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We love the Green Start book series! Not only is it made from 98% post-consumer recycled materials and printed with soy-based ink, but this particular book introduces your little ones to different habitats and a range of common and not so common animals. A great addition to any animal lover’s home library!

When some kids join Little Pirate on an adventure, they learn to observe, hypothesize, experiment, and draw conclusions. They learn what causes the weather. They learn all about thunder, rain, snow, hail, and more when Little Pirate and his friends have to race across an island to escape a sudden storm.

This was a very cute way to inform children a little bit about what the weather entails. This was also a hit when I read this book to the children. I enjoyed reading it, and adults can learn something from this book as well.

Extension Idea 1: Fly Kites
Take the children outside and let them see wind work the magic with their kites.

Extension Idea 2: Make an Anemometer.
An anemometer is a device that measures wind speed.

pretty awesome book about the five senses and enjoying nature with a sustainability undertone

Soft Shapes: Colors is an excellent book for young learners. The book does not have a story line, instead it describes the shapes and colors that are seen. Each of the shapes and colors can be popped out their respective foam pages for bath time, play time or story time. Parents will find the book makes story time a delight as they can make up their own story about the shape while their little one holds and plays with it. The book also serves as a puzzle book by removing the shapes and having your little one find the correct foam page where the shape will fit. As a new parent, I can tell you that my daughter loves this book.

"...Pluta uses some animals that are likely to be familiar to your child, such as elephants, monkeys, and alligators, but she also includes some others that not as many kids may know: red pandas, marmots, and manatees. Some animals she provides more specific names for as well, such as "horned owl," rather than simply "owl." The illustrations are incredibly precious. Phillips creates images that are fun and sure to please both child and adult alike, not only for this book, but in all her work - check out her website and/or blog to see what I mean..."

For full review, please visit me at Here Be Bookwyrms on Blogger:

http://herebebookwyrms.blogspot.com/2012/03/animals-everywhere.html

It's all about concept here - foam pages with pieces that pop out and can be pressed back in. This one is theoretically about counting, which in this case just means that they have a different number of fish on each page, starting with one and ending with four. You can do some rudimentary teaching, about colors and small numbers, but the most practice a child is likely to get is in dexterity as they put the pieces back in the book. Nonetheless, my daughter absolutely loves playing with these books.

Second Concept Book Soft Shapes: Shapes by Innovative Kids and illustrated by Jenn Ski is a nontoxic latex-free pressed foam book 6.5”x6.5” and 1.5” thick. There are 5 pages with 2 circle shapes, one star, one oval, and one triangle. Each of the shapes: a beach ball, a sea star, a crab, and a sail on a boat are puzzle pieces that fit into their setting and once removed, the shape’s name is printed on the indented space. The pieces are not meant to teeth on but to enjoy only as tactile learning. Each piece has a textured imprint with a smooth backside. You can’t help rubbing the pieces between your fingers and putting them back in their respective place. Soft Shapes: Shapes could be dropped into the beach bag along with other beach toys and it’s repetitive question, “What shape is the…” adds to verbal play, prediction, shape awareness and identification or categorizing objects within a beach setting. The colors are pastel blue, yellow, orange, and the last page has navy blue for the ocean water in contrast to a deep red for the sail boat. I am not sure if the sudden dark color is a subconscious warning of the deep ocean or if that color was chosen merely to contrast the primary red color boat and white sail. But that page does stand out from the other pages. The spine of the book does not look very strong and might need to have extra care when turning pages and putting the shapes in or taking the shapes out of each page. I would like to have seen solid colors for each puzzle shape and maybe different texture on each piece. Even though there are several concepts mixed in this book that would be appropriate for a child of 8 months to 1 or 2 years, this book would be best used with a child of 3+ who would not put pieces in the mouth as readily as a younger child would. This book would not be as lyrical in verse as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, nor would it offer as many interesting animals and colors for the emergent reader to be challenged and to talk about or to predict; I would probably use Soft Shapes: Shapes sparingly and find other concept books on shape and tactile awareness to use with very young toddlers.

I don't think I would call this a book; rather, a toy in the shape of a book. Big foam pictures that can be pulled out and played with accompany very limited text; in this case, just one word. My daughter likes them, though, because it's great fun to pull the pieces out and have mommy put them back in. To be honest, I like the foamy puzzle type pieces, too. Still, not a book, just a fun toy.