43. Dancing Feet by Lindsay Craig

Bibliographic Citation:
Craig, Lindsay. Dancing Feet!. Illustrated by Marc Brown. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2010. 40 p. ISBN 978-0375861819.

Awards/Selection Lists:
Gold Winner, National Parenting Publications Awards, 2010
Winner of the Best Books for Babies (Fred Rogers Company), 2011
Publisher's Weekly Starred Review

Format Examined:
Hard cover

Annotation:
Children are prompted to predict which animals are dancing as the text and illustrations provide  clues.  

Personal Reaction:
Rhythmic, rhyming text accompanies collage art to provide clues about animals dancing on the floor. The rhythm of the text encourages movement by listeners, while the artwork provides fun visual to each of the animals.

Age Recommendation: 
I would recommend this book for children 2-4 years of age.

Themes/Issues:
Rhythm, rhyme, dancing, clues, predicting

Early Literacy Skill Value:

Letter Knowledge: 
Letter knowledge is not a direct focus of this book.

Narrative Skills: 
The rhythmic text and lively collage artwork creates an opportunity for children to participate in the telling of the story throughout the book, as well as make predictions about what animals they think might be coming next.

Phonological Awareness: 
The sounds that different animals make while dancing are represented by silly words that represent the sounds (such as "stompity"). Rhyming text also promotes phonological awareness.

Print Awareness:
Text appears in a dark, kid-friendly, large font on each page. The text becomes part of the graphics on the page, as well.

Print Motivation: 
This book provides a fun, interactive experience that children will enjoy as a group or one-on-one.

Vocabulary:
The vocabulary in this book is connected to rhythms, beat, and animals dancing in the story.



Author/ Illustrator Website:
No official website

27. It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw

Bibliographic Citation:
Shaw, Charles G. It Looked Like Spilt Milk. New York, NY: HarperFestival, 1993. 13 p. ISBN 978-0694004911.

Awards/Selection Lists:

None

Format Examined:
Board book

Annotation:

Something that "looked like spilt milk" changes into different shapes on each page of the book, until it is discovered to be a cloud. 

Personal Reaction:

This classic book combines repetition, prediction, and shape recognition in the form of simple white text and shapes printed on blue pages. The repeated line, "but it wasn't" leads from one possible shape into the next object until it is revealed to be a cloud. Children are invited into the narration of the story through making predictions about what the shape will become.   

Age Recommendation:
I would recommend this book for children 2-4 years of age.

Themes/Issues:

Shapes, repetition, prediction

Early Literacy Skill Value:

Letter Knowledge: 
Letter knowledge is not a direct focus of this book.

Narrative Skills: 
Children are encouraged to participate in the narration of the story through predicting shapes and what they think the white object on the page actually is.

Phonological Awareness: 
Phonological awareness is not a direct focus of this book.

Print Awareness:
The text is printed in a simple, white font with a dark blue background that calls attention to the words on the page as they connect to the illustrations.

Print Motivation: 
The simplicity of the text and illustrations make this a story that children will want to repeat, and even read on their own, as they learn the shapes represented in the book.

Vocabulary:
The vocabulary represented in the story is based on the different shapes represented by the "spilt milk". 

Author/ Illustrator Website:
http://charlesgreenshaw.com/

20. I Went Walking by Sue Williams

Bibliographic Citation:
Williams, Sue. I Went Walking. Illustrated by Julie Vivas. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books, 1996. 30 p. ISBN   978-0152007717. 

Awards/Selection Lists:

1990 American Library Assn. Notable Children's Book

Format Examined:
Board book

Annotation:
A young child goes walking and sees various animals along the way in this rhyming book for young children.

Personal Reaction:
Rhyming text and colorful illustrations invite children to participate in this book through predicting which animals a young child will meet along the way during a walk. In the end, all of the animals appear together. Different colors are used to describe the animals, encouraging children to help describe each animal and its color.

Age Recommendation:
I would recommend this book for children 2-4 years of age.

Themes/Issues:
Animals, colors, prediction, repetition, rhyming 

Early Literacy Skill Value:

Letter Knowledge: 
Letter knowledge is not a direct focus of this book.

Narrative Skills: 
Children are encouraged to participate in the narration of the story through predicting animals that are described.

Phonological Awareness: 
Phonological awareness is not a direct focus of this book.

Print Awareness:
The words of the story appear in large, black print, accompanying the illustrations on each page. The words on the page foster print awareness through connecting directly to the illustrations on the page.

Print Motivation: 
Rhyming and repetition describe animals and invite children to predict animals. The predictable text creates a fun format which children will enjoy reading many times. As children become familiar with the text, they will be able to recite the words themselves.

Vocabulary:

Descriptive color words are incorporated into the story in a way that children have to focus to verbally put together with the animal names (such as "yellow dog", "red cow", green duck").

Author/ Illustrator Website:
No author website

No illustrator website

3. Tumble Bumble by Felicia Bond

Bibliographic Citation:
Bond, Felicia. Tumble Bumble. New York, NY: HarperFestival, 1999. 34 p. ISBN 978-0694013449

Awards/Selection Lists:

None

Format Examined:

Board Book

Annotation:
A bug goes for a walk and runs into several animals. The group ends up in a house where they all climb into a bed and take a nap.  

Personal Reaction:

Rhyming text makes this book a fun and easy read to share with small children. When a bug decides to take a walk, an adventure begins as other animals join the bug, one by one. The group tumbles and bumbles, and zigs and zags down the road together until they end up in a yellow house that does not belong to any of them. The author's combination of amusing words, such as "tumble bumble" and "zigging and zagging" make this book come to life for small children and adult readers. There is a surprise at the end when a bear climbs in the window, and the crowd shouts, "Hooray!". A fun ending to a fun book for young children.

Age Recommendation:

I would recommend this book for children 18 months to 3 years of age.

Themes/Issues:

Rhyming, animals, friendliness

Early Literacy Skill Value:

Letter Knowledge: 
Letter knowledge is not a direct focus of this book. 

Narrative Skills: 
This book encourages dialogic (or conversational) reading between the adult reader and the child as the story progresses.

Phonological Awareness: 
Rhyming text, along with alliteration,work together to bring attention to the sounds of the words in this book.

Print Awareness:
The text lines are simple and printed on each side of the page, but not in a consistent position. The text color is black and not very large to draw a child's attention.

Print Motivation: 
The upbeat tone, rhyming text, and soft illustrations makes this book one that children want to pick up and look at/read on their own.

Vocabulary:
Rhyming words in the text of this book bring unfamiliar words together in such a way that what might be unfamiliar words to children make sense within the context of the story. Words such as "introduce", "glee", and "strolled" are examples of words from the story that may not be familiar to the young child, but through the context of the story become vocabulary that the child will remember.

Author/ Illustrator Website: http://www.mousecookiebooks.com/mouseCookieBooks.html

2. Freight Train by Donald Crews

Bibliographic Citation:

Crews, Donald. Freight Train. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books, 1992. 24 p. ISBN 978-0688117016

Awards/Selection Lists:

ALA Notable Children's Book
Caldecott Honor Book

Format Examined:

Paperback

Annotation:
Each type of car that is part of a freight train is named as the train moves down the tracks.

Personal Reaction:
All the colorful cars that are part of a freight train are identified as they move together through tunnels, cities, and across trestles. The cars are connected by couplers and pulled by a big, black engine with steam billowing behind as the train gains speed. The minimal use of words draws attention to the action on the page as the train continues to chug faster and faster, until it chugs right off the last page.

Age Recommendation:

I would recommend this book for children ages 2-4 years.

Themes/Issues:

Trains, colors, transportation

Early Literacy Skill Value:

Letter Knowledge: Individual letter knowledge is not a direct focus of this book.

Narrative Skills: The minimal use of words allows children to use the illustrations to tell the rest of the story.

Phonological Awareness: The authentic sounds of a train are represented by matching text.


Print Awareness: The simple text that identifies each of the freight train cars draws the child's attention to the fact that the words printed on each of the pages.   

Print Motivation: The use of clear line illustrations draws attention to the simple text, making this a fun book that children will want to read over and over.

Vocabulary: The simple text in the beginning of the book focuses attention on the colors and proper names of each train car.  

Author/ Illustrator Website:
No author website.