Posted on by Maureen

The Pigeon Needs a Bath by Mo Willems

My girls love Mo Willems books. We own almost everything that he has written, and we especially love the Pigeon character. If you have an older toddler, a preschooler, or a child in the early years of elementary school, chances are that s/he would love the fast-talkin Pigeon.

Today was a very exciting day at our house. I pre-ordered The Pigeon Needs a Bath at the beginning of the year, and today was the day that the book arrived. We have already read it several times, and the girls have declared that it is a hit. Read more

Posted on by Maureen

The Princess Candy series by Michael Dahl

My oldest daughter is almost seven years old, and she is in the first grade. She was an early reader, but up until recently, she preferred graphic novels to chapter books. We are very fortunate that our town library has a large selection of graphic novels for children. If there is anything that they do not have, we can have it sent to us via the library network.

My daughter discovered the first Princess Candy book at our town library, and she has since read several books in the series. Princess Candy combines several of the things that my daughter likes: princesses, candy, and superheroes. Princess Candy is a collaboration between Michael Dahl, the author and Jeff Crowther, the illustrator. Read more

Posted on by Maureen · 2 Comments

The Octonauts Books by Meomi

Before I had children, I knew everything there was about raising children. Seven years into the game, I’m realizing that I know nothing, John Snow about children. In the midst of my child rearing expert period, I declared that my children were not going to read television books. I thought they were a lower form of literature, and such books would never darken my doorway.

Like many of the things that I did not plan to do regarding children, the book snobbery went right out the window. We have many books featuring beloved television characters. Are they the most well written books? No, many of them don’t even have an author listed, which leads me to believe that they were either ghost written or authored by a robot. Or maybe ghostwritten by a robot.

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Posted on by Maureen

Not Your Typical Dragon by Dan Bar-el

My oldest daughter is almost seven years old, and she is in the first grade. She has a sweet little best friend, and I have struck up a friendship with the girl’s mother. We have a lot in common: our oldest daughters are only a month apart and were born in the same hospital and delivered by the same doctor. Her son and my twins are also the same age, and will start kindergarten together in a few months.

My friend and I both love the Scholastic book club flier that our girls get each month, and she was the one who told me about Not Your Typical Dragon, and how her children just loved it. I hadn’t ordered it when it appeared in the flier, so when I saw it amongst the picture books at the Book Fair, I definitely did a little happy dance.

Not Your Typical Dragon is a picture book written by Dan Bar-el and illustrated by Tim Bowers. This is the story of Crispin, a dragon who is about to turn seven years old. In dragon culture, this is the age at which dragons are endowed with the ability to breathe fire. Disaster strikes when Crispin is poised to light the candles on his cake with fire breath: whipped cream comes out of Crispin’s mouth instead of fire! Read more

Posted on by Maureen

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch

My oldest daughter is almost seven years old, and she loves graphic novels. She is a strong reader, but she was not always interested in chapter books. Her kindergarten teacher introduced her to the Babymouse series, and she fell in love with the genre. We are very lucky that our town library has a large selection of graphic novels, and we have also ventured out to neighboring towns to check out their graphic novels as well.

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword is a graphic novel by Barry Deutsch. It is subtitled, “Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11-Year-Old Orthodox Jewish Girl”. Mirka lives with her father, stepmother, and assorted siblings in an Orthodox enclave. Mirka is so sheltered that she does not recognize a pig when she encounters one in the woods. Read more

Posted on by Maureen

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown

I just brought home Mr. Tiger Goes Wild from the library. This is our second time checking out this book. My girls love when I read it to them, and I have a particular love for it as well. I do think that when this book is released in paperback, we will be picking up our own copy.

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild is a picture book written and illustrated by Peter Brown. The titular Mr. Tiger lives in a drab city that would make Charles Dickens depressed. Everything in the city is grey, and all of the anthropomorphic animals are very proper. In one picture, we even see a horse scolding little animals by telling them not to act like wild animals! Read more

Posted on by Maureen

Here Comes The Easter Cat

As soon as I saw Here Comes The Easter Cat featured in an email from Amazon.com, I knew I had to track down a copy. I was able to request one through the library network, and it arrived a few days later.

Here Comes The Easter Cat has an interesting format: the narrator is conducting an interview with a churlish cat, and the reader gets a front row seat to the show. At first, the cat is dismissive of the Easter Bunny’s efforts, and decides that he can do better than that old bunny. Cat gets himself a motorcycle so that he can go faster than the Easter Bunny, and he gets himself a sparkly suit (to outshine the Easter Bunny’s fine vest). Cat is determined to upstage the Easter Bunny, but when the Bunny arrives, what will happen? Will there be an epic showdown or will we see Cat’s empathetic side?

The illustrations are charming. They are relatively simple sketches, but what makes them truly interesting is the presentation. Cat doesn’t talk, so when he has something to say, he holds up a signboard with a picture on it. My girls quickly got the joke when Cat makes a face and holds up a signboard with hearts on it in response to the question, “The Easter Bunny? What about him?”

My girls loved this book, and their love for this book grows with every reading. Bex and Snickers cackle so much that Alligator yells at them for laughing too loudly and making too much noise.

We have to return this book to the library in a couple of weeks, and I think we are going to have to get our own copy. If you’d like to get a copy, please follow this link.

Here Comes the Easter Cat