The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat and Mo Willems

The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat and Mo Willems
Disney Press

Rating: 5 stars

Four friends. Three cookies.

Is there any better start to a book? Because if you have ever been in a situation like this one, I assure you: it's a fiasco.

These four friends are beside themselves with despair. They think of possible solutions to the problem. Alligator suggests that the two little squirrels share one cookie. One squirrel states that Alligators shouldn't like cookies. Hippo suggests the cookies be allotted according to size. The final squirrel throws her hands up in the air--she's too overwhelmed with the thought of cookie loss to solve any problems.

Then, Hippo starts breaking the cookies. It's what he does when he's nervous, another friend explains. She can't help herself! She breaks them all once, and there are six half-cookies. A few pages later she breaks all of those in half. Suddenly, there are twelve quarters.

"TAKE THEM AWAY FROM ME BEFORE ALL WE HAVE ARE CRUMBS!" she screams.

Each animals grabs some cookies...and (I know you've guessed it) they each have three pieces of cookie in their hands.

Talk about a smile-inducing book right before bedtime! (Or anytime!)

I knew this book was going to great because:

• The title: it had the word fiasco in it. And fiasco is such a great word--in general and for young readers to know.
  
• It is written and illustrated by Dan Santat. He's the guy who created the gorgeous story and pictures in The Adventures of Beekle, so I knew he'd bring warmth and silliness to any and all characters in this book.
  
• This book is in a new series called "Elephant and Piggie Like Reading! Series" This series is launched from the enormous success of the enormously wonderful Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books. While at first I was annoyed by the marketing of it, the books selected for this series are really great easy readers for readers who are making the big leap into reading by themselves.

Elephant and Piggie: Waiting is Not Easy! by Mo Willems

Elephant and Piggie: Waiting is Not Easy! by Mo Willems

Rating: 5 stars

We've loved Elephant and Piggie for a long, long time. I've written about them a few times before (most recently HERE and before that HERE). They are the best easy reader series that exists, and if you are working on reading with your kiddo, you need to check out every single one of them from the library. Really, you do.

But this book. Waiting Is Not Easy. This one take the cake.

This is the best!  The best book in a fantastic series! Do you REALIZE what this means?! This is one spectacular book!

Perhaps I've read it so many times that I am now beginning to talk like Gerald and Piggie? There could be worse things.

SO! The book!

Piggie has something to show Gerald. But he has to wait for it. And Gerald has a waiting problem. I know a waiting problem when I see one because I have serious waiting problems, too. Gerald and I (and my kids, like most kids) have serious deficiencies when it comes to patience. It's really a bummer that Target doesn't sell patience, really. It'd be so handy to have an extra six-pack of patience sitting around...

ANYWAY! The book!

So Gerald does his best to wait--which Piggie insists he must do, he has no choice, the surprise is not ready yet--and finally he does wait until the final few pages of the book, when the reader turns the page and together with Gerald we gasp in appreciation.

Gerald learns he has to wait some more.
(I do the same thing.)

It's a starry, starry night in Gerald and Piggie's world, and they both look up at it, in awe. They are both dumbstruck at the view.

And Gerald says, simply and quietly: "That was worth waiting for."

What a great book to put in the hands of our children! Geesh, what a great book to put in the hands of our friends and partners and siblings, too! In this world of now-now-NOW, where we want what we want yesterday, not months or years from now, it is even more important to teach kids that waiting is difficult and worthwhile.

Some things are worth waiting for.

Isn't that true?

Three Strikes for Rotten Ralph by Jack Gantos

Three Strikes for Rotten Ralph by Jack Gantos

Rating: 3.5 stars

Throwback Thursday…sort of…!

I just don't know about this Rotten Ralph guy.  I'm totally on the fence.  On the one hand, it might be fun to have a character that is naughty and rotten and "makes bad choices" (to use today's parenting lexicon) in order to point out his flaws to my kids.  So that they avoid being naughty and rotten and so they don't "make bad choices."

On the other hand, Ralph is so selfish, haughty, and full of himself I don't like his example lying around my house!

On the other hand (hmm…somehow I have three hands this morning…), I am a huge fan of Jack Gantos' middle grade books.  I think Deadend in Norvelt is a masterpiece of story-telling and writing and I couldn't put down his autobiography Hole In My Life.  But Rotten Ralph and I are not friends--despite Ralph being as old as I am.

Ralph was still dreaming when
the ball thumped him on the head.

In this book (a beginner reader with short, manageable chapters) Ralph and the ever-patient Sarah go out for the team.  Whereas Sarah tries hard, practices, and shows up on time, Ralph is certain of stardom even before he dons a uniform.  Instead of practicing his swing, he practices writing his autograph.  Instead of paying attention on the field, he dreams of stardom and gets bonked with the ball.

Therefore, the outcome is no surprise to the reader: Sarah makes the team while Ralph gets cut.  But Ralph gets a second chance when Sarah's teammate is sick and the coach needs Ralph, now the bat…er, cat…boy, to step up and step in.  He actually gets a hit but doesn't remember to run hard and make the play BEFORE you celebrate your greatness, so…he is tagged out at home plate.

It's Sarah who is the hero with the winning home run.  "You are my superstar," purrs Ralph.  "Oh, no," replies Sarah.  "I'm a team player.  But don't worry, Ralph.  You will always be number one on my team."

I appreciate how Sarah still loves him despite his rotten, ego-driven behavior.  And I like how the book gives ample examples of what NOT to do--I get that sometimes kids listen and learn better that way.  Ben and Kiefer would give this a higher rating because they think Ralph is bad but his full-of-himself ways are hilarious.  Alas, I'm in charge of the typing for now, and I don't love Ralph.

What about you--whose side are you on?

Joan of Arc by Shana Corey

Joan of Arc by Shana Corey, illustrated by Dan Andreasen

Rating: 4 stars

Seen the movie Frozen?  Heard the songs from it…maybe just once or twice?  Not surprisingly, Lorelei is downright enchanted with the story, the characters, and the songs.  Last night I had to ask her to sing a little more quietly as she flitted around her room before turning her light out because her brothers were already asleep.

While singing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" Anna sings as she gazes up at a painting: "Hang in there, Joan!" Lorelei, in her ice cream night gown and wavy hair in her face, sung the line "Hang in there Joe."  I had to pause her enthusiastic singing and insert a teachable moment. It sounds worse than it was.  It sounds like I deflated her fun.  Oh wait, I think I might have.  POP!

I quickly explained that it was J-O-A-N, a girl, and she was a famous woman…wait, actually a teenage girl who fought for France in a war.  Lorelei's eyes got bigger with these quick facts, unable to digest the craziness of that story.  Or maybe she just wanted to get back to the flitting around part of her evening.

The next day we went to the library--wonderfully, with my mom, who occupied the rogue Kiefer who can still get loud and feisty at the drop of a hat--and Lorelei and I wandered over to the biography section.  We were looking for books on Georgia O'Keefe; Lorelei's class was learning about her in art and Lorelei was pretty intrigued and curious to know more.  She also humored me and said "yes" to wanting a book on Joan of Arc, too.  So we got one two on Georgia and one on Joan…it clearly was Famous Woman Day at the library for us.

We got home and read Joan of Arc over dinner.  And I immediately realized how serious a story it is for a Step into Reading book.  Shana Corey does a wonderful job of putting such a huge, serious story into digestible sentences and using the right words for this reading level.  But it's still an incredible, sobering story.  I was glad to be there to answer the many questions that came up.  "What's a vision?  How could they fight for 100 years? Why couldn't women fight? What does prisoner mean?" But Lorelei and Ben were all ears--the book smartly starts with Joan looking for a sword for her journey, so Ben was captivated by the thought of a voice telling her where a sword was located.  As the book follows Joan from a village to the prince, and then on to battle, the kids were spellbound.  They asked a few times, "This is really nonfiction?"

And then the book came to the final pages.  Joan is, you probably know, captured and put on trial.  If she lies and says she does not hear the voices, she'll escape her punishment of burning at the stake.  She does not lie--she stays true to herself and to God and therefore is tied to the stake and the fire is lit.  Needless to say, the kids were still spellbound at that part…and there were a few more follow-up questions to be answered.

AND needless to say, I rolled my own eyes at myself for getting a book with a young girl burning at the stake for my nearly 7 year old and 5 year old!  Did I cross the line this time and go overboard on wanting to teach anything and everything as soon as possible?  But…if not now, when?  These stories are part of history and part of my own Catholic background and…even part of a Frozen song.  And we read the book together, I answered my kids' questions patiently and honestly, and the kids know I'll be around if they have more thoughts on the inspiring but shocking story of a very famous woman in history.

Babe Ruth Saves Baseball! by Frank Murphy

Babe Ruth Saves Baseball! by Frank Murphy, illustrated by Richard Walz

Rating: 5 stars

"Everyone knows something about George Herman Ruth," author Frank Murphy writes at the start of this Step 3 Easy Reader.  And it's true.  At the very least, you know that Babe Ruth was one of the best--if not The Best--ball players in the history of the game.

But did you know that he saved baseball?  I sure didn't.

Murphy tells the story of a time when things sure seemed a whole lot simpler--the early 20th century when baseball stars were heroes, and families gathered 'round the radio to listen to their favorite teams play when they couldn't get to the ballpark to see them and root them on in person.

In 1919, Babe Ruth was a Red Sox pitcher-turned-home run star; he hit home runs in every state he visited and played in, and people counted his home runs across America.  He was becoming a sensation, no doubt. Also in that year, the White Sox and Cincinnati Reds played in the World Series.  "But some White Sox players cheated.  People all across America found out.  People were shocked.  Many fans stopped going to the ball fields."

These devastated, disappointed fans needed something, or some one, to bring the spark back to baseball.  To give them a reason to care about the sport and the individuals who played it.  And that person could be, and was, Babe Ruth.

In 1920, Babe Ruth (famously or infamously, though Murphy doesn't make any fuss about it) moved to New York City to play for the Yankees.  He started talking about how many home runs he was going to hit that season--50, not the measly 29 he had hit the year prior--and got people curious and then excited to see if he could keep his word.  He sure did.  He hit 54.

Babe Ruth made kids fall in love with baseball all over again--I never knew that he signed hundreds of baseballs and then hid them around the city for people to find (hey, Nats, my son Ben thinks it'd be cool to do that again!).  A new ballpark--Yankee Stadium--was built and called "The House that Ruth Built." Guess who said he aimed to hit the first home run in the stadium?  Yup.  Babe. And guess who did what he said he'd do?  Yup.  Babe.

I've read this book three times to the kids, though Lorelei and Ben could easily read it by themselves.  At the end of each book, we're all in awe.  We all look up to Babe and the image he deliberately crafted for himself.  We talked about the World Series in which players cheated, and how important it is to be honest and how great it was that Babe Ruth did what he said he was going to do--that's how you gain people's trust.

There's so much kids (and their mamas!) can learn from this sport--both the history of it and actually playing it today.  I'm intrigued by that as I watch Ben and now Lorelei practice hitting, catching, and throwing their way through practices and ball games.  Of course I want to provide the cultural history, too, by reading books like this one to them.  But when it comes down to it, I know that Ben is just curious about how hard he can hit the ball, how high he can hit that ball, and how far he can hit that ball.  Just like Babe Ruth.

(To read my other reviews on baseball books, click HERE.)

Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes

Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes

Rating: 5 stars

On Wednesday, Lorelei told us that Kevin Henkes was her class's author of the month.  We've been fans of his for years--he is an author to remember on the days when you have exactly 3.4 minutes in the library.  He's written enough books to fill your library bag.  You'll be in and out of the library before your toddler throws his tantrum.  Promise.  (I know, I know, parents aren't supposed to throw out empty promises like that one, but…)

Penny and Her Marble is one of his newest books.  It is one of three sweet little beginner reader chapter books (the other two: Penny and Her Song and Penny and Her Doll) about a young mouse learning important moral lessons.  They are wonderful gems of books!

In Penny and Her Marble, Penny strolls along with her doll Rose and finds a beautiful, shiny, new, blue marble near Mrs. Goodwin's house.  She picks it up and appreciates its beauty in her little hand, telling her doll all about it.  She walks home with it, feeling like she's found buried treasure.

But then her conscience--that wonderful thing that is still forming in our kids' little brains--kicks in.  She starts to wonder if she did the right thing.  She wonders if she stole something valuable from Mrs. Goodwin, rather than innocently found a lost item.  Did Mrs. Goodwin miss it?  She feels guilty and concerned and worried, though Henkes never uses grown-up words such as guilty or concerned or worried (or stealing or thief or innocent).  Instead, he shows us her face and how her sleep and eating is interrupted because of her thoughts on what was right and what was wrong.

"Isn't it pretty, Rose?"

Penny decides to go and return the marble the next morning.  She strolls back over with Rose and plops it back in the grass where she found it.  But Mrs. Goodwin walks out and calls after her.  Penny's heart pounds.  Her cheeks are hot. She cannot speak.  Mrs. Goodwin says, "I found the marble yesterday.  It was in the back of m kitchen drawer.  I thought someone would love it.  That is why I put it in on the grass by the sidewalk.  I hoped someone would walk by and see it."

"I did see it, but I put it back," says Penny.  (She did the right thing!)  But Mrs. Goodwin puts it in her hand--she gives Penny permission to take the marble.  Penny is overjoyed!  Penny is relieved, and I tell you, Lorelei, Ben and Kiefer and I were all relieved, too.  (When you feel for a character, that's a mark of a good book for sure).  And she thinks it is smoother and shinier and bluer and more beautiful than ever (because her conscience is burden-free).

I love the discussion we had over dinner after this book.  Did she do the right thing?  What would we have done?  How did she feel in the beginning, and then at the end?  Kids realize sooner or later the hard reality: there are no totally right answers.  Just mostly right, and mostly wrong.  They've got to have the skills to think clearly and weigh options and choose wisely.  Books like this one give us parents the opportunity to have good discussions in a safe environment about what is right and what is wrong.  And how we love them even when they make a not-so-awesome choice...and how we cross our fingers and hope they don't make the same mistake over and over again.  "On to new mistakes!" we say in our house.


P.S.  The kids and I watched a short video about Kevin Henkes on his website (click HERE).  It was informative and fun to see him show us all the books we've read by him, but the kids were most impressed with how well he drew with just a few quick strokes of his paint brush.  They were really impressed.  Also on the website is his mailing address.  Guess who is getting three pieces of fan mail sometime soon?

Clouds by Marion Dane Bauer

Clouds by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by John Wallace

Rating: 4 stars

My young Mr. Question (that's Ben, nearly 5) loves to ask about clouds.  This simple, straightforward Ready-to-Read book is definitely made for Ben.  He can almost read the whole book himself!  Not that that means I can prop my feet up on my table and let him answer his own questions from now on...  I hope he always comes to me with questions.

But questions of the cloud variety?  I'll let nonfiction children's book author-guru Marion Dane Bauer handle it.  She explains the three most common types of clouds--cirrus, stratus, cumulus--and defines them in graspable terms.  Then she tells young readers how clouds help us: they shade us from the sun and wrap the Earth at night to keep us warm.  (Last night when we were reading this book I asked Kiefer if he wanted a cloud blanket to keep him warm.  Everyone, including myself, got a kick out of that.  He said no.)

Everyday science, that's what this book teaches.  I love it.

(A while ago we checked out and read together Tomie De Paola's The Cloud Book, a wordy, informative book about the ten most common forms of clouds.  De Paola includes information on how to predict weather with clouds and also myths about clouds.  We'll have to take another look at it because the kids weren't ready for it then (whenever "then" was), but Lorelei especially might be ready for it now.)

Parents and teachers should know about Marion Dane Bauer!  I have reviewed her Grand Canyon book, just one in a series of Wonders of America Ready-to-Read books.  She has four weather books and two natural disaster books in the Ready-to-Read category, and also five "my first biographies."  (We have Benjamin Franklin on our shelf at home--so Ben can learn about Ben.)   For all (children's) nonfiction stuff, click here.  Or you can go to her website and click around yourself.

Pete the Cat: Play Ball! by James Dean

Pete the Cat: Play Ball! by James Dean

Rating: 3.5 stars

It's no secret that we in this house love, love, LOVE Pete the Cat.  These books put a smile on my face like no other book, and his songs get my toes tapping and put all of us in a good mood (and that's a good thing, because we all know when Mommy is in a good mood, it's easier for everyone else to be in a good mood).

And we waited not-so-patiently for Play Ball! and James Dean's other Pete the Cat I Can Read books to arrive on the hold shelf for us in the library.

Alas, we are all a little disappointed.

It turns out that Pete actually stinks at baseball.  He can't hit, he can't catch and it seems he has trouble even drinking Gatorade in the dugout (I'm actually making that part up).  He does try his best--that point is pointed out in a redundant way that many I Can Read Books manage--and his sly face is indifferent as he fails at each and every aspect of the game.  His team manages to win the game despite Pete's lack of talent for the game, so I guess there is a happy ending.

It's got to be hard to have a good follow-up to three wildly successful books (I thought his fourth book, Pete the Cat Saves Christmas, was not as great as the first three).  Yet I found myself thinking about Play Ball! after we read it--what does it mean when I don't like a book when the hero doesn't add anything to the victory?  Can there be a story when the hero is just a ho-hum guy leading a ho-hum existence?  Does the moral of the story have to be some triumphant victory every single time?

Clearly the answer is this: It's a good thing for books like this to lie around our children's shelves, so that they know that the hero (in their world, that's them, of course) doesn't always have to be uber-fantastic.  I didn't love the book, but I do appreciate the message--Pete still rocks even though he's not the best at baseball.  As my best friend Stacey says, we're all working on something, and it seems that Pete is still working on baseball.

Hopefully he won't give up his day job of singing catchy tunes while looking impossibly cool and hip!

Good Night, Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas, illustrated by Jennifer Plecas

Good Night, Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas, illustrated by Jennifer Plecas

Rating: 5 stars

I don't want to toot my own horn, but I'm a pretty good reader of children's books.  But this book is especially fun to read--it has wonderful, rhythmic prose that repeats itself in just the right way to make the book a tiny bit suspenseful.  A mini what's-going-to-happen-next tale involving a brave knight and three dragons...and a homonym to boot!  What more could you really ask for in a bedtime (or anytime) book?

Here's the story: A good knight is on watch and hears a roar, and goes to check it out.  It's a dragon, needing a glass of water.  He's confused but, since he's a good knight, he provides the refreshing sips and returns to his post.  And hears another roar.  It's another dragon, needing a bedtime story.  He's confused but, since he's a good knight, he reads a story and returns to his post.  And then he hears another roar, and goes to check it out.  It's a third dragon, needing a bedtime song.  He's confused but, you guessed it, a good knight so he sings a lullaby and returns to his post.  Only to hear a fourth and final roar and he goes to check it out.

He tries to guess what these silly little dragons need.

Another glass of water?  Nope.

Another bedtime story?  Nah.

Another song?  Not that either.

Three green, scaly, puckered dragon lips turn to him.  A good-night kiss!  He'sSo he smooches the dragons, waits until the roars turn to snores, and wearily tucks himself in for the night.

This is a great little book, an above-average fun read for both big reader and little listener.  Definitely a great book for your shelf.

Elephant and Piggie Books by Mo Willems

There is a Bird On Your Head! by Mo Willems (and all the rest of these Elephant and Piggie Books)

Rating: 5 belly-laughing stars

Where have I been?  How did I not know about these books?  I guess these are two very separate questions...while I mean that in relation to this fantastic series, I guess I should quickly explain why I've been silent for these past months: 

I've been busy being pregnant and having a baby!  Our littlest guy, Kiefer, arrived last week.  He's happy and healthy and already has a good reading list under his nonexistent pillow.  Anyway, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, adjusting to a new and wonderful reality with two young ones and one newborn (and a husband and two crazy hounds).

Back to this series!  Enough about life-changing news! 

Lorelei's pal gave this to her for her fourth birthday a few weeks ago, and I was curious about it.  I had picked up one of the books in the series earlier but had not been impressed.  I don't really know why, because it blew my socks off this time!  Lorelei is starting to read--when she wants to, and whatever words she wants to--and these books are super simple.  They are written in conversation style, with text bubbles coming from the lovable elephant and pig. 

What makes this series so stellar is Mo Willems' wit.  He just gets what makes kids giggle!  Take There is a Bird On Your Head!  A bird lands on Elephant's head, and he isn't thrilled about it, but Piggie finds it pretty funny.  Then the bird falls in love, makes a nest, and lays some eggs.  This makes Elephant less happy and Piggie more happy.  Then the eggs hatch!  Elephant politely asks the bird family to move away, which they do.  Onto Piggie's head. Now the roles are reversed, and Elephant chuckles at Piggie's new nest.  Lorelei cracks up every time, and Ben does, too (though part of his laughter is definitely from my-favorite-big-sister-is-laughing-so-I-am-too-though-I-don't-know-what's-funny).

You cannot go wrong with this series!  I want to buy them all for every 4 year-old I know.  I want Mo Willems to write more of them!  They are appropriately hilarious for the age group, and a fun invitation to try to read a word or two.  Check out all of them, like we did last week!

Berenstain Bears Vacation by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Berenstain Bears Vacation by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Rating: 5 stars

We LOVE these books.  We check them out about every other time we go to the library, especially if I didn't pre-order a bunch of good books for Lorelei.  They are such great go-to books, and she'll happily read them a few times a day.  Because the words are limited and they rhyme, Ben sits through them just as happily.  The whole collection is just great--though, as I've said before, poor Papa Bear looks like a bumbling fool, though a lovable one.


Story time by Lorelei.



But I really wanted to write about this book because of the picture below.  Now that Lorelei has started preschool, she now has "story time" with her animals and dolls and brother.  (Ben is such a good sport!)  She perches herself on one of the cubes in our playroom and holds the book up just like her teacher and/or the librarian at her school.  I can't get over how cute she looks, but am more amazed at the emulation that's going on.  Obviously she likes what she sees at school, or else she wouldn't be doing stuff like this at home!  Lucky her.  Lucky us!



A Know-Nothing Halloween by Michele Sobel Spirn

A Know-Nothing Halloween by Michele Sobel Spirn, illustrated by R.W. Alley

Rating: 2 stars

I walked into the house today from my weekly morning out without kids to hear our sitter reading this book to Lorelei.  I told Miss Chloe, "I just rescued you from finishing that book!"  She gave me a thankful look and told me it was giving her a headache--I knew she wasn't exaggerating much.  Here's a little example of what is in the loooooooong (three little chapters!) book:

"We could trick-or-treat."
"How do we do that?" asked Morris.
"We go to people's houses and do tricks for them," said Norris.
"Then they give us treats."
"I don't know any tricks," said Boris.
"Maybe Floris knows some tricks," said Norris.
"Sit, Floris."
"I don't think Floris knows that trick," said Morris.
"Roll over, Floris," said Norris.
"Floris does not know that trick either," said Morris.
"Stand on four legs, Floris," said Norris.
"What a great trick," said Morris.
"Floris is such a clever dog," said Boris.

Good grief.  I hope that your children will not find these in the library.  If the do, consider hiding it immediately after you come home, in a place even the sitter can't find.

Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff

Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff

Rating: 5 stars

Of course we love Danny and the Dinosaur!  Who can resist the charm of visiting a museum and finding a dinosaur that can wake up after 50 gazillion years to play with you and your friends?  Not us!

Here are some noteworthy things about this noteworthy book: 

1.  No parents are in the pictures; just kids.  What a great reminder that childhood should really involve time just with children, not only time supervised by adults.

2.  Danny really wants the dinosaur to come home and live with him forever, but the dinosaur simply explains that the museum needs him.  I love this little homage to one of my favorite things at playgrounds: the short little friendships that emerge just in a game of chase or follow the leader, where names aren't even bother to be exchanged. 

3.  During a game of hide-and-seek, the dinosaur can't find a place to hide where the kids can't find him (no surprise there).  So they "make believe they can't find him" and let him win.  That's Ben's favorite page by far, when the text reads, "Where oh where is that dinosaur?" and so on, and the huge dinosaur is hiding behind a tiny light post.  This is exactly how my kids play hide-and-seek!  I explained to Lorelei how the kids were making the dinosaur feel better by pretending they couldn't find him.  (Oh please let at least a few of these lessons in empathy stick!)

4.  It's actually pretty long!  But because the illustrations are so captivating and funny, even Ben can sit through this book pretty easily, and he's got plenty of ants in his pants.

This is worth buying, but only buy a great hard cover version, or maybe even the library binding, because it'll be on your shelf for a long time.  And then on your children's shelves for their kids.  Imagine that!

Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss

Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss, illustrated by Roy McKie

Rating: 5 balanced stars

Obviously, I have two kids.  So I'm constantly juggling their needs and interests and snacks to try and keep things interesting and balanced.  Sometimes I succeed.  Books like this one help--both Lorelei and Ben love it equally.  Many of the I Can Read By Myself Books are great like that; the text is simple enough for the beginner reader (Lorelei, 3 1/2) but also silly enough with fun illustrations for the younger listener (Ben, 20 months).

I should go buy this book we've checked it out so much, but the few times I've done that the book suddenly becomes less special.  Just like when a toy at a friend's house is much more interesting than when your mother buys it for you at home.  Humph!

This is my favorite Dr. Suess book, and has been for decades.  I prefer the more tamed, more succinct Dr. Suess (I can't get over how long Happy Birthday To You and If I Ran the Zoo are!)...but that could be just a phase.

Hop on Pop by Dr Seuss

Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss

Rating: 4 stars

Last week my husband's family visited us from the Midwest.  It was a delightful visit...I'm not sure who charmed who more--Lorelei and Ben charming their grandparents, or their grandparents charming them?  Either way, the days with them were just great.

Of course, the visit involved lots of books.  I think this is at the top of the list of why their grandparents appreciate them: they will sit and listen to books for hours.  Well, Lorelei more than Ben as his attention span is still developing, but that's understandable.  Lorelei would choose a book, climb up on a lap, listen to it, correct them if they mis-read a word or two, and then put it back and get another one.  Then she repeated the whole thing over and over and over again.

I was especially glad she chose this one to read with her grandfather.  Why?  Because his grandkids all call him Pop-Pop.  So Pop-Pop read Hop on Pop.  Hee, hee!

It's a fine book, and really timely as Lorelei is starting to spell words and realize that if you change the first letter in a word, it often turns into another word.  Or a funny non-word.  This book is in the "Simplest Suess for Youngest Use" category, and while I'm not a huge fan of Dr. Suess, this one is good for beginning readers and spellers. 

This book is a nonsensical, whimsical romp through Dr. Suess's zany imagination.  No more, no less!

The Bear Scouts by Stan and Jan Berenstain

The Bear Scouts by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Rating: 5 stars

We have a soft spot in our collective family heart for the Berenstain Bears.  Well...except for the most recent ones by Mike Berenstain, whose books must make his father roll in his grave.  (Seriously!  In the last one we read, Brother called Sister a twerp.  Thanks, Mike.  That's what I want my daughter to learn.)  But before I go off on a tangent about how much I dislike the most recent books in the long series of great books, let me go back to the beginning.

The first books they wrote are the I Can Read It All By Myself books.  Do you remember them from when you were a kid?  My dad still has a bunch of them at his house, and Lorelei and I both happily dive into them each time we're there.  One of these days I'm going to smuggle them home with us...  These were some of my favorite books growing up, and I wonder if I have an emotional connection with them because they were some of the first books I read by myself. 

So I'm thrilled to the core to see Lorelei get so excited about this set of books.  Since we read all of the longer Berenstain Bear collection, even the ones I don't like by young Mike, I was really happy to remember about the original ones.  But I kept forgetting to order them from the library.  Then, a few library trips ago, we came across the I Can Read It Myself section and...ka-bam!...we found about eight of them, right there in front of us.  Lorelei looked as if she was reuniting with an old friend she'd not seen in awhile.  She just started making a big stack by our library book bag.  "I want this one, and this one, and this one, and this one, and this one, and this one, and this one, too!" 

We read them over and over and over again, and I'm really tempted to buy the whole lot of them so that she and Ben can read them anytime they want, and then store them at their house for their kids and grandkids.  But, as of now, I'm being good and not buying them.  We'll see how long this good spending behavior lasts.

I should write a blurb about the books, I guess!  They are great because the text is simple and the story is always funny and straightforward.  I do feel a little sorry for Papa Bear, whose character is the blubbering fool-type, though he always comes out all right in the end.  Most of the books have just Small Bear; Sister is not born yet.  And, funnily enough, Mama and Papa Bear are pretty skinny!  Are Stan and Jan trying to tell us that we all get pudgy when we get married and have a family?! 

A word on these two pictures.  Along with the Berenstain Bear books we checked out (The Bear Scouts is the first on the stack in the first picture), we checked out a whole lot more.  I went a little crazy, I admit, and came close to the 50 book maximum.  Who does that?!  We do.  Anyway, Lorelei doesn't nap but has quiet time, a minimum of 40 minutes reading books quietly.  Sometimes it lasts 2 hours!  She reads each book one at a time, reciting it if she knows it by heart or making up the words if she doesn't.  She almost always follows along the text with her cute little finger, even if there is little similarity between the words coming out of her mouth and those in the book.  These pictures were taken by GrandBill, who was half of the babysitting team while my husband and I scooted away to Colorado, of Lorelei during her quiet time one day.  I like the triumphant "after" shot, after she read those two dozen books!

A Fly Went By by Mike McClintock

A Fly Went By by Mike McClintock, illustrated by Fritz Siebel

Rating: 2.5 stars

I need to learn to preview books before reading them to my kids!  I have learned this the hard way several times.  Once, I was "reading" a wordless picture book to Lorelei and was, obviously, describing the images on the pages in a story-like way.  A little boy and his dog went fishing, they saw a turtle, the dog went into the water to chase the turtle, they wrestled in the water and...then...oh, my...  I see a picture of the turtle floating, belly up, in the water!  How to explain this one?!  Um, the turtle floats on his back, looking up at the sky, and the boy goes in to the water to get the turtle, and then (oh, I see--the turtle was just playing dead) the turtle jumps up and they all become friends.  That was a library book I hid after a single reading. 

You'd think I learned my lesson!  Of course not.

We checked out this book, one of the I Can Read It Myself Beginner Books, in a fit of nostalgic hysteria--don't you remember this book?!  I think it was a good one...right?  Lorelei and I started reading it, and it starts off innocently enough.  A boy sits watching the sky, then a fly zooms by because he is chased by a frog, which wants to eat him.  The frog hops by because he is chased by the dog, which wants to grab him.  The dog runs by because he is being chased by a pig, which wants to bite him.  The pig runs from cow, and the cow and her calf run because "someone bad has made us run! / He wants to kill my Little One!"  Oh. 

Kill?!  I mean, I know it's part of life, and poor Lorelei and Ben have been introduced to animal death a few times because our crazy weimaraners have killed a cute baby raccoon (poor guy) and chipmunk (we'll miss him) in the past year, but...  Do I really read this to them?  I didn't.  I substituted "hurt" and moved on, thinking that once the fox who wanted to kill the little cow was out of the way, I'd be in the clear.

Nope.  No such luck.

Soon, the little boy yells at the fox and tells him that if he doesn't stop trying to kill the cow, the boy will whip him.  Great.  That's a word I want in Lorelei's vocabulary.  Whip.  And then, two pages later, we find out that the fox is running because a man with the gun wants to get him.  Great!  Another quality vocabulary word for my three year old: gun!  Her preschool teacher will be unduly impressed.

So, I'd steer clear of this book.  It's not that it's the worst out there, but there are so many other I Can Read It Myself books that you should be able to find another one quite easily.

Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire

Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire

Rating: 4 stars

We've discovered the I Can Read It All By Myself Beginner Books.  (For a complete list, click here, and make sure you click to show all 70 book covers...what a trip down memory lane!)  I am having a great time introducing them to Lorelei and Ben.  They both really enjoy them, and Lorelei is really enjoying being able to read a few words on each page. 

But we are also discovering that not all of the books are awesome.  According to my standard, that is, which includes my children's reactions and opinions.

This book is a funny little rhyme where a lioness-like creature really, really, really wants to live in the zoo, but the zookeeper says no.  He shows off all of his neat tricks to a little boy and girl standing by, who are super impressed and thus inform him he belongs not in the zoo, but in a circus.  (Don't they know that circuses are sad, scary places for animals?!?)

It's funny and silly and catchy and inviting, all good things for little kids who are trying to read.  We're heading to the zoo tomorrow, so I was trying to find a book about zoos.  This one won't exactly prepare the kids for what they'll see at the National Zoo, but...it was a fun read anyway.