Day: May 30, 2008

Online Children's Lit

| Tasha

There is something glorious about paging through children’s books from the past.  And in this case, I mean the way-back past like the 19th century.  The Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature has been digitized.  It contains so many books, including alphabet books, series books, periodicals for children, moral tales, fairy tales and many more.  Understand that you are going to be looking at books that reflect a different set of social values that we use today.  This is not a collection to set your child in front of and allow them to browse.  Rather it is for those of us who enjoy paging through old books without the mildew scent and dust.

I'm Bad

| Tasha

I’m Bad by Kate and Jim McMullan

The creators of I Stink and I’m Dirty, the stories of a garbage truck and backhoe respectively, now turn away from trucks and to another very popular subject: dinosaurs!  Here we meet a T-Rex with plenty of attitude, showing off his huge teeth, big claws, stomping feet.  But he becomes less impressive as he tries again and again to catch something to eat.  It takes his much larger mother dino to come to the rescue with "takeout." 

In this book the McMullans continue their trade-mark dialogue style that will have readers flexing, brandishing and showing off with abandon.  It is impossible to read their books aloud without style and a new persona.  This makes them not only great fun to read aloud, but mesmerizing for audiences.  Equally successful are the illustrations that fairly pop from the page with greens, oranges, blues and plenty of action too.  The words and illustrations have obviously been created together because they work effortlessly together. 

Highly recommended as a staple in your dinosaur story times or units.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.