June 20, 2009 at 4:30 pm (ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, nature, picture books, profound messages)
Title: Frederick
Author/ Illustrator: Leo Lionni
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-0-590-97939-9
ISBN-10: 0-590-97939-6
Summary: Frederick the field mouse confuses his family when he does not work to set aside food for the winter months. Instead Frederick insists that he is gathering memories to share during the cold, bleak months ahead. When winter hunger and boredom hit the family, they call on Frederick to share his gifts.
Butterfly’s notes: This is a beautiful story about valuing all different kinds of work. Frederick may not seem to be much help during the autumn work, but he proves valuable to have around come winter. This is a Caldecott Honor Book.
Categories: ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, nature, picture books, profound messages
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June 20, 2009 at 4:12 pm (ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, nature, picture books, profound messages)
Title: Swimmy
Author/ Illustrator: Leo Lionni
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN-13: 987-0-590-43049-4
ISBN-10: 0-590-43049-1
Summary: After a personal tragedy, the small fish Swimmy learns to vanquish fear through adventure.
Butterfly’s notes: This Caldecott Honor Book features colorful, imaginative illustrations. It would be fun to try re-creating Lionni’s artistic style with kids after reading the book.
Categories: ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, nature, picture books, profound messages
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June 15, 2009 at 9:47 pm (ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, picture books, profound messages)
Title: It’s Mine!
Author/ Illustrator: Leo Lionni
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0-590-62198-X
Summary: Three selfish frogs cannot enjoy themselves and appreciate the world the way they ought to because they are too busy arguing about the ownership of everything. A wise old toad and a natural disaster set them straight.
Butterfly’s Notes: I have high hopes that this book would be useful to read to second and third graders to help them realize that the world is bigger than just themselves. Lionni calls this a fable, and it does have a modern fable ring to it.
Categories: ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, picture books, profound messages
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June 15, 2009 at 9:12 pm (ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, funny stories, nature, picture books, poetry)
Title: A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk
Author: Deborah Ruddell
Illustrator: Joan Rankin
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
ISBN-13: 987-1-4169-4211-5
ISBN- 10: 1-4169-4211-4
Summary: Hilarious poetry about several different forest animals!
Butterfly’s Notes: Goofy illustrations accompany these cute poems about animals found in Eastern woodlands. The only out-of-place animal is the badger, but his poem is so adorable that you’ll forgive him right away!
Categories: ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, funny stories, nature, pictures books, poetry
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January 22, 2009 at 11:01 am (ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, funny stories, nature, picture books, profound messages)
Title: The Mixed-Up Chameleon
Author/ Illustrator: Eric Carle
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
ISBN: 0-690-04396-1
0-690-04397-X (lib. bdg.)
0-06-443162-2 (pbk.)
Summary: A chameleon at a zoo envies the traits of other animals and imagines what it might look like if it had the skills and body parts of other animals.
Butterfly’s notes: It may be fun to imagine, but at the end of the book the chameleon realizes it would be better off to remain a chameleon. Though it may still wish it had the abilities of other animals, the chameleon finds it is happy to be itself.
Categories: ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, funny stories, nature, pictures books, profound messages
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January 22, 2009 at 10:50 am (ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, nature, picture books)
Title: The Very Busy Spider
Author/ Illustrator: Eric Carle
Publisher: Philomel Books
ISBN: 0-399-21166-7
Summary: A small spider works very hard all day to create a beautiful web.
Butterfly’s notes: We often consider spiders to be scary, but the spider in this story is graceful and hard-working. Children will love the web in this story because it is three-dimensional on each page so they can trace it with their fingers.
Categories: ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, nature, picture books
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January 22, 2009 at 10:43 am (ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, funny stories, nature, picture books)
Title: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Author/ Illustrator: Eric Carle
Publisher: Philomel Books
ISBN: 0-399-20853-4
Summary: The story of a caterpillar from egg to adult and the various (silly) things he eats.
Butterfly’s notes: A clever layout makes this book enjoyable to kids. Also, the caterpillar is cute!
Categories: ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, funny stories, nature, picture books
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January 20, 2009 at 9:06 pm (ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, fantasy, picture books, poetry)
Title: 17 Kings and 42 Elephants
Author: Margaret Mahy
Illustrator: Patricia MacCarthy
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0-8037-0458-5
Summary: A procession through an African jungle.
Butterfly’s notes: Beautiful batik-style illustrations perfectly off-set this luscious poem. It is easy to devleop a rhythm while reading this book, so it’s great for reading aloud. It isn’t so much a story as an exploration of the jungle. Kids can imagine for themselves why the Kings are out in the rainforest with 42 elephants and where they are going.
Categories: ages 4-6, ages 7-10, fantasy, animal stories, poetry, picture books
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January 20, 2009 at 5:49 pm (ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, funny stories, picture books, poetry)
Title: Dinner at the Panda Palace
Author: Stephanie Calmenson
Illustrator: Nadine Bernard Westcott
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
ISBN: 0-06-021010-9
0-06-021011-7 (lib. bdg.)
Summary: Mr. Panda ushers in guests to his restaurant, the Panda Palace. A crisis emerges when a small guest asks to be seated in a seemingly full house.
Butterfly’s notes: A good book for practicing counting and learning different types of animals. Each sucessive party admitted to the restaurant is a different species and number of animals.
Categories: ages 4-6, ages 7-9, funny stories, animal stories, picture books, poetry
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January 20, 2009 at 4:16 pm (ages 4-6, ages 7-9, animal stories, funny stories, picture books, profound messages)
Title: Horton Hatches the Egg
Author/ Illustrator: Dr. Seuss
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0-394-80077-X
0-394-90077-4 (lib. bdg.)
Summary: Horton the Elephant vows to keep watch over an egg until the mother bird (Mayzie the lazy) returns. After many trials and difficulties, the egg starts to hatch, but who will be the true parent? Horton, who sat faithfully by the egg for months, or Mayzie who laid it?
Butterfly’s notes: This is one of my absolute favorite books to read aloud. There is something so unbelieveably loveable about the character Horton!
Categories: ages 4-6, ages 7-9, funny stories, profound messages, animal stories, picture books
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