Recommended Board Book: People! National Geographic Little Kids Look & Learn

Title: People!

Author: National Geographic Kids

Publisher: National Geographic Children's Books; August 23, 2011

Age: 2-5

Topic: Classification skills, Diversity,

Summary: In this book, young children are able to learn important skills such as naming, sorting, counting, matching, and finding through fun, interactive games and activities. These popular games are featured throughout the National Geographic Little Kids series. Stunning photography is incorporated in order to demonstrate these early concepts.

My Thoughts: 
A great introductory book for learning all about classification and diversity. Girls, boys, babies, men, women, young, old,everyone has a place in this book.  Each page has a fun little fact to share, for example, did you know it takes longer to exhale than to inhale? The use of real photography helps children learn and explore their world and the people they share it with. "Everyone is different. But we are all people!"

Recommended Board Book: A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na

Title: A Book of Sleep

Author: Il Sung Na

Illustrator: Il Sung Na

Publisher: Knopf  Books for Young Readers, January 11, 2011

Age: 1 - 3

Topic: Animals, Sleep

Opening:

When the sky grows dark
and the moon glows bright,
everyone goes to sleep . . .
except for the watchful owl!

Summary: Join owl on a moonlit journey as he watches all the other animals settle in for the night.


My Thoughts: A sweet bedtime story that children will love to read over and over again. I love that owl appears on each page as he watches over all the sleeping animals. With wonderful illustrations and spare text, children learn how various animals sleep, including owl.

Recommended Picture Book: Me....Jane by Patrick McDonnell

Title: Me....Jane

Author: Patrick McDonnell

Illustrator: Patrick McDonnell

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers, April 5, 2011
Age: 2 and up

Topic: Biography: Jane Goodall, Animals, Animal Welfare, Monkeys, Apes, Curiosity & Wonders

Opening: Jane had a stuffed toy chimpanzee named Jubilee. She cherished Jubilee and took him everywhere she went.

Summary: Me....Jane tells the story of the young Jane Goodall and her special childhood toy chimpanzee named Jubilee. As the young Jane observes the natural world around her with wonder, she dreams of "a life living with and helping all animals," until one day she finds that her dream has come true.
One of the world's most inspiring women, Dr. Jane Goodall is a renowned humanitarian, conservationist, animal activist.

Resources: the author provides four activity pages on his author website which include a coloring page, maze, word jumble and animal search.

My Thoughts:
This is a great book to introduce children to the famous, Dr. Jane Goodall and to the concept of animal welfare, caring for animals and their natural habitat. It reinforces the idea that with hard-work, dreams and aspirations, even children's dreams and aspirations, come true. While boys can learn a lot from the book, I love that it encourages girls in learning about the natural sciences. I loved looking at some of Dr. Jane Goodall's childhood drawings and illustrations included in the book.