Skip to main content

From Story Time: The Letter "T"

Read in Book Babies

Written by Stephen W. Martin
Illustrated by Juan Carlos Solon
Owlkids Books, Inc., 2015.  Picture Book.

Robot likes to SMASH!  He likes to smash everything in sight...until he encounters a bright magenta "Super-SMASHY girl robot."  Then Robot starts to envision all of the lovely games he could play and all of the places he could go with his Super-SMASHY girl robot.  Unfortunately, Robot discovers firsthand that the sweet, large pink robot with a bow on her head likes to smash too.  But despite his now slightly-diminished stature, it must be true love.  Fun, pixel-style illustrations and simple text make for a "smashing" read aloud for the tiniest of readers.




Read in Toddler Time

Written by Karen Beaumont
Illustrated by David Catrow
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2011.  Picture Book.

Tommy is having a super rough day.  He's lost his t-r-u-c-k!  Mom, Dad, brother, and sister all try to cheer him up and distract him from missing his truck, but it's no use.  Tommy looks everywhere -- in all the drawers, under the bed, behind the shower curtain ("Oops!  Not there!"), in the yard, and up in the tree.  But that t-r-u-c-k is gone, gone, gone.  But Tommy sees Bowser the dog digging a huge hole with something red sticking up...could it be?  Rhyming text provides a great opportunity for little ones to improve their prediction skills, and don't be surprised if they start spelling t-r-u-c-k right along with you!




Read in Preschool Time

Written by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha
Illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.  Picture Book.

Mr. Gilly drives his trash truck all around Trashy Town cleaning up the trash.  He picks up the trash from the school, the park, the doctor's office, and the fire station.  He cleans and cleans until his trash truck is full.  After taking the town's trash to the dump, it's time for Mr. Gilly to clean up one more thing--it's bath time!  Bold, simple illustrations combined with repetitive text ("Dump it in, smash it down, give around the Trashy Town!) create a delightful read aloud for young children.




Read in Preschool Time

Written by Tom Angleberger
Illustrated by John Hendrix
Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2015.

Thursdays are a special day for McToad because he gets to mow Tiny Island.  But getting to Tiny Island from Big Island is quite the feat -- one that includes a truck, train, forklift, airplane, helicopter, boat, and crane!  Your little transportation enthusiasts will love following the bright and incredibly detailed pen, ink, and acrylic machinery through this delightful circular story.




Read in Friday Cuentos

Written by Don Wood
Illustrated by Audrey Wood
Translated by Teresa Mlawer
Child's Play International, 2005 (c 1984).  Picture Book.

El pequeño ratón se preocupa que el oso grande, hambriento tomará su fresa recientemente escogida, madura, roja para se.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Funny Farm by Mark Teague 2009

There are things I liked about Mark Teague's newest book, Funny Farm , and things I didn't like. Where should I start? I'll do the "didn'ts" first. The illustrations show animals personified. Well, some of the animals are. The main characters, Edward, and his farm family relatives, all dogs, are humanized. They stand upright, do farm chores, eat at a table, wear clothes, knit (yes, with paws) and sleep in beds. Most everybody else on and around the farm, who are also animals, act like animals. They are outside, roll in mud, live in the barn, and require care from their owners. It struck me the most on the page spread where there are pigs playing in puddle in the rain and Edward, a black and white boxer, watches from inside the house. I thought "You're a dog! Go play with them!" But, alas, he can't, seeing as how he goes through his entire visit to the farm wearing a suit and red bow tie. Another picture that bothered me was the maple syrup pa...

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester 2008

J Fiction 328 pages I almost didn't finish this book. I got to Chapter 4, and was just about ready to quit (a kind of slow story about a girl, name of Piper McCloud, who discovers she can fly, parents freak out, she becomes a social outcast, yadda, yadda) but suddenly, right there in Chapter 4, the story takes a sharp turn and becomes really interesting . Piper finds herself in the company of others like her, but not "fliers", and under the care and authority of Dr. Hellion. I won't even tell you any more. Read this book. Forester does a great job of keeping you wondering who's the good guy and who's the bad? Piper is a likeable, strong, endearing character that girl readers will enjoy. But don't NOT give it to boys! The main male character is an extremely intelligent young man who is one of the ones you wonder about . . . good or bad? This is a good one, well worth your time.

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...