Book Review: #BabyLove My Social Life by Corine Dehghanpisheh

Title: #BabyLove My Social Life

Author: Corine Dehghanpisheh

Illustrator: Corine Dehghanpisheh

Publisher: Book Baby, July 9, 2015

Topic: Bedtime, Social Media,

Age: 2-4 (and adults)

Opening: As I awake, a recording begins with family love and many grins.

Summary: An adorable baby tells a modern tale about life in today's digital world.

Book Review:

When baby wakes up, his day begins with a click. Likes, hearts and thumb ups follow him throughout the day as his parents snap, record and post his every move to social media and networks. 

A modern day tale from the point of view of a baby showcases how we use (and in my own personal opinion, sometimes overuse) technology and social media to stay connected with family and friends. I believe parents who enjoy capturing and sharing their children’s milestones and activities will find #BabyLove My Social Life entertaining. 

While I was not a huge fan of the illustrations, they are bright and colorful and will be sure to catch the eyes of little ones. 

Recommended Picture Book: One Word from Sophia by Jim Averbeck

Title: One Word from Sophia

Author: Jim Averbeck

Illustrator: Yasmeen Ismail

Publisher: Atheneum Books For Young Readers

Topic: Interpersonal communication, Family life, Giraffe, Birthdays,

Age: 4-8


Opening: Sophia's birthday was coming up and she had five things on her mind - One True Desire and four problems.

Summary: All Sophie wants for her birthday is a pet giraffe, but as she tries to convince different members of her rather complicated family, mother, father, Uncle Conrad and Grand-mama, to support her cause, each tells her she is using too many words until she finally hits on the perfect one.

Resources:
A study guide can be found here at the author's website.
Check out the back of the book for the glossary. There are different words used for 'using too many words' discuss them and perhaps help child(ren) look up more words that can mean the same thing.
Make a list of other Quadruped animals.

Review:
This was such a fun book to read. You can tell this young lady comes from a family of well versed and educated people. She is ready to take on the challenge of getting a pet giraffe and she is quite prepared with charts, presentations, slideshows, graphs and even a foot rub. But each time she is told she is using too many words. Following her attempts to make the perfect argument is precious and entertaining. I love the fact that the author chose to use vocabulary specific to each of her family members' professions. The glossary in the back of the book will be useful in extended learning activities. This book would do well in any home and classroom library.

Recommended Picture Book: The Water Hole by Graeme Base

Title: The Water Hole

Author: Graeme Base

Illustrator: Graeme Base

Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers, Sept 1, 2001

Topic: Counting, Science: water, Animals, Seasons, Rain and rainfall,

Age: 2-8 (7-12)

Opening: One rhino drinking at the water hole.

Summary: As an ever-growing numbers of animals visit a watering hole, introducing the numbers one through ten, the water dwindles.

Resources:
Teacher Notes can be found here for lower, middle and upper primary students.
Check out these story stretching educational ideas. Subjects include: mathematics, zoology, geography, observation, and language.
The Little Big Book Club has a wonderful educational guide for children 0-2.
Here is a lesson plan that brings the fine arts alive with this book.

Review:
What I really like the most about this book is that it uniquely combines various sciences, like math, geography, natural science and animal science into an easy to read-a-loud book. The beautiful and detailed illustrations invite children to look deeper into the pictures to find other animals carefully hidden in the artwork. Young children will meet animals from different continents while learning to count from one to ten. They will also observe the diminishing water supply as each new group visits the water hole until there is no water left. Then something amazing happens and children are introduced to the life cycle of water and seasonal changes. This book is so sparsely, well written and masterfully illustrated that it can be used in just about any age setting from pre-readers to children who can read on their own.

Recommended Picture Book: Boats Float! George Ella Lyon, Benn Lyon and Mick Wiggins

Title: Boats Float!

Author: George Ella Lyon and Benn Lyon

Illustrator: Mick Wiggins

Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books: September 1, 2015

Topic: Boats, Rhyming fiction

Age: 4-8

Opening: Boats have keels. Boats have hulls lifted by waves, followed by gulls. Boats float!

Summary: In rhyming text, the reader is introduced to all different types of boats floating on river, lakes, oceans and ponds.

Resources:
Boat Bingo: learn to recognize different types of boats
Build a boat that floats activity: Children will strengthen science, math, creative-thinking, and problem solving skills as they explore boat making.
Lesson on Buoyancy can be found here.

Why I Like the Book:
A great book for even the youngest boat enthusiasts. Children are introduced to a wide variety of boats of different shapes and sizes across various cultures. Written in rhyme, this is sure to please young children while still offer slightly older children a taste of a voyager's life.

Every Little Thing by Cedella Marley

Title: Every Little Thing

Author: Cedella Marley (adapted from the song, Three Little Birds by Bob Marely)

Illustrator: Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2012

Topic: Birds, Being Positive, Family, Friends.

Age: 4-6

Opening: Rise up this morning, smile with the rising sun.

Summary: An illustrated version of Bob Marley’s song, a young boy, with the encouragement of three little birds, enjoys life and does not let anything bring him down.

Resources:

Listen to the song by Bob Marley. Learn about Bob Marley and his music. 

Learn about Jamaican culture.

Printable images here. (buy sticker or tattoo paper for creative fun)

Why I Like the Book:

A wonderful way to introduce children to Jamaican music and culture. This song has a wonderful message that children need today. There are so many obstacles today that make it hard for children to have a carefree, stress-free life. But with the love, support and encouragement of family and friends, nothing will keep them down forever. 

Recommended Picture Book: Flora and the Penguin by Molly Idle

Title: Flora and the Penguin

Author: Molly Idle

Illustrator: Molly Idle

Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2014

Topic: Friendship, Ice skating, Penguins

Age: 4-6

Opening: this is a wordless book. The opening page shows Flora putting on ice skates and a penguin poking its nose out of an ice hole.

Summary: Flora and her friend penguin enjoy ice skating together, but when Flora misunderstands penguin’s gift of a fish, there are hurt feelings on the ice. They have to work together to mend their friendship.

Resources:

In this story, Flora and her dance companion are ice skating. Since this is a wordless book, have your child(ren) learn the names of the different ice skating techniques and moves.

Create dialogue for the illustrations.

Discussion topics:

1.       Why do you think penguin gave Flora a fish?

2.       What was Flora’s response?

3.       How did penguin respond to Flora’s rejection of the fish?

4.       Why do you think Flora rejected the fish?

5.       Have you ever not like a gift a friend gave you? What did you do?

6.       What are some polite ways of accepting an unwanted gift?

Why I Like the Book:

The illustrator Molly Idle did another fantastic job telling this story through pictures. She has created a lovable character in Flora and the penguin. The illustrations are soft and muted. I loved the various layers in the illustrations. While Flora and penguin danced above the ice, the fish below also danced with them, following the movements. On one page, I could tell Flora did a figure 8 because of the fish.