67. Animal Baths by Bob Barner

Bibliographic Citation:
Barner, Bob. Animal Baths. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2011. 32 p. ISBN 978-1452100562.

Awards/Selection Lists:
None

Format Examined:
Hard cover

Annotation:
This simple book identifies animals and body parts through rhyming text and collage artwork.

Personal Reaction:
Bathing animals are identified through rhyming text and adorable paper collage artwork. The simplicity of the story encourages young children to participate in the identification of animals, and participate in pretend bathing. The end of the book includes each action taken by the animals in the book for children to repeat after the reading of the book.

Age Recommendation:
I would recommend this book for children 12 months-4 years of age.

Themes/Issues:
Bath time, cleanliness, animals

Early Literacy Skill Value:

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


Narrative Skills: 
Narrative skills are fostered through simple, colorful illustrations that encourage children to identify animals as they clean themselves. Body parts are also identified as areas that need to be cleaned during bathing.


Phonological Awareness: 
The rhyming text of this book fosters phonological awareness.


Print Awareness:
The text appears in a large font in spaces that compliment the illustrations. The color of the font changes to show against the changing background colors.


Print Motivation: 
This book is enjoyable for young children. The animals in the illustrations are very childlike, inviting children to identify them, even as they look at the book on their own. The size of the book is large, making it a nice size for children to hold in their laps.


Vocabulary:
The vocabulary of this book deals with animal identification, naming body parts, and the importance of self-help/cleanliness.



Author/ Illustrator Website:
http://www.bobbarner.com

57. Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert

Bibliographic Citation:
Ehlert, Lois. Feathers for Lunch. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1990. 40p. ISBN 0-15-230550-5.

Awards/Selection Lists:
The Horn Book Fanfare Best Book, 1991

Format Examined:
Hard cover

Annotation:
A cat sneaks out and attempts to catch different types of birds for lunch, until he is caught by his owner.

Personal Reaction:
Text is interwoven into the illustrations on each page in order to identify flowers and birds through the story of a cat that sneaks out and is hunting for a bird for lunch. The cat misses each time, only getting a mouth full of feathers. The story ends with the cat being caught by his owner.

Age Recommendation:
I would recommend this book for children 4-7 years of age.

Themes/Issues:
Cat, bird identification, types of flowers

Early Literacy Skill Value:

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

Narrative Skills: 
Narrative skills are modeled through the text of this book about a cat hunting different types of birds. Children are invited to participate in the naming of types of birds as well as flowers identified in the story.

Phonological Awareness: 
Phonological awareness is represented through the sound of the cat's bell ringing and bird calls throughout the book. Rhyming text also fosters phonological awareness. 

Print Awareness:
Birds and flowers are identified through small text printed in various colors along the edge of the corresponding illustration.

Print Motivation: 
This book identifies birds and flowers in a fun way that combines collage and text. Children will enjoy revisiting this book and exploring types of birds and flowers. 

Vocabulary:
Vocabulary connected to bird and flower names is embedded on each page through small text printed around corresponding illustrations. A brief glossary of bird names is included at the end of the book.

Author/ Illustrator Website:
No official website

               

47. Ten Tiny Toes by Todd Tarpley

Bibliographic Citation:
Tarpley, Todd. Ten Tiny Toes. Illustrated by Marc Brown. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2012. 32 p. ISBN 978-0316129213.

Awards/Selection Lists:
None

Format Examined:
Hard cover

Annotation:
The story of the ten tiny toes of a baby that are loved, bathed, walked on, hopped on, and eventually grow into adulthood.

Personal Reaction:
This sweet book uses poetry and adorable paper-pieced illustrations to tell the story of toes that grow from baby to adulthood. This is a good read-aloud book for parents to read to young children.

Age Recommendation:
I would recommend this book for children 12 months-3 years of age.

Themes/Issues:
Babies, love of a parent, growing up

Early Literacy Skill Value:

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

Narrative Skills: 
Narrative skills are modeled through an adult reading the text of this book aloud.

Phonological Awareness: 
Phonological awareness/sounds are modeled through the text being read aloud to children.

Print Awareness:
The text of the story is printed in a simple font and placed on the page in empty space not occupied by the illustrations. This draws the eye from the illustrations to the text on each page.

Print Motivation: 
This book combines rhyming text that emphasizes the love between parent and child, with gentle collage art portraying the toes of a baby as the baby grows up. This is a good selection for parents to share with young children, and would make an enjoyable book for repeated sharing. 

Vocabulary:
The vocabulary of the book focuses around all of the things that toes can do throughout a lifetime, as well as milestones along the way.



Author/ Illustrator Website:
No official website

44. My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall

Bibliographic Citation:
Hall, Michael. My Heart is Like a Zoo. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books, 2009. 32 p. ISBN 978-0061915109.

Awards/Selection Lists:

None

Format Examined:
Hard cover

Annotation:
Twenty paper animals made from colorful heart shapes are included in this book about emotions.

Personal Reaction:
Animals are created from collages of brightly colored hearts, and are accompanied by simple text describing emotions that match the animal on the page. Alliteration is sprinkled throughout the book, which promotes phonological awareness. The text of the book is printed in a simple to read, white font, which is easily noticed among the bright colors on the page.

Age Recommendation:
I would recommend this book for children 3-5 years of age.

Themes/Issues:
Love, heart shapes, emotions, bright colors, animals

Early Literacy Skill Value:

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


Narrative Skills: 
Simple text that matches the artwork on each page encourages participation from children in the telling of the story, and in making guesses as to the type of animal on each page. 

Phonological Awareness: 
Phonological awareness is addressed through periodic alliteration throughout the book.

Print Awareness:
Text is presented in a simple white font against the colorful background of the page and colorful hearts that make up each animal.

Print Motivation: 
The simple text and colorful heart-made animals make this an inviting book for preschool-aged children to revisit on their own or with an adult reader.

Vocabulary:
Vocabulary pertains to each animal name, as well as the descriptions associated with each animal.



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

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

22. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Bibliographic Citation:
Carle, Eric. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. New York, NY: Philomel, 1981. 32 p. ISBN 978-0399208539.

Awards/Selection Lists:

National Education Association "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children", 2007
School Library Journal, "Top 100 Picture Books", 2012

Format Examined:

Hard cover

Annotation:

A little caterpillar is born, then eats holes through all sorts of food until he becomes a large caterpillar who spins a cocoon, and turns into a butterfly.

Personal Reaction:

This classic books uses Eric Carle's tissue paper collage to tell the story of a small green caterpillar who is born from a tiny egg. The reader experiences the caterpillar's path of eating holes through different types of food on different days, until, at the end of the week, he eats through so many different foods that he develops a stomachache. The caterpillar then spins a cocoon and takes a long rest. When the caterpillar finally emerges, he is a beautiful butterfly. The combination of all the parts of the story teaches counting skills, days of the week, food types, and the stages of the life cycle of the butterfly. 

Age Recommendation:

I would recommend this book for children 3-5 years of age.

Themes/Issues:

Colors, food, days of the week, life cycle of a caterpillar/butterfly, counting

Early Literacy Skill Value:

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

Narrative Skills:
Children are encouraged to help tell the story through naming types of food, counting, naming days of the week, and predicting what will happen to the caterpillar. 

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

Print Awareness:
Each day that the caterpillar eats through different pieces of food is accompanied by supporting text that includes the day of the week and the number of pieces of food that the caterpillar eats. All of this works together to draw a child's attention to the connection between the illustrations and the words that make up the story. 

Print Motivation: 
This classic book has been a favorite of preschool children for many years. The colorful artwork and the text based on counting pieces of fruit as the caterpillar moves through the days of the week provides an interesting story to support a child learning about the life cycle of a caterpillar/butterfly. The illustrations encourage children to be excited about this book.


Vocabulary:
Children learn the names of the days of the week, types of fruit, and the names of each stage of a caterpillar's life leading up to becoming a butterfly.



Author/ Illustrator Website:
www.eric-carle.com