I have a few Cybils nominees to share this week. Enjoy!
What kid doesn’t like a fractured fairy tale? We do (me included!), and The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz doesn’t miss the mark. We’re not too versed in martial arts lingo here, so the glossary at the back of the book (which I discovered too late to be of use for the first read-through) is definitely a plus. Bonus points for rhyme that doesn’t seem too predictable (maybe since I don’t know much about jujitsu and the like). Dan Santat‘s cartoonish illustrations perfectly match the tone of the story. I imagine this one really would be a hit among children who have some martial arts experience to put with it. (Putnam’s, 2012)
Another rhyming zoo book by the dynamic duo Judy Sierra and Marc Brown? Yes, please! Wild About You is a fun story based on the idea that some newborn zoo babies have wandered away from their mamas and have gotten paired up with the wrong parents, or something like that. A tree kangaroo, for example, ends up parenting a penguin, and a pair of pandas end up with a baby kitten. The rhyme is rollicking, and the story ends up this little ditty:
If you’re looking for babies much newer than new,
Here’s a cool pandacat! Here’s a sweet pengaroo!
Every kid needs a family, we know that it’s true.
And to bring up a baby. . .
IT TAKES A WHOLE ZOO!
As long as I don’t examine this one too much in the light of the old “It Takes a Village” political slogan, I like it very well, and so does the DLM (unlike me, he doesn’t remember the slogan 😉 ). At 8 and 6, my girls seem a bit old for this one, but I predict that toddlers up through preschoolers will like it. (Knopf, 2012)
That’s all I have time to share today, but we’ve read several more great picture books that I plan to share in the near future. What’s in your family’s read aloud basket?
These look great! My boys would LOVE the first one and so would Ruth. I had to tell the Three Little Pigs story roughly 1000 times in the car on our recent trip at her demand. It got so I changed it a lot and made our own fractured fairy tale.
We just read Ninja Pigs, too, and loved it! I love the illustrations in the zoo book with the wacky colors.
My 5 year old would LOVE the first selection. That one will have to go on my list.