Two Great Picture Books...About Reading!

At the bookstore I often get customers lamenting the decline of print books. "I love to smell books," a customer said yesterday as she mimed holding a book in her hands. "I love the feel of books and just holding them," she said.

I love books too, and I want children to love books and reading. This last week I was delighted to discover two wonderful books that can help kids do just that.

       

In WILD ABOUT BOOKS a librarian named Mavis McGrew drives her bookmobile into the zoo by mistake. Not to waste an opportunity, she starts sharing books she loves, and the animals discover books that are of particular interest to them. The monkey chooses a banana cookbook, the hyena chooses a joke book. The animals enjoy reading so much that they also start writing. They start with haiku, with a scorpion as a tough editor.

There is much to enjoy here. The text is full of word plays and references that will be appreciated by adults as well as children. Children will enjoy the lively drawings as well as the text that is clever and lively.

I have a feeling we'll be choosing this book to give when we have an opportunity!

HOW ROCKET LEARNED TO READ is another wonderful book about learning to read and love books.

       

Rocket is an adorable dog who comes across a little yellow bird. The bird is looking for students. Rocket is at first reluctant to be a part of the little yellow bird's class. But the bird entices Rocket with a story. The bird's strategy works, Rockets is tantalized by the story, discovers that he does want to know how to read.

Rocket and the bird meet regularly, with Rocket starting with learning the alphabet and the sounds the letters. With the little yellow bird as his teacher, Rocket learns to put simple words together, and then on to reading and spelling everything. I really like how Rocket doesn't learn to read instantly. This book is great at showing that it's a process.

Both of these books would be GREAT additions to any home or preschool or kindergarten classroom. I might have read them to my third graders when I was teaching too!

Clicking on the book cover will take you to Amazon's page for the book. Clicking on the underlined book cover may take you to Barnes and Noble's web page for each book. Purchasing through these links helps support the blog. Thank you!