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.

In-Between Things

We’ve been fans of Priscilla Tey’s work for quite a while now, and are excited to see her debut picture book in which she introduces readers to the world of the in-between.  Her clever rhyming text goes beyond the concrete and obvious spatial concepts as she encourages readers to explore much more.  “Keep looking, eyes open, and in-between things will come clear.  All kinds of wacky and weird will appear.”  It’s a smartly written and layered story, and intriguing in the way the concept of in between is explored.  A pretty fantastic debut, if you ask us.

In-Between Things was written and illustrated by Priscilla Tey and published by Candlewick Press.

A Little Book Series from Compendium + Giveaway

Out today is a new series of board books for our littlest readers and their families.  They offer bright, playful illustrations and contain key words that focus on three different areas of vocabulary: feelings, opposites and actions.  The simple layouts help children engage in joint attention as parents read the books aloud.  While reading, there are also opportunities to connect the words in the books with concrete examples from children’s own lives.  And wait — just wait! — until you get turn the pages of these books.  The texture of the covers and pages are sublime and are an experience in and of themselves.  This series was written by Ruth Austin, illustrated by Kanae Sato and published by Compendium.

We’re giving away a set of all three board books:

Happy Grumpy Loved: A Little Book of Feelings

Hide Seek, Stinky Sweet: A Little Book of Opposites

Wiggle Jump Tickle: A Little Book of Actions

This giveaway is open to US residents and ends Tuesday, June 5, at 11:59 PM PDT.  To enter, head over to this Instagram post.  While you're there, scroll right to see a preview of the interior. 

Finding Colors + These Colors Are Bananas Giveaway

Perhaps you’ve seen Tamara Shopsin and Jason Fulford’s incredibly clever new board book about color, THESE COLORS ARE BANANAS.  They have another equally brilliant book due out on June 11 — FIND COLORS.  It’s a color book with no colors—instead, there’s a die-cut opening on each page that allows the reader to look for the color named.  Their novel approach creates an experience that’s fresh, interactive and engaging.  Click over to this Instagram post and scroll right to see a video of the book in action, a collaboration by @readingisourthing and myself.

We’re partnering with Phaidon to give away two sets of FIND COLORS and THESE COLORS ARE BANANAS.  This giveaway is open internationally and it ends Monday, June 4, at 11:59 PM PDT.  Head over to this Instagram post to enter.

Wee Alphas: 26 A to Z Postcards, from Angelfish to Zebra

I knew there was something missing — forgot to post this photo in yesterday’s Wee Society giveaway post.  This is what the back of the Wee Alpha postcards look like.  As you can see, they make learning the alphabet and letter-sound correspondence incredibly fun.  Not to mention the dose of rich, descriptive language each postcard offers as well as an enjoyable writing experience.

Little ones who are learning their alphabet aren’t necessarily going to be able to read the postcards on their own, but it’s a great joint writing experience with their parents.  Parents can read the postcards aloud, kids can dictate what they want written and even them just watching their response being written down is a valuable lesson.  Kids need countless experiences and interactions with text and writing, even if they’re just observing and not actively performing the task themselves, in order to learn how to read.  Just one way to promote literacy, and a pretty terrific one at that. 😉