Month: June 2015

What we’ve been reading this week

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Since it is now summer time here in the Pacific Northwest, I thought I would share some of the things we are reading each week.  I also would encourage you lovely readers to tell me about what you’re reading too.  I love it when people send me links to interesting articles or links for new books that are coming out, it honestly makes my day.  So please, share what you’re reading with your petites on The Petite Stag face book page.  Also, if you love one of these books too, tell me about it.

Here is a snippet of what we are reading this week:

Claude in the City by Alex T. Smith 2011, copyright Peachtree Publishing.  This book is part of a series of delightful books, there are five in total right now.  These books are so much fun, Claude has a very best friend Sir Bobblysock and they go on all sorts of adventures.  Sometimes inadvertently saving the day.  This young reader chapter book is perfect for both boys and girls and its silly humor will even have parents giggling at story time.  Thanks to Lindsay, for introducing us to Claude, we are fast friends.

We love whales in this house, a lot.  So when the petite saw, The Blue Whale by Jenni Desmond copyright 2015 Enchanted Lion Books, we knew this one was clearly going in our overflowing book bag.  Although the petite was drawn to the enchanting cover, this book is more geared toward pre-k and up.  It has really interesting facts about blue whales and delightful illustrations that make reading this books so enjoyable.  What I love the most about this book is that it starts with intrigue and a little one who started to read a book.  I am sure if your petite loves whales or learning interesting facts you will thoroughly enjoy.
If: A Mind Bending New Way of Looking at Big Ideas and Numbers by David J. Smith with art by Steve Adams copyright 2014 Kids Can Press.  This is a really fun book, perfect for petites who crave knowledge.  For example you will learn about the events of the last 3000 years of history as if they were condensed into one month.  You will learn about inventions, continents, water, money, species of living things, population, food and more.  This is a perfect book for 2nd grade through middle school.  However, with some explaining I was to share it with my petite who will be a first grader next year.  This book would also be perfect for any teachers classroom library.
Who isn’t a fan of a crow in a scarf and matching sweater?  Counting Crows by Kathi Appelt with art by Rob Dunlavey copyright 2015, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, will delight your tiny mathematicians.  The sweater wearing crows go about their day but in a counting way.  This book is perfect for toddlers through pre-k.  Also perfect for beginning readers to read to their younger siblings.

Water is Water, by Miranda Paul with art by Jason Chin copyright 2015 Roaring Brook Press is gorgeously illustrated.  In this book your petite will learn all about the water cycle and what that looks like with lovely rhythmic language that just rolls off of your tongue.  This book is really fun to read.  If your petite is enjoying some time this summer in a lake or happens to get caught in summer rains you will want to check this one our right away and take the opportunity to learn more about the water cycle.

Now it’s your turn, tell me what you are reading this week?  Please share with us at The Petite Stag on Facebook.

Happy summer reading!

Erin

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Little Kunoichi The Ninja Girl

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photo A few weeks ago we happened upon Little Kunoichi, The Ninja Girl written and illustrated by Sanae Ishida copyright 2015 Sasquatch Books.  This book features a determined young ninja named Little Kunoichi who, at first struggles at school, thinking it is too hard, she sneaks away to her hideaway and cries about how it is hard. This strikes a chord with me, because my petite struggles in school.  I’ve mentioned before that she has epilepsy and this causes challenges for her in class, and she often times comes home feeling very sad that she wasn’t able to focus or do her best work.  This is something that as a parent is heart wrenching to watch.  The reason I wanted to share this is that, Little Kunoichi is a book she can relate to.  Through reading this book she made a connection to Little Kunoichi. What is so remarkable is that Little Kunoichi finds a friend, Chibi Samurai, he too struggles at school, but together they work really hard and practice and practice and then practice some more.  What the darling duo finds is that to find success they need to persevere and shugyo (train like crazy). This book will become a fast favorite among your petites for many reasons.  First, the story is gorgeously illustrated, my daughters love looking through the pages and seeking out new things within the very detail illustrations.  Another reason that my girls love this book is because Little Kunoichi and Chibi Samurai are exceptionally relatable – they struggle, are innovative, creative, fast friends and best of all they are hard workers and their shugyo style mentality leads them to success. I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention that this book, according to my five year old, smells amazing!  So if you have a petite who likes the smell of books, then this is yet another reason this book is amazing. Read more about the amazing author Sanae Ishida in an interview here with Sasquatch Books.  Here is another interview with NW Books, where Ishida tells us about some of her favorite books, you’ll want to check out her book recommendations they are fantastic.

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A Princess, A Sonic Socket Wrench and a Whole Lot of Ingenuity

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A few weeks ago I went to a bookshop I’ve never been to before and they had these most amazing displays of books.  Within this amazing wall of books, all of which I need to just magically appear on my bookshelves, was Interstellar Cinderella.  Interstellar Cinderella by Deborah Underwood with illustrations by Meg Hunt copyright 2015 Chronicle Books.

As the mom of two small girls, I know how important it is to have lots of books around, but more so to have books that feature strong female characters.  Characters that show gumption, ingenuity and curiosity about a myriad of topics.  I love these books, they are treasures and books I want to surround my girls with – Interstellar Cinderella is just this type of book.

This book is a play on the traditional Cinderella, but with an updated twist, this Cinderella dreams of fixing rockets and her wicked stepsisters are going to The Prince’s Royal Space Parade and not a ball.  Cinderella also has a lovely fairy godrobot that is illustrated to perfection.  There are many similarities that will have you thinking about the traditional Cinderella, but the part that I love the absolute best is that it is this Cinderella can fix her own problems, she doesn’t need a prince to help her do it, and she knows what she wants.  The ending is one that makes you want to applaud.  Instead of the book ending with a marriage and a carriage, Interstellar Cinderella ends with her turning down a proposal and offering one of her own!

This book is perfect for everyone, however, if you have a daughter, niece or granddaughter this is a book you will want to add to their shelves.  The illustrations are wonderful and the message is so needed.  I hope that this author illustrator duo have something else in the works, because this book is perfection.

If you like this book you might also like Rosie Revere Engineer, read more here.

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Beachy Reads for Petites

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This last week we enjoyed some incredibly warm Seattle weather.  We ended up spending some time at the beach and the lake getting some freckles on our noses.  Of course when we were packing up my girls grabbed books.  I wanted to share these two fantastic beach reads with you.

Sea Rex

Sea Rex written and illustrated by Molly Idle copyright 2015 Viking.  Is a book I have been waiting to read for months.  I love Molly Idle’s art, she is so incredibly talented and this book is just yet another example of her stunning vision.  This book will have your petites giggling and planning their next picnic at the beach in no time.  This is the story of Tea Rex and his family who are on a picnic at the beach, my girls loved that this story included the steps you need to do at the beach, including gathering your friends, using sunscreen, collecting shells and of course a picnic.  What the petite loved the most about this book is a text to self connection that she made when the seagulls steal their picnic basket; she was so excited because we had an incident last summer, that made a huge impression, where some crows ate our entire picnic lunch while we were playing the water. We love that Tea Rex is so versatile in his activities, whether it is a tea party, a camping trip or a day at the beach.  This book will delight even the tiniest of petites with its vibrant illustrations.

  Chu's Day at the Beach

Chu’s Day at the Beach written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Adam Rex copyright 2015 Harper Collins.  Let me just start by saying I love anything written by Neil Gaiman and that statement applies to the Chu books as well.  My girls love Chu and this book certainly did not disappoint.  Chu is an adorable panda who goes to the beach with his family for a fun day in the sun.  Unfortunately, he has a really disastrous sneeze.  What happens next are quite a few really silly things that had my girls fake sneezing as well as trying to predict how Chu could fix the problems.  The illustrations of all of the beach goers are so beautiful, my almost two year old loved looking at all of the different animals and especially the merpandas.  I am sure your petites will enjoy these wonderfully written and stunningly illustrated beach reads.

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Now I need your help, what are some of your favorite beach reads for petites?  Tell me in the comments below.

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