31. Who Put the Cookies in the Cookie Jar? by George Shannon

Bibliographic Citation:

Shannon, George. Who Put the Cookies in the Cookie Jar?. Illustrated by Julie Paschkis. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2013. 32 p. ISBN 978-0805091977. 

Awards/Selection Lists:

None

Format Examined:
Hard cover

Annotation:

Using the reverse of a familiar chant, the author tells the story of how many different people in different places it takes to make all the ingredients that make up a cookie.

Personal Reaction:
George Shannon uses a familiar chant used with young children to explain how a cookie is made, from the growing of wheat, to the delivery of the ingredients, to the person baking the cookies. Illustrations represent many different people, in different environments throughout the world, with many different cultures represented.

Age Recommendation:
I would recommend this book for children ages 3-7 years of age.

Themes/Issues:

Multicultural, food sources, global awareness

Early Literacy Skill Value:

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

Narrative Skills: 
Rhyming text encourages child participation, and narrative skills are modeled through the reading of the text.

Phonological Awareness: 
Phonological awareness is represented through rhyming text.

Print Awareness:
The text of the story is placed within the illustrations to draw attention to the text in a way that makes the print a part of the story.

Print Motivation: 
Interesting multicultural, festive looking illustrations, coupled with the explanation of the real story of how a cookie is made make this an interesting book for preschool-aged children. 

Vocabulary:
The vocabulary in this book includes words that represent the ingredients that go into making a cookie, and the way they are formed and pulled together.



Author/ Illustrator Website:
http://www.georgewbshannon.comcastbiz.net/

21. Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert

Bibliographic Citation:
Ehlert, Lois. Growing Vegetable Soup. New York, NY: Voyager Books, 1987. 32 p. ISBN 978-0152325800.

Awards/Selection Lists:

Parents' Choice Gold Award

Format Examined:

Paperback

Annotation:

A father and child grow a garden of vegetables that become ingredients for vegetable soup.

Personal Reaction:
Colorful collage art is used to represent vegetables that are grown in a garden by a father and child. Each step of gardening, including planting seeds, watering, weeding, and picking/digging up vegetables is represented. Each type of plant is labeled in small print, as well as each tool. The story ends with the father and child going through each step to make a vegetable soup with the vegetables which they have grown.  A recipe for vegetable soup is included on the back cover of the book. 

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

Themes/Issues:

Vegetables, growing seeds, gardening, patience/waiting, food

Early Literacy Skill Value:

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

Narrative Skills: 
Children can be encouraged to help tell the story as they view the illustrations for each step that is needed to grow vegetables. 

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

Print Awareness:
Simple text is represented by large, black print on the top of pages. Tools, plants, vegetables, and other objects are also labeled with small, black print on each page. This can be used to encourage children to notice print and how it connects to the story. 

Print Motivation: 
When children are encouraged to name objects represented by illustrations and text within the book, they will enjoy being a part of telling the story. Revisiting the story through growing vegetables and/or making the vegetable soup with the recipe on the back of the book can also encourage children to revisit this book. 

Vocabulary:
The names of tools, plants, vegetables, and other objects are represented by illustrations, and are labeled with corresponding words to help children learn the names of titles of the things represented on the pages.

Author/ Illustrator Website:

No official author website