LOVELY LARVAE
What to Expect When You’re Expecting Larvae by Bridget Heos is just brilliant. The expectant parent theme is clever and the questions asked and answered are exactly the ones that come to mind. There is the right amount of information on each page and it is offered clearly and humorously and the illustrations do just that – they illustrate difficult vocabulary and concepts making connections to what children already understand about the world around them.References to What to Expect When You’re Expecting Nymphs make me hopeful that this will be a series similar to the “Diary of” books. While I own all of those, I must say that I prefer this new book because of the clarity and the question/answer format. This is definitely a book to add to any library for sharing over and over again.
Image via Wikipedia
From the publisher:
Congratulations, insect parents-to-be! You’re about to meet your squirmy, wormy bundles of joy. They’re called larvae. Read this book to find out where to lay your eggs, how many babies to expect, what they’ll eat, and how to keep them safe from harm. Whether you’re a butterfly or a bee, a moth or a fly, a beetle, or even a bloodsucking mosquito, you’ll find answers to all your parenting questions here.
LIL’ BEAUTY QUEENS
Image by erika.tricroche via Flickr
Kylie Jean Blueberry Queen by Marci Peschke is an adorable story of a girl with a mission: to be a beauty queen. While beauty queening is not one of those occupations we teach about at school, Kylie Jean is extremely methodical in her pursuit. She idetifies people to help her, makes a list and does all the legwork (and brainwork) necessary to move toward her goal. Her abilities to wrangle talent to work on her behalf are quite amazing. Relatives, neighbors and friends all agree to assist her proving that you never know where you can get help until you ask.
Kylie Jean is a resourceful young lady and with her sidekick, Ugly Brother (her dog), she should be able to accomplish many things. The only thing that might stand in her way is her somewhat affected “Southern” accent and expressions, but if Junie B. Jones can talk funny, why shouldn’t Kylie Jean?
BODILY FUNCTIONS GENRE
It All Began with a Bean, by Katie McKy and illustrated by Tracy Hill (Tanglewood Publishers) is a new addition to the ever popular bodily functions genre for young people. I can remember the day my own son asked, “Mom, what would happen if everyone farted at the same time?” This story goes one step further and brings in the animals too. The gaseous fish are hilarious and the whole idea that even teachers fart is extremely appealing. Wonderful illustrations keep the story floating along on billowing clouds of exhuberant anticipation and release. No doubt that It All Began with a Bean will be a very popular book with the younger crowd in the end.
Cover of It All Began with a Bean
