READ UP!

Have you got your library card ready?  Reserve these books now, and check them out!

Say Hello!
Linda Davick
This book's official summary puts it very nicely: "...the world would be a lot more fun if hellos were shared." The rhyming text offers a wealth of different ways to give a friendly greeting: "With a hug.  With a shake.  With a Curtsy.  With a Cake."  I love the letter in the mail going to Uncle Wally on Sea Lion Drive in Pacifica!  The huge pictures of smiling faces, the abundance of white space surrounding them, the simple ideas offered one-per-page: all of these things pull in the adult reader & children, inviting them to take time to think & talk about each possibility, and to brainstorm a few other ways to offer hellos, and kindness.

Puddles
Jonathan London & G. Brian Karas
Here, a brother & sister take great joy in exploring the post-rainstorm world of their own yard & neighborhood, filled as it is with frogs, worms, mud, tiny rivers, and (of course) puddles!  Is Mom's order to not get wet one that is even possible to follow?  I love the sense of adventure here, and the opening to discuss that adventure, and the post-rain world, with young co-readers.

Have you read these books?  What do you think?  If you have any other favorite books to share, I'd love to hear about them!

Click on this link & READ UP!  I have many more great books to share with you!

-- Storyteller John Weaver

Read Up: Two at random

Ready for a couple of more fun reads?  Here are two of my picks-- one fiction, one non-fiction.

“Eat!” Cried Little Pig

Jonathan London & Delphine Durand

The first time I read Little Pig’s hungry tale aloud at a library, the small children were laughing hysterically.  Part of this was surely the squeal-y voice I gave the character, and my wild gesticulation—but the words and images make this kind of telling easy for any reader, I think.  Little Pig’s first word was “EAT!” And “he ate off his plate, and he ate ON his plate”—and there was food everywhere!”   Funny pictures and an increasing mess make this a very attractive book; more straight-laced grownups will appreciate that everyone cleans up nicely in the end.

Life-Size Aquarium

Teruyuki Komiya

A big draw of this book is its huge—yes, life-sized—photographs of aquatic animals including penguins, sea otters, and dolphins (no, the entire animals do NOT always fit on the page; some of them, like the Humphead Wrasse, need a four-page spread)!  The book is great for sitting together with a child or two on the couch, because the margins are absolutely filled with facts that children will find fascinating (for instance, did you know that the dugong—a manatee relative—poops about two pounds a day?  And that each of those is shaped like a sausage?  Make any face you want, but you know children will find that fascinating).  Huge, beautiful images, & lots of learning along the way, make this a fun read-together.  Also check out Life-Size Zoo.