Monday, April 23, 2012

By Jane O'Conner  Illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser



Fancy Nancy is a delightful story of a little girl who loves dressing up and being fancy in other ways too.  

Nancy uses fancy words in place of more plain or ordinary words for many things, this helps build vocabulary of the readers.  This book is absolutely enchanting.  (Enchanting is a fancy word for cute and fun)

Nancy learns that though being fancy is a lot of fun, her family is actually a lot more important to her.

This is the first book in a series of several picture books as well as some more in an easy reader format.   

Saturday, April 21, 2012

The Napping House

By Audrey Wood, Illustrated by Don Wood


One of my very favorite picture book authors, Audrey Wood, is at her best when teamed up with illustrator husband Don. This is one of their classics.

The predictable text helps even young children get involved with the story and participate along with the reader.

I love the illustrations! "In the napping house where everyone is sleeping" on a quiet rainy day the subtle cool tones of blues set the perfect peaceful mood. It almost lulls you to sleep too.

I also love how the illustration foreshadow the predictive, building, style of the written story. Soon there is a whole stack of sleeping people and animals as the rain continues outside. The serene expressions on their faces and relaxed body positions say it all. Who doesn't just adore curling up in a cozy bed and taking a nap on a peacefully rainy day.

Then along comes a flea that starts a chain reaction which changes the whole direction of the story. As each character wakes up the lighting in the room changes and by the time the granny is bumped by the child resulting in the breaking of the cozy bed. The rich vibrant yellows and looks of surprise that becomes ecstatic joy on their faces as they realize the sun is brightly shining brings delight to the reader as well!