Tag Archives: language

My Foodie ABC: A Little Gourmet’s Guide – Book Review

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Attention all Foodies:

This gourmet board book not only helps teach your little ones the ABCs but also introduces them to some fun foods.

Puck, the author, doesn’t use the typical “A is for apple” approach. With the trendy illustrations (by Violet Lemay) he writes as if your toddler has the gastronomical gene inherited by both mom and dad.

Both upper and lowercases are displayed for each of the 26 letters. All foods (like alfajores, habanero, quinoa, and udon) are shown with the correct pronunciation and description of each food.

After reading this, you’ll feel as if you’ve just been on a culinary tour around the world.

Weekly Wednesday Book Review: Tumble Bumble

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This book follows a bug’s journey on a simple walk.  He meets 9 companions along the way. Some of them are animals you normally wouldn’t regard as being friendly.  He meets and walks with a crocodile and a bumblebee. He even welcomes a spider and bear to take a nap with him.

There are many descriptive adjectives used along with rhyming. Felicia Bond, the author, writes in full rhyming, using one- and extra-syllable rhymes.

You can read this story to guide your toddler to count (9 animals/insects and a boy). It’s also fun to make the sounds that some of the animals say. This book is so fun and lighthearted that just picking up to enjoy it is a pleasure in itself.

Weekly Wednesday Book Review: Favorite Words

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This 2×2 chunky board book is the perfect size for little fingers.  The pages are almost a quarter of an inch thick making it easy for infants to turn.  The book highlights Eric Carle’s famous caterpillar’s favorite words in a colorful way.

On the left page is the word written in white against whatever color the object on the opposite page is.  For example, on one set of pages the right side shows a Carle-illustrated pear and the left side is the actual text with a shade of green as the background.  There are 10 different words and 8 different colors (red and green are used twice but as different hues).

There is no storyline in this book, only pictures and associated words. Due to the nature of this, I recommend this book for babies and toddlers up to 2 years old; it is a good tool for vocabulary building and word/picture association.

It’s a very simple book that will get many uses. It’s perfect for tummy time, riding in the car, in the stroller, or by the changing table.  Really, you can take this anywhere.

 

Weekly Wednesday Book Review: The Juggling Pug

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This rhyming book takes you on a pug’s journey to stardom.  He’s a juggling pug who began to juggle only for hugs. Once he becomes a celebrity, he turns into a nuisance around the community. He begins to juggle everything: people’s food in the restaurant, people’s umbrellas while it’s raining and a little girl’s doll house furniture while she’s playing.  Because he’s unique and has made his town famous nobody reproaches him for his behavior, until the little girl gets fed up with the pug, calls a town meeting, and requests the pug to leave the town.  The pug breaks down and apologizes for his behavior and promises not to be so smug.

The text is a perfect rhyme, using “pug” as the main rhyming word.  The story is fun and the ending is quite comical; it describes a pug to a T.  The artwork is adorable and colorful. You really want to stretch your arms out and hug this pug!  This is a book that all members of the family will enjoy reading.

 

Weekly Wednesday Book Review: Hello, World!

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This Disney board book says, “Hello,” in 14 different languages. It is based upon the Disney characters from “It’s a Small World”.

Each page is dedicated to a different country with its respective word for hello. Underneath the text, the word is phonetically spelled out for you so that you can pronounce it correctly.

Oster loves the whimsical artwork. The colors are bright and the people and objects are simple and sweet.

 

This book has a corresponding App, “It’s a Small World”. We downloaded it for $3.99 and it was well worth the change.  The App allows your little one to interact with the people and animals in the different countries. It’s really quite remarkable. One of the last stages of the App shows all of the characters from Hello, World! in a tree; you touch the people and they say, “hello,” in their native tongue.  When we get to this part, I have his book near so that I can show Oster the page that each of the people in the tree is on.