Summer Reading Storytime: space, week 4

My coworker picked these out, they're super cute!

Planet Kindergarten
Sue Ganz-Schmitt, illustrated by Shane Prigmore
ISBN: 9781452118932
Really cute gloss of the first day of kindergarten as a mission to space, and it holds together quite nicely. I especially like the touches of having various kindergartners be various types of aliens just through hair and clothing and poses. Very fun, and lots of nudge-nudge wink-wink about what things "really" are. Short and cute.

Kitten's First Full Moon
Kevin Henkes
ISBN: 9780060588281
Kitten roams outside at night and discovers the moon, the night, and a nice puddle of what looks like milk, but is in fact the reflection of the beautiful moon. Soft, gentle, and sweet. A classic.

On the Launch Pad: A Counting Book About Rockets
Michael Dahl, illustrated by Derrick Alderman and Denise Shea
ISBN: 1404805818
Lovely little counting book with BRIGHT simple illustrations of rockets getting ready to blast into space. Super short and sweet, with lovely primary colors and nice textural color washes and collage pieces to add depth and visual interest. An excellent visual walkthrough of the process (very simplified) of getting a rocket ready to liftoff and head off into space, centered into a counting book where the visual elements match the number of that particular page. Hard work to set it up, but it's a breeze to read through, and a delight to look at the finished design.

Tuesday Storytime: Summer Reading: Not Quite Space

Sometimes imagination can be better than facts, and outer space provides plenty of "scope for the imagination" as Ann of Green Gables would have said. These stories show the kinds of fun you can have when you blast off - even if you never really leave the ground.

No, No, Kitten!
Shelley Moore Thomas, illustrated by Lori Nichols
ISBN: 9781620916315
Kitten keeps getting into things, but she's not being naughty just to be bad - she's got BIG plans.

Planet Kindergarten
Sue Ganz-Schmitt, illustrated by Shane Prigmore
ISBN: 978145211893
Cute kid heads off to "planet kindergarten" for his first mission with his new crewmates. Very well-executed premise, just a couple of groaners or really stretched concepts.

Otter in Space
Sam Garton
ISBN: 9780062247766
I only recently discovered Otter and Otter Keeper, and oh my goodness am I in love. (Don't keep otters for pets tho, seriously - they'll destroy your house and be unhappy.) But in this fictional universe, Otter is a bored stay-at-home pet who manages to subvert his daily activities into environment-destroying fun every single time. In this installment, Otter has discovered space, and he's headed to the moon for a moon rock.

So Many New Arrivals! 4/4: Planet Kindergarten

Planet Kindergarten

Sue Ganz-Schmitt, illustrated by Shane Prigmore

ISBN: 9781452118932

Blocky "space" graphics and fonts enliven this cutesy, funny rework of first-day-of-school anxiety.

I think my favorite part of this book is how the kindergarten students are all actually kids, but are designed and stylized to look like aliens in different ways.  My second-favorite is the comment about how gravity in kindergarten must be way different, because no one can stay in their seats properly.  Truth.

Overall, it seems a little "made-to-order" tidy and overdesigned, but it's cute, and I'm all for space-or science-themed anything, so I'm not really complaining.  Not as likely to use it in storytime just because most of the pages are so busy and stylized that I'd never keep my place while reading, and I worry that the kids would have a hard time following the action.  However, it's going to be a perfect book for display as soon as August hits!