Let's Tell a Story! Fairy Tale Adventure by Lily Murray

Are you ready to go on an adventure? This book helps you create your own fairy tale story. You choose all the elements. The options are almost unlimited. (I'm including the back cover so you can see a little more information about the book and the creation process.)

Thoughts: This book is great! I can't wait for kids and parents to read this book and start creating their own stories. I'm also looking forward to using this book with kids when I focus on fairy tales. I'm going to take you through the process (simply) of creating a story. I'm just making the choices, not answering all the supplemental questions and describing everything. 

• Which one of these heroes do you want to be? A bear 
• What do you want to get dressed up in? (Choose as many as you like.) A satchel, a stripy scarf, a cloak, and a pair of glasses
• Where do you want to go? To a magic waterfall
• What do you need to take with you? (Choose three.) A map, a picnic basket, an umbrella 
• Who will come with you? (Choose as many as you like.) An invisible friend, Little Red Riding Hood, a wise owl, Thumbelina 
• How do you want to travel? On foot
• Which route do you want to take? Down the otter river 
• Who's there to greet you? (Choose as many as you like.) 12 dancing princesses, a lion, and a golden fish
• What will you eat at the fairy tale feast? (Choose as many as you like.) Pancakes, porridge, hot cocoa 
• Where's your hero hangout? A teapot
• An enemy has appeared! Which one is it? A big bad bunny
• There's a way out of danger! Which one will you choose? You put on a crafty disguise and clip away. 
• Which one of these things will you choose as your reward? The power to become a mermaid
• What happens next? Choose an ending for your tale. You decide to become a detective. 

I like to write stories and poems so I'm looking forward to fleshing out my story at some point. I can't wait to play with the other books in this series. 

Other books in the Let's Tell a Story! Series

• Space Adventure (out now)
• Pirate Adventure (April 12, 2022)
• Jungle Adventure (April 12, 2022)

Themes: Elementary, Writing, Fairy Tales 

(Illustrated by Wesley Robins. Wide Eyed Editions, 2021.)

Hornswoggled: A Wacky Words Whodunit by Josh Crute

Deer wakes up one morning to find that someone has stolen his antler! He's been hornswoggled. As he goes to see his friends, each one of them is missing something. Who is the thief? 

Thoughts: Too funny! I love how the story builds around each animal, what was stolen, and how they feel about it. I think slightly older children (say first and second grade) will love learning these new words. I love the mixture of fonts used and that all the wacky words are defined as you read. The illustrations are bright, colorful, full of expression and motion. The animals' facial expressions are top notch. Pair with 13 Words by Lemony Snicket, Hat Tricks by Satoshi Kitamura, Warning! Do Not Touch! by Tim Warnes, and The Donkey Egg by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel. 

Download an activity guide from the author's website here. 

Themes: Animals, Wordplay, Elementary

(Illustrated by Jenn Harney. Page Street Kids, 2021.)

Redlocks and the Three Bears by Claudia Rueda

Wait a minute! I thought this was supposed to be a story about Goldilocks. Who is Redlocks? 

Thoughts: What a fabulous book! I love the mixture of three different fairy tales (Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Three Little Pigs). I wonder if Claudia selected these specific fairy tales because she thought children would be most familiar with them. The text is simple and easy to follow. The illustrations are soft colored and engaging. I like the mixture of illustration styles, the use of white space, and the pages where you feel like you're inside the book with the characters. Fairy tales are one of my favorite types of books and I can't wait to add this one to my next fairy tale themed storytime. 

Pair Redlocks and the Three Bears with any of the following for a great storytime! 

Red Riding Hood Books 

• Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex T. Smith 
• Little Red Hot by Eric A. Kimmel 
• Federico and the Wolf by Rebecca J. Gomez

Three Little Pigs Books

• The Great Gran Plan by Elli Woollard 
• The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz

Goldilocks Books

• Goldilocks and Just One Bear by Leigh Hodgkinson
• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems 
• Goldilocks and the Wee Bear by Troy Wilson

Fractured Fairy Tales 

• Fairly Fairy Tales by Esme Raji Codell
• Once Upon a Slime by Andy Maxwell

Download an activity kit from the publisher's website here. 

Themes: Fairy Tales

(Chronicle Books, 2021.)

Bear Is a Bear by Jonathan Stutzman

A bear can be all kinds of things to a child. A snack, a tissue, a bookworm, or a pillow just to name a few. 

Thoughts: Such a sweet book. I love how it goes through two generations. Bear Is a Bear would make a great baby shower gift or a gift for anyone who has ever loved a stuffed animal. I love that Bear is a child's toy, but he's shown as so much more through the illustrations. The illustrations are colorful and detailed. I like the mixture of styles (one page with text facing and two page spreads). The bear is especially well illustrated. I just want to cuddle him. My favorite illustrations are the cover (love that Bear is reading Little Women!) and the girl reading Little Women. Pair with Found by Salina Yoon, Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator by Mo Willems, Louis by Tom Lichtenheld, and Tea Party Rules by Ame Dyckman. 

Download a teacher's guide from the publisher's website here. The teacher's guide has discussion questions and extension activities. 

Themes: Stuffed Animals, Bears, Imagination 

(Illustrated by Dan Santat. Balzer + Bray, 2021.)

Away with Words! Wise and Witty Poems for Language Lovers by Mary Ann Hoberman

This collection of clever poems that play with words covers everything from A to Z.

Thoughts: What a fun poetry collection! I can't wait to share some of these poems with elementary school students. I think Away with Words! will really make them think about how and why we use words the way we do. Some of the poems were tongue twisters so I'll need to practice or read them slowly when I share them with children. My favorite poems are Introduction, ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ, Com-Pear-ing, Dear Deers, Etymology, Horse, Just Think, Me, Note, and Parting. The illustrations are colorful and engaging. I especially like the faces Perry gives to letters and punctuation. My favorite illustrations are Contents,  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ, Etymology, Me, Note, Punctuation, and the copyright page. 

You could use the poem ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ for a writing and art project. Name all the letters in the alphabet and then make them in the same style as the illustration for that poem. Them write a poem for each letter/person in your alphabet. 

Other Poetry Collections about wordplay, grammar, books, reading, and writing: 

• Write! Write! Write! by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
• Read! Read! Read! by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
• Lemonade & Other Poems Squeezed from One Word by Bob Raczka
• Bookspeak!: Poems about Books by Laura Purdie Salas
• A Bunch of Punctuation selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Themes: Elementary, Word Play

(Illustrated by Perry Hoberman. Little, Brown and Company, 2022.)

If This Bird Had Pockets: A Poem in Your Pocket Day Celebration by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Poem in Your Pocket Day is a distinctly human celebration. What if animals had pockets? What kind of poems would you find in their pockets? 

Featured Animals: Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Eastern Newt, Goliath Birdeater, Leafcutter Ant, Bottlenose Dolphin, Short-Tailed Chinchilla, Northern Giraffe, Spotted Turtle, Red Fox, Barren-Ground Caribou, Bluegill, American Alligator, Gray Wolf, Royal Starfish, Atlantic Horseshoe Crab, Monarch Butterfly, Star-Nosed Mole, Sea Otter, Chicks

Thoughts: Such an interesting premise! I love that all the poems are written from the animals' points-of-view and that the reader learns so much about each animal in the poems. (I could have used "It's Not Difficult" years ago.) I have a feeling kids will want to know even more about the animals in this poetry collection. My favorite poems are "Sipping Song," "Metaphor in a Meadow," and "Wilderness and Safety." The digitally painted illustrations are colorful and detailed.  My favorite illustrations are the chinchillas, the giraffes, the sea otter, and the last illustration where the girl is thinking about all the different animals. I can't wait to incorporate the ocean animal poems into my storytimes and events this summer. (The Collaborative Summer Library Program theme this year is oceanography.) 

This collection can spark creativity. Children could use the illustrations to inspire their own poems. Have children write a poem from the point-of-view of their favorite animals. Chances are most are not featured in If This Bird Had Pockets. Create your own animal pocket poem collection. The educator guide linked below has poetry prompts to get you started. 

Find bonus activities and an educator guide on the publisher's website here. 

Themes: Animals 

(Illustrated by Emma J. Virján. Wordsong, 2022.)

Zoobilations! Animal Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian

A celebration of animals, Zoobilations! features 20 poems about 21 different animals 

Featured animals: weasel, mandrill, centipede/millipede, seagull, rabbit, naked mole rat, dove, hammerhead shark, parrot, llama, horse, bullfrog, crow, giraffe, flying fox, antelope, African elephant, orangutan, midwife toad, starling

Thoughts: Douglas Florian has done it again! Zoobilations! is a collection of poems that feature wordplay and tongue-in-cheek humor and they are paired with colorful illustrations that have tons of kid appeal. I have to wonder if he had a hard time finding animals he hadn't already written poems about given the number of animal themed poetry collections he's published. Some of the poems are suitable for younger kids while others need slightly older readers to get all the humor. I could see myself sharing this whole collection in first and second grade classrooms or just adding a poem to a storytime. For example, "The Bullfrog" would be a great addition to a frog themed storytime while "Mandrill," "Giraffe," and "The African Elephant" could be added to an Africa themed storytime. The possibilities are endless. My favorite poems are "Seagull," "The Parrot," "Horses," "Giraffe," "The Antelope," and "Starling." I've said this before, but I think the main appeal in Douglas Florian's illustrations are that they look like something a child would or could create. I know his preferred medium is gouache watercolor paint, but his illustrations remind me so much of crayon drawings. It's hard to pick a favorite illustration, but I think the seagull and the antelope are my favorites. (Note to self: pair "The Antelope" with "Menu for a Gray Day" from The Popcorn Astronauts and Other Biteable Rhymes by Deborah Ruddell.)

Other Collections by Douglas Florian

• Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings
• Ice: Poems about Polar Life
• Mammalabila
• Poetrees   
• UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems & Paintings
• Friends and Foes: Poems About Us All

Themes: Animals 

(Beach Lane Books, 2022.)