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This Month’s Book: The Book With No Pictures
Our Cover to Cover Book of the Month for May is The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak and while this book is lacking in pictures, it’s definitely not lacking in fun. Read it and find out why!
FUN! “Fun” is one of the ways to describe The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak. Also, maybe “SILLY.” Give your child time to respond to the questions in the book and then elaborate on those questions. For example, on the page that says, “the kid I’m reading this book to is THE BEST KID EVER,” prompt, “Even though I already know, tell me what makes you the best kid ever!”
Continue with the silliness and dance The Super Silly Tango with your child. Find the song at this link: https://youtu.be/8G5hCKI65Sw.
This book has many made-up words, with amazing sounds. Emphasize these sounds by reading them slowly, or really fast. Invite your child to make these sounds with you and make up your own silly words: “Let’s swap out the letter ‘D’ in the word ‘dooongy’ with a ‘J.’ Now lets swap it out with a ’T!’ Doing this promotes phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge and is a fun way to bond with your child!”
Play a rhyming game with silly words: “What rhymes with blap?” Incorporate gross motor skills into your rhyming game with a simple game of catch. Think of a silly word and toss a ball back and forth with your child. With each catch, say a rhyming word! You can find more activities like this one on the Make Way for Books app!
Join the Conversation!
Share your experience with The Book With No Pictures and be entered into a raffle to win next month’s C2C Book Club title! For example, you could:
- Tell us about your child’s favorite part of the story.
- Send a video of you sharing the book together.
- Send a picture of you and your child playing catch!
Share your photos and videos with us on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to tag Make Way for Books. For example:
@mwfbaz We had so much fun playing the rhyme game! #storytime
Or email us your photo or video at info@makewayforbooks.org.
Be creative! We can’t wait to see what you loved about The Book With No Pictures!
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This Month’s Book: íLibro! Book!
Our Cover to Cover Book of the Month for April is íLibro! Book! by Kristine O’Connell George. This fun book demonstrates just how much children LOVE books!
A book about a book…how wonderful, especially because the book is SO loved! While reading ¡Libro! Book! By Kristine O’Connell George, talk to your child about a book or a topicthat is special to them. “You love dinosaurs as much as this child loves the book! I wonder if we could find you a special book about dinosaurs that you can carry around. Tuning into your child’s interest will have your little one excited about learning and reading! And remember the Make Way For Books app has so many wonderful high quality children’s books to choose from!
Stomp around the room with your child to the song, We Are Monsters! You can change the word “monsters” to “dinosaurs” and pretend to be dinosaurs, or “elephants”…any heavy animal! Find the song here: https://youtu.be/rkCpyuEXt40.
Children love to imitate their parents, it helps them learn! So, let your child be the grown up, like the child who reads to the cat and the baby. Encourage your child to read to a sibling, a pet, or a favorite stuffed animal. Don’t worry that they aren’t reading the words in the book, encourage them to tell the story by describing the illustrations!
The child in this book found a secret hiding place to read— under the table! Gather your blankets and sheets and build a fort with your child to create a fun place to read together!
Join the Conversation!
Share your experience with íLook! Book! and be entered into a raffle to win next month’s C2C Book Club title! For example, you could:
- Tell us about your child’s favorite part of the story.
- Send a video of you sharing the book together.
- Send a picture of you and your child building a fort!
Share your photos and videos with us on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to tag Make Way for Books. For example:
@mwfbaz Look at our adorable fort that we made together! #storytime
Or email us your photo or video at info@makewayforbooks.org.
Be creative! We can’t wait to see what you loved about íLibro! Book!
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This Month’s Book: Little Gorilla
Our Cover to Cover Book of the Month for February is Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein. This beautiful story provides a wonderful opportunity for you to explore with your child the jungle and some of its amazing animals. Can you ROAR like a lion?
The wonderful book Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein tells the story of how all the jungle animals come together to love and care for a precious gorilla baby. The story depicts the importance of community and connection in raising a baby! While reading, talk to your child about the people who make up your community. “Grandma and Grandpa are always there for us! And we are always so excited to see our friends at story time!”
The support in having and building a community for our little ones and for ourselves can bring joy! Express this joy by singing If You’re Happy and Your Know It! Raffi has a fun version of this song here: https://youtu.be/Yq68l-4n2m
It’s inevitable, we all grow! Even baby gorillas. And with each day we grow more and more special! While reading promote comprehension by making predictions with your child. Predict how the gorilla will look and feel when he’s grown. How will the other animals feel about gorilla being so big? How does your child feel about growing up?
There are many beautiful jungle animals found in this book! Make the book fun and interactive by pretending to be jungle animals together. Incorporate the concept of opposites, “Let’s be loud birds flying so high. Now let’s be quite birds flying so low!”
Join the Conversation!
Share your experience with Little Gorilla and be entered into a raffle to win next month’s C2C Book Club title! For example, you could:
- Tell us about your child’s favorite part of the story.
- Send a video of you sharing the book together.
- Send a picture of you and your child pretending to be animals!
Share your photos and videos with us on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to tag Make Way for Books. For example:
@mwfbaz Look my mommy is a long snake and I am a short snake! #storytime
Or email us your photo or video at info@makewayforbooks.org.
Be creative! We can’t wait to see what you loved about Little Gorilla!
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This Month’s Book: Love
Our Cover to Cover Book of the Month for December is Love by Matt de la Peña. It’s wonderful, it’s beautiful, it’s inspiring…what’s not to LOVE about it?
Love is so powerful, in all its forms! Love, by Matt de la Peña, perfectly embodies this concept! While reading, talk with your children about the different kinds of love shown in the book. Are there any scenarios that are familiar or unfamiliar to you and your child? “Remember that time you and I shared an umbrella to walk into the grocery store? I remember we were giggling at the sound of the rain falling on the umbrella! What else do you remember about that day?”
Elaborate on the concept of love by singing The More We Get Together, a fun song by Raffi!Learn the song by following this link: https://youtu.be/dirQWEe27Z8
Reading and sharing a story with your child is a wonderful expression of love. Showing love allows your child to feel secure to explore the world and take healthy risks that promote learning. Invite your child take a risk by asking them to “read” you the story. Prompt your little storyteller by asking open ended questions about what they see. “This page is so colorful, what do you notice about this illustration?” Or, “What do you like about this picture? Why?”
Have fun drawing together and make a “heart full of love!” Draw a big heart, or encourage your child to draw a big heart on a big piece of paper or a paper grocery bag. Invite your child to draw pictures of the things that they love inside the heart. Make sure to include things that your love! Promote print awareness and label the illustrations with words!
Join the Conversation!
Share your experience with Love and be entered into a raffle to win next month’s C2C Book Club title! For example, you could:
- Tell us about your child’s favorite part of the story.
- Send a video of you sharing the book together.
- Send a picture of you and your child drawing together!
Share your photos and videos with us on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to tag Make Way for Books. For example:
@mwfbaz Our heart if so full of love! #storytime
Or email us your photo or video at info@makewayforbooks.org.
Be creative! We can’t wait to see what you loved about Love!
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This Month’s Book: Dreamers
Our Cover to Cover Book of the Month for November is Dreamers by Yuyi Morales. This beautifully illustrated book will take you on an inspirational journey of the courage and hope it takes to follow your DREAMS!
Follow the journey of author Yuyi Morales and her son Kelly as they immigrate from Mexico to the United States in this amazing and beautiful book. While exploring Dreamers, talk to your child about courage. Focus on the characters and have a conversation with you child about all the courageous acts depicted in the book. Reflect with your child about a time you had to be courageous.: “I remember the first time I jumped off the high diving board. It was so scary but I was brave! Have you ever felt that way?”
Try learning sign language with your child by singing and signing this beautiful song that recognizes the beauty of a child and their dreams within! Follow this link to learn the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k12N9tf9gM
Dreamers is full of beautiful illustrations. Take a picture walk trough the book! Try using the question, “What is going on here?” to start a conversation with your child. Each page of this book can spark a wonderful conversation! Utilizing this method allows you to tune into your child, allowing them to guide the conversation around the illustrations that spark their interest.
Encourage imagination, creativity, and problem solving skills by role playing with your child! Use stuffed animals or dolls to act out different scenarios that are scary or intimidating. Have fun, but also don’t be afraid to act out scenarios that may require extra courage!
Join the Conversation!
Share your experience with Dreamers and be entered into a raffle to win next month’s C2C Book Club title! For example, you could:
- Tell us about your child’s favorite part of the story.
- Send a video of you sharing the book together.
- Send a picture of you and your child role playing together!
Share your photos and videos with us on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to tag Make Way for Books. For example:
@mwfbaz My teddy bear is so courageous! #storytime
Or email us your photo or video at info@makewayforbooks.org.
Be creative! We can’t wait to see what you loved about Dreamers
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This Month’s Book: Gravity
Our Cover to Cover Book of the Month for October is Gravity by Jason Chin. Gravity is important! Discover why as you explore this wonderful book by Jason Chin.
What makes a ball fall and bounce? What makes going down a slide SO much fun? These are great questions that need answering! Read the book Gravity by Jason Chin to find out. This book also explores what would happen if gravity didn’t exist! While reading, talk to your child about how they think it would feel to float away from the Earth: “I think it would be exciting, but I would need some protection. I wonder what we would need to protect ourselves in outer space!”
Celebrate outer space and Sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with your child! Start off by singing about a little star and while singing create a little twinkling star with your fingers. Then change the lyrics and use both hands to create a great big star:
Twinkle, Twinkle Great Big Star
Reading is fun! Especially when you act out the story with your child. While reading, try dropping safe objects to demonstrate how gravity works. Let your child drop objects too! Hold your child up high and let them drop objects from up high, and then from down low!
So many things would float away without gravity! Point out all the objects in the book that have floated away and then turn it into a game of find and seek! Ask your child to find the objects seen in the book in your house. “Can you find a piece of fruit in our house? How about a toy? How about your FAVORITE toy?”
Join the Conversation!
Share your experience with Gravity and be entered into a raffle to win next month’s C2C Book Club title! For example, you could:
- Tell us about your child’s favorite part of the story.
- Send a video of you sharing the book together.
- Send a picture of you and your child experimenting with gravity!
Share your photos and videos with us on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to tag Make Way for Books. For example:
@mwfbaz When we dropped the ball from up high it bounced FIVE times! #storytime
Or email us your photo or video at info@makewayforbooks.org.
Be creative! We can’t wait to see what you loved about Gravity!
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This Month’s Book: Old Hat
Our Cover to Cover Book of the Month for September is Old Hat by Emily Gravett. Explore this beautiful new book by Emily Gravett and discover how wonderful it is to just be yourself!
Being yourself can sometimes be difficult in a world that calls for fitting in. In the book Old Hat by Emily Gravett, Harbet the dog tries to use hats to fit in but quickly discovers the enormous value of being himself! While reading Old Hat, talk to your child about all the unique and wonderful qualities that she brings to the world. Ask your child what she likes most about herself! Tell her what your like most about yourself.
Express to your child how wonderful they are by singing You’re Wonderful by Allyson Gillispie. Find the lyrics and tune here: https://youtu.be/SW54STsaR7w
You can promote early comprehension skills while you read! Make predictions with your child about what both of you think might happen in the story. Use the illustrations to guide you! “Do you think that the other animals are going to like Harbet’s new fruit hat? Why or why not? How do you think Harbet feels about his fruit hat?
Let your child express his own unique style by creating his own fun hat! Provide your child with markers and simple craft supplies and let them decorate the bottom of a paper bowl to create their unique design! Use things from around the house to decorate. Cheerios, macaroni, old bottle caps, cut up egg cartons and old magazines or mail flyers can be glued to the bowl for added uniqueness! The possibilities are endless!
Join the Conversation!
Share your experience with Old Hat and be entered into a raffle to win next month’s C2C Book Club title! For example, you could:
- Tell us about your child’s favorite part of the story.
- Send a video of you sharing the book together.
- Send a picture of your child wearing her hat!
Share your photos and videos with us on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to tag Make Way for Books. For example:
@mwfbaz I designed my own hat! #storytime
Or email us your photo or video at info@makewayforbooks.org.
Be creative! We can’t wait to see what you loved about Old Hat!
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This Month’s Book: Goodnight Already!
Our Cover to Cover Book of the Month for July is Goodnight Already! by Jory John & Benji Davies. Bear is so tired he could sleep for months…but how will he ever fall asleep with his restless duck neighbor bothering him? Read this silly story and find out!
Bear and Duck are in complete opposite states! Bear being VERY tired and Duck being VERY awake. The book Goodnight Already! by Jory Jon & Benji Davies provides a wonderful opportunity to observe these complete opposite states and have a conversation with your child about ways to respectfully navigate situations like this. While reading, talk to your child about how Duck is responding to the situation. Is Duck allowing Bear to get the rest he so desperately wants? How is Bear responding? Is there anything different they both could do to allow both their needs to be met?
Aside from needing to put down the coffee, maybe singing a nice relaxing song can help Duck get into the sleeping zone! Pick your favorite mellow song and sing it to your child. Try singing it to them each night as part of a bedtime routine! Here’s a beautiful rendition of one of our favorite mellow tunes: https://youtu.be/0-EMU7MC1RQ
Books are such a wonderful tool for introducing new vocabulary words! While reading, point out words that may be unfamiliar and then talk about what they mean. “Duck used his spare key to get in. What does spare mean?” It can be difficult to describe a word’s meaning so make it a shared learning experience and look up the word together!
Listening to people is a great way to solve any situation. Maybe Bear and Duck could figure out their situation by listening to each other better. Promote listening skills by playing a game of Simon Says with your child. This fun interactive game can be easily tailored to be appropriate to your child’s age. “Simon says lift up your leg!”
Join the Conversation!
Share your experience with Goodnight Already! and be entered into a raffle to win next month’s C2C Book Club title! For example, you could:
- Tell us about your child’s favorite part of the story.
- Send a video of you sharing the book together.
- Send a picture of you and your child playing Simon Says together.
Share your photos and videos with us on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to tag Make Way for Books. For example:
@mwfbaz Look at me balance on one foot playing Simon Says! #storytime
Or email us your photo or video at info@makewayforbooks.org.
Be creative! We can’t wait to see what you loved about Goodnight Already!
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This Month’s Book: The Life of Selena
Our Cover to Cover Book of the Month for May is The Life of Selena by Patty Rodriguez & Ariana Stein. This adorable picture book biography pays tribute to an amazing star! Explore this books and learn more about Selena Quintanilla.
Selena Quintanilla was an amazing, strong and extremely talented woman! How wonderful that there is an adorable board book biography that recognizes her! The Life of Selena by Patty Rodriguez & Ariana Stein highlights fun and interesting facts about this beautiful star! While reading create your own biography and talk to your child about the fun and interesting facts about the beautiful stars of your family! “Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas. Do you know where you were born?”
Singing and dancing with your child is a wonderful way to promote bonding! Selena created some amazing songs that will make bonding so much fun! Fun is pretty much inevitable with this song: https://youtu.be/RKGbjJarMeA
Reading books with your child provides an opportunity to promote math skills. Utilize the adorable illustrations in this book and practice early math by having your child count the objects on each page. Go further and promote color recognition as well by identifying the colors as you talk about what you see. “Look a this cute purple stereo. It’s making purple music notes! How many music notes are there? Let’s count them together!”
Add something new and fun to your family biography and if you haven’t already, start a family rock band! Explain to your child that bands have names and invite your little musician to think of name for your group! Make homemade musical instruments. Boxes provide great sounds! Use the instruments to play along to your child’s favorite tunes, or create new music together!
Join the Conversation!
Share your experience with The Life of Selena and be entered into a raffle to win next month’s C2C Book Club title! For example, you could:
- Tell us about your child’s favorite part of the story.
- Send a video of you sharing the book together.
- Send a picture of you and your child making music together.
Share your photos and videos with us on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to tag Make Way for Books. For example:
@mwfbaz Look at the all the cool instruments we made! #storytime
Or email us your photo or video at info@makewayforbooks.org.
Be creative! We can’t wait to see what you loved about The Life of Selena!
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This Month’s Book: There Is a Bird on Your Head!
Our Cover to Cover Book of the Month for April is There Is a Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems. Birds shouldn’t be on heads. They should be in trees instead. Find out why Gerald’s head seemed to be the perfect place for the silly bird in this book!
Having a bird on your head is a little strange. So strange, that it makes Gerald feel VERY uncomfortable. In There Is a Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems, Piggie helps Gerald find a most valuable tool for dealing with uncomfortable situations: his voice! While reading, talk to your child about what makes them feel uncomfortable. Together, explore different ways to vocalize what they need.
Monkeys jumping on beds is almost as silly as birds on heads! And there’s a song about it. Practice counting backwards by singing Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed! Find the lyrics and instructions to the finger play here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Little_Monkeys.
Try something fun and different while reading There Is a Bird on Your Head. Instead of reading the words, create your own story by focusing on the illustrations. See if you and your child can create a story solely by talking about the Piggie and Gerald’s emotions. This discussion will provide a perfect opportunity to have a serve and return interaction that will promote positive brain development!
Practicing mindfulness with your child can help them tune into their feelings and help them identify when they need to use their voice. Observe clouds with your child to promote mindfulness. Turn it into a game and see how many shapes you can find in the clouds. Bring some paper and crayons along to sketch what they see in the clouds!
Join the Conversation!
Share your experience with There Is a Bird on Your Head! and be entered into a raffle to win next month’s C2C Book Club title! For example, you could:
- Tell us about your child’s favorite part of the story.
- Send a video of you sharing the book together.
- Send a selfie of you and your child watching the clouds!!
Share your photos and videos with us on Twitter and Instagram and be sure to tag Make Way for Books. For example:
@mwfbaz We found a lion in the clouds! #storytime
Or email us your photo or video at info@makewayforbooks.org.
Be creative! We can’t wait to see what you loved about There Is a Bird on Your Head!