Bill Martin Jr. featured on Virtual Book Club for Kids
Each month I team up with a group of bloggers to feature one author. The author for September will be Bill Martin Jr. At the beginning of each month, I'll remind you of that month's author. Near the middle of the month, there will be a linky party to share the ideas for studying the selected author's books. Several bloggers will write posts featuring ideas. You can write a post or share an idea with the virtual book club each month as well. The linky party will give you a great resource to come back to when you are trying to create author studies or find great book activities for your child.Bill Martin Jr. Books
Bill Martin Jr. has many well loved books. According to Wikipedia, he wrote and published over 300 children's books. I'm featuring a handful of our favorites today.This is a wonderful picture book illustrated by Eric Carle. It has a simple repetitive text. This classic book follows a pattern on each page as each animal introduces the next animal in the story. "Brown bear, brown bear what do you see? I see a red bird looking at me." The red bird picks up the pattern on the next page and continues the pattern through out. It is a great book for teaching color words.
If you like Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See?, you might also like
Polar Bear, Polar Bear What do you Hear?
Panda Bear Panda Bear What do you See?
Baby Bear Baby Bear What do you See?
In Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat are you Waking Up? Martin uses the repetative texts and rhymes that make his writing famous. This is the story of a little kitty who is having trouble following a morning routine and getting off to school.
You might also like:
Kitty Cat Kitty Cat are you Going to School?Kitty Cat Kitty Cat are you Going to Bed?
A rhyming stories of letters racing up a coconut tree is interspered with a repetitive jingle. Kids can't help but join in the silly sounding words in this book. This book is illustrated by well-known children's book author and illustrator Lois Ehlert
You Might also like:
Chicka Chicka 123
Chicka Chicka ABC
Ten Little Caterpillars also illustrated by Lois Ehlert
While Bill Martin Jr.'s books often line up well with preschool themes of colors, shapes, counting, rhyming, etc., not all of his books are so focused on preschool concepts. If you are looking for a different type of book, these are two of my favorites.
A native american tale of a young blind boy who is talking with his grandfather and recounting the night that he was born. As the story unfolds in a dialogue between grandfather and grandson, the boy learns about his own inner strength which helps him deal with his own blindness and the looming death of his grandfather. One of my favorite quotes in this book is, "All children need a strong name to help them grow stronger". It is a good book for older children to learn about other cultures and traditions behind choosing names. It is also a good book for exploring the trait of courage.
How to Join the Virtual Book Club for Kids
1. Pick your favorite book by Bill Martin Jr. and read it with your child or class.2. Create an activity, project, craft, cooking project, etc. related to the book and do it.
3. Come back and share it with us as part of a big blog hop on Monday, September 9th. The linky will be live for 3 weeks, so if you aren't ready to post on the exact date, just join in when you can! If you don't blog, you can share what you did on our Facebook wall, email us, or just comment on the post.
4. All Blog Participants will have a chance to be featured on our Pinterest Board and Facebook Page!
4. All Blog Participants will have a chance to be featured on our Pinterest Board and Facebook Page!
Let us know you're joining us by leaving a comment below in the comment section!
Here are the authors for the next 9 months of the VBC. Hope you'll join us.
Here are the authors for the next 9 months of the VBC. Hope you'll join us.

Knots on the Counting Rope looks great! I didn't know about that one. We love Bill Martin Jr's Big Book of Poetry.
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