Kid Konnection: Laurence King Children's Books

Every Saturday, I host a feature called Kid Konnection -- a regular weekend feature about anything related to children's books. This week I'm going to share with you two wonderful books from Laurence King Publishing.

Summary: Learn to count from one to ten with little houses around the world!

Visit a variety of charming little houses around the world - right the way from one Scottish crofter's cottage to ten town houses beside a canal in Amsterdam.

Created by talented papercut artist Helen Musselwhite, each beautiful scene has lots of details to spot and count together.

Also includes fun facts about each type of house for extra spotting fun. -- Laurence King

LITTLE HOUSES: A COUNTING BOOK by Helen Musselwhite is such a cool counting picture book. Like you, there have been many counting books come through our house over the past sixteen years, but LITTLE HOUSES is one-of-a-kind. This book teaches children how to count from one to ten with small houses from around the world.

For example, there are adorable houses from England, Amsterdam, South Africa and the United States; and they are all very cute. What makes this book even more special are the illustrations. Each set of houses is made of paper constructions and feature the unique architectural styles from all over the world.

As you can see from the picture above, this book is so interesting for kids and parents alike. The little ones can learn to count while older children (and parents) will learn about the various architectural styles from around the world. I will admit that I wasn't sure where all of the houses were from... until I saw the last few pages of the book. The author included a section that explains the different styles of homes and where they exist.

I loved the artwork in LITTLE HOUSES and think the book is a great way to combine counting and architecture. Highly recommended!

Summary: A fantastic, original exploration of how animals build their homes and the fascinating structures they create. From gladiator frogs to chimpanzees, learn about how animals all over the world build their homes. Each spread contains a beautiful, colorful illustration of each animal and its home, plus a unique fold-out information panel, with stats and a simple architectural diagram showcasing the creation of the 'architect'. Look inside chimpanzee nests, beaver dams, termite mounds, stork nests, and many more - and get to know the clever animals who build them! -- Laurence King

ANIMAL ARCHITECTS: AMAZING ANIMALS WHO BUILD THEIR HOUSES by Daniel Nassar and Julio Antonio Blasco is a wonderful book for kids who are interested in animals and science. This picture book is definitely for an older crowd because it's chock full of interesting facts about animals and their houses.

I was blown away by how much information is included in ANIMAL ARCHITECTS. Of course, animals are fascinating and this book really explores just how amazing they are. Each two page spread features a different animal and how they build their home. Check out how beautiful this book is:

ANIMAL ARCHITECTS covers a wide variety of animals including a beaver, an African Tree Frog, a spider, a chimpanzee and more. Not only does the book teach what their homes look like, but it also explains how they build them; and it even gives information about the animal itself. The right page also has a flap which opens to look like a little building plan. ANIMAL ARCHITECTS is really quite impressive with how it's designed as well as the information it includes.

ANIMAL ARCHITECTS belongs in school libraries and classrooms. It's a wonderful book to learn about nature and science in an interesting and fun way!

Thanks to the publisher for providing review copies of these books.

If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, please leave a comment as well as a link below with your name/blog name and the title of the book! Feel free to grab the little button too!