Author: Judy Smith

*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

Ten Magic Butterflies            By:  Danica McKellar           Illustrated by:  Jennifer Bricking

Ages:  Preschool through First Grade

Danica McKellar has done it again with this beautiful book promoting math concepts for young children.  In Ten Magic Butterflies, children will discover different ways to group numbers to make ten, as the flowers turn into beautiful butterflies.  The author gives a list at the end of the book with math ideas to use with children.  This book also provides literacy opportunities for comprehension and rhyming patterns.  In addition, the flowers learn a very important lesson.  We previously highlighted Ms. McKellar’s counting book called, Goodnight Numbers.  

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*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

The Day the Crayons Quit           By:  Drew Daywalt           Illustrated by:  Oliver Jeffers

Ages:  Preschool through Second Grade

 

In our story, Duncan opens his crayon box and finds a stack of letters instead of crayons.  The crayons have many concerns and Duncan will need to find a solution to get them back on the job.  This absolutely delightful book not only helps children with color and color word recognition, but is great for beginning letter writing.  This is a very funny book and children will be able to relate to the story line.

 

 

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*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

Officer Buckle and Gloria                   By:  Peggy Rathmann

Ages:  Preschool through Second Grade

 

 

In our world today, we are constantly reminding children about safety issues.  In this story, Officer Buckle has a difficult time convincing the school children to follow his safety rules, until his police dog, Gloria, helps him.  As this enchanting story progresses, Officer Buckle and Gloria realize that they are a great team and best friends.

 

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*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten              By:  Joseph Slate            Illustrated by:  Ashley Wolff

 

 

This is a must read for any child getting ready to enter kindergarten.  This humorous book expresses the mixed emotions of getting ready for the first day of school.  The child will get a sneak preview of how kindergarten teachers get ready for their students.  The book incorporates the alphabet and rhyming text as the story unfolds.

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Dear Reader,

This Blog is designed for the parents, grandparents and caregivers of young children.  Each post will highlight a great book that all children should hear, with tips to enrich beginning reading skills.  You will also find fun recipes that go along with each story.  Enjoy reading and cooking with the children in your life.

*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

Big Red Barn          By:  Margaret Wise Brown         Illustrated by:  Felicia Bond

Ages:  Toddlers through Kindergarten

 

This wonderful book holds a special place in my heart, because it was my son, Trevor’s, favorite book when he was two years old.  We read it so many times that he memorized every page.  This book highlights the life of the animals on a farm (no people).  Children will learn animal names and the sounds that they make.  It also is written in rhyming verse and is great for vocabulary development.  It is a gentle book that is perfect to read before bedtime.  Thanks for indulging me.  Judy

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*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

Little Blue Truck          By:  Alice Schertle          Illustrated by:  Jill McElmurry

Ages:  Toddlers through Kindergarten

 

This amazing book provides many learning opportunities for children.  It explores recognition of colors, animal sounds and rhyming patterns.  However, the best part of this delightful story is that it shows the importance of being kind to each other and how valuable friendship can be.  It is just a fun story that children will want to here over and over again.

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*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

Nobunny’s Perfect          By:  Anna Dewdney

Ages:  Toddler through Kindergarten

 

 

In this delightful book, our little bunnies have some issues much like the children in our lives.  Ultimately, the bunnies show children the right way to behave in a number of situations.  This book covers sharing, empathy, following rules and manners.  Nobunny’s Perfect is written in rhyming verse which offers another opportunity to practice rhyming words with children.

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*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

Lemons Are Not Red          By:  Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Ages:  Toddler through Kindergarten

 

We live in a world full of vibrant colors and it is important to introduce them to young children.  Lemons Are Not Red is full of brightly colored objects with cutouts to make it fun.  As children learn the colors, they can better describe the world that surrounds them.   It is also a useful skill that they will need to classify objects.   Lemons Are Not Red is a great introduction to colors and helps children to differentiate one color from the other and also clearly displays each color word.

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*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

A Pizza the Size of the Sun          Poems by Jack Prelutsky           Illustrations by:  James Stevenson

Ages:  Preschool through Third Grade

 

Children need to hear the music of language.  Poetry is an excellent way to share this experience with them.  There are many great books filled with poetry for children and Jack Prelutsky has produced many of them.  As you preview A Pizza the Size of the Sun, pick out those verses that are best suited for the listener’s development and interests.  Read life into the poetry by using expression and different voices that fit the poem that you are reading.  Poetry helps children with the development of letter-sound recognition, vocabulary, and rhyming patterns, but most of all, they are just a lot of fun.

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*Read to the children in your life every day.  You are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime!

What Mommies Do Best/What Daddies Do Best              By:  Laura Numeroff          Illustrated By:  Lynn Munsinger

Age Range:  Toddler through First Grade

 

What  do Mommies and Daddies do best?  Each child’s response will be based on his or her life experience.  The author gives us many examples of what they do best, but ends with the most important thing of all.  Reader, don’t worry.  Mommies and Daddies can do the same things equally as well.

The author has produced this book in a unique format.  One side of the book is about Mommies and you flip the book over to read about Daddies.  Each of these can also be purchased separately.

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