January: Around the Block with Sesame Street, Johnny Cash and Nasty Dan

Enjoy!

Photo Friday: Charlie Bit My Finger

Just showed this to my brother and realized it's perfect for totz Photo Friday! Enjoy Charlie once more!

January: Community Service

Have your totz add fresh water to the birdbath when it freezes!

Photo from this album. 

January: For the Older Sibling, The Pixar Treasures

Tim Hauser titled this gem The Pixar Treasures, and he delivers! This is my pick for January for the older sibling of your totz. There's something here for your whole family.

From the company's inspirations and inception through their collected projects, you'll experience the Pixar journey. With a warranted nod to Disney, Hauser walks you through the chronicle of a group which has given us greats such as Up and Finding Nemo.

Included in the book are reproductions of tickets, passes, posters, cards, and brochures. Letters and notes open the backstory further.



The collage layout of the book and fantastic photo endpapers, reveal the fun of Pixar. As Tia Kratter noted, "If the people around you are fun, and, despite the hard work are making it fun, well, then it makes it okay. It's a laughing family." There's no doubt of that!

Find The Pixar Treasures and enjoy the story and treasures with your family. Marketed in a box sleeve, how will you be able to resist it when you remove the book to find Woody on the front cover and Buzz on the back? They're our friends, right?  Thanks, Pixar!

The Pixar Treasures
by Tim Hauser
Disney Enterprises, 2010
Produced by  Becker&Meyer!

A Book of Sleep: Il Sung Na

Here's a shout out for a picture book to board book conversion! I love this new edition of A Book of Sleep.

Il Sung Na's simple text combined with fresh, original art will captivate your totz. Nothing is cuter than the wide-eyed owl watching everyone sleep through the night. Some sleep quietly, others make noise, while some sleep on the move.



The layers of texture combined with flower patterns and whimsical little sketches delight and engage. Knopf nailed the right format by bringing this work to little hands. Bravo! Starred reviews from Booklist, PW, and School Library Journal are well deserved.

A Book of Sleep
by Il Sung Na
Alfred A. Knopf, 2011

Sunday Scene

Sorry I missed our Poetry Friday, everyone! My computer was stolen and that has put a serious kink in my output. Hopefully all will be back to normal soon. In the meantime, enjoy this dear photo from Early Experiences. 

This is exactly what readertotz is about. Here's to you reading to your totz! ~Lorie Ann

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

Poetry Friday: Once I Saw a Little Bird

Once I saw a little bird
Come hop, hop, hop;
So I cried, "Little bird,
Will you stop, stop, stop?"
And was going to the window
To say, "How do you do?
But he shook his little tail,
And far way he flew.

Happy Poetry Friday, everyone!

Hugs and Kisses: Sara Miller

Joan and I don't often review licensed character board books, but every now and then, one just grabs our hearts. Disney Baby Hugs and Kisses is my pick for this week. It's from the series "Together Time."

With satin heart cutouts, your totz can count along as favorite Disney characters share their love with precious babies.

"Baby loves hugs and kisses
from three cute kittens.
Can you count three kittens,
Baby?

Cinderella's mice, the Aristocat kittens, and even Baloo share their love. The final spread shows a mother hugging a baby with the assurance, "I love you, Baby!"

How can you not love this board book? Pick it up now or for Valentine's Day. Share a few hugs and kisses.

Hugs and Kisses
by Sara Miller
illustrated by Disney Storybook Artists
photography by Anthony Nex
Disney Enterprises, Inc., 2010

Poetry Friday: Butterfly, Butterfly

BUTTERFLY, BUTTERFLY

Butterfly, butterfly,
Whence do you come?
"I know not, I ask not,
Nor ever had a home."
Butterfly, butterfly,
Where do you go?
"Where the sun shines,
And where the buds grow."

Happy Poetry Friday!

December: Community Service

Just realized we didn't feature December's Community Service. So here it is. Certainly doable for January, don't you think?

Decorate that front window with your totz' cut-out snowflakes. Let everyone be charmed!

Tuck Me In! Dean Hacohen and Sherry Scharschmidt

I think this book is adorable!

Which is why I'm celebrating it even though it is officially a picture book and we usually blog about board and novelty books for totz here on readertotz. But Tuck Me In could so easily become a lift-the-flap board book. The text is simple, the subject is dear and familiar to totz, and the illustrations are young and have eye-appeal. Most of the pages show an animal with a big flap that is to be used as a blanket. I love that this book empowers totz to take the adult action of tucking in a baby--animal babies in this case.

From the back cover:

All the Baby Animals are ready for bed.
Will you help tuck them in?
You will? Great!
Just turn the pages and tuck them in, one by one.
(And don't forget to say "Good night!")

Tuck Me In!
Dean Hacohen and Sherry Scharschmidt
Candlewick Press, 2010

What Does Cow Say? Celebrating a new lift-the-flap book from readertotz co-founder, Joan Holub

I hope you'll join me in celebrating my new rhyming lift-the-large-flap board book from Scholastic/Cartwheel Books, What Does Cow Say?



Story scoop: These farm animals have big mouths! When the sun came up, Duck went Quack which woke his neighbor, Cow, who went MOO, which woke Rooster who went Cock-a-doodle-doo. . . As each animal awakens, totz can guess what it says and open its big-flap beak, snout, or mouth to read its signature sound. The final spread shows a child waking up--with open arms and a final HOORAY! to welcome the day!

Art scoop: Instead of a manuscript, I submitted this 2-page dummy to Scholastic/Cartwheel for consideration. All the mouths had working flaps taped over them, so they'd lift to reveal the animal sound below. A lot goes into creating these seemingly uncomplicated books. For instance, the title and some of the text changed during the editing process. And as you can see, artist Jannie Ho made the book way cuter than my proposal.












Lucky me to have Jannie illustrate this book! She studied illustration at Parsons School of Design in NYC, and was a designer at Nickelodeon, Scholastic, and associate art director at TIME Magazine for Kids before becoming a full-time illustrator. Wow!

~ Joan Holub

What Does Cow Say?
Author: Joan Holub
Illustrator: Jannie Ho
Scholastic, Cartwheel Books, January 2011

Photo Friday: Smelling Books

Hey totz and parents!

Just a fun image I made at Polyvore which celebrates our love of books. Hope it makes you smile and brings a little joy to your own new year. HAPPY 2011!

 

 

Lorie Ann Grover, 2010

Oh, Baby! Go, Baby! Dr. Seuss

With the close of the year and the hope of the new, I thought Oh, Baby! Go, Baby! was a perfect pick for your totz. Based on Dr. Seuss's Oh, the Place You'll Go, here's a great interactive format with tot appeal.

Pull tabs move the baby along, a turning circle whirls you into a Seussical landscape, while foil and fur add tactile experience. The images deliver all you expect from Dr. Seuss.

I particularly like the chosen text which is encouraging, but it still pauses and reveals there will be times when you don't reach those high heights. However, then you can try once more and maybe attain with joy. "Baby, you'll move mountains!"

Read this fun work with your totz. Show them their mountain is waiting. Cheer them on into the new year!

Oh, Baby! Go, Baby!
Random House, 2010

Photo Friday: Find the Beauty!

Warm holiday wishes to all our totz and parents! May you find the beauty around you. Like the simple beauty of birds. xox Lorie Ann and Joan

The Robot Book: Heather Brown

I like The Robot Book! I especially enjoy this novelty book's many gears and movable parts. It's steampunk for totz. It's very sturdy and will stand up to lots of use. And as you'll see when you hit the last page--it has heart (with gears).

The Robot Book
Created by Heather Brown
Accord Publishing, 2010

Poetry Friday: Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel

 

Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel

I have a little dreidel

I made it out of clay

And when it's dry and ready

Then dreidel I shall play! 

Oh - dreidel, dreidel, dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play! 

It has a lovely body
With legs so short and thin
And when my dreidel's tired
It drops and then I win! 

Oh - dreidel, dreidel, dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play! 

My dreidel's always playful
It loves to dance and spin
A happy game of dreidel
Come play now, let's begin!

Oh - dreidel, dreidel, dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play!

Happy Poetry Friday and Happy Hanukkah, totz! 

I Like Fruit:: Lorena Siminovich

My feature this week is I Like Fruit by Lorena Siminovich. I'm so impressed by the Candlewick division Templar Books. Every work is such a beautiful piece of art.

Open this touch-and-feel book and explore both color and fruit. Whether it be a red strawberry, raspberry, and cherry, or the orange cantaloupe, peach, and orange, your totz will be delighted with the colorful array and love tapping the textures.

All the images are created with interesting, delicate collage. The left spread is divided into four panels illustrating three fruits and the color featured. The right spread is one whole fruit, cut open to illustrate the inside and outside. The fruit skin is often depicted with three collage print changes, yet the entire image is successful as a whole.

Find this delightful work with your totz and then pass the fruit!

I Like Fruit
by Lorena Simminovich
Templar Books, 2010

Poetry Friday: Christmas is Coming

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat,
Please to put a penny in an old man's hat;
If you haven't got a penny a ha'penny will do,
If you haven't got a ha'penny, God bless you.

Oh, my. Poor geese! Happy Poetry Friday!