Valensteins (A Love Story)
Author: Ethan Long
Illustrator: Ethan Long
Summary: Valentine's Day is almost here and Fran wants to share his feelings with his friend (who is nameless) and all the other monsters in the house are curious and teasing. Fran becomes frustrated and stomps out of the house. Will he be able to share his valentine?
Recommended Ages: 4-8 years
Themes, Skills, & Concepts: A funny take on a child's perspective of what it means to be in love and share feelings with another person.
Extension Activities: After reading this book, take the opportunity to have your kids create their own valentine for someone special. Many great discussions about "feelings" and "love" are possible, with care and guidance. Click here!
Sorry (Really Sorry)
Author: Joanna Cotler
Illustrator: Harry Bliss
Summary: Cow's day has started out in a terrible way and has put her in a bad mood. She takes her mood out on Duck, who's day is ruined. He takes his bad mood out on Frog and on it goes in a mean chain reaction until Dog's kindness turns the day around.
Recommended Ages: 4-8 years
Themes, Skills, & Concepts: This book ends with Horse being bothered by flies, and he hates flies. Have kids write, tell, draw or predict what Horse might do with his bad mood. Is Horse going to share his bad mood and make others unhappy, too or will he work to keep his feelings to himself?
Extension Activities: Owning our mistakes and apologizing for them is hard at any age. The sweet video below can help children learn how to apologize in a meaningful, sincere way. Click here!
Follow the Recipe : Poems about Imagination, Celebration & Cake
Author: Marilyn Singer
Illustrator: Marjorie Priceman
Summary: A beautiful, yummy collection of recipes that begin with simple recipes for simple foods and then evolve into more complicated and sophisticated ideas.
Recommended Ages: 4-8 years
Themes, Skills, & Concepts: These poems are so fun to read and are relatable to all human emotions. You and your students will be able to see yourselves in her words.
Extension Activities: For greater understanding of Marilyn Singer's work, read the short interview linked below. And be sure to check out some of her other works, such as Mirror, Mirror. Click here!
My Creepy Valentine
Author: Arthur Howard
Illustrator: Arthur Howard
Summary: Mitzi the witch loves all holidays EXCEPT Valentine's Day. To mushy, too lovey-dovey. Until she meets Spencer, who can spit milk out of his nose. Mitzi wants to send him a Valentine, but will Spencer like it?
Recommended Ages: 4-8 years
Themes, Skills, & Concepts: This is another good book that deals with the emotional conflict that many young kids have with Valentine's Day. The book is a great review of rhyming words and couplets.
Extension Activities: This books provides great opportunities for writing simple poems for Valentine's Day. Have kids choose a friend or relative that they would like to make a card for, brainstorm words that describe and rhyme and have a so much fun writing simple Valentine Day cards!
The Magic of Letters
Author: Tony Johnston
Illustrator: Tony Johnston
Summary: A beautiful book that can answer a child's question about what a letter is and what can it do?
Recommended Ages: 4-8 years
Themes, Skills, & Concepts: This book sequences the evolution of letters into words and then into sentences and illustrates that letters are indeed magic! The vocabulary used in the illustrations is stunning and so worth exploring.
Extension Activities: Have fun with the magic letter activities you will find in the blog linked below! Click here!
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