Mother’s Day will soon be here, and I have some sweet books about and for her and the family. I have also compiled some outstanding books in this review for the graduate. Most of the books are picture books and have the preferred ages indicated.
Everything I Love About You, by Emma Dodd, is a rhyming board-book paying homage to a mother’s devotion to her young child. Each open page displays a koala bear mom and her child in different hugging poses, high up in the trees, as she expresses her love. Your laughter sets my heart a flutter. Your warms hugs make me melt like butter.The illustrations, created digitally, are muted with greens and grays and the cover has a cushion feel. Another book by Ms Dodd with a similar format and cover is More and More: I Love You More and More. This book is best suited for babies through age three.
A Family Is…, by Lisa Thiesing, celebrates the sublime importance of families and the key to their success are the parents. Each open page simply states one important thing that makes families bond. Each statement can be extremely important and at the same time mundane, making it meaningful: walking in the park, for being together, for understanding. The delightful illustrations, featuring an assortment of animals, were done digitally and good for ages three through eight.
Big Words for Little People: Love, by Helen Mortimer and illustrated with a nostalgic flair by Cristina Trapanese, is a wonderful series helping youngsters, ages three to seven, navigate through feelings and helping to understand the world around them. This book emphasizes the importance of love and family. There is also a simple glossary found at the back of the book as well as Ten ideas for getting the most from this book. Other books in this series include Bravery, Calmness, Doing Your Best and more. The ages best suited for this series is from three to eight.
Inside In: X-Rays of Nature’s Hidden World, by Jan Paul Schutten and photographed by Arie van ‘t Riet, is a most unusual and interesting book perfect for the graduate. Books like this help spark interest in future studies and possible occupations. These are wonderful books for that graduate going into the next level of education, whether it be from elementary, middle school, or higher education. The book is broken down into major categories of animals: anthropoids, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. You can easily see the bones inside each animal as they cover most of the page. The book is so intriguing that the curious will likely scour every page! Who knows what inspired occupation this book could bring! It is not a picture book and is best for ages eight through adult.
Become An APP Inventor: The Official Guide from MIT APP Inventor, by Karen Lang and Selim Tezel along with MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, is an easy to follow guidebook to design, build and share Apps. This step-by-step guide is a great resource for those up-and-coming entrepreneurs who enjoy inventing and creating new ideas. The layout has easy to follow diagrams as you proceed on your new designs with instructions and graphics to help along the way. This book is not a picture book and best for ages twelve and up.
Girls Solve Everything: Stories of Women Entrepreneurs Building a Better World, by Catherine Thimmesh and wonderful portraits and other illustrations done with mixed media by Melissa Sweet, showcases sixteen women innovators who saw problems or serious needs and invented resolutions that have helped societies evolve or saved lives. Some of these innovations include ten-year-old Tala Leman who saw the devastation from Hurricane Katrina and took action to organize and collect coins. During Halloween her community made a considerable amount of money to donate to those in need. Another example is the Dressed for Success program started by Macy Lublin and Lisa Doromal. They saw a need for helping women who were interviewing for jobs without nice clothing. This has turned into a huge organization, with all clothes donated to help impoverished women desiring to keep improving their life conditions. This book has a kid-friendly layout with each inspiring biography easy and quick to read. The book is not a picture book and best for ages ten and up.
The Waiting Place: When Home is Lost and a New One Not Yet Found, by Dina Nayeri and photographed by Anna Bosch Miralepeix, is a look into lives of children from Afghanistan and Iran in refugee camps. The photos completely cover the page, and the text is sparse but strong with descriptions of what their daily lives are. But the most powerful part of this picture book are the photos. They tell so much through the faces of the children and the structures of their dilapidated homes. This will help kids, ages ten and up, appreciate all that they have as well as possibly motivate them to help others less fortunate.
How to Make a Book, by Becky Davies and brightly illustrated by Patricia Hu, is the perfect instruction of how a book is first created and made into a finished product after all mistakes are edited and is ready to publish. If your child, ages five and up, enjoys making up stories and writing them down or illustrating them, this is the book for them. It goes through the complete process without weighing it down and making it tedious to complete. The illustrations are terrific with the visual step-by-step process making it easy to understand. Be sure to check out the wonderful end-pages!
