Books in Mr. King series

Mr. King, a lion in a gold crown, ?lives on top of a BIG hill. He wants to build himself a BIG castle. Mr. King likes BIG things.? But in order to make such a big castle, Mr. King needs lots of material. So he decides to use blocks he chops up with abandon from all over his hill, not noticing the giant holes he's leaving behind. Once he's done, Mr. King is proud of his enormous new castle. But when his animal friends begin to wonder what happened to their favorite places, Mr. King realizes the harm he has done to the once-beautiful hill. ?Everyone is staring at Mr. King, and suddenly he feels very small.? Is there anything Mr. King can do to feel big again? This picture book is part of an environmentally themed series created by award-winning author-illustrator Geneviève Côté. With gentle humor, it offers an age-appropriate message to young children about how each of us needs to tread lightly on the earth. It makes a wonderful book for a primary science lesson on environmental stewardship. It also works well for discussions about friendship and could be used for a character education lesson about fairness, responsibility or cooperation. For a hands-on experience, there are visual puzzles in which the pieces chopped out of the hill can be matched directly to the pieces that make up the castle.

Mr. King is a cat who likes new things. In fact, ?LOTS of new things. As soon as one of his things becomes the tiniest bit old, he tosses it into the nearby pond and replaces it with a new one.? Happily, this works just fine for a while. But then one day while attempting to fish in this same pond, Mr. King is terrified when he pulls up what he believes is a gigantic monster. Only it turns out it's not a monster at all. It's a tangle of his own discarded things, come back to scare him! Geneviève Côté has created a terrific introduction to the causes and effects of pollution and overconsumption with this lively and funny picture book. As with so many big ideas, the environmental message here is quite simple and easy to understand when explained at a child's-eye view. The story is gentle, humorous and not at all preachy, and the artwork is clean and open, with most of the visual focus on Mr. King and his range of intense emotions. The ways Mr. King finds to repurpose all of his resurrected things at the end of the book could inspire all kinds of classroom discussions about what efforts children might make to recycle their things for other people or other uses, as well as how not to waste things in general. It could also work as a jumping-off point for a project turning children's found objects into their own works of art.

When Mr. King the cat discovers that one of the pretty flowers near his home has been chewed by a caterpillar, he is NOT happy. He decides to build himself a Caterpillar-Catcher to track down the culprit who did it. ?VOOM! VOOM! VOOM!? But as he speeds up and down the hillsides, Mr. King doesn't notice that the Caterpillar-Catcher is spewing nasty smoke into the air and knocking down the other pretty flowers in his path. Now it's his animal friends who are NOT happy. They explain to Mr. King that his machine is making things worse, not better. And why chase a caterpillar anyway? Caterpillars turn into butterflies, and butterflies help the flowers to grow! Will Mr. King be able to turn things around so everyone will be happy again? This is the third book in Geneviève Côté's wonderful picture book series about a crown-wearing cat who always needs a little help from his friends to learn important environmental lessons. With bright and colorful illustrations, this engaging, charming book makes an entertaining read-aloud. This story shows that, as in the real world, there can be unintended consequences to well-meaning actions, and it provides a starting point for discussions on the interdependency of all things in nature. It might also prompt a conversation about how creativity can inspire us to make our community a nicer place --- maybe even sparking a classroom flower-seed-planting project. This is also a sweet lesson on how friends can help us to better understand ourselves and our world.

Young boy learns that he is to think like a king thinks. His grandma instills wisdom things that king do. They are responsible; they do right things. They are whole, complete and respectable. Kings are too have fun and most of all love. Thinking is a big part of being right. Grandma knows these valuable lessons and she teaches her grandson these things in a song.