Baxter, the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher
Pierre the Penguin
Submitted by Ms. Amanda!
Pierre the Penguin: A True Story by Jean Marzollo. I love penguins, and this story is quite endearing! It is based on a true story about a penguin named Pierre. The story is written in rhyme, so it flows and is fun to read. Pierre is an African penguin who lives at the California Academy of Sciences with twenty other penguins in the African Hall. African Penguins are different from other penguins, and do not like the ice. Once day when Pam, the Aquatic Biologist who cares for the penguins, was feeding them fish, she noticed something wrong with Pierre. He was going bald! He had lost most of his feathers, and was very cold. The other penguins were afraid of Pierre, since he looked so different without his feathers. Pam tried to help Pierre in many different ways, until one day she got the idea to make him a tiny wet suit to keep him warm and well. With the wet suit on, Pierre was warm, and could go swimming with his friends. After a few weeks, the wetsuit helped Pierre to grow back new feathers! At the end of this story there is a page where Pam answers questions about her job, and Pierre. This story is a great way to build new vocabulary, like wetsuit, bray, neoprene, and aquatic, and is illustrated in a bright, clear way to show the new vocabulary! See this book listed in our catalog
The Great Fuzz Frenzy
Zen Ghosts
Submitted by Ms. Tess!
Happy almost Halloween everyone! As we prepare for our Halloween parties at the library, I wanted to tell you about a beautiful book, Zen Ghosts by Jon J. Muth. If you’re familiar with Muth’s other Zen books, then you already know Stillwater the panda, and his friends Karl, Michael, and Addy. It’s Halloween, and the kids are getting their costumes ready. Karl is going to be a monster, Michael either an owl or a pirate. Or an owl pirate. But Addy’s moon princess costume reminds Stillwater of an ancient Chinese ghost story, the chilling tale of a girl named Senjo who appears to be in two places at once… The story is an example of a koan, as Mr. Muth explains in an author’s note at the end of the book, or a question to contemplate. There is really no right or wrong answer; to intuit is the only point. This may seem like a slightly advanced concept for your child, but consider that the idea of duality is one a person begins to process very early in life: “There’s the me I am with my parents, the me I am with my friends, and there is still another me with a different group of friends.” Have a philosophical conversation with your youngster, or just enjoy a spooky story, with gorgeous illustrations, with Zen Ghosts. See this book listed in our catalog