All About Turtles
,
written and illustrated by Jim Arnosky, has great illustrations and informational text which teaches all kinds of interesting things about turtles, like how to identify the different kinds, what they eat, what their eggs are like, etc.
Skin That Slimes and Scares,
by Diane Swanson,
is part of an "Up Close" series of books "that show children how they can link animals by different body parts." There are very short chapters on armored skin, slimy skin, warning skin, tasty skin, scary skin, and disguising skin. For each one it shows real photos and illustrations of different animals and explains how the the skin helps each animal.
In The Oxpecker and the Giraffe: I Need You and You Need Me
, written
by Patrick Fitzpatrick and illustrated by Tim Newcombe, Giraffe is fed up with Oxpecker always picking at him. Oxpecker tries to make Giraffe see that they really do need each other, but Giraffe is not convinced until he talks to the Rhinos. Cape Buffalo, the Rhino, tells Giraffe that it is part of God's plan that the oxpecker actually help the bigger animals by eating the bugs that could give the bigger animals diseases. The story is told with rhyming text and great illustrations.
Animals Can Be So Sleepy
by Diane Swanson is "One in a series of books especially for preschoolers." It is an excellent nature book! Each double page spread features a different animal and a sentence or two telling something about the animal. There is also an I Spy section to each spread where you are asked to look for something in the illustration. 
Calabash Cat and his Amazing Journey, 
written and illustrated by James Rumford
, is a great story! Calabash cat starts out in the middle of Africa and sets out to find the end of the world. He comes to the edge of the desert and decides it must be the end but he meets a camel that carries him through the desert to where the grassland begins. Then he meets a horse that carries him through the grasslands, a tiger that carries him through the jungle, a whale that carries him across the ocean and an eagle that flies him high over the world and he decides that there is no end to the world. Each animal that he meets thinks that the end of his habitat is the end of the world but Calabash Cat realizes that they all are wrong. An interesting feature to the book is that the text is written in both English and Arabic.
As April is Poetry month I figured this is a good time to feature On a Wing and a Wish: Salt Water Bird Rhymes
, written by Al Pittman and illustrated by Veselina Tomova. This book contains wonderfully silly rhymes featuring salt water birds of all kinds! Anna and I got a kick out of some of the rhymes and pictures in this book, even if some of the poems didn't make a lot of sense to us. At the back of the book is a list of the names of the different birds featured in the poems.
Becoming Butterflies
, written by Anne Rockwell
and illustrated by Megan Halsey, is a great book for learning about caterpillars and butterflies. It tells the story of a teacher bringing caterpillars to class. The class watches as the caterpillars change into a butterflies and also learns about where the butterflies go in the winter. There is lots of great information told in an interesting way.
One is a Snail Ten is a Crab: A Counting by Feet Book, written by April Pulley Sayre and Jeff Sayre and illustrated by Randy Cecil, is a very unique counting book. As the subtitle suggests, the counting is done using feet. A snail has one foot and so a snail is one. A snail is also used to combine with other creatures if there is no creature that has the number of feet needed, for example three is a person plus a snail. When the counting gets to 10 it then starts counting by tens up to 100, showing two different ways to get each number using the same creatures as was used for the numbers 1-10.
is a great book to read just for fun, but it's also a great book to use to put some fun into some math and science lessons.
Ten Little Sleepyheads
, written by Elizabeth Provost and illustrated by Donald Saaf, is the perfect bedtime story. It is a counting down, rhyming book with lots of repeated words. Ten little bugs are getting ready for bed and as they go through each before bed activity another little bug drops off to sleep. It is fun to look for the new sleeping bug in each two page spread.
Winter is the Warmest Season
, written and illustrated by Lauren Stringer, is an excellent book to read on a cold winter day. You can't help but feel a little warmer inside after reading it, and you'll probably find yourself doing some of the things that this book says actually makes winter the warmest season. but I'm thinking, because of how cold it's been in our area lately, it's time to revisit the book again.
Time to Sleep
by Denise Fleming is a wonderful bed time story, but it's also a great book to use as a jump of point for all kinds of learning. Bear smells winter in the air and knows it's time to head to his den to sleep, but before he settles down he reminds snail that it's his bed time too. Before snail heads to bed he reminds skunk that it's his bed time, and so on. Each animal notices another sign that winter is setting in and makes sure he reminds still another animal that it's time to prepare for winter hibernation. is sure to be a book you will enjoy.
