MommaReads

Kids are fascinated by the fact that animals hibernate. This book follows animals and insects through the forest as one animal reminds the next that winter is on its way. All of the animals want to stay awake just a little bit longer, but as each one smells, sees, tastes or feels something that reminds them that winter is right around the corner, they find a place to snuggle up and bed down for the winter.

On a side note, I can’t believe that this is the first book by Denise Fleming that has made it onto MommaReads. I love, love, love the artwork in her books and this one is beautifully done as well.

Love, love, love this book! It’s colorful, it involves counting and numbers, it rhymes…there is so much in this book for so many ages. I love that this book isn’t “just” a counting book and it isn’t “just” a book that rhymes. It’s also a science book that very young children all the way through early elementary school children could use to learn more about caterpillars, what the caterpillars eat, what animals eat caterpillars and different types of butterflies.

Did you ever wonder where the saying that cats have nine lives comes from? Apparently it is an old Irish legend and the legend comes to life in this sweet story about a witch who really wants to be a cat. Her cousins try and save her from turning into a cat permanently, but later realize that maybe they’ve made a mistake. There is a summary in the back that explains the legend of the nine lives, too.

Children are fascinated by the fact that some animals go to sleep for the WHOLE winter. I liked this book because it not only mentions bears, but many other animals that hibernate that we may not think about. I love that this story rhymes and I think many children will also identify with some of these animals who are having a hard time going to sleep because it’s too dark or because they need a snack or a drink before they fall asleep.

The scarecrow dad goes to work in the cornfields all day and then comes home at night and teaches his scarecrow son how to make scary faces to scare the crows away. The little scarecrow boy has been warned by his father that he shouldn’t go out into the cornfields by himself because he is not fierce enough. He has to wait until he has grown. One morning the scarecrow boy gets up early, sneaks out of his house and goes into the cornfields alone. He tries all of his super scary faces, but quickly realizes he may not be ready for this job quite yet.

Flora has about had it with her little brother, Crispin. Their mom sends them outside to play on a very windy day and Flora’s little brother ends up getting swept up in the wind. Flora takes off her super heavy boots so that she too can be swept up in the wind and rescue her little brother. On their adventure they bump into a dragonfly, a sparrow, a rainbow, a cloud, an eagle and the moon. All of them want Crispin to stay with them and help them, but Flora knows it’s her duty as the big sister to get him home safe and sound.

I also love, love, love the watercolors used for the illustrations in this book. They are so beautiful and really capture the feeling of the fall leaves and the blowing wind.

I love it when a story has many different versions and spins on a familiar story. Well, this is a very cute version of Little Red Riding Hood. In this version, Betsy Red Hoodie’s friend is a wolf and he is going with her to visit her grandma. Things don’t end up going quite the way Betsy expects. The reader will be surprised, too. 🙂

If you love Mike Mulligan and His Steamshovel, then you will love Otis. Otis, a tractor, is best friends with a calf. They happily spend their days on the farm together until a new tractor shows up at the farm. Otis is put behind the barn to be forgotten until one day when the calf needs to be rescued. I bet you can guess who’s the only one who knows just what to do.

Rarely do I ever recommend a book based just on the illustrations alone, but this is one of those times. Our youngest opened this book, took one look at the illustrations and said “wow” while touching the pages to try and feel them. I don’t know how the illustrator created these pages, but they are shiny in a way that’s not glittery or shimmery. They go along nicely with the story of Willoughby and his trip to the moon.

Clancy has just moved into a house much bigger than his first house and he is missing the fireplace that his old house had and skylight that his old bedroom had when he discovers a stack of empty moving boxes. He begins stacking them when another child from the neighborhood joins him and they make all kinds of creations out of the boxes. The two have a wonderful afternoon playing and the reader is left with the sense that this isn’t the last time these two will play together and that maybe the move to a new house won’t seem quite as awful anymore either.