Submitted by Ms. Tess!
A scruffy dog goes on a big adventure in The Umbrella by Ingrid and Dieter Schubert! On a windy day a dog finds a bright red umbrella. Soon he is scooped up by the breeze, and taken away from his home. After sailing through a cloudy sky, he’s spotted over the Serengeti. He must fend off hungry crocodiles before being blown on his way by some helpful elephants. He weathers a stormy sea, meeting fish and a friendly whale along the way. On his trip around the world he visits the Galapagos Islands, and the Amazonian rain forest. He even travels north, playing in the snow with Arctic hares and polar bears. There’s a night time flight with a colony of bats and finally our hero is returned home. Good luck to that cat who’s eye-ing the umbrella next… This wordless book is filled with large, beautiful, detailed pictures. If the child you care for loves dogs, adventure, and making up their own stories, The Umbrella is a win win win. I personally like it because I think the dog in the book looks a lot like my friend and fellow Kid’s Book Blogger Ms. Jill’s dog Oscar, who I suspect secretly takes trips around the world via umbrella on a regular basis. I mean, just look at this picture of him and you’ll see what I mean. See this book listed in our catalog
Weather
Stuck
Submitted by Ms. Carol!
Stuck by Oliver Jeffers is the story of a boy named Floyd who gets his kite stuck up in a tree. He decides to try to get the kite unstuck. He throws his shoe to knock the kite loose, but his shoe ends up getting stuck as well. He then continues to try various things to get the kite loose. He tries a cat, a ladder, a bucket of paint, a duck , a chair, and many other things, including the kitchen sink, but nothing knocks the kite out of the tree. Finally he throws up a saw, and down comes the kite! Floyd is so happy, he flies the kite for the rest of the day. That night, as he is going to bed, he keeps thinking there is something he is forgetting. Meanwhile, everyone and everything else is still stuck up in the tree, trying to get down while Floyd sleeps! This is a cute, humorous story of determination. See this book listed in our catalog
Storm Is Coming
Submitted by Ms. Brenda!
Storm Is Coming by Heather Tekavec, and illustrated by Margaret Spengler, is a fun, colorful lap book, with plenty of humor, drama, and even a bit of suspense. When the farmer and his dog start rounding up the farm animals because a storm is coming, they all run wildly, warning one another to hurry, and get to the barn! Once huddled in the barn, they wonder who this “Storm” could be. He must be mean. He must be scary. He must be very big! All of a sudden, the sky gets dark, the wind starts blowing, heavy rains come, lightning flashes, and thunder booms! The animals cheer their good luck. Hurray! Storm can’t possibly get them when the sky is hiding them in the dark, the rain is washing away all of their tracks, and the flashing lights and booming thunder will surely scare him away. All day long, they waited for Storm to come, then all of a sudden everything stops. The sky is silent, then there is a thump, thump, thump, and a click, click, clang, and a creeeeeak of the door. Someone is coming, and the animals are really scared. To their great relief, it is only the farmer coming to let them out. They all run happily into the sunshine, grateful that Storm had not found them. See this book listed in our catalog
Snowmen At Night
Submitted by Ms. Carol!
Snowmen At Night by Caralyn Buehner is a cute story that tries to solve the mystery of what snowmen do at night. Have you ever wondered, when your snowman looks a little droopy, what snowmen do at night? This book has lots of interesting suggestions. Maybe snowmen wait until dark, then they slide onto the street, and into the park. Maybe they stand around with other snowmen drinking ice-cold cocoa. Maybe they have snowman races, and go ice skating. Maybe they play baseball, and have a snowball fight. Maybe they go sledding with all their snowman friends. After all that excitement they get sleepy, and return home. So if your snowman has lost his height, and his grin is crooked, read this book to find out what snowmen do at night! See this book listed in our catalog
Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze!
Submitted by Ms. Amanda!
Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze! by Maureen Wright is a silly tale about the Autumn Breeze, a Big Bear, and the start of Autumn. It begins with Big Bear walking through the woods on a nice autumn day when, right as the wind blows, he lets out a big sneeze, and the leaves blow off the tree. Bear is so upset that his sneeze blew all the leaves from the tree that he tries to nail them back onto the branches. The wind tries to tell Big Bear that the leaves fell from the tree when the wind blew, but Big Bear believes that the leaves fell down when he sneezed ACHOO! The wind grows stronger as Big Bear walks on, till he comes to a tree where apples grow, and just as he approaches, he sneezes ACHOO! The tree branches shake in the wind’s strong gusts, and all the apples fall to the ground. Once again Bear thinks that his sneeze made them all fall down. Big Bear goes on sneezing through the forest, and misunderstanding the changes that autumn brings. Finally the Autumn Breeze explains that he causes the leaves and apples to fall from the tree, and even causes Big Bear’s sneeze. The illustrations and rhyme makes it a great story to read aloud to kids of all ages. See this book listed in our catalog
Cloudette
Submitted by Ms. Melissa!
Cloudette is a cloud, a very small cloud (also known as pipsqueak, shortcake and small-fry). She lives in a neighborhood full of big clouds who go off and do big cloud things like make rainbows and thunderstorms with lightning. Cloudette longs to be like the others. One day a huge storm happens. It was far larger than any she could remember (it was probably a hurricane). It was so strong it blew her right out of her own neighborhood! She didn’t know anyone in this new place, but they seemed friendly enough after awhile. When she meets a frog, she finds him in a shallow pond, all shriveled up into barely a puddle. Feeling sad for the frog, she huffed and puffed a little and, for the first time, let it pour. The puddle became a larger puddle, then a pond, then an even bigger pond. The frog was so happy, and so was Cloudette! She realized that even though she’s small, she still has a place and a purpose in the world. So, off she went to explore and make puddles into ponds for everyone. Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld is a delightful little tale about weather and fitting in. Who knew that humans and clouds had so much in common? If you like Duck! Rabbit!, give this one a try too! See this book listed in our catalog