{Virtual Book Club For Kids} Amy Krouse Rosenthal: One Smart Cookie Review and Printable Coloring Activity
October 15, 2012 in All Posts, Preschool, Preschool Literacy
Welcome to October’s Virtual Book Club For Kids blog hop!
This month we are featuring book reviews, activities, crafts, and recipes inspired by the works of children’s author and illustrator Amy Krouse Rosenthal. (All book links, including images, are Amazon Affiliate links).
We browsed a few at the library and ended up choosing One Smart Cookie: Bite-Size Lessons for the School Years and Beyond for this month’s book club post:
One Smart Cookie is all about “bite-sized” etiquette lessons using cookie analogies or looking at life through the magic of cookie baking.
For instance, Rosenthal explains “Arrogant means, why is she acting like her cookies are so much better than everyone else’s? Humble means she doesn’t go around talking about how great her cookies are; she just quietly does her thing.”
The illustrations remind me of the classic children’s books I remember from my childhood and even the ones passed down from my mother’s generation.
My review: From a parents’ perspective, the language tries to be sweet, but is a little hard to digest for a toddler or preschooler. It’s a cute book and I appreciated the illustrations (which were a little incongruous in flavor with the text), but we probably won’t be adding this one to our library. The language and tone is a little inconsistent and doesn’t really appeal to my personal taste for toddlers and preschoolers in that way that September’s books by Lois Ehlert (like Top Cat and Nuts To You) didn’t.
The children’s review: The kids were entertained and sat still for several readings, but they weren’t totally captivated and it’s not a book that they request in particular.
I’m really glad we were exposed to this author, despite the fact that it wasn’t a favorite, because discovering new authors and books is what this project is all about!
My daughter was inspired to make play dough cookies (with marker caps for chocolate chips!)
and we also came up with a fun coloring activity to go along with the book that you can download and print here: Cookie Coloring Activity
Did you read any books by Amy Krouse Rosenthal this month and come up with your own craft, activity, or recipe inspired by one of her books? Please link up your post here!
LEARN! Literacy
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Chrissy – who has written 426 posts on The Outlaw Mom® Blog - Creative Living in a Conventional World.
What an adorable idea!! I love these cookie books and will need to use this one. I did Cookies:Bit Sized Life Lessons and my 4yr old loved it. It fostered some fun conversations. Several of Rosenthal’s other books were too advanced for my son, so I was glad to find the one I did. It is really exciting to check out new authors and figure out ones you love and ones you don’t. So glad you are part of book club!
Love the sound of this book (and the idea of having a good excuse to bake cookies!)
One of the best way for parents to entertain kids is through books. It not only helps them to gain knowledge but also helps to be creative. I want to purchase these books for my kids. Could you please produce some attachments regarding the price of these books?
I haven’t read this Rosenthal book. I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her although I would agree that many of her books are too abstract for preschoolers. It’s also interesting that the book I’m reading this month by her, Plant a Kiss, is nearly wordless with a few rhyming lines but your book didn’t follow that type of writing. She seems to have a lot of diversity in her style. She has worked with some great illustrators though. I love the Jane Dyer illustrations in your book. I may have to check it out just for that- but maybe not for my preschoolers. Thanks for the smart cookie printable. That looks fun.
The illustrations are really lovely, aren’t they? I love the book and the similar ones like it for that reason alone. I think children will really enjoy the nostalgic, warm pictures. I’m a little picky when it comes to the language used in children’s books for toddlers and preschoolers, which is why I wasn’t that keen on the choices for last month and this month, but I know others really rave about both authors and styles of writing! We will have to check out Plant a Kiss - thanks for the recommendation!