A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead

In A Sick Day for Amos McGee, written by Philip C. Stead and illustrated by his wife Erin E. Stead, Amos's days are always the same.  He is a zoo keeper and enjoys spending time with the animals at the zoo.  When he gets sick and can't make it to work the animals miss him and decide to go visit him.

Anna and I both loved it!  The illustrations are great with just a touch of subtle colour.

On Philip Stead's blog, he has some posts that celebrate the fact that this book was named one of 10 best illustrated books in 2010 by New York Times.  Check out the first of the celebration posts for A Sick Day with Amos McGee and then click on Newer Post at the bottom of that post to read the other celebration posts.  In each post he highlights animals that are featured in the book and shows stamps from his stamp collection featuring the animals and also shows illustrations from the book.

On Erin Stead's blog, she also has a number of posts about the book.  These posts are sprinkled throughout the blog and I wish there was an easy way to access the posts about the book specifically but there isn't.  Two of my favorite ones about the book are her post about the day they received the first shipment of A Sick Day with Amos McGee and the post where she describes how she made one of the pictures for A Sick Day with Amos McGee.

Python Play and other recipes for fun Poems by Robert Heidbreder

Python Play: and Other Recipes for Fun, with poems written by Robert Heidbreder and pictures by Karen Patkau, is a great, fun book of poems of all sorts all about play.  There are poems about classic play games like Hide-and-Seek and Tug-of-War, but there are also poems about totally new games.  The poems are sure to inspire action of all sorts.

Anna and I had great fun reading the poems and acting some of them out.  We also enjoyed the bright illustrations.

The Boston Box by Carmelita McGrath

It was over a year ago that Anna and I read The Boston Box by Carmelita McGrath.  Set in the 1930's in outport Newfoundland, it tells the story of a young girl named Mary.  Mary loved to dream big dreams, and while she's busy working hard helping the other women with the fish she dreams of what she will do with the money she earns.  However, when it comes time to get paid they discover that the price of fish has gone down and her money will have to be used to help the family with necessities.  Live is made a little easier by an annual box of surprises sent from an aunt in Boston.  The book is illustrated by Rochelle Baker and some of them are quite nice.  I especially liked the borders around the illustrations.

Anna was very young when we read this book together and it really was over her head.  I do plan on returning to this book again as part of our social studies.  It is a great book to use as a resource for learning about life in outport Newfoundland in the 1930s.

The book was actually one of the finalist is the Hackmatack awards in 2005 and they prepared a page with suggested learning activities to do with The Boston Box.

Splat the Cat Sings Flat written by Chris Strathearn

Splat the Cat Sings Flat is an I Can Read book based on books by Rob Scotton but this book is actually written by Chris Strathearn and illustrated by Robert Eberz.  In this book Splat the cat is afraid to sing at a school presentation but he finally overcomes his fear.

Anna enjoyed the book and I thought it was okay.  It did give us a chance to talk about overcoming your fears.

Setting Wonder Free by Maryke Barnes

In Setting Wonder Free, written by Maryke Barnes and illustrated by Jirina Marton, a seven year old girl feels bad for her hobby horse, Wonder.  Wonder has been banished to the basement because her and her brother have outgrown it. Her mother suggested giving it to the Salvation Army but she couldn't bear the thought of another child riding it so she suggested putting it out in the field near their house.  Wonder looked lonely out there and the girl imagined Wonder would be happier with children.  One day, after a lady with a toddler had asked about Wonder, Wonder disappeared and the girl imagined how happy Wonder was again.

Anna loved this story.  It gave us a chance to talk about how you can grow out of toys and how when you do it is nice to give the toys to other children to enjoy.

The Stupendous Adventure of Gregory Green by Jason Noble

The Stupendous Adventure of Gregory Green, written by Jason Noble and illustrated by his brother Matthew Noble, is the story of a boy that tries to save the forest from Sawtooth, Sludge, and Smog, three monsters that threaten to destroy the forest.  Included with the book is a CD of Gordon Pinsent narrating the story.

Anna enjoyed listening to the story on CD but to be perfectly honest I did not particularly enjoy the story.  Could be just because it's not my style of story and I may have to revisit it to give it another chance but my first opinion was not a great one.

Webster The Scaredy Spider by Max Lucado

Webster The Scaredy Spider by Max Lucado is available in many formats - board book, hard cover, kindle edition, and DVD.  To be perfectly truthful, Anna and I haven't actually read the book, but we have watched the DVD.  It tells the story of a spider named Webster who is scared of everything, and everyone in the garden is afraid of Webster.  Hermie, however, helps everyone realize that Webster is not so scary after all and he also helps Webster be brave.  Hermie reminds them all that God is always with them and they need not be afraid.

Anna loves the DVD and we have watched it over and over and over.  I didn't realize that it was available as a book but I will definitely be watching for it.