TOON Books offers some of the liveliest picture books out there.
Benjamin Bear in Bright Ideas by Philippe Coudray is just one of the colorful comic style books put out by TOON. Each page is divided into several panels and tells a complete story. Watch above to see how easily the stories can fit in with Common Core standards. (Warning: Since this video is "educational", the presentation is much more static than the book.)
Benjamin's adventures are sometimes funny, sometimes head-scratching, but all delightfully illustrated with a slightly retro vibe. The stories are designed for early readers and budding logicians ages 4 and up.
Charm new words right out of your child with two clever readers and a picture book to spur them on.
Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking (Level 2), written and illustrated by Philippe Coudray,
Toon Books, $12.95, ages 4-8, 32 pages. In this adorable book of comic gags, a loopy bear looks at life from the far side. Benjamin Bear, a brown bear with a cute, saggy body, has an offbeat approach to problem-solving and is so comfortable in his own fur that he endears readers right away. In one strip, Benjamin is too nervous take a glider off a cliff so he promptly solves the problem by having a dog chase him off of it. In another, Benjamin happens upon a sliver of moon in the park and assumes that he must be hungry since he's skinny. So, he offers him fruit to make him
full. Here and there, a rabbit friend hops into a comic to bounce his humor off of or to keep him company. Every page is a new cartoon with four to seven panels. Some panels have conversation bubbles with short sentences and sound words; others are wordless, allowing for fast comprehension. Other great readers from the Toon library: Theodor Seuss Geisel Award winner
The Big Non-NO by Geoffrey Hayes and the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor book Little Mouse by Jeff Smith.
Should I Share My Ice Cream? (An Elephant and Piggie book), written and illustrated by Mo Willems,
Hyperion, $8.99, ages 4-8, 64 pages. Elephant is giddy with anticipation because he just bought himself an ice cream cone from a sidewalk vendor. But now that he's realized that he didn't get any ice cream for his best friend Piggie, he's stumped about what to do. Should he share his "awesome, yummy, sweet, super, great, tasty, nice, cool" cone with Piggie? Hmm, that's a tough one, especially now that Elephant is ogling it and looping his trunk around the cone like a snug scarf. There are, after all, some really good reasons for not sharing, he tells himself, trying to sound convincing. Like the possibility that Piggie won't like this flavor and the fact that Piggie isn't even there right now! But just as Elephant is about dive in and eat it, tender thoughts of his friend sneak up on him and he freezes: Suppose Piggie is somewhere all alone feeling sad? OK, now Elephant just has to find her and give her some of his ice cream. But has he waited too long? Fifteen books into the series and Elephant and Piggie are as irresistible as ever. Coming Oct. 4:
Happy Pig Day!
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