Everybody in the Red Brick Building by Anne Wynter Illustrated by Oge Mora

 

Everybody in the red brick building is asleep until "WAAAAAH!",  Baby Izzie howls from her crib. Her loud cries sets off a chain that will one by one, wake everyone up. Each awakened person makes a new sound that will wake the next person. Finally, Pepper the cat is so startled, she jumps on a car, setting off it's alrarm. Now that everybody is awake, its time to quiet down. Everybody eventually goes back to sleep with soothing sounds until Baby Izzie falls asleep to "pah-pum...pah-pum...pah-pum" the sound of her mother's heartbeat.

Young readers will delight in the repetitious, building onomatopoeia, as well as relating to trying to fall asleep amid the noises that surround us. The cast of characters is diverse. The vivid and bold multi-media collages draw the reader in, but the bold texts of the sounds drive the story home. 

Mark's Book Picks Score: 3.5

Reading Level: 2.0 • Interest Level: P-2 • AR Points: NA • Lexile Level: NA • Publisher: Harper Collins • Pages: 32 • Copyright: 2021 • ISBN: 978-0-06-286576-2 • Available in Perma-Bound Binding

Mel Fell by Corey R. Tabor

 

While Mama is away, Mel decides to bravely wander out of the nest because she decides that it is time she learned to fly.  "Aren't you scared?" asks her sister, to which Mel replies "Yes, but I won't let that stop me!"  Mel jumps from the tree branch and begins to free fall. As she plunges down, many of the other inhabitants of the tree try to save her, to no avail.  Suddenly "SPLASH!" she plunges into the river below.

In the river, Mel discovers who she is and what she is meant to do. The colored pencil and acrylic illustrations bring the story to life, but are greatly enhanced from the unique way the book is bound, opening from bottom to top. A perfect read aloud, that kids will want to read over and over on their own. A 2021 Caldecott Honor book.

Mark's Book Picks Score: 4

Reading Level: 1.4 • Interest Level: P-2 • AR Points: 0.5 • Lexile Level: NA • Publisher: Harper Collins • Pages: 40 • Copyright: 2021 • ISBN: 978-0-06-287801-4