Dino-Baseball by Lisa Wheeler

 Dino-Baseball by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by Barry Gott

Rating: 4.5 stars

Of all the baseball books we have in the house right now (14 at the last count), this is Ben's favorite.  Lisa Wheeler was smart to match two things that young boys really love--dinosaurs and baseball--and create a rhyme that captures the excitement of a nail-biter of a baseball game.

The Green Sox and the Rib-Eye Reds battle it out on the baseball diamond, their reptilian bodies funnily shoved into uniforms usually reserved for human players.  Barry Gott does a great job with the illustrations; I especially love how he catches the frustration and excitement (depending which team you're rooting for) of an out.  The illustrations can be a confusing jumble, especially if the gigantic brachiosaurus is involved and spread out on two pages instead of one.  We're never quite sure of his position because he spills out onto the whole field...!

I also like how Wheeler throws in some real aspects of baseball that have been fun to explain to Ben.  On the top of my list is the emphasis on good manners and sportsmanship, or ELSE:

The Green Sox manager's irate,
throws his hat and kicks home plate.
He calls the ump a nasty name
and gets ejected from the game.

Yup, without any warnings!  That's real life for you, I told Ben.  Good manners or you can't play!  Other little things include fun baseball slang and traditions--"good-bye ball" for home run, the seventh-inning stretch hot dog run...things like that.

I've read this book twice daily for the past three days, and it is going into Ben's baseball-themed backpack to share with his class after I click "Publish" on this blog post, so...it's a hit!

Turk and Runt: A Thanksgiving Comedy by Lisa Wheeler

Turk and Runt: A Thanksgiving Comedy by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by Frank Ansley

Rating: 4.5 stars

This is one of the funniest children's books I have ever read!  I found myself chuckling out loud at the line ahead of the one I was reading to Lorelei and Ben.  The thing is, I think this might be a 4-year old minimum, because you have to at least understand that the turkey you eat on Thanksgiving is the same turkey that says gobble, gobble at the zoo.  I'm not sure Lorelei gets that, and I know Ben doesn't, and I'm fine with not pointing that out today.  Maybe tomorrow. 

But if your kids DO know that turkeys are animals and we gobble them up (unless you're a vegetarian, which this book might make your kids), then they would find this book hilarious!  Turk and Runt are two brothers in a turkey family.  Turk is the prized brother--big, muscly, fast, gorgeous, and ignorant of the fact that he might become some one's dinner.  Runt is the forgotten brother--little, scrawny, ugly, and aware of the fact that his brother is in high demand.  Turk is determined to be selected by each family who drives up to the farm, and his parents naively parade him around and show him off.  Runt pulls of stunts to make Turk look undesirable and inedible, successfully saving him from becoming some one's meal.  But at the end a scrawny old lady looks for a scrawny little chicken--Runt!  Turk finally clues in to the dangers of Thanksgiving and saves his little brother.  The book ends with Christmas season--people pulling into the farm looking for turkeys for that holiday meal find four snow-turkeys, safe under their cold disguise.

I'm not doing this book justice.  Check it out and see for yourself--and tell me what age of kids laughs the loudest!