Groundhog Day and a fast forward to April Fools

Well, I've got a girl power Groundhogs Day read for you all here today. It's the story of Punxsutawney Phyllis by Susanna Leonard Hill and illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler. Phyllis is a young groundhog with a gift. She's also part of the famous family lineage of Punxsutawney Phil. The gift that she has is the family's weather predicting skill. Only problem is that this job has always been done by a boy family member not a girl. Phyllis does not let anyone hold her back though. She's determined to prove that she's got what it takes to be the next Punsutawney Phil Phyllis that is. It's a really well written story with lots of heart. The illustrations are bold, colorful and wonderfully detailed.

When I discovered Punxsutawney Phyllis at our library I also noticed April Fool, Phyllis also by Susanna Leonard Hill and Illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler and decided to get them both even though April Fools is a ways a way. I'm so glad that I did. My two loved both these books and getting to know little, determined Phyllis. In this book once again Phyllis is putting her weather predicting skill to good use but her family thinks she's trying to pull an April Fools joke on them. It's one of the best and quite honestly only April Fools day reads I've read. The family of groundhogs have fun pulling pranks on one another throughout the day leading to their annual Spring treasure hunt. The pranks are quite clever and gave my two some fun insight into this odd little Holiday! I'm not much of a prankster so April Fools is usually a passing day but I think Phyllis and her brothers just may inspire me this year to have a little more fun!

Winter Eyes

What I Love About Winter
Frozen lakes
Hot pancakes
Lots of snow
Hot Cocoa
Skates and Skis
Evergreen trees
Funny Hats
Thermostats
Sunset blaze
Holidays
Snowball fights
Fireplace nights
Chimneys steaming
Winter dreaming

by Douglas Florian

What I Hate About Winter

Frozen toes
Running nose
Sloppy slush
Holiday crush
15 below
Shoveling snow
Leafless trees
Cough and wheeze
Shorter day
Less time to play
Salt-spreading tractors
Windchill factors
No place to go -
Winter is slow

by Douglas Florian

The above poems are from the book Winter Eyes which is a collection of poems and paintings by Douglas Florian. We've been reading through his series of seasonal collection of poems starting with Summersaults and still needing to conclude with Handsprings but I couldn't wait any longer to share these wonderful poetry books! The other book in this series is Autumnblings. I've been searching for great poetry books for me and the kids to enjoy and we have found them. These are relatable for the youngest of readers yet meaningfully and well written. They are funny. They capture the beauty and subtlety of the season. They flow from your tongue as you read as poetry should. The artwork is quirky, unique and charming. Again, very relatable to a child and is wonderfully simple. I hope to sprinkle some of favorite poems from these books here and there in my posts to bring some cheer to your day and mine! And I will be posting more of our favorite poetry books by Douglas Florian in the future as well.

A trio of books

I wanted to share a trio of books today by Carl R Sams II and Jean Stoick. This pair of wildlife photographers have put together charming yet educational series of picture books using photographs of a young deer and other animals in nature. The books include: Lost in the Woods, First Snow in the Woods and Stranger in the Woods. In these books you follow a young deer through it's first year from when it is just born and finding it's way too it's first winter season. It's a fun way to share the changes in the season and in life with your own little ones. My favorite is Stranger in the Woods. It's the most surprising of the three and I just love the idea of a winter snowman built to feed the animals of the woods. There's even instructions in the back for creating your own 'feeding' snowman.

Zero is the Leaves on the Tree

Fall LOVE is here for me again this year. I love this season and just couldn't resist sharing one of our new favorite fall reads. It's called Zero is the Leaves on the Tree by Betsy Franco and illustrated by Shino Arihara. It takes you through all the seasons starting with fall and on too summer sharing all the many instances that there are zero like leaves, kites in the sky, sleds on the hill and so on through the seasons. Its deals with so many wonderful conceptual lessons like that of zero but also seasons and the five senses too as some of the 'zeros' to be found include sound as well as sight and touch. The drawings are soft and muted in their color palette as they charmingly depict young children at play.

The Bumper Book of Nature

This summer has been about enjoying nature as much as possible, we have been out and about and exploring! Aiding us in our summer of exploration is The Bumper Book of Nature: A User's Guide to the Great Outdoors by Stephen Moss. The book takes a look at fun things to do and look for through out all the seasons not just summer. It's not an exhaustive guide and the ideas shared are well geared for me and my two preschoolers to tackle. Along with ideas to enjoy the season like making a bark rubbing, listening to the heartbeat of a tree and bird watching, there are also helpful hints for things like the best time to find a bird's nest. There are also sections that help you identify things like tree leaves, birds, butterflies, amphibians, creatures that might be found in rock pool at the beach to name a few. Again this is not an exhaustive list, just covering some of the more common species you might find. The activities are very doable and some I've been enjoying doing with my family since I was a child. It's a thoughtful collection that helps you get out, enjoy and notice the treasures to be found in nature.

I'm very excited that our yard is teaming with more and more wildlife! We've been slowly planting here in there in our barren yard. We have added a bird feeder and a humming bird feeder. So far we've caught lightening bugs, watched dragonflies and birds. We've got two lizards, a toad living outside and just found our first little grass frog in our garden. Of course there's plenty of bugs and spiders too and thankfully no snakes! I hope you are all enjoying your summers!

The Listening walk

The Listening Walk by Paul Showers and illustrated by Aliki has been a great read for us to share this spring as we've been listening to the world come alive around us. The birds have returned and so have the lawn mowers! This year more than past my two have been all about being outside and this book makes a perfect read to invite them to take in all the wonderful senses around them, to slow, be still and quiet sometimes, to just listen to all the different sounds. The story is about a little girl who always looks forward to quiet walks with her Dad and her dog. Her Dad thinks and she is also quiet but quite busy listening. The book is filled with fun sounds that include sounds from nature, the neighborhood and the busy city streets. The illustrations are simple line drawings, straightforward, full of life and color.

A Basket Full of Easter Books

I wanted to share some of the Easter books we enjoy here today!


The Easter Story by Patricia A. Pingry and illustrated by Mary Ann Utt. This book is one of my favorites for young children that tells the about the life of Jesus, the events leading up to his death and his Resurrection. It's well written in its simplicity but still carries the significance. The illustrations are equally beautiful in their depiction. It is an engaging and accurate read focused on why we celebrate this Holiday in our family.



My First Story of Easter by Tim Dowley and illustrated by Roger Langton takes your young readers through the timeline of events leading up to Christ's death and Resurrection that we are remembering on Easter. This book does a great job of sharing these events in a way that young children can understand.


A Tale for Easter by Tasha Tudor is a sweet old-fashioned story with charming old-fashioned illustrations that are a trademark of Tasha Tudor. We join a young girl in her excited anticipation of Easter and the markers/traditions of that season from eggs to finding your Easter basket on Easter morning.


The Story of the Easter Bunny by Katherine Tegen and illustrated by Sally Anne Lambert is a fun legend of how there came to be an Easter Bunny. We meet an elderly couple who die eggs, weave baskets and make chocolate eggs for all the children in their town for Easter morning. The elderly couple's pet rabbit watches and as the years pass starts to help until he takes over the job once they couple can no longer continue their tradition. The illustrations are sweet. I love the colorful eggs and foiled wrapped chocolate eggs that fill each basket.


Jan Brett is a wonderful storyteller whether bringing us her version of folktales from around the world or spinning her own tales I've yet to be disappointed in one of her books. The Easter Egg is a wonderful story by Jan Brett of how all the rabbits work to create the most splendid egg so they will be selected by the Easter Rabbit to accompany him on his deliveries for Easter. A young rabbit Hoppi is excited to start his own creation and happens upon the splendid eggs that his friends are working on as he hurries along to get started. The illustrations are rich, detailed and has an old-world feel. The decorated eggs that each rabbit is working on are simply stunning.

Happy Easter!

Holidays with Crystal Bowman

Crystal Bowman is the author along with illustrator Claudine Gevry of a series of over sized die-cut board books that celebrate the seasons and Holidays with a Christian perspective. The illustrations are engaging and simple as is the storyline of these books. We own a few of these books one of which is An Easter Gift for Me. In this book with rhyming text Bowman shares the story of Jesus from birth, his life, his miracles on to his death and Resurrection. Of the stories I read the ideas are clearly presented for the preschool audience. These are great starter books to share about the different Holidays, seasons and traditions we hold.


Other books in this series include: My Happy Pumpkin, My Thanksgiving Prayer, Jesus, Me and My Christmas Tree, Christmas Angels, My Christmas Stocking, My Christmas Gift, J is For Jesus, A Star for Jesus and My Valentine Story.

Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit and The Thingamabob

Well, I'm a fan. Il Sung Na offers up two great books for spring reading.



Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: A Book of Changing Seasons follows a little rabbit as he observes the changes around him as the season changes into winter. He watches quietly as birds take flight, bears hibernate, and other animals prepare for the winter ahead. But after the winter spring returns in full bloom! This book makes a great winter read as well and actually most of the book does focus on winter and how different animals prepare for the cold season. The illustrations are stunning, colorful, and imaginative for both these books. I love the exploration of texture and pattern added to these beautiful line drawings.



Thingamabob makes a perfect read for a rainy spring day. Follow along this time as an elephant comes across a most peculiar object and tries to figure out what it might be used for. My two thought this read was funny as the elephant experiments with how it just might best use its new thingamabob.

Spring has sprung!

More library finds to share with you today. Continuing on with the celebration of the seasons I'd like to share with you A Bunny For All Seasons and Countdown to Spring: An Animal Counting Book both by Janet Schulman and illustrated by Meilo So. The front covers are true to the illustrations in these books. Colorful, soft brushstroke flowers and animals fill the pages. In A Bunny For All Seasons we join a bunny as she enjoys the variety of flowers and vegetables that can be found in a garden. The seasons begin with summer and end with spring as we meet the now bunny family and their new babies as they once again begin to enjoy the garden bounty. Countdown to Spring! celebrates the return of animals, bugs and flowers in the spring ending with one Easter basket filled with a bounty of garden treats for the animals to enjoy. Very beautiful, sweet reads to help learn about and enjoy the spring.

Seasons

Spring is one of my favorite seasons but I also really enjoy the in between time of change from one season to the next. So as we are changing into spring I thought I'd share some of my favorite books about the seasons. First up is Listen Listen by Phillis Gershator and illustrated by Alison Jay. If you've been following along my blog this pick probably isn't one of much surprise. I'm hooked on anything written or illustrated by Alison Jay. This is no exception. Jay's beautiful,serene and of course crackled artwork accompanies rhyming text that invites you to listen to all the sounds as the seasons change. On the last page for a season you are invited to find the sights of that seasons with a list of items. It's a charming read.

Next I'm going to highlight another book of one of my favorite illustrators. It's called All Year Long by Kathleen W. Deady and illustrated by Linda Bronson. This book takes us through the year with a little girl and her family as the enjoy favorite activities of the different seasons. The collage art is lively and fun.

Last up is a brand new book of the seasons published by Kane Miller/Usborne books and is from France. It's aptly titled Seasons by Anne Crausaz. The illustrations are simple yet bold with an emphasis on an adorable little girl as she explores each season. The book takes the reader through each season with a emphasis on our senses with the tastes and sites that each new season brings. It's another beautiful, charming read to share the celebration and wonder of the ever changing seasons.

Good Luck Bear

Here's a pick of mine for a fun St Patrick's Day read. It's called Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley. It's one of four Bear books. The illustrations are beautiful, simple and refreshingly charming. In this book we find bear as he discovers a three leaf clover. His friend mouse shares that if he can find a four leaf clover it means he's lucky, so the search begins. Friends come by with of course their own opinions on the matter but bear sticks with his search. The end of the story isn't about finding luck but the treasure of a good friend. I love the dedication of this book, it's 'for all those who find luck in the unexpected'.

Other books in the series include: Thank You Bear, Don't Worry Bear and I Miss You Mouse.



We don't own this book and we didn't pick up our copy to enjoy from the library. We read it online through the We Give Books.org site by The Penguin Group and The Pearson Foundation. If you haven't already heard of this program please go by and check it out. It's as simple as registering at the site and then sharing some great reads with your kids. They have books for babies through teens to choose from. For each book you read they will give a book to a campaign of your choice. There are several to choose from including Hope for Haiti, NEA - Books Across America, Jumpstart for Young Children to name just a few you can select. My two love reading books online and it is always a favorite activity when I suggest it.

Tom's Tree

This was a recent happy library find. It's a book called Tom's Tree by Gillian Shields and illustrated by Gemma Raynor. This book touches on the wonder of childhood, where the impossible is possible, where one sees the extraordinary in the ordinary. You meet a young Tom as he is planting a tree. It's just a seed and his older brother says it will never grow, much like the storyline of The Carrot Seed. But Tom doesn't let his brother discourage him rather he dreams of what his tree will be; beautiful, full of life and adventure. The story also takes you on a tale of growing up as Tom and his tree both grow as the years pass by. It's a very sweet tale with a melt my heart finish. The illustrations are full of fun fanciful details and lots of whimsy, just like I like them.

Here's a little mix media three dimensional art project we did along with this book. We made our very own trees out of paint, tissue paper, beads, pipe cleaners, toilet paper rolls, glitter and a paper plate for the base.

A little book about finding love

This next book has become a Valentine's Day staple around here. It's called Bloom!: A Little Book about Finding Love by Maria Van Lieshout. Bloom has an amazing love only she doesn't realize it because she's busy following an unattainable love instead. A classic love tale indeed. The unattainable love is a blue butterfly that flutters away as butterflies do and leaves Bloom heartbroken. But her friend that has been right there all the time has a special surprise to cheer her up as really good friends often do. The illustrations are simple line drawings with swishes of watercolors. The text is as much a part of the illustrations as pictures themselves. The words are thoughtfully arranged on each page and pink.

Maria Van Lieshout has a series of these little gems including; Peep!: A Little Book about Taking a Leap, Splash!: A Little Book about Bouncing Back and Tumble!: A Little Book about Having it All. They will delight readers of all ages.

February Classic Book - Guess How Much I Love You

Love is in the air this month so I thought I'd share Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram for our classic book. It's a sweet story of a father nutbrown hare and his son sharing how much they love one another. I used to play the 'guess how much I love you game' with my Mom. Though back then it was just as wide as my arms could reach. While I've always found this read charming it really became a favorite in my heart when my son started playing 'I love you super duper much...' with me in the evenings. It was something he started up all on his own and I look forward to it as part of nightly routine. I guess there's just a time when kids realize that they feel a lot of love for their family and want to express it. As a parent I always want to share that I love them that much too and so starts up our own little game! My two will be getting this classic book for this Valentine's Day! Shhh, don't tell them okay? I love the soft and sweet watercolor illustrations as much as the story.

I would recommend checking out the entire series of Nutbrown Hare reads: When I'm Big (also titled Guess How Much I Love You in the Spring) Colors Everywhere (Guess How Much I Love You in the Summer) A Surprise for the Nutbrown Hares (Guess How Much I Love You in the Fall), Let's Play in the Snow (Guess How Much I Love You in the Winter) or get all four in the complete Guess How Much I Love You all Year Round.

When the Wind Stops

Yep, we've been reading up on the wind around here and today I have another windy read. When the Wind Stops by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated by Stefano Vitale, is another picture book read that leans towards science. In this case its a great intro to natural science. The story centers around a conversation between a mom and her son. He's inquisitive, as kids are, and not wanting his day of fun to come to an end asks why the day has to end. His mother tells him that the nothing ends, that the day is just beginning somewhere else. Their discussion flows from one natural occurrence to the next touching on topics like the cycle of seasons, the rain cycle, when the wind stops, mountains to valleys and so on. Striking, bold, modern illustrations accompany this story of the natural cycles of our world.

I shared another windy read on my post titled 'the seasons', check it out here.

I Face the Wind - science concepts

I Face the Wind by Vicki Cobb and illustrated by Julia Gorton is a great early science concept picture book. It's one part simple story and another part science book. Geared towards ages 4-8 this book will get kids excited about science and the world around them. Concepts and principles about air are clearly and simply presented as a great first introduction to young kids. Oh and did I mention engagingly presented? This is not the non-fun science book I read back in school. The illustrations are bold and colorful. They add another wonderful layer to this book that help reinforce the concepts being presented. It's filled with facts and experiments that flow together with the story. The simple supplies you'll need to the handful of experiments include: a clothes hanger, a pencil, a large plastic (grocery) bag, two identical balloons, tape and a ball. Who doesn't have these items on hand? It's great hands on fun and learning!

Try out these great books also by Vicki Cobb for more science fun:

An Egg is Quiet and A Seed is Sleepy

Well I thought I'd put a little twist on my quiet/sleepy week we're having around here with these two books by Dianne Hutts Aston and illustrated by Sylvia Long.




The First is titled An Egg is Quiet and the second, A Seed is Sleepy. I was thinking I'd post these in the spring but the titles couldn't be more perfect for this week. Besides reading, learning and a study in nature is always in season. Both books are similar to a naturalist journal with elegant text, observations and beautiful watercolor illustrations. Both explore the nature of their respective topics; eggs, seeds and well life. It's more science book than story book but will engage the youngest of readers, it is so lovely to look at and simple to read.

The Seasons

These next books come from my favorite Usborne series known as their "Picture Books". There are dozens of titles to choose from, all beautifully illustrated and accompanied by an engaging AND educational story of the world around us. Sunny Day, The Windy Day, The Snowy Day, and The Rainy Day, all by Anna Milbourne are four of my favorites from this series. As a mom of two preschoolers, I love doing 'unit type studies' with my kids. You know pick a theme for the week and find interesting, engaging and educational books and activities to do with them. I love covering the seasons each year as we go from one to the next and these books can be a center to these studies year after year.

Other titles in the Picture Book Series: The Butterfly, How Deep is the Sea?, How High is the Sky?, In the Pond, In the Castle, In the Nest, On the Farm, How Big is a Million?, On the Moon, On the Seashore, Under the Ground, also including Picture Book Classics such as; The Gingerbread Man, The Railway Children, The Secret Garden and LOTS more...