Second Picture Book Review ~ Ashley Parker

For this assignment I decide to 5 picture books that are seasonal books or that you can easily tell what season it is. I also decided that I wanted a book to cover each season. I decided to choose a book about Easter to represent Spring, two about Winter, one about Summer, and one about Thanksgiving a holiday that takes place in the Fall. I decided that since I really can't tell what season it has been lately that I would choose books that have something to do with that. So all my books are connected through the seasons.


The first book was:

Keller,Holly.Miranda's Beach Day.New York, New York:Greenwillow Books,2009.Print.


This books was about Miranda's first time or visit to the beach with her mother on a hot summers day. It goes through what she experienced that day from the hot sand, to the feeling of the water, to the crab she sees, and finally to the sandcastle her and her friends make. After all the excite of the day her and her mom go home together with the promise of coming back again. In this book all characters were female except for one, who was Miranda's male friend who helped build the castle. Also this book could be a good way to get children to talk about their first experiences with different events in their life.


The next book I read was: 


Rael,Elsa Okon.Rivka's First Thanksgiving.New York,New York:Simon & Schuster,2001,Print. 


This book is about a shared memory that the author and her cousins all shared about their first Thanksgiving. The main character Rivka comes from a family of Jewish immigrants who have come from Europe, and never heard of the holiday. So Rivka has to over come several obstacles to her family and others that Thanksgiving is for all Americans including Jewish-Americans. This book would be interesting to look at because it looks at a very American holiday from the viewpoint of immigrants that many people may not think about. I know I personally never thought about it in the way Rivka's mother and grandmother did so that was interesting to me.


My third selection was:


Harper,Lee.SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!.New York,New York.Simon & Schuster,2009.Print.


This was a cute story about 3 dogs, a father and 2 sons, enjoying a sleigh ride after it snowed a good deal the day before. They go down a large hill, get tossed into the sky, crash back on the ground, and the youngest dog wants to do it all over again. This book reminded me off being a kid again, and enjoying a snow day full of sleighing and snow ball fights. I loved the use of the dogs instead of humans to represent this past time that many have done or will do in their lives so that it was relatable to many audiences that unfortunately you may use by using people.


My fourth book was:


Hallensleben,Georg.What's Coming for Christmas?.New York,New York.Farrar, Straus, and Giroux,2009.Print.


This book was a different kind of Christmas story. It talks about how something is coming, and that you could feel i t in the air though nobody new what. The story went back and forth from inside the house to the animals outside. This story had nothing to do with gifts or Santa, but with life on Christmas. It made me think about what is important on Christmas, why do we celebrate, and how much I appreciate my family even more around that time of year.


My last book was:


The Easter Basket.New York,New York.Penguin Young Readers Group,2007.Print.


The author of this book was not given, which is why it was not in the bibliography. This was a cute pop-up book, though I didn't know that when I got it!, about a young bunny and several of her friends going to look the one who lost their basket so they can return it. In the end they find out it belongs to the young bunnies mother who is the Easter Bunny! I just really liked the book because it was a pop-up book. I think this book would be really cute for children in preschool and kindergarten to look and interact with since it's a pop-up book.