Bear Snores On

Picture Books

A hibernating bear is asleep in his cozy den when some unexpected animals stop by for warmth. They make a fire, pop white popcorn, and eat some crunchy nuts, all while the bear is sound asleep. It's not until some black pepper seasoning, makes the bear sneeze and wake up! He is startled by his unexpected guests, but in the end joins in on the party. This book offers rhyme and lots of different animal voices to invent while reading to children. Repetition is used with the phrase, "but the bear snores on." The warm colored illustrations take up the whole page and really make you feel like your at the party, because of this I would rate this book a 5 out of 5!

Title: Bear Snores On
Author: Karma Wilson
Illustrator: Jane Chapman
Publisher/Date: Margaret K. McElderry Books 2002
ISNB: 0-689-83187-0
Rating: 5 out of 5

Snoop the Crime Dog

Decodable Texts

This decodable text teaches kids the variant vowel /oo/ combination such as in snoop, hoop, and new. Snoop the Crime Dog is a mystery about a dog detective that goes on the hunt for a missing snow goose. He finds a moose to help him follow the tracks that leads to two hunters that shot the goose. This book was very lengthy and had a lot of texts for this kind of genre, making it hard to follow along. I would give this book a 2 out of 5.

Title: Snoop the Crime Dog 
https://www.readinga-z.com/book/decodable.php?id=59
Rating: 2 out of 5

JoJo's Yo-Yo

Decodable Texts

JoJo's Yo-Yo helps children learn open vowels Y,O. Open vowels are the last sound in a word, with no closing constant. This story is about a shy girl that isn't very good at things like her friends. She can't run fast or fly a kite, but in the end she can do Yo-Yo tricks like no one else! Along with teaching kids about open vowels it relays a message to never give up, which deems it a 5 out of 5.

Title: Jo-Jo's Yo-Yo
https://www.readinga-z.com/book/decodable.php?id=52
Rating: 5 out of 5

Get the Pets

Decodable Texts

This book focuses on learning the short vowel /e/ sound like in pets. A boy named Tom has ten chickens that get out of their cage and he has to use a net to catch them. The illustrations are colorful and relay the message that the book is trying to get across, for this reason I would rate it a 4 out of 5.

Title: Get the Pets
https://www.readinga-z.com/book.php?id=1117
Rating: 4 out of 5

Flora and the Flamingo

Wordless Picture Books

Flora and the Flamingo is a wordless picture book with interactive flaps that begins with a girl named Flora and a flamingo mimicking each other in their movements. The flamingo doesn't like that its space is being taken over, so it knocks Flora to the ground. The story is sort of a dance but its hard to understand what exactly is the message. Does Flora want to play and be friends? Is she mocking the flamingo? In the end it shows the two in friendship holding hands. The illustration was brilliant with the white spacing, showing off the aspect of the flamingo feeling invaded. Overall, it was hard to follow and didn't give me much sense of meaning.

Title: Flora and the Flamingo
Author/Illustrator: Molly Idle
Publisher/Date: Chronicle Books 2014
ISNB: 978-1452110066
Rating: 1 out of 5

The Girl and the Bicycle

Wordless Picture Books

A little girl spies a lovely green bicycle in a store window. She races home to find her piggy bank doesn't have enough money. In order to make more, she works very hard by setting up a lemonade stand and even selling her possessions. When that doesn't cut it, she goes door to door asking her neighbors to do yard work. Finally having enough money, the little girl goes back to the store only to discover that the bike has been purchased. Although devastated, her hard work doesn't go unrewarded! One of my favorite things about this book was the color palette of the grey paper. It really allowed the reader to focus on the illustrations and not get caught up in color!

Title: The Girl and the Bicycle
Author/Illustrator: Mark Pett
Publisher/Date: Simon & Schuster 2014
ISBN: 9781442483194
Rating: 4 out of 5

Sidewalk Flowers

                                                       Wordless Picture Books

Sidewalk Flowers is about a young girl who goes on a walk with her father and finds weedy wildflowers in the cracks of sidewalks and walls. Instead of keeping them for herself, she passes them out to a man sleeping on a park bench, a dead bird, and saves just enough for her mother and siblings at home. The illustrations were one of my favorite things about this book, how the pop of color stemmed from the little girl and the flowers. I would give this wordless picture book a 4 out of 5 because it captures the gentle message to stop and smell the flowers- and share them with others!

Title: Sidewalk Flowers

Author: Jon Arno Lawson

Illustrator: Sydney Smith

Publisher/Date: Groundwood Books 2015

ISBN: 978-1-55498-431-2

Rating: 4 out of 5