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Seek and Peek on the Farm
coming summer 2013 from Kingfisher
The Seek and Peek die-cut, board series from Kingfisher publishers looks to be quite fun. On the Farm looks like a photo of a farm with several animals in the picture, but actually each animal is a page to turn to find out more about it. The last page covers farm machines. Kids will delight in being able to "open" all the different animals. The photographs are strong and clear, the information is short and sweet. All-in-all, I would buy this for any pre-K child or group. Well done!

Sky Color

by Peter H. Reynolds,
Candlewick, 2012
"How am I going to paint the sky without blue paint?" Marisol has come a long way since staring at a blank page in The Dot. In this sequel, she is an artist and is famous for "her belief that everyone is an artist." So, when her art class is given the opportunity to paint a mural in the library, she is as excited as everyone else. While some offer to paint fish and others the ocean, Marisol volunteers to paint the sky. Imagine her dismay when she discovers she has NO blue paint.

As she rides home on the bus and later at home, she notices the colors of the sky as the sun lowers and then sets. She has a very colorful dream but in the morning wakes to a rainy, gray day. At school, she is all set to paint the sky and sets about mixing this color and that, and even creating a whole new color. The result is magnificent.

If you are a Reynolds fan like I am, you won't be disapointed. If you have never read him before, please give this or any of his books below a try--he's one of the best.

Sky Color is the third in Peter H. Reynold's Creatrilogy series, along with The Dot and Ish. Each of the stories encourages and inspires readers to believe in themselves as artists and writers, no matter what anyone else says.

To find more inspiration from Peter H. Reynolds, visit his Educator Resources page.

Nighttime Ninja

by Barbara DaCosta, illustrated by Ed Young
Little Brown and Co, 2012
A child imagines himself as a ninja as he climbs out of bed at night when everyone is asleep and makes his way to the kitchen. Step by step, he balanced and leapt. He crept down the twisting moonlit hallway... The words are few but manage to convey a sense of adventure.

The genius is in the collage and photo illustrations set on a purple background and framed in black and gold. The cut-out black ninjas show an incredible range of moment. As a whole, the collages are responsible for the mystery and for the giant imagination. When the lights flash on, it is startling to the reader just as it is to the ninja. A nighttime adventure that is sure to capture the fancy of older preschoolers and young school-aged kids.

Ed Young himself describes it best in his dedication:
To mystery, which holds our imagination hostage in delight of its suspense and anticipation.

Bananas in My Ears

A Collection of Nonsense Stories, Poems, Riddles and Rhymes
by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Quentin Blake
Candelwick, 2012

Two former British Children's Laureates team up again, this time to create an imaginative, sometimes quirky, always entertaining collection of "What If..," "Nat and Anna" stories, "Things We Say," and so much more on four themes: breakfast, the seaside, doctors, and bedtime.

Quentin Blake's line and watercolor, cartoon-like pictures are full of energy and movement, and give readers a lot to look at; you see something you missed just about every time you open the book.

What I have always loved about Michael Rosen is that he manages to write for children but in a way that feels like it was written for adults equally well. His imagination is well-matched with a sense of irony in what is right in front of you.

There is a lot of fun here, with stories, rhymes, fantastic wonderings, poems, and silliness. I loved it.

What Will You Be. Grandma?

by Nanette Newman, Ilustrated by Emma Chichester Clark
Candlewick, 2012
A young girl asks her Grandma, "What do you think you'll be when you grow up?" Lily thinks Grandma still has "a long way to go." And with that, inventive Lily imagines the many things Grandma could be and do. For example, Grandma could become an artist and paint tigers and rainbows on children's faces. Or Grandma could grow wings to fly around and make sure everyone is nice to their dogs and cats. Grandma comes up with some ideas of her own including growing brussels sprouts that taste like ice cream. Each new idea takes up a two-page spread of dialogue and soft, colorful watercolor pictures of active, happy children. And the best thing of all: Grandma doesn't have white hair nor walk with a cane. She is lively and young, and especially to Lily. A wonderful, heartwarming story of the Grandma every little girl would love to have and the child every Grandmother would love to call her own.