Picture books you can sing

 Marianne Berkes has two more fun sing-along-while-you-read books. One features mother and baby animals found on the African Savanna: zebras, giraffes, hippopotamuses, lions, chimps, apes... and my favorite, meerkats.

The other features familiar barnyard animals: goats, cats, cows, horses, ducks and even owls. As in her other books, the text introduces the less familiar baby names - "kid" for goat, "poult" for turkey - and is structured as a counting book. There's also lots of action as the mothers and their babies gallop, swing, strut, stalk, yip, neigh... all things that the kids listening to the book will want to act out on their own.

What I love about these books is that at the end there's the music so you can sing along with the story ... which, if you grew up singing "Over in the meadow" you might do automatically.

There's also lots of "beyond the book" activities at the back of the book, including more information about each featured animal. Back matter in Over in the Grasslands includes a map of Africa showing where the animals live, a key to "hidden" animals (they show up in the book but you really have to take a second or third look to find them!), and some awesome tips from the illustrator, Jill Dubin, that might inspire you to try your own cut-paper art. More activities here.

Activities in Over on the Farm focus on math, science, language arts, music, movement, and art. Did you know you can grow a plant from the top of a carrot? There's also a section about food "from farm to table" with activities for making butter and "honey corn". More activities here.

Review copies from the publisher.