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Monday, February 21, 2011

DO YOU KNOW WHICH ONES WILL GROW? by Susan A. Shea, illustrations by Tom Slaughter

REVIEW COPY PROVIDED BY PUBLISHER

I love books where kids have to think a little before they make predictions about what will come next.

I loved Q IS FOR DUCK.


The kind where kids are sitting on their knees by the second page, dying to see the pictures so they can predict what will come next.

DO YOU KNOW WHICH ONES WILL GROW is another book I'm going to put into my "predict-a-little, think-a-little, kids are for sure going to love this one" category.

The first two page spread is an introduction:

If you look around
you'll see,
Some things grow,
like you and me.

Others stay the way
they're made,
Until they crack or rust or fade.

Do you know which ones will grow?
Think, then answer,
YES or NO.

From then on, each half of two page spread contains a couplet.
The left hand page is a living thing,
the right hand side is non-living.

If a cub grows
and becomes a bear,

Can a stool grow and become…

Now, here comes the really fun part, and the part I know that kids are totally going to love. Each right hand page is a fold out, where you have to lift a flap to see the answer. And each flap is a different size or opens a different direction. The flap on the stool page, for example, lifts from the middle of the page up, and the stool becomes a chair.

Another one of my favorite pages:

If an owlet grows
and becomes an owl…

Can a washcloth grow and become…
(Pretend you are lifting the full page flap that's attached at the top)

a towel?

Tom Saunders' illustrations really complement the text. They are bright colored and eye catching- simple shapes placed on top of other shapes, in kind of a collage-ish effect.

You could use this book as an introduction to a unit
on living and non-living things.

You could use this book for teaching reading strategies. It'd be a great book for teaching readers how to cross-check pictures against beginning sounds.

You could give it as a baby present.

Or you could just read it aloud.
Because it's way fun.
And kids are going to love it.

2 comments:

Laura Lynn Benson said...

Okay, you have to let us know. How do you do it? How do you get so much read when you have so much going on? :) :) :) You're my book hero!!! xoxoxo

Barb M. said...

I just put this on my pre-order list. I can't wait for the next few months as all the books I've ordered trickle in.
This was my first visit to your blog, which I found from twitter. I've been sitting here on this early morning "I can't sleep." adventure, enjoying your thoughts and reflections on reading and teaching and being a learner. Thank you.

Oh, and why can't PA name the newfie Milton? :) I think it's perfect. I was with you on the 'choose a boy' part, though. My daughter has a 9 mo old newfie boy and I can't imagine a sweeter dog.