Thursday, September 13, 2007

Books we like


We have so many books out right now, I haven't had time to write about them.
Princess really enjoyed Turtles in my Sandbox by Jennifer Keats Curtis and Illustrated by Emanuel Schongut.
I wish we had this one when we did our turtle lesson.The story is about a turtle that buries it's eggs in a girls sandbox instead of on the beach. The little girl and her Mom, find out how to be "turtle sitters" until the baby
turtles can be returned to the ocean.It even has a "for Creative Minds" section and craft ideas in the back of the book including templates you can photocopy to make your own turtles. I highly recommend it to anyone who has
children who may be interested in turtles, or who live in Maryland, as it is based on the actual Terrapin Institute
program in Maryland.
Our next book is PICK,PULL,SNAP! Where Once a Flower Bloomed by Lola M. Schaefer and Lindsay Barrett George
we loved this as well.Fantastic illustrations that show that you can pick,pull and snap ripe raspberries,crisp pea pods,fuzzy peaches,hidden peanuts,sweet corn and heavy orange pumpkins...where once a flower bloomed!
This really was enjoyable for us, as we grow all but the peanuts and peaches (Farmer Dad cut our peach trees down due to a bacterial problem).
One Leaf Rides the Wind by Celeste Davidson Mannis with pictures by Kathleen Hartung is a must read for
all you Moms of little ones, Nina especially (I think)
A haiku counting book! Really lovely introduction to haiku and the Japanese tea garden.
My Princess loves all things Asian, so this has held great fascination for her. I really liked the way they added little "factoids" on the bottom of the page under the haiku.
One leaf rides the wind.
Quick as I am,it's quicker!
Just beyond my grasp.

And beneath this it reads, "Within the burnished depths of an autumn leaf is the story of seasons past and seasons yet to come."
Not the best example, but the shortest,lol.
A Rainy Day by Sandra Markle illustrated by Cathy Johnson tells of how the rain makes everything look and feel different. A nice book with lovely illustrations. We love the rain, so we loved this book too!
Fossils Tell of Long Ago by Aliki
is a nice book about fossils, what are they? What do they tell us? Aliki also tells you how to make your own fossil to be discovered a million years from now, that will tell the finder something about you.
We are definitely going to do this!It holds wonderful appeal for my little "science girl"!
Speaking of which, tomorrow is the first in what I hope will become a regular "Science Playgroup"
with a group of other actual homeschooled children! Girls even, the same age, we are very excited!
OK, I'm excited, Princess is happy. The host Mom has announced that we will be doing a science experiment about volcanoes, so we are also looking at Volcanoes by Paul P. Sipiera.
It was the closest thing to "age appropriate" that I could find.Shows different types of volcanoes,tells why and how they erupt.A bit dry, but Princess found it interesting anyway.I will post pictures when I can get one to
upload.

7 comments:

Angela said...

If only my kids still loved picture books like I do! I will have to look up the turtle book...it sounds lovely!

Garden State Kate said...

Hi Angela, it is a really nice book.
:-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the book recommendations! I've put them all on hold from our library. I can't think of any good volcano books, either, but if you are ever doing mountains, check out "The Sun, Wind, and Rain".

Jenny said...

I've put the turtle book, the counting book and the rainy one on my library list. We just went this morning (before I read your post), and came back with a big stack. I love having good ideas waiting in the wings for dry spells- thanks!

Garden State Kate said...

Thanks Sara and Jenny and have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

I had forgotten about One Leaf Rides the Wind. I read it several years ago and thought it would be nice to frame some of the pages. Thanks for the reminder. I marked it on paperbackswap and ordered it from the library for reading to Citcat.

Jennifer Keats Curtis said...

Dear Princess and homeschool buddies;

Many thanks for the kind words about my turtle book. I'm so happy you liked it!

Sylvan Dell has some nice activities associated with the story--you can download and print them for free at http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/documents/TurtlesinmySandboxTeachingActivities_000.pdf.

By the way, the illustrator loves cats - he has hidden several in his pictures. Once you've had a chance to count them, you can email me and let me know how many there are!

My next book, called Osprey Adventure, will be out next month from Tidewater.

I hope you'll read that one too and let me know what you think!

Keep reading!
jennifer

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My homeschool buddies and I are all posting pics of our "home schools" as part of our idea sharing.

Plato said...

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