friday's five

We're about at the point to return our library books, so we'll be soon rotating our supply out, which is always exciting to me. Oh yeah, and to the kids, too. They do love reading and re-reading the books we check out, but it's always refreshing to have a whole shelf of new-to-us books. Until then, here are a handful of picture books that we've been reading this week.

1. Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again by Juliana, Isabella and Craig Hatkoff -- Okay, this one's a little different, because I've been reading this book, but with JAM this week and not with the younger kids. My 5M4B editor Jennifer informed me that the story that was turned into a movie that will be released this fall, knowing that I really loved reviewing the book for our site, and interviewing the author Craig Hatkoff. JAM and I want to see the movie, if only because the incredible dolphin Winter portrays herself in it, but we were both quite disappointed to see that the entire true story has been morphed into something different... ah, Hollywood.

2. Spots: Counting Creatures from Sky to Sea by Carolyn Lesser and illustrated by Laura Regan -- This is a gorgeous book that combines a counting book with a nature nonfiction book. Each two-page spread features a unique type of animals, from reef squid to brown trout to reticulated giraffes. The illustrations are full of tiny realistic details, and lots of fun vocab is introduced to describe each type of animal's movements.

3. The Peace Book by Todd Parr -- An oldie but a goodie. When the kids go through the paperback bins at the library, they often come up with Todd Parr's books, which make for true feel-good read alouds together. Parr's illustrative style is simple, but unique, and he conveys positive messages through every single one of his books. This one emphasizes peace, in many different ways, focusing on the small ways in which people- even kids!- can spread peace every day. Lovely.

4. Missing Rabbit by Roni Schotter and illustrated by Cyd Moore -- Here's a book that I wouldn't have picked up on my own, but one of the kids picked it based on the cute stuffed bunny on the cover. Turns out it's a lovely story about a little girl whose parents are divorced and who lives at both her father's and her mother's houses each week. She works through her own conflicted feelings through her stuffed rabbit's expressions of confusion. This is a book meant for reading with children in this particular situation, though my own kids did seem to enjoy the story.

5. Fox and Hen Together by Beatrice Rodriguez -- Last month, I included the wordless picture book The Chicken Thief in a "friday's five" post, though I'm really not a fan of the book. Today I'm including the sequel, another wordless book that picks up on the story where the last one left off. I don't find this one as offensive as I did the original, but I do call this one just plain weird. Seriously. First, comes kidnapping that turns into love, then the arrival of the product of inter-species breeding. I really need to hear someone else's perspective on these books, because I truly just do not get the appeal.

Well, four out of five ain't bad, right?


Happy reading,