Book: The Nature Craft Book

THE NATURE CRAFT BOOK by Clare Beaton is an arts and crafts book for nature lovers.

Part of the Read, Learn & Create series, this nature book contains fifteen crafts and two recipes. Colorful collage illustrations help users learn about birds, insects, plants, and animals while providing easy-to-follow directions for engaging projects. After an introduction to nature and the format of activities, users explore over a dozen topics. From birds to twigs, children read about the topic. Then, follow directions to create finger puppets, apple chips, leaf prints, and other fun activities.

Librarians will find this book to be popular with children who enjoy nature crafts. Teachers will find useful activities for the classroom. Several of the projects will be new too librarians and worth a look.

ARC courtesy of Charlesbridge.

Book Review: One Bear Extraordinaire

ONE BEAR EXTRAORDINAIRE by Jayme McGowan is a beautifully illustrated picture book about a bear and his growing band of musician friends.

One morning a musical bear wakes up with a song in his head. As he explores the forest, other animal musicians join his growing band and contribute to his song. However, the bear still feels like something is missing until an unlikely young talent discovers the missing sound.

Librarians will find lots of ways to connect this colorful picture book with the music curriculum.

Consider creating a display of books by illustrations that use collage techniques including Marianne Berkes, Eric Carle, Lois Ehlert, Steve Jenkins, Leo Lionni, Faith Ringgold, and Melissa Sweet.

Learn more about the author/illustrator at http://roadsideprojects.com/.

Published by Abrams Books for Young Readers on September 8, 2015.

Book Review: Eye to Eye: How Animals See the World

EYE TO EYE: HOW ANIMALS SEE THE WORLD by Steve Jenkins applies astounding collage techniques to produce an informational picture book that will fly off the shelves.

Fans of Steve Jenkins of WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A TAIL LIKE THIS? will enjoy his focus on eye sight in animals. While younger readers will be drawn to the appealing images, older children will enjoy the informational aspects of this book. The accurate, detailed focus on the special features of each animal will be useful to both students working on reports and teachers seeking interesting examples for class. Additional details about each animal are found at the end of the book.

Of particular interest is the way Jenkins traces the evolution of the eye. Look for the chart showing the evolutionary process.

Although the collage illustrations are amazing, design an activity that asks children to compare the collage images with photographs of each creature. The book along with close-up eye photographs would be fun for a library display.

Go to the author’s website to learn more about the books. Be sure to check out the section on making books. Go to http://www.stevejenkinsbooks.com/

Book Review: The Scraps Book: Notes from a Colorful Life

THE SCRAPS BOOK: NOTES FROM A COLORFUL LIFE by Lois Ehlert is a charming picture-book and a perfect way to introduce the concept of autobiography to young children.

In her beautiful book, the beloved author-illustrator opens her studio and archives allowing readers to learn how she creates her popular picture books. Combining historical photographs, scans of book plans and drafts, along with artwork from her books, Ehlert uses a visually stunning approach to describe her life and creative process.

THE SCRAPS BOOK would be a wonderful way to introduce the concept of autobiography to young children. Begin by sharing and discussing her picture books. Then, read her autobiography pointing out familiar images from her work. Talk with children about the creative process and Ehlert as an author-illustrator.

Although Color Zoo was a Caldecott Honor Book, she hasn’t won the ultimate Caldecott medal. Could this be her year?

To extend the experience, what a video interview with Lois Ehlert from Reading Rockets at http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/ehlert.

Book Review: The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus

THE RIGHT WORD: ROGET AND HIS THESAURUS authored by Jen Bryant and illustrated by Melissa Sweet is a picture book biography for children focusing on the life of Peter Roget and his magnificent thesaurus. Known for their award-winning work A SPLASH OF RED, this author-illustrator team once again delivers an inspiring masterpiece.

This beautifully written biography celebrates the power of language. Through brilliantly selected words, this author/poet is able to bring the life of Roget alive for young readers.

The creatively illustrated book uses the technique of collage to tell the story of the author’s life. The picture book focuses on the author’s passion for making lists and selecting just the right words. The illustrator does an exceptional job incorporating visual representations of words and word lists into the story.

A timeline, information sources, further readings, and an illustrator’s note add depth to the work.

I highly recommend this book for library collections. Look for this book on Caldecott shortlists this year.

To learn more about the author/poet, go to Jen Bryant’s website at http://www.jenbryant.com/.
To learn more about the illustrator, go to Melissa Sweet’s website at http://melissasweet.net/.

LibraryThing ARC used for review