A Bear of a Different Color

Nap time, snack time, or any time of day is the right time to surprise your toddler with this delightful book about an adorable, playful bear. Bear magically takes on the shapes & colors of three familiar fruits as he juggles, balances, and finally devours them.

Orange, Pear, Apple, Bear by Emily Gravett is cleverly written and beautifully illustrated. I love the simplicity of this book, not only for the graceful illustrations but in the way Gravett repeats just five words (four of which are in the title) to create a story appealing to toddlers as well as beginning readers. Talk about the pictures and have your child practice their narrative skills by retelling the story in their own words. Read the story before a trip to the grocery store and play a game of finding and naming the three fruits bear eats. Or set up a tea party with your child's favorite teddy bear and real fruit snacks and let your child read the story to his bear.

What's That Sound?

Karen Katz takes lift-the-flap books to a whole new level with Baby Hears!

Babies and toddlers love peek-a-boo surprises in lift-the-flap books. Thanks to advanced book engineering, every time your child lifts a flap to uncover what's making noise, a realistic sound plays.

The text of the story is rhyming and encourages you and your child to predict what is making the sound before you hear it. Have fun mimicking the sounds under the flaps together. Get goofy!

Children will want to read this book again and again. They will love lifting the flaps to make the noises to explore the cause and effect of their actions.

~ miss_april

Press Here

"Come play with me." At least that's what this exuberant book, Press Here by Herve Tullet, seems to be saying.

"Shake them up a little." "Keep Clapping!" "More, more!" The commands keep coming and the pages keep popping as you turn them to see what else those colored dots are up to. Colors, numbers, comprehension, creativity, imagination - you name it, and this book addresses it with a flourish and a flounce.

How this book stays on the shelf without bouncing off, is one of those mysteries of the universe. Children of every age will be mesmerized by all the kinetic energy harnessed within these covers. Interactive fun, interactive exploration, and interactive brain gymnastics will keep everyone active and smiling.

All of the dots cavort at the drop of a hat, flip open a page and jump right in!

~ MightyM

Music Creates Readers!

Music is a great way to nurture phonological awareness. Phonological Awareness is one of the six foundational skills for early literacy. It is what will help a child break down words into their smaller parts when they are learning to read.

A fun way to build phonological awareness is to chant nursery rhymes while shaking a rattle to the beat of the words. You can make your own rattle by filling an old prescription bottle or empty plastic spice bottle with popcorn or dried beans. (If you use a spice bottle be sure to glue the lid to avoid a mess)!

Other ways to develop phonological awareness include:

-Reading rhyming books
-Singing songs
-Patting on a drum (empty box or oatmeal container)
-Making animal sounds

Some great books from the Pima County Public Library for working on phonological awareness include: Cool Daddy Rat, Tiger Can't Sleep,

~ Meg

Nursery Rhyme Fun

Nursery rhymes are a great way for your child to hear the fun sounds that words make. Their short structure and rhythmic cadence make them easy to remember and fun to say. Rhyming words, often predictably coming at the end of short phrases, are emphasized by the down beat, making them easy to hear. Research shows that children who know nursery rhymes have an easier time learning to read.

The library has a wonderful collection of nursery rhymes. One book of particular note is
Humpty Who: a crash course in 80 nursery rhymes for clueless moms and dads by Jennifer Griffin. It includes a CD of 35 rhymes so you can refresh your memory of classic rhymes while adding to your repertoire with fun lesser-known ones. Another good resource is Wee Sing Mother Goose by Pamela Conn Beall and Susan Hagen Nipp. Check out all of our nursery rhyme resources at the PCPL website.

~ Meg

Let's Get Roly Poly!

If you are looking for a fun, interactive book with great rhythm, give Roly Poly Pangolin by Anna Dewdney a whirl.

You might already be familiar with Dewdney's Llama Llama series of books. Just like those, Roly Poly Pangolin is a beautifully illustrated rhyming book featuring less familiar animals -- pangolins.

I've never seen a picture book that features a pangolin. Pangolins are a kind of scaled anteater that lives in Asia and Africa. The baby pangolin in this story is a bit of a scaredy-cat. When he gets really nervous he rolls himself right up into a tight ball to hide.

At storytime, everyone helped tell the story by shouting out the repeating rhyme: "Roly poly very small, doesn't like new things at all!"
We also rolled ourselves into small balls just like baby pangolin does.

Getting kids involved with telling the story by acting out parts or helping to say a rhyme that repeats in the story really engages them and helps hold their attention. And who can resist a baby pangolin!

~ miss_april

Lots of Fun

Let me tell you about this cheery, irrisistable concept book featuring dots. Lots of Dots by Craig Frazier is full of colorful dots that make up our world. Big dots, little dots, floating dots, falling dots, dots for licking and dots for kicking. Frazier uses bright colors, simple rhymes, and clean white pages to create a fun and fascinating take on circles.

Your kids will love the rubber band-like character who plays with the various dots throughout the book.

After sharing this book with your child you can play a game of finding dots as you go about your day or cut out cirlces of different colors and sizes and create some dot art of your own. Lots of Dots is lots of fun!

~ Miss Julie