The Cow Said Neigh!

The Cow Said Neigh! (board book): A Farm Story Board book 

by Rory Feek (Author), Bruno Robert (Illustrator)

You would have thought that all the books that could be written on farm animals are done. But thats not true. Sakes Alive! cattle drive

As you keep reading the story, with rhyme in place you can guess what the animal is going to say in some cases. When a new animal comes in and all the other animals have made their unusual sounds, you think that would be the one saying Moo as that is what was unsaid so far, the mystery thickens as more animals enter. Dog, cat and even the farmer ..so on.. 

It was funny how the preschooler stuck to her facts and read her own version of another farm story where every one says their usual sounds.

Cute illustrations. Creative twist.

Boats for Papa

My friend told me about this book Boats for Papa by Jessixa Bagley.
Its a touching story. I thought I was prepared to cry but didnt in the end. The illustrations are lucid. The seagull on the rooftop is so clear and so are the boat designs. The ocean is huge.

Ten Tears and One Embrace

The illustrations are whimsical. Looking at different kinds of tears makes the reader hyper aware of different situations when we have tears in our eyes. The book makes you cognizant of the differences in the different situations you cry.
Its like Eskimos having more than 20 words for snow because each is different.
The font of the text too is artistic. The color palette of pastels went very well with the theme.
The lens of kids finding this out in the laboratory encourages kids to list out all things related to a theme that they are interested in.
The language and thought is very poetic. tears being shiny that they can be put to many uses, keeping the bottle of tears open so they can join the clouds are all simple yet profound.
Las ilustraciones son caprichosas. Mirando diferentes tipos de lágrimas hace que el lector hiper consciente de diferentes situaciones cuando tenemos lágrimas en nuestros ojos. El libro te hace consciente de las diferencias en las diferentes situaciones que llores.
Es como esquimales tener más de 20 palabras para la nieve porque cada uno es diferente.
La fuente del texto también es artística. La paleta de colores de pasteles fue muy bien con el tema.
La lente de los niños que encuentran esto en el laboratorio anima a los niños a enumerar todas las cosas relacionadas con un tema que les interesa.
El lenguaje y el pensamiento son muy poéticos. Las lágrimas son brillantes que se pueden poner a muchos usos, manteniendo la botella de lágrimas abiertas para que puedan unirse a las nubes son todo simple pero profundo.

Drum City

I was reading 'Drum City' by Thea Guidone along with my preschooler and feeding the rice cereal to my infant. And I think I have hit upon a great ritual. It couldnt have started with a better book. All that rhyming. I like how every page on the book starts with DRUM which is like a big caesura but the rest on the lines that follow flow like waves. There's mystery too..
" people in banks,
people in shops,
everywhere, everything, everyone
STOPS"

and I wondered why...
On the next spread is the huge army of kids with their tubs and tins..
The illustrations are well done too. Catchy enough for preschoolers to call out what they see.

Second time around, I started singing it..

Corduroy

My daughter picked this book from the library along with three others which we finished reading, but with this one, we were procrastinating because it seemed like too much text in a small book. The illustrations are cute, the story setting very heavy, transformational like the love of a bunny for a kid making him real or the creator giving life to toys kind of thing. How we got to reading this book finally was after seeing Corduroy Trick or Treat at  the mall where we were riding the turntable.

The end about the kid sewing was slightly unbelievable.

One Red Paper Clip for Kids

I havent heard of the Japanese story Straw Millionaire until I read about this book. Antonio wants a guitarro but all he gets is a stick from his Papa which is what he got from his Papa before he got his guitarro.
Involving a perro (dog), pajaro (bird), burro (donkey), gato (cat), a groom, a wedding and a mariachi band, can Antonio fulfill his dreams of a guitarro for himself?
With an undercurrent of how is something going to be helpful in getting a guitar, Antonio finds himself helping others get warmth, satisfy hunger, reduce pain, save from drowning and so on. Such a lovely kid like the sweet brother in 'How much for the Doggie in he window' (soaking in the rain at his lemonade stand) has an incredible journey trading up.
The illustrations are soft and the texture, hols you to each section of it, inviting you to explore.

Oneredpaperclip

Out of the Blue

The first idiom I remember in English is broke down. In 'Out of the Blue' I learnt some new idioms like ticked pink, shrinking violet, diffrent horse. The illustrations are minimal but the colour is deep spread.

An Idiom is a very powerful thing. in English, it first happened to me in sixth grade in a lesson called 'I met a Bushman'. It was the narrator saying his car 'broke down'.
'Out of the Blue - A Book of Color Idioms and Silly Pictures' is a great creative book for kids. I myself walk out of the book with few new idioms - tickled pink, yellow bellied and so on.
The illustrations are neat and the colour is emphatic.
There is a good mix of culture - brown bag. Red tape and Red letters illustrations are different from what I have in my mind.
(NetGalley)

Its  a great idea to make a page with a color Idiom and ask kids to guess it or give an idiom and ask them to illustrate it.

The True Spirit of Christmas

Christmas warms us up to the familiarity of the same 'The Christmas' movie run on TV every year. Well two years ago.. 'Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus'.. was a new Christmas story for me. If thats so in the movie world. Book world too has its new additions each year. last year it was 'The Wondrous Tree' by Gramps Doodlebug.
This year's 'The True Spirit of Christmas' by Dorothy Thurgood Manning, a picture book with rhyming verse will make the readers reflect on why is Christmas so wonderful time. Yes we receive gifts but more fun than receiving is giving. The little girl in the story realises the value of making gifts with her own hands. The illustrations have a pleasant feel. All the gifts involved in the book can be used as craft projects too. A popsicle stick jewellery box is a cool idea.. so are the rest of the gifts. So not only do we appreciate the spirit of Christmas but we get to implement and share the joy should we want to make those gifts.

Dreams of Freedom

Dreams of Freedom In words and Pictures has a variety of illustrations to go with the quotes that have been selected from people who have fought for different kinds of freedom. Right to education from Malala Yousafzai is definitely easier to relate for kids. In that vein, I am thinking that a quote from Emelin aged 15 from Guatamela who spoke at the United Nations would be more inspiring for kids to fight for their rights. The Little Dutch Boy who saved Holland was captivating to me as a child, as it was a heroic act by child (spoiler - even if its a myth).
The illustrations push me to think of how I would put my favourite quotes and words in pictures.
The quotes meld into the pictures, be it as an outline of wings that a tortured handicapped person wishes for or like a trapeze of people flying free. scrap book effect. Poster style. Story style.

The Big Great green Book

This whole year, every morning I wake to a message and illustration by Chandler kids for conservation regarding preservation of our environment and our limited sources that sustain us. Kids have a way of looking at things differently from us and as the The Great Big Green Book shows in the 'Invent' Section of alternate ways of living and harnessing destructive energies in unthought of ways.
This book is a good way to inform and get the kids brainstorming about what they think can be done differently so their future generations have the biosphere unharmed. The illustrations are very cute for a red alarm message that has lost its meaning for our generation in the climate change conspiracy debate. Having a cat think what this all means for itself, encourages kids to put themselves in others shoes. like say plant or animal kingdom with respect to human action consequences.

Story books in frames

Mercy Gilbert Hospital has pages of  "Two Cool Coyotes" and "Have you ever seen a Jackalope" in the lobby of new moms.

and

Three Bears in a Boat

The sea in each page and the sky are pleasant. When the bears come to the cave, looking for a blue seashell for their mom, I was reminded of the 'Cave' book by Diane Siebert that I picked up along with this book. I am glad that there are connections that I can use to interlink books.

Bugs Galore

The well spaced imaginary  bugs filling the page is engrossing. The lightning bug did make us wonder where we could we catch them at the nearest.
Firefly in Arizona
I have seen fireflies in Georgia, in an apartment which bordered woods. I then had to explain my daughter about woods and forest.

What time is it Mr Crocodile?

We read this story as children about a beguiling crocodile wanting the sweet heart of a monkey for her husband in The Monkey and the Crocodile. I didnt realise that this rivalry was universal. In 'What time is it Mr Crocodile?', the crocodile thinks the monkeys are pesky. Mr Esquire even makes an agenda for tomorrow involving the extermination of monkeys. The list of activities to be done reminded me of the Frog's list in The Frog and the Toad series.
After reading the story, my daughter kept telling papa that the crocodile fell upside down. It didnt strike me at all, that it was in this book. I had totally forgotten about it. In that page, crocodile is upside down having tumbled from the skate board. At first, her reaction was that the book is upside down.
In the end, the crocodile has a change of heart, after the monkeys realise that the crocodile is tired and make him 'Monkey stew'.
What might seaweed ice cream be?

And Away we go

Compared to the sly fox in The Fox and the Stork, its a merry fox in 'And Away we go' that lets all animals join the hot air balloon ride and enjoy friends company.

I know its Autumn

'I know its Autumn' is a human version of Little ferns first winter, where the kid recounts all things different in autumn - acorn art, picking apples, raking leaves.

Little Fern's First Winter

While playing hide-and-seek and taking turns to hide, rabbits Fern and Bracken learn how all animals prepare for winter. This informative book is connected with the frame of these little rabbits, knocking at every animals door, if they can hide where they stay.

Come Along Daisy

The other day, I was telling my toddler that dragonflies are found near water. She goes 'No. Ducks are in the pond'. 'Come Along Daisy' is the perfect book to refute that with Daisy duckling playing with dragonflies.
The illustrations, zoomed to a duck's view are amazing.

How Do Dinosaurs Love their Dogs?

I am just wondering how would 'How Do Dinosaurs Love their dogs' have been, had the author interspersed the questions of how Dinos treat their dogs with how they do instead of bunching all the bad behaviour in one section and all the good in another. Wouldnt the 'They dont this, they do this' work better on the same spread?

With each page and a dinosaur in it, my toddler kept asking for the name of dinosaurs. Noticing the suffix 'saurus' of every name, she goes 'What does Saurus mean?' We were going to look up in the iphone and then recognised this to be a good time for cracking the dictionary open. She wants to stop at every illustration and find out what it is.

How Much is the Doggie in the Window

How Much is the Doggie in the Window story by Iza Trapani

My daughter has read this story with us for about four times now. After coming to the page, where the doggie is no longer in the window, she pointed out that there is no doggie. The shopkeeper gives the boy a lollipop to assuage him. Looking at that she says, he does not want lollipop. Then I asked, what does he want,
She goes Doggie!


When you scan the page where the kid is lying on a bed, you find the baseball at the bottom of the table, but there's a baseball next to it, that is the same colour as the table and becomes invisble.