Shelley Rotner

In the past, I've sometimes disliked the I like to Read series because I felt the illustrations were lackluster, but I'm completely behind this delightful entry.

I've been really enjoying Rotner's books with photographs - I think she's a bit of a modern Tana Hoban (whose books I've been weeding because she's no longer popular). This easy reader was just perfect for our quasi-rural community.

Each page features a different farm animal and many also show kids. There are cats, cows, dogs, pigs, show more and chickens. There's also a picture of a tractor and farmyard at the end of the story. The text is simple variations on the title, "I like the piglet."

What I absolutely loved about this is that it showcases a wide range of diverse kids! Boys, girls, dark and light skin, Hispanic, African-American, and Indian. It's so rare to see kids of color shown in books about rural life.

Verdict: Farm animals, an emergent reading level, and a diverse cast of real kids. This is the perfect addition to your easy reader section and I'll be buying several copies!

ISBN: 9780823438334; Published 2017 by Holiday House; F&G provided at ALA 2017; Purchased for the library show less

There are several reasons I liked this book about family. The first reason is because of the illustrations. Every single illustration in this book was photography. I liked this because the readers can see what families look like, and that families that have two dads for example, do exist in our society. The second thing I liked about this book was the simplicity of the language. "Some families have children born to them. Some adopt." Through this style readers are able to get a understanding show more of an idea like adoption, with little words. Again, the photography enhances the text, and shows the readers a family who has not adopted versus a family who has adopted. Lastly I enjoyed the nonfiction aspect of the book. It was very accurate to todays world. "Some children have one parent. Some have two --a mom and a dad, or two moms and two dads." I think that this book pushes readers to think about different types of families, and broadens their perspective while doing so. In conclusion, I think that the 'big idea' of this book is to teach children that there is no definition of who or what makes up a family. There are different kinds of families, and all of them have love for each other. show less

As I believe I've said before, I consider Shelly Rotner to be the new Tana Hoban, creating lush photographic masterpieces showing a diverse range of children. Of course, more modern technology means her books burst with color and life, something that wasn't available to Hoban back when she used photography.

This latest book examines color. The first spread has a simple sentence "Green hops." against a background of the color. On the left page, a single photograph is accompanied by a show more checkerboard of shades of the color. For green, we see a frog and eight different shades of green. The following page has an array of brilliant green photographs and a list of green words, "Green grass grows. Green peppers, leaves and peas. Lizards and limes, green eyes." The photographs show a bright green lizard, translucent peapod, thick field of grass, green pepper, vibrant limes, my favorite - nasturtium leaves!, and a tabby cat with green eyes.

Further spreads cover blue, yellow, red, orange, purple, white, and black. I was disappointed that there wasn't a brown spread, especially since the red one included a red-haired, white child. I also would have liked to see more specific identifications of the items in the photos - what kind of green lizard? Most people will know the orange butterfly is a monarch, but it's good to have those specific labels.

Verdict: A bright and colorful celebration of colors, great for use in storytime and in preschools.

ISBN: 9780823440634; Published July 2019 by Holiday House; Purchased for the library show less

I really enjoyed this book. I liked this book because it shows that families come in all shapes and sizes. I liked how the book shows images and descriptions of all different kinds of families. I think the author did a great job of incorporating almost every type of family. For example I liked how the book included families that adopted children, families that had two moms or two dads, and even families that only had one parent. The big idea of this book is to show the diversity of families show more and that not every family is the same. show less