Children will identify with Splat the cat’s quest for Christmas presents in the animated version of Rob Scotton’s Merry Christmas, Splat. Be sure to check out this starred review.
Pick of the Day: Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site (DVD)
By on March 14, 2013 Leave a Comment
Sherri Duskey Rinker’s story, Goodnight , Goodnight, Construction Site, about the machinery at a construction site winding down for the night, makes the most of every crunch, roar, and snore in the author’s rhyming text in DVD and audio formats. Check out the starred review.
Pick of the Day: Sky Color (DVD)
By on March 5, 2013 Leave a Comment
The starred DVD version of Peter H. Reynold’s picture book, Sky Color , celebrates art and the power of creative thinking and is a wonderful prelude to a class art project.
Fusenews: Hidey-holes
By on March 5, 2013
Tra la! It’s May! The lusty month of May! The time that . . . . what? It’s March? Seriously? Forget it then. I’m going back in my hidey-hole. Call me when it’s May. But before I go, here’s a swath of delicious Fusenews. Good for what ails ye. First off, a gem. I got [...]
Pick of the Day: Hi! Fly Guy (DVD)
By on February 8, 2013 Leave a Comment
Hi! Fly Guy. DVD. 7 min. Weston Woods. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-47807-6. $59.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-545-47823-6: $29.95; CD with paperback book, ISBN 978-0-545-47822-9: $18.95; CD, ISBN 978-0-545-47806-9: $12.95.
PreS-Gr 2–Fly Guy’s adventures begin with Tedd Arnold’s Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor Book (Cartwheel, 2005), and the sweet series for beginning readers soars to new heights with this outstanding DVD version. Buzz is looking for a smart pet to take to the Amazing Pet Show, and finds one talented fly for [...]
Pick of the Day: Show Way (DVD)
By on February 1, 2013 Leave a Comment
Show Way. DVD. 12 min. Weston Woods. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-47811-3. 59.95. CD, ISBN 978-0-545-47810-6: $12.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0545-47827-4: $29.95.
Gr 2-5–A Show Way was a quilt that had messages stitched into it showing the family’s journey North to freedom, offering hope and a guide for slaves in the South. That theme of “leading the way” is a thread running through Jacqueline Woodson’s carefully woven story (Putnam, 2005). Soonie’s great-grandma was only a child when she was sold away [...]
Pick of the Day: Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion (DVD)
By on October 9, 2012 Leave a Comment
Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion. DVD. 13 min. with tchr’s. guide. Weston Woods. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-044753-9. $59.95; CD, ISBN 978-0-545-044758-4: $12.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-545-44810-9: $29.95.
PreS-Gr 1–Mo Willems’s conclusion (Balzer + Bray, 2012) to his Knuffle Bunny trilogy begins with a photographic sequence of Trixie’s growth from previous books and closes with a similar sequence chronicling Trixie’s journey of maturation. Trixie and her family take a plane to visit her grandparents, Oma and Opa, in Holland. When [...]
Pick of the Day: Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct (DVD)
By on October 2, 2012 Leave a Comment
Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct. DVD. 7 min. Weston Woods. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-37414-9. $59.59; CD: ISBN 978-0-545-37498-9: $ 12.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-545-44813-0: $29.95.
PreS-Gr 2–Edwina the dinosaur helps out in her community, bakes chocolate-chip cookies, and everyone loves her, except for Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie, the class know-it-all, who is positive that dinosaurs are extinct. When Reginald makes it his mission to force the townspeople to accept that fact, no one bothers to listen to [...]
Pick of the Day: A Sick Day for Amos McGee (DVD)
By on September 7, 2012 Leave a Comment
A Sick Day for Amos McGee. DVD. 9 min. Weston Woods. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-44751-5. $59.95; CD, ISBN 978-0-545-44756-0: $12.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-545-44809-3: $29.95.
PreS-Gr 1–When Amos McGee wakes up feeling under the weather and stays home from work, his animal friends at the zoo board the bus to pay Amos a visit. They spend the day cheering Amos up by playing quiet games, caring for his every need, and reading him a bedtime story so he won’t be [...]
Pick of the Day: The Red Hen (DVD)
By on August 10, 2012 Leave a Comment
The Red Hen. DVD. 7 min. Weston Woods. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-44755-3. $59.95; CD, ISBN 978-0-545-44760-7: $12.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-545-44812-3: $29.95.
PreS-Gr 3–In Rebecca and Ed Emberley’s wacky, modern take on the classic tale, hen finds a wonderful recipe rather than some seeds to plant and harvest. She first gathers the ingredients, then mixes, bakes, ices, and decorates her “simply splendid cake”—a three-tiered orange, purple, and red masterpiece with flourishes and stars. At each step, she asks her friends [...]
Pick of the Day: The Other Side (DVD)
By on August 7, 2012 Leave a Comment
The Other Side. DVD. 8 min. Weston Woods. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-44754-6. $59.95; CD, ISBN 978-0-545-44759-1: $12.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-545-44811-6: $29.95.
K-Gr 4–Clover, an African-American girl, lives on one side of the fence. Annie, a white girl, lives on the other side. Set during segregation, this story shows how the fence divides them. Yet, each is intrigued by the other and both are drawn to test those artificial boundaries that separate and classify. Jacqueline Woodson’s deceptively simple, yet powerfully [...]
