The Squirrels’ Busy Year

In this lovely introduction to weather changes and seasons, we follow a pair of squirrels as they scamper about and scuttle up and down trees, spending time with their owl friend throughout the year.  Richard Jones’ illustrations sing with gorgeous color and texture.  It’s a great first science book for budding naturalists and little ones learning about seasons, science and the world around them.

The Squirrels’ Busy Year was written by Martin Jenkins, illustrated by Richard Jones and published by Candlewick Press.

You and Me, Me and You: Brothers

Sibling relationships are—in a word—complex.  Love, hate, joy, friendship, animosity, unity, strife, annoyance (deep, deep annoyance at times) co-exist in a complex quilt—the kind you look at in wonder about how its squares of diverging and contradictory colors and patterns are supposed to work together.  In the end, they do somehow, maybe even just because by default they’re stuck together, and will be for the rest of their lives.   Miguel Tanco speaks to the relationship between two brothers in YOU AND ME, ME AND YOU: BROTHERS.  Its text and illustrations are simple yet nuanced and the book captures the dynamics and contrary aspects of a sibling relationship in a sweetly funny, whimsical and endearing way.  It’s a winner.

You and Me, Me and You: Brothers was written and illustrated by Miguel Tanco.  It’s been translated into eight languages so far and this US edition will be published by Chronicle Books on November 13.

Pizza!: An Interactive Recipe Book

This is probably one of our most favorite interactive series of all time.  It’s a great one to pair with kids’ first cooking experiences, with opportunities to talk about the sequencing of a recipe and the rich language associated with food (all those adjectives, verbs, ingredient names, colors, textures).  It also provides concrete  and experiential math (quantity, measuring and fractions) and science (reactions, cause and effect).  Our strangely and unexpectedly favorite part of this book is the squishy textured dough, which Lotta Nieminen and the Phaidon team executed pretty brilliantly.

Who’s excited for the next book in the Cook in a Book series due out in October?  Any guesses about the starring food?

Pizza!: An Interactive Recipe Book was created by Lotta Nieminen and published by Phaidon Press.

Kat Writes a Song

Kat will remind you of the someone in your life whose sunny disposition always seems to cheer you up in their easy, effortless way.  If you’re blue, let Kat sing you a song.

Kat Writes a Song was written and illustrated by Greg Foley and published by Little Simon.

Not One Damsel in Distress: Heroic Girls from World Folklore

This week we’re reading — and loving — this collection of folk tales from around the world.  Here’s an excerpt from Jane Yolen’s open letter to her daughter and granddaughters that starts off the book:

“This book is for you because in it are folktales about regular sword-wielding, spear-throwing, villain-stomping rescuer-type heroes who also just happen to be female.  About women who use weapons or their wits or a combination of both to get away from danger or disaster.  Stories that range from the medieval armored knight Bradamante to the magic-wielding African Nana Miriam, from the Jewish pirate princess to the serpent-slaying daughter of a Japanese samurai.”

The stories in Not One Damsel in Distress: Heroic Girls from World Folklore were collected and told by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Susan Guevara and published by HMH Books for Young Readers.  This is a reissued edition with the original published in 2000.