Hap-Pea Valentine’s Day

PreS-Gr 3–A Valentine’s Day book that illustrates a variety of “heart” vocabulary words to celebrate the holiday. On February 14, the peas celebrate love with many kinds of hearts, including locket hearts, candy hearts, chocolate hearts, and more. No matter the type of heart, they all express “I love you!” To maximize the introduction of new vocabulary words, each page is full of various illustrated hearts with the little peas hiding all throughout the background for children to find. Photoshop illustrations have a dreamy and romantic watercolorlike style and are saturated with jewel-tone reds, pinks, and purples that invite readers to find the peas and see how they are all celebrating the holiday. Although the illustrations seek to define the words, some—“blurry,” “ascend”—feel conceptually ambitious for younger children. Overall, this is a solid entry to the series that expresses love and holiday themes for little ones keen on learning more.