Make sure you wash your hands before reading Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt. Because Scaredy Squirrel is afraid of germs. In fact, Scaredy Squirrel is afraid of just about everything. This is why he never leaves his tree. This has advantages (less chance of being attacked by martians/sharks/tarantulas/etc) and disadvantages (it’s kind of boring). He spends his days just eating and admiring the view, until one day he sees a bee! In his haste to flee, Scaredy Squirrel abandons his emergency kit, with its top secret exit plan, and jumps into the unknown, discovering he’s actually a flying squirrel, and that the unknown isn’t as terrifying as he thought.
Recommended for Kids
My Many Colored Days
My Many Colored Days is a Dr. Seuss book you may not be familiar with. It was published posthumously by his widow Audrey Geisel. He had written it, inspired by the view from his study, and envisioned it to be illustrated by an artist with a completely different style from his own. That mantle was taken up by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, who created beautiful paintings for the book. “You’d be surprised how many ways I change on different colored days,” Seuss writes, articulating how colors can affect, or be used to explain, our emotions, and how our moods may fluctuate throughout the week. My favorite pages are for feeling brown, and sort of “low down,” immediately followed by bright shades of yellow and feeling like a “busy buzzy bee!”
Alien Al
Alien Al is from the Funny Faces line of children’s books, with interactive features. Each of the pages have tactile elements, and introduce us to a new alien friend. Izzy is an interplanetary explorer with googly eyes and a furry green mouth! Zak and Jak visit the White House for fun and take a picture of their rough pink polka dots! Gaz is visiting a cousin on Mars in his shiny spaceship, and Beelo is having a birthday party on his parents’ moon base! The last page is the best! At the alien dance, Deejay “shakes and moves, to spacey sounds and future beats, and cosmic disco grooves” which you can hear for yourself when you turn the page!
Dinosaur vs. Bedtime
Do you have a little dinosaur living in your house? Does your child like to ROAR? If the answer to those questions is “yes” then Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea is the perfect book for you! Nothing can stop the little dinosaur in this story! A pile of leaves? Defeated! A big slide? Crushed! A bowl of spaghetti? Beaten! Talking grown-ups? Overcome! Again and again, little dinosaur is challenged, but he roars his way to victory every time. He is the champion of taking a bath, and triumphant at tooth brushing! But what happens when little dinosaur faces his biggest challenge yet: Bedtime? He roars and roars until he is too tired to roar anymore. Bedtime wins for now, but I’m sure little dinosaur will be back to roar again soon!
10 Things I Can Do to Help My World
10 Things I Can Do to Help My World by Melanie Walsh provides ten fun and easy eco-tips. These are all kid-friendly activities that a child (and their gaurdian) can do to help the planet without leaving home. Walsh suggest turning off the lights when you leave the room, or turning off the water while you brush your teeth. She also provides compelling reasons to follow her advice, for instance, remind your parents to unplug the TV when you’re not watching it because “many electrical appliances use energy even when they are turned off. Of course there’s a page about recylcing your cans, glass, compost, plastic, and paper. In fact, the book itself is made out of 100% recycled material!
Best Friend on Wheels
Best Friend on Wheels by Debra Shirley, illustrated by Judy Stead, is a great way to teach your child that people with disabilities are still people. Our narrator is a second grader who’s teacher asks her to show “the new girl” around. She is surprised to see that “the new girl,” Sarah, was in a wheelchair. At first she didn’t know what to do, but once she got to know Sarah, she discovered they had a lot in common! They became best friends and now do all their favorite things together: painting, reading, having sleepovers, scrapbooking, and hot air balooning! They even go dancing–Sarah loves ballet–“Shes spins on her wheels and twirls every which way.” Some people only see a wheelchair when they look at Sarah, but our narrator only sees her best friend.