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.
Things That Go
Elmo’s Alphabet
At first glance, the Sesame Street book Elmo’s Alphabet by Michaela Muntean, illustrated by Richard Walz, may not seem extraordinarily blog-worthy, but I have had the pleasure of reading it aloud the many children, and it’s always a hit. One day Elmo is walking home, singing the alphabet song, when he runs into his friend Big Bird who suggests they play their alphabet game: thinking up their favorite words that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Elmo picks “airplane” for his favorite “a” word, and imagines himself as a pilot, flying high is the sky. Big Bird picks “boat” for his favorite “b” word and imagines himself in a kayak on a peaceful stream. This book offers many opportunities for children to act out what Elmo and Big Bird do on each page, while familiarizing them with the letters of the alphabet!
City I Love
City I Love is a love letter to the city. Which city? All of them! Eighteen poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins are skillfully illustrated by Marcellus Hall to take you on a whirlwind international journey. Hopkins and Hall praise the skyscrapers of New York, the traffic sounds of Paris, and the neon lights of Tokyo. The heat of Rio and Cairo, and the brisk temperatures of Moscow and Toronto. Landmarks like the The Golden Gate Bridge of San Fransisco and the Millennium Wheel of London. Subways, and taxis, even gondolas (oh my)! I hope you enjoy this urban romance as much as I did. It’s a great conversation starter–a fabulous lead in to discussion with your child about how people live differently in different parts of the world. One can never be to young to develop an appreciation and tolerance for foreign culture.
All Aboard!
All Aboard: A Traveling Alphabet by Bill Mayer is an excellent book to help teach your child not only about letters, but also ways to get around. The art is fabulous and reminds me of 1940’s era advertisements (the type George Bailey would decorate his house with). On each page you’re treated to something pertaining to methods of transportation, with a corresponding letter “hidden” within the illustration. For instance, the cover image is A for “All Aboard” and the gangplank of a ship makes up the letter. B is for bridge, arches of a bridge making up the letter. C is for cycle, half of a wheel making up the letter, and so forth. You can have fun with your child finding the letters and talking about how people travel around the world.
I Stink!
Meet a very vocal garbage truck in I Stink! by Kate and Jim McMullan. Have you ever been awoken to the sound of a garbage truck backing up to take your trash away? Good! He loves disturbing people’s sleep! And he loves to eat disgusting trash–in fact he has a whole alphabet of yucky things to eat, from A for apple cores to Z for zipped-up ziti with zucchini! He sure does smell bad, but without him we’d live on a mountain of trash! So, take trip through New York City with this boistrous representative of the Sanitation Department in I Stink!