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| Michael Garland Books |
When you are organizing your child’s book shelf or your own have ever noticed if you or your children have an author/illustrator crush. We definitely have a few preferred favourites in our house. I found we had 6 Michael Garland books on the shelf and I have posted about 2 books previously. Here is a look at our collection of Michael Garland books. Do you see any of your favourites?
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| The Great Easter Egg Hunt |
At Easter I introduced The Great Easter Egg Hunt by Michael Garland. We had received this book as gift from friends a few years ago and it is well loved in our house. It is a look again book. You can read about that book here.
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| Christmas Magic |
Another holiday favourite is Christmas Magic. I’m not sure how this treasure found its way into our house but I’m sure glad it did. A story filled with wonder and Christmas magic. Emily builds a snow lady while her neighbour builds a snowman in their front yards. At night Christmas magic brings the snowman and snow lady to life as only Christmas magic can and transforms them into an elegant dancing couple gliding across the snow. There is more magical Christmas delights throughout and it is a perfect fit for a cozy story in front of a crackling fire.
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| Super Snow Day |
This past winter I couldn’t resist the new book Super Snow Day another Seek and Find book. It has more than 200 things to find. My children loved the Easter book so much that I knew this book would be great fit. How do your kids feel when their school proclaims a snow day? Tommy wakes up and a snow day is declared on TV and his Aunt Jeanne shows up leaving clues for Tommy which will take him on a magical adventure. On a real snow day, we cuddled up with this book and took our time trying to find all the different animals and their tracks, winter sport symbols, how to say ‘snow’ in 16 different languages, counting snowflakes and Aunt Jeanne on every page. The book is so much fun! Great for a snow day!
The next three books center around Miss Smith, a hip and a bit eccentric school teacher, and her magical storybook. When anyone reads a story from the her book the characters come alive and jump out of the book. However, trouble follows when the stories are not completed and more stories are read and more characters come out. I love these books because they bring stories to life and isn’t that what magical stories do? A good story makes you feel like the characters are right there in the room with you or you are right there on the adventure with them.
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| Miss Smith’s Incredible Storybook |
In Miss Smith Incredible Storybook we are first introduced to Zack and how bored he is at school until his new teacher Miss Smith begins teaching his class. Each day she reads a new story from her book and introduces her students and the reader to characters such as Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Alice in Wonderland as well as others. What makes it even more engaging is that through the illustrations you can identify other well known characters that are not specifically in the story but you will recognize. At the end of the book Zack states “Who would have guessed reading could be so much fun?” I couldn’t agree more.
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| Miss Smith Under the Ocean |
In Miss Smith Under the Ocean Zack and his class go on a field trip to an aquarium. Every tale Miss Smith reads are snippets of familiar, classic sea stories such as Moby Dick, The Little Mermaid, Treasure Island, Gulliver’s Travels, Twenty Leagues Under the Sea and more. This opens the door for us to introduce the next generation of young readers to these classic stories.
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| Miss Smith and the Haunted Library |
The last one is Miss Smith and the Haunted Library. Zack’s class visits a library where the librarian, Virginia Creeper, reads from the incredible storybook. The characters are all famous ones from scary stories. The headless horseman, Dracula, the Wicked Witch, Frankenstein and many more. At first, the children are scared and stay very close to Miss Smith but that all changes when Ms. Creeper hands out milk and cookies to everyone. The children and the characters all mingle together and the party is only cut short because the Seniors’ Book Club is knocking on the door. Can’t frighten the seniors! Zack reads the ending to each tale and each character is returned to the book and the mess is cleaned up just in time.
And if that wasn’t enough for our collection, Michael Garland has 2 new books being released this June. My family and I are eagerly awaiting Where’s My Homework. If you are teacher this sounds like a book for us. If you want more information on Michael Garland and his work check out his website. When it comes to Michael Garland books I’m like a kid in a candy store.
Cheers,
Bonnie
