Fact or Fantasy? Sometimes it’s even hard to see which is which. Good books for children seamlessly give information, whether it is through fiction or nonfiction.
Who doesn’t know Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Now there is a new companion story called The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats Breakfast, A Counting Book! Complete with holes in the pages, Caterpillar eats one cup of yogurt, two bowls of cereal and so on. In the end, he is joined by friends and together they eat ten of his favourite foods. A fun counting book with familiar art! ISBN 978-0-593-52150-2, Penguin Kids
We Adopted A Baby Chick by Lori Joy Smith is a wonderful picturebook to share with young readers. Told in the voice of a cuddly lamb who is growing up, this is the story of a new arrival and sibling rivalry. The story works both as a fun farm tale but also has one for an older child struggling with all the attention suddenly going to a cute new baby.
But as Albert the lamb gets bigger, he also learns that Tina the baby chick needs an older brother to protect her. ISBN 978-1-77488-393-8, Tundra Books
Drop, An Adventure Through the Water Cycle by Emily Kate Moon is a wonderful picturebook that explains the water cycle and the importance of water on earth in simply, child friendly terms. The first two pages show the three stages of water: liquid, solid and gas and how water moves through these stages. Then the adventures takes us with Drop as he travels through time – from dinosaurs to today – and space, from rivers through lakes to the sea. We see how drops rises in heat, how they form clouds and rain down again. Drop even shows readers how water gets inside plants and animals to sustain life. An important early teaching tool to bring home the importance of water on our planet. Follow up this title by discussing The Global Ocean by Rochelle Strauss, Kids Can Press. ISBN 978-0803741447, Dial Books for Young Readers.
Pigs Can’t Fly by Wallace Edwards is a gorgeous picturebook in which the author/artist proves that nothing is impossible. He shows that pigs do fly, they just don’t make any sound. On these fantastical pages you will see worms perform ballet, elephants play the violin and penguins ride bicycles. My favourite double spread is of a singing fish who keeps his song in a bubble. The beautiful illustrations are accompanied by well written, unexpected rhymes. A joy to share with students and jump start their own creativity. Which animal would you have do unexpected things if anything were possible? ISBN 978-1-0397-0194-6, North Winds Press/Scholastic
Meet Jim Egan, written by
Elizabeth MacLeod and illustrated by Mike Deas. Scholastic Canada’s Biography series includes many great people who changed the course of history or achieved important milestones. They include astronaut Chris Hadfield, Terry Fox who ran for cancer fundraising, and many others. The newest nonfiction picture book in the series is the biography of Jim Egan. Jim Egan realized at an early age that he was gay. But being gay was illegal until 1996. Jim decided to fight for equal rights as promised by law. His life long struggles and campaigning finally achieved results when not only the law changed but LGBTQ2S+ started to get accepted as equal across the country. An interesting, well written story paired with informative art that adds to the narrative. ISBN 978-1-4431-9725-0, Scholastic Canada
Margriet Ruurs is an avid reader and writes books for kids. She is available for International School Author Visits: