Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego, 1987.
Hardcover edition, 32 pages, ISBN 0-15-232579-1.

Ehlert's solid backgrounds and simple brightly colored shapes clearly delineate the tools, seed types and basic procedures for planting, caring for, and harvesting veggies before washing, chopping, cooking and eating as vegetable soup. She places a few large words on each page, and each item is carefully identified with small labels.

This is an excellent first book about gardening and is well suited to program use for toddlers and preschoolers. It may be accompanied by the quintessential planting activity of a bean seed in a styro cup with a little potting soil.

Promotes print motivation through labeling, print awareness and letter knowledge through limited sections of large type, and narrative skills in detailing of sequential processes of gardening. Enhances vocabulary development of tools, plants and activities related to food production.

Snowballs by Lois Ehlert

Harcourt Children's Books, New York, 1995.
Hardcover edition, 40 pages, ISBN 978-0152000745.

     From snowfall to the return of melting sunshine, Ehlert's clever collages feature brightly-colored, accessorized snowmen. Appendices include photos of "good stuff" for decorating, an assortment of mitten styles, a briefing on snow and the water cycle, a family photo album of snow people, and a recipe for popcorn balls. This treasure trove will artistically inspire those who have access to the white stuff and those who don't.
    
     This book is perfect for reading at the end of a wintertime story hour before a concluding craft project of either outdoor snowman creation, or inside artwork. Beginning with round white paper cutouts for the body of the snowman, a wide variety of glueable items should be provided for personalization. Ages 1-4.

 Snowballs was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year for 1995.

Lots of Spots by Lois Ehlert

Beach Lane Books, San Diego, CA, 2010.
Hardcover edition, 40 pages, ISBN 978-1442402898.

Against a white background, the colorful simplicity of Ehlert's collage creatures stands in stark beauty. Each is accompanied by a four-line rhyme pertaining to their unique markings as camouflage or warning: "Color spots warn: / These frogs taste icky. / Don't eat them / or you'll get sicky." Children will enjoy greeting familiar friends such as cows and giraffes, while being introduced to an array of less common subspecies.

This work would be a good addition to a unit on animals or camouflage, although some of the poetic descriptions are less than inspiring. The lovely artwork would be seen best in small groups or individually. An author's note provides basic information on animal coloring for hiding or warning for danger.

Learning names of more obscure animals helps build vocabulary. Rhyming poems increase phonological awareness. Appropriate for ages 1-4.