Get a whole new perspective on Maisy! Lucy Cousins reimagines her famous mouse in an exuberant concept book that will fascinate young fans.
You’ve never seen Maisy like this! She’s fast, she’s slow, she’s messy, she’s clean — in this kaleidoscopic concept book, the beloved mouse even changes her look from familiar to new as she demonstrates thick and thin, tall and short, young and old, wiggly and straight. With colors and patterns so vibrant they leap off the page, this fresh approach to concepts makes learning about opposites irresistible, for both loyal Maisy fans and new friends alike.---from the publisher
56 pages 978-0763634063 Ages 2-4
Keywords: mouse, board book, opposites, concepts, part of a series, 2 year old, 3 year old, 4 year old
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Every Friday I go to a local preschool to read to the little people so they can learn to love stories as much as I do. I take one of the latest books that I have been lucky enough to review and after we have shared it, I leave it for them so they can read it for themselves over and over. They love it and so do I.
Today I knew I was going to be reading to the tiny three -year-olds, children who have only been at preschool three weeks and who are learning all sorts of new things, including sitting still for a story. Knowing what I do about that age group responding to familiar characters and rhyme, rhythm and repetition it seemed that this new release about Maisy the Mouse would be ideal. And I was right.
Maisy has been in the literary life of our youngest readers since the 1990s and with a new television series My Friend Maisy soon to be released, they were able to tell me a lot about her as well as about mice in general so their minds were focused on what they were going to hear. We talked about what "opposite" meant and how we could find clues to the words by looking at the pictures - pictures that are bright and colourful, almost simple on the surface but which sparked lots of conversations. Like the initial stanza of Maisy stop, Maisy go, had us talking about traffic lights and what the colours mean which is important if you live in a town without any as we do; and then Maisy hot, Maisy cold with its illustrations of sun and snow evoked experiences of being in the snow, which they are familiar with. Maisy naked in the shower meant a few giggles, but wrapped in a large towel was memory-making. All the while they were predicting the words, especially because they were already familiar with the concept of rhyme. We finished the session with suggestions for extra pages that Cousins could have added if she had space, and I think my favourite was Maisy happy, Maisy sad contrasting when she had a book to read and when she didn't!
Such a seemingly simple book using the concept of opposites that is a staple in stories for littlies provided so many opportunities for sharing personal anecdotes, clarifying thinking and expressing those thoughts, having confidence to speak in front of others, developing vocabulary and the concept of ‘opposite’, and learning to use the cues and clues to predict the text became such a good time for all of us.
And yes, I already have next week's story sorted.
This review can also be found here.
Recommended by: Barbara Braxton, Teacher Librarian, New South Wales AUSTRALIA
See more of her recommendations:
500 Hats http://500hats.edublogs.org/
The Bottom Shelf http://thebottomshelf.edublogs.org/
