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Mamasaurus

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Submitted by Ms. Shannon!

Mamasaurus by Stephan Lomp. One moment Babysaurus was eating leaves with his Mamasaurus and having a lovely day. The next thing he knew, he had slipped all the way down her very long tail and he was completely lost! Babysaurus embarks on a journey to search for Mamasaurus and he runs into many friends along the way. Each dinosaur asks a question to help Babysaurus find his Mama. Little readers are able to join in on the investigation by hearing each dinosaur describe their mother and comparing them to Mamasaurus. The illustrations include dark backgrounds that allow the vibrant characters to pop on each page. This charming book offers a great opportunity for children to think critically and recognize colors. See this book listed in our catalog.

What Color Is a Kiss?

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Submitted by Ms. Karen!

What Color Is a Kiss? by Rocio Bonilla. Monica is a lively girl with definite ideas of what she likes and dislikes! Her favorite thing is painting and she has painted a million colorful things but has never painted a kiss. But what color IS a kiss anyway? Monica thinks of all the colors she loves (Is a kiss red like spaghetti sauce? Maybe green like crocodiles, but NOT like vegetables…) and colors she definitely doesn’t love, like grey (but she does love elephants and hippos). Hmmm. Now Monica is more confused than ever! How will she ever figure out how to paint a kiss? In her frustration she turns to her Mommy for help, and together they find the best answer to Monica’s big color question! See this book listed in our catalog

Books and Blocks

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Submitted by special guest blogger Ms. Melissa!
Children love building with blocks. You can expand their imaginative play skills by encouraging them to use blocks as objects or props in their play. Books can also be read while building to model these behaviors. Check out the books below for ideas on how you can incorporate books in your block play activities.  

The House that Zack Built is written and illustrated by Alison Murray. After reading this book, encourage your child to build their own house. Re-enact the story as The House That [insert your child’s name here] Built. In addition to their house, have them use blocks to represent the fly, cat, milk, etc. Allow them to thumb through the pages for reference and make a story of their own using new characters and actions. See this book listed in our catalog.

In Blocks by Irene Dickson, children will learn about primary colors and the value of sharing. You can also use the book to discuss structures. If you have colored blocks, you can sort them as they are in the story, and each build with one color. When you combine multiple colors you can discuss how much can be built when you share the blocks. See this book listed in our catalog.

In Apples and Robins by Lucie Felix, children will explore shapes and can build the objects mentioned using combinations of various shaped blocks. This is a great way to make the images on a page come to life. For example, by using rectangular shaped blocks children can build a ladder just as it’s illustrated in the book. After reading this book take a walk around your house or yard to see what can be built. See this book listed in our catalog.

The Princess and the Pony, Black Cat White Cat, and Traveling with Your Octopus

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Submitted by Ms. Tess!
On Tuesday I shared some of my favorite non-fiction picture books of the year so far. Today I want to share some of my favorite fiction picture books of the year so far! Here they are:

Meet Princess Pinecone in The Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton. She lives in a kingdom of warriors! And for her birthday she always gets… cozy sweaters… which are… not very warrior like… So this year she’s made it very clear she wants a cool warrior horse. But what she gets instead is this pony. And as you can probably guess, this pony is kind of slow and dumpy (and gassy as it turns out), and just not what she wanted, BUT she takes him to “The Great Battle” anyway and… they end up being voted Most Valuable Warriors of the Day! I’ll let YOU find out how Pony saves the day, and how it celebrates, but needless to say it’s adorable! See this book listed in our catalog

Black Cat, White Catby Silvia Borando has got the best twist ending of the year hands down. It’ll be hard to beat anyway. This book totally lulls you into thinking it is just a story about a black cat and a white cat. The black cat only comes out during the day, and the white cat only comes out at night. Black, white, day, night. But then it has this amazing ending I’m obsessed with! I’ve been comparing it to the picture book equivalent of a Rickroll. I won’t spoil it for you, but kids who love “silly” books will eat it up. See this book listed in our catalog

International travel can of course be a mind opening and life enhancing experience. And who wouldn’t want to bring their beloved pet octopus along for the trip? But traveling with your octopus can be tricky! Luckily there’s this practical guide book, Traveling with Your Octopus by Brian Kesinger, with great tips and suggestions. For example, “Octopuses are known to be voracious readers, so it is recommended that one piece of luggage be devoted entirely to literary cargo.” What great advice! See the amazing places you can go with your octopus in this amazing book! See this book listed in our catalog

The Day the Crayons Came Home

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Submitted by Ms. Cassie!

The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Dewalt. In this adorable follow-up to the amazing The Day the Crayons Quit, we enjoy reading the hilarious postcards sent to our young protagonist, Duncan, by his many lost, forgotten, and neglected crayons. Pea Green crayon, for instance, is very upset that no one likes peas, the color or the food! So, he’s changing his name to… Esteban the Magnificent! And he’s headed out to see the world! Turquoise is making friends with Ted, the sock to whom he’s been melted, and Glow in the Dark crayon is shivering in the basement, awaiting rescue. As you explore this sequel you’ll love reading about this clever collection of crayons and their assorted journeys to find their way home. The laughs are a bonus! See this book listed in our catalog

Happy

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Submitted by Ms. Sam!

Happy by Mies Van Hou, lets us take a peek into the great varieties of emotions as depicted by fish. Children will love looking at all of the wonderful illustrations and guessing which emotion is represented by each fish. The colors are so vibrant, plus the dark background makes them pop off of the page and come to life! This is the perfect book for children discovering emotions in a fun and bright way. See this book listed in our catalog