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.
Another week, another book round-up! I’m working my way through most of the books on Jbrary’s 2023 list, which you should definitely check out if you haven’t already, with a few of my own discoveries.
I really like using illustrated nursery rhymes in my storytimes, they’re a great visual aid, and can be used to model how books can be shared in different ways. I like this one – the illustrations are fun and the new verses add some interest, but it goes up to twelve, which makes it feel a bit long, especially if you’re singing it at a slower pace, which I do in my programs. If I were to use this in a storytime, I might just do a few pages to give parents a taste before encouraging them to borrow the book. Alternatively I might read it aloud as a chant, rather than singing it, just to speed things up a bit.
This is a funny one, perfect for sharing with younger elementary school-aged kiddos. Can you count to one? It’s harder than you might think, especially when each spread is filled with so many eye-catching illustrations that are designed to distract you and trick you into counting higher than one!
For whatever reason, this book also has some pretty funny reviews on Goodreads, like this one:
This is also one of those books that has different covers for its English and North American publications – this is what it actually looks like here in Canada:
Huh.
If I’m honest, I didn’t really get this one. I like Greg Pizzoli. THE WATERMELON SEED is an absolute classic. But this one? I guess it’s just not for me.
An owl repeatedly hears a squeaking noise, just as he’s about to go to sleep. We the audience know it’s a mouse making the noise, but the owl doesn’t. So each time he hears a squeak, the owl tears apart a part of his home, eventually destroying his entire house in his quest to find the source of the noise. And the mouse, watching all this, just let’s him. And when the owl discovers it’s the mouse who’s been making the noise this entire time, he’s just…fine with it? Even though he’s now essentially homeless, and the entire situation could have been prevented if the mouse just revealed himself.
Maybe the mouse was messing with the owl – they are natural enemies after all. But the owl seems to refer to the mouse by name at the end, and doesn’t attempt to eat him, nor does he show any malice towards the mouse when he is finally revealed.
Maybe the owl thought that the mouse was trapped somewhere, and that’s why he destroyed his house looking for him? But the mouse watched him the entire time, and didn’t intervene. I just…I don’t get it. And neither did my kiddo, who pronounced it “very strange.” The illustrations are super cute, though.
Anyone else trying to work more nonfiction into their read-alouds? This is a great title because it can be adapted for use with different age groups. For really little ones, you can simply show the egg and reveal the parent, and with slightly older kiddos you can read out the little informational blurb that comes with each animal. Versatile and beautifully illustrated? You can’t beat that!
Here’s to another great week of reading!
Good morning, Jane! These books certainly all look like fun for the young ones! I love the “math” concepts sneakily included! Happy reading this week!
That book review was interesting, lol.
Finding picture books that fit math also are always so important! Glad to hear of this one and how good it is (and the funny reviews!).
Happy reading 🙂