Day 232: Animal Infographics

If your kids are like mine, they are incredibly inquisitive and ask more questions than I can count in a day.  (More than I can usually answer, too.)  I just love seeing how much information their amazing little minds can hold and how much they love learning new things. And their capacity to remember it all simply astounds me, especially since my memory is like that of a goldfish these days.  My kids also love animals -- my son, especially -- and we've learned so much together about the world's amazing creatures.  I wasn't surprised, then, when he brought this book home from his last visit to the library.  We renewed it in order to bring it on vacation with us, and have enjoyed learning some great animal facts along the way. While the parent in me thinks that this book is one worth featuring here on the blog, it's the teacher in me who really thinks it's post-worthy.

If you are unfamiliar with infographics, they are pictures that give you information in a very visual way. They can take the form of maps, graphs, or charts, among other things, and aim to make information easy to understand. I'm sure you've seen them everywhere: in magazines, ads, newspapers, etc. As a geography teacher, I can honestly admit that I love a good infographic! Here's an example, courtesy of PBS:

Source: PBS Nature

I realized once I became a teacher that as an adult, it is easy to assume that children know how to make sense of this type of visual information; after all, we can look at such pictures and understand them (and probably don't remember ever learning how to do that in school.) Interpreting this kind of data, though, is really its own literacy skill; one which we can help our children learn and which will, in turn, nourish their growth as thinkers and readers.

Animal Infographics is a perfect first book for this very thing, featuring plenty of fun animal facts in a visually simple way.  (I would have featured a page from the book itself, but couldn't find any examples online and didn't want to risk violating any copyright rules or anything.) It starts out with a simple pie chart about the number of different types of pets in the United States, and goes on to show all kinds of other information: a comparison of the weights of different animals (for example, that 1 blue whale = 22 African elephants), the world's biggest and smallest animals (compared to a human), food chains, food webs, life cycles, life spans, you name it.  There is even a page that shows a timeline of prehistoric animals, easily demonstrating, for example, the fact that Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex did not live in the same time period.  There is a short glossary at the end, as well as other sources for learning more about the topics in the book.  The only thing that seemed a little confusing to my kids was that things are not pictured in their actual size, but rather in comparative scale to one another.  (We have and love Steve Jenkins' book Actual Size, which might account for some of their initial confusion.)  But that's the whole point, really; to teach them how to interpret visual information in a new way so that it makes sense! There is a series of these books featuring other topics such as population and the environment, as well, so I'm sure we'll be bringing home some of the others in the months to come.

If you're looking for a great non-fiction book to add to your little one's library or if you are an elementary teacher, be sure to check out this book.  The more we can expose our kids to a range of reading materials, the better!

Day 231: Sophie Scott Goes South

We discovered this lovely gem at our library a few weeks ago, and with two fresh hardcovers side by side on the library shelf, I had a good feeling about it.  (I don't know if that's really a sign that a book is great, but I figure if a librarian orders more than one copy of a brand new book, it must be worth reading.)  We have long loved Alison Lester's Imagine and have enjoyed several of her other geography-minded books, as well, so were eager to get home and read about Sophie Scott's adventures in Antarctica.

Sophie Scott Goes South tells the story of a 9 year old girl's journey to Antarctica on the Aurora Australis, an ice breaker captained by her father.  Over the course of her month-long trip, Sophie keeps a diary and takes pictures of her adventures, from being stranded in a blizzard and enduring rough seas on the ship to seeing penguins, whales, icebergs, and even the southern lights after which their ship was named.  The story is based on Lester's own journey to Antarctica as an Antarctic Arts Fellow, so it's no wonder that her descriptions are so wonderfully vivid and informative.  The scientific, historical, and geographic facts scattered throughout the story are fascinating, and the combination of actual photos, diagrams, maps, and drawings are bound to appeal to curious readers.  My 6 year old son loves this book (and is now ready to head off to Antarctica!), though it is a bit lengthy to hold the full attention of my 3 year old daughter (though she does love all of the pictures of the animals and reads alongside of us for most of the time.)  I love this book, too, especially Lester's little details that paint a picture of what such a journey is really like.  I'll include a few at the end of this post so you can see what I mean.

If your child loves learning about new places or is the adventurous, explorer type, this is one book you won't want to miss.

"Last night, the ship was rocking and rolling like crazy.  Anything that's not tied down goes flying and I have to hold on al the time. Sometimes a wave bashes the ship so hard that it feels as though we've hit a rock. The dining room portholes go underwater every time the ship does a big roll. It's like we're eating inside a washing machine."

"She welcomed everybody and told us the station rules, then we helped put away supplies.  There were huge boxes of toothpaste, toilet paper, coal and shampoo, and massive amounts of food, like 5400 eggs and 165 tubs of ice cream!" 

"The ground was rough and rocky, with patches of snow. Thick ropes linked all the buildings and Sarah told me this is to stop you from getting lost in a blizzard."

"Before we got out, we hooked spiky chains under our boots because the ice was as slippery as glass."

"The ice has been so thick it's taken us three days to get this far. This morning at sunrise we saw some killer whales beside the ship. Their shiny black bodies stood out against the golden seas.  Some were putting their heads right out of the water as we went past. This is called spy-hopping."

Day 178: We're Sailing to Galapagos

I think if my son could go anywhere in the world, he might choose the Galapagos.  Home to some of the world's most unique wildlife, the Galapagos Islands are truly amazing.  We love exploring and learning about the world through Laurie Krebs' books, and this has been a favorite of ours since the very first time we read it.  We're Sailing to Galapagos, like so many of Krebs' stories, is bursting with fun information about this unique part of the world and the animals who live there.  Grazia Restelli's collage artwork is bold, colorful, and wonderfully intricate, and is the perfect accompaniment to Krebs' rollicking story.  Both of my children love everything about the book, and once again, my geography teacher self is always more than happy to read it with them.

As we sail across the sea to visit the Galapagos, we meet a different species on each day of the week:  "On Monday, giant tortoises, With weathered shells of green, Plod past us while they munch their lunch of vegetable cuisine."  Each day ends with the same chorus, too, for which I made up my own little rhythm and song:  "We're sailing to Galapagos, Galapagos, Galapagos, We're sailing to Galapagos, I wonder who we'll see."  You can also sing the each verse to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat, but I prefer to simply read the part about the animals and then sing the chorus.  Either one works, of course, or if singing is not your thing than just reading it all aloud works fine, too!  Along the way, we meet albatrosses, black iguanas, lava crabs, blue-footed boobies, sea lions, and frigate birds... and the learning doesn't stop there!  The back of the book features fabulous write ups about the Islands themselves, Charles Darwin, and 11 other Galapagos species.  I absolutely love the way Krebs' books grow with children and are appealing to such a wide age range.  The sing-songy verses and colorful illustrations make her books engaging for toddlers, while the additional information at the back is perfect for curious, older adventurers.  Someday, perhaps, we might even be able to go to the Galapagos... but until then, we'll just keep enjoying fabulous books like this one and imagining that we are there.

Day 173: The Water Hole

Graeme Base is one of the most amazing children's illustrators I know.  His artwork is simply stunning, with beautiful, intricate detail that gives his drawings a truly magical feel.  We love Animalia, and recently found The Water Hole at our local library.  We brought it home because my son wants to read any book about animals, but mostly because I'm always fascinated by Base's illustrations.  I briefly flipped through the pages and noticed that it was a counting book, and that each page had a cut-out area for a watering hole which kept getting smaller and smaller as the book went on.  Cute, I thought.  A nice little counting book about animals (with gorgeous illustrations, of course.)  My son took to the book immediately and enjoyed looking at it throughout the afternoon, but it wasn't until the next day that I really sat down to read the book with him.  We've read it many times since, including for an hour together this morning, and each time we pick it up we discover new gems hidden within its pages.

This book is a classic example of a picture being worth a thousand words.  There are so many amazing things about this story that I really don't know where to begin.  You can tell just by looking at the cover illustration that the artwork in the book is incredible, but there is so much more to this wonderful book! Each page features wildlife from various parts of the world, such as India, Australia, South America, the Galapagos Islands, and the Himalayas.  Hidden within each drawing itself are a variety of other native creatures, whose silhouettes appear in the borders of each spread.  We love finding all of these hidden animals, and I am always blown away by the artistry and creativity involved in crafting such elaborate illustrations.  As more animals come to drink at the water hole (that's where the counting element comes in), the level of water gradually goes down... until there is none left!  By weaving in the themes of seasonal change and migration, Base creates wonderful opportunities for further learning and discussion within his pages, as well.  You can see why the geography teacher in me absolutely loves this book!

My son's favorite page is the one for Europe with all of the ladybugs, but I think my favorite is actually the one where, after the water hole has dried up, "All the animals went away."  This page features a beautifully eerie and desolate image of a barren land, with 10 extinct animals hidden within.  It is the least colorful image in the book, but is positively brilliant in every way.  I also love the page shortly thereafter where the rains come, forming shimmering puddles in the shapes of the earth's continents as the world slowly comes back to life.   Yes, I think it's safe to say we've added yet another book to our "Must own someday" list!

I suppose I've gone on enough about how fabulous a book I think this is, so I'll leave you with this tidbit from the author himself about the inspiration behind the story.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!  "The Water Hole was inspired by a four-week sight-seeing safari through Kenya and Tanzania.  I had in mind a simple story about the cycle of season on the African plains, but the idea gradually expanded to embrace other countries and their wildlife, in the process giving the central image of the water hole a certain metaphorical significance -- and, of course, providing me with the perfect excuse to draw lots of animals from other parts of the world, as well!"

Day 166: Hottest Coldest Highest Deepest

Children are naturally curious.  That is one of the things I love most about them, both as a parent and a teacher.  Along with kindness, compassion, and empathy, I think that curiosity about the world in which we live is one of the most valuable qualities we can instill in our children.  Our planet is as beautiful and diverse as the people who call it home, and teaching our kids to respect both is vital to their future and ours.  But of course, if children are to appreciate and respect the earth and its inhabitants, they first need to learn about them! I love finding a fabulous reference book for kids almost as much as I love watching my son soak up all of the knowledge inside.  If your children have ever asked about which river is the longest, which mountain is the highest, or what place is the hottest, this is the book for them!  (And if they haven't, this is sure to capture their interest.)  I was so excited to find this book the last time we were at the library.  I was drawn to it by its title and cover alone, and knew that its beautiful presentation of facts inside would be right up my son's alley.

In Hottest Coldest Highest Deepest, author and artist Steve Jenkins gives us a fantastic look at some of the most extreme places on earth: hottest and coldest, wettest and driest, windiest, snowiest, rainiest, and more.  The text itself is generally short and factual, but Jenkins includes other relevant and contextual information for each location, as well.  Each page contains a small insert map showing the location of the place in the world, as well as a comparative diagram that enables the reader to better visualize just how extreme the place really is.  (Can you sense my geography-teacher-self's excitement here?)  The longest river page, for example, shows the length of the world's four longest rivers compared to the width of the entire United States.  It's one thing to know that the Nile is 4,145 miles long, but that fact means something far greater when you realize it is the same as traveling all the way across the U.S. and then half way back again.  The page dedicated to Mount Rainer, the snowiest place on earth, shows the comparative heights of an average New York City snowfall (3 ft.), an adult man (6 ft.), and the record one year snowfall for Mr. Rainier (100 ft.)  There are other little gems of information that I love throughout the book, as well, such as Jenkins' distinction between the world's highest mountain (Everest, with the highest height above sea level) and the world's tallest mountain (Mauna Kea, in Hawaii, which is taller than Everest from base to summit, though is not as high above sea level.)

Now on to the the illustrations!  Jenkins' textured paper collages are gorgeous (I particularly love the one for the world's most active volcano in Sangay, Ecuador), and I can't help but want to do more collage art with my kids after reading it.  This would be a fabulous book to have in any elementary classroom library, or any child's library, for that matter.  I feel like I've been going on about this book for too long now, so I'll just wrap things up by saying this book is excellent!  Readers of all ages, parents included, are bound to learn something new, and hopefully be inspired to learn more about our amazing planet.  I wish you and your children a fun journey as you set out to learn more about the world together.

Earth Day favorites

In honor of Earth Day this month, I thought I'd put together a list of some of our favorite Earth Day books.  While none of them is specifically about Earth Day itself, each reflects a respect for, appreciation of, and/or connectedness to our beautiful planet its creatures.  To me, those are messages worth sharing with our children every day of the year.

To read my full review of each title, please click the links below.  What will you be reading this Earth Day?

For the littlest of readers (babies and up):

Listen, Listen by Phyllis Gershator:  A lovely book about the sights and sounds of the changing seasons.  Great for babies and preschoolers, alike.  

Baby Beluga by Raffi, illustrated by Ashley Wolff:  A perfect book to share and sing with even the very youngest of readers. 

Age 1 and up:

We're Roaming in the Rainforest by Laurie Krebs and Anne Wilson:  A wonderful tribute to one of our planet's most magical places:  The Amazon Rainforest.

Slowly, Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth by Eric Carle:  Another fabulous rainforest book, complete with an informational foreword by the one and only Jane Goodall.






Over in the Jungle:  A Rainforest Rhyme:  Author Maryanne Berkes and illustrator Jeanette Canyon combined to create a brilliant singalong book about some of the incredible creatures that call the rainforest home.  

Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef by Maryanne Berkes: Join parrotfish, stingrays, seahorses, and more on an amazing journey through a coral reef.  Set to the same tune as Over in the Jungle (and equally as awesome), this is a long-time favorite in our house.

We're Sailing to Galapagos by Laurie Krebs:  This fabulous story is bursting with fun information about this unique part of the world and the creatures who live there.  Restelli's collage artwork is bold, colorful, and wonderfully intricate, and is the perfect accompaniment to Krebs' rollicking story.  A favorite in our house.


Preschool and up:

Me... Jane:  We love this beautiful story by Patrick McDonnell about the life of a young Jane Goodall.  Perfect for any animal or nature lover, this book reminds us that we each have the power to make a difference in the world.  Not to be missed.



A Leaf Can Be... In this lovely book, Author Laura Purdie Solas takes us on a "poetic exploration of leaves throughout the year," from the gently unfurling new leaves of spring to the frost-tipped leaves of winter.  Creative, beautifully illustrated, and informative, this is a wonderful book to read as part of Poetry Month, as well!

The Water Hole by Graeme Base:  An all-around amazing book that introduces children to animals and habitats around the world, as well as the delicate balance of nature and the crucial role that water plays in supporting all life.  Don't be fooled into thinking this is simply a counting book full of beautiful creatures; it's so much more than that.  Proof that a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Ranger Rick and Ranger Rick Jr. (formerly Your Big Backyard):  Not a book, I know, but this series of magazines is awesome!  Always full of fabulous ideas and information about animals and our planet, my son can't wait to read each new edition.  Most libraries subscribe to these, too.  Check them out!  

The Beeman by Laurie Krebs and Valeria Cis:  A fantastic story that teaches all kinds of great facts about bees, beekeeping, and making honey.  

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney:  What could be more relevant to Earth Day than reading a story that encourages each of us to make the world a more beautiful place?  One of my all-time, absolute favorite picture books.  Hands down.

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown:  A gorgeous story about the difference each of us can make in the world.  One of our favorites.

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen:  This is probably not on many other Earth Day reading lists, but I love the way this story makes me feel what it's like to be out in the woods on a cold winter night.  This falls under my Earth Day "connecting with nature" category.

The Barefoot Books World Atlas:  If you want to spark your child's curiosity about the diversity and wonder of our amazing planet, take a look at this world atlas.  It's loaded with information and fabulous illustrations and is bound to appeal to children (and adults) of all ages.  While the amount of text might be too much for preschoolers, they will certainly be drawn to the maps and illustrations.  The iPad app for it is pretty incredible, too!

Day 151: We're Roaming in the Rainforest

Looking for a fabulous Earth Day book?  Check out the beautifully illustrated and fantastically educational We're Roaming in the Rainforest by Laurie Krebs and Anne Wilson.  Follow along from sunrise to sunset as parrots squawk, monkeys chatter, sloths doze, caimans snap, and jaguars growl in one of the most magical places on earth:  the Amazon Rainforest!  We've had this book for a few months now, and my son absolutely loves it.  He is obsessed with animals at the moment, so loves learning about some of the exotic creatures that call the Amazon home.  My daughter is always fascinated by the bold, colorful illustrations and can't wait to spot the animals on each page.  Among (many) other things, I love that she and my son are both so engaged while we read it.  (It's not always easy to find books that appeal equally to 4 year olds and 20 month olds!)  We especially love learning about some of the lesser known rainforest animals that are featured in this book, such as pink river dolphins and giant river otters.  Did you know that poison dart frogs are smaller than your thumb nail, or that green iguanas can grow to be six feet long?  I didn't, either, until I read this story.  Like so many of our favorite books, We're Roaming in the Rainforest features all kinds of fabulous educational extras once the story itself has ended.  The endnotes cover a range of topics, including the peoples and native tribes of the Amazon, the role of the rainforest as a vital global resource, conservation efforts, and interesting facts about each of the animals featured in the book.  And, of course, there is a map!  You can see why this book is so great now, right?  It's fun to read, teaches us all kinds of new things, and appeals to kids of all ages.  What's not to love?  If you're looking for a book to read with your child or class this Earth Day, this is one we highly recommend.

Day 133: How to Make an Apple Pie and see the world

If you’ve been following this blog for a while now, you know how much I love books that teach me (and my kids) new things.  Combine that with a book that takes us around the world, includes a map, and uses some fabulous new vocabulary words, and it’s pretty much guaranteed I will love it.  My sister-in-law gave us this book for Christmas (thanks, Kate!), and it was love at first read.  Not only does it have all of the amazing qualities mentioned above, but it's also about one of my children's other favorite things: baking!  How To Make an Apple Pie and see the world is a wonderful book for preschoolers, but I will definitely read it to my seventh grade geography students some day, too.  It starts out with a girl reading a list of apple pie’s ingredients:  apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, butter, egg.  “Making an apple pie is really very easy.  First, get all the ingredients at the market.  Mix them well, bake, and serve.  Unless, of course, the market is closed.”  Then what?  Where do all of these yummy ingredients actually come from, anyway?  This fantastic story takes us on a journey to collect them all from various places around the world:  semolina wheat from Italy, a chicken and egg from France, cinnamon from the bark of Sri Lanka’s kurundu trees, milk from an English cow (“you’ll know she’s an English cow from her good manners and charming accent”), sea water and sugar cane from Jamaica, and apples from Vermont.  Once we’ve collected all the ingredients, we can easily make our pie, right?  Sure!  All we have to do now is “mill the wheat into flour, grind the kurundu bark into cinnamon, evaporate the sea water from the salt, boil the sugar cane, persuade the chicken to lay an egg, milk the cow, churn the milk into butter, slice the apples, mix the ingredients and bake the pie!”  Isn’t it wonderful?!  I love the way this story gets children thinking about where our food actually comes from, and how much we depend on other countries and people of the world every day.  We love tracing our route along the map in the book and remembering where we went to get what. Along the way, author Marjorie Price also teaches us some great new words, such as superb, acquaintance, elegant, and coax.  Be sure to check out the recipe at the end of the book, too.  Perhaps your little ones will even want to make their own pies after reading this great book!  While you may not be able to take them around the world to get the ingredients, talk about where different foods come from the next time you go to the store.  Take a look at the different items around your house that you use every day, too, while you’re at it.  Where were they made?  What countries do you depend on each day?  If your child loves baking, exploring, learning, dreaming, traveling, or even just reading a great new book, this one is bound to be a hit.

Day 105: We All Went on Safari

I LOVE books that teach children about other people and places around the world.  To me, this is one of the most important things we can do for our children.  The more they are exposed to other cultures and people who are different than they are, the more tolerant and respectful of those differences they will be.  As a teacher, I have three major goals for all of my seventh grade geography students at the beginning of the year:  1.  To become curious about our beautiful world and its people; 2.  To respect and appreciate the diversity of other cultures, particularly those that are most different than our own; and 3.  To become well-informed, empathetic citizens who will try their best to make the world a better place.   As a parent, my goals are very similar.  I hope to raise my children to be curious, passionate learners who are loving, thoughtful, and kind.  Goodness knows today's world could use more tolerance, love, and understanding.  One of my favorite new multicultural reads is We All Went on Safari:  A Counting Journey through Tanzania.  Written by Laurie Krebs and illustrated by Julia Cairns, We All Went on Safari takes us on a stunning journey through the savanna of Tanzania with members of the Maasai tribe.  Along the way, we encounter majestic wildlife -- lions, ostriches, hippos, wildebeests, and more -- while learning to count from one to ten in both English and Swahili.  Cairns' illustrations are simply gorgeous and provide the perfect background for Krebs' soothing, rhythmic verse.  "We all went on safari, past an old acacia tree.  Nearby giraffes were grazing, so Tumpe counted three."  And, like so many other wonderful Barefoot publications, there is a wealth of fabulous information at the back of the book:  a double-page spread devoted to the animals of Tanzania, including their Swahili names, a page about the Maasai people, meanings of the Swahili names used throughout the book, facts and map of Tanzania and its neighboring countries,  and a page on how to count from (and pronounce) one to ten in Swahili.  There are so many things I love about this book, and there are countless other ways to keep the learning going after we have finished reading.  Find Tanzania and Africa on a map, pretend to go on your own safari, look up the meaning of your child's name, look up how to count to ten in other languages... the possibilities for extended learning are virtually endless!  Based on the Swahili names used in the book, I think my daughter would be named Arusha (independent, creative, ambitious) and my son would be Suhuba (clever, talented, affectionate.)  Whether you're looking for a great book about animals, other cultures, or counting, this is one that is bound to captivate both you and your child.  Kufurahia!  (Enjoy!)

Day 97: Toot & Puddle

Toot and Puddle have to be one of the cutest, most endearing pairs of friends in all of children's literature.  They are the porcine version Frog and Toad; the best of friends with personalities as different as night and day.  Puddle is a homebody who is most content enjoying the simple pleasures of his life in Woodcock Pocket.  Toot loves travel and adventure.  In the first book of this delightful series, Toot sets off to travel the world, sending postcards home to Puddle to share his adventures along the way.   In the year he is away, Toot visits such exotic locations as Egypt, Paris, India, the Alps, Antarctica, and the Solomon Islands, to name a few.  Each turn of the page features a delightful juxtaposition of Toot's postcard to Puddle (with accompanying illustration) and Puddle's own adventures back home.  In March, Toot writes from Egypt -- "The pyramids are the greatest.  Wish you could meet me at the oasis." -- while Puddle is home tapping maple syrup, wishing Toot were there to taste the pancakes.  While Toot is busy diving with schools of fish in the Pacific in April, Puddle is home diving into the baths of mud season.  Finally, by year's end, Toot returns home and the two friends reunite to celebrate each other's adventures: Toot's around the world, and Puddle's right at home.  There are just so many things that I love about this story, and about Toot and Puddle's friendship, in general.  First, of course, there is the travel element:  I love any book that whisks its readers away to different parts of the world.  (We like to look at a map of the world after reading this story to track Toot's route.)  Then, of course, there are Holly Hobbie's magical illustrations, which somehow manage to make me feel happy and warm and cozy just by looking at them.  The details in the images are fabulous, too, from Toot's pastry shop in Italy to Puddle's silly self-portrait with sunflowers.  Most of all, I love everything about Toot and Puddle's friendship.  To me, these charming pigs represent friendship and love at its finest.  Despite having very different interests and personalities, they are still the closest of friends.  They do not try to change to be more like the other, but rather are quite happy being themselves.  They embrace each other's differences and unique qualities, and show that two people (or pigs) do not have to be alike in order to be friends.  The message of this story is one that can be appreciated by children of all ages, and hopefully adults, as well.  This book makes a wonderful gift, too, especially if you know a child whose good friend has moved away.  If you have yet to befriend Toot and Puddle, please do.  Their stories of enduring friendship are simply wonderful in every way. 

Day 91: My Granny Went to Market

I'm SO excited to begin my journey as an ambassador with Barefoot Books!  I just hosted my first book party yesterday and can't wait to share these wonderful stories with my friends and family.  We have yet to pick up a Barefoot Book that we didn't like!  In honor of my book party yesterday, I wanted to feature one of our favorite Barefoot stories at the moment, My Granny Went to Market: A Round the World Counting Rhyme.  Of course, the geography teacher in me LOVES this book, too.  It's never too early to introduce children to other countries and cultures, and this book does just that.  Fly around the world with Granny on her magic carpet, stopping to buy all kinds of fun things from different countries along the way:  two temple cats from Thailand, three masks from Mexico, four paper lanterns from China, and more!  We love the maps on the inside cover, as well, which show Granny's route around the globe.  The full page illustrations are bright, fun, and colorful; I especially love the one from Kenya with its wildlife meandering in the shadows of Kilimanjaro.  Also available in a Spanish language version, My Granny Went to Market is a fabulous addition to any classroom or home library.  Where would YOU go if you had a magic carpet?

Day 75: Goodnight Our World series

These adorable board books are a perfect way to introduce some of your favorite places to your little one.  My geography teacher self might be a bit biased towards these books, but I really think they are a great way to help teach children about the world and places around them.   There are over 30 titles to choose from in this series, many of which are based on various U.S. states or cities.  There are others that are more general, though, such as Goodnight World, Goodnight Lake, Goodnight Zoo and Goodnight Beach.  Each book brings its readers to various places in and around its title location throughout the course of a day, highlighting various landmarks and wildlife along the way.  The illustrations are colorful and cute but not too busy, making these stories appealing to even the youngest readers.  Whether they are about a place you or other family members call home or a favorite vacation spot, these books are a great way to reminisce about some of your favorite locations.  They are also great "preview" books:  if you're going someplace new, see if there is a Goodnight book about it.  It would be a great way to introduce that place to your child before you go!   I also find that even if we haven't gone anywhere special, it's nice to snuggle up and talk about all the fun things we did that day after we read these stories at bedtime.   For a complete list of available titles, you can visit the Goodnight Our World homepage at http://www.goodnightourworld.com/

Day 62: Busy, Busy World

If you have visited Google today, June 5th, you probably noticed the fabulous Richard Scarry Busytown logo.  Today would have been Scarry's 92nd birthday, so I felt it only appropriate to feature one of our favorite books of his.  Richard Scarry wrote over 250 books for children, including my son's absolute favorite, Cars and Trucks and Things That Go (featured on Day 8.)  We received Busy, Busy World as a hand-me-down from some of my in-laws' friends, and we just love reading it.  In fact, it has been living on our kitchen table for the past few weeks so that my son can read through it every morning while eating his breakfast.  Like many of Scarry's beloved books, the story lines are silly and fun, with comical illustrations to go along with each tale.  In Busy, Busy World, Scarry takes us across the globe with a variety of creative characters on different adventures:  Couscous the Algerian Detective, Pierre, the Paris Policeman, Officer Montey of Monaco, Manuel of Mexico, and more.  The book is also complete with a map of the world on the inside covers pinpointing where each character lives.  What I love most about this book, though, is the way it manages to intertwine world geography and culture into it's silly stories and illustrations.  (Disclaimer:  I am a geography teacher, so of course I love this book!)  But seriously, the more young children can be exposed to different countries and cultures, the better!   I just love that my son knows about countries like Israel, Belgium, and India and can even point to them on a map.  Just to warn you, though, when I looked this favorite up on Amazon, I found that it is out of print.  I don't know why publishers would stop printing such a wonderful book, but hopefully you can find it at your local library.  Happy birthday, Richard Scarry!

Day 2: Imagine

If I were a children's book illustrator and author, this is the type of book I would create -- full of beautiful pictures of all kinds of animals from around the world.  Each page brings little ones and their imaginations to a different place -- the rainforest, icecap, farm, ocean, and African savanna, to name a few -- and shows the amazing variety of wildlife that live there.  The geography teacher in me adores this book; I especially love the fact that it has a key at the back telling you which animals are featured on each page.  My son loves looking at all the animals, and definitely knows more of them than I do by now.  When we opened up to the rainforest page this morning, the first thing he said was, "There is the water cavy, and there is the paca!"  (not to be confused with the peccary and tapir... obviously.)   The coral reef, dinosaur, and Australia pages are his other personal favorites. This is a book that he randomly pulled off the shelf the last time we were at Barnes and Noble, and I'm so glad he found it!  I loved it so much we just had to get it right then and there.  In fact, I looked for another copy to give as a birthday present to a friend's 2-year old, but unfortunately, couldn't find one.  I highly recommend this book -- you'll be amazed at how many animals your little reader (and you) will come to know!