Dear Readeo Friends,

Have you ever thought of songs as a way into literacy? With their repeated refrains, familiar songs can be a great way to help young children recognize words as they spot them over and over.

We’ve added two song-based children’s books to our library, THE ITSY BITSY SPIDER and ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT by Iza Trapani. You may recognize Trapani’s style—her sunny palette as well as the way she builds a story on top of song lyrics—from JINGLE BELLS, also in our Readeo Library.

In her version, the Itsy Bitsy Spider also makes its way into the kitchen, and ROW, ROW, ROW, YOUR BOAT stars a bear family in search of a picnic site. These two selections were suggested by one of our Readeo subscribers, early childhood educator Dale Bodenstein. Thanks, Dale! We’ll be adding more song storybooks over the coming weeks.

Please read or BookChat with these great new digital children’s books. And, follow us on Facebook page for a chance to win one of these new titles this week. We love hearing from you!

With all my best,
Jenny

Jenny Brown is the editor for Readeo and oversees all book selection for the site. She has worked in the children’s book world for the past 25 years, holding positions with HarperCollins and Scholastic, and was the Children’s Books Reviews Editor for Publishers Weekly.  She currently writes for School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Shelf Awareness. Jenny graduated from Princeton University. You can read more from Jenny on her Web site, Twenty by Jenny.

Dear Readeo Friends,

Beloved animals go missing in two great new children’s books on Readeo aimed at slightly older readers (ages 6-8).

You may remember the stars of Aggie and Ben by Lori Ries, illustrated by Frank W. Dormer, and also Aggie the Brave from our Readeo Library. In the newest adventure about the boy and his dog, Ben loses track of Aggie while they play fetch in the park. Ben searches for Aggie everywhere, until a friend suggests a helpful trick in tracking her down.

In Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, we learn that there are some (furry) friends worth bending the rules for. Do you know about the lions outside the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue? Their names are Patience and Fortitude, and they turned 100 years old last month. Take some time this week and read or BookChat with these new online children’s books and see if you can find artist Kevin Hawkes’s tip-o’-the-hat to them in the pages of Library Lion.

And let us know what you think of our new additions on our Facebook page. We love hearing from you!

With all my best,
Jenny

Jenny Brown is the editor for Readeo and oversees all book selection for the site. She has worked in the children’s book world for the past 25 years, holding positions with HarperCollins and Scholastic, and was the Children’s Books Reviews Editor for Publishers Weekly.  She currently writes for School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Shelf Awareness. Jenny graduated from Princeton University. You can read more from Jenny on her Web site, Twenty by Jenny.

This week we continue to celebrate the slightly off-beat view of Craig Frazier, the author of Lots of Dots, our featured book for April. Last week he helped us see dots everywhere we looked. This week, he invites us to see everyday things, like a farm and a fishing hole, in entirely new ways.

The first children’s book Craig Frazier ever published is Stanley Goes for a Drive, starring an ordinary farmer and his pick-up truck. At least, Stanley seems ordinary. But when he drives his truck out to milk his cow, magical things start to happen.

The second book starring the farmer is Stanley Goes Fishing. We bet you can guess this is not your usual fishing trip. Stanley has no luck catching any fish until he notices the reflection of some clouds in the water and decides to cast his fishing pole into the sky. You have to see it to believe it.

Please let us know what you think of our new additions on our Facebook page. We love hearing from you!

With all my best,
Jenny

Jenny Brown is the editor for Readeo and oversees all book selection for the site. She has worked in the children’s book world for the past 25 years, holding positions with HarperCollins and Scholastic, and was the Children’s Books Reviews Editor for Publisher’s Weekly.  She currently writes for School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Shelf Awareness. Jenny graduated from Princeton University. You can read more from Jenny on her Web site, Twenty by Jenny.

Dear Readeo Friends,

Let us reassure you in advance that all three of our books end happily this week.

Although a wolf threatens Little Red Riding Hood, and a wicked stepmother tries to remove Snow White from her beauty contest, the heroines (with a little help from their friends) come out just fine in these retellings of the classic Brothers Grimm tales. Debbie Lavreys’s illustrations for both books help make the wolf seem less frightening and indicate to readers that the Seven Dwarfs will do their best to keep Snow White safe.

It might be fun to read Little Red Riding Hood and then go to our featured book this month, Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein, to see how the little red chicken hero tries to warn Little Red Riding Hood about the wolf’s villainous plans.

In our third new addition to the Readeo library, Ricky Is Brave by Guido van Genechten, the rabbit hero sets out to spend the night alone in a tent (in his backyard). What starts out as an adventure turns a bit scary—until Ricky finds out the source of his fears. You might recognize the artwork (and the humor) from Guido van Genechten’s other book in our library, No Ghost Under My Bed.

Please let us know what you think of our new additions on our Facebook page. We love hearing from you!

With all my best,
Jenny


Jenny Brown is the editor for Readeo and oversees all book selection for the site. She has worked in the children’s book world for the past 25 years, holding positions with HarperCollins and Scholastic, and was the Children’s Books Reviews Editor for Publisher’s Weekly.  She currently writes for School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Shelf Awareness. Jenny graduated from Princeton University. You can read more from Jenny on her Web site, Twenty by Jenny.

Dear Readeo Friends,

Our three new titles this week will satisfy curious minds in search of facts. Did you know there was a female Pharaoh of Egypt in the 15th century B.C.? Her name was Pharaoh Hatshepsut. One of the sphinx sculptures that she had planned to guard her tomb is now in New York’s Metropolitan Museum. If you want to know how it got from Egypt to America, this book will answer your questions: How the Sphinx Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland.

For those of you who wonder what lives in the Okefenokee Swamp that stretches over the border between Georgia and Florida, Deep in the Swamp by Donna M. Bateman, illustrated by Brian Lies, is the book for you. Alligators, snapping turtles, and rat snakes (they can swim!) are among the creatures you’ll meet.

Grace Lin received a Newbery Honor for her book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, a novel inspired by the Chinese folktales she learned as a child. In her picture book The Ugly Vegetables, she describes what she thinks are ugly plants that come out of her mother’s garden—at least compared to her neighbors’ flower gardens. Until she finds out what you can do with those “ugly vegetables.” (Hint: there’s a recipe at the end of the book.)

We think these books will leave you feeling wiser than before. But let us know what you think on our Facebook page. We love hearing from you!

With all my best,
Jenny


Jenny Brown is the editor for Readeo and oversees all book selection for the site. She has worked in the children’s book world for the past 25 years, holding positions with HarperCollins and Scholastic, and was the Children’s Books Reviews Editor for Publisher’s Weekly.  She currently writes for School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Shelf Awareness. Jenny graduated from Princeton University. You can read more from Jenny on her Web site, Twenty by Jenny.