Birthdays Books

As a kindergarten teacher, I discovered this book to use in my math lesson for teaching the concept of "half". Every time I use this book, the children have a good understanding of what "half" is by the time the reading is finished. A great story with a cozy family and a great teaching tool!

Here is a classic album from 1977 featuring some of your favorite characters. Highlights on this album include the title song, "A Little Bit Bigger", "When Will My Birthday Come?", and Cookie Monster's immortal, "Put a Cookie In My Mouth". You will find yourself playing this even when nobody is celebrating a birthday!

My 2 year old received a copy of this for her birthday. SheLOVES it! It captures all the fun of her Birthday party with a spotfor a picture too! I must really like this I've ordered 7 to give as gifts:)

I used to borrow this book/tape ALL the time when I was younger. I highly suggest it for anyone who wants to hear a catchy tune!

I have read several different Charlie Brown milestone books and this has got to be the best! I hated to put it down once I got started. It shows how Charles Schultz got started and the evolution of the Peanuts gang. This is a must read for any Charlie Brown fan.

Happy Birthday Coco by Oneones is a picture book about a year in the life of Coco, who turns one at the start of the story. Coco is a small dog. We never see her human companions, but they clearly value Coco's presence in their lives.

This book is a gorgeous production with few words, thick pages, and soft colors. It includes occasional sheer overlay pages to add visual interest and complexity. For example, a translucent page with a faint net pattern overlays a picture of Coco playing with a tennis ball. A page showing the cage that Coco came home in has shiny reflective bars, like very narrow mirrors. Another page includes a cut-out of a word that can be read backwards or forwards. It's like the author is playing with the medium of picture book, just as Coco plays with balls.

The author is a graphic artist, and the book is more a visual delight than a narrative story. Coco's year passes as a series of incidents. She makes a friend, gets into trouble, loses her friend, plays in the snow, and goes for walks. The illustrations frequently reflect the mood of what's going on with Coco. For instance, there's an incident where Coco is yelled for misbehaving.

"Usually Coco likes to go for walks. After shouting, though, she just sits and looks."

The background is gray here,like a fog, and we can see clearly that Coco is sad. Coco is also sad when her friend goes away (presumably dying, though this is left vague). It's surprisingly profound for a picture book with so few words.

Overall, I found this to be an excellent, quiet sort of book. Happy Birthday Coco is well-presented, with subtle but meaningful messages about friendship and loss, and getting into trouble but still being loved. The book concludes "Coco will have many more sweet dreams, and many more friends, and many more happy birthdays." I certainly hope so.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on November 10, 2006.

I read this book to my kindergartners and they fell in love with Dr. King. I saw the boys deeply engrossed in the story almost imagining themselves in Dr. King's position. I doubt they had ever heard of an African American man, in their young lives, who had such an enormous effect on the lives of people. They understood that Dr. King was a powerful man and the only person they could equate his power to was George Bush. I think they will forever remember the accomplishments of Dr. King because of the engaging way this author presented his life. At the mention of Dr. King's name my students say, "he's the greatest."

This book includes birthday greetings and celebrations from 19 different countries. Packed with interesting trivia and simple games, recipes, and crafts this book is fun for the whole family and is a great way to begin to introduce different cultural celebrations to small children.

I owned this book when I was in the 3rd grade. I remember reading it over and over. As a new mother I've been wanting my daughter to have the same toys/books that I had as a child. I remembered the story line to this book but couldn't remember what it was called or what the little characters were called. I just happened to be on an 80s toysite and I found a link called Hugga Bunch. I checked it out and there was the characters and the book. I then looked it up on Amazon.com and purchased it. I can't wait to get it to read it to my daughter. I will be sure not to let go of this book this time around.

This unique book of text passages in a "cutout font" over illustrated collages is dedicated to the author's uncle, John Kang, and based on a New York Times article from June 1994. Mr Kang is having his 70th birthday party in New York City's Chinatown. There with his friends, family, and grandson, he makes three wishes: To read The New York Times every morning, to paint a poem each day, and to have his own caged hua mei bird, which will go with him every Sunday to Sara Delano Roosevelt Park. As the reader continues through the book, its story, poems, and its collages (one of a background of Chinese menus, another of alters, another of NYT newsprint, one of SDR Park), Sam is met. Sam, Mr Kang's grandson, comes to visit his grandparents for the weekend. On Sunday, he, his grandfather, the hua mei bird, and a warm cake from his grandmother make their way after dawn to the park. Soon there are 27 other caged bird there waiting to sing. Sam wonders whether it is right to keep the bird caged, just like grandpa was caged to his work before retirement. Will grandpa let the bird fly free? What do grandma and the retired men think? What does the hua mei bird desire? Read and discover.