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Hot New Releases & Popular Kids Stories We think our list of the best new kids books for October is sensational! It highlights some amazing books from many different genres: non-fiction, reality fiction, and fantasy. Take a gander and let us know which titles and covers catch your eye ... Read the rest of this post

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This month our best selling picture book from our affiliate store remains the same. It's the gorgeously illustrated Sleep Like a Tiger, written by Mary Lougue and pictures by Pamela Zagarenski.

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This month our best selling picture book from our affiliate store is the gorgeously illustrated Sleep Like a Tiger, written by Mary Lougue and pictures by Pamela Zagarenski.

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Happy Friday Everyone!!!

Guess what?

Next week is the 100th Perfect Picture Book Week!

Can you believe it?

We should probably have a party.

Except...

Next Friday - only one week from right this very second - the day of the 100th Perfect Picture Book post - is when I leave for the SCBWI conference I'm teaching at.

Teaching GROWNUPS!  IN REAL LIFE not online!

(Can you say petrified? :))

I am finishing the pile of critiques.  I am trying to prepare my workshop in a way that will hopefully sound coherent and give the participants a fun and meaningful experience.  I'm also winding up my May online class and starting my June one.  My children are arriving home from college which necessitates driving to pick up, loading and unloading cars, masses of laundry, and packing things away for the summer.  Oh, and I'm babysitting for my granddaughters on Sunday and in charge of the barn chores until my friend gets back from her mini break.  All good things in every way, but I'm feeling a little like I just don't have enough time in the day!

So I'm not sure if I'm going to manage to plan a party.

And you will also have to (please!) forgive me for recycling a Perfect Picture Book today!

I don't feel bad too about it, though, because this book is one of my all-time favorites.  I use it as an example of beautiful language in my class, and if you haven't had a chance to read it you're truly missing out.  Get thee to the library right quick!

Red Sings From Treetops: A Year In Colors
Written By: Joyce Sidman
Illustrated By: Pamela Zagarenski
Houghton Mifflin Books For Children, April 2009, Fiction

Suitable For: ages 5 and up

Themes: Colors, Seasons, Poetry

Opening:
"In SPRING,
Red sings from treetops:
cheer-cheer-cheer,
each note dropping
like a cherry
into my ear.

Red turns
the maples feathery,
sprouts in rhubarb spears;
Red squirms on the road after rain."

(Don't you just love that?  Can't you just hear that cardinal singing and see the worms wiggling on the pavement?)

Brief Synopsis:  From the jacket: "Color comes alive in this whimsical, innovative book."  That pretty much sums it up!

Links To Resources: Junior Library Guild Activity Guide, Poem Starters, Readers Guide

Why I Like This Book:  I love the lyrical language of this book.  The author was so creative in her thinking - the way she describes the colors makes you see, feel, hear, touch, and taste Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.  The art is exquisite and perfectly suited to the poetry.  How can you not love lines like,
"Green waits
in the hearts of trees,
feeling
the earth
turn."

I hope you'll get a chance to read this book, linger over the language, enjoy the images it evokes, maybe challenge yourself or your children to come up with your own descriptions!

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

I want to take this opportunity to let you all know that PPBF will be going on hiatus for the summer as usual.  I am open to popular opinion as to whether next Friday (June 6) or the following Friday (June 13) will be the last day.  As I said, I will not be here next Friday.  Princess Blue Kitty (my car for those of you who don't know her) and I will be on the road to the aforementioned SCBWI conference.  But y'all can carry on and I'll catch up after the weekend.  Assuming I survive :)  Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments.  As for a party, I guess we could maybe have it a week late...???

PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come see what delights you have in store for us this week!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! :)

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photo by mandj98 www.flickr.com

*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders
*Rating: Red Sings from Treetops is a beautiful picture book that explores the seasons and the colors in them.

Short, short summary: If you are looking for a new book to teach colors or seasons, then Red Sings from Treetops might be just what you are looking for. Joyce Sidman, an award-winning poet, starts with spring and the color red in spring–from the buds and cardinals to the red worms after rain. She goes onto summer where “white clinks in drinks” and “yellow melts everything it touches.” Fall comes next, of course, and this time, “yellow grows wheels” because the bus is taking the children to school. And finally, the picture book ends in winter and with red and the cardinals again. It is a circle story.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. You can ask students to focus only on the colors when you read this book if that is the objective that you are teaching. You can even assign a certain color to certain children, and ask them to be able to tell you objects from the book that are that color when you are finished reading. The fun thing about this book is that sometimes Joyce Sidman does not just come out and tell you what objects she is talking about. For example, the first page of summer says, “White clinks in drinks.” She is talking about ice, but students would have to use the illustrations and their listening skills to figure that out. You can do a shared writing when you are finished reading. Students can tell you things in the book that are red or blue or so on, and then you can add items from your room to the color lists also.

2. Children who are learning the seasons will also benefit from this book. You can ask students to draw pictures of their favorite season and write a sentence about it. They can base their illustrations on the illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski, which are lovely and full of color!

3. One of the 6 traits of writing is word choice. This book is an excellent study in word choice. Joyce Sidman is a master at language and the text sings to the readers. Ask students to pick out some of their favorite phrases and sentences, and discuss why they like these word choices.

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