I-Spy: Wide Eye Reading

Text: Karen Foster

Illustrations: Jan Smith

Publisher: Children First Ltd., UK

Age: 0 to 4 years

Book Type: Board book

No. of Pages: 12

Here’s another delightful bedtime book featuring Hoot, the sweet little owl. The book encourages your little ones to search for and 'spy' through peepholes on every other page. It’s a board book too so you can introduce it safely to your baby.

The book uses the much-loved I Spy theme to introduce the inhabitants of a great, big tree as ‘spied’ by a bat, Batwing.

The sleepy owls ought to bring plenty of bedtime calm to little ones.

Excerpt

Batwing says, ‘I spy two, big bright eyes.’

It’s Wide Eye keeping watch.

Goodnight Wide Eye!

Tiger Tom

Author:  Mary Green

Illustrator: Stephen Gulbis

Year: 2004

Publisher: Orchard Books, London

Age: 3 and above

No. of Pages: 32

ISBN: 978-1-84362-562-8

I’m a little partial to books that are lyrical especially if they have pages that look like they jumped out of an art gallery.

Tiger Tom is a perfect example as are some others like Said Mouse to Mole, Gruff the Grump and One Winter’s Night.    

A little girl looks out her window and sees a tiger basking in the moonlight. She silently watches him as he dances and sings, arches and leaps across her garden.

The next morning, she sees the tiger for who he truly is. And that’s where I stop. :-)

Excerpt

His mouth was as big as a treasure chest,

His pearly teeth stuck out.

His amber eyes shone like fireflies,

As his tail swished about.

He clambered along the jungle wall,

The light on his slinky back…

The Listening Walk (Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends)

By David Kirk

Year: 2005

Publisher: Callaway and Kirk Company

Age: 8 and above

No. of Pages: 34

ISBN:  978 0 44843 999 9

I love the bright colors and illustrations that characterize Miss Spider books.

Little Wiggle can’t go to sleep because he hears scary noises. So his mom take him on a jungle tour where he realizes that the whooshing sound was just Louie Luna the moth, the creaking sound was Spindella the spider, and the clack-clack was only Eunice Earwig crunching on a snack.

There are a few difficult words to this bedtime tale and, at least, for the first time, a parent will have to read the book with the child.

Excerpt

“I do believe in monsters!” Wiggle croaked. “Don’t eat me, please!”

“They’re only fireflies!” laughed his mom. “We've come along this way

To get our chance to see them dance the firefly ballet.”