http://www.explorink.com Connecting Kids With Great Books! Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:00:57 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en First of all, we need to give kids some credit. They truly do realize that 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving is just a fun take-off on the Christmas "'Twas...". The book (As one person seems to purport.) is not a "Let's all become vegans!" platform nor is it a recommendation ... http://www.explorink.com/lower-grades-early-readers/twas-the-night-before-thanksgiving-dav-pilkey/ A Creepy Countdown by Charlotte Huck is a counting and a countdown book-this is good. It's a rhyming book- what kid could not love that. But, most of all, it's a book with marvelous illustrations and this is great. Students love counting the creepy, ever so Halloween-y, creatures: ... http://www.explorink.com/all-ages/a-creepy-countdown-charlotte-huck/ The children have all gone back to school and the farm animals have nothing to do. Such alliterative anxieties abound: "...the horse hung his head...the cow complained...the goat grumbled." This until the hen leads the animals to town. To the town's library. To the place with the "Happy ... http://www.explorink.com/lower-grades-early-readers/book-book-book-deborah-bruss/ Why is it that kids are so fascinated with scary stuff? Actually, I don't think they're fascinated with "real" scary things, but books and movies and campfire tales and peek-a-boo delight them to no end. And one of those "delightful" scary things? Why no other than Heckedy Peg, a book ... http://www.explorink.com/lower-grades-early-readers/heckedy-peg-audrey-wood/ Unfortunately, I just read a pretty negative review about David McPhail's, The Teddy Bear. The person was concerned with the depiction of a homeless person as a character in the story. A small boy loses his constant companion-a teddy bear-at a restaurant and the teddy bear is discovered in ... http://www.explorink.com/lower-grades-early-readers/the-teddy-bear-david-mcphail/ Ah, if parents could only speak "Aggle flaggle klabble." Think of the hits and misses of child rearing that could be avoided. I think back on those years. "Okay, I've changed you, fed you, burped you, walked you, rocked you, sang to you, patted you, checked you front to back ... http://www.explorink.com/lower-grades-early-readers/knuffle-bunny-mo-willems/ Things kids like: ice cream, McDonald's, recess, other kids tripping, bikes, Disneyland, and a picture of a girl with her big toe in her nose. The toe one? Try, Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name by Tedd Arnold. Delightfully gross. Tune up your vocal chords; you'll ... http://www.explorink.com/all-ages/catalina-magdalena-hoopensteiner-wallindiner-hogan-logan-bogan-was-her-name-tedd-arnold/ All right, let's see: Tacky would be drummed out of the Marine Corps (marching skills slightly askew); out of the choir (choice of song- "How Many Toes Does a Fish Have?"); out of the Olympics (floaties definitely frowned upon); out of Gentlemen's Quarterly (a Hawaiian shirt in the Arctic-a major ... http://www.explorink.com/all-posts/tacky-the-penguin-helen-lester/ Some kids don't know Snow. They haven't seen it, or smelled it, or built a snowman, but they sure know the excitement of anticipation. Snow. What a book! From a gray sky comes that first snowflake-dismissed as nothing by adults who have forgotten. Then two snowflakes. Then, a world turning ... http://www.explorink.com/all-ages/snow-uri-shulevitz/ Tom is spending the night at Granny's and is careful to bring everything he needs. "...and, of course, I'll need Small." Small is that indispensible friend/toy (in this case a mouse) from which no kid can be separated. We see Small in and out of the suitcase as much ... http://www.explorink.com/lower-grades-early-readers/small-clara-vulliamy/