One of my goals for this year is to be more consistent with my blogging, so let’s start things off by sharing some Monday reads!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop co-hosted by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts which focuses on sharing books marketed for children and young adults. It offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other.
Here are some books I read this week!
This book is a wild ride! A zany bunch of bunnies take a boat on a madcap joyride, with predictably hilarious results. The text has a great driving rhythm, but it’s the zany illustrations that make this a real winner. I shared it with a winter camp group last week, it was a HIT. It was a smaller group, so they could get right up close and examine all the colorful details on each spread – there’s just so much mayhem and destruction! Definitely a winner for a primary group. This is a sequel to the equally funny BUNNIES ON A BUS.
I learned about this one via the one-and-only JBRARY and their annual “Favourite Storytime Picture Books” list, and it’s absolutely ADORABLE! This would be a lovely pick for a babytime or a toddler time, with sweet pictures and a repeated text that would be heaps of fun to chant as a group. You can ask the kiddos to guess what each baby animal is going to grow into. Highly recommended for storytimes!
Another pick from the JBRARY best-of list, this would be an absolutely lovely babytime book that’s sure to tug at new parents’ heartstrings, as it’s all about little kids and their daddies. Given how many mother-themed books there are, it’s always lovely to see new books celebrating involved, loving fathers. I grew up with a very dedicated, hands-on father who I miss every day, so I’ll confess that this one brought a little tear to my eye. Depending on your group, it might be worth mentioning that while not all of us have daddies in our lives, all male caregivers, like stepdads, grandpas, moms’ boyfriends and foster dads, are important too.
Once again, thanks to Jbrary for sharing this one! It’s got a great mix of interactivity and potty humour that will have kids in preschool and early elementary just rolling over with laughter. A poor skunk just has to find the source of a disgusting smell – wherever could it be coming from? Books with silly or oblivious narrators are kid humour winners, as there’s nothing quite as satisfying for kids than being smarter than someone else!
What have you been reading lately?
What a great set of books, Jane! Bunnies in a Boat sounds like a riot, and it’s wonderful that you got to read it to a group and all the kids got to pore over the little details on each page together—I love that! And What My Daddy Loves sounds so powerful—there are definitely so many stereotypes about how men take care of kids, and it sounds like a book like this can both honor people who are showing up for their kids, and also implicitly set a higher bar for men caregivers too. Thanks so much for the thoughtful reviews, and take care!
I definitely find that different books work well with different groups – I don’t think something like BUNNIES ON A BOAT would work as well if I had an entire class of 30, because the text itself isn’t all that engaging, it’s the wild little details that are so funny. But sometimes the group and the book just match up perfectly.
I think WordPress ate my first comment, so I’ll try again! These books look wonderful, Jane—Bunnies in a Boat sounds so fun, and I love that you got to read it to a group of young readers who got to pore over the details on the pages together. And What My Daddy Loves sounds like such an impactful way of honoring men who show up for the kids they take care of, and establishing that as the expectation too. I appreciate your thoughtful reviews!
I’m trying to comment one last time—sorry if this went through three times! These books look wonderful, Jane—Bunnies in a Boat sounds so fun, and I love that you got to read it to a group of young readers who got to pore over the details on the pages together. And What My Daddy Loves sounds like such an impactful way of honoring men who show up for the kids they take care of, and establishing that as the expectation too. I appreciate your thoughtful reviews!
– Max @ Completely Full Bookshelf
I’ve been having a hard time leaving comments too! I don’t know what it is, but I have a feeling all the folks I’ve been trying to comment on will be getting a flood of similar comments from me this week, haha.
Something Stinks is a hit with kids!
It’s such a fun read-aloud! I’m always looking for books that will work in my slightly-older kiddos, and you can’t go wrong with a clueless narrator!
All of these look wonderful. My 1st grader just commented the other evening about wanting more books with potty humor, so I will definitely need to check out Something Stinks. Thank you!!
Ha ha, in that age group potty humor is always a winner!