Homer

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Monday's Great Read: Flotsam by David Wiesner

Illustrated in watercolor, David Wiesner’s Caldecott-awarded Flotsam shows how one child’s beach vacation goes from ordinary to extraordinary with his discovery of an underwater camera. When he finds the camera at the foot of the ocean, abandoned and webbed in seaweed, he couldn’t possibly know the depth of its history or the legacy of its users. But it’s a legacy he soon joins as he picks up the camera and realizes that though the ocean is so vast, and the world so large, we’re all connected through our love and fascination with it. This picture book, giving your child the opportunity to narrate, serves as a great space for imaginations to run wild. How will your little one tell this story?

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Monday's Great Read: Wangari's Trees of Peace

After attending college in America, Wangari returns to her once-green Kenya to find a barren land. Roots—her roots—have been pulled from the ground to make room for office buildings, causing trouble for her firewood-dependent village. In this true story, brave Wangari bands together Kenyan women in a fight to save the trees, protecting their way of life and empowering them along the way. The tale of this great female mobilizer, teaches kids about respecting the Earth, doing what’s “right,” and refusing to be a bystander.  

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Wheeeee! Ellie the Penguin celebrates the last of the snow in this original illustration by Bee Johnson.

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Monday's Great Read

With big fun font and a touch of sarcasm, Squids Will Be Squids, tells Aesop's fables from the view of his newest (and living!) friends, Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. Writing in the memorable voice we heard in The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, the pair switches up Aesop's more traditional animals for squids and walruses, swaps out farm settings for playgrounds and Skunk's front porch, and includes morals for the modern family. To excite kids about fables in a more current way, introduce them to Squid (and company).

http://www.amazon.com/Squids-Will-Be-Picture-Puffins/dp/0142500402/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363008917&sr=8-1&keywords=squids+will+be+squids

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Monday's Great Read

Mary and Mouse lead parallel lives, side by side, in beautiful, similar worlds. Though they've been warned against befriending each other's kind, the two unexpectedly form what becomes a strong and intergenerational bond. Beyond enjoying this gentle story, children are sure to love Barbara McClintock's illustrations, as they fondly recall the familiarity of the home and the nooks and crannies of childhood experience. 

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Original illustration from the poem Flying Kite, written by Frank Dempster Sherman. Illustration by Nicolas Cinquegrani for Homer’s “Read a Story” section.

Over the following weeks, we’ll be giving you a weekly sneak peek at some of our original artwork from the Homer app. Stay tuned for another another awesome illustration as next week’s Friday Feature!

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Monday's Great Read:  Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

Great nonfiction books for children are extremely hard to come by, but Actual Size is a gem! Jenkins dispels the mystery of the unknown while keeping the magical feeling of nature very much alive.

Actual Size inspires excitement and awe through visually intriguing size comparisons. In this book of true, life-sized animal parts—yes, you can really find a giant squid eye, a gorilla hand, and an Alaskan brown bear head in there—kids are invited to observe, compare, ooh and ahh at the big, the tall, the small and the ugly. Or, you know, Earth’s creatures. A definite must-read!

(http://www.amazon.com/Actual-Size-Steve-Jenkins/dp/0547512910)

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Original illustration from the poem Fog, written by Carl Sandburg. Illustration by Bee Johnson for Homer’s “Read a Story” section.

Over the following weeks, we’ll be giving you a weekly sneak peek at some of our original artwork from the Homer app. Stay tuned for another another awesome illustration as next week’s Friday Feature!

[homerlearning-blog]

Monday's Great Read

Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth

Jon Muth's China setting is a becoming one for Stone Soup, the heart-warming international folktale. Its beautiful water color illustration underscores Chinese cultural values of health, wealth and prosperity, while also conveying that life can go from bleaker than bleak to banquet-like with just a few more strokes of paint—or contributions from the community.

http://www.amazon.com/Stone-Soup-Jon-J-Muth/dp/043933909X

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Friday's Feature

Original illustration from the folktale The Fisherman's Wife. Illustrated by Bee Johnson for Homer's "Read a Story" section.

Over the following weeks, we'll be giving you a weekly sneak peek at some of our original artwork from the Homer app. Stay tuned for another another awesome illustration as next week's Friday Feature!

[homerlearning-blog]

"Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on."

President Obama, State of the Union 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/state-of-the-union-education_n_2673425.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&ir=Education

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Monday's Great Read

Generations speak to each other through penned words and the passing of time in William Joyce’s “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.” As books metaphorically call to Mr. Lessmore, they both physically fly at him and encourage his exploration. This charming story places importance upon each flying book, each unique tale, and each person who passes into and out of this world. The thirteen years this book spent in production will sing through the pages to kids of all ages. (http://www.amazon.com/Fantastic-Flying-Books-Morris-Lessmore/dp/1442457023)

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Meet Homer the Poet Pigeon. He's here to help us rediscover the beauty of classical learning!