Folklore, Poetry, Art and Gators

Tani’s Search For the Heart by Keith Egawa

Genre: Folklore, Upper Elementary, Middle Grades
Source:  I received a copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.

 My Thoughts:

Tani is a young girl who who lives near the shores of the Salish Sea in  the Pacific Northwest. Tani lived with her grandmother who spent her time teaching her the legends and ways of her people. She was preparing Tani for the day when she would no longer be there with Tani. She taught her of the Stick Indian. He was scary enough to keep children following the rules yet was a protector.

Tani learns about protecting the world she lives in from her grandmother. Her grandmother tells her that they will be coming to cut down more trees and that one day Tani will need to be the voice to stand up to them. She also tells her that Tani will need to go on a quest to find the heart of the world.  She will be helped by many  in the forest.  Her grandmother dies and Tani goes to live with her uncle’s family. Soon she hears a voice telling her she must leave for her journey.  She is helped along the way by many animals.  They in turn teacher her much.  How will Tani find the heart of the world?  Where is it?  I would recommend you read this book to find out.  The great thing about this book is that I got it as I was doing my unit on Fables, and Folklore.  My students compared it to “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss and to “The Talking Earth” by Jean Craighead George.  The sory is not only wonderfully told, buthte pictures are absolutely beautiful.  I recommend this story for all families.

Queen Vernita Visits Gator Country by Dawn Menge

Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Source: I received a copy in exchange for my honest review

Queen Vernita is off to visit her friends in Gator Country, In January she meets her friend Neomi. Where she learns all about the roots of Jazz music and its connection to slaves. In February she visits Sidney where she will spend her time on a paddle boat learning about it’s history. Throughout the rest of the book she spends a month with different friends learning about Mardi Gras, alligators, the French Quarter. She visits zoos, aquariums, a plantation.  She learns about slavery and the underground railroad. She sees the wonderful world of the bayou.
The reason I have enjoyed the books so much is because they are full of history and so many things for children and adults  to learn. It is done in such a fun manner that children don’t realize that they are getting history lessons.  The illustrations by Pamela Snyder are wonderful and capture the feeling of the story.  As always I look forward to reading the Queen Vernita series. They are a refreshing change of pace from the usual picture book.

The Secret Kingdom by Michele & Richard Bledsoe
Genre: Fantasy
Source: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

This book is wonderful, but at the same time hard to classify.  We have the beautiful illustrations and then we have the beautiful poetry.  Not everyone will get this book.  I happen to be one of those quirky people that love things like this. We are welcomed into the world of dreams.  The first page tells you that you can wear your monster suit and shows the other character as a masked face with leaves for hair and a wooden body with a wooden hand holding a heart.  Then it tells you that it is good to share dreams with a friend.  This is not a young kids picture book even though is says it is juvenile fiction.  This is for the older child.  Many of the pictures are so abstract they might not get them. One of my favorite is of the green alien. The message is one of being friendly to strangers from a faraway land. It also talks about the universality of pictures.  You don’t have to speak the same language to understand art.  A lot of the art is symbolic in meaning as is the wordage.  I would definitely recommend this book to the older child.  My copy is being passed to a fellow teacher as he fell in love with the book and wanted to share it with his daughter.

Six Picture Books To Read to Your Child

Queen-a-Bella Finds a Best Friend – Lisa Fair & Nina De Polonia

Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Source: I purchased it
When Queen-a-Bella’s sister sends her away to find her own friend, Queen-a-Bella makes it her mission to find one. She asks a butterfly and a fish. She asks a fox who wants her for dinner. She meets Liam the lizard and asks him to be her new best friend. Everytime he has an excuse she finds an answer until he agrees to be her new best friend. Great book about how friends don’t have to be, or do things exactly the same to be friends. A lesson in diversity.

 

Truthy Ruthy – Sari Barel

Genre:  Children’s Picture Book
Source: I purchased it.
Ruthy had picked up a bad habit of lying to her parents and not following the rules. Her dad decided to teach Ruthy the importance of telling the truth. Her dad told her that from that point on it was okay to not follow the rules or tell the truth. Ruthy was very happy. He promises to buy her treats and play with her then does neither. Ruthy learns how important it is to always tell the truth.

 

Meet the Bugs! Poems and Pictures by Mark C. Collins

Genre: Children’s Picture Books
Source:  I received a copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.
Author Mark C. Collins has created a book that allows parents to share the knowledge of bugs with their youngest child. The author/illustrator has created a set of wonderful pictures that make learning about the bugs fun and not scary. His poetry about each bug gives the reader some information about each one. It may be what they eat, where they live, or how they protect themselves. This is a wonderful book that takes the fear of bugs out of learning about them. The charming pictures give a fairly accurate depiction of the bug in a cute and friendly way. The thing that made me love this book was the actual information that is in each poem about the bug. This is a must read book.

 

Counting From Creation – Tracy Wainwright

Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Source: I purchased it
This is a smart book of twelve poems of events that we can read about in the Bible. It is a great way to teach a child to count, and an even better way to teach Bible truths to a child.

You can check out her website here.

 

Bear and Bunny Go to Dreamland – Emily Thomson

Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Source: I purchased it
When Bunny announces he is tired he asks Bear how they get to Dreamland and what he needs to take. Bear’s answer is quite simple and satisfying for Bunny.  This is a cute bedtime story that is sure to relax your child and prepare them for their own trip to dreamland.

 

Not Another Boring ABC Book – Sharon Cohen

Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Source: I purchased it
In this alphabet book Princess Nina takes readers on a trip through her adventures with the alphabet. She begins her journey by shooting apples off the head of alligators. This would be a great book to use in any classroom to teach

From Bible Stories to Life Stories with Anat Umansky

Genre: Children's Picture Books
Source:  I purchased them.

 

Every now and then you come across an author who writes quality books with quality messages. When Anat Umansky asked me to check out one of her books I immediately looked it up online. The price was great so I purchased it. Then I began to check out the other books.  Although I did not review every one of her books, I review the majority of them.  These were the ones I thought I would really enjoy.  I hope you will read about them and then go quickly to purchase them. They are well worth it.

 

Exodus From Egypt

The Biblical story of Moses leading the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt is told in great detail and beautiful pictures in this book.  The author explains the reason the Jewish people celebrate Passover. This is a simple yet great retelling of a most important story.

 

The Ten Commandments

This was an excellent retelling of the Biblical story of Moses and the Ten Commandments. It stayed true to the word of God. Told in simplest of terms any young child would understand. Excellent job and well worth the read.

 

Why Did the Leaf Fall

When a young boy observes a leaf fall from a branch he questions why. Each answer he receives leads him to another question. The questions eventually lead back to God who shows the boy how he takes care of the smallest of his creatures. Great story,  great lesson.

 

 

Dirty Bumble and Clean Bean

This is the story of two very different dwarfs. Bumble loved to play all day. He and his house were dirty, but he didn’t care because he was busy having fun. Bean was the opposite of Bumble. He was constantly scrubbing and cleaning. He did this all day long and didn’t take time to play. Bumble slept late, didn’t brush his teeth and often had trouble finding his clothes. Bean was always up early. He organized and cleaned everything starting with himself. One day they meet in the woods. They wonder which is right, to be dirty or neat. Bumble introduces himself and talks about how much fun he has getting dirty and playing. Bean introduces himself and explains how important it is he stay clean to be happy and healthy. Both realize they need a balance in their lives, and that there is a time for everything.

 

How Babies Are Born

Two children, Orly and Lior are talking about where babies come from. They discuss the usual stories they have hear about the stork bringing them or finding the in the cabbage patch. They discuss the possibility of babies growing from plants. Then they begin to question where other animals come from. They decide to ask their parents but they are at work. They can’t ask their grandparents because they are off on a trip. An open book states he will answer their questions. He explains how fish, dogs and kittens are born. Finally he explains in a way children will understand without telling too much how children are made and born.  This is an excellent book for those times when children begin to ask the questions. It is a great way to start that conversation with them.

 

Don’t Think You Can’t

A crow sees a beautiful tomato and wants to eat it, but is afraid of the wolf. A rabbit comes along and sees the tomato bigger than himself. He too wants to eat it. The crow warns of the wolf. He gives the rabbit advice about how to hide from the wolf while eating the tomato.  The rabbit tries to convince the crow to join him. The crow is too afraid. Soon the tomato is gone and the crow realizes his fear, realistic or not kept him from attempting something he really wanted.

 

Why  the Giraffe is Crying

Geraldine the Giraffe cries over everything. She reminded me of a two year old throwing tantrums when someone says something she doesn’t like, or when she doesn’t get her way.  Usually she looks into her puddle of tears and sees Croakette the toad who tells her such funny things that she can’t help but laugh. This is a book you must read to find out if Geraldine will ever stop crying.

 

 

Go Away Scary Thoughts

A cute story of Dylan who is afraid at night. He fears aliens, monsters and witches. When he is visited by an angel and a fairy he learns what he has to do to keep the scary things away. He learns he must control his own thoughts for this to happen. This would make a great bed-time story to alleviate any fears the child might have.

 

Wizard Bill’s Secret

What if crocodiles had elephant ears and zebras had pink stripes? In this cute story Bill the wizard visits the zoo after all the people have left,  and grants the wishes of the animals. When daylight returns, the animals return to their normal selves.  The first thing I thought about after reading this book was that this would make a great read to use for creative writing.  Having students write about other things the wizard could do to the animals.  Another writing idea that popped into my head was, what if the sun rose before the wizard could turn them back.  Great mentor text for creative writing possibilities for children.


Mama Bird and Her Chicks

This is a counting book with a wonderful story attached to it.  It has some simple rhyme to it. The story is of one mother bird sitting on her two eggs.  Each time something happens to the birds to move it along then we have another number added to help with the counting.  The storyline is wonderful. It teaches children a little about birds, what they eat and their predators and also teaches them to count to ten. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and kid friendly.  These will stay on my Kindle so that I can share them with grandchildren.

A Journey Into Imagination

This is another one of my favorites.  I love figurative language and I love to teach it.  I teach sixth grade. That is an age that can be difficult as children try to transition from the younger child to the almost teenager. Finding books that are simple and fun to teach something they might not want to learn is always a challenge.  I've had many books over the years I used to teach figurative language.  However, this one with its beautiful and imaginative pictures is by far my favorite and one I will definitely use in my classroom when I return this year.  It is a way for the child to use their imagination, something many don't know how to use, to learn about figurative language.  Thank you Anat for such a wonderful imagination.