emotions

My Heart Is Like a Zoo

| Tasha

My Heart Is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall

Enter the zoo where each animal has a different emotion.  The beaver is eager, the rabbit is frightened, the clam is cozy.  There are animals here that children will recognize immediately and others that may be new to them.  Nicely, the same is true of the emotions.  Children will immediately understand angry, happy, and silly.  However, they may need help with bothered, rugged and chatty.  This is a book where emotions, art and vocabulary create a real chance to learn.  At the same time, it is friendly, bright and simple.

Hall’s art is large, colorful and great fun.  In this book, his animals are all built from hearts as you can see from the cover image.  Some like the frog are a simple heart with legs while others are quite complex constructs like the walrus.  The simplicity and graphical nature of Hall’s work really function well here.  The book can be read as simply animals.  Plus, it can be used to discuss emotions, and it would be a great platform for acting out emotions.  It can also be used to talk about similes.

Ideal for Valentines Day, this book is simple enough for toddlers to enjoy but complex enough to share with older children too.  The large images are perfect for classroom or group use.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Check out the great Book Trailer:

Also reviewed by:

She Is Too Fond of Books

Books for Kids

Creative Literacy

Shelf-Employed

Smile!

| Tasha

Smile! by Leigh Hodgkinson

Though Sunny is almost always smiling, today she isn’t.  In fact, she has lost her smile.  It all happened when she was definitely not sulking after her mother told her she couldn’t have any more cookies until dinner.  Sunny’s dad says she should try to remember where she had it last.  Sunny looks all over for her smile, even cleaning up her room in the process.  She finally has a quick game of cards with her dog before continuing the search.  And guess what happens to appear!

Sunny has a very unique and personal voice that really makes this book special. Combined with the vibrant and child-like art, this book has plenty of energy and spark.  Hodgkinson also uses fonts to help emphasize certain words rather like Lauren Child’s books.  This book is filled with a wry humor, making it a pleasure to read aloud.

This one won’t sit on the shelf long with its bright yellow cover and friendly illustrations!  Snatch it up quickly!  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

You can check out the book trailer below which gives a great sense of the illustration style as well as Leigh Hodgkinson’s own blog.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_-Jie7sjQg%5D

Mouse Was Mad

| Tasha

Mouse Was Mad by Linda Urban, illustrated by Henry Cole.

Mouse is hopping mad.  Until Hare tells him he looks “ridiculous.”  But when Mouse tries to hop like Hare, he tumbles into a mud puddle.  Mouse is now even angrier.  Stomping mad, in fact.  Bear arrives and shows him how he should be stomping.  But when Mouse tries, it doesn’t have the same earth shaking effects.  In fact, it’s much more Mouse-shaking and Mouse falls into another mud puddle.  Now Mouse is screaming mad.  Bobcat tries to show Mouse how to really scream, but Mouse, you guessed it, falls into another mud puddle.  The book resolves with Mouse being so angry he can’t even move.  Now the other animals are impressed and try to be just as still with limited success.  Is that a smile readers see on Mouse’s face?

The end papers of this book are great.  At the front, they show Mouse gripped by utter rage and in the end we can see him being oh-so happy.  Urban has created a wonderful mix of emotions, humor, and repetition that will be embraced by toddlers and preschoolers.  Her repeated dunking of Mouse in mud is great fun, offering the predictability that young children look for.  It is also very effective against the unpredictable emotion of anger.  The humor works well as a foil for that emotion.

Cole’s illustrations are very effective, showing Mouse really, really angry, tail twitching as he watches the others do demonstrations.  The facial expressions of the animals are very evocative of emotions.  Mouse seems to have an infinite number of angry looks that range from simmering peevishness to outright fury.  Cole cleverly builds the tension before each fall into the mud with a series of illustrations showing Mouse just before the fall, in mid-air, and finally and delightfully covered in mud.

Highly recommended for storytimes on emotions or mice, this book is a winner of a read aloud and will have all of the children in your group enthralled.  It can also be used as a book to get children moving, since you can have children stomp, hop, and yes, even scream.

(Reviewed from copy checked out from public library.)

This book has been well-covered by the kidslitosphere.  Too many places have mentioned it to list here!