Busy Pandas by John Schindel and Lisa and Mike Husar

Busy Pandas by John Schindel, photography by Lisa and Mike Husar

For today's Nonfiction Monday selection, I'm bringing you a book for the smallest nonfiction lovers in your family.

Back in March, I reviewed four board books in Tricycle Press's Busy Book Series. They continue to be a favorite in our house, especially Busy Kitties. Well, Tricycle Press kindly sent the latest book in the series, Busy Pandas. After a recent trip to the National Zoo where my daughter saw the pandas and received her very own tiny stuffed panda, she has been entranced by this book.

Following the same format as the other books in the series, each page in the book features a full-color photographs of pandas demonstrating the action word on the page that will help your child build vocabulary. Both baby and adult pandas are in the book doing many things young children will be familiar with. For example, we see a "panda eating," a stalk of bamboo another "panda hiding" behind bamboo, a big "panda sliding" in the snow on its back, and tiny baby "panda napping" with its mother.

The sturdy board book with thick pages makes it an ideal choice for not-so-gentle toddlers. I highly recommend this book and the others in the series. Not only do they teach fun action words, but the beautiful photographs will keep even the smallest of kids engaged.


More Info:

• Reading level: Baby-Preschool
  
• Board book: 19 pages
• Publisher: Tricycle Press; Brdbk edition (October 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582462593
• ISBN-13: 978-1582462592

Other books in the series include:

• Busy Bunnies, by John Schindel, photography by Steven Holt
• Busy Horsies, by John Schindel, photography by Casi Clark
• Busy Piggies, by John Schindel, photography by Steven Holt
  
• Busy Barnyard, by John Schindel, photography by Steven Holt
• Busy Kitties, by John Schindel, photography by Sean Franzen
• Busy Penguins, by John Schindel, photography by Jonathan Chester
• Busy Doggies, by John Schindel, photography by Beverly Sparks
• Busy Monkeys, by John Schindel, photography by Luiz Claudio Marigo

Busy Animals Board Book Series

With three cats and a dog in our house, we are definitely animal lovers, and my daughter, who will turn one in just a couple of weeks, absolutely loves our animals. She also loves Tricycle Press's Busy Animal Board Books.

We own four of the eight books in the series:

• Busy Kitties, by John Schindel, photography by Sean Franzen
• Busy Penguins, by John Schindel, photography by Jonathan Chester
• Busy Doggies, by John Schindel, photography by Beverly Sparks
• Busy Monkeys, by John Schindel, photography by Luiz Claudio Marigo
  

Each page in the book features a full-color photographs of an animal(s) demonstrating the action word on the page that will help your child build vocabulary. For example, in the Busy Kitties book, we see "Kitty hissing/ Kitty kissing/ Kitty running/ Kitty sunning" and more.

My daughter is fascinated by the photographs in these sturdy books and just sits there and smiles as she flips the pages. I also appreciate that they will introduce her to other animals, like monkeys and penguins, that she doesn't have the chance to see in their natural habitats.


Other books in the series that we're adding to our wish list include:

• Busy Bunnies, by John Schindel, photography by Steven Holt
• Busy Horsies, by John Schindel, photography by Casi Clark
• Busy Piggies, by John Schindel, photography by Steven Holt
  
• Busy Barnyard, by John Schindel, photography by Steven Holt
  

These would all make a great addition to your young child's library.