Book Reviews with Miss Katie | |
This week I wanted to take the time to review one of my all time favorite picture books (and a Caldecott winner!), A Ball For Daisy by Chris Raschka.
This book is wordless, which I always enjoy, because the story is a little different every time you read it! I know some people consider wordless books a challenge to share together, but I think they are especially good for using with pre-schoolers, letting your kid narrate the story!
In the book, Daisy the dog receives a big bouncing red ball from her owner, and, when they go to the park to play with the ball, Daisy makes a new dog friend. They play with the new ball together, until Daisy's new dog friend accidentally pops the ball! Daisy is sad about her broken toy, but, the next day, her dog friend gives her a brand new blue ball to replace the broken red one! It's a cute book about sharing, making new friends, healing friendships, and the simple joy of something new! Plus, you will enjoy making up names for all of the other characters in the story together, and then making up other stories about Daisy and her family and friends. Enjoy this book with its sequel, Daisy Gets Lost, or another Chris Raschka dog book, If You Were A Dog, available on Overdrive! | |
The teen book series I want to introduce you and your family to this week is the Daughter Of Smoke & Bone series by Laini Taylor. This four-book series is one I started reading as an assignment for library school, and, even though I am not usually a fan of fantasy series, this has become one of my favorite YA books to recommend to reluctant teen readers! Especially since we can't travel anywhere at the moment, it's a particularly fun time to escape into a fantasy world. And my favorite part of this series is, in a rarity among US young adult novels, this book is set in the beautiful city of Prague!
Karou is a tattooed, colorful-haired art student, and was raised by chimera (a type of mysterious and oddly endearing goat-people). She and her best friends, violinist Mik and his girlfriend Zuzana, spend a lot of time hanging out in an underground Goth coffee shop that I often wish I could visit! There is so much beautiful world-building in this book, before we even meet most of the supernatural creatures and travel to their worlds!
Meanwhile, mysterious angels begin appearing from the sky, and the friends' lives are about to change forever, and that is where the real adventure begins!
By the way, for folks who aren't as much into fantasy, I would recommend that, after reading the first book in this series, you should check out the spinoff novel about Zuzana and Mik, Night Of Cake & Puppets, available on Hoopla!
Thanks, as always, for reading my weekly recommendations! Please let me know if your kid or teen would like a personalized recommendation!
I will see you all at storytime!
Best,
Miss Katie | |
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