Pete the Cat: Old MacDonald Had a Farm by James Dean

Pete the Cat: Old MacDonald Had a Farm by James Dean

Rating: 3.5 stars

This book takes nearly five minutes to read.  I know that because I timed myself last night reading it.  With no kids around.  (After this review, feel free to join in a brief discussion about the state of my mental health…  Let me know if there are any useful conclusions.)  I cannot imagine how long it would take if Kiefer wanted to sing the whole thing with me.  I realize that, as a good mama, I would want to encourage this sort of engagement and musical interest.  But as a tired mama at the end of a long day, that sort of engagement and interest might push me over the edge!

And, despite the fact that there are 14 animals in it, James Dean doesn't even help me out by explaining what on earth a good mama like me is supposed to say when your kid yells out "giraffe!" or "turtle!" from the peanut gallery in the backseat while singing this song.  The nerve!

Ok, seriously.  Enough kidding around here.  This book is, straight-up, a version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm.  There are no silly twists or unexpected turns.  It's just the song, and a whole lotta verses to the song.  If you love Pete the Cat, you might not be able to resist buying it.  If Old MacDonald Had a Farm is your kid's favorite book, you might not be able to resist buying it.  Of course it's great to have a book that kids can sing to; little ones like Kiefer can "read" every single page because he knows the song by heart and therefore he can "read" along with it.

And the illustrations are, as always, wonderful.  (I'm a big Pete the Cat fan!)

But know this! Pete the Cat Old MacDonald Had a Farm is a loooong, repetitive song book.  If your child is one of those "read it again, please!" types--which we all know, and we all sort of want--you will want to pretend like the dog ate this book at bedtime.  Because you'll be saying E-I-E-I-O 42 times!  You'll be maa-ing and baa-ing and cock-a-doodle-do-ing ALL NIGHT!

Don't say I didn't warn you!



P.S.  Click HERE for a fun twist-of-a-book on Old MacDonald had a farm for preschoolers.

Pete the Cat: The First Thanksgiving by Kimberly and James Dean

Pete the Cat: The First Thanksgiving by Kimberly and James Dean

Rating: 5 stars

Just look at the cover.  Pete's a pilgrim. A tall black hat sits atop his usual cool face, and a stiff white collar is tucked under his chin.  The image makes me crack a smile, even right now at 5:36, early in the morning before my children wake up.

Pete is nervous about being in his class's Thanksgiving play.  He shows and tells, with the help of his classmates, why we celebrate Thanksgiving.  It's actually a really good explanation for small kids!  The lift-the-flaps addition is a nice touch to keep kids more interested in finding out the story behind the holiday.

First, Pete and his feline friends sit in a boat and wait a looooong time to arrive at the New World; after sixty-five days, they spot land.  They build houses, but the first winter is long and hard.  "In the Spring, they had to decide whether to give up and go back to England or keep trying."

Enter the Native Americans, who help them "keep trying."  They show the Pilgrims how to plant food native to the area.  By fall, the Pilgrims have plenty of food, and they want to have a feast to share with their Native American friends to celebrate that friendship.

The last two pages of the book show Pete and his family at their Thanksgiving table, with thought bubbles leading up to what they each are thankful for.  His mom is thankful for her family, Bob is thankful for his skateboard, Pete is thankful for the Pilgrims who came to the New World.

The book ends with a question prompting your child to dip into that important place of gratitude: "What are you thankful for?"

Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses by Kimberly & James Dean

Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses by Kimberly & James Dean, illustrated by James Dean

Rating: 4 stars

He's ba-ack! And in a very good way...

Pete the Cat finds himself in a situation for which he's not totally prepared: he's grumpy.  "Pete had the blue cat blues."  His trademark cool black ears aren't sticking up--they are flopped down sadly, and Pete's trademark cool eyes are looking rather glum.

But that's okay, because his pal Grumpy Toad, who is actually less grumpy than Pete, rolls up on his motorcycle and gives Pete some cool blue magic sunglasses that will help him see everything in a whole new way.  And it works!  Turn the page, and all the blue has turned to sunlight bright yellow!

"Right on!" declares Pete, suddenly cool and happy again.

Pete the Cat had the blue cat blues.

Pete wears the sunglasses and skateboards along his day, bumping into animal friends that are grumpy. He shares his cool blue magic sunglasses with them and they, too, begin to see the world in a lighter, brighter way.  Once they don the classy shades, they each chant:

The birds are singing!
The sky is bright!
The sun is shining!
I'm feeling all right!

At the end of the book, Pete falls off his skateboard and breaks the sunglasses.  Oops!  He realizes that the magic sunglasses really just have a placebo effect (my word, not Dean's...no, you won't have to explain to your child what a placebo effect is), and he can still change the color of his world, the tone of his day, the mood within himself by simply choosing happiness.  There's not really any magic in them.

The sunglasses are cool, but they're not a necessary accessory for a good attitude.

The chant isn't quite so catchy as his first two books, but James and Kimberly Dean definitely did a lot of things right in this book.  I really like that cool Pete is in a bad mood--shows that we all have emotions and grumpy days are part of life.  I like that he shares his sunglasses and good mood with others--I always tell the kids that the most important thing they need for school is a smile, meaning a good, open attitude.  Cheesy, but they've got to know it.

Awesome!

Oh, and here's another fun thing: In the back of the book, there's a pair of cool blue magic sunglasses that you can rip out, put together, and wear.  Kiefer was dismayed to learn that we actually needed to BUY the book in order to WEAR the sunglasses.  And Lorelei and Ben wondered why, when you put on the blue sunglasses, did your blues go away and everything turns bright yellow...but they didn't stick around for my lecture on suspending your disbelief while reading fiction...

But that leads me to wonder: When the library gets copies of this book, do the librarians rip out the sunglasses and wear them around before we all get there, gettin' their Pete the Cat groove on before story time?  I sure hope so!

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!

Pete the Cat Saves Christmas by Eric Litwin

Pete the Cat Saves Christmas by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean

Rating: 4 stars

I love Pete the Cat.  I don't know what it is about him--his slinky coolness, his quiet head bob (not that he bobs his head in this book or the other books, but I just imagine him walking down the street, with lanky shoulders moving slowly and head bobbing to his own beat).  There is just something about him that I love, and his catchy songs that bring a grin--not just a smile--to all of our faces makes me appreciate him all the more.  I am thrilled that he's back!  (And there are two more books that are soon to be out, easy reader books.  Yay!)

Pete the Cat Saves Christmas is a twist on the traditional 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.  Santa is sick and considers canceling Christmas (gasp!) but they call Pete the Cat, and he comes to the rescue.  He has to do it in his usual cool way, so he hitches the reindeer to his hippy minibus, all filled with toys for all the good girls and boys (or, as my dad would say: none for the girls and all for the boys).  Pete thinks flying through the sky is "pretty groovy," but, like our old Golden Retriever, his expression doesn't change.

This book's refrain: "Give it your all, give it your all.  At Christmas we give, so give it your all."  It is less snappy and catchy than his other books, but appropriate for the season.

Pete is lauded a hero in the North Pole when he returns with his empty minibus, and he is proud of himself for accomplishing his mission.  "'I did it!' said Pete. 'And although I am small, / in the spirit of Christmas I gave it my all.'"

This is a great book for fans of Pete (that'd be our family) but probably won't attract heaps more followers on its own.  Those first three books are fantastic; if you've not read them just buy them all, like I did, so you always have a smile-raiser of a book on your shelf when you need one.

We are getting into the holiday spirit in our house...how about you?

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean

Rating: 5 stars

This one goes out to all the math people out there...who knew there could be a children's book on math--and a cool one at that?  And one with a foot-tappin' (if you're Kiefer, body-shakin') song?

So Pete the Cat, the resident Jamiroquai of children's books, is back.  And I'm pretty grateful for him.  Just when our house has reached another can-we-be-more-tired level, this book arrived.  We had already listened to it a few dozen times online (listen to it!  you'll smile for sure!), but the actual book did not disappoint.  This book ROCKS.

The story:  Pete the Cat puts on his favorite shirt, one with four, round, groovy buttons (what a joy to teach my kids the definition of "groovy!"  It's a new favorite word) and sings his song: "My buttons, my buttons, my four groovy buttons!"

"OH NO!  Another button popped off and rolled away."

And then...

"POP!  OH NO!  One of the buttons popped off and rolled away.
Did Pete cry?  Goodness, no!
Buttons come and buttons go.
How many buttons are left?  THREE!
Pete went on singing his song..."

(Not much math...no square root...maybe that's in the next one...but just enough for a preschooler.)

The song goes on, going from three to two to one, something easy and fun enough for little ones to work on their prediction skills, which is a huge chunk of why we're supposed to be reading to these tykes to begin with.  And then...they get to zero.  He looks down at his open shirt and...finds his belly button!  I love how he finds a way to smile after all those groovy buttons are gone.  Making lemonade out of lemons.  Finding the good in the not-so-good.  What a lesson.

But my favorite lesson that Mr. Eric sneaks in is "buttons come and buttons go."  I'm always telling the kids: "No big deal, right?" when they argue about whose turn it is to do something or if they didn't get something they wanted.  Sometimes it IS a big deal when something comes, and especially when it goes, but...hopefully they won't learn this lesson anytime soon.

I think I might have a crush.  On a cat.  This Pete guy.

Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean

Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean

Rating: 5+ stars

This morning, I needed Pete.  And Pete was there for me.  He is my hero.

I've been in a funk the past few days; waking up at 4:58 for the third day in a row did not help get this morning started off well.  (If Kiefer's molars don't come all the way through today, I might take him to the dentist and ask for some assistance so I can sleep in for at LEAST 15 more minutes.)  But at least the little guy wakes up happy to see me, seemingly appreciative of the time he gets to spend with just me, and nobody else.

But then I heard a certain door open at 5:24 and the "Mommy-mommy-mommy I need you come here I need you Mommy-mommy-mommy" (said in cry-y, whine-y voice) started.  I love Ben, but MAN I cannot relate to waking up so sad and mad at the world.  I am one of those annoying people who, even while in a funk, wakes up happy.

Ben trips down the stairs, half-undressed, already crying, with his "mad face" on.  My oh-so-unsympathetic response: "Choose to be happy and stay downstairs, or go back to sleep."  It wasn't received well (can't imagine why).

Ben, crazy with happiness!
(At 7:36 AM, after being awake for 2 hours.)

Anyway, I'll spare you the details of the next hour and half as the boys and I woke up Lorelei (who, as always, woke up laughing as we all bounced on her to wake her up), made breakfast, and got everyone ready for their last week of school.  And then I looked at the clock: 7:30.  I still had an HOUR before the sitter got here and I left to take the kids to school and work out.  Geez.  An hour!  How was I going to fill that time?!

Enter Pete the cat, my hero.

Ben has been telling me about this book for a little while, and I finally saw it at the library and grabbed it.  And I read it a few nights ago.  I am going to buy it, and the other two books along with it.  I LOVE IT!  Why?  It has all of my favorite parts of a children's book:

1. It is simple; Ben has memorized all the words already.
2. It is fun to read, mostly because...
3. It has a SONG--wait, make that FOUR songs in it--and they can bring Ben's cheery smile back in a jiffy (and, the tune can be changed to anything else at any time, and the cheery smile comes back because he remembers Pete the cat and his favorite book when I sing it).
4. It has a groovy character that is cool but still nice.
5. It has a fantastic moral to it.

I had seen on the cover of the book the "download free song at..." and though the kids rarely use my laptop for anything, I said to Ben, who was looking around for something to do that would have probably annoyed me though it probably really shouldn't have "Hey, Ben, want to listen to something?"  And he sat for 15 blessedly happy minutes listening to the book and song being read and sung to him again and again and again.  Click here to listen, too.  Or check out this video (it is so worth it!  I double dare you to watch it and not smile.):

And my morning got a little brighter.

Maybe I should tell you about the book, in case you don't want to watch the video?  Okay...  Pete gets new shoes and loves them.  He sings this song: "I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes!"  Then he steps in strawberries that turn his shoes red, so he sings how he loves his red shoes.  Then he steps in blueberries and...  After each time he steps in something, he sure doesn't cry or carry on.  The author, "Mr Eric," writes: "Did Pete cry?  Goodness, no!"  This happens a few times, until he steps in water and he has white, wet shoes.

The moral of the story?  As Mr Eric the author puts it: "No matter what you step in, keep walking along and singing your song..."

Roll with it.  A good lesson I've been taught lately and need to practice more.  Like today.

So thank you, Pete the cat, my hero for today.