Starring Me and You by Genevieve Cote, A Review

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I was provided an eARC copy by the publisher. Here is my honest review.

I adored this book!

Genevieve Cote wrote such a sweet story in easy to understand language that is perfect for preschoolers. Starring Me and You features a precious bunny and an adorable pig who are going to put on a play. Cote does an excellent job illustrating a variety of emotions and how we all feel the same emotions even though we may present them in different ways. The book ends with a great example on how to work out differences and compromise. 

The beautiful watercolor illustrations are lovely as well. I would recommend this book for any preschool classroom!

I gave this book: ★★★★★

★ = I did not like it     ★★ = It was okay     ★★★ = I liked it     ★★★★ = I really liked it     ★★★★★ = I loved it

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires, A Review

Amazon    Goodreads

I was provided an eARC copy of this book by the publisher. Here is my honest review.

Ashley Spires created a magnificent book! I adored this book not only for the sweet illustrations, but the positive message found within the story. Whatever our age, sometimes the first attempt doesn't meet our expectations. Spires shows the value in trying again. The meltdown in the middle of the book is a true representation of what most of us experience and she shows how to recover from the frustration. I believe that this is a valuable message for young children to hear. 

I gave this book: ★★★★★

★ = I did not like it     ★★ = It was okay     ★★★ = I liked it     ★★★★ = I really liked it     ★★★★★ = I loved it

The Little Moose Who Couldn't Go to Sleep by Willy Claflin, A Review

The Little Moose Who Couldn't Go To Sleep by Willy Claflin. 

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As a preschool director, I am always on the lookout for wonderful new books to add to our library. I received an eARC copy of this book to review and was really looking forward to reading it as many young children struggle with being able to go to sleep at times. Upon first opening the book, I realized that this was a story that I would not be able to share with my preschoolers based on the fact that it has too many words on a page; their attention span would not last through this entire book. Kindergarten students would be able to sit through this book with a master storyteller and certainly it is appropriate for grades 2 and up.

Mother Moose is a clever twist on Mother Goose and included an original nursery rhyme. The illustrations by James Stimson are delightful; he creates a soft, lovely world populated by friendly forest creatures. This is the element that I enjoyed the most.

While the story Claftin weaves is good, I could not get past the mechanics/prose that he chose to use. The book disregards proper grammar and is written in baby talk throughout. Even the adult characters speak incorrectly. As an educator, I just cannot imagine ever reading this book to children. Young children learn how to speak with proper grammar by adults modeling it correctly in daily conversation. Nor can I really get excited about the author's applying new meaning to words in the provided Moose Dictionary.

All that being said, I do feel that this book lends itself to audience participation. For instance, there are many times when sound effects are used in the book, and it would be fun to assign students to respond in some way to that. For instance, having a student ring a bell for "CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!" when read. I also think that Claflin told a story with a great deal of imagination - an I believe it is so important to expose our young children to imagination and encourage that in them. 

I gave this book: ★★

★ = I did not like it     ★★ = It was okay     ★★★ = I liked it     ★★★★ = I really liked it     ★★★★★ = I loved it