Category: Poetry

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#Kidlit for #npm16: Two New Children’s Books by Sue Fliess

It’s time to plan for National Poetry Month. Let’s start by pulling out two new children’s picture books –written in rhyming verse by Sue Fliess — to share with young readers.

Sue Fliess is a master of the subtly humorous, fast-paced rhyming text that is so appealing to little ones. She also knows what interests children.

The Bug Book features a delightful array of creepy, crawlies.

The book is illustrated with colorful stock photographs of insects and other bugs, which will help children learn more about them.

I really like the “go explore nature” message on the first page:

Grab a bucket. Check your guide.
Let’s go find some bugs outside!

Related:

See suggestions for related insect and poetry activities at Growing with Science.

Age Range: 3 – 5 years
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap (February 23, 2016)
ISBN-10: 044848935X
ISBN-13: 978-0448489353

Calling All Cars by Sue Fliess and illustrated by Sarah Beise celebrates an age-appropriate interest in forms of transportation.

Follow all sorts of cars through a day long road trip, which ends with a gentle bedtime message:

Rest cars, Hush cars
No more rush, cars.
Cars pull in, turn off the light.
Sweet dreams, sleepy cars…goodnight!

The artist added interest by including clues to the events of the next page. Children will have great fun guessing what comes next.

You can get a feel for the book by watching the book trailer.

Although it has a fiction feel, this basic concept book will appeal to lovers of nonfiction, too.

Be sure to pick up The Bug Book and Calling All Cars for fun reading adventures in April!

Related Activities:

Visit Sue’s website for a Calling All Cars Activity Guide to download.

Check the National Poetry Month Website for 30 Ways to Celebrate

Age Range: 3 – 7 years
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (March 1, 2016)
ISBN-10: 1492618810
ISBN-13: 978-1492618812

Disclosure:  Calling All Cars was retrieved from NetGalley. The Bug Book was supplied by the publisher for review purposes. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

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Looking for more children’s nonfiction books? Try the Nonfiction Monday blog.

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Putting a Poem in Your Pocket

Tomorrow, April 30, 2015, is Poem in Your Pocket Day. The idea is to put a copy of a poem in your pocket in the morning and pull it out to share with others throughout the day.

I decided to share one of my favorites, “To Any Reader” by Robert Louis Stevenson (from A Child’s Garden of Verses.)

poem-in-your-pocket-to-any-reader

 

This poem is both sad and hauntingly beautiful to me.

You can also see and hear it online:  Stevenson, R. (1913). To Any Reader. A Child’s Garden of Verses: Selected Poems (Lit2Go Edition). Retrieved April 29, 2015, from http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/59/a-childs-garden-of-verses-selected-poems/4755/to-any-reader/

Looking for more? Diane Rehm has a timely discussion of the fabulous memoir in verse, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson that you might find enjoyable.

The organizers of the event ask that you share your poem selection on Twitter tomorrow by using the hashtag #pocketpoem.

Will you be sharing a poem? What poem did you choose?

 

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Disclosure: These books were from my personal library. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

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Ninja Mouse: Haiku

Quietly, stealthily Ninja Mouse: Haiku, written and illustrated by J. C. Thomas, creeps into your heart.

It isn’t easy to know what to expect when you see the cover of this book. The fierce mouse in the ninja garb and the comic book/graphic novel illustrations might lead the potential reader to believe this will be an action-packed story full of conflict and violence. Instead it is an almost silent journey of discovery, beautifully delivered entirely in haiku.

The illustrations in this book are inspiring. There’s something about dignity of the mouse, set against nature scenes, the dark versus light, and the splashes of color that are mesmerizing. Each two-page spread consists of the left-hand page divided into thirds, with the haiku text spread throughout. The right-hand page is a full scene with the Japanese text down the right side.

The book trailer gives a taste.

Author J.C. Thomas has a degree in International Relations and East Asia studies and he is currently an elementary school teacher. He is also a sixth-degree black belt in Taekwondo. This combination assures that the book is authentic, detailed, and useful for the classroom. There is a note about haiku in the back that explains how it differs in Japanese.

Ninja Mouse:  Haiku would be perfect for poetry month and to accompany a unit on haiku, especially for reluctant readers who might be drawn in by ninjas and comics. It would also be a wonderful accompaniment for a unit on Japan and East Asia studies.

Suggested related activity:

This book is so inspiring, it begs to be accompanied by an activity for children to create haiku and then illustrate it. For example, Scholastic has a haiku lesson plan. The Exploring Nature Educational Resource has a number of drawing lessons, like this one for a grasshopper.  Please feel free to leave other suggestions in the comments, if you choose.

Paperback: 40 pages
Publisher: SuperUltraGo! Press (October 16, 2014)
Language: English and Japanese
ISBN-10: 099132403X
ISBN-13: 978-0991324033

Disclosures:  This book was supplied by the author for review purposes. I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at not extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

 

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Let’s Build

One of our favorite authors, Sue Fliess, has a new picture book out, Let’s Build, with illustrations by Miki Sakamoto.

Sue truly gets young children, plus has a real flare for rhyming text. The text is fast-paced and gently humorous, as you can see in the book trailer:

Yes, hardware stores do seem to go on for miles! (Although certain DIY types don’t seem to mind that.)

Let’s Build is a quick, lively read for a slow summer day when the kids are looking for something to do. Perhaps it will inspire them to build their own “fort” out of blankets, chairs, and couch cushions.

Other activity suggestions:

For those who want to give something more concrete at try, This Old House has instructions for building a fort they say can be constructed in about three hours. Yes, you could build a fort in a day!

Danae has a great Pinterest Board of Tree Houses and Forts (plus other play structures. Check out the A-frame made out of wooden doors!

Age Range: 3 – 8 years
Grade Level: Preschool – 3rd
Hardcover: 24 pages
Publisher: Two Lions (May 6, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1477847243
ISBN-13: 978-1477847244

Disclosures:  This book was supplied by the publisher for review purposes. I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at not extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

 Nonfiction Monday is a blogging celebration of nonfiction books for kids. Join us at the new Nonfiction Monday blog.