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.

Baby Danced the Polka by Karen Beaumont

Baby Danced the Polka by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by Jennifer Plecas

Rating: 5 polka-dancing stars!

This is an old favorite of ours, one that beloved Grammy found some years ago.  It's the only book that we have that gives a nod to our Polish ancestry, something that lingers in my sister and I though our last names no longer have a confusing jumble of consonants that somehow sound like "check" or end in "ski."  But, to be honest, it's only a tiny nod, just a good excuse to get this book for anyone and everyone who has a little bit of polka-dancing in their past.

Karen Beaumont is at her best with this swinging poem about a baby who just won't go to bed.  His Ma and Pa keep on putting him to bed and get right to work on some chores around the house like fixing the chow, washing wigs (?!  hey, it rhymes with pig), starching long johns, hauling water and other stuff we don't do anymore but is fun to think about doing.  Except the wig thing.  Ok, and maybe the long johns, too.  But then the baby comes barreling out of his bedroom doing a different dance with a different animal, obviously not sleeping!  First, he polkas with the polka-dotted pig.  Then he boogie-woogies with the frisky little goat, then he cha-chas with the chocolate-colored cow.  You get the idea.

One of our favorite parts when we're reading aloud is opening the flap that shows the polka-ing or cha-cha-ing or boogie-woogie-ing baby and animal, with the last word (the animal) written under the flap.  Lorelei yells it out in her biggest outside voice.  And Ben says "EH!" his favorite word for most everything.  It makes me laugh, and it makes them laugh, and that makes this a great, great book. 

Lorelei ripped the last two pages of the book when she was a baby, and the words are missing.  So when the kids get Daddy to read it, he has to yell from the other room: "What's the last verse?"  And I shout out the words because they are etched in my memory.  For months we'd recite this walking to the mailbox and back, even though we left the book at home.  I am willing to bet that I'll be able to recite it in twenty years, too!