Toddler Read Aloud: Let's Count Goats by Mem Fox

Let's Count Goats by Mem Fox; illustrated by Jan Thomas

Pure silliness. The rhyme and rhythm are perfect. Silly goats, in silly situations, doing silly things, begging to be counted. The words come tripping from your tongue and the bold illustrations are even sillier than the words: one spread features little goat bi-plane pilots, eating their airplanes as they fly them. This makes a charming read aloud that children will want to hear (and look at) again and again and again.
Target age: 2-4.

Connections:
Sandra Boynton's Moo Baa La La La

Weekly Read Aloud: Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Mouse Count, by Ellen Stoll Walsh
We are reading about mice in January and February, and Walsh's little collage mice are some of my favorites. Walsh's collage illustrations are similar to Leo Lionni's, but a bit brighter and bolder. Lionni's books are philosophical and targeted to a slightly older crowd, while Walsh's books are all about the preschool set. As the title suggests, Mouse Count is a counting book. A snake finds some sleeping mice and proceeds to drop them one by one into a jar for safekeeping. I could feel my little listeners shiver when I read the snake's just-creepy-enough delight at finding the mice: "little, warm and tasty." As this is a book for young ones, the mice trick the snake, and handily "uncount themselves" and escape before anyone is harmed. Kids love to count along and make predictions about what will happen next in this pint-size thriller.
Target age: prek

Connections
Walsh's other crowd-pleasers include
Mouse Paint and the new (2010) Balancing Act