Tuesday, August 18, 2015

A pair of bear books

Arbordale Publishing could easily be added to our Brain Boosting Books series of books for kiddos age 4-8'ish. The books are bright, eye catching, very detailed for the kids & there are oodles of teacher's helps on the ArbordalePublishing.com website in their Creative Minds, Teaching Activities and Reading & Math Quizzes. To see other books they have available go to their website, click on "Store" and then on the right sidebar there is a list of available resources as well as a preview for each book. You can purchase the book directly from Arbordale by clicking on the title of the book or on Amazon by clicking on the type of book. The Spanish books are available on Arbordales website.

On to 2 wonderful Bear Books - Gianna's favorites!


by Terry Pierce
ISBN: 978-1934359280
$15.26 (hardback)
$8.95 (paperback)
$9.95 (Spanish paperback on ArbordalePublishing.com)
$8.95 (Kindle)

About the book:
Mmm-mm! Forest animals squeak, tweet, slurp, yip and chomp over the sweet, plump fruit of a wild blackberry bush. But what happens when a bear arrives to take part in the feast? Young children will enjoy following the story by making the animal sounds, and the chaos that strikes upon the bear's arrival will surely bring on the laughter. The cumulative, rhyming text makes for a great read-aloud.

My thoughts:
This fun book will catch your littlest preschooler/toddler's attention when you pull it out. It's illustrated in a colored pencil style that makes the animals attractive to littles and makes them seem alive. Each page is a big double page spread with text on one side. The text on most of the pages is 2 lines and then the sounds the animals make as they eat starts in.... Slurp! Mmm-mm; Tweet! Mmm-mm; Squeak! Mmm-mm – my two younger kiddos joined in with the sounds as I read and Gianna had to examine the animals and when she saw a bear she had to keep hitting the bear until I made the appropriate sounds of awe. One thing I did like as I read was that the animals weren't named. I don't usually mind but when you are trying to teach a toddler animal names and sounds naming them it sometimes confuses them I think.

Animals featured in this book are the black bear, bluebird, deer, fox, mouse, squirrel, then continue on to explore animal relationships further with the following topics: Blackberry Fun Facts, How we eat blackberries (with smoothie recipe), Plants are at the bottom of the food chain, Plants and animals, How do animals help plants?, Are plants always good?. You can go online to arbordalepublishing.com and download another 15-30 pages of activities.

Details:
Age 4-8, 32 pages, available in English/Spanish & ebook/auto-flip pages w/ audio formats
Reading Level Aligned: Accelerated reader: 1.3, Flesch-Kincaid: 3.2, Lexile: 680 NC, Fountas & Pinnell: K

About the author: Terry Pierce is the author of 16 children's books, including picture books, easy readers, joke books & non-fiction. She was a Montessori pre-primary teacher for 22 years, before deciding to follow her dream of writing for children (what she calls, “the best mid life crises ever!”). Learn more at www.terrypiercebooks.com.


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a Compare and Contrast Book (a photo journal)
by Katharine Hall
ISBN: 9781628552096
$10.68 (hardcover)
$ 8.87 (paperback)
$ 8.87 (Kindle)

About the book:
What do polar bears and penguins have in common and how are they different? While they both live in polar climates, they live at opposite ends of the Earth. One is covered in fur (a mammal) and the other is covered in feathers (a bird). Compare and contrast these polar animals through stunning photographs.

My thoughts:
Polar Bears & Penguins has bright beautiful photographs throughout the entire book. The animals are pictured in detailed, close up views. Several pages also include a picture of the globe that points out where the penguins and the polar bears live as well as the various types of bears and penguins in the world. Your kids will see a black bear, giant panda bear, grizzly bear, sloth bear, sun bear and polar bear and they will also see the many different types of penguin such as the African, Emperor, Adelie, Rockhopper, Yellow-Eyed penguins and a Little penguin. A couple of these I personally had not heard of and often I'll comment “I didn't know that”!

Some of the words your kids will hear in this book are: colonies, habitat, Antarctic, Arctic, continents, Southern Hemisphere & Northern Hemisphere. They will also learn about the differences – bears have fur and birds have feathers, small groups vs groups of hundreds or thousands, winter and summer, darkness and sunshine.

Polar Bears and Penguins has the following activities for your families:
Found at the end of each book is a section called For Creative Minds where your kids can learn more about penguins and polar bears.  Polar animals can be very different as we learn in Polar Bears & Penguins. After comparing and contrasting these cold weather creatures, children are able to engage in learning activities that include: Seasons, Polar Bear True or False and Penguin Matching. This particular book's section is more information based instead of activity based & I feel the activities are for older kids. As always, you can go online to arbordalepublishing.com and download another 15-30 pages of activities.


Details:
Age 4-8, 32 pages, available in English/Spanish & ebook/auto-flip pages w/ audio formats
Reading Level Aligned: Accelerated reader: 3.3, Flesch-Kincaid: 3.2, Lexile: 670L, Fountas & Pinnell: N


Awards: Outstanding Science Trade Book; International Literacy Association ILA Literacy Excellence Children's and Young Adults Book Award; Science Books and Films Best Books of 2014 in Zoological Sciences

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Disclaimer: I received this book from Arbordale Publishing in exchange for my honest review. Regardless I only recommend products or services I have personally read or used & think my readers will enjoy.

4 comments:

  1. The polar bear would be a hit with my grandkids. Thanks for sharing on the Kid Lit Blog Hop!

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  2. My kids would love the black bear one - sounds fun! And the polar bear looks nice too. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. These books look awesome. They caught my eye because I love bears. My son would love them as he shares not only my love of bears but my love of reading. . Thanks for sharingđź’– dachshundlady@comcast.net.

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  4. Sounds like both of these books would be engaging for young children. Thanks for sharing in the Kid Lit Blog Hop!

    ReplyDelete

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