Books for the Younger Kids

Disclosure: I was sent these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

Do you have younger kids? Are you looking for some good books for them? I have a few suggestions today (like most days). Today's grouping is for the younger kids through beginning readers. The first is actually a new series by Brian Biggs: Tinyville Town. We will start with two board books from the series. The first is Tinyville Town I'm a Veterinarian.

In this fun book a black female veterinarian describes her day. She spends it with animals at home and work!! It is simple and clear and describes what a veterinarian may do with a patient. It is fun and a great introduction to the community workers and caring for a pet. Our second board book in this series is Tinyville Town I'm a Firefighter which introduces the role of a firefighter.

This book follows one firefighter (who also is in Tinyville Town I'm a Veterinarian) through a day on the job. It describes how he sleeps at the fire station and how he has a job when the alarm goes off as well as how each firefighter has jobs around the fire station when there are no fires. It is simple and clear and a perfect introduction to community workers and firefighters.

Our third book in this series is Tinyville Town Gets to Work! This book is not a board book. This book describes the nice town of Tinyville Town and how everyone is kind and friendly and how the town runs smoothly that is until there is a traffic jam on the bridge. The black mayor decides to build a new bigger bridge. He gets everyone in town to help and everyone is happy when it is done. This book is a nice story that introduces how a community works together. The entire series reminds me a bit of Richard Scarry books and the multicultural community of Sesame Street. The series is perfect for the toddlers and preschoolers. 

Now being a child of the 1980s I couldn't wait to check this book out. It is Footloose by Kenny Loggins and Dean Pitchford and illustrated by Tim Bowers. It comes with a bonus two song CD including the song with the new lyrics (words in the book) to Footloose performed by Kenny Loggins. The background music is the same but some of the words have been changed. The words are about what happens at the zoo after it closes and there is a full moon. The animals have a dance complete with zookeeper Big Jack. The lyrics rhyme and include some of the famous words to the original Footloose song. The pictures are fun and the animals are having a ball. This is just a fun book and especially fun if you know the original song and movie!! I do think I enjoyed it more than Hazel though. She is getting a bit old for this style of book.

Staying with a music theme our next book is The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons in One Day illustrated by Jessica Courtney-Tickle. This beautiful book follows a girl named Isabelle and her dog, Pickle, and their potted apple tree as they experience all four seasons in one day. Now the really fun part of this book is that throughout it there are spots to push to hear appropriate portions (for that season) of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Hazel loved this part of the book. The story tells the various seasons and how the potted apple tree and weather is changing. It is a beautiful book and goes so nicely with the symphony. At the back of the book there is information about Antonio Vivaldi as well and all the push spots are labeled with information about the movements they play. It is the first in a new series of books to introduce classical music to young children.

Our final book is for slightly older children. It is Juana and Lucas by Juana Medina. In this fun chapter book Juana tells us about her life in Bogota, Colombia. It gives the reader a chance to learn a bit about the another country and culture. She is at the point where she has to learn the English at school and does not understand why she has to learn to speak this other language. She finds it hard and frustrating. The story is told in English with some Spanish words interspersed. All the adults in her life think it is important and great that she is learning English. She does not agree until it brings her on a special trip with her family to the United States. I love that this story brings all sorts of feelings about learning a new language. And the fact that the story is in English and that is what she is struggling with just makes it better. It gives the English speaking children a bit of a view of how hard others have learning English like they have learning other languages. And I love that it introduces a bit of the Colombian culture. 

We enjoyed all six of these books and they are perfect for the younger learners. I hope you will check them out!!