Nobody Notices Minerva

 by Wednesday Kirwan (2007)

This is a new book about a puppy that is frustrated by the lack of attention paid her by her parents. I'm going to use it with my preschoolers when storytimes start up again in January. There are a bunch of good oportunities for print awareness : on one page, the print is upside down (as Minerva lays on the couch upside down) and I think making a big show out of turning the book upside down to read it will be fun and instructive. On another page, a bored Minerva draws the letter "M" on a door in chalk, and I think we'll all take the opportunity to draw the letter in the air with our imaginary chalk. There are other examples of this sort of print awareness and letter recognition  in the book - you get the idea. After we read it, I think we'll get out paper and chalk and draw letters of our own.

Brianne Williams