Monday, August 27, 2018

Learning Concepts for Young Children

This month during story time, we have been reviewing various learning concepts (alphabet, counting, colors, opposites, etc.) in preparation for the start of school.  So this week, I am sharing some great picture books that teach various learning concepts.  Here are a few of my favorites . . . .

Bear in a Square by Stella Blackstone
With a big friendly bear as a guide, you can find shapes hidden on each page.

Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On by Lois Ehlert
A counting book depicting the colorful fish a child might see if he turned into a fish himself.

Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodds
A colorful story of a sloppy dog with one black spot on his ear at the beginning of the day, and 10 spots of various colors by the end of the day.

Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth
Rhyming text and illustrations follow a mischievous old black fly through the alphabet as he has a very busy bad day landing where he should not be.

Shout! Shout It Out! by Denise Fleming
Mouse invites the reader to shout out what he or she knows as they review numbers, letters, and easy words.


More Learning Concept Books --
1 Zany Zoo by Lori Degman
10 Hungry Rabbits by Anita Lobel
26 Letters and 99 Cents by Tana Hoban
ABC Dreams by Kim Krans
Big Bear, Small Mouse by Karma Wilson
Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin
Can You Count to Ten? Count to 10 in 10 Different Languages by Lezlie Evans
Circle, Square, Moose by Kelly Bingham
Counting Crows by Kathi Appelt
Friendshape by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Goodnight, Numbers! by Danica McKellar
The Handmade Alphabet by Laura Rankin
I Like Black and White by Barbara Jean Hicks
Jeepers Creepers: A Monstrous ABC by Laura Leuck
Lemons Are Not Red by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Magic Opposites by Patrick George
Monkey Colors by Darrin Lunde
Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose by Leo & Diane Dillon
Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh
One Gorilla: A Counting Book by Anthony Browne
Pignic: An Alphabet Book in Rhyme by Anne Miranda
Pirate Nap: A Book of Colors by Danna Smith
Pomolo's Opposites by Ramona Badescu
Red Sings From the Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman
A Second Is a Hiccup: A Child's Book of Time by Hazel Hutchins
Shapes That Roll by Karen Nagel
Soup for One by Ethan Long
Sun Above, Blooms Below: A Springtime of Opposites by Relicia Chernesky
Telling Time by Jules Older
Vincent Paints His House by Tedd Arnold



Check these and more learning concept books out on display at the Arnold Branch through September 10, 2018.

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Boy by Megan McDonald

Stink is the shortest person in his family.  He's the shortest kid in the second grade.  He's probably the shortest person in the whole world.  Then one day when he's measured, he's a quarter inch shorter.  Could he actually be shrinking?

This book is the first in a series about Judy Moody's younger brother Stink.  It is a great series of books for boys (and girls) ready for chapter books.  

As an added bonus, it is also available in an audiobook version narrated by Nancy Cartwright, voice of TV's Bart Simpson.

Monday, August 20, 2018

Go On an Adventure (With a Book)

This week, I'm sharing some great teen fiction adventure stories . . . .

Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber
Perry's parents insist that he take Gobi, their quiet, Lithuanian exchange student, to senior prom but after an incident at the dance he learns that Gobi is actually a trained assassin who needs him as a henchman, behind the wheel of his father's precious Jaguar, on a mission in Manhattan.

Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid
A love-seeking mechanic, a dramatic petty thief, a disappointed planner, and a broken-hearted teen all find their lives transformed as each shares whirlwind adventures with a girl in an insanely red car.

Newt's Emerald by Garth Nix
After the Newington Emerald is stolen at the height of a conjured storm, eighteen-year-old Lady Truthful Newington goes to London, disguised as a man, to search for the magical heirloom of her house, and is soon caught up in a dangerous adventure where she must risk her life, her reputation, and her heart.

The Murderer's Ape by Jackob Wegelius
When her best friend, the sailor Henry Koskela, is falsely accused of murder, a gorilla named Sally Jones visits the run-down docks of Lisbon, embarks on a dizzying journey across the seven seas, and calls on the Maharaja of Bhapur's magnificent court--all in an attempt to clear Henry's name.


More Adventurous Books --
After the Snow by S.D. Crockett
Burning Midngiht by Will McIntosh
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
Heaven Eyes by David Almond
Hunted by Megan Spooner
The Lioness & Her Knight by Gerald Morris
Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel
Paper Towns by John Green
The Prom Goer's Interstellar Excursion by Chris McCoy
The Reader by Traci Chee
Soundless by Richelle Mead
Starflight by Melissa Landers
Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee
Vango: Between the Sky and Earth by Timothee de Fombelle
Waste of Space by Gina Damico
Wild Blues by Beth Kephart


Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through September 7, 2018.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018


This week, I'm sharing chapter books featuring pirates.  Here a few of my favorites . . .

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry
Soon after Peter, an orphan, sets sail from England on the ship Never Land, he befriends and assists Molly, a young Starcatcher, whose mission is to guard a trunk of magical stardust from a greedy pirate and the native inhabitants of a remote island.

Shivers! The Pirate Who's Afraid of Everything! by Annabeth Bondor-Stone
Shivers, the pirate who's afraid of everything, battles a giant squid, discovers hidden treasures, and gets pooped on by a pigeon to save his parents from the clutches of evil.

Little Wolf: Terror of the Shivery Seas by Ian Whybrow
In a series of letters to his parents, Little Wolf tells of setting sail to find the lost treasure of his legendary ancestor, Blackfur the Pirate.


More Books --
Fish by Gregory Mone
The High-Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate by Scott Nash
Hook's Revenge by Heidi Schulz
The Lost Treasure of Little Snoring by Lyn Gardner
Magic Marks the Spot by Caroline Carlson
Misty Gordon and the Mystery of the Ghost Pirates by Kim Kennedy
Pirate Curse by Kai Meyer
The Pirate Pig by Cornelia Funke
The Pirates of Turtle Rock by Richard Jennings
Race to the Bottom of the Sea by Lindsay Eagar
Seven Dead Pirates: A Ghost Story by Linda Bailey
Tales of Pirates and Buccaneers by Howard Pyle
Uncle Pirate by Douglas Rees
The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones by Will Mabbitt

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through August 31, 2018.

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Fruits Basket Another by Natsuki Takaya

Sawa Mitoma keeps her head down and doesn't interact with anyone . . . until her first day of high school when she meets Mutsuki and Hajime of the Sohma family.  Now they're doing their best to open her up and include her in their crazy family activities.


This is the first book in a sequel series to the popular Fruits Basket manga.  It is great fun revisiting the high school from Fruits Basket and figuring out how the new Sohma characters are related to the original Fruits Basket characters.  A definite must read for those who liked the first series.

Monday, August 6, 2018

I Don't Want to Grow Up! Books About Childhood

This week, I'm sharing picture books about being a kid.  Here's a few of my favorites . . . .

I'm Bored by Michael Ian Black
When a bored girl meets a potato who finds children tedious, she tries to prove him wrong by demonstrating all of the things they can do, from turning cartwheels to using their imagination.

Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis
An imaginative young pig shows some of the many things that a stick can be.

Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
Little Red Chicken wants Papa to read her a bedtime story, but interrupts him almost as soon as he begins each tale.

Me Want Pet! by Tammi Sauer
When Cave Boy wants a pet, he tries a woolly mammoth, a saber-toothed tiger, and a dodo bird, but none seems suitable.

Snow by Uri Shulevitz
As snowflakes slowly come down, one by one, people in the city ignore them, and only a boy and his dog think the snowfall will amount to anything.


More Books --
Alligator Boy by Cynthia Rylant
Bigger! Bigger! by Leslie Patricelli
A Boy and His Bunny by Sean Bryan
The Boy Who Wouldn't Share by Mike Reiss
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Froggy Eats Out by Jonathan London
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Horrible Bear by Ame Dyckman
I Can Do It Myself by Diane Adams
I Don't Want to Be Big by Dav Petty
I Lost My Bear by Jules Feiffer
If I Were a Jungle Animal by Amanda Ellery
Just a Mess by Mercer Mayer
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
Let's Do Nothing by Tony Fucile
Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Mustache Baby by Bridget Heos
My Cousin Momo by Zachariah Ohora
My Garden by Kevin Henkes
No, David! by David Shannon
Parts by Tedd Arnold
Peep and Egg: I'm Not Hatching by Laura Gehl
Puddles by Jonathan London
Rory the Dinosaur: Me and My Dad by Liz Climo
Snowball Fight by Jimmy Fallon
Templeton Makes a Wish by Greg Pizzoli
That's (Not) Mine! by Anna Kang
There's a Bear on My Chair by Ross Collins
Where's My T-R-U-C-K? by Karen Beaumont

Check these and more books about childhood out on display at the Arnold Branch through August 24, 2018.