early elementary | Daddy Mojo

This is a School will be a staple in elementary school libraries

This is a School is a picture book that seemingly every school librarian and teacher was talking about during the start of the school year. Starting the process of going to school can be quite scary for those young students. Going to school can also be a very exciting time. Sometimes, when the emotions of ‘scared’ and ‘excited’ combine it creates a troublesome experience for educators and parents called chaos. This is a School is a gentle, go-to picture book that introduces elementary school for those ages who are young enough to envision it as a mysterious place of wonder.

This is a School is a picture book that introduces pre-k kids and those slightly older to the wonders, fun and routines that makeup the school day.

This is the pre-k, intro to school book that you’re looking for

Let’s Power Up!, early elementary real-world look at currents

The time for rubbing our hands to our body before we touch the door knob or open the freezer section at the grocery store is nigh. As an adult, I know that it’s the build-up of something and when I touch the metal thing it gives me a shock. Also, as an adult, I just learned why this only happens in cooler weather. Enter Chris Ferrie, an author who has a sweet spot for writing science-themed books geared at younger readers. He’s written about Quantum Physics for Babies, My First 100 Space Words, plus many more, as well as, Let’s Power Up!. Let’s Power Up!, Charging into the Science of Electric Currents with Electrical Engineering is a very smart illustrated book, but will kids want to read it?

Let’s Power Up! is an engaging illustrated book that early elementary students can understand about electricity and currents.

STEM-minded illustrated book for early elementary

Roto and Roy, Helicopter Heroes is just the ticket for your emerging reader

Kids of a certain age love rhyming books. These kids are mastering the art of walking, phrasing things like a big kid, and working on not having accidents. The books are those clever, heavily illustrated ones that have the goal of making pre-k through third graders as happy as clams. Author Sherri Duskey Rinker has been accomplishing that since 2011 with her illustrated book classic, Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site. It was then turned into a juggernaut of a book series incorporating any massive vehicle that could move dirt or pick up things. Her newest series of books is Roto and Roy, the first book is Helicopter Heroes and has a can-do, positive, attitude that ages four through eight will gleefully embrace with a smile.

Roto and Roy, Helicopter Heroes, is the start of a beautiful illustrated book friendship for pre-k through early elementary action readers.

Good, action-oriented rhyming fun for ages 4-8

A Penny’s Worth, a kid’s look at money that most wish was history

The other day our youngest son wanted to cash in all of his coins for paper money. His pirate treasure chest was loaded with jangles and clinks from various coins bouncing together. I explained to him that if he goes to one of the machines that count it for him he’ll be charged, whereas if he counts it himself and goes to the bank, he’ll get all of the money. Of course, being 10 years old and wanting to see a machine do things, he opted for the first choice. A Penny’s Worth is an illustrated book that one hopes will be a historical relic within 10 years. A book on a penny, how quaint, remember when we had that copper-colored useless coin, we’ll all sit back and think. If there’s any justice in the world, A Penny’s Worth will sit alongside the book about Daylight Saving Time as things or concepts that once existed.

A Penny’s Worth is a charming, rhyming, illustrated book for early elementary readers about money in the United States and its smallest, most useless increment.

A penny saved is two pennies that it cost to do so

Mermaid Dance, a well built interactive board book that moves and charms

Who is the king of interactive board books? It’s not like there is a fiefdom of illustrators and authors battling it out for supremacy a la Survivor. There is no tattooed ringleader with their arms outstretched asking the world whose house this is. These are interactive board books, the kind that toddlers, crawlers and pre-K kids love to paw over, pull their levers, wonder how the object on the page moves, and try their best to make the book unusable for future generations. Mermaid Dance is by the husband and wife team of Matthew Van Fleet and Mara Val Fleet. Matthew is the #1 New York Times Best Selling Author, behind Tails and Dog, as well as the Oscar the Octopus, Chomp Goes the Alligator, Dance, and more.

Mermaid Dance is an interactive board whose quality and durability is equaled only by its enjoyment by those young readers.

hardened souls who dislike all, Resistance is futile to this book

What’s Up Construction Truck? melds the impossible into a board book

What’s Up Construction Truck? is a board book that flies in the face of expectations. It is a board book. It is an interactive/pop-up book to an extent. It’s the smart, buildable board book that you wish that you had when you were a kid. It truly is a great time to be alive, but it didn’t start out this way. When we first received What’s Up Construction Truck? it scared me because of its implied simplicity. I just want a board book, not a puzzle that will embarrass me in front of my 12-year-old, I thought. So, I gave the book to him and let him put it together.

What’s Up Construction Truck? is from the pop-up genius of Matthew Reinhart, this time creating a 3-D bulldozer from the pages of a board book.

You can do this. It’s simpler than it looks and your kids will love it

Quackenstein Hatches A Family, now in groovy 8 x 8 size

From the perspective of a bibliophile, Quackenstein Hatches A Family is one of those illustrated books that you’ll discover in K or early elementary classrooms that’s been read in brutal fashion. The spine is cracked in several locations. Multiple pages are dog-eared. The front cover has a dozen (or more) crayon scribbles on it. It’s also one of those books that young readers will seek out and immerse themselves in during silent read time.

Quackenstein Hatches A Family, now available in 8 x 8 format and a lower price-with the same go-to read that ages 4 and up love.

Even if you don’t have kids between 4-8 you’ll want to read it