“Octopus” by Rebecca Stefoff

This book contains a perfect portion of information: not too much, not too little. It is clearly organized. Plus nice photographs. Yes!

“Gentle Gian Octopus” by Karen Wallace

 

This award winning book was a disappointment. Mike Bostock’s illustrations are captivating but as a whole this book does not work for us. It’s kind of boring. There are more interesting books on an octopus out there.

“Frozen Noses” by Jan Carr

Illustrated by Dorothy Donohue. Big yes! Clever poetry, great pictures.

“Have You Seen My Cat?” by Eric Carle

Classic, but it’s not my first choice.

“Grumpy Cat” by Britta Teckentrup

Some cat was grumpy, then it met an orphaned kitten and discovered that being responsible for another creature makes one less lonely. And they lived happily ever after. Uplifting.

“The House that Max Built” by Maxwell Newhouse

Illustrated by the author. It’s a nice book but my child refused to read it. He claims that “it’s too busy”… Hm… Maybe later.

“A Tree is Nice” by Janice May Udry

Illustrated by Marc Simont. Nice pictures.

 

“The Greatest Dinosaur Ever” by Brenda Z. Guiberson

Illustrated by Gennady Spirin. You may always count on Russian illustrators: they never fail to enchant you. This book is a nice mnemotic catalogue of dinosaurs, regarding their various “greatnesses”. Nice to look at, informative.

“The Little Island” by Margarete Wise Brown

 

Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. Beautiful pictures but a story: oh, dear–

“Little Blue Truck Leads the Way” by Alice Schertle

Beautifully illustrated by Jill McElmurry. “One at a time / is what we’ll do, so single file, folk – / FOLLOW BLUE!” We love it.

 

“The House in the Night” by Susan Swanson

Illustrated by Beth Krommes. Dazzling. Beautiful. Mesmerising.

“Dinosaurs 3D: An Incredible Journey Throughout Time” by Douglas Dixon

 

Informative, interesting, for elementary school kids.

children in art

Franciszek Streitt, The Dolls’s Doctor, 1876, Poland

Franciszek Streitt, The Apprentice’s Efforts (known also as Working Hard), 1881, Poland

“The Octopus” in a series: “Grandpa Spanielson’s Chicken Pox Stories” by Denys Cazet

 

Story # 1. Funny bathroom thriller. For the Spanielsons’s fans.

“Cars” by Nancy Smiler Levinson

Illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers. Two ladies made this book about old cars. We like it. It gives a concise history of the car development from “steamers” to modern cars. Plus a timeline. Plus a glossary. To come back.   

 

“Octopus and Squid: Sea Monsters” by Homer Seward

There are more interesting books on this subject out there.

“Lost in the Woods” by Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick

“Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” by Bill Martin Jr.

Illustrated by Eric Carle, of course. Classic.

“Construction Zone” by Cheryl Willis Hudson

Photographs by Richard Sobol. Once upon a time, I worked as a secretary-assistant to a project manager. We (!) were expanding a factory. I was fascinated by the construction work, and since then I have a lot of respect for the construction workers of all sorts.

Hudson and Sobol picked a great piece of architecture to illustrate their book: Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Stata Center in Cambridge, Mass. Generally this book is OK but… It’s not that easy to take good photographs for educational purposes. The book is confusing sometimes. The choices of colors do not help. Overall, the book lacks clarity, especially for younger apprentices of Bob the Builder.  

“Squid and Octopus: Friends for Always” by Tao Nyeu

Unfortunately, the author run out of ideas quickly. Nice pictures, though…