Submitted by Tammy, driver of the WoW van!
Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are You Waking Up? by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson. A kitten and her patient mother take part in the daily ritual of getting ready for school. This comic rhyming book shows the struggle in the cat household, as the mother cat responds to the actions of her kitten, who dilly-dallies in the morning when she should be getting ready for school! Readers follow along as the kitten snuggles on her pillow, stands on her head in bed, tears apart the bedroom in search of socks, discovers and chases a mouse. The mouse serves as an interested observer on each page, and escapes the kitten when she is swept off to school. In the end, the mother cat and her little kitten share a warm hug. Even having a they’re having a tough morning, they still love each other. See this book listed in our catalog
School
First Day Jitters
Submitted by Tammy, driver of the WoW van!
First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg. This would be a great book to use with children experiencing anxiety over starting school or facing any new situation. Mr. Hartwell finds Sarah Jane hiding under her covers in bed on the first day of school refusing to get up. He reminds Sarah of all the fun she will have and the new friends she’ll meet on her first day. After much encouragement, Sarah eats and gets ready for her big day. Mr. Hartwell drops her off and she enters the school with the rest of the children. The principal walks Sarah down to the classroom where he introduces the children to their new teacher “Mrs. Sarah Jane Hartwell”. The children will be surprised to learn that Sarah is an adult, and even grown ups get nervous about new situations!
Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct
Submitted by Catherine from Lexington Park!
Have you ever been completely convinced you were right about something? You just knew it was true, but no one else seemed to care. This is what happens to poor Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie in Mo Willems’s Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct. Despite his protests, no one in his town will accept the fact that the beloved dinosaur Edwina is extinct. Finally, after explaining, protesting, and YELLING, Edwina listens to him – she is indeed extinct. But Edwina decides she doesn’t care. She’s too busy making friends and baking chocolate chip cookies to worry about being extinct. Will Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie worry about being right, or will he decide that being friends with a chocolate chip cookie baking dinosaur is even better than knowing everything?
The Clouds Above
Submitted by Tess from Lexington Park!
I love The Clouds Above by Jordan Crane. It could be Where the Wild Things Are for a new generation. Simon, and his cat Jack, while trying to avoid their despicable teacher “Missus Poe,” find a mysterious staircase leading to seemingly no where from the roof of their school. Of course, they decide to climb it, and at the top they find a cloud named Perch (the birds named him). Perch decides to fly them somewhere warmer, and so begins their adventure. This is a really fun story for any fans of weather, cats, and running away from school!
Violet the Pilot
Submitted by Catherine from Lexington Park!
Not every little girl wants to play princess and dress-up. Violet, in Violet the Pilot, by Steve Breen, is much more interested in turbo engines than tiaras. With the help of her pup, Orville, Violet works as hard as she can to follow her dreams of building the best and most creative airplanes in the world. When kids in her class make fun of her for her obsession with machines, Violet decides to show everyone just how amazing her new airplane is. But along the way, things work out a little differently, and Violet gets to see how good it is to just be yourself, and to be proud of all you do. With beautiful and funny pictures that tell the story just as much as the words, this will be a wonderful book for little girls or boys who think outside the box.
Freckleface Strawberry
Submitted by Catherine from Lexington Park!
When you’re a kid, being different can be hard. Freckleface Strawberry, written by Julianne Moore, and illustrated by LeUyen Pham, tells the story of a little girl with red hair, and freckles from head to toe. Tired of being the only freckle face in her class, Freckleface Strawberry tries everything from markers to ski masks to hide those dots. But by the end of the story, Freckleface Strawberry decides that maybe having freckles isn’t so bad after all. With illustrations and dialogue that really seem to capture the thoughts and expressions of kids, Freckleface Strawberry is a great story that shows that being different doesn’t matter all that much when you like who you are.