Language Arts Picture Books

I have been reviewing quite a few picture books over the last year and I am trying to find ways to organize them so I can easily make suggestions when I get questions about books that are good for...

So I have decided to add pages for the Language Arts and Math picture books I've found.

Compound Words:

If You Were a Compound Word (Word Fun)Review here


Contractions:

If You Were a Contraction (Word Fun)Review here


Homonym, Homophone, Homographs:

Dear Deer: A Book of Homophones Review here

The Dove Dove: Funny Homograph RiddlesReview here

If You Were a Homonym or a Homophone (Word Fun)Review here

Zoola Palooza: A Book of HomographsReview here

Idioms:

The King Who Rained Review here

The Sixteen Hand HorseReview here


Palindromes:

If You Were a Palindrome (Word Fun)Review here

Too Hot to Hoot: Funny Palindrome RiddlesReview here

Prepositions:

Under, Over, by the Clover: What Is a Preposition? (Words Are Categorical)Review here

Similes and Metaphors:

Crazy Like a Fox: A Simile StoryReview here

Skin Like Milk, Hair of Silk: What Are Similes and Metaphors? (Words Are Categorical)Review here

Stubborn as a Mule and Other Silly Similes (Ways to Say It)Review here

If You Were a Homonym or a Homophone

If You Were a Homonym or a Homophone (Word Fun) is the best of the books I've reviewed in the Word Fun series so far.

I wish this book had been available for my classroom when I was teaching this topic. I used to try to find many creative ways to illustrate the definitions of the words and the differences between them, but this author does it simply and clearly. It is a resource book you use to review the topic at any time. I have never seen the topic explained this easily in any textbook I have used to teach Language Arts.

Nancy Loewen defines each term and then provides illustrated examples of homonyms and the often misused term homophone. When I saw her presentation, I wondered why this is not done more often to teach children how to distinguish between the two words.

This is a simple way to introduce, review, or reteach a topic that some kids do find challenging.

This is a book you could introduce to young children to get them familiar with the words and bring back to reinforce the idea as they continue to work with words. I am often skeptical of "cute" series titles, but Word Fun does fit this series.

Compound Words

Trisha Speed Shaskan has a hit with If You Were a Compound Word (Word Fun)a picture book that explains the concept in a fun way for children.

This book is part of a series of books that introduce children to the English language in a simple and fun way. In this book, the author defines compound words and then gives the children fun examples to illustrate the concept. Fonts and color are used to help children quickly identify the compound words on the page and will help even young children develop an understanding of the concept.

I am always looking for resources that make learning English language and grammar skills interesting for children. I have more books in the series on reserve to review. This one is on my purchase list.

The Sixteen Hand Horse

As I mentioned in my previous post about The King Who Rained I put a request into the library to borrow the The Sixteen Hand Horse. It arrived in time to share it with a younger relative on Easter. While she is no longer of age for picture books, this book had some of the most challenging expressions of the series.

There were a couple of phrases I had to check on. "Daddy says he caught a fish on a spoon" proved my context skills are still working. A spoon is a fishing lure, which was my guess. A family member who knew about fish eggs cleared up the fish row or roe. Several other expressions had to be explained to the student, but those were the only two that left me frustrated that the computer had been locked away for Easter.

If you have not tried these books before, I suggest you seek them out. This one provided some quality entertainment on Easter. It was a great chance to discuss expressions, idioms, and to admit that sometimes we all need to review the meanings when context clues are not enough to help us through the unfamiliar phrase.