40. Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by by Eric Litwin

Bibliographic Citation:
Litwin, Eric. Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. Illustrated by James Dean. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2012. 40 p. ISBN 978-0062110589.

Awards/Selection Lists:

Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor, 2013

Format Examined:
Hard cover

Annotation:

Pete the Cat returns in this book about his four groovy buttons, which he loses one by one, but he keeps his cool throughout the entire book.

Personal Reaction:
Pete the Cat's attitude about life teaches many lessons for children in a very cool way. Using a combination of rhyme (or song, if you download it), and everyday language, Pete teaches that "things will come and things will go", but that we should keep on going with a positive attitude. This book also embeds subtraction of buttons throughout the story.  

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

Themes/Issues:
Losing things, positive attitude, subtraction

Early Literacy Skill Value:

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

Narrative Skills: 
Through the use of rhyming text/song, repeated lines, and math, children are invited to become a direct part of telling the story.

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

Print Awareness:
While the actual text of the story is printed in small text, which is not easily seen in a group atmosphere, the numbers included in the subtraction of the buttons is easily seen.

Print Motivation: 
This book is a wonderful book for print motivation, as the song/chant is fun, hip, and easy for children to participate in, and Pete the Cat is a likable character with a contagious positive attitude. 

Vocabulary:
Vocabulary pertaining to subtraction (minus and equals) are presented within the text of the story. Other everyday language is used, including common slang phrases, such as "it's all good".



Author/ Illustrator Website:
Author website: http://www.ericlitwin.com/#!
Illustrator website: http://www.petethecat.com/about

39. Hide & Seek by Il Sung Na

Bibliographic Citation:

Na, Il Sung. Hide & Seek. New York, NY: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2012. 32 p. ISBN 978-0375870781.

Awards/Selection Lists:

Booklist Starred Review, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Starred Review, 2012

Format Examined:
Hard cover

Annotation:
A group of animals decide to play hide and seek after the chameleon suggests playing, and the elephant has to find them all.

Personal Reaction:

Age Recommendation:
I would recommend this book for children 2-5 years of age.

Themes/Issues:
Counting, playing, camouflage 

Early Literacy Skill Value:

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

Narrative Skills: 
Listeners are invited to participate in counting from one to ten with the elephant before he seeks for each of the animals. This book provides an opportunity for dialogic reading as children try to predict which animals the elephant will find first.

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

Print Awareness:
Each of the numbers is printed large enough for the audience to see and read out together as the elephant counts.

Print Motivation: 
The beautiful artwork in combination with the game of hide and seek make this an enjoyable book for young children to revisit. The added twist of the champion hiding animal, the color-changing chameleon, also offers an opportunity for children to learn about animals who are able to change colors to blend in with their surroundings.  

Vocabulary:
The vocabulary in the story is surrounded around the types of animals that are represented in the game of hide and seek. The chameleon may be an especially new animal to children, and offers the opportunity for children to learn about color-changing animals.

Author/ Illustrator Website:
http://www.ilsungna.com/home.htm

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