I have chosen the delightful picture book, Press Here by Hervé Tullet as my selection for Perfect Picture Book Friday.

 

 

Title:  Press Here                             

Written & Illustrated:  Hervé Tullet

Publisher: Chronicle Books, LLC 2011 

Originally Published:  Bayard Editions 2010 under the title Un Livre

Age Range – 2 and up.

Themes: cause & effect, color, imagination, fun, educational, creativity

Opening & Synopsis: 

Press here and turn the page.

Great! Now Press the yellow dot again.

 

The back of the book states:

Press here.  That’s right. Just press the yellow dot. And turn the page.

The single touch of a finger sparks a whimsical dance of color and

motion in this joyful celebration of the power of the imagination.

 

Activities:

This book is great for teaching children left and right and the primary colors.

Chronicle Books has some fun activities to download.

Creating your own book with dots.

Painting dots on paper.

Playing the children’s game:  Simon Says.

Why I like this book: Press Here was so much fun!  It will make even the grumpiest of grumps smile   The idea is simple. This is the type of book that small children love.  It gives them a chance to interact and also shows them a direct reaction. It will have the reader in giggles by the end.  And then they will want to do it all over again! I would love to own the French version of this book.  I think it would be a useful tool in teaching beginning French.

 

 

Perfect Picture Book Fridays are a weekly blog event where participants review some of their favorite picture books. The posts are compiled on author Susanna Leonard Hill’s website. They are categorized by theme to help parents, educators and readers find the perfect picture book easily. To learn more, please visit Susanna’s site where you will find the complete PPBF’s library.

 

 

This week’s Perfect Picture Book Friday selection is from a favorite author/illustrator of mine, Keiko Kasza  :

 

 

Title:  My Lucky Day  Written & Illustrated:  Keiko Kasza  Publisher: Penguin/Putnam (div of Scholastic), 2004

Age Range -Preschool to Grade 2

Themes:  Humor, imagination, creativity, folktales

Opening & Synopsis:

One day, a hungry fox was preparing to hunt for his dinner. As he polished his claws he was startled by a knock at the door.

So begins the humorous tale of a fox and a pig.  The fox thinks that he is smarter than the pig and plans to eat him for dinner.  However, little does he know that the smart pig is all set to out “fox” him. This is a tale of the triumph of the underdog.

Here’s what the publisher wrote on Amazon:  When a delicious-looking piglet knocks on Mr. Fox’s door by mistake, the fox is sure it must be his lucky day. It’s not every day that dinner just shows up on your doorstep! But as the piglet is quick to point out, shouldn’t the fox give him a bath first? And wouldn’t it be best to fatten him up a little? It’s beginning to look like “dinner” is a lot smarter than it seems.

Activities: 

Keiko Kasza has a great website which contains a teacher’s guide for her books.

ABCteach.com has some fun coloring pages of animals including a pig and a fox

Here is a great site full of coloring pages, including pigs

Why I like this book:  I love the humor and creativity of this book.  The little pig is so sweet.  Even the fox ends up sympathizing with him.  The illustrations go with the text perfectly.  The flow of the story is very nice and will hold a child’s attention easily. Full of humor and fun, the ending will make you giggle!

Perfect Picture Book Fridays are a weekly blog event where participants review some of their favorite picture books. The posts are compiled on author Susanna Leonard Hill’s website. They are categorized by theme to help parents, educators and readers find the perfect picture book easily. To learn more, please visit Susanna’s site where you will find the complete PPBF’s library.

This past week I downloaded the trial version of Sketchbook Pro. Many people have recommended it to me, and one of my favorite comic artists, Skottie Young, uses it.  So with that in mind, I decided to check it out.

I had created a sketch a few weeks back for Illustration Friday’s prompt “Prepare”.  After loading Sketchbook Pro, I decided to paint it.  I found the Sketchbook Pro software to be very user friendly. There really isn’t that big of a learning curve like Photoshop and other software paint programs I’ve used.   I used it with a Wacom tablet and my computer.  I know quite a few people that use it with their Ipad or Android also.

It was a lot of fun.  I did find a couple of tutorials that helped me learn the basics very quickly.  I really liked the pencil tool and how it seemed just like a colored pencil.  I still have to figure out the brushes on the paint brush as they seemed too “soft” for my taste.  It has quite a few tools, such as the copic markers and pens, paintbrush, ellipse , paint bucket, ball point pen, etc.  The interface works the same for each tool, so it is pretty easy once you figure it out initially.  I liked the way you can scale and rotate an image too. Very simple. And the ruler tool was a neat feature.  I can see myself using that a lot.

Here is the finished painting. It’s still a little rough.   I will probably go back and rework it once I get more knowledge of the program.  The cat is in honor of my friend Dolly’s cat, Oreo, who recently died.  RIP Oreo.

It’s Friday and time for another Perfect Picture Book review.  This National Geographic Action Book was a huge hit at our house!

 

 

 

Title:  Creatures of the Desert World

Publisher:  National Geographic Society, 1987 in cooperation with Intervisual Communications, Inc.

Barbara Gibson, Illustrator/Jody Bolt, Art Director/John Strejan and James Roger Diaz, Paper Engineers

Suitable for: 4 and up

NOTE:  Amazon states 9 and up, but I feel like smaller children will enjoy this as much or more than older children. The pop ups are a lot of fun and the reading is limited to 2 paragraphs per double page.

Themes/Topics:  Animals, Discovery, Geographic, Non-fiction, Science

In the early morning sun, two mountain lion cubs are playing with a spiny lizard.  Soon they will follow their mother to their den to sleep during the hottest time of the day.  They live in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert.  The desert has little water, and it is often very hot. 

Brief Synopsis:  Journey to Arizona’s Sonoran Desert.  Learn about the animals and their habitats.  An interesting and interactive way to learn about the desert and the creatures that live there.   Children will have loads of fun with this activity & pop up book. Each beautifully illustrated page comes to life with fun interactive flip up’s, pop outs, pulleys, and flaps.

Activities:

National Geographic Kids has a great website full of lots of videos, games and other activites

Enchanted Learning has some info on the desert plus some neat print outs to color

Everything Preschool has some cute songs to sing about the desert

Discovery Channel Planet Earth has some great pictures of desert animals as well as some more articles that would be suitable for older children.

The Planet Earth Blu-Ray DVD is a fantastic series.  One of the episodes is on deserts.  I highly recommend the BBC version.

Discovery Kids:  Tell Me…Slitherin’ Snakes

Why I like this book:  I love books that are not only educational, but also are fun to read.  These types of books are great, especially for busy little ones.  Each page is something new to discover.  The kids will want you to read it over and over.

Perfect Picture Book Fridays are a weekly blog event where participants review some of their favorite picture books. The posts are compiled on author Susanna Leonard Hill’s website. They are categorized by theme to help parents, educators and readers find the perfect picture book easily. To learn more, please visit Susanna’s site where you will find the complete PPF’s library.