Bill Martin Jr. Virtual Book Club for Kids

Happy September! Since today is the first day of the month, it's time to announce the virtual book club for kids author of the month. This month, the VBC will be featuring books by Bill Martin Jr. His books should be required reading for all children, in my opinion. Many of his books, such as "Brown Bear Brown Bear What do You See?" are considered "classic" stories by many people. It's been a few months since I participated in the Virtual Book Club for Kids. Read on to find out more about the Virtual Book Club for kids and how you can join. You can choose any Bill Martin Jr. book to share with your child this month and then come back and link up. I'm featuring several of my favorite books. There are many to choose from, but if you need a recommendation, these are my faves!

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.

Brown Bear Brown Bear What do You See?

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?

Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat are you Waking Up?

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?

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom 

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.

I Pledge Allegiance

This book, illustrated by Chris Raschka, explains the entire pledge of allegiance word by word or phrase by phrase. This is a picture book for older readers (ages 6-9). 

Knots on a Counting Rope

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!  

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.