The Reading Chair
Isabel Baker, MAT, MLS, is president of The Book Vine for
Children, a national company dedicated to getting good books into the hands of
preschool children and their teachers. Isabel has worked as a children's librarian and
is currently a presenter on early literacy and book selection.
Zoo Clues Animal Alphabet, by Alex Lluch. Illus. by David
Defenbaugh. 2005. San Diego, CA: Wedding Solutions. 54 pp. ISBN 1-887169-49-0. Ages birth
to 5.
This engaging alphabet board book presents easy-to-read uppercase and lowercase letters in the
same vibrant colors that Defenbaugh uses to paint 26 animals, one for each letter of the alphabet.
But with only one letter and a small part of an animal showing on every right-hand page (the rest
hides around the corner on the next panoramic spread), this book is a continual guessing game for
the curious. From the koala to the lion, the urial to the yak, this book is sometimes predictable and
sometimes challenging—a perfect balance for young readers.
Emily's Balloon, by Komako Sakai. 2006. San Francisco, CA:
Chronicle. 40 pp. ISBN 13 978-0-8118-5219-7. Ages 2 to 5.
In this lovely, understated story, a small child brings home a helium-filled balloon and makes
it her new friend. Toddlers will enjoy how Emily's thoughtful (and apparently single) mother weights the balloon
with a spoon, but that doesn't keep it from getting stuck in a tree. The challenge for Emily is going to sleep
alone in her bed, able only to gaze at the balloon through her window until morning, when her
mother will borrow a ladder and bring it down. In Sakai's tender, pencil-and-wash illustrations,
each page has an obvious focal point. Perfectly captured are the wonder of the balloon and the
longing and anxiety of toddlers in these simple bumps in the road.
Mama, by Jeanette Winter. 2006. New York: Harcourt. 32 pp. ISBN
13
978-0152-05495-3. Ages 2 to 5.
Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, by
Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu. Photographs by Peter Greste. 2006.
New York: Scholastic. 36 pp. ISBN 0-439-82973-9. Ages 5 and up.
These two books tell the same true story of a baby hippo who was separated from his mama
during the tsunami disaster in December 2004. In Winters' version of the story, Mama, rich and
powerful artwork accompanied by two repeated words of text—"Mama?" and "Baby!"—illustrates
the hippos' love for each other, their fear when separated, and the baby's adoption of his new
mama, a tortoise. Owen and Mzee, for an older audience, uses real photos and an intriguing
documentary style to explain how the baby hippo weathered traumatic events and eventually found
comfort in the close companionship of a 130-year-old giant tortoise. Told in two unique and
complementary ways, this is a remarkable and hopeful story of interconnectedness, reminding us that love
conquers all.
What Do Wheels Do All Day? by April Jones Prince. Illus. by Giles
Laroche. 2006. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. 32 pp. ISBN 13 978-0-618-56307-4. Ages 2 to
7.
Colorful cut-paper relief illustrations give dimension and movement to each page in this
inventive and upbeat new book. Its unusual strength lies in the variety of vehicles in the book, the
interesting verbs that Prince chooses—push, pull, pedal, tow, spit, sputter, parade, patrol—and the
way Laroche captures the wheels' power through the body language of characters on a merry-go-
round, a skateboard, and more. While the text is sometimes stiff, the illustrations make the reader
think beyond the most common uses for wheels.
Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly Pie, by Judy Sierra. Illus. by Edward
Koren. 2006. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 36 pages. ISBN 13-978-0-375-83218-5. Ages 4 to
8.
In a book that evokes "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," Sierra and Koren weave an
original story about a monster who makes a revolting pie topped with flies. Sierra's rich writing
and Koren's expressive scratchy line drawings—famously featured in his New Yorker cartoons and
adapted surprisingly well for this young audience—make a delightfully disgusting tale, greater
than the sum of its parts. The book is made in black-and-white with two exceptions: the printed
text and the flies' wings are a pleasing lime green. A great read-aloud book that ends with a
vegetarian twist.
Copyright © 2006 by the National Association for the Education
of Young Children. See
Permissions and Reprints online at www.journal.n
aeyc.org/about/permissions.asp.
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