Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday (15)

As part of the Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge 2012 (Twitter: #nfpb2012), my goal is to read and review as many of the new non-fiction picture books that are released this year.  Wednesdays will be my primary day to post the reviews.

This past week felt like a bonus for discovering nonfiction picture books that I have been looking for or even discovering one or two new ones.  As a result, I decided to do a mini-review of one book and include a bunch of other books.

Invitation to Ballet
Author: Carolyn Vaughan
Illustrator:  Rachel Isadora
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers (May, 2012)
Audience:  Grades 2nd to 5th

Sometimes art-style books don't quite work, and sometimes it comes out just right.  In Invitation to Ballet, Vaughan & Isadora get it right.  The text provides young readers with basic information about the history of ballet and ballet poses and more.  The informative but readable text combined with a mixture of Isadora's illustrations of young children in various ballet poses and Degas' artwork of ballerinas make this a book a wonderful gift for young ballet enthusiasts. 

Here are some of the other nonfiction picture book standouts from the past week...

 

Robin, Where are You? by Harriet Ziefert; Illustrated by Noah Woods - This lift the flap book was a lot of fun.  A young girl goes bird watching with her grandfather.  Behind the flaps are various bird facts.  At the end, there is a flap with a surprise.


How Things Work in the House by Lisa Campell Ernst - Each page is dedicated to a different household item and great little facts for each thing.  My favorite was the two page spread that had a sock on one side and a sock monkey on the other.


Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child by Jessie Hartland - I had mixed feelings on this book.  The writing was fun and the illustrations just the right kind of quirky, but the format/lay-out of the text was hard to follow.  Regardless, this made me want to go watch Julie & Julia again.

Feel free to link your nonfiction picture book reviews to the Mr. Linky below.