It’s summer! So, let’s celebrate this beautiful season with some wonderful picture books. All are good for ages four through eight unless otherwise indicated.
Keep Up, Duck!, by Ivan and Rachel Bates, is a darling story with gorgeous illustrations made with watercolor and colored pencils. As Mama Duck swims with her cute little ducklings following, her smallest continuously falls behind. But with a Hop! Hop! Plop!, he cleverly invents ways to catch up. What a fun read aloud!
This Little Kitty in the Garden, by Karen Obuhanych, is a nice introduction to planting and taking care of a garden as five little kittens begins their gardening. Their day is filled with working with gardening tools, weeding, water, dirt and seeds; after, they fall asleep in the garden bed. This delightful rhyming tale has delightful illustrations made with cut paper, colored pencils, and charcoal.
Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden, by Christy Mandin, has young Millie about to make a difference with her unique garden in a town of sameness. What Millie plants in her garden brings the ire of the residents until they tour and see her unusual plants in her garden. This town of ordinary sameness transforms into individuality. The plants all seem to have their own personality making this story a pleasure to read again and again. The colorful illustrations were made with Procreate.
The Earth Book: Discover Amazing Facts About Our Planet with See-Through Pages, is a cleverly packaged book helping kids, ages seven and up, to begin to understand all elements that make up our world. Each open-page reveals a different subject with the see-through page to help understand the concepts. Some of these concepts include land features, the water cycle and life on earth. The illustrations were created digitally.
Look, by Gabi Snyder and vibrantly and uniquely hand-built illustrations using mixed-media and three-dimensional photographed sets by Samantha Cotterill, is filled with bright patterns to find on every open-page. There are patterns on roads, in yards, in the ocean and even in the sky. There is more information found in the back about pattern types and pattern activities.
Books Make Good Friends Activity Book, by Jane Mount, is a paperback filled with games, crafts, stickers, coloring and more that all have to do with wonderful books. If your child, ages seven and up, loves to read, they will thoroughly enjoy this book. The interactive format helps celebrate and appreciate all that books have to offer!
The Wonderful Wisdom of Ants, by Philip Bunting, is an entertaining non-fiction that kids and adults of all ages will thoroughly enjoy and learn from. The layout, filled with humor and of course ants, is eye-catching and immediately draws you into the book. Some facts are simply amazing, such as: there are 10 quadrillion ants on earth and ants recycle and help other ants. The great illustrations were created using paper it and digital collage.
Incredible: Stars of the Plant World, by Benjamin Flouw, is an oversized book filled with wonderful illustrations and information that is kid friendly with just enough facts to keep kids reading. This most interesting book includes the giant Saguaro, the willowy Quaking Aspen, and the looming Red Mangrove. The final open-page displays the world and where each of these plants are located.
Ollie, The Acorn, and the Mighty Idea, by Andrew Hacket and digitally illustrated rich with color by Kaz Windness, showcases feelings when being bullied. Ollie loves to garden but is picked on by Everett. When he decides to get taller and mightier so Everett can’t bully him, he decides to become a giant tree. This fantasy story teaches how to overcome bullying and as an added bonus, how to take care of plants.
Penelope’s Balloons, by Brooke Bourgeois, is a story about the importance of family, friends, and community. The story is filled with characters that are anthropomorphic. Penelope is an adorable young elephant, and her beloved bright red balloons pop out on every page.
When she loses them in a storm, her family and friends rally around her. The art in this book is exceptional along with the storyline making this book a classic for the long run!
Love and Hugs: Summer, by Tracey Calliston, is part of a four-seaon series with the same title of the other three except for the different seasons. This sweet smallish sized book has a die-cut cover with one little mouse peeking at another through the die-cut. The soft watercolor illustrations are sweet and feature little critters befriending and helping.
