Eva's Book Review- May

We've been so busy lately I almost forgot about our book review!  We had no theme this month, but I always try to add at least one award winning or classic book into the mix; there are so many children's book out there that having some sort of guide is very helpful and I find 99% of the time we really like the books that have won awards or that are still in wide circulation after 50+ years. 

1. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
This book is not only an award winner but also a classic- bonus!  Winner of the Caldecott Honor in 1949 it's the story of a little girl and her mother as they go blueberry picking.  It's in all black and white, which Eva wasn't overly thrilled with at first, but it involves both the little girl and the mom running into a baby bear and a mama bear in the field, so Eva stayed interested.  We also took the chance to talk about onomatopoeia, as the author uses them to describe the berries as Sal drops them in her bucket.  Very cute book, both Eva and I highly recommend it.

P.S. Is it just me or were other people expecting Sal to be a little boy based off of the name and the illustration on the cover??!

2. Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman & Caroline Binch
This book is so wonderful.  It's about a girl named Grace who loves to read and has a great imagination.  She wants to try out for the part of Peter Pan in her school play but is discouraged when her classmates tell her she can't because she's a girl and she's black.  With encouragement from her Nana she tries out and wins the part and wows everyone with her performance.  Eva loves this book and will make comments such as, "the boys don't know that girls are the betterest (that's "better-est", as in the very best, for those of you who don't speak Eva) and girls can do lots and lots of things."

3. Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

This is another fantastic book.  Stellaluna is a baby fruit bat whose world is turned upside down when her mom is attacked and she falls into a birds nest.  Her new family is caring, but they make her act like a bird, not a bat.  It's a nice children's introduction to being the same or different from other people in your life and how you can be close to people who may look very different.  Eva doesn't quite get the deepness of the story yet and is more concerned that bats "fly at night and can be scary" but hey, can't except my 4 year old to be as advanced as I sometimes want ;-)

We had tons more books that we read this month but I'm saving some of them up for different themed months... up next in June? Native American books - stayed tuned!