This Plus That: New Book From Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Amy Krouse Rosenthal's visit to our school last month was definitely a highlight of the school year.  She was amazing and her books are always checked out of the library. When she visited, we got a sneak peek at her newest book that came out last week. It is now one of my very favorites.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal loves words and she loves to have fun with words. That is what this new book, THIS PLUS THAT: LIFE'S LITTLE EQUATIONS is all about. In this book, Rosenthal plays with word equations. She builds this idea for the reader, beginning with simple equations such as "Yes + No = Maybe"  As the book continues, the equations become a little more tricky and a lot more fun.   I love the way Amy Krouse Rosenthal thinks.  One of my favorite equations in the book is "somersaults+somersaults+somersaults=dizzy". How fun is that?  I love the way that it invites readers to play with and think differently about words.

 Illustrated by Jen Corace, who also illustrated the Little Books by Rosenthal (LITTLE OINK, LITTLE HOOT, and LITTLE PEA), the book has a happy feel!  The colorful pictures help readers solve the equations and get into the spirit of the book.  The white background and colorful illustrations are a perfect match to the text.

I love this book for lots of reasons. I love the relationships Amy finds between words and I love the relationships she finds between the word equations. I like the whole idea that she played with word equations. I think this is another great invitation from Amy Krouse Rosenthal. She is all about invitations and this book will invite readers to give word equations a try.  Such a great book for word play and so many other things.