Tag Archives: animals

Jun13

Fly Guy Presents Sharks by Tedd Arnold

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IMG_0513Fly Guy Presents Sharks by Tedd Arnold, paperback non-fiction reader, published by Scholastic Inc in 2013.

Fly Guy and Buzz head to the aquarium to learn about sharks in this informative reader. It contains plenty of photographs throughout the book, complementing the interesting factual text. And Fly Guy and Buzz are always there, leading the way to more knowledge on sharks.

Moving onto non-fiction titles can be a little scary as they often have longer and harder words, and are more complicated than their fictional counterparts. Using some well loved characters, such as Fly Guy and Buzz, is useful in piquing the interest of young readers, especially those that may be reluctant to try non-fiction. I was impressed with the simple and interesting layout and facts. There was enough factual information to sink your teeth into (sorry about that awful pun!) without it becoming overwhelming.

This book is aimed at lower primary school children as a reader, but I read it to my preschooler, and she really enjoyed it. She loves Fly Guy, so this book had appeal before we even opened it. My preschooler did learn some things about sharks, such as they breathe through gills and they don’t sleep, she was particularly impressed by the Great White Shark being able to smell blood from so far away. She told me she is glad she’s never met a shark! She also liked the comments that Buzz makes, and the picture of Fly Guy pretending to have shark teeth. Combining Fly Guy and such an engaging topic as sharks was a stroke of genius, and we look forward to reading more in the Fly Guy Presents series.

 

Jun11

Underpants, Thunderpants by Peter Bently and Deborah Melmon

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IMG_0508Underpants, Thunderpants by Peter Bently and illustrated by Deborah Melmon, paperback picture book, published by Parragon in 2011.

On a fine and sunny day, Dog hangs out his underpants to dry on the line. Then a thunderstorm whips up the wind, blowing the underpants right off the line and spreads them all around. They land in some interesting places, including in the jungle and the ocean, and one pair even gets blown right out into space.

At a time when my children are obsessed with toilet humour, this book was a good find. They think any story about underpants is funny, and this rhyming tale definitely tickled their funny bones! A perfect book for preschoolers, with a short story, large text and clear, colourful pictures. I like the octopus that gets four pairs of the undies, and no surprises,  my kids like it best when the hunter goes splat in the poop. I wasn’t quite ready for the book to end actually, it just felt like there should have been more, but maybe that was because my kids were laughing and I wanted to extend the experience! Underpants, Thunderpants is a fun book.

Jun11

The Pocket Dogs by Margaret Wild and Stephen Michael King

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IMG_0439The Pocket Dogs by Margaret Wild and illustrated by Stephen Michael King, paperback picture book, first published by Omnibus Books in 2000, this edition published by Omnibus Books in 2001.

Mr Pockets owns a big blue coat with two big pockets. His little dogs, Biff and Buff, ride in his coat pockets every day as he walks to the shops. A hole develops in Biff’s pocket, and it gets bigger and bigger until Biff falls right through it and is lost. Several people try to help Biff, but he runs away because he is Mr Pocket’s pocket dog and he just wants to be reunited with Mr Pockets and Buff.

This is a cute picture book that my kids really like, it is also popular at their school with the preschoolers and lower primary school children. The language is easy, the story interesting and the pictures are engaging. It shows that knowing who you are and feeling that you belong somewhere are important in life. Biff finds that he is a pocket dog and only a pocket dog, and he belongs with Mr Pockets and Buff, and that makes him happy. My preschooler likes to curl up in my lap to read this book together when she is tired. She likes Biff’s short adventure and his reunion with his best friends.

Jun10

The Bus to the Zoo by Mary Murphy and Josh Lee

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IMG_0441The Bus to the Zoo by Mary Murphy and illustrated by Josh Lee, paperback picture book, first published by Omnibus Books in 2009, this edition published by Omnibus Books in 2011.

The big blue bus is on its way to the zoo, picking up passengers at every stop along the way. The passengers waiting for this bus are a bit unusual though, there are seagulls in school ties, a donkey with earrings, a goose in a party hat, and many other animals. The bus driver is a penguin, and she wants the passengers to keep moving down the bus to make room for more and more passengers, but it’s getting pretty crowded, and it’s looking very chaotic. Who is the last passenger to get on the bus?

The bus to the zoo is also the bus carrying the zoo, a bit of a Noah’s ark on wheels. It quickly becomes packed with an assortment of interesting creatures. While the story is fun, and it rhymes, it is the illustrations that make this book so engaging. My preschooler loves to study the pictures, finding different animals, and strange things that the animals are wearing or holding, such as the monkey’s camera, or the toad’s snow globe. When we read this book together we like to try to name and count as many of the animals as we can. This is a great book for sharing with preschoolers, and for independent reading for lower primary school children.

Jun10

Pete the Sheep by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley

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IMG_0443Pete the Sheep by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley, paperback picture book, published by HarperCollinsPublishers in 2004.

Shaun is a shearer, and Pete is his pet sheep. Pete helps Shaun in the shearing shed. The other shearers have sheepdogs to help them, but when Shaun and Pete come along, suddenly all the sheep want to see Shaun. The shearers kick Shaun and Pete out of the shearing shed. Shaun doesn’t know what to do then, as shearing is his life, but Pete has an idea to start a Sheep Salon for funky sheep-cuts.

This is a very Australian book, and we love it. The illustrations are amusing, and we love the special hair cuts the sheep get. The story is fun and different with simple language. Until I’d read this book I’d never thought about sheep (or other animals) getting such unique hair cuts. And it has a happy and inclusive ending, where everything works out just right, which is important to my kids, they like their books to end well.  My preschooler particularly likes that when Pete says “Baaaaa!” he’s actually talking to the other sheep, but Shaun can understand him too. Suitable for young children such as preschoolers and lower primary school children, we like to read this book together.

Jun9

At the End of the Rainbow by A H Benjamin and John Bendall-Brunello

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IMG_0428At the End of the Rainbow by A H Benjamin and John Bendall-Brunello, paperback picture book, published by Little Tiger Press in 2004.

Badger and Fox see a rainbow in the sky and try to follow it to find the treasure at the end of the rainbow. Along the way they meet some animals, all with a different idea as to what constitutes treasure, and it isn’t gold or jewels. Badger and Fox discover that friendship is a far greater treasure than any material goods could ever be.

This gentle story about friendship and what is really important in life is a very nice picture book for sharing with young children from preschool age. I particularly like Old Hare with his half-spectacles, and his wisdom. Both my children like this book, and it has been read many times in our house. When my eldest daughter was three she even took this book to playschool to show for news because she liked it so much. She said it makes her feel happy.

 

 

Jun4

There Was an Old Bloke Who Swallowed a Chook by P. Crumble and Louis Shea

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IMG_0169There Was an Old Bloke Who Swallowed a Chook by P. Crumble and Louis Shea, paperback picture book, published by Scholastic Australia in 2011.

P. Crumble and Louis Shea have created another Aussie twist on the tale of the Old Lady who swallowed the fly. This time it is an Old Bloke, and he’s swallowed a chook! And a galah and a possum and a number of other Australian animals, until he swallows his ute.

This is a funny book great for pre-schoolers and lower primary school children. The story is simple, fun and repetitive, and very appealing for kids. The illustrations are fantastic too, making both myself and my children laugh. My preschooler likes the chook that is knitting while sitting on her eggs, the mole that is using a map, and the dinosaur skeletons that were preserved mid-chase. I like the illustration of the bloke on the front cover with the chicken leg sticking out of his mouth. This is also a great book to share.

 

Jun3

Sheep on a Beach by P. Crumble and Danielle McDonald

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IMG_0167Sheep on a Beach by P. Crumble and Danielle McDonald, paperback picture book, published by Scholastic Australia in 2012.

This is a story about Sheep and what he gets up to on his visit to the beach. For each thing that Sheep does, there is a little crab there helping him out. My pre-schooler was very interested to see what the crab was doing in each drawing, from building a sand castle to stealing a dropped chip.

The story is cumulative, so that the story to that point is repeated and one new sentence added on each double page. It reads a bit like a list, and is a great use of repetition, which kids will love, but which may irritate some adults. Each new line was presented in a different coloured text than the previous parts of the story. I liked this, as it was easy for my pre-schooler to find the new information on the page. The illustrations are funny and colourful with the text overlaid on part of each picture (usually the sand, sky or sea for clarity).

This was an enjoyable read with my pre-schooler, she loved the pictures and the repetition. I also liked the illustrations and I liked what Sheep did at the beach, it was very Australian. A fun book for bed time (or any time!)

May16

Jellyfish Picture

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Our pile of glitter and metallic glues.

Our pile of glitter and metallic glues.

We have a tub of glitter glue and metallic glue tubes that the kids use on all sorts of projects. I like using glitter glue over glitter as it is generally less messy (unless A leans in it and then spreads it all over the place…or dangles her hair in it), and it’s easier to place exactly where we want it. The downside is that the kids (especially A) put it on so thick it takes ages to dry, and we often need to leave our projects at least overnight to dry.

Drawing on her waves.

Drawing on her waves.

Today A used the glitter and metallic glues to draw a jellyfish picture. She started out painting fish, but they morphed into jellyfish. She also wanted to add an eel, but it grew tentacles and became a jellyfish too. She drew waves with some blue metallic glue, and sand with yellow glitter glue. There’s also some seaweed done in green metallic glue.

I like how glittery this picture is.

Drawing sand at the bottom of her picture.

Drawing sand at the bottom of her picture.

Making a jellyfish.

Making a jellyfish.

 

May12

Paper Bowl Spider

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IMG_9905A harmless spider made using a paper bowl and some pipe cleaners.

Painting the bowl.

Painting the bowl.

Hole punched side ready for legs.

Hole punched side ready for legs.

First A painted the bowl on the outside, and once that was mostly dry, she turned the bowl over and painted the inside of the bowl. She used a thick black paint. Once the paint was dry, I used a single hole punch to make four holes down each side of the bowl. A inserted half a black pipe cleaner into each hole, bending them a little on the inside and taping them down. I helped A to bend these legs into the shape she wanted, with little feet.

Adding googly eyes.

Adding googly eyes.

I thought googly eyes on the top would finish off the spider, but A wanted it to be a red-back spider, which are quite common here, so she also added a red feather to the back of her spider. A said that this spider is the Mummy spider, and she has asked to hang it in her room with her baby egg carton spiders.