“As a parent, I know that reading with your child is an important part of their mental and emotional development,” said Mrs. Blagojevich. “I started this program to encourage parents to read with their children, and I hope our recommended reading list helps parents find books that the whole family can enjoy.”

It’s Spring!
by Pamela Chanko and Samantha Berger

Book Description:

The news that spring has sprung bounces from bunny to deer to duck until finally the birds deliver the message to the bears, telling them that at last it is time to “wake up, it’s spring.” In “It's Spring!” cheerful watercolors accompany the rhyming text written by Pamela Chanko and Samantha Berger. Readers are carried from page to page as the animals spread the word of the new world and season.

Additional Information:

For special recording request please call the Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic at (312) 236-8715 or visit www.rfbd.org

It’s Spring! by Pamela Chanko, Samantha Berger, illustrated by Melissa Sweet. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from Scholastic Inc. Attention: Permissions Department, 555 Broadway, New York, NY 10012

Tom’s Midnight Garden
by Philippa Pearce

Book Description:

Tom is furious. His brother, Peter, has measles, so now Tom is being shipped off to stay with Aunt Gwen and Uncle Alan in their boring old apartment. There'll be nothing to do there and no one to play with. Tom just counts the days till he can return home to Peter. Then one night the landlady's antique grandfather clock strikes thirteen times leading Tom to a wonderful, magical discovery and marking the beginning of a secret that's almost too amazing to be true. But it is true, and in the new world that Tom discovers is a special friend named Hatty and more than a summer's worth of adventure for both of them. Now Tom wishes he could stay with his relatives and Hatty -- forever...

Author Biography:

Philippa Pearce is the author of many books, several of which are considered classics both in the United States and in her native England. Her award-winning titles include Tom's Midnight Garden, which received the Carnegie Medal and was an ALA Notable Book; The Battle of Bubble and Squeak, which received the Whitbread Award; and Mrs. Cockle's Cat, which received the Kate Greenaway Medal. She lives in Cambridgeshire, England.

Awards:

ALA Notable Children’s Book
Carnegie Medal
Horn Book Fanfare

Additional Information:

For special recording request please call the Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic at (312) 236-8715 or visit www.rfbd.org

Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from HarperCollins Publishers, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019