Big Book Post!!

I just couldn't get to it last week, so to make it up to you all (lol)
I will make this a longer book post than normal.

Hugo&Miles in I've Painted Everything
This book asks the question, "what happens when a very creative artist runs out of things to paint?"
Hugo, the artist in question, is in an elephunk, so he joins his friend Miles as he leaves their hometown
for a whirlwind trip to Paris (Princess was sooo into this idea).
They visit museums,parks and landmarks, and the very creative artist begins to see things in a very different way.
This was a very fun book!

Whale Port
Long before the invention of electricity or the discovery of
underground reservoirs of fossil fuels, people depended on whale oil to keep their lamps lit.
Through the fictional village of Tuckanucket, this book explores the history
of towns that sprung up around the harbors as demand grew for sailors,blacksmiths,rope makers, and many other craftsman needed to support the growing whaling industry.
Filled with detailed illustrations and informative narrative, we found this book interesting,
although Princess was a little upset that people killed whales.

Close to the Wind the Beaufort Scale
In 1810, British naval officer Francis Beaufort developed a 13 point wind scale,
creating a common language for stating wind force that is still used today.
This book brings the world of a nineteenth-century midshipman to life
by creating a diary that a young boy at sea might have written, showing us how
the wind affected the day to day life of a sailor.And the illustrations are gorgeous!
Princess is interested in both boats and wind, so this was a no brain-er for us.
I am sure we will take it out again when she is older to really delve a bit further into the subject.

The Rainforest Grew All Around
If you enjoy the song "The Green Grass Grew All Around "
you will love this version.Use the sidebars and the "For Creative Minds" section
to delve even deeper into the jungle.There are so many things to learn here,
we may have it out quite a while.

APE
We loved this beautifully illustrated book,filled with
orangutans,chimps,bonobo and gorilla.
Princess enjoyed learning about groups that are trying to
keep the great apes safe as well.

Behind the Museum Door
Billed as an exuberant poetry collection on the many wonders contained in a museum,
we would have to say..it lived up to the hype.
We can't wait to go back to a museum near us after reading them.

Today at the Blue-Bird Cafe
Princess and I have been enjoying these poems tremendously.
They make a nice compliment to our bird study.

Today at the Blue Bird Cafe'
It's all-you-can-eat at the bluebird cafe',
a grasshopper-katydid-cricket-buffet,
with berries and snails and a bluebottle fly,
a sip of the lake and a bite of the sky.
by Deborah Ruddell

My Backyard Garden

Another book we really wish to own. Written by a noted botanist, Carol Lerner, this easy to follow guide will take you from planning your garden and starting seeds to harvesting your crops.
The illustrations alone are worth the price!


A Day in the Salt Marsh

This is our favorite type of book, a science themed picture book.
Princess and I can spend hours pouring over them, and have a hard time
not adding each one to our personal collection.This book even has a "For Creative Minds" section, which includes a Salt Marsh Animal Matching Activity in it, that we had fun doing.It also has a nice rhyming verse (we are huge fans of that)
that introduces the reader to the hourly changes in a salt marsh, as the tide comes and goes.
Princess's favorite animal was the horseshoe crab (she still remembers finding one left on the beach at SandyHook and returning it carefully to the ocean with a grad student from the NJ Marine Sciences Consortium).