Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Book Review: Children's Encyclopedia and Give a Pig a Party

Every third Tuesday of the month 5 Minutes for Books hosts the Kids' Picks Carnival. This is a great way to see what other children are enjoying. Some posts are written by the kids; others are written by the mom (like mine). If you need any book ideas be sure to check out this Carnival.
As I mentioned last week, we added TEN new books to our shelves over Christmas. I reviewed one of them last week. Here are two more.


The Kingfisher First Encyclopedia has quickly become Will's favorite book.

I can see why. It answers lots and lots of the questions a curious five year old asks. Covering subjects from Africa to the Zoo in just 155 pages it's hard to think of a general topic that isn't mentioned.

William sits with this book daily. He pours over it and "reads" the pages intently. He is in the beginning stages of reading so most of the words are beyond his ability right now. However, the photographs and illustrations are so well done reading isn't required to understand most topics.

One of his favorites is "Planets." This two page layout describes planets, Earth, the Sun and moons. It also includes a picture (that covers both pages) of our Solar System with each planet named. Because we have read this page to him repeatedly, he can name some of the planets.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone with a curious child (especially if you home school). Just be warned that it will create even more questions for you to answer! :)

If You Give a Pig a Party by Laura Numeroff is currently one of Ellie's favorite books.

It was a Christmas present this year from Grammy (who had the joy of reading it to Ellie MANY times during her week-long visit after Christmas).

I'm not surprised Ellie likes it so much, it is another in the "Cookie Book" series. She drags our "Cookie" compilation book around a lot so it stands to reason that she would like this one also.

I enjoy these creative books just as much as Ellie and the boys do! The story stimulates the reader's imagination, which is something I value in a children's book. The illustrations by Felicia Bond are simple and colorful. Definitely some of my favorites.

Anyone looking for an imaginative and simple picture book is sure to fall in love with this series. We have at our house!

7 comments:

Melissa said...

These books seem great, thanks. I really want to start building our library. Oh and thanks for the ideas with shaving cream for Silas, how fun!

Anonymous said...

My daughter also enjoys Laura Numeroff's books. They are always a hit at our house. My son enjoys reading informational books as well (although he is older). It sounds like our kids have similar interests!

Carrie said...

Great looking encyclopedia. We don't have one yet and I've been wondering about the benefits of getting a picture one. I don't know that we're quite there yet, age wise, but I'll keep this one in mind!

As for the If You Give A . . . series - that's a big hit in our house too!

Unknown said...

I keep being reminded that I need to get the more recent Numeroff books that we haven't read. There are a few, and Kyle likes the ones that we have. Gotta go put that on my library list!!

Alicia said...

Both books sound great-and of course perfectly age appropriate for my two! I'll be looking for those at the library!

Rachel said...

Hey there. JM is a HUGE fan of the "If you give a cookie" series. He got the collection in one book with recipes and fun songs for Christmas. It came with a CD and the books are read by famous people. My favorite is David Hyde Pierce reading "If You Give A Pig A Pancake".
The reason I'm commenting....what homeschool curriculum do you use?
What do you do with the other kids when you're working with your oldest? We're seriously considering it for this fall because we just are thrilled with the schools here. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

The Hibbard Family said...

Okay, I was about to start typing answers to your questions here, but then figured a message might be better! So, here I go to Facebook... :-)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...