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Shells! Shells! Shells! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. 
So many children are fascinated by shells that this book is an easy sell to kids.  In her signature paper art style, Wallace has created a book that allows children to see real shells through the eyes of her paper bears.  It is the perfect combination of whimsy and welcome with reality, allowing curious children to take a close look at actual shells.   The text tells the story of Buddy who goes to the seashore with his mother.  They find shell after shell and learn about how they are made, what the different parts of shells are called, and the names of the various types.  The book is more scientific information that story at times, but it still works well. 
A perfect book for hot summer days, share this one while sipping lemonade at the shore or dabbling your toes in a pool.  It is also a welcome science picture book that really looks at the details of shells in a friendly package.  A nice addition to science classes for early elementary students.

Shells! Shells! Shells! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. 

So many children are fascinated by shells that this book is an easy sell to kids.  In her signature paper art style, Wallace has created a book that allows children to see real shells through the eyes of her paper bears.  It is the perfect combination of whimsy and welcome with reality, allowing curious children to take a close look at actual shells.   The text tells the story of Buddy who goes to the seashore with his mother.  They find shell after shell and learn about how they are made, what the different parts of shells are called, and the names of the various types.  The book is more scientific information that story at times, but it still works well. 

A perfect book for hot summer days, share this one while sipping lemonade at the shore or dabbling your toes in a pool.  It is also a welcome science picture book that really looks at the details of shells in a friendly package.  A nice addition to science classes for early elementary students.

Shells! Shells! Shells! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. 

So many children are fascinated by shells that this book is an easy sell to kids.  In her signature paper art style, Wallace has created a book that allows children to see real shells through the eyes of her paper bears.  It is the perfect combination of whimsy and welcome with reality, allowing curious children to take a close look at actual shells.   The text tells the story of Buddy who goes to the seashore with his mother.  They find shell after shell and learn about how they are made, what the different parts of shells are called, and the names of the various types.  The book is more scientific information that story at times, but it still works well. 

A perfect book for hot summer days, share this one while sipping lemonade at the shore or dabbling your toes in a pool.  It is also a welcome science picture book that really looks at the details of shells in a friendly package.  A nice addition to science classes for early elementary students.

Shells! Shells! Shells! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. 

So many children are fascinated by shells that this book is an easy sell to kids.  In her signature paper art style, Wallace has created a book that allows children to see real shells through the eyes of her paper bears.  It is the perfect combination of whimsy and welcome with reality, allowing curious children to take a close look at actual shells.   The text tells the story of Buddy who goes to the seashore with his mother.  They find shell after shell and learn about how they are made, what the different parts of shells are called, and the names of the various types.  The book is more scientific information that story at times, but it still works well. 

A perfect book for hot summer days, share this one while sipping lemonade at the shore or dabbling your toes in a pool.  It is also a welcome science picture book that really looks at the details of shells in a friendly package.  A nice addition to science classes for early elementary students.

DC Comics will be publishing a collection of graphic novels based on NBC’s hit Heroes TV show.  The stories were originally created for the official website for the show.  Look for a hardcover release of the graphic novels this fall. 

BBC News reports that JK Rowling is back at work writing already. 

“I’m sort of writing two things at the moment,” she said. “One is for children and the other is not for children.”

Rowling, 41, said she expected to drop one of her two
new books, which is what happened when she started writing Harry Potter
and the Philospher’s Stone in the 1990s.

“The weird thing is that this is exactly the way I started writing Harry,” she said.

“I was writing two things simultaneously for a year
before Harry took over. So one will oust the other in due course, and
I’ll know that’s my next thing.”

As a reader of children’s fiction, can I just put in my fervent wish that the one for children wins out!  C’mon Jo, think of the kids!

Shape Me a Rhyme: Nature’s Forms in Poetry by Jane Yolen, photographs by Jason Stemple.

Following in the tradition of their first two books of poetry and photos (Color Me a Rhyme and Count Me a Rhyme), Jane Yolen and her son focus this time on shapes.  Each poem focuses on a specific shape with the corresponding photograph.  As always, Yolen’s poetry manages to be both simple and deep.  Her words are accessible, but each poem will have children thinking more deeply than they may have expected.  What a testimony to her gift as a poet.  Stemple’s photographs offer a real visual treat.  From the fiery ball of the sun with grassy silhouettes before it to the arch of a sand dollar half hidden in the sand, his photographs add another dimension to the poems. 

My favorite poem is that of the rectangle where readers will find rectangles reflected in the strands of a spider web.  Made me want to immediately head outdoors and find shapes in my local spider webs.  Just lovely.

Recommended to add a little poetry to a mathematics class looking at shapes.  It will also be a welcome addition to kindergarten classrooms where it may inspire an outdoor expedition for shapes in nature. 

Oni Press is working with author Karin Slaughter to create an imprint of graphic novels written by prose writers.  I love her take on graphic novels:

“Graphic novels let you take risks that just
wouldn’t fly in the conventional book form,” Slaughter said. “Visual
story telling is at once immediate and subversive.”

It will be interesting to see what sorts of crossover this creates.  Will it be readers of prose moving to graphic novels or graphic novel readers seeking out the prose of the authors?  Definitely an exciting new approach that we will all have to keep an eye on.

Sophie’s Big Bed by Tina Burke.

This book in the Toddler Tales series is a warm look at a toddler moving into her own large bed.  Sophie loves her crib.  It has her banana blankie and stuffed star.  But now it is time for her to move to her big bed where she doesn’t feel cozy at all.  Sophie tries night after night but finds herself only able to sleep back in her crib.  It isn’t until all of her favorite items move to the big bed with her that she can fall asleep there.

This book is a winner with its bright illustrations that show Sophie’s worry and joy so clearly.  The text is perfect for toddlers.  It is clear and brief.  I enjoyed the fact that Sophie does not burst into tears about it and there are no parents forcing her to stay in a bed she doesn’t want to sleep in.  Instead it is a gentle tale of patient but unseen parents who work with Sophie so that she can be happy at night.  Lovely.

This is a lap book, which should be read curled together in either a big or small bed.