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When I ask my son to pick out a book to read, he often chooses Shave Ice in Hawai’i with illustrations by Mariko Merritt. He has the book almost memorized we have read it so many times, but he likes it best when one of us read it to him so he can yell out what flavor shave ice he wants at the right time. The book starts with a simple description of how to make shave ice, shape the ice, pat, pat, always gets my son involved with his hands patting the book or his legs as he repeats the words with me. The illustration shows a hand patting the ice into the shape so it really engages him as well. Once the text starts asking the reader to pick a flavor, my son is yelling, the red one, no the blue one, no yellow, no all of them, it’s like we are buying shave ice all over again. I really love the pages with the pictures of actual flavors, the pineapple, watermelon, liliko’i, boysenberry all look good enough to eat. My son is always putting his nose right up to the book to smell them. As we read, I like to point to the different foods and have him name them which keeps him engaged and interested throughout the book. The colors are vibrant and the rhythmic, rhyming text is fun to read. Just be careful because every time I read this book I find myself craving some shave ice.
Published by Sarah BooksBeforeBandaids
7 years ago 
