Storytime Kids — a blog for parents about books and more

Uh-Oh by Rachel Isadora

As any parents of a toddler know, “uh-oh” is a common phrase associated with little ones.  The toddler in this book is certainly no exception.  His day is filled with “uh-oh’s”, from spilling his cereal on his head in the morning, to dropping his ice cream in the afternoon, to throwing his bath toys on the floor at night.   This sounds like a frustrating day indeed, but instead the child’s face reflects the sheer joy of a busy and normal childhood.  Young readers will enjoy and even be comforted by the book child’s routine.  The simplicity of the text, with a noun (toy box, ice cream, kitty cat) on the right of the pages and the ubiquitous ‘uh-oh’ on the left, lends itself to a number of successful ways to read this book.  Adult readers can read the noun on one page and let their young one guess what happens on the next (with a rousing chorus of ‘uh-oh’ after each page, of course), discussions of appropriate behavior are a natural extension of the story, and after repeated experiences with the book, young readers will begin to recognize events and even vocabulary and will be to follow along in the text with you.  Most importantly, of course, young readers will just have fun. The bright pastel illustrations add to the cheer, and Isadora’s toddler is expressive and simply adorable.  Be sure to check this one out!

Lane Library info here

Smash! Crash! by Jon Scieszka

This first book in the Trucktown series was created with young male readers in mind, and any reader that likes to smash and crash will definitely be hooked.  From their messy encounter with Cement Mixer Melvin to their surprising meeting with Wrecking Crane Rosie, Jack Truck and Dump Truck Dan proclam their love of demolition with a refrain that kids will love to hear (and say with you) –”Smash! Crash!”  Young readers will love the friendly anthropomorphized vehicles and the bright, extremely energetic illustrations.   Truck lovers young and old will want to check out this “smashing” book!

And the Train Goes… by William Bee

“All aboard who are coming aboard…” says the train conductor at the station, and so begins a train ride for a wide variety of characters, from the fireman shoveling coal to the school class off on a trip chickens off to market.  An absolute delight to read aloud, this book is full of great sound effects that kids will love to hear and to say: the engine goes “chuff-chuff, chufferty-chuff, the train goes “clickerty-click, clickerty-clack”, the chickens on their way to market go “cluck-cluck, cluckerty-cluck”.  The heavily detailed illustrations are pen and ink, with a computer used to fill in the drawings with flat, bright colors.  Each double spread depicts a different car (they actually look more like platforms than cars) of the train and its various passengers, and is full of small details like the floral designs on the sides of each train car, and repeated in various places from the blanket on the horse to the tea cups on the table of the ladies train car.  A fantastically fun book to read aloud to train lovers and anyone who just likes to go.

Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

Uh-oh, Bird sure did wake up in a bad mood (something all readers can relate to!).  He’s just too grumpy to do anything, even fly.  “Looks like I’m walking today” he grumbles, and off he stomps.   As he walks thorugh the woods, Bird meets up with several of his animal friends, all of whom ask what he’s doing.  Bird’s replies are hilariously sarcastic, at least at first.  As he is joined by more and more of his friends, Bird’s walk becomes a follow-the-leader game, as his friends begin to imitate his every move.  In fact, thanks to his friends and their antics, Bird forgets that he’s grumpy and starts to have fun.  By the end of the story, Bird is having such a good time that he invites his friends back to his nest for worms.  The illustrations add so much to this simple story, and the grumpy expression on Bird’s face at the beginning of the story is priceless.  The bright, almost garish colors and familiar backgrounds, along with the cartoon-like animal figures, will catch a young reader’s eye and draw them into the story.  This book, along with a walk, of course, is the perfect antidote for a bad mood.  (Lane Library info)

Who’s Hiding? by Satoru Oni

Need a quick distraction or a fun way to talk about colors and even animals?  This animal search and find book with a twist begins on the inside cover with a cartoon animal lineup that has behinds turned to the reader, something that will definitely appeal to most kid’s senses of humor.  The first set of pages shows the animals now facing forward and in bright colors on a stark white background, with the animal name beneath each drawing.  Be sure to point to each animal name as you read the book–this is a great way for kids to learn that you are reading words, and not just the pictures.  Then the search and find aspect of the story kicks in on the next page as the author asks “who’s hiding?”  The white background becomes a yellow one, rendering the animal colored in yellow invisible except for its facial features.  In alternating pages the backgrounds turn green, red, brown and blue, forcing kids to find the animal of the same color who is “hiding”.  Then comes the twist–on other pages the questions become a little more challenging, such as “who’s crying?”, “who’s angry” and “who’s sleeping”.  The search at the end of the book is a doozy.  Kids will love the brightly colored animals and pages, and will have fun searching for animals.  This is a book that can be read together, but kids may have even more fun reading it on their own.