Review: SILLY LILLY AND THE FOUR SEASONS by Agnes Rosenstiehl

SILLY LILLY AND THE FOUR SEASONS is a cute little book that follows Lilly through the seasons.

The book begins with Spring and Lilly going to the park where she plays with her teddy bear. The text talks about how she likes to dance, jump, nap and play.

Summer has Lilly at the beach. She's standing in the water and noting the creatures around her. As you can see from the sample pages below there's some humor in the story.  In this case, one of the little shells proves to be inhabited.

Fall finds Lilly appreciating a basket of apples. She points out that they come in different colors, and then she eats one.

And children will find Lilly busy in Winter snow. Her teddy bear  is back and the target of snowballs. And it's actually pretty humorous as the bear's expression changes from one scene to another.  First happy. Then sort of annoyed.

To complete the cycle, Lilly is back at Spring, swinging at the park. I think this helps children to grasp the cyclical rotation of the seasons.

SILLY LILLY AND THE FOUR SEASONS is a very nice practice reader for young children. The text is still large, but the format is different --like a comic-- which I think is a nice change of pace for kids. Besides practicing reading, children will get some reinforcement of what they know about the four seasons. There's no heavy science, but Lilly is shown in season appropriate garb doing seasonally appropriate activities. So that is nice.

Pam~
 

Silly Lilly And The Four Seasons
(Toon Books)
by Agnes Rosenstiehl

**Starred Review** PublishersWeekly   
3.14 avg rating — 116 ratings

Reading Information:
Word Count: 223
Page Count:  36
Accelerated Reader: 0.8 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 121606
Lexile: BR
--sample pages available

You can find more sample pages for SILLY LILLY AND THE FOUR SEASONS and other books about Spring at the Kindergarten reading level here.

Review: NEST by Jorey Hurley

4.11 STARS from 56 GoodReaders

NEST is a wonderful book to share with younger children. With only one word for every set of pages, a year in the life of a pair of robins is told through the art.

The book begins with with one of the parents flying with a twig.  (This page is facing the Title Page.) The next image is of mom and dad and a single blue egg.  From there we get to see rain falling on a protective parent sitting on Junior, and then Junior having hatched, being fed, and then discovering the wide world around him/her.

click on the image - most browsers will make it BIG

I really enjoyed the clean, easy lines of Jorey's artwork.  And the story is easy for adults or children to understand and tell to other.  You can find additional sample images here.

Pam~


NEST
by Jorey Hurley

Reading Information:
Page Count:
no reading information currently available

I Can Read About Fall! The 3 Easiest Practice Readers

Here are the three easiest Fall-themed books I could locate. For something different there is one book that focuses on Math! The others feature cute little animals preparing for cold weather.

Notes:
(star ratings quoted as of 10.28.2011)
(AR numbers come from outside sources and are subject to errors. Look at the text samples to make up you own mind as to appropriateness.)


The Busy Little Squirrel
by Nancy Tafuri

In this pre-primer, you'll find a story about Squirrel who needs to get ready for winter. Being a busy little fellow he has no time to hop or run with frogs, dogs, and mice. No, he must get ready for when temperatures drop and the snow falls!

Leaves were falling.
The air was getting cold.

It was time for Squirrel
to get ready for winter.

"Squeak, squeak," said Mouse.
"Will you nibble a pumpkin with us?"

But Squirrel couldn't...
He was so busy!

"He was so busy!" is the common refrain, and it's repeated throughout the book until the very end when Squirrel can't participate because he is 'fast asleep!'

Warm, cheerful drawings by one of our favorite author-artists makes it easy for me to recommend this book. [Click on the picture below and most browsers will make it larger.]

Average Ratings:
GoodReads -- 98 reviewers, 3.78
Amazon -- 3 reviewers, 5.0

Reading Information:
Word Count: 128
Hardcover: 32 pages
Accelerated Reading level: 0.9 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 118900

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
  
• ISBN-10: 0689873417
• amazon (look inside available)
  

Zero is The Leaves On The Tree
by Betsy Franco, Shino Arihara (Illus.)

**STARRED Review** Kirkus

This little 'concept' book focuses on that magic number, Zero. It ties in with our Fall motif because several of the pages deal with cool weather themes like zero leaves on the trees.

One project Teachers and Parents might want to try is to have a count down from 10-to-0 using a felt tree with fall colored leaves that can be removed.

"Zero is...
the ducks on the pond when
the air says winter is coming.

0 ducks

Average Ratings:
GoodReads -- 57 reviewers, 3.77
Amazon -- 5 reviewers, 5.0

Reading Information:
Reading Level:generic 1
Hardcover: 30 pages

• Publisher: Tricycle Press
• ISBN-10: 1582462496
• amazon (look inside available)

Mouse's First Fall
by Lauren Thompson
Buket Erdogan (illus.)

Mouse's First Fall is a cute book that has large font and short sentences. Some of the most difficult words include: tumbling, twirling, around, orange, shape, pointy, smooth, skinny, skipped, swished, kicked, through, peeked, poked, peered and popped.

Text from a sample page follows, and there's also an excerpt (below) that shows more text and some of Erdogan's attractive artwork:

Mouse ran and skipped
and kicked and swished
through all the leaves.
Fun!

All-in-all, this is a book that evokes the season of fall, and Mouse and Minka (a larger rodent) point out all the colors leaves come in -- red, yellow, orange, and brown -- as well as the fact that leaves come in different shapes.

Average Ratings:
GoodReads -- 68 reviewers, 3.68
Amazon -- 4 reviewers, 5.0

Reading Information:
Reading Level: generic 1
Hardcover: 32 pages

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
  
• ISBN-10: 068985837X
• amazon

compiled by Pam


You might also like:

• Fall and The Science of Fall Leaves!

One Fall project we particularly liked was making a 'leaf journal'. This project is simple and consists of pasting fall leaves of different colors and shapes on the paper of choice. You can also do leaf rubbings and add sparkles for that special touch.

Two Discoveries and One Favorite - Shantastic!

So you know by now I tend to go through the library shelves regularly and I often have things fall in my lap. Two new discoveries tickled my fancy this past week: Waiting for Winter by Sebastian Meschenmoser and Henry’s Night by D.B. Johnson and Linda Michelin. In addition to that there is a favorite read aloud I thought I’d mention. Love and Roast Chicken retold by Barbara Knutson.

Why on earth am I talking about a book called Waiting for Winter at the onset of Spring? C’mon, we’re sick of winter, nobody’s excited about snow or cold anymore—least of all me! Well, I’m writing about it because I’m afraid if I don’t I’ll forget to in the upcoming year, and I really think it’s worth sharing with folks.