Gramma and Grampa are among your
child’s best choices for reading books aloud together. They are second only to you, the
parent! Both parents and
grandparents read with and to children for multiple reasons -- to entertain, to
explain, and to charge up their curiosity -- to mention a few. Reading out loud does all of these
especially well.
Reading aloud also builds
vocabulary, creates background knowledge, and plants the interest in your child
to read on her/his own. Reading together offers your child a
role model. And, perhaps most
important, your child is supplied with lots of opportunities to associate
reading with pleasure.
We know that we choose to do what
brings us pleasure, again and again.
The same is true for our children. Especially during this month, we
recognize much for which we are thankful.
Let’s also give our children many occasions to recall reading together
with pleasure. Enjoy!
The Great
Thanksgiving Escape by Mark Fearing
Candlewick Press, $15.99 (hardcover)
Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 3
(This book is available to purchase from
Books & Books online: http://www.booksandbooks.com)
Remember
those Thanksgiving gatherings with the WHOLE family?!? Sometimes it’s a day of boredom.
Occasionally however, like in this hilarious tale, an idea can provide an
escape.
Gavin’s
family arrives at Grandma’s and he sees from the start, the day will NOT be
fun. But cousin Rhonda suggests a plan. “The way I see it,” she says, “is that
sometimes you have to make your own fun.”
On the way to the swing set in the
backyard, “vicious guard dogs” block the two cousins. (Although, readers actually
see pups sleeping beside the front door.)
Then the two encounter the “Hall of Aunts,” and the “Great Wall of
Butts” watching TV. Dodging all the traps enroute, they successfully arrive at
the back door. And . . . . it’s
raining!
Relatives
of all shapes and sizes are dressed for a cold day in colorful coats, hats,
gloves, and scarves. The pencil
illustrations have been digitally completed, with expressive faces and designs
to evoke texture. Large sizing
emphasizes the teeth and googly eyes, provoking chuckles. The final page, wordless, shows the
pair “making their own fun,” grinning on the swings, in the rain!
Gracias Thanks by
Pat Mora
Illustrated by John Parra
Translation by Adriana Dominguez
Lee
& Low Books, Inc., $17.95 (hardcover)
Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten –
Grade 2
(This book is available to borrow at the Miami Dade Library; Main
Library, Miami Lakes, Allapattah, Culmer Overtown, Lemon City, Opa Locka. Also may be purchased from Books &
Books online: http://www.booksandbooks.com)
Award
winner Mora has once again crafted a bilingual picture book to connect young
children with the natural world. The
lyrical litany of thanks begins with early morning sunrise. Next, the young boy notices a ladybug
on his finger. “Foamy waves” chase him and his sister.
As the day continues, Abuelita
(Grandmother) gives him a dollar.
Then, he catches a big fish. Later, his family enjoys the music of a
guitar-playing uncle. A celebration with melted chocolate syrup on vanilla ice
cream follows. As the day ends, a
cricket sings, until sleep comes.
Companion pictures in bright acrylics
on board supply color, texture, and movement. Multiple cultures are represented as the range of
thankfulness crosses the day.
An
author’s note at the end invites readers to “keep the circle of giving thanks,
growing.”
Max and the Tag-Along
Moon by Floyd Cooper
Philomel, $16.99 (hardcover)
Interest Level: Junior-Kindergarten – Grade 1
(This book is available to
purchase from Books & Books online: http://www.booksandbooks.com)
When
Max and Granpa say good-bye to each other, the giant moon is in the sky. Granpa tells Max, “That moon will
always shine for you . . . “ And Max waves to Granpa as the car drives him away
from Granpa’s place.
The
full moon plays peekaboo, first around the “swervy” curves. Later, Max sees it
over the bridge and between the trees.
The moon even shows up on the other side of a tunnel. But clouds tumble “across the night sky.”
And Max wonders, “Where is the
moon?”
Award-winning
author-illustrator Cooper matches his trademark illustrative style with his own
comforting family story. Featuring
Max’s loving relationship with Granpa, Cooper focuses his sepia toned paintings
on the expressive faces of the two main characters. And the moon’s brilliant large face appears on nearly all
the pages, until it's covered by clouds. When finally it emerges once again, the
story ends where it began: with Granpa’s reassuring comment, “That ol’ moon
will always shine for you . . . .”
More titles for FUN!!
Have Fun Molly Lou
Melon by Patty Lovell
Illustrated by David Catrow
Putnam, $16.99 (hardcover)
Interest
Level: Kindergarten – Grade 2
(This book is available to borrow at the Miami Dade Library; Civic Center,
Palmetto Bay, West Dade Regional. Also may be purchased from Books & Books online: http://www.booksandbooks.com)
Joone by Emily
Kate Moon
Dial $16.99 (hardcover)
Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten –
Grade 1
(This book is available to purchase from Books & Books online: http://www.booksandbooks.com)
The Thankful Book
by Todd Parr
Little, Brown and
Company, $11.00 (hardcover)
Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2
(This book is available to borrow at the Miami Dade Library;
Main Library, Miami Lakes, Allapattah, Culmer Overtown, Edison, Lemon City,
Miami Springs, Opa Locka. Also may
be purchased from Books & Books online: http://www.booksandbooks.com)
Amy’s Three Best
Things by Philippa Pearce
Illustrated by Helen Craig
Candlewick Press, $15.99 (hardcover)
Interest Level: Junior-Kindergarten – Grade 1
(This book is available to
purchase from Books & Books online: http://www.booksandbooks.com)
When Charley Met
Grampa by Amy Hest
Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Candlewick Press, $15.99 (hardcover)
Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2
(This book is available to purchase
from Books & Books online: http://www.booksandbooks.com)
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