Bunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells (1997)

Also available in Chinese:   Tu zi dan gao

Bunny Cakes is all about letter recognition and print awareness . Ruby knows how to write but Max doesn't. So Max scribbles til he figures out how to make pictograms. I like to ask the kids to read the lists Max takes to the store because the pictures tell what it is Max needs to buy. I love that the book kind of gives a whole history of writing: from meaningless scribbles to pictograms to the alphabet. There is so much to talk about. I have given messages to parents such as… "Having your children help make grocery lists is great for showing them the importance of writing", or "Making sure your children have lots of opportunity to write and draw as well as read books is crucial to being ready for school".

Jane Corry