picture booklings: August 2014

Aug 31, 2014

Dear Greenpeace

Simon James

You may not agree with everything Greenpeace does but don't let them hinder you from enjoying this cute tale of love between a little girl and her whale told in the form of letters. Flaps open revealing Emily's letters which adds a nice interactive touch.

Good Egg

Barney Saltzberg

Sometimes the simplest ideas in life are the greatest. This VERY simple interactive book is one of life's greats. Our toddler loves this book and we do too. A great mix of different activities and a good punchline.

Just a Little Critter Series

Mercer Mayer

A classic series from the '80's. Much better than the Barenstein Bears and super cute.

Amelia Bedelia

Peggy Parish
Fritz Siebel

So you want to teach your children puns? A worthy pursuit dear parent. Amelia Bedelia is a great introduction to this valuable branch of humour. I still get a giggle out of this one.

Usborne's See Inside Series

See Inside Series

Various Authors

Usborne Publishing

We found See Inside Your Body at a book fair and have been hooked on the series ever since. My husband has said he has learned heaps from them just reading them to the kids. Currently they are reading about the second World War. The flaps are very effectively used in the body book but also add fun and interactivity for keeping young minds on task in the others in the series. Our family always appreciates books which add fun to education.

The Selfish Giant

Oscar Wilde
Michael Forman
Freire Wright

A beautiful morality tale with heavy doses of grace at the end. More suited to older children (I fell in love with this tale at age 11) but is one which you will revisit again as an adult.

Odd Numbers

Michel Gagne

You might find this book a little hard to track down but I hope you can find itbecause this book is WEIRD fun! For school age kids and up (some images are a little disturbing) but they will be captivated by its oddness.

Alpha Bugs

David A Carter

We picked this up at a book fair and again it didn't look so amazing at first flick through but on closer inspection it was pretty cool. It's strength is the variety of pull tabs, pop ups and touchy feely elements. Very original.

Handa's Surprise

Eileene Browne

My daughter won this at school and I wasn't too excited by it (before I opened it) as some of the books she's got at school have been a bit lame. But the story was simple, fun and had a good punchline so it's made it to the "keep" shelf. The illustrations are REALLY bright and fun so good for capturing young imaginations.

Elephant Elements

Pittau and Gervais

This book has a simple premise - describe as many elements as possible using elephants as the subject. Very simple illustrations, sometimes humorous, very clever and enjoyed by kids of all ages (as tested on ours).

Sounds of the Wild Series

Maurice Pledger

We have the Jungle and Ocean books and are always tempted to add to the collection. The books have two page spreads with layered pop ups and the sounds of the animals on the page plays when you open the book. The alternate pages have information on the animals in the picture (which we've never read! But we may someday...). Education made magical.

DOG

Matthew Van Fleet
Brian Stanton

We bought this for our 18m old daughter who loves dogs. It's super sturdy (apart from the scratching dog - he needs some love), has a good mix of pull tabs, "touchy feely" elements (basically a lot of different furs to stroke), not many words and a great punchline with a surprise flap at the end. This is one to bring out now and again for some supervised fun. I also liked that it is filled with big photos.

Matthew Van Fleet has also made MOO and CAT in the same style but we like DOG best.

Aug 30, 2014

The End.

You've made it to the end of our list [so far]. Hope you discovered some great books along the way.