Bear’s Day Out by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Adrian Reynolds.

The author of the beloved We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, returns in great style with this new offering.  Bear lives in a cave all alone and spends each day singing to himself.  But when he hears the noise of the city, he decides to travel there and see it.  He is very unhappy until he meets a group of children who help him get back home. 

Just as in We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Rosen plays with sounds and rhythms, creating a book that welcomes children to participate in the telling of the story.  I can’t imagine it will take long before preschool teachers have figured out hand gestures to go along with this story.  Rosen has used a different sort of pattern in this book where the bear makes a statement, it is repeated as a question, and then declared with an exclamation point.  Show children the pattern, and they will eagerly join in asking the question and then shouting the exclamation. 

Reynolds’ art is also wonderful, filled with deep but welcoming colors in a friendly cartoon style.  Children will feel at home between these covers at once. 

Highly recommended for use in toddler and preschool storytimes, I would use it as the final rambunctious book that draws everyone’s attention back after hearing several other stories.  I would also recommend it to first grade classrooms where they are learning about patterns.  What a fun and interesting way to bring literature and math together.

First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.

This picture book opens with pages filled with thick paint and deep color.  It features paper cut-outs which children love that demonstrate transformations in nature.  From egg to chicken, from tadpole to frog, from caterpillar to butterfly.  Each transformation offers a cut-out panel and friendly, simple paintings.  The text of the book is equally accessible with just a few words per page and plenty of pictorial clues to the content. 

Highly recommended for early readers, this book would also be welcome in any classroom of toddlers and preschoolers.

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale.

I have heard wonderful things about this book for months, so the minute I got it I moved it to the top of my reading pile.  (This is why I never seem to get to those down at the bottom.)  It did not disappoint!

Dashti and her mistress, Lady Saren, are locked in a tower together for seven years because Lady Saren refuses to wed a man she hates.  Dashti is a mucker girl, a girl used to a nomadic life on the steppes.  Luckily, she knows how to write and creates a diary of their time in the tower.  Lady Saren slowly grows more and more strange as the time passes, and Dashti tries to cure her with her healing songs but it doesn’t help.  Cold, rats and spoiling food fill their days except for the ones where the outside world intrudes.  It is when Lady Saren’s suitor comes to visit the tower that Dashti truly comes to life.  She plays the part of her mistress with him and they form a friendly bond.  But then he leaves and doesn’t return despite his promises.  In fact, after a visit from the suitor that Lady Saren hates, no one at all comes to their tower not even the guards posted there by Saren’s father. 

Hale has managed to make a gripping story of imprisonment, primarily due to the enchanting voice of Dashti, a down-to-earth girl who finds herself as a lady’s maid despite the poverty she came from.  Dashti is a heroine with a clear voice, level head and plenty of bravery and resourcefulness.  She is nicely contrasted against the weakness and wealth of Lady Saren, who could have been a very cardboard character but also provides a welcome depth and interesting story. 

It is the writing here that really shines.  It is evocative, universal and yet stays friendly and easy to read. 

Highly recommended for teen readers who enjoyed Hale’s previous books.  I would also recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy featuring strong female characters, such as those who read Tamora Pierce.