Book Review: What a Beautiful Morning

Author: Arthur A. Levine

Illustrator: Katie Kath

Interest Level: Ages 5 and Up

From the Book Jacket: Every morning is beautiful when Noah visits his Grandparents. Grandpa and Noah take off singing and hardly stop: walking the dog, splashing through puddles, eating French toast with cinnamon. 

But one summer Grandpa seems to have forgotten how to do the things they love. Does he even know who Noah is? Grandma steps in energetically, filling in as best she can. But it is Noah who finds the way back to something he can share with Grandpa. Something musical. Something that makes the morning beautiful again. This is a story about how love helps us find even what we think is lost. 

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This is a really helpful story to help support children who are experiencing their grandparent going through changes. The gradual memory loss of Noah's grandparent has an impact on their relationship and it takes an emotional toll on him. What I really loved about this book is instead of everything becoming so sad, the child develops a new perspective on focusing on the positive things that are happening in the present. This models a healthy approach to dealing with something that otherwise might be scary and confusing. This one is a winner!

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Book Review: This is My Dollhouse

Author/Illustrator: Giselle Potter
Interest Level: Ages 4-8

From the Book Jacket: I made my dollhouse out of a cardboard box. It has an elevator that goes up and down, a rooftop swimming pool, and a very special family that lives in it. My friend Sophie has a dollhouse too. It's perfect. The dolls all look the same, and everything matches. What will Sophie say when she sees mine?

Why It's On My Bookshelf: My daughter and I recently discovered this book and I thought it was going to be a story about a girl who creates a dollhouse using a cardboard box. But it is much more than that. When the two girls have a play date a tense moment happens between them where one of them tries to control everything. She shuts the other friend down and won't listen to any of her ideas. This was such a great teachable moment. We had a good discussion about remembering to be a flexible friend and not shut down others ideas just because you might not want to play that way. The story ends with the girls having another play date and they are open to each others ideas and cooperate together. 

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Book Reviews: Rulers of the Playground

Author/Illustrator: Joseph Kuefler

Interest Level: Ages 4-8

From the Book Jacket: One morning, Jonah decided to become ruler of the playground. Everyone pinkie promised to obey King Jonah's rules...Everyone except for Lennox, because she wanted to rule the playground too...

Why It's On My Bookshelf: This book tackles a lot of the issues we've been dealing with on our playground lately. There seems to be a few students who have been using bossy behaviors as a way to be in charge of other friends or dictate what games will be played. So I appreciated seeing this new book as it will go a long way in helping children remember to be flexible friends. Jonah and Lennox both try and "rule" the playground but the ending result is they are left with no friends. They realize that being bossy and demanding with others is actually very exhausting so they come up with an apology plan to make things right. I'm so delighted to have this new one on my bookshelf. It's going to definitely help make a positive behavior impact. 

A Link to This Book and Others You Might Find Helpful: