Friday, January 28, 2011

Recommended Reads with Wonderful Words

Week of January 23—Word Up!
Friday, January 28—Recommended Reads with Wonderful Words

Ok, I can’t help myself. I’m sitting here with picture books literally stacked around the room. I keep pulling out one then another and I can’t stop. Welcome to PBA—Picture Books Anonymous where we’re all addicted to picture books. (Why else would you be here?) Let me share some of my favorite addicting books (each containing exceptional word choices) with you!

Avalanche Annie: A Not-So-Tall Tale by Lisa Wheeler and Kurt Cyrus—word innovations abound and are so well defined within the context and through the illustrations

Bats at a Ballgame by Brian Lies—SPECTACULAR! Great specific and specialized vocabulary . . . I love the coined words (Mothdogs for instance) and the writing is stellar (not to mention Brian’s fabulous illustrations)

CLICK, CLACK, MOO: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin—perfect use of the rule of three, wonderful alliteration with a twist, but notice the great vocabulary in the rest of the book, too

Comes A Wind by Linda Arms White and Tom Curry—outstanding nouns and vivid verbs, attributes galore, and a hilarious examples of hyperbole

Cowlick! by Christin Ditchfield and Rosalind Beardshaw—perfect verbs carry this rhyming story to its surprising and warm-hearted ending

In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck and Tricia Tusa—specific nouns and carefully-chosen verbs create a pleasing story

Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears by Emily Gravett’s—A book filled with Tier 3 words (see Thursday’s blog) and inventive approaches for defining new vocabulary

Robot by Jon Scieszka and David Shannon—wonderful rhythm, inventive language, and quirky to the extreme

Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester L. Laminack and Chris Soentpiet—a perfect example of specific nouns and vivid verbs with a warmhearted storyline

The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter and Giselle Potter—it’s a book about a boy who loves words—need I say more?

The Curious Garden by Peter Brownthis book is filled with perfect word choice . . . not pretentious, not overwrought, just good, strong words to carry the story

The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers—Exceptional word choice in a surprising and funny book

The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger—beautiful word choice that sings from page to page

The Perfect Nest­ by Catherine Friend and John Manders—a great example of escalating tension, wonderful humor, hilarious descriptions, and a sprinkle of Spanish and French

There’s Nothing to Do On Mars by Chris Gall—specialized vocabulary and scientific facts combined with a familiar lament, “There’s nothing to do!”

We Planted a Tree by Diane Muldrow and Bob Staake—clear word choices woven into wonderful images

It’s Your Turn!
1. What are you doing sitting there? Go read a picture book! Better yet, go write one!

2 comments:

Christie Wright Wild said...

I'm reading through all your blogposts and commenting on them! I see that most of the YBR group is following you. I haven't been very active in several months. Started a new full-time job, you know. Way back in November. I miss being able to sit and write all day long. But money is good too. Plus I'm taking a PB class with Clara Gillows Clark as my mentor.

Rob Sanders said...

Tell me about your class--sounds fantastic!