A Seed is Sleepy

I love finding books that do a really wonderful job of teaching about science and nature but in an engaging artistic way.  Diana Hutts Aston's A Seed is Sleepy is a winner!  This picture book describes the importance of seeds, the plants they come from and how they grow and travel.  We learned about how the shape of seeds and the way they are hidden (or not) inside a plant helps them to find a new place in the ground and perpetuate the species.  Charlotte and I talked about the burs that we've had stick to our clothes and the seeds we've found on the beach that have floated on the ocean.  I will definitely be looking for Aston's other nature books!

A Seed is Sleepy

Dianna Hutts Aston

illustrated by Sylvia Long 2007

I particularly like how the front page shows different seeds...

and the back page shows the corresponding plants.

How to Grow a Friend

All along our front walk pink and purple hyacinths are blooming.  The other day Charlotte walked outside, took a deep breath and exclaimed, "It smells like Spring!"  So how about some Spring books...

How to Grow a Friend

Sara Gillingham

2015

I love the simple graphic illustrations of this book that uses gardening imagery to describe growing and nurturing a friendship.  In simple language and pictures children can learn that all relationships need kindness and sometimes forgiveness and of course fun.  

A Tale for Easter

An Easter book more in the fanciful magical realm than the religious one.  Tasha Tudor's pictures are particularly lovely as she describes a little girl's dreaming on the night before Easter morning.

A Tale for Easter

Tasha Tudor 2001

Why a Disguise?

Why a Disguise?

Laura Numeroff

illustrated by David McPhail 1996

Sometimes you just need a disguise- for the dentist, for the school bully, or when it's time to take a bath. Wonderfully funny!

Do Unto Otters

Lately this has been Charlotte's favorite book to read, and it's a fun and silly one.  A book about manners with a play on words, a little rabbit learns that his new neighbors are otters.  He's not so sure about that.  Will they be nice to him, will they play fair, how will they treat him?  A wise owl tells him the "golden rule":  Do unto otters as you would have otters do unto you.

Do Unto Otters

A Book About Manners

Laurie Keller 2009

The Fortune Tellers

Somewhere along the line this book lost it's jacket.  But one look inside the front cover and you know you are in for Hyman's wonderful work.

The Fortune Tellers

Lloyd Alexander

illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman 1997

A rural carpenter wants more out of life and so he seeks his future at the fortune teller.  Of course, the fortune teller's vague predictions all come true!

Polka Bats and Octopus Slacks

In the vein of Jack Prelutsky comes a book of goofy poems that are easy on the tongue.  According to the flyleaf, Mr. Brown is a blue elephant.  No matter,  his colorful illustrations accentuate perfectly his colorful lines.  More than one of these got a giggle out of Charlotte and me.

Polkabats and Octopus Slacks

14 Stories

Caleb Brown 2005