Books for Younger Kids

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in order to provide honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

Looking for some new books for younger kids? Today we have a collection of books that teach pet care, recovering from a mistake, the truth about cicadas and words perfect for helping those learning to read! The first is a board book called Kit and Her Cat by Meredith Walker. It is recommended for babies through age 5. Personally, unless the five-year-old is just learning to read I would recommend baby through 3.

Publisher's Summary:

Is any friend more special than your very first pet? A sweet celebration of innocence, companionship, and pure joy.

When Kit finds her cat napping, she invites it to play with a gentle “pat, pat” before revealing her kitty’s favorite ribbon. The two run, tumble, and play together in this charming story of feline friendship.

From Me:

This is a sweet book sharing the relationship between a young girl and her cat. The words and the illustrations are quite simple. The colors are mostly red, black and white with another color (pink, purple, grey) mixed in. It is a perfect book for babies with the colors and for toddlers with the simple and few words and most are action words like pat and scratch. The story is very basic. It introduces Kit and her cat and her cat likes to nap. Kit gives the cat some love and the plays with it. Then they both want a nap. It is the perfect book for kids getting a first pet or needing to learn how to act with a pet. It would also be a great book to gift at a baby shower. 

Our next book is a sing-along from my friend, Daria. It teaches young ones about the benefits of cicadas. The book is Cicada Sing-Along by Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou and illustrated by Kateryna Sokolova. It is recommended for ages 2 to 10!

Publisher's Summary:

Join this fun Cicada Sing-Along and discover one of nature's most fascinating insects! The Cicada Sing-Along is a beautifully illustrated nature book for young readers based on the popular kid’s song by an internationally recognized folksinger. While reading and buzzing along with the lyrics, children learn many amazing and important facts about these beneficial bugs, their life stages and their strikingly loud song.

Written to encourage curiosity about nature, the book includes fun facts and additional activities to discover this amazing insect that can be found on every continent of our planet, except Antarctica. Perfect for preschoolers, elementary students, families, and classrooms, this educational book based on the popular song combines music with science to make learning fun.

From Me:

This colorful book is fun and informative. I love that it is about bugs and is perfect for the bug lovers out there. I honestly learned quite a bit from this simple book since I did not know much about cicadas. It shares all sorts of fun facts and teaches how they actually do not eat the crops or plants. Their noise is loud and many people are annoyed by it which is why there are so many stories about them (and possibly why I thought they were bad).  At the end of the book are some fun facts about cicadas as well. The words in the story are almost musical and share much of the noise of the cicadas. 

This is a happy book and perfect for kids to learn about cicadas and perhaps bugs. It is a great introduction with the beautiful illustrations and fun words. It would be great for a preschool or lower elementary class's introduction to a bug unit. It would also be a great introduction the cicadas if they are in your area and about to emerge! I love that the book takes bugs which people either love or hate and introduces some of the positive things and other facts about them in a very interesting way that will entertain younger kids!

Our next book is a fun picture book from the Work It Out Wombats! Series (based on the PBS television show). It is Hooray for the Treeborhood by Candlewick Press and illustrated by WGBH Enterprises. 

Publisher's Summary:

Find out what is so special about the Treeborhood, the home to three wombat siblings and a tree full of fun-loving neighbors, in this storybook based on the PBS series Work It Out Wombats!—launching an exciting publishing collaboration with WGBH.

Wombat Zadie and two of her friends set out to make a video of folks in the Treeborhood answering the question “What do you love about the Treeborhood?” When Kaya says “Action” and presses record, her little brother JunJun gets a brain freeze and can’t ask the question. Kaya and Zadie have helpful suggestions to help JunJun get over his stage fright, including belly breathing, but the answer to JunJun’s problem comes from within. Just like in the PBS television show Work It Out Wombats!, this fun story engages kids in a tour of the Treeborhood and its inhabitants, while the problem-solving subtly introduces computational thinking—one of the building blocks of learning how to code.

From Me:

Now that Hazel is a senior in high school, we are out of the loop on children's shows but Work It Out Wombats! sounds like a show she probably would have watched. I love that the three kids are making a video about why their treeborhood is so great. Each of them has a job--question asker/interviewer, camera person and clapper person. When JunJun keeps freezing asking questions, his friends give him advice. He keeps trying and eventually they realize he has stage fright when speaking but not when singing. Once he sings the questions, he is all set. 

The friends work together and help JunJun solve his problem. Plus, they are working together to share with everyone why their home is so amazing to each of them. It is such a wonderful idea and shows being part of a community! This book is perfect for fans of Work It Out Wombats! as well as introducing community and working through problems together. The story is sweet and the illustrations are similar to what is seen on the show!

Our final book is one that reminds me of my old Richard Scary books. It is full of words with each illustration. The book is Bizzy Bear's Big Book of Words by Benji Davies. It is a board book and is recommended for baby to age 2. It will also work well for kids who are just learning to read words. It is part of the Bizzy Bear Series. 

Publisher's Summary:

Make learning fun with Bizzy Bear! This interactive board book is perfect for teaching basic words, items, concepts, and more.

With thirty flaps to lift and over five hundred words featured in this large-format board book, Bizzy Bear fans will love to pore over the many new words and pictures they’ll encounter inside. Color-coded thumb tabs make page turns easy for little hands as readers flip between spreads of numbers and colors, daily routines, a construction site, and even a firefighting scene! With more than twenty-two million copies sold worldwide, Bizzy Bear has become the best companion for any adventure.

From Me:

I always love books with words. This one is extra special because it has flaps on each page sharing even more words. The pages include words from around town, at home, at the zoo, on a construction site, at the hospital, on the farm, on vacation, at a fire (station), underwater, sports, basic words with colors, seasons, numbers and more. Each word has an accompanying illustration so the reader can learn what the word means. It is the perfect book to read someone learning to talk or learning to read. They can sound out the words and learn them from the picture. It is a great book for babies through preschool.