Warning: Do Not Open this Book!

Warning: Do Not Open this Book! Written by Adam Lehrhaupt, illustrated by Matthew Forsythe. Simon & Schuster, 2013. ISBN 978-1-4424-3582-7

Reader's Annotation: Monkeys! Toucans! Alligators! In the spirit of There's a Monster at the End of this Book, readers are repeatedly cautioned not to turn the page, but who can resist such a warning...

Summary: With cautions such as "This book is super-dangerous", and "Go back! Wrong way!", the stage is set for catastrophe and silliness. Monkeys are released into the book with a turn of the page, and begin to paint messily and tamper with the text. When things seem to have settled down somewhat, and the monkeys are resting, a flock of toucans is loosened and craziness ensues. When an alligator who wants to eat the monkeys and toucans appears, all hope of returning to a quieter, less chaotic state is lost.

Can the reader, with the help of the narrator, figure out a way to contain the silliness? Will the monkeys, toucans, and alligator be caught and their mayhem contained? Keep turning the pages to find out.

Critical Evaluation: Lehrhaupt has created an extremely silly interactive book that begs to be read again and again. With simple text that becomes a part of the design of each two-page layout, and suspenseful pacing that encourages page turning, even while the narrative warns against it, this picture book encourages laughter and engagement. 

Forsythe's digitally rendered illustrations are restrained in color, being composed of mainly earth tones, but the movement and energy he captures in his depictions of the animals are nothing but lively. The facial expressions and goofy posturing of the monkeys are irresistible, and children will delight in their antics.

In a world full of rules, this book offers children an opportunity to not follow directions, and safely explore the outcome. Young readers may recognize themselves in the mess-making behaviors of the animals, and will enjoy playing a key role in solving the problem of the escaped animals.

The solution is cleverly proposed, and even the back cover of the book becomes part of the narrative. This book would be a wonderful read-aloud for a preschool or Kindergarten story time, with guaranteed participation from all listeners.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 2 to 6

Awards: ALA notable book, 2014 E.B. White Read-Aloud Honor Award

Why Included? As a longtime fan of Grover, the premise of this interactive book really appealed to me, and it did not disappoint. 

Press Here

Press Here written and illustrated by Herve Tullet. Chronicle Books, 2011. ISBN 978-0-8118-7954-5

Reader's Annotation: With simple painted dots in primary hues, and true interactivity, Herve Tullet has created a book that rivals the attractiveness of touchscreen technology.

Summary: It all begins with a single yellow dot. With the press of a finger, the dot becomes two, and then three. With more taps, blue and red dots appear, and then multiply. Soon, the dots are traveling to the right or left, and then the lights go out! With some strategic pressing and clapping, the lights come back on and the dots begin to grow. 

When readers follow the directions in the text, magical changes occur to the painted dots on the next page. Children will be enthralled to see the results of their actions, and upon reaching the question of "Want to do it all over again?", the answer will be a resounding "Yes!".

Critical Evaluation: The interactive capabilities of Press Here encourage children to use their imaginations and completely engage with the work. It is a simple concept, that of images responding to actions on the part of the reader, but one that results in a captivating experience. 

The colors and movements of the colored dots set a mood of cheerful exuberance, while the friendly, conversational tone of the text encourages a feeling of direct communication between the reader and the narrator. The illustrations, text, and participatory nature of the work unite to provide a marvelously interactive journey of creativity.

The tremendous success of this book has resulted in the release of a Press Here board game and app, as well as the follow up title, Mix it Up.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 3 to 7

Lexile Level: 320L

Awards: ALA Notable Children's Book 2012, All Ages

Why Included? Tullet's inventiveness won me over after seeing this book in action. Children LOVE it!

Look! A Book! A Zany Seek-and-Find Adventure

Look! A Book! written and illustrated by Bob Staake. Little, Brown and Company, 2011. ISBN 978-0-316-11862-0

Reader's Annotation: "Look! A book! A hook! A cowboy cook!". With these three clues, a quirky seek-and-find journey begins. Before it ends, seekers will have located items such as a barber pole, a gooey splat, a troll, and a monkey bite. What will you find?

Summary: Staake's creativity overflows in these wacky scenes full of activity and detail. Die-cut holes provide a peek into the next two-page spread, and are accompanied by rhyming text listing which items are to be found. 

Each illustrated scene is organized around a theme such as Museum Creatures Escape, or Treetop Town, and there is a great deal of silliness on every page. Upon reaching the book's last scene, Staake reveals another surprise: a gate-fold list of many more items hidden in the book. The fun is nearly endless, but when readers have found everything on the list, there is more: Staake's follow-up work, Look! Another Book!



"ROBOTS built here one by one! 
Bang 'em! Clang 'em! Till they're done. 
Can you find the mini one?"


Critical Evaluation: The interactive nature of Look! A Book! encourages children to completely engage with the work. The multitude of silly activities and marvelously zany creatures that Staake manages to pack into each two-page spread will leave children giggling and flipping to the next page to see what happens next. An added bonus to sharing this book with a child will be the conversations that result from observations and discoveries made while searching - it creates the perfect opportunity to share a love of reading.

Staake's use of bright, saturated hues adds to the energy depicted in each jam-packed scene, while his clever, rhyming text supplements the light-hearted nature of the illustrations. This book can be enjoyed on many different levels, and is suitable for pre-readers right on up to adults. The youngest seekers can search for the items highlighted in the bubble-shaped die-cuts, while more advanced readers will want to find everything included on the gate-fold list. Whatever the intensity of the search, Look! A Book! offers readers an imaginative and enjoyable pursuit.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 3 to 93

Awards: ---

Why Included? Where else can you see such wackiness? Also, learning that Staake creates his digital images on vintage computer equipment adds another layer of charm to the work.

National Geographic Little Kids Magazine

National Geographic Little Kids: the Magazine for Young Explorers by the National Geographic Society. ISSN 1934-8363

Reader's Annotation: With articles like "Hanging with Fruit Bats", "Jaguars Grow Up", and "The Moon up Close", children will experience a learning adventure with each issue's arrival.

Summary: A magazine for the very youngest nature explorers filled with spectacular photographs and short informational articles about subjects of interest to children. Interspersed among the articles are activities such as naming games, seek-and-find challenges, jokes, and matching fun.

Each issue also includes removable Wild Cards that feature images of animals, insects, and sea life on one side, with fun facts on the reverse side. The wonders of nature, space, and science are presented in a dynamic format and small size perfect for curious preschoolers. 

Critical Evaluation: The National Geographic Society continues its long tradition of quality educational publications with this title for the very young. Preschool children are inherently curious about the world around them, and Little Kids provides age-appropriate informational articles about nature and science in a format that supports both learning and entertainment.

The factual articles are enlivened with many photographs and the text placed on the page in such a way to allow the pictures to figure prominently. Additionally, colored headings, varying sizes of type, and easily understood design layouts encourage reading and browsing by the very young.

The only drawback to this publication is the cost: a yearly subscription of six bimonthly issues costs $15. Each issue averages just 24 pages, and young families may find the subscription price prohibitive when it is weighed against the frequency of issue delivery and quantity of content.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 3 to 6

Awards: Parent's Choice Gold Award

Why Included? I have been a lifelong fan of National Geographic Magazine, and Little Kids is a perfect introduction to this wonderful educational organization and its many publications.

Endless Alphabet App

Endless Alphabet App created by the team at Originator, Inc. Available on iTunes for iPhone and iPad. $6.99

Annotation: Imagine: words like gargantuan and ruckus being easily tossed into everyday conversation by preschoolers. How could this be? Chalk it up to the positive influence of some silly vocabulary monsters in the Endless Alphabet app.

Summary: This is a cleverly designed interactive app which introduces letter sounds, spelling, and definitions of featured words. Over fifty vocabulary words are included with the app, and these are not typical beginner words like cat or dog. Instead, preschoolers are challenged with words such as demolish and bellow. As the scattered letters of the selected word are dragged to their proper place within the word, not only do they move and wiggle, but they produce their phonetic sounds.



Once the word has been completely filled in with its letters, the friendly monsters stampede past, cheering all the while, and then an animated short plays which demonstrates the definition of the vocabulary word.




Critical Evaluation: This app has been designed to move at the pace of each individual child. Navigation is intuitive, and children will move easily from the main menu where vocabulary words are selected to the individual word modules and back again. The animated monsters are eye-catching, and their antics while defining each word are extremely entertaining. The accompanying sound effects and music are not overpowering, and add an additional level of interactivity to the app.

While the app is priced higher than other similar educational games, I believe that the complexity of the learning experience make it worth the cost. Children not only will learn to recognize each letter, but will gain experience with the phonetic sounds of each, how the letters are put together to make words, and what the words mean, and all while having fun.

Originator has also released Endless Numbers, Endless Reader, and most recently, Endless Wordplay. These apps are wonderful tools to boost a child's reading and mathematical skills while developing a love of learning.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 3 to 5

Awards: 2013 App of the Year Runner-up ; App Store's Editor's Choice

Why Included? I purchased this app for my son a couple of years ago, and he really enjoyed making the words from the squiggly talking letters. An interactive app such as Endless Alphabet that can make learning so much fun is a valuable addition to any library's collection of resources.

DK Find Out! Website

DK Find Out! Fun facts for kids on animals, earth, history and more. An educational website created by Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2015. Available at http://www.dkfindout.com/us/

Annotation: DK has done it again! This time, instead of a print edition of the well-designed and visually-oriented layouts of informational text that they are known for, the publisher has expanded to the internet and created a resource for curious kids who want to "find out more". 

Summary: This is a cleanly designed website which is still in its beta phase, but even in this early stage, shows great promise as a resource that educates children about the world around them in such an engaging way that they won't even notice they are learning. With major categories such as "Animals and Nature", "Human Body", "Math", and "English", there is something here for every interest.

As shown in the screen shot below, the graphics are labeled with interactive buttons which, when clicked, open additional content or descriptive text.

There are fun quizzes to test your knowledge on particular subjects, videos, and photo galleries to explore. Currently, the site is available for educators, but there is a module coming soon for parents and children to use at home. There will also be a feature to save your favorite content for later reference that is currently in development.

Critical Evaluation: While this web encyclopedia is geared towards children at the high end of our target age range (and even older), it is a wonderful resource for the factual-oriented young person, and worthy of mention. DK's high standards for photography and overall design, as found in their print publications, are present here as well in the high-quality graphics and clean layout.

While DK Find Out! is offered through the internet, it is a secure site, and safe for children to use. The website is also available at no cost, which allows school, libraries, and families of all economic levels to have the same ability to access the content, an important factor to consider when combating the digital divide.

Also of note for educators is the curriculum-oriented content with suggested projects and assignments that relate to the subject matter on the website. It is evident that the developers of this site have put a great deal of thought into making it highly attractive to children, as well as practical and helpful to educators. A link to the DK Find Out! site would be a valuable addition to a school or library homepage or list of homework resources.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 6 and Up

Awards: ---

Why Included? This would be very useful in a school or library environment for children to reference particular topics for an assignment, or simply to browse the website for whatever strikes their fancy that day.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVD)

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! ...and more stories by Mo Willems, Scholastic Storybook Treasures, 2010. 0-545-29908-X, Approximately 49 minutes on DVD. $14.95

Annotation: The pigeon, along with Trixie, Knuffle Bunny, and Leonardo the Terrible Monster leap onto the big screen and into living rooms everywhere. 

Summary: This DVD, the first volume of the Mo Willems Cartoon Collection, includes the favorite stories Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, and Leonardo the Terrible Monster. The video representations of the picture books are true to the originals in both animation style and narrative. 

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! features the voices of Willems and Jon Scieszka. When the bus driver takes a break and leaves the viewer in charge, the persuasive pigeon will try anything to get behind the wheel. Knuffle Bunny is narrated by Mo Willems and his daughter, Trixie, who tell the story of a trip to the laundromat where something very important gets left behind. Leonardo, once again voiced by Willems, is terrible at being a monster and is unable to frighten anyone. Perhaps if he could find just the right little boy to scare, he could live up to his terrifying potential.

As an added bonus, the DVD also includes an interactive Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!: The You Yell Version, a Spanish language version of Knuffle Bunny, a segment featuring Mo and the Pigeon as they visit a school, and another segment where Mo talks about the stories.

Critical Evaluation: The Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVD series is well-regarded for creating quality video versions of classic and popular children's picture books. The accompanying information on the case insert of this particular title indicates that the presentation "supports cooperation, early reading, and problem solving". One of the features of this series is that it includes both a module where the stories can be viewed with the narrative being read aloud, as well as a module where the text being read appears on the screen with words highlighted as they are being spoken. This can be highly beneficial for emergent readers, as it helps them begin to recognize words and letter patterns.



The Pigeon video segment is participatory by allowing children to interact and respond to the pigeon's sly strategies to drive, which helps combat the passivity of typical television viewing. Knuffle Bunny and Leonardo are both written and drawn with a child's perspective in mind, and anyone who has ever loved a favorite stuffed animal, or ever felt scared of monsters, will identify closely with these stories.

I would also recommend the second volume in this series, Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late DVD, which includes more Pigeon, Knuffle Bunny, and Naked Mole Rat fun.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 2 to 7

Awards: Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video

Why Included? Mo Willems is one of my absolute favorite children's authors, and the charm and wit of his picture storybooks carries through into this video production.

Plants: a Science App

Plants App created by the team at Tinybop, Inc. Available on iTunes for iPhone and iPad. $2.99

Annotation: Imagine an open-ended digital world where you are in charge of not only the weather, pollination, flora and fauna, but also the passing of time. This cleverly designed app allows the participant to do just that, and learn a great deal about life cycles and the interconnected web of nature at the same time.

Summary: Second in the Explorers Library Series by Tinybop, this open-ended app presents three diorama-style biomes (forest, grassland, and desert) where touch screen capabilities enable the participant to interact with multiple aspects of the landscape, weather, flora and fauna, and time.

There is no instruction booklet, and as children explore the app, swiping here or tapping there, the discovery of a possible action invites further investigation. Pollination, weather events, decomposition, fire, and animal and plant life cycles can be initiated and better understood as each stage of the processes is illustrated.



Accompanying the visual depiction of the dioramas are labels which specify the names of the plants and animals. These labels are also interactive, and are available in over 50 languages. Natural sounds play in the background, but never at a distracting frequency or volume.



As updates are developed, Tinybop plans on releasing additional biomes and animal species to allow more complex natural worlds to emerge. Additionally, Tinybop has provided a free downloadable handbook for parents and educators who wish to encourage conversation about the outcomes in the Plants world.

Critical Evaluation: This science app has been designed to appeal to the natural inquisitiveness of children, and each participant's experience will be highly individualized. Many of the aspects of nature that are explored in Plants support STEM learning outcomes. This would be a valuable app to offer in a school or public library setting, particularly in conjunction with other materials focusing on life cycles and the interconnected structure of the natural world.

French illustrator Marie Caudry's drawings of the plants, landscapes, and animals are playful and attractive while remaining accurate. The many interactive details invite closer study and inspire wonder. Her palette changes with the time of day and with the seasons, but is consistently vibrant and richly hued.

The Plants app is priced very reasonably for the included content. The complexity of the learning experience, as well as the projected expansion of available biomes and animal species make it well worth the cost. Tinybop has released two other titles in the Explorer's Library Series: Human Body and Homes, which are available purchase as a bundle for even greater cost-effectiveness.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 6 to 8

Awards: ---

Why Included? Children's lives are often so structured by daily life in our society that it is not often that they are completely in charge. Plants gives them a chance to do things exactly as they want to, and then observe the results.

Muzzy Online : A Language Course for Children

Muzzy Online. A language course for children created by Early Advantage, [n.d.]. Available on the websites of many American libraries.

Annotation: Travel with Muzzy, the clock-eating green monster, as he flies around the world, meets many interesting characters, and eventually ends up saving the day. 

Summary: Muzzy began in 1986 as an animated film created by the BBC. It was later adapted to become a language course for children, and has now been updated to include interactive features in an online environment. Many American libraries offer Muzzy Online through their websites, free of charge to their patrons.



Muzzy loves to eat metal objects, clocks being his favorite, and as he lands his spacecraft in Gondoland, he meets a cast of characters including a king, a queen, and a princess, as well as a gardener who is in love with the princess, and an evil scientist. The story grows from there and involves an elopement, jail time, and computer clones.

While the plot sounds very mature, it is presented in an age appropriate manner. The movie segments are accompanied by language lessons and vocabulary building exercises that present the same words again and again, but in different contexts. It is thought that children learn language best when it is immersive and repetitious, and Muzzy Online utilizes this approach.

With eight world languages to choose from, two levels of difficulty, and the option of subtitles, the Muzzy Online site is incredibly versatile and offers a broad range of interactive language experiences.



Critical Evaluation: Muzzy (on DVD) and Muzzy Online are internationally recognized as the number one language course for children. Millions of children have learned a foreign language while enjoying animated videos and vocabulary exercises.

There are many glowing reviews and success stories featured on the Early Advantage website, which demonstrate the solid results that participants in the program have achieved. However, while the program was updated in 2013 with all-new animation and audio, the animation, voices, and music appear and sound dated, particularly in contrast to other current interactive apps or computer animated media for children. 

Also, the layout of the various screens (which in many cases feature an active window within two larger frames, which are overlaid on an animated background) is distracting and draws attention away from the course content. Due to this overly complicated layout, there is often an awkward screen break which requires scrolling down to reach the area of the page where a mouse click is required to advance to the next segment of the lesson.

 

A redesign of the page layouts, and an update to the visual and audio portions of the course, would result in a more sophisticated and up to date presentation, which would be much more fitting to a language learning tool that has achieved such a high degree of international success. 

Age or Interest Level: Ages 2 to 7

Awards: Parents Choice Gold Award; iParenting Media Award; 
English Speaking Union Award

Why Included? In an increasingly global society, children who have foreign language skills will have a better chance of success in their career opportunities as adults. Muzzy Online is a language tool that public and school libraries can offer their youngest patrons and their families, in order to give them a head start towards meeting the demands of the future. 

How do you Feed a Hungry Giant? A Munch-and-Sip Pop-Up Book

How do you Feed a Hungry Giant? A Munch-and-Sip Pop-Up Book written by Caitlin Friedman, illustrated by Shaw Nielsen. Workman Publishing, 2011. ISBN 978-0-7611-5752-6

Reader's Annotation: When a hungry giant shows up in Oscar's backyard, he decides to feed him, but just how much food will it take to satisfy a giant-sized appetite?

Summary: Oscar opens his door to let his dog, Cowgirl, out into the backyard and discovers a giant standing there. This is no scary giant, but a hungry one who carried a sign saying "Food Please". Oscar wants to help, and returns inside to find some lunch for the big guy. Grapes, pizza, chocolate milk, peanut butter, blueberry muffins, and chicken quesadillas are all gulped down, but the giant is still hungry.



After emptying the refrigerator and cabinets of every bit of food, Oscar doesn't know what to do next when he finds that the giant is still hungry. Luckily, Oscar's mom realizes what has been going on, and comes up with a plan to save the day with dinner.

This book features pop-up art, sliding tabs, die-cut windows and doors, and flaps to open, which add interest and an element of interactivity. Additionally, a mini cookbook is attached to the inside of the front cover that includes eight recipes for giant-sized food, including the biggest burger in the world and a pizza-size chocolate chip cookie. 

Critical Evaluation: Friedman's narrative is charming and presents a message of the importance of kindness to others without being preachy. The imaginative story line encourages children to not only consider just how much food would be necessary to fill up a giant, but also the possibilities of what could happen each time they go outside - you never know what you might find in your backyard, as Oscar discovered.

Nielsen's illustrations are charming and playful, and are perfectly suited to such a fantastical story. The use of pattern in the giant's clothing, the trees, and the food packaging add a level of detail that invites closer examination. The interactive nature of the pop-ups, slides, and flaps allows young readers to engage with the story, and participate in the character's actions.

My only concern regarding the use of this book in a school or library setting would be its durability. With the pop-up and sliding mechanisms being somewhat delicate, and the non-reinforced binding, this work could suffer damage rather quickly from multiple readings.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 3 to 6

Awards: ---

Why Included? Good food, the value of sharing, and playfulness: this combination is hard to beat. The idea of using this work as a jumping off point for a food drive, as I discovered on the publisher's website, is wonderful, and a great way to involve children in a worthwhile cause.