Pups in the Snow

Things are starting to thaw out a bit now, but we’re still pretty much iced in. A good day for sitting by the fire with some good books.

We pulled out a couple of good ones.

Puppies in the Snow is by James Young. It was published in 2003 by Scholastic, Inc.

This is a cute counting book with pups playing in the snow and other critters watching. It begins with “ONE lonely puppy in the snow, so far from home, so far to go!” A crow sees him as she flies by, and in an old tree stump you can see a puppy nose sticking out. Then there are TWO friendly puppies and an owl and her babies watching. Each page gives you a glimpse of a new puppy being added and a mom and babies of some other animal. In the end TEN puppies make it home to their mom for dinner and a nice warm bed. It’s a pretty fun book with happy, smiley pups romping in the snow.

Mice on Ice is by Rebecca and Ed Emberley. This is an I Like to Read book published in 2012 by Holiday House. This father/daughter writing team does the craziest books!! Illustrations are BOLD and Bright and Kookie. This book is kind of Dr Seussish. Very simple text – “Mice walk on snow. Mice skate on ice.” But the illustrations just make you smile and giggle. The mice skate all over the ice making designs with their skating. And they make a CAT! A Cat with a Hat! And the cat with the hat skates with the mice on the ice! Pretty cool!

I could not find any information on Mr James Young. 😦

But Rebecca Emberley has a great website HERE.

And her Dad, Ed Emberley is the Master and Commander of children’s books and fingerprints. His website is HERE.

For more about I Like to Read books visit Holiday House HERE.

And here are some little pups having a fun time in the snow –

I hope you’re having a JOYous day wherever you are and whatever the weather

Rhythm

Counting Sheep

I’ve gone to the sheep today. We don’t have sheep here at the 7 Acre Wood. We have goats. I don’t know a lot about sheep. They look like goats to me. But I hear that they are very different. I hear that goats are smarter than sheep. I don’t really know.

But we read a couple of pretty cute books about sheep that I would like to share.

Hide and Sheep was written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by Bill Mayer. It was published by Margaret K. McElderry Books in 2011. It is a counting book. I like counting books. On the back of the book it says “They’re baa baa BAAD!”  And these are bad sheep.  It’s time for Farmer McFitt to shear the sheep and knit clothes. But the sheep have disappeared! They’re on the run and I guess that Farmer McFitt is in hot pursuit. It is not entirely clear. In the 1st page spread 10 frisky lambs have run away to the zoo. And on the next page spread 9 sheep have joined the circus. So I guess that Farmer McFitt caught one. It is not entirely clear. But on each page spread there is a new scenario with one less sheep. Until the end where they have all been sheared and their clothes knit and it’s time to stop counting sheep and go to bed!

Sheep in a Jeep is a book that has been around for a long time and is a favorite at school. It was written by Nancy Shaw and illustrated by Margot Apple. It was published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 1986. Ms Shaw has created quite a series of books with her sheep. I’ve not read all of them but I would bet that they are all great books. These sheep are nothing but well-meaning, fun-loving trouble. They go for a ride in a jeep, but aren’t very good drivers. They can’t get it to go, so they push it down a hill where it gets stuck in a giant mud hole. Some pigs help them push it out, then they forget to steer and crash into a tree. The sheep are quite silly and fun. But the text is the thing. Lots of rhyme and alliteration. Sheep shouting and shrugging and weeping. Jeeps in a heap. It’s great!

Both of these books show sheep in a not so intelligent light. And they sound just like my silly goats at home. Just trouble. Both books are worth checking out. I think I like the Sheep in a Jeep the best. I was not really happy with the illustrations in Hide and Sheep. The cover is really cute and I had high expectations, but the pictures on the inside were kind of weird. Kind of blurry or something. I don’t know, but they were not really pleasant to look at.

I hope you’ve had a trouble free day! Stay away from sheep! Trouble!

And for your amazement — some extreme sheep herding!

Counting Goats

The Princesses came for a visit last week. They are a couple of wild girls! They live in the city and don’t get to come visit us in the country very often. The neighborhood where they live is a nice one and they have lots of friends, but they don’t have a pony or goats or chickens or woods to explore or a river to skip rocks in. We have all of these things here.

The Princesses were quite taken with the goats. I have talked about the goats before. We have TWO Angora Goats. One black and one white. They are very talkative — Maaaaaaa! The Noodle Princess was quite intrigued with this.

Because they liked those goats so much, we found a book called Let’s Count Goats! It’s a great little book by Mem Fox and illustrated by Jan Thomas. It was published by Beach Lane Books in 2010. It’s a rollicking good romp with goats. Both the girls thought it was super and wanted to read it numerous times.

The illustrations are really funny and show goats eating all kinds of things. Like beach umbrellas and suitcases and tables and airplanes! Our goats eat a lot of stuff that they shouldn’t, but I’ve never seen them eat any of those things! The tale opens with “Here we see a mountain goat frisking in the sun. And here we see a city goat going for a run. But can we count the SEASIDE goats? (I think there’s only one.)” And so it goes — with goats adding up in different scenarios. ( a nice big word!) And there are NO numbers in the book! You have to count them for real! The Noodle Princess, who is just a small wee thing, is just learning how to count and she was jumping right in to see how many goats were on each page!

I think we give this book 4 paws and 4 hands up! Yay for goats! You should check it out!

Mem Fox has a nice website with all kinds of resources and information about books and reading and literacy.

Jan Thomas has a fun website with a list of her books and fun activities to go with them.

And here is a clip of Ms Fox talking about this very book! Let’s Count Goats!

And with this book added to my 2013 list, I have 288 more to go!

Apples on Top!!

We’ve been spending a lot of time this week with kindergarteners. And the Hands Down Favorite book all week has been Ten Apples Up On Top! We’ve read it over and over and over!

I have found over the years of my reading career that this book is ALWAYS a crowd pleaser! It is an interactive book that the little guys and girls can help read. It has hilarious illustrations. The characters get involved in crazy antics. And what’s not funny and engaging about apples on top of somebody’s head?!

And here are the pertinent FACTS about this book: It was written by Theo. LeSieg (aka Dr. Seuss) ( and did you know that LeSieg was the name that he used when someone else illustrated the book and it is Geisel spelled backwards and that Geisel is Dr. Seuss‘s real name?) This book is illustrated by Roy McKie. Burgin Streetman did a nice interview with him on her blog Vintage Kids Books My Kid Loves.

Ten Apples Up On Top! was published in 1961 by Random House. It is an I Can Read It All By Myself Beginner Book for those with a 75 word vocabulary.

This is such a great book for a classroom read! It is a counting book. From 1 – 10. It is a mystery book – What will happen next?!  It is a book that young readers can read along with. It is a science book – How do you balance so many apples?! I’m sure that teachers have been using this book in their classrooms since 1961, but here is a link to some classroom activities. And Annie at Kindergarten at Heart had a nice post with some fun activities that you might check out. And there is the fabulous Seussville website with games and activities and videos and all sorts of Seuss stuff.

This lovely classic book is probably on the PPBF list already, but I thought that I would add my pawprint to it.

You might want to check it out if you haven’t already! And while you’re at it check out the other Perfect Picture Books on Susanna Hill’s blog!