Picture Books

Sleep Book by Dr. Seuss

Publisher: Random House Inc. (1962)

ISBN: 0394800915

Sleep Book begins with Van Vleck, from the county of Keck, who has a yawn that everyone gets.  This yawn makes the whole town sleepy and we see how different creatures get ready for bed.  After going through all the different kinds of sleepers, Sleep Book ends with the reader that needs to shut off their light.

Rating:

Sleep Book deserves a BIG SMILE!  Dr. Seuss books always have such a delightful rhyme that makes the book song-like.  The alliteration, "moose juice, not goose juice, is a juice for a moose," makes the reading fun and silly.  The book is wordy, but I think it plays into the theme of putting the reader to sleep.  The rhyming and alliteration are pleasant to the ear.  By the time the end of the book is reached, the reader feels relaxed enough for bed.

The Ladder by Halfdan Rasmussen

Publisher: Candlewick Press (2006)

ISBN: 0763622826

The Ladder belongs to a carpenter, who walked straight up into the sky.  The ladder got board and went exploring, which lead him to a band, an old man, police, and some animals.  They all disappeared at the top of the ladder in heaven.  When a storm came around and lightning struck, this caused everyone to return again.

Rating:

I give The Ladder a little smile.  The pages of the book unfolded in different directions, causing elongation of the ladder and continuation of the story.  Also, the ending of every sentence rhymed giving a nice flow to the reading.  Periodically, the sentences took a different shape, such as going sideways when the ladder was sideways.  I thought that was cute.  When the book elaborated that the people that went up the ladder and disappeared in heaven, it confused me.  Before the end of the book, as an adult reader, it made me think that these people died.  That left a weird eerie feeling.  When I finished the book and all the people returned, I assumed heaven was meant to be a tangible place for the people to go for children.   

I'm Dirty by Kate & Jim McMullan

Publisher: Joanna Colter Books (2006)

ISBN: 9780060092931

We follow a backhoe loader truck during its messy day cleaning up garbage and moving things.  When the backhoe loader has all the trash together, everything gets dumped into the trash container, making lots of noise.  When all the jobs are done for the day, the backhoe loader treats its self with a mud bath to finish the dirty day.

Rating:

I'm Dirty gets a LITTLE SMILE.  The art style is different from most books that I have read.  It utilizes a spray paint method, which adds to the dirty look of the book.  The words are jumbled and not in a neat order, but there are complicated words like hydraulic and loused.  The book seems aimed at pre-school aged children, which would make those words out of their decoding range.  This book also has the words of the sentences go in the direction of what the sentence reads.  For example, the words go downwards as the backhoe loader goes down the ramp.  There is also a great learning experience with counting incorporated, while it is cleaning up items.  

Decodable Books

Did It Fit? by Robert Charles

Publisher: Learning A-Z

ISBN: None

Did It Fit? covers the short vowel sound.  We meet a pig, a dog, and a little boy.  They each try on a hat to see if it fits.

Rating:

I give Big NO SMILE.  It is a simplistic book, but it's not interesting.  The characters only put on hats.  I think that there could be more intriguing ways to showcase the short vowel sound.  The illustrations were cute, but not enticing as well.

The Mutt and the Bug by Cheryl Ryan

Publisher: Learning A-Z

ISBN: None

The Mutt and the Bug focuses on the short u sound.  The mutt meets a bug who wants a hug, then meets a cub who also wants a hug.  

Rating:

This story gets a LITTLE SMILE.  There is a little bit of a progression in the story, but there is no ending.  The last page is of the cub asking for a hug.  It bothers me that I do not know whether or not the cub got its hug.  There was a word with a short 'u' sound in each line of the book, which lead to great practice.

The Kind Knight by Susan Hartley

Publisher Learning A-Z

ISBN: None

A scary dragon in a fairy tale land was giving the town a fright.  A knight was sent to slay the dragon and cure the town of its' nuisance.  The knight learned the dragon was old and blind.  He set everything right in the town.

Rating:

I give this title a BIG SMILE.  There was a story line that I could follow, and it came to an end.  The Kind Knight tickles my emotions when the dragon reached out and said it was blind.  I not only got to practice my pronunciation of the long 'i' sound, but also learned to not judge a book by its' cover.

Wordless Picture Books

First Snow By Emily Arnold McCully 

Publisher: Harper & Row (1985)

ISBN: 0060241284

A large family of mice are very excited about the first fall of snow for the season.  They pack of their truck with their snow sleds and head of a big hill!  The little sister mouse is very timid at first to sled down the hill, but when her courage builds up, then she can't stop going up and down the hill.

Rating:

This wordless picture book reminds me of when I was young, and played in the snow all day.  I give this book a BIG SMILE, because of it's ability grasp me as the reader and enjoy the snow with the mice.  The pictures are easy to follow and did not leave me confused.

Mirror By Jeannie Baker

Publisher: Candlewick Press (2010)

ISBN: 9780763648480

The reader follows the story of two families, one Australian and the other Moroccan, and what a typical day looks like for them.  The Australian family lives in the modern era, full of technology and convenience stores.  The Moroccan family lives a simpler life, where they make and sell goods, and travel by donkeys to markets.  We watch the Moroccan family make and sell a rug, then the Australian family buy the rug to decorate their house.  The contrast of these two different families is remarkable, even without words.  

Rating:

Mirror deserves a BIG SMILE.  I loved reading about these two families side-by-side with how the book is oriented.  Half the book is read left to right, and the opposing side is read right to left.  This enabled the reader to compare their lives easily by noticing the differences in each panel.  Mirror allows us to recognize that there are people who live differently than what we are accustomed to, and gives new perspectives.  

The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (2009)

ISBN: 9780316013567

On an African plain, a tiny mouse scurries for its' life and frightens a mighty lion.  When the lion and mouse part ways, the lion finds himself caught in a net from a poacher.  To his rescue, the mouse climbs the tree and nibbles its' way through the net, freeing a new friend.

Rating:  

The Lion & the Mouse received a BIG SMILE.  The story-line is open to interpretation about the feelnigs and thoughts of the mouse and lion.  It left me with the sense of the power of kindness and new friendships.