the kitchen to investigate. He finds Stanley has constructed a homemade lab and is cooking up a bubbling catfish stew on the stove. At half past three Wanda hears a buzzing noise and Walter finds Stanley fixing the old TV.

Tiny Wylie comes in next, having heard a splashy sound, but Walter discovers it’s only Stanley clearing the bathtub drain. “Now Wilma wasn’t happy. / And the children threw a fit. / ‘We’ll never get to sleep tonight if Stanley doesn’t quit!’” So Walter says he’ll talk to Stanley but before he can leave the room a huge KAPOW! sends the family flying.

“‘I’ll go and look,’ said Walter, / ‘And I’ll be back very soon.’ / ‘It’s only Stanley.” Walter said. / ‘We’re going to the—’” Perhaps the biggest mystery isn’t how Stanley does all this…but why!

We know dogs are smart, but who can account for Stanley!? Jon Agee’s loveable, incredibly adept family pet is laugh-out-loud precocious as his nighttime exploits expand to out-of-this-world proportions. The clever word play, alliteration, and rhyming scheme of the text adds to the humor.

Kids will love Agee’s illustrations of the serious, self-assured Stanley as he goes about his tinkering all to the nonplused consternation of his family and the detriment of his nemesis—the household cat. As in many homes with pets, readers will rightly wonder—who’s in charge here? Kids will want to hear It’s Only Stanley over and over.

Ages 4 – 8

Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Group, 2015 | ISBN 978-0803739079

Mystery Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-what's-missing-game

What Went Missing In the Dark? Game

 

This fun and fabulous game combines memory building with just the right amount of suspense and spookiness. The game is best played at night or in a room that can become totally black when the lights are turned off. If you play in the daytime, just have the players leave the room while you take away objects.

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Rules

  1. Gather a number of small objects (the number will depend on the ages of the players. For younger players, gather 5 – 7 objects. For older players try 12 or more)
  2. Lay the objects on the ground or a blanket
  3. Tell the players to look at the objects for a certain amount of time. The time will depend on the ages of the players—a longer time for younger children, shorter for older kids (or to make the game more exciting)
  4. When the time is up, turn out the lights or send players out of the room.
  5. Remove 1 – 3 objects. To make the game more difficult rearrange the remaining objects
  6. Turn the lights back on.
  7. Let children guess which objects have been removed.
  8. Repeat until all the objects are gone
  9. For an alternate game, instead of removing objects, add one or two

Picture Book Review

May 25 – National Photography Month

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About the Holiday

Established in 1987 by the United States Congress to commemorate the importance of photos to present and future generations, National Photography Month encourages photographers to really look at their subjects and become more intentional about making photos that will be meaningful in the future. Once you’ve taken your pictures, don’t just leave them on your phone, in the cloud, or on your hard drive. Print them and document the place, people, and time of each picture for future generations.

Pictures from Our Vacation

By Lynne Rae Perkins

 

Just before a family leaves on vacation, a girl and her brother each receive a Polaroid camera and a notebook from their mom so they can document their trip. The first picture the little girl takes is of her feet by mistake. During the two-day trip to the old farm where their dad grew up, the kids play with games from the activity bag and look out the window at the passing landscape. Her second photo taken through the car window reveals “there was not anything to look at out there,” although she does see an orange truck labeled “Yellow” and a motel with a red roof. 

She thinks that if she owned a motel it would be called the Blue Motel, and she begins to imagine in detail the accommodations she would offer. In the Jungle Cottage people would sleep in hammocks and shower under a waterfall. In the Sun Cottage, the bed would glow like the sun but turn off for sleeping. The floor of the Flower Garden Cottage would be real grass, and she thinks up many more.

Her reveries last until the family begins searching for a real motel. They stop at the Shangri-La, which advertises POOL, but as the girl’s photograph shows, “it didn’t have water in it.”

When the family reaches the farm, Dad sees happy memories everywhere. They find an old badminton set with warped racquets (shaped like potato chips, the girl says in her picture’s caption) and begin to play. But one minute into the game the rain comes down. It rains for days and the family spends the time playing cards, reading, and drawing.

After the rain stops, Dad takes the family to a hidden swimming spot. They forge their way through the now-overgrown secret path only to find a KEEP OUT sign and a guard dog.  They backtrack to the car and drive around and around, having trouble finding the lake. They stop at a park, where the girl takes a picture of hills that were built in ancient times to look like a snake from the air and one of a leftover Chinese food container where a squirrel was eating before it ran away.

At last they find the lake and run out to the end of the dock. But a boy warns them of an impending storm. Suddenly, the storm breaks and as the family shelters in the dock gazebo, the girl learns that tomorrow they are attending a memorial service. The next day the old farmhouse fills up with relatives who have traveled there for a memorial service for Great-aunt Charlotte.

At the service family members tell stories about Charlotte’s brave escapades and afterward the whole crew go back to the farmhouse to spend a several days. They eat dinner and tell more stories, and the cousins play. They roll down the hill, climb trees, and explore. That night as the kids sleep upstairs, murmurs of continued conversation float up through the grate. After a few days, the families disperse and only the girl and her brother and parents stay behind, but the memories and feeling of the full house remain.

Finally the girl’s family leaves too, and as they drive home she looks at the pictures she has taken. “‘These don’t remind me much of our vacation,’” she says. She snaps one last picture as they pass a row of huge electrical towers along the highway. When she looks at the photograph, however, the towers don’t look like the giant robots she imagined. She realizes that “it’s hard to take a picture of a story someone tells, or what it feels like when you’re rolling down a hill or falling asleep in a house full of cousins and uncles and aunts. There are a lot of things like that. But those kinds of pictures I can keep in my mind.”

Lynn Rae Perkins’ paean to formative old-fashioned vacations in which extended family members gathered to pass on history and traditions through stories told around the picnic table is a welcome reminder in this digital age that some “pictures” are better stored in one’s memory than on a device. Perkins’ choices of details seen on the two-day road trip, the incessant rain, and the changed landscape that lead to wrong directions are just the kinds of childhood events that often stick in a person’s memory for life. The story is charmingly told from a child’s point of view with realistic dialogue and a tone of heartfelt nostaligia.

Perkins’ realistic drawings of the family are homey and evocative. The kids lounge in the backseat of the car while the little girl conjures up the décor of her Blue Motel; the old house and fields of the family farm are rendered in warm golds and greens with humor and comfort; and you can almost hear the shouts and laughter of the family members gathered on the lawn at the reunion. This is a vacation kids will love to take.

Ages 4 – 8

Greenwillow Books, HarperCollins, 2007 | ISBN 978-0060850975

National Photography Month Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-frame

Fantastic Frame!

 

Your photographs show your unique personality, why shouldn’t the frame you put them in? Today, you can make a frame that perfectly suits your décor or snapshot!

Supplies

  • Cardboard or bare wood frame, available at craft stores
  • Stickers
  • Buttons
  • Jewels
  • Beads
  • Glue
  • Paint in your favorite color
  • Paint brush

Directions

  1. Paint the frame (optional), let dry
  2. Attach stickers, beads, buttons, or other objects
  3. Fill with your favorite picture

May 24 – Brother’s Day

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About the Holiday

Brothers share a special bond built on mischief, inside jokes, shared experience, and love. If you have a brother—either by blood or friendship—spend some time with him, give him a call, or just text and say, “hi.”

The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors

Written by Chris Barton | Illustrated by Tony Persiani

 

Before the Switzer brothers had their bright idea, the world was a much less colorful place. Bob Switzer, born in 1914, loved to work and saved his money for exciting plans. His younger brother Joe loved magic and had an inventive mind. When the family moved to Berkley, California, Joe developed a magic act that included “black art” in which an object that was painted half black and half white seemed to float and disappear in midair.

Joe loved this trick but thought it could be better. Meanwhile Bob planned to become a doctor. But during the summer before he began college, Bob had an accident that ended his plans. Because his injury effected his head, he had to recover in a darkened room. While Bob healed, Joe spent time in the basement with him studying the glow of fluorescence, hoping to use it in his magic show. Together the brothers built an ultraviolet lamp which they tested in their father’s pharmacy. When they shone it on a shelf full of bottles, a container of eyewash glowed yellow.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-the-day-glo-brothers-inventing

Image copyright Tony Persiani, text copyright Chris Barton. Courtesy of Charlesbridge

The brothers had an idea. They experimented with chemicals that could make paints glow in the dark. In regular light the paint looked normal, but under ultraviolet light it radiated attention-getting colors. That was great for Joe’s magic act, but Bob thought these paints could be used for other things too, such as store-window displays. Selling the paint could help pay for Bob’s medical bills too.

Bob and Joe searched through the university and other labs for other fluorescent materials. They then combined them with other ingredients in their mother’s mixing bowl to create glowing paints and even once—when the mixing bowl was not cleaned well enough—a very colorful cake!

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-the-day-glo-brothers-inventing

Image copyright Tony Persiani, text copyright Chris Barton. Courtesy of Charlesbridge

Joe used these paints to major effect in one of his acts in which a dancing woman “lost her head” as Joe, unseen by the audience in the darkened theater, took off her headdress as she danced away. This trick brought Bob and Joe lots of customers for their original paints. But there was one problem: these colors only shone under ultraviolet light.

One day in 1935, however, one of Bob’s experiments resulted in a surprising innovation—a dye that glowed even in daylight. Bob didn’t know how exactly it had worked, so the brothers continued experimenting. Finally, they discovered the secret when an orange billboard they had created glowed as if it were on fire even in the daytime! The brothers then created reds, yellows, greens, and other colors that could do the same thing.

During World War II these glowing colors were used on fabric panels used to send signals from the ground to airplanes overhead, in lifeboats, on buoys, and on other safety products. After the war the colors continued to influence culture and are still part of our lives today.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-the-day-glo-brothers-final

Image copyright Tony Persiani, text copyright Chris Barton. Courtesy of Charlesbridge

Older kids with a penchant for science and history will love this biography. Chris Barton goes in-depth to reveal the Switzer brothers’ dreams and motivations that resulted in a most astounding discovery. Barton infuses the story with humor and interesting details that will fascinate curious minds.

Using a retro style, Tony Persiani sets this biography in its time while also giving the story a modern feel. Gray scale tones become dotted with florescent color as the brothers’ experiments bear fruit and give way to eye-popping spreads with the ultimate success of Day-Glo paints and dyes.

Ages 7 – 12

Charlesbridge, 2009 | ISBN 978-1570916731

Brother’s Day Activity

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Day-Glow Maze

 

Follow the twisty glowing paths to match the Day-Glo product to the object they color! Print the Day-Glo Maze puzzle here!

Picture Book Review

May 23 – World Turtle Day

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About the Holiday

American Tortoise Rescue founded World Turtle Day in 2000 to raise awareness and respect for turtles and tortoises and to promote conservation to help them survive. Celebrations take many forms, from fun activities where participants dress as turtles to educational programs that teach about this fascinating creature and how people can help turtles in danger.

Turtle and Me

Written by Robie H. Harris | Illustrated by Tor Freeman

 

The little boy narrator of this story tells readers he met Turtle on the day he was born. Turtle was “way bigger” than he was. Now, the little boy is bigger than Turtle, but they are still best friends. When the boy was a baby he smiled and laughed every time he played with Turtle. As he grew he needed Turtle around to comfort him.

At naptime Turtle made him feel less sad and lonely and allowed him to sleep. Even now, when the boy is older, he still likes to play with Turtle even though his colors have faded, he’s ripped and raggedy, and some bad things have happened to him.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-turtle-and-me-sleeping

Image copyright Tor Freeman, 2015, text copyright Robie H. Harris, 2015. Courtesy of simonandschuster.com.

When bad things happened to Turtle the little boy felt terrible; sometimes he even cried and knew Turtle was sad too. But the boy always made sure that Turtle “gets sewn up, washed up, fixed up—and is okay again.” Once Turtle was left at the park. The little boy and his mom raced back and found Turtle covered in mud, sticky with gum, and with two new rips.  Even though Turtle felt gross the boy held him tight all the way home. At home Turtle received a very thorough wash and dry and an extra big hug. The little boy promised Turtle he would never let anything happen to him again.

But then last Friday “the worst thing of all happened.” The boy and his friend were sailing around the world in a cardboard box. Turtle was the Captain. But the boy’s friend wanted to be Captain and steer the ship. She grabbed Turtle away, and the boy grabbed Turtle back. In the ensuing tug-of-war, Turtle suffered “the biggest, baddest, most gigantic, horrible rip ever!”

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-turtle-and-me-playground

Image copyright Tor Freeman, 2015, text copyright Robie H. Harris, 2015. Courtesy of simonandschuster.com.

The boy shouted at his friend: “You ripped my Turtle!” Before leaving, the boy’s friend yelled back: “Having Turtle’s a BABY thing!” The little boy hugged Turtle tight and then looked at him. Turtle had lost almost all his stuffing. The boy quickly pushed the fluff back in and taped Turtle’s tummy back up.

But the boy had a change of heart. Suddenly Turtle looked ugly, and the little boy left him on the floor alone. At bedtime, when Daddy brought Turtle to his son, he said he didn’t want Turtle anymore, but sleep without Turtle was elusive. Finally, the boy shouted, “I can’t sleep!” and his dad asked, “Do you want Turtle?” “‘NO’”, the boy said. “‘Having Turtle’s a baby thing! And I’m BIG! And I’m getting bigger! So I don’t need Turtle ever again!’”

His dad thought about this and agreed. His son was getting bigger, but he’s not all big. Daddy picked up Turtle and played with him, making the little boy laugh. Then the boy copied his dad, making his dad laugh. The little boy realized that holding Turtle still felt good. He hugged him close and in no time was fast asleep.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-turtle-and-me-torn

Image copyright Tor Freeman, 2015, text copyright Robie H. Harris, 2015. Courtesy of simonandschuster.com.

Robie Harris’s sweet story of a little boy and his best friend Turtle reminds kids that no matter how big they get, it’s okay to find comfort in a favorite toy. The story has a deeper meaning for kids as well: things happen; sometimes bad things. But with love mistakes can be cleaned up, scrapes will heal, and scary situations will turn out all right. And when you need them, those who love you are there to help and help make you feel better.

The mishaps Turtle experiences are instantly recognizable and related in a gentile, honest way that will draw kids in. Near the end of the book, kids will root for the little boy and Turtle to patch things up and be best friends again.

Everyone wants a best friend as cool as Turtle! Tor Freeman’s vivid illustrations of the little boy and his plucky stuffed companion are adorable and full of emotion. The close family bonds are well depicted, and the images of the boy hugging Turtle will melt your heart. The looks of anguish on the little boy’s face as Turtle suffers stains and rips elicit sympathy and understanding and are followed up by comforting smiles when Turtle is fixed up.

Turtle and Me would be a terrific addition to home and classroom bookshelves for sweet story times and  when reassurance and a little extra love and comfort are needed.

Ages 3 – 8

little bee books, 2015 | ISBN 978-1499800463

World Turtle Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-turtle-shell-game

Follow the Turtles! Game

 

You can make this fun game from recycled materials and a little creativity! When you’re finished making the turtle shells, have fun guessing where the marble, bead or bean is hiding!

Supplies

  • Cardboard egg carton
  • Green tissue paper in different hues
  • Green construction or craft paper
  • A marble, bead, or bean
  • Glue
  • Scissors

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-turtle-game

Directions

  1. Cut the egg carton apart into individual cups. You will need 3 cups for each game made.
  2. Cut the rims of the cups so they sit flat on a table.
  3. If the cups have open sides, fit two cups inside one another to fill the gaps
  4. Cut the tissue paper into small shapes
  5. Brush glue on a cup (I used a paper towel to apply glue)
  6. Cover the egg cup with pieces of tissue paper. Repeat with other cups.
  7. Let dry
  8. Cut a head and feet from the green craft paper
  9. Tape or glue the edges of head and feet to the inside of the cups
  10. Add a face to the head

To play the game:

  1. Line up the cups on a table
  2. Put a bead, bean, or marble under one of the cups
  3. Show the other player which cup the object is under
  4. Quickly move the cups around each other several times
  5. Ask the other player which cup they think the object is under
  6. Take turns playing

Extra Game: Make three more and play turtle tic-tac-toe! 

May 22 – National Maritime Day

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About the Holiday

National Maritime Day commemorates the day in 1819 that the steamship Savannah sailed from the United States to England. This event marked the first successful crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by steam propulsion. The US Congress proclaimed May 22 National Maritime Day in 1933. The day gives us an opportunity to honor the ships and seafarers who have served our country in peacetime and during war and to remember the benefits the maritime industry.

Toy Boat

Written by Randall de Sève | Illustrated by Loren Long

 

A little boy makes a toy boat from a can, a cork, a pencil and some white cloth. He loves his boat and carries it with him everywhere. Every day the boy takes his boat to the lake and sails it all afternoon. The boy always keeps his toy boat on a string so he won’t lose it. The boat feels secure, but sometimes it gazes out at the big sailboats gliding across the lake and wonders “what it would feel like to sail free.”

One afternoon a squall blows up on the lake, and the boy’s mother pulls him quickly from the edge of the thrashing water. Startled, the boy drops the string and his toy boat floats away. The boat is buffeted by the wind and rain and is carried into deep water where it rides the crests of the wind-whipped waves. As the storm subsides a tug chugs along, pushing the little boat further aside.

The tiny craft rights itself just in time to avoid being sunk by a ferry that blows its horn, warning, “Move Along!” But the tug and the ferry aren’t the only dangers on the water. A fierce speedboat roars past, its engine screaming, “Move Along!”, and its draft sending the little boat reeling. The toy boat feels small and scared as it drifts into the middle of a fleet of sailboats racing to port. For a moment the toy boat and a large sloop “cut through the choppy waves side by side. And the little toy boat felt big. Then the white boat tilted high on its side, spraying the little toy boat with water, warning, “Move along!”

Half drowned and its sail soaked, the little toy boat misses the boy. It bobs all night on the open water, “alone and scared.” As the sun rises an old fishing boat, dented and with peeling paint, put-puts by. It spies the little boat and, knowing how it feels to be pushed around, begins to circle the tiny craft. In the fishing boat’s wake, the toy boat turns and catches the wind in its sail. Soon it is sailing alongside the fishing boat.

“The little toy boat felt strong! ‘I am moving along,’ it shouted to the wind.” The little boat feels so good that it doesn’t realize it is now sailing alone or that it is nearing the shore, where the little boy is watching out for it. When the boy shouts, “Boat! Boat!” the now brave craft waves its sail excitedly and sees the boy wave back.

That night the little boat sails bathtub seas and sleeps on a soft mattress. The next day the boy takes the boat back to the lake, and while he still holds the boat by a string, every so often he lets go, and the little toy boat always comes back. “It knew just where it wanted to be.”

Randall de Sève’s tale of independence sought and found by both the little boat and the boy will resonate with both children and adults. The safety of the “string” set against the perceived freedom of older or bigger others is a universal and on-going rite of passage for every child and their parents and is treated by de Sève with gentleness and understanding. The various dangers and even personalities children meet with are introduced here allowing kids to see that while they may be buffeted by change or adversity, they will not sink.

Loren Long lends his well-known artwork to this story in beautiful two-page spreads that depict the security of first the small bathtub and then the calm lake as well as the storm-tossed waves that take the toy boat into unknown territory. The smallness of the toy boat compared with the size of the tug, ferry, speedboat, and racing sloops well reflects the experiences of children in the wider world. When the friendly face of the fishing trawler comes on the scene, kids will identify with the toy boat and realize help and support are out there and that they are always welcomed home with love.

Ages 3 and up

Philomel Books, Penguin Young Readers, 2014 (board book edition) | ISBN 978-0399167973

National Maritime Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-maritime-flag-puzzle

 

Show Your Colors! Word Puzzle

 

While ships can’t talk to each other, they can communicate using a system of flags. These colorful flags carrying different designs are recognized internationally as representing letters and symbols. Individual flags have specific meanings related to safety, emergency, or warning issues or they can be combined to form a code that only certain ships can understand.

Use the provided maritime flags code to decipher a special message! Print the Show Your Colors! word puzzle and get decoding! Here’s the Solution!