Uh-oh! I'm Sorry: Jill Ackerman

Uh-oh! I'm Sorry is a lesson in manners and etiquette for ages 0-2, but it's a nice reinforcement for totz as well. At ten pages, with oversized lift-the-flaps and rhyming repetitive text, it reassures readers that simple mistakes can always be fixed. For instance, when crayon scribbles venture onto the floor instead of staying put on a drawing:

Sometimes I color outside the lines.
Uh-oh!
(child is joined by mom under flap)
I'm sorry!
It's okay.
We can clean it up.

Though accidents will happen, the set of important words in this book will help the youngest readers cope when they do.

Uh-oh! I'm Sorry
Author: Jill Ackerman
Illustrator: Michelle Berg
Publisher: Cartwheel Books
Series: Little Scholastic

Beep! Beep! Jill Ackerman and Michelle Berg

We're going a little young for totz this time, with this interactive stuffed-cloth book for ages 1-3. It's made up of four 2-sided pages and has cars, planes, trains, and trucks as well as a squeaker toy in the front cover and a mirror inside "for busy hands and minds". It's part of Scholastic's developmental publishing program intended to give babies and toddlers a head start in learning. Sounds good to me. Beep! Beep!

Beep! Beep!
Jill Ackerman, author
Michelle Berg, illustrator
Scholastic, 2010

Pirate Potty by Samantha Berger

As promised, here's Pirate Potty!



The perfect companion for Princess Potty, pick this novelty book up for your pirate, mateys. Instead of forest creatures and sparkles, there's a black potty flying three Jolly Rogers, cannon balls, and a big x to mark the spot!



Of course, every pirate has a special sea shanty, keeps his toilet paper in his treasure chest, and announces, "Anchors away!" Right?

Author Samantha Berger just nails this presentation. Your pirate totz are going to love potty training with this book as an aid. Again, Amy Cartwright's imagery is clean and adorable whether it's a page full of little symbols or a full spread. I particularly love the mother's eye patch in the shape of a heart. And the pirate's proportions are as cute as can be.

Enjoy Pirate Potty, with your crew. Punch out the included hat and decorate it with the gold doubloon stickers for a job well done!

Pirate Potty
by Samantha Berger
illustrated by Amy Cartwright
Scholastic, 2010

BOB Books Giveaway!

Who doesn't love BOB? Certainly all the 3 million totz who have announced that they've read the WHOLE book. So first, thanks to author Lynn Maslen Kertell and illustrator Sue Hendra for helping the youngest readers learn those site words.

I taught my own girls to read, and we used phonetics AND site words. It was a perfect mix, and BOB led the way. Our hearts were captured by these little, funny stories.

Now, a giant thanks to Scholastic! We have a give-away for you! Two random commenters will receive BOB lunch boxes and a collection of the newest BOB releases: Sight Words, Kindergarten, and Sight Words, First Grade. Each set contains 10 books!

The included bonus flash cards will reinforce the new words as your totz progress through the series.

Leave your comments, and tell us how much you love BOB!

BOB Books
by Lynn Maslen Kertell
illustrated by Sue Hendra
Scholastic
(The give-away is limited to U.S. addresses.)

Zoo and Toys by Salina Yoon

Salina Yoon could very well be the master of the novelty book. Check out these two she created for Little Scholastic. I, myself, was excited to discover the surprises!

Picture four spreads that introduce colors. Each has an integrated, removable piece with a color and word of a color printed on it. Those in Toys are foil. In Zoo, the colors have a plush texture to match the plush lion on the cover.

After red, yellow, blue, and green are introduced in Toys, the final spread shows all the colors at once, colorful blocks. Orange, gray, brown, and black in Zoo, end with a colorful peacock. Now, take the colored pieces you removed, flip them over and construct a puzzle that duplicates the last spread. So smart!

One to two year old totz, will enjoy Salina's flat shapes that pop with intense color. Two to three year olds can solve the puzzles. These books will be engaging for years. Check them out!

Zoo and Toys
by Salina Yoon
Little Scholastic, 2010

Dot and Dash Meet Their Friends: Emma Dodd

At 9 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches, this is bigger than your average board book. It has sturdy pages, bright colors, and flaps of varying sizes and shapes to find and lift. Dot is a spotted dog and Dash is a striped cat. The other characters in this particular book in the Dot and Dash series, are cleverly named Big (an elephant), Small (a mouse), and Tall (a giraffe). It begins:

Dot and Dash are ready to play.
"Small!" they call. "Are you ready to play?"

They open a small flap, but no one's home.
On the next spread, they open a 'tall' flap and are greeted by a giraffe.

I like the fact that this book teaches size-relation concepts within a simple story. Totz will be willingly pulled through this simple mystery story, which is perfect for this age. Where, oh where, is Small?

The Dot and Dash page at Scholastic's UK site offers printable coloring pages and a list of Dot and Dash books. Watch for the release of Dot and Dash in the US in May!

Dot and Dash Meet Their Friends, May, 2010
Author-illustrator: Emma Dodd
Scholastic

The Small Seed: Judith Nicholls

Looking for a great book with textures to engage your totz? Pick up The Small Seed by Judith Nicholls. Here's non-fiction at its best.

"In the dark, dark earth
was a small, small seed.
And the sun came up,
and the rain came down."

Illustrator Mara van der Meer has chosen to illustrate the concluding noun from the first sentence of each page on the right side of the spreads. i.e. a white, white root, a brave, brave shoot. These images include unique textures to represent flower petals, leaves, and stems. The additions work well with the torn paper collages.

The most exciting feature is the last page which opens three panels as the sunflower grows and grows!

Thanks, Little Scholastic, for bringing nonfiction to totz and sharing the beauty of our world!

The Small Seed
by Judith Nicholls
illustrated by Mara van der Meer
Little Scholastic, 2004