During the month of April, remember
to play with poetry using both rhyming and non-rhyming books. Memorize a poem
or more that you love, and help your child(ren) learn a poem they can say again
and again. Try any or all of these books to share. And don’t forget to plan a project you can do together to
care for the earth.
Taking time to enjoy books and
activities that extend the reading experience can create lasting memories that
will return to enrich all of our lives. Have fun!!
Some Bugs by
Angela DiTerlizzi
Illustrated by Brendan Wenzel
The
rhyming exploration of backyard bugs in this lively book encourages readers to
dig in the dirt. It invites them to investigate backyard insects. “Building,
making, hunting, taking – bugs are oh-so-fascinating!”
Explosively colorful illustrations
feature bugs that bite and fight. Other bugs glide and hide. A ladybug onlooker
watches the busy activity on each page.
Younger children especially will
become absorbed in the lively creatures as they flutter, click, hop and hide on
the pages of this merry picture book. The final double page spread labels all
the pictured bugs.
Simon & Schuster,
$17.99
Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Kindergarten
Maple by Lori
Nichols
A
little girl, with the same name as the tiny tree planted before her birth,
“When she was still a whisper,” loves both the tree and her name. She romps
with and under her tree and through the pages. Both she and the tree grow and
change with the seasons and the years.
White
space helps to shape the passing of time. It also contrasts with the importance
of the full-page illustrations for defining the relationships in the
story: Maple’s friendship with her
tree; with the parents (whose faces we never see); and with the new baby in the
family. The new tree, a Willow, like her name, arrives just before she
does.
The pencil illustrations are
digitally colored. Filled with cheerful energy, they are lit with warm greens and
cool blues. Surprisingly vigorous, for a reflective space, are the two spreads
showing Maple’s tree leaves as they dance. This is a tender, gently told story
to charm young listeners.
Penguin, $16.99
Interest
Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 1
The Great Big Green
by Peggy Gifford
Illustrated by Lisa Desimini
Saving
the kicker until the end, this subtle environmental tale is all about shades
and kinds of green. Without defining “the thing” except by giving clues -- “anaconda
green,” “turtle-green ponds,” “tornado-sky greens,” “bunch-of-green-grapes
green” – readers and listeners are invited to guess.
An
Artist’s Note at the end explains that Desimini has scanned papers, fabric,
photos, and “other unusual materials.” She then uses these scans to create
mixed media collages for the illustrations. Her use of orange, rose, purple and
even blue and turquoise backgrounds adds movement and texture, making the
greens really POP with energy. Especially bold is the double page spread of the
tiger’s orange-tinted, striped face and marble-green eyes staring directly from
beneath green leaves.
Beginning with a spiral shape on
the first page, Gifford’s rollicking text circles around through the pages to a
green ball in the next to last page.
Sometimes rhyming, always rhythmic, the words and matching pictures
create the twist on the final pages - the blue globe!
Boyds Mills, $15.95
Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 3
More reading choices
to focus on nature’s gifts:
Seed Soil Sun:
Earth’s Recipe for Food
by Cris Peterson, photos by David R. Lundquist
Boyds Mills, $17.95
(hardcover) $7.95 (paperback)
Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 3
Plant a Little Seed
by Bonnie Christensen
Roaring Brook, $17.99
Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2
Mysterious Patterns:
Finding Fractals in Nature
by Sarah C. Campbell, photos by Sarah C.
Campbell and Richard P. Campbell
Boyds Mills, $16.95
Interest Level: Grades 1-4
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