Monday, July 16, 2012

New Children's Picture Books @ RPL

Summer is a great time to check out new titles at your library and the children's collection at the Richmond Public Library is growing every day.  Stop by soon and pick up some of these new picture books.

Zorro Gets an Outfit, written and illustrated by Carter Goodrich.  In this follow-up to Say Hello to Zorro, Mister Bud and Zorro are having a wonderful time together, following their daily routines.  Everything changes the day their owner brings home a costume for Zorro.  Even the cat, Slim, teases Zorro about his new look on their daily walk to the park. The author/illustrator has a great talent for small illustrations that convey emotions perfectly.  Zorro is completely subdued until a new friend arrives at the park named Dart.  Dart is fast, does tricks, and has his own outfit!  The following illustrations convey their exuberance with few words.  Let's hope the adventures of Zorro and Mr. Bud continue for many books to come.

Dolphin Baby!  written by Nicola Davies with illustrations by Brita Granstrom.  Part picture book and part non-fiction, the new title Dolphin Baby! tells the story of the birth of a new dolphin and the first days with its mother.  Each illustration is filled with the colors of the ocean, varying from pale blue-greens to deep, dark indigo.  "Tail first, head last, Dolphin pops out into the blue."  The text is accompanied by sidebars in small font that give the factual details to the story as it unfolds.  On the last pages the author gives a brief description of the variety of dolphins on Earth and gently suggests the dangers they face.  Included is an index. 

Zero the Hero, written and illustrated by Joan Holub and Tom Lichtenheld.  Meet Zero the Hero!  All the numbers feel Zero has no worth.  He's never included in counting games and his friends sometimes confuse him with other round objects.  They even run away when they realize that any number multiplied by 0 equals 0!  So Zero moves on feeling that he is just a big Zero.  It's not long before his friends realize that they don't "add up" to much without Zero.  This brightly illustrated, comic version of numbers is both a wonderful introduction to the concept of zero and an excellent review for older children. 

One Two That's My Shoe! by Alizon Murray. With simple, block print illustrations this book takes the old rhyme and gives it a new twist. A young girl chases her dog to try and catch her shoe. Large numbers and little text makes this a refreshing new number book for toddlers and preschool children.

I Know a Wee Piggy by Kim Norman, with pictures by Henry Cole.  This new color book will have children reading along.  A big piggy begins by wallowing in the brown mud.  He then continues through the fair and wallows in a rainbow of colors.  Each page repeats the color line from the page before making this a great read-aloud.  A wonderful title to introduce and reinforce colors as well as give an introduction to a country fair and some of the things you might see when you visit.

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