The Seed and the Giant Saguaro

The Seed and the Giant Saguaro is a cumulative tale like  This is the House that Jack Built. The brown tones reflect the desert landscape very well.
Looking at the bird feet tracks, our young reader called them footprints.
Whose?
birdie.

Do Lions live on lily pads?

Do Lions live on lily pads by Melanie Walsh.

Its an odd book in that, its half a puzzle. It has these amazing pictures of goat in a nest and other mixed up habitants and habitata. But you dont know where everyone lives. You only know where some live.

Where Are You?

Where are You by Francesca Simon

Its amazing how, when a search begins among people, its not one but two stories of parallel searches. Grandpa and Grandson duo mistake others for their lost and are finally united in the SuperMarket, where it all began.

On second rereading, we noticed that the page with Harry's shadow also has Grandpa's shadow, towards the back.

Tallulah's Tutu

Tallulah's Tutu by Marilyn Singer

A book with great illustrations. My daughter was doing twirls and lifting her legs all day. I thought this would be a great read. But something was off. Tallulah thinking of the tutu on every page got boresome.

Who wants a Cheap Rhinoceros?

Who wants a Cheap Rhinoceros by Shil Silverstein

Its an everything but the kitchen sink kind of story with all the things that a rhino could do in a house. A theme would have made it more palatable.

Wild About You

Wild about you by Judy Sierra

The story is fine. What out me off about the book is the background print in places which make sit hard to find where the text is, at one glance. 

Every bit Dyno Mite

The Dyno-Mite Dog Show
Agnes is the kind of girl who is famous in the school. Principal knows her name and that in a not good way. she and her club have good intentions of community service, by the way of a dog show at a retirement village. Its a good thing that I dont register the turns and twists of plot after having selected a book to read. It was there in my mind that there might be some disaster, but when the dog show began in time, I had to retrack if anything like 'pests' on posters instead of pets was the underplayed disaster. An then the winning dog goes missing. Hidden from the owner, it doesnt cause as much mayhem.
There is lot of word play. Many metaphors. Bus like a shark.
Agnes is slightly mean what with framing the freckles on a boy's face as 'connect the dots'. The pictures are interesting. Wow, a bubble gum in the form of a fish. It is fun to watch how the kids begin resenting each other and then become great friends having worked on something together. In very few pages, the author has done a portrayal of wide number of characters and events. Enough to sustain the weight needed for a series.
As a character, Agnes is resourceful like a Wedding Planner. And also the girl Dennis.

Lady and the Tramp

While reading this story, my daughter stopped on the alligator page and referred to the green liquid as oil and wondered why there are no coins like in the alligator pond at Rainforest Cafe in Mill Avenue.

One page, shows a sinister lady without showing her face, dressed in grey overalls. My daughter pointed to her as an elephant.

Yesterday at the sky harbor airporrt, we saw lots of service dogs and their companions. Must be off to some event. We petted a 4 month old puppy at the parking lot as she couldnt pet the service dogs.

Richard Scarry's Busiest People Ever

I didnt know that today would be the day my daughter learns about her parents professions. In the story, cat grocer calls the police station, that a thief made it good with something from the store. On the next page are a horde of people going about their work with their tools of trade. A man shown managing a briefcase with wads of money is labeled as a lawyer. I pointed to my child that her papa is a lawyer too. With that down, I told her that I am engineer. Next she was supposed to tell her papa that she knows that he is a lawyer. After some prodding and ear-whispering we got it out. Then her papa asked her about mom. Without hesitation she said, 'Mama is a fire fighter". Recently, they had a fire engine come to their school for demonstration.

From the time I remember, I remember my mom as a teacher. The life in the village revolved around mom being a teacher, and all he people who took care of us were her students. it took me a while to realise what my dad. His company and their perks of an exclusive ride in the company van, when I missed the bus were enough of a status. I later learnt that he is a field assistant in a crop research institute an he cross-pollinated chickpeas. 

Books your toddlers can read by themselves

Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you see by Bill Martin and Eric Carle

You will see the crescendoes in your child's voice when they repeat the starting lines, and recognize the animals in the next page.

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

After a few readings, the kids will practically read this book to themselves. One question that was wormholy is the page of 'Goodnight House' where my daughter asked me Whats in the house? Then we recalled all the tings in the house.

The Alphabet Book by P D Eastman

Once your kids are able to recognise some animals and things, this is an easy book for them to read and connect two of a same kind or not.

For my daughter, everything is a story. She points to the reindeer soft toy in the car and asks me if I told her the reindeer story. One saturday mornign she wakes up and wants to heat papa story and then the whole family and neighbors story. In that vein, this is the alphabet story according to her.

Bruno Munari's Zoo

Bruno Munari's Zoo

Butterflies like Clover, Hover on every page.

The illustration have a special style of having an animal in smaller size afar and  a bigger one in the front, with some color dabbled in spots. The text adds energy to the drawings with observations and pictorial metaphors.

BlueBird

by Bob Staake

Some readers feel that this book is similar to the film Red Balloon.

Personally I did tumble a bit reading the picture book. I like the circle approximation of trees. The rest of the city buildings lend to square and rectangles.

Hide and Seek

According to the book by Il Sung Na, the illustrations were created by combining handmade painterly textures with digitally generated layers, which were then compiled in Adobe PhotoShop. They are very reminiscent of Eric Carle's illustrations.

Usually counting books have gimmicky animals but his one has care not butterflies. My daughter is just beginning to learn the concept of hide and seek. This book is a good companion in that aspect.

The kids learn a bit about one thing resembling another, Chameleon's ability to blend with the environment.

Hunters of the Great Forest

by Dennis Nolan

The Hunters of the Great Forest set out with many tools - looking glass, scope, spear, walking stick, bag and camp bed. They help each other on their journey just like us. There's only one difference. They belong to a place like Whoville in 'Horton hears a Who'. They are double the size of ants. Its like Gulliver Travels but instead of Gulliver in the Land of Lilliputs. Its Lilliputs in the Land of Gulliver, who is actually a sweet girl enjoying her marshmallows by the campside. After running into a bunch of hostile, huge animals like frog, a blue jay, the campside is the success point of their mission. After their find, they go to their village and party. Their tools are now the find of a band of ants.
If the girl were to trace the route of the hunters back to the village, it would be a 'Walk in the Woods' from her perspective. You dont realise that it is a picture book, with the illustrations speaking for themselves. Each page has a clear agenda.

I would have thought that I would be bored of reading the same story book again. But its amazing to see how many new things are seen on a reread. In the first reading, we were concentrating on whole mushrooms and frog. In the second reading, we realised that there was a foreshadowing of these elements partially in the previous page.

Buzz

Should bees fly?

Bumble Bee Tumbles the Fact

in Buzz by Eileen Spinelli

I didnt know about this myth that 'Buzz cant fly'. That aside, the illustrations and clear pictures of the sky, mountains, hills and brambles make it an amazing game to identify. The elements of the illustrations in each page are limited, so its easy to get your toddler to interact with it, by pointing to and asking them to tell what they see. Buzz has friends she care about and swoops to them high and low, as they are not all who can fly. In an emergency, she 'rises' up to the situation despite the professors's words.
For grownups, this will lead you to a concept called 'Dynamic Stall' that begins with “Aerodynamic bodies subjected to pitching motions or oscillations exhibit a stalling behavior different from that observed when the flow over a wing at a fixed angle of attack separates”.
Oh well, I think you will like the Buzz saving his friend at the end of the day better..

Just for curiosity sake, I asked my daughter if the snail could fly. She said No. When i asked why, she had it all pat down about it not having wings. I was surprised that she could infer it from our everyday conversations about birds and planes being able to fly by having wings. But in all honesty, when we reread the book, I noticed that the text too refers to the snail being unable to fly.
She retained the word flipped from this book.

How to Hide a Lion

NYTimes review

Why the Lion came to Town?

The lion/tiger stories that I from my childhood usually involve animals and morals (The Story of Bahula Cow ). By chance, if they have humans in them, its mostly in the cautionary tale vein ( An old tiger and greedy traveller).
But once children get involved, we see how kids are so enamored by animals and will do anything to have them for friends, like Annie with her puppy. What if the animal is a huge lion. Still it does not deter them. In this 'How to hide a Lion" story, Iris helps Lion by hiding her in the house. The illustrations and the one line text in each page move the story effortlessly. Sometimes Iris looks so small when compare to the lion, I couldnt help but think of the tiny mouse in the Aesop's fable of The Lion and the Mouse. And sometimes when they are playful and jumping on the bed, the lion looks amiable as a life size dog. My toddler enjoyed this book and asked for an encore reading. As the story goes on, when the Lion asks for his wish, we almost forget, why he came to the town.
Most of the time the Lion is sleeping in the story. We went to the zoo recently and found the Lion sleeping. This resonated with the actions of the Lion in the story. 

library lions - Patience and Fortitude

Mighty Dads

After Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site , I have anew fascination for construction site books.
This "Mighty Dads" book joins two themes of all the interesting stuff the equipment do on the construction site and Dad and kid working, learning and having fun together e.g  Lets Build which is about a father and son building a home for their dog.
The tiny machine following the big machine is a cute idea. My daughter is taken by the baby in the book and will only follow the baby and not the adults. In that case, this mini version of the toys will keep such kids fascination all along.
The color palette of the book is vibrant.

Library Hour

Ike's Incredible Ink. If Ike can design a rocket so he can get the ink from the moon's shadow, you know he's capable of anything, even writing.

and

The Green Bath



The Green Bath book is interesting with the pictures and the tub with a face, but it felt a bit too long. 

All Kinds of Strong

The pictures in the book are like paintings each. It is filled with color reminiscent of Van Gogh's swirls. Islands of things. Because this book is also a way of life once, its imagined history for kids. This could have been a plain picture book too as the images are very 'strong'.
The story reveals the strength in bonds of community and helping others.

The Frog Toad Collection

The Frog and Toad has such lovable illustrations.
In 'The Icecream' when toad falls to the bottom of the pond, my little reader said 'Frog is rescuing Toad'. Words sound so beautiful, when a toddler says them.

'The Surprise' seems so dark, that the Frog and Toad will never know that their friends cleaned up their frontyard of leaves and the evil wind spread the pile of dirt all over.