What is it about ducks in picture books that always seems so appealing? Are ducks really so unusually clever as portrayed in these books? Or charismatic? Or just sweet and fluffy? I think all of the above is true! I found myself reading a pile of duck featured picture books to my son one night when he randomly brought me a small pile that included Duck for President and Duck on a Bike. And then I started the list in earnest. Turns out that it’s quite hard to find 10 excellent duck picture books so I had to add Little Bear, technically an easy reader to get 10. I hope that is OK with you! I guess what is stranger is that I happen to own most of these books and yet, no one in my family enjoys eating duck. Maybe that is what happens when you attach to an anthropomorphic character as appealing as a duck. My family also does not like to eat chicken. I wonder if we have 10 excellent picture books featuring chickens … stay tuned! How about you? What animal picture books are you reading over and over? Dogs, cats, mice, ducks, chickens?… Please share your favorites!
Category: Best Books for Kids
Best picture books, chapter books, young adult books, graphic novels and non fiction for kids.
Kids Caught in the Act … of READING
I’m back from school vacation week and ready to resume my weekly features with a twist. They are now going to be weekly-ish. Yes, like the Ish! book by Peter Reynolds, a facsimile of the real thing because it turns out to be a frantic pace to be posting weekly. I’m assuming overwhelming for you, my readers too! 🙂 In the meantime, I am cooking up another idea for a blog children’s literature so please stay tuned…
Interview with Author Danette Haworth
Please welcome Danette Haworth, author of Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightening, The Summer of Moonlight Secrets, and soon to be released Me & Jack. I fell in love with Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightening when I read it last year. The book really stuck with me and when I posted a list of Boy Characters You’d Let Your Daughter Date, I frankly could not forget Eddie from Violet Raines. Danette was kind enough to leave a comment and that lead to an email exchange and then this interview. I confess that I was slow to come up with questions because a different author at KidLitCon 2010 had complained about when an interviewer did not do her research and asks questions that were clearly stated at the author’s website! I didn’t want to be one of those people!
10 Amazing Seek and Find Picture Books
Are Search and Find books the precursor to video/DSi/Wii/xBox/Nintendo games for little boys? Maybe … but I’ll take that any day over the screens! I have to say that I have never logged in so many hours searching for stuff in books until I had my third child and my only son. Coincidence? I think not. There is a gaming feature that never seems to bore my son from searching and finding stuff in books. This, however, does not seem to translate into searching and finding [lost] stuff in his room or in the house.
Kids Caught in the Act … of READING
Thank you to everyone who sent in pictures! PLEASE keep them coming!!! You can email me at pragmaticmom.com (at) gmail (dot) com. This week I found some of these pictures on literacy sites that I read but my favorite one is from mom Sierra! This is just precious!
The Navajo Code Talkers of WWII
In eerily similar circumstances, young Navajo Americans were forced to relocate to attend boarding school where great attempts were made by the school to purge them of their ethnic identity, particularly their language. Both children’s books that are featured talk about harsh punishments for speaking in their native tongue. This forced relocation is not unlike the Japanese Americans during WWII. Is this really America, the home of the free?! This is the ugly underbelly that doesn’t get much press coverage. Am I the only one who didn’t learn about the Navajo Code Breakers at school in U.S. History? I am glad for these books to teach a new generation, and our nation, that the differences that make us unique make our country more powerful. Imagine if that boarding school were successful in wiping out the Navajo language? It’s really not inconceivable if the timing of the war were different!
SAT Vocabulary for Kindergarten from Picture Book Cuddly Dudley
This is the list for Week 5:
adorable: The baby was so adorable that everyone wanted to hug him.
enormous: An elephant is an enormous animal.
resist: I could not resist eating the cookies because they smelled so good.
lonely: The little girl sitting by herself on the swings seemed very lonely.
annoyed: I was annoyed when my brother talked to me while I was in the middle of playing a memory game.
gregarious: Tonya was very gregarious and was always inviting friends over to play.







