poetry by month: part two

Hi there!  Here is part two of our poetry by month calendar! 

June 

Caroline Kennedy has done so much for the cause of bringing poetry to children.  I love the fireflies on this magical cover! 

Poems to Learn by Heart

By Caroline Kennedy

Buy on Amazon

July 

Learn fun and obscure facts about the Presidents past in funny poem form! 

Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents

By Marilyn Singer

Buy on Amazon

August 

This collection has beloved and new authors writing some of the best poems about animals you can find, plus with National Geographic, you know the photography is going to be great! 

National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs That Squeak, Soar, and Roar!

National Geographic Children's Books

Buy on Amazon

September 

September brings the start of school, and with that, the start of projects!  This poetry collection will come in handy planning out your kid's next science project. 

The Poetry of Science: The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science for Kids

By Sylvia Vardell, Janet Wong

Buy on Amazon

 

a great website for madeline fans!

Hi there!  If you are as big of a Madeline fan as I am, you should head over to Madeline.com .  I recently discovered that our favorite French red head as a great website dedicated to Ludwig Bemelmans and his most treasured work.  

The website has a complete list of the Madeline books, free printable coloring sheets, games and activities, and fun facts about the history of Madeline.  

Here is a post about my favorite Madeline collection and the perfect French cookies to nibble while reading!

http://www.booktomato.net/new-blog/2015/7/19/story-time-snacks-madeleines-for-madeline

story time + snacks: viking edition!

What makes a good book even better?  Snacks!  What makes a good snack even better?  Cookies!  Today we are reading tales about some of the most interesting characters in Scandinavian folklore -viking gods and goddess, frost giants, eight-legged flying horses, and trolls - and we have a Danish sugar cookie named Brunekager to nibble on as we read.  

Trolls and Norse Mythology are both by 1930s co-authors and married couple, Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire.  They wrote and illustrated several books of Norwegian folk tales with beautiful wood-block sketches and lively retellings of classic Scandinavian stories of trolls, gods and goddesses, snow giants, and more.  We have become very familiar with the characters in these stories lately with the popularity of the Avengers movies.  Well, here are the stories of some of the original Avengers!  Thor and his powerful hammer, the tricky Loki, the world of Asgard and its rainbow bridge, that all started here with Norse myths.  

The book of trolls is just as entertaining.  Trolls can be friendly and helpful or mean-spirited and greedy.  We had fun baking some Danish sugar cookies and reading these lively, dramatic stories!    

Brunekager 

Adapted from The Culinary Arts Institute The Cookie Jar

ingredients:

1 cup butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp cardamom 

• preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 
• Cream the butter and sugar together until fully combined and fluffy.  
• Add the egg and beat well. 
• Gradually add the flour and cardamom.  Blend well. 
• I like to scoop cookie dough with a basic ice cream scoop.  It makes the cookies uniform but may be a bigger cookie than you prefer (I like big cookies). If you want a smaller cookie, roll the dough into balls with your hand. 
• Press the dough with your hand or with the bottom of a drinking glass to slightly flatten it.  
• Bake on a buttered cookie sheet until there are golden edges, around 10 minutes. 

poetry by month: part one

Good morning and welcome to Booktomato! April is National Poetry Month, and to celebrate, we have collected a book of poetry for every month of the year.  Let's begin with part one of our collection! 

January 

Rimshots: Basketball Pix, Rolls, and Rhythms (Picture Puffin Books)

By Charles R. Smith

Buy on Amazon

You might assume that our January pick would be something related to snowflakes or snowmen, but Memphis is a big basketball town!  January is a big basketball month because the holiday fun is over, it's too cold to play outside, and we have a great NBA team playing several games a week downtown.  We have featured this poetry book on the blog before.  This one is for those sporty "I don't really like to read poems" readers.  The subject is something most kids will find interesting, and the language has a great fluid motion that keeps the reading lively. 

February

Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems (Reading Rainbow Series)

By Eloise Greenfield

Buy on Amazon

These love poems are dedicated to the simple pleasures of childhood, and if you haven't read anything by Greenfield, this is a perfect introduction to her work.  

March 

A Child's Garden of Verses

By Robert Louis Stevenson

Buy on Amazon

I had a very special teacher who I loved more than anything in elementary school, and every day she would recite "The Swing", a poem in this collection by Robert Louis Stevenson.  To this day, I can recite this poem and love this poem because of her.  These poems capture what it means to be a child - swinging really high, stomping in rain puddles, hearing birdsong, and discovering one's own shadow.  All of it is very tied to nature, so this feels like the perfect book for March and the beginnings of spring.

April 

For Laughing Out Loud: Poems to Tickle Your Funnybone

Knopf Books for Young Readers

Buy on Amazon

April is the month that begins with a laugh with its practical jokes on April Fools Day, so funny poems are the best pick for this month.  Humor is the best way to engage reluctant poetry readers, and no kid, young or old, can resist some of these funny poems!  This one has great illustrations too. 

May 

Poetry Speaks to Children (Book & CD) (A Poetry Speaks Experience)

Sourcebooks MediaFusion

Buy on Amazon

Once school is out at the end of May, we always are heading off some where on a road trip where we will spend approximately one million hours on a highway.  Along with snacks, dvds, and crayons, bring this book with you on your next long car trip.  It has a CD recording of the actual poets reading their poems aloud.  Your kids can use the book with its awesome illustrations to follow along in the backseat. 

Hope you enjoyed the first part of our poetry calendar!  Stay tuned for part two! 

have an out-of-this-world weekend! mousetronaut by astronaut mark kelly and c. f. payne!

TGIF!  We've all made it to the end of the week mostly unscathed and ready for a fun weekend!  What are your weekend plans?  Spring fever has officially set in at my house, and I'm finding it hard to get anything done that doesn't involve sitting on my porch swing.  

While we were in Chicago checking out their amazing science museums, we found this little gem in the Planetarium gift shop.  My preschooler is space obsessed, so this is right up his alley.  Your little astronauts might love it too! 

The author of this book is Mark Kelly, one of the Kelly brother astronauts.  Mark and Scott Kelly are twins who both work for NASA, and this past year, in order to study the long term effects that space has on the human body, Scott Kelly went into space for an entire year while his brother Mark stayed on Earth.  Because the brothers share similar DNA, NASA can compare them at the end of the prolonged time in space and see if there are any negative differences.  Scott Kelly just landed safely back on earth a few weeks ago.  

This is the story of a mouse named Meteor who is one of the mice being trained to go on a space mission with the astronauts. Only the biggest, strongest mice will be chosen for the mission, and Meteor is the smallest of the group, so he knows that the chances of him being picked to go are pretty slim.  But when an astronaut sees how hard Meteor works at his training, he picks him anyway, and Meteor gets to go up in space!  While on the mission, Meteor is needed to save the day, and he earns the official title of mousetronaut! 

Have a great weekend!  

old macdonald had a truck by steve goetz and eda kaban

Take a look at this cute version of Old MacDonald that is perfect for fans of construction trucks!  Farmer and Mrs. MacDonald are busy, busy building something, and they need every construction truck they can find.  What they are building is a fun surprise at the end. 

Most kids I know go through a MAJOR construction vehicle phase, and this is perfect for delving into everything construction from the names of the vehicles to the sounds they make all in a fun song! 

on the look out for a new book series!

Hi there!  Welcome to Booktomato.  If your new here, every day we share our favorites in children's literature - some new, some classic.  My nine year old needs a new book series to read.  He has read every How to Train Your Dragon and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and he needs to find something new.  I relate to his love of series.  I love to read about the same characters going on different adventures.  It makes me feel like I really get to know them, and they become friends!  

Here are some of the book series that I am eyeing for him.

Secret Agent Jack Stalwart Book 1: The Escape of the Deadly Dinosaur

By Elizabeth Singer Hunt

Buy on Amazon

Rescue!: A Bindi Irwin Adventure (Bindi's Wildlife Adventures)

By Bindi Irwin, Jess Black

Buy on Amazon

Oona Finds an Egg (The Oodlethunks #1)

By Adele Griffin

Buy on Amazon

An Excellent Invention (The Tinklers Three)

By M.C. Badger

Buy on Amazon

What do you think?  I want to hear your recommendations for favorite book series!  

have a colorful weekend! planting a rainbow by lois ehlert

What are your plans this weekend?  The plant nursery in my neighborhood has put out loads of new plants for spring planting, and I think I will go get a few flats of flowers to plant this weekend.  Here is a little gardening inspiration from the master of colorful children's art - Lois Ehlert! 

This sweet little board book features Ehlert's characteristic collage style art work.  Little readers learn the process of planting a garden from seed and bulb all the way to beautiful blooms.  I love the back pages that sort the flowers by the colors of the rainbow.  So happy and pretty!  

Whatever you do this weekend, make sure to take some time to read a good book!  

reading rainbow makes a comeback! a review of skybrary school

Butterfly in the sky!  My heart broke into a million pieces a few years ago when it was announced that Reading Rainbow was being taken off the air.  I wanted my kids to have the same wonderful experiences that I had while watching this beloved show.  Well, Lavar Burton and Reading Rainbow are back and better than ever!  I signed up for a trial membership with Reading Rainbow's new online service to be able to report back to you what I found.  

WHO: Lavar Burton and Reading Rainbow

WHAT:  Skybrary School, an online subscription service that provides teachers with access to hundreds of digital books and educational videos on any subject you could want.  

HOW:  When I signed up for a free trial of the service (which by the way - you can sign up for one too.  I'm not a teacher or school employee, and even though this is touted as a service for classroom teachers, it still allowed me to sign up as a parent.)  I was directed to a dashboard command center for the teacher to organize and record everything from a list of her students, what books each student read and how much time they spent reading them, a Reading Rainbow blog with literacy tips, a library tab with several hundred digital books, a tab to record and organize her reading curriculum.  So much!  

The digital books - as I scrolled through the books offered in the library, I saw many, many Caldecott and Newberry winners.  It was a really good selection.  Each book gives the option to have the book read aloud to the student, or the narration can be turned off so the student can read it for themselves.  

In addition to the library, there is also Skybrary.  It is like a magical world of floating islands with each island representing a different book genre.  When you click on an island, you get a list of books and a collection of Reading Rainbow videos that are related to the genre.  For example, I clicked on "Adventure", and I found a list of books and videos about travelling to far away places, pirates, and archaeology.  

WHERE: https://www.readingrainbow.com/school  The subscription is a bit pricey.  It is $179 for a yearly membership.  I do feel like teachers would really use this though, and I know that purchasing the amount of books available in their online library would be way over the cost of membership.  

VERDICT: Despite the price of membership being a bit high, I was impressed with the quality and quantity of great kids lit that Skybrary offers.  The graphics were fun and interactive.  I know my kids would be really engaged with the material offered here.  I might see if several parents in my child's class want to go in together on a membership for our teacher as an end of the year gift.  Go to the website and give it a free try today.  Signing up gives you an entire month of great books and videos for free! 

bear and bunny by daniel pinkwater and will hildebrand

Hello there!  Welcome to Booktomato!  Today we are reading this sweet little water-colored picture book, Bear and Bunny by Daniel Pinkwater and Will Hildebrand.  Come read along with us! 

"The bunny and the bear are friends.  They like to wander in the woods, look for things to eat, and talk things over."

While reading this story of a bear and bunny companionship, I was reminded a lot of another bear and bunny friendship, well actually, a bear/bunny/donkey/tiger/piglet/owl relationship.  This book is very much like and maybe even inspired by The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in the story's tone and pacing and the way the characters get their facts delightfully wrong sometimes.  This isn't a BAM POW action in your face book, but instead, Bear and Bunny have slow paced, gentle but entertaining conversations as they walk through the forest.  Towards the middle of the book, they decide to find themselves a pet to love and care for, and they find the cutest little frog to take home with them.  

We enjoyed this story a good deal, but with one edit I made as I was reading.  The story meanders like a little stream, and the slow pacing combined with its larger word count made it just slightly too long to read in one sitting with my preschooler.  I found as I read it that there are several natural stopping places within the story almost like the book wants to have chapters.  I just broke the story up into those chapters and read it in installments for my three year old.  Naturally, an older child, like a first grader, could sit through the whole thing.  

Have a great day and take some time today to read a good book! 

books for an election year!

I don't know if you have heard, but it is an election year in the United States.  There is so much about candidates, delegates, debates, you name it, in the news right now, and I'm sure your kids are like mine.  They have a ton of questions about the election process and how it works.  Here is an age-by-age list of some fun and informative books about elections.

• Preschoolers: this age needs fun, engaging pictures coupled with a simple explanation of what it means to vote for something.  If your child likes the PBS series, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, there is an episode where Daniel's class must vote to choose a new class pet.  That would be a helpful on-level lesson on elections too. 

Otto Runs For President

By Rosemary Wells

Buy on Amazon

Election Day (Robin Hill School)

By Margaret McNamara

Buy on Amazon

Duck for President (New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books (Awards))

By Doreen Cronin

Buy on Amazon

• Elementary School:

This age can handle a more lengthy lesson on elections and have an attention span long enough to read more detailed guides that veer more towards non fiction than story telling.

The Kid Who Ran for President (Kid Who (Paperback))

By Dan Gutman

Buy on Amazon

The The Election Activity Book (2016): Dozens of Activities That Help Kids Learn About Voting, Campaigns, Our Government, Presidents, and More!

By Karen Baicker

Buy on Amazon

• Middle Schoolers: 

This age can really delve into how the government works and might even enjoy watching the presidential debates. 

Vote for Larry (The Larry Series)

By Janet Tashjian

Buy on Amazon

***While this post contains affiliated links, the books picked here are completely the opinion of Booktomato.  Thanks for supporting businesses that support this blog.***

have a pug-tastic weekend! the juggling pug by sean bryan and tom murphy

How is your weekend shaping up?  We are in Chicago for a couple of days, and we love it here!  It is so nice to be in the hustle and bustle of a big city sometimes with every restaurant and museum imaginable.  

Meet one talented pug!  This pug loves to juggle, and when word of his skill travels, people come from miles around to see the juggling pug! 

The problem with this juggling pug is that he isn't very considerate of others.  His juggling habit starts making a real mess, and his owner had enough of cleaning up after him.  So the juggling pug must learn to be kind and considerate.  This is a cute and quick read that my kids found funny.  The Juggling Pug is a great story for those bedtimes when kids are getting to bed too late but are insisting on having a story read to them because it's light story and bouncy rhymes are quick and easy to enjoy. 

Whatever you do this weekend, take some time out for reading a book that you love!  Have a great weekend! 

signs of spring: marshmallow by clare turlay newberry

"A bunny's a delightful habit, 

No home's complete without a rabbit." - Marshmallow 

Did I use this photo-taking session as an excuse to break into the peeps early and while my kids were at school?  Of course not. (She says as she dusts neon colored sugar from the corners of her mouth.)

Who could celebrate Easter and springtime without pastel colors and white fluffy bunnies?  Marshmallow by Clare Turlay Newberry is perfect for spring themed story time. The story reminds me of a picture book version of the popular chapter book series, Bunnicula.  Both are about pet rabbits who get introduced to the pets that already reside in their respective homes, and about the older pets getting to know and eventually love them.  

In this story, a very spoiled tabby cat named Oliver gets a surprise one day when his owner Miss Tilly brings home a new pet, a baby rabbit.  At first, Oliver isn't pleased with the competition, but as Marshmallow the rabbit grows, Oliver learns to befriend and love him. recommended age: 3-6  

things we love: dragons, tacos, cute kids clothes

I am in no way paid by Target to say this, but have you seen their super cute toddler clothing line inspired by book characters?!  My local store had leggings, sweatshirts, and shirts with Bumblebee Boy and Ladybug Girl designs on them a few months ago, and while I was shopping today, I found this adorable sweatshirt with dragons from Adam Rubin's book, Dragons Love Tacos.  This book is absolutely hilarious, and I think it's great that a store is promoting book characters right alongside tv and movie characters.  Most of the time movie/video game/tv characters get all the love when it comes to merchandise. At my local store, the sizing ranged from 2-5.  Have you seen any of the Dragons Love Tacos line at Target?  What do you think? 

perfect books for easter baskets!

It's time to start getting an idea about what I want to put in the kids' Easter baskets.  I like to put some candy, of course, but I have found in years past that with every holiday that comes our way, I buy them candy, friends buy them candy, their classes have parties where they get candy, and all of a sudden, they start expecting peeps for dinner.  So along with a few marshmallow chicks and a cute little chocolate bunny, I like to put a book or two into their baskets.  There are so many fantastic books that work well for Easter and/or Spring.  

The first up is by Margaret Wise Brown (Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny). The Golden Egg is about a bunny who finds an egg.  What is inside the egg?  Bunny really wants to know!  When a fuzzy yellow duckling hatches from inside the egg, Bunny has a new friend.  You know how I feel about vintage picture book illustrations! I just love the nostalgic charm they bring and these are bright and so Eastery.  This is most definitely a toddler and preschooler level read.  The story would probably be too simplistic for any kid over the age of 5.   recommended age: 1-5

The Country Bunny and the Little Golden Shoes is the story of how one bunny really wants to become the Easter bunny even when the odds are stacked against her.  She is from the plain and simple country not the big and fancy city.  She has a lot of babies to care for, and with all of the housework and cooking, she thinks that she will never achieve her dreams.  But hold on, this is a story of female empowerment!!  Country Bunny teaches her kids to cook, clean, and pitch in with the housework.  She works hard and finally gets to be the Easter bunny of her dreams.

 I will confess that I bought this book for its adorable cover.  I don't recommend doing that, and I don't normally do it myself.  But this cover with the pastel colors and bunnies galore got me, and this edition comes with a sweet necklace that ties in with the story.  I still stand by my recommendation of this story because I do like it.  My one caveat with it is that from the outside, it looks like a book for my three year old, but when we opened it up to read it, I realized that the story is way too long and wordy for a young child.  I mean this story is loooooong.  The length makes it more appropriate for my older child who would probably enjoy the story but would never pick it up because the cover looks like a "baby" book.  Still, I really liked the story's themes of helping out and working hard to achieve your dreams. 

This edition of I am a Bunny is a sweet and simple board book that explores the different seasons. Bunny shows the reader that with each season, he gets to do new things.  In spring, he smells pretty flowers.  In summer, he watches the birds fly and the frogs jump.  In winter, he plays in the snow and curls up in his burrow.  This would be a great addition to a baby's first Easter basket, although, this isn't specifically an Easter book.  This is a great book any time.  

st. patrick's day story time!

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner, and there are some really wonderful books about Ireland out there.  These are some of my faves.  Starting off, we have a classic, St. Patrick's Day in the Morning, a story of a young boy who wants more than anything to walk his town's St. Patty's Day parade but his older brothers think he is too little.  The use of green in every illustration is really nice, and the pictures give a real world image of Irish village life. 

Fiona's Luck

By Teresa Bateman

Buy on Amazon

Fiona's Luck is one of my favorite books about the Emerald Isle.  In this magical tale, all of Ireland's luck has been stolen by the Fairy King, and the Irish people are suffering because of his greed.  Fiona is one clever girl and tricks the Fairy King in to restoring Ireland's luck.  This is a great one for introducing themes in Irish folk tales.  It is a story about the Irish little people that veers away from being cheesy Darby O'Gill territory (even though, I'll admit that I love cheesy Darby O'Gill territory.)

Fin M'coul: The Giant of Knockmany Hill

By Tomie dePaola

Buy on Amazon

Have you ever seen a picture of the Giant's causeway in Ireland? It's a coastline lined with columns of octagonal shaped rocks, and it's pretty striking.  This is a classic Irish tale of how that causeway was formed long ago.  

Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka

By Tomie dePaola

Buy on Amazon

The fantastic world of the Irish supernatural is a rich world indeed.  Each creature from the banshee to the leprechaun is a vivid character.  A pooka is a shape-changing spirit that can bring good fortune or terrible damage depending on its mood.  When Jamie O'Rouke's wife leaves him at home alone for a whole week, he is forced to cook and clean for himself.  A very helpful pooka appears and is willing to help him with the chores (where's my house-cleaning pooka?!  seriously.)  This is such a silly story!  It's going to get a lot of laughs and is a kid-friendly, not at all scary story.  

Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland

By Tomie dePaola

Buy on Amazon

Tomie dePaola has created a biography of St. Patrick that is on point with everything dePaola succeeds at creating over and over: material that is educational, fun, and engaging paired with pictures that are warm, happy, and colorful.  This is great source material for an elementary school unit on Ireland.  

Irish Fairy and Folk Tales (Modern Library Classics)

Modern Library

Buy on Amazon

This collection of Irish fairy tales is a MUST MUST MUST for any fan of Irish literature. It is considered a book for adults,  but so many of the stories are so interesting and original  that I think older kids, maybe upper elementary and middle schoolers, would connect with this too.  Every character in Irish folk lore is here with vivid, detailed stories that possess that special Irish story telling knack for mixing chilling/sometimes scary/sometimes surprising/always humorous into each story.   

**While this post does contain affiliated links, the book picks are purely that of Booktomato.  Thanks for supporting businesses that support this blog.***

wild by emily hughes

Happy Monday everyone!  What does your Monday look like?  Memphis has officially welcomed spring weather, and it is starting to look gorgeous outside.  I sat on my patio yesterday and let the sun hit my face, and it felt amazing!  This book, Wild by Emily Hughes, feels like a shot of vitamin D in book form.  We loved reading it.  

"No one remembered how she came to the woods, but all knew it was right." 

Meet one wild girl.  She was raised by the creatures in the forest.  The birds taught her to speak.  The bears taught her to fish for food.  The forest loved her, and she loved the forest.  One day, she is discovered by two humans who decide to take her back to "civilization".  Things do not go well.  The family who takes her in just doesn't understand her.  They want her to sit still, eat primly, keep her dress clean, and keep her hair neat. But this wild girl wasn't meant to be neat and still and prim.  She needs to be wild! 

I feel like this book hits on a subject that a lot of parents and educators are concerned with lately, and that's the need in every child to run free, to play, to be wild.  In a world where the standardized test is king, where screens are sucking up so much of our time, we still need trees, and nature, and grass between our toes.  We all have some wild in us!

the color wheel with classic eric carle! hello, red fox by eric carle

You just can't go wrong with an Eric Carle book!  The man is in the kid's lit canon for a reason.  His stories hit the right mark with young readers in his language, pacing, and subject matter.  His artwork is always colorful and engaging with his now iconic collage style and broad paint strokes.  This story, Hello, Red Fox, is one that I have been less familiar with compared to his more popular books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear (a must must must for any new home library!) or The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but I'm glad I picked it up recently because it is a great introductory lesson on the color wheel.    

The story is based on the color theory developed by a German novelist/poet/scientist during the 1800s, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  An anecdote on the inside cover of Hello, Red Fox tells the story of how Goethe was sitting in a cafe one day staring at the striking contrast a waitress's red dress made against the white wall behind her (sure, Goethe, that's what you were staring at. wink.) When the waitress moved, he kept his gaze on the white wall, and he was amazed that he could still see a faint outline of her dress on the wall but instead of being red, it was green! Repeated experiences like this (how many waitresses' dresses was this guy staring at?) caused Goethe to spend his entire life studying color, and he created the color wheel that we still use today.  

Hello, Red Fox tests the same color experiment while telling a fun story about Frog inviting his friends over for his birthday party.  When each of his friends arrive, Frog's mother is surprised to find that they are all the wrong colors.  Red Fox is green.  Orange Cat is blue.  What's going on?  Frog tells his mom that she is just not looking at them long enough, and Frog's mom and readers test Goethe's theory by staring at each animal followed by a blank white page.  If done correctly, looking at the blank page will transfer the stared-at image in the opposite color on the color wheel.  It was fun for all of us to try this even though I'll admit it was hard to get it to work especially for my three year old.  You have to stare at the picture for a full ten seconds, and well, he doesn't stay still for a full ten seconds of anything!  

authors we love: dorothy z. seymour

In the 1960s, Dorothy Z. Seymour was teaching first grade when she started writing easy readers to use as part of her reading curriculum.  

"I didn't realize that they would also become classics, beloved by children who cherished them, carried them around constantly, hugged them in bed, and reread them until their families could recite them by heart." - Dorothy Z. Seymour 

I was over at a friend's house when I saw her copy of one of her favorite books from childhood, Ann Likes Red, on the book shelf.  It caught my eye not only because the cover is just adorable but also because it looked so familiar to me. I realized one of my favorite books as a child is by the same author, Dorothy Z. Seymour.  Like my friend, first-grade-me carried one of Seymour's books around everywhere, read it over and over again, and loved to look at the simple yet perfect illustrations. Seymour's books have been so beloved by the first generation of readers that her work is now being published again for a new generation!  The simple stories are time-tested and true winners.  They encourage literacy confidence in a way that is fun. 

Ann Likes Red is the story of a little girl who loves the color red! (I can relate!)  Ann goes shopping with her mother.  Does Ann want a blue dress? Green shoes?  Purple socks?  Nope.  I mean, didn't you read the title?  Ann wants a red dress, red shoes, red everything!  

My favorite as a little girl was Ballerina Bess.  With a story as simple and sweet as Ann Likes Red and pictures that engage little readers, this is still one of my favorites.  Bess wants to learn to dance, so her parents take her to a ballet school.  

Seymour said that The Sandwich was one of her favorite stories to write.  In it, two kids are building one crazy sandwich with layer after layer of every ingredient imaginable! 

I am pretty sure that five years ago Seymour's books would have been hard to locate for purchase, and I haven't seen Ballerina Bess on a store or library shelf for quite some time.  I had no problem finding these titles online, and I highly recommend them for your beginner readers! 

tacky the penguin by helen lester and lynn munsinger

Hi there!  Welcome to Booktomato!  I find myself drawn to stories about the good old underdog, characters who march to their own beat.  Tacky the Penguin's motto is "to thine own tropical shirt be true."  He is loud when his mates are quiet.  He is silly when his mates are proper.  The other penguins that share his iceberg have no idea what to do with him.  When hunters come to catch penguins, Tacky's individualism pays off.  He scares them away, and his friends learn to appreciate his uniqueness.  

This book is the first in a series of stories starring this silly penguin, and each story is funny and sweet with illustrations that made my kids laugh out loud.  

What are your plans this week?  Every couple of week, I spend some time cooking a bunch of freezer friendly meals to store away for when things get super busy during the week.  I might be anchored to the kitchen for a day, but it leaves me free later to find more great kid's books!  Whatever you do this week, take some time to relax and read a good book.