Mr. Katapat’s Incredible Adventures – Barroux

Mr. Katapat might not look like anything special, but in reality, he is a great adventurer. Each day as he heads down to the library, he prepares himself to set forth on another quest. You wouldn’t think such great things could start at the library, but they do. You see, each and every book is a passport to adventure, and all he has to do is make a decision – which book will he choose today? There’s so much to choose from! He could be deep in the jungle, looking for a pygmy temple while staying out of the reaches … Continue reading →

The Three Snow Bears – Jan Brett

The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett is a fun twist on the familiar Goldilocks story. Aloo-ki, an Eskimo girl, is fishing when she loses her dogsled team on a ice floe. Nearby, a snow bear family starts to eat their breakfast. Since the meal is too hot for Baby Bear, Mother Bear suggests a walk. Allo-ki runs along, looking for her seld dogs. She comes across the biggest igloo she’s ever seen. She wonders who lives there and ducks in the door. Inside she finds three bowls, big, middle-sized, and small filled with delicious smelling soup. Just like Goldilocks, … Continue reading →

Which Would You Rather Be? – William Steig

Some books lend themselves well to playing games. Which Would You Rather Be? by William Steig is such a book. This isn’t just a book to read aloud. This is a book to discuss and have fun answering the questions. Your children’s answers and reasoning may surprise you. As the book opens the illustrations by Harry Bliss show a boy and a girl sitting across from a rabbit. The rabbit has a wand and magicians black hat. The rabbit asks the children which they would rather be, a stick or a stone. The rabbit seems to bring both of them … Continue reading →

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day – Judith Viorst

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is another one of those classic books that I think every child should read. We all have bad days. Children and adults will laugh and empathize with Alexander’s day. Poor Alexander is a little boy who wakes up with gum in his hair, he trips on his skateboard, and drops his sweater in the sink all on the first page. At breakfast his brothers find prizes in their cereal boxes. All he finds is breakfast cereal. He announces that he thinks he’ll move to Australia. Alexander’s day keeps being terrible. … Continue reading →

I Wanna Iguana – Karen Kaufman Orloff

Alex has a little problem. He really wants an iguana, but his mother is against it. He figures that a little creative arguing will change his mother’s mind. “I Wanna Iguana” is a darling children’s picture book detailing Alex’s quest to win his mother over. Creatively formatted in a series of notes from Alex to his mother, and from his mother back to Alex, we see their reasoning, sometimes rational, and sometimes not. You see, Mikey Sullivan is moving, and he can’t take his baby iguana with him. If Alex doesn’t take him, Stinky will get him, and Stinky has … Continue reading →

Shrek! – William Steig

Many parents and children are familiar with the Dreamworks movie Shrek. Less people realize that the movie was based on a picture book titled Shrek! authored by William Steig and published in 1993. The book begins with this hilarious sentence, “His mother was ugly and his father was ugly, but Shrek was uglier”. The book is different than the movie, and the illustration don’t really match the movie characters that we are familiar with. This is such a fun book, but it takes a little while to get used to the differences. Shrek is an ogre. Everywhere he goes trees … Continue reading →

Mystery at the Club Sandwich – Doug Cushman

I love corny jokes—well, most corny jokes, that is. “Mystery at the Club Sandwich” is just full of ‘em, and puns and all sorts of things that will probably make the parents laugh more than the children, but that’s okay. Our main character is hardened detective Nick Trunk, who is an elephant. He’s a private investigator who doesn’t charge much—he works for peanuts. One day, a lady who looked like trouble walked into his office and introduced herself as Maggie Trouble. She came on behalf of a lady named Lola who lost her marbles. She wants Nick to come investigate … Continue reading →

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse – Kevin Henkes

Lilly is a cute little white mouse who loves school. She loves the sharpened pencils (she’s a mouse after my own heart) and she loves the chalk (okay, not so much) and her desk and her lunch and her teacher, Mr. Slinger. He was so wonderful. He wore a different colored tie every day of the week. He was friendly, he let them rearrange their desks, and he brought snacks. Being a teacher would be really cool, Lilly thought. She decided to play teacher when she got home, using her baby brother Julius as her student. She told her parents … Continue reading →

I’m as Quick as a Cricket and The Very Quiet Cricket

This time of year, we always find a few crickets in the house. Here are two great classic picture books for read aloud enjoyment. Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood is one of those books you will find in a lot of preschool and kindergarten classrooms. It recently came out in a board book edition for the youngest readers. In the book a young child pretends to be all sorts of animals. The illustrations by Don Wood are silly and imaginative. The child is shown hiding in a seashell, and leading a tiger in the dark. The text has … Continue reading →

And Here’s to You! – David Elliott

This fun children’s picture book is a celebration of life. Each page is illustrated with rich, saturated color, a treat for the eyes. Words of gratitude are frequent, and the reader can feel the joy that comes from going outside on a brilliant spring day and just enjoying nature. The author raises a salute to birds, using his young female narrator to say, “Here’s to you!” She calls them “feather people,” and gives special mention to the birds who whooo, cockadoodledoo, the ones who have red breasts and the ones who sit on telephone wires. She appreciates all of them … Continue reading →