Read Aloud Thursday and Read Aloud Week Book Giveaway!

We have a full-to-overflowing book basket this week with many great titles!  Be sure to read to the end of the post because we have other exciting things to discuss, too!

Sky Tree:  Seeing Science Through Art by Thomas Locker and Candace Christiansen is a beautiful book that chronicles the changes in a lone tree through one year’s worth of seasons.  This book marries art and science beautifully; the text by Christiansen perfectly–and unobtrusively–complements the artwork by Locker.  (Incidentally, the title page actually reads “Thomas Locker with Candace Christiansen,” which is a testimony to the importance of the art in this book.)  This would be a great book to use as a part of a nature study because it is all about observation.  The interplay between the sky and the tree branches is amazing.  This is one to study over and over again.  (If this sounds interesting to you, check out my review of another of Locker’s books here.)
Pat Hutchins really needs no introduction, but aside from (possibly) reading Rosie’s Walk to my girls in my pre-blogging days, I don’t think we’d ever read anything by her here at the House of Hope.  Titch and Daisy was a real hit with my girls.  It’s the fun story of Titch, who doesn’t want to attend a party without his best friend, Daisy.  Despite the other children’s best efforts to involve him, Titch stays on the periphery of the party until he is met with a big surprise.  Hutchins’ bright and colorful illustrations are very kid-friendly, and my girls really liked the surprise element (which is really no surprise to the reader).  Knowing something that the hapless Titch doesn’t know throughout the story really tickled my girls.

If you’ve been reading Hope Is the Word for very long, you already know that I like poetry.  Well, when I checked out A Weed Is a Seed, I had no idea that it was written in verse form.  However, it’s not the genre of literature that really makes this book special; it’s the concept behind it.  Ferida Wolff introduces things found in nature in this book and points out the good and the bad about them.  For example,

A weed is a seed

that just doesn’t belong

in the place where it happens to grow.

But a weed can be feed

for a cold country mouse

digging out of the wintery snow.

Nice, huh?  Janet Pederson‘s watercolor and ink illustrations are a nice accompaniment for this unique nature book.

I’ve already highlighted Lois Ehlert here before, but I was excited to pick up Oodles of Animals this week at the library.  And I got bonus points because it’s another picture book written in verse form! 🙂  This one is just delightful!  The artwork is Ehlert’s trademark collagey (is that a word?) style, only this time the illustrations are just paper cut with scissors, pinking shears, and a hole punch.  I think that one of the great things about this is that it’s something children could easily copy!  Back to the poetry, though–it’s so much fun!  This one was our favorite:

SKUNK

If her tail’s raised,

give a skunk room,

unless you like

pee-yoo perfume.

I ask you, what child (or adult) wouldn’t like that?

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And now,  for the announcement you’ve been waiting for:  in honor of finally having a blog button suitable for sidebar use, I am hosting my own little bloggy giveaway.  We are also nearing our twentieth Read Aloud Thursday (this is number nineteen), and it’s almost Mother’s Day.  What other reasons do I need?

I happened upon one of my favorite read alouds we’ve done this year while I was shopping one day at Tuesday Morning (great book bargains here, by the way), so I grabbed a copy to pass along to one of you, my loyal readers.  Paul Fleischman’s The Animal Hedge is a beautiful and old-fashioned story that is perfect for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.  You can read all about it here.

Wouldn’t you like a copy for your own home library or for a gift for your favorite parental figure?  🙂 Here’s how to be entered into a drawing to win a copy:

1. Leave a comment (even if you don’t blog) telling me your favorite children’s author
2. Leave another comment with a link to your Read Aloud Thursday blog post
3. Put the Read Aloud Thursday button in your side bar and come back and tell me you did in another comment
4. Create a blog entry alerting your readers to this Read Aloud Thursday giveaway, or mention the giveaway in your Read Aloud Thursday post (either will do) and leave me a comment telling you did so

Be sure that each comment includes your contact information (email address or blog link).

That give you up to four chances to win this week alone!!  We will do this again on next week’s Read Aloud Thursday post, and the giveaway will close after next Thursday’s post (more details to come next week).  That means that you essentially have until next Thursday to complete this assignment, and we’ll open it up again next Thursday with a new post.  Clear as mud? 🙂

Come back every weekday between now and the next Read Aloud Thursday–I plan to highlight a different favorite read aloud every day!

Happy Read Aloud Week from Hope Is the Word!

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