Millie and the Big Rescue by Alexander Steffensmeier

Millie and the Big Rescue by Alexander Steffensmeier

Rating: 4 stars

Oh the silliness of it!  Just the idea of all the farm animals playing hide-and-go-seek on a warm afternoon makes my kids curious and puts a smile on their faces.  One chicken hides under a flower pot (can you find his skinny chicken legs?)...  One pig hides in a tub-turned-watering-spot (can you spot his snout?)... One horse hides behind a big bush (can you see his blonde tail sticking out?)...

And Millie, the sweet heifer/main character, is super excited to have found the best hiding spot of all: a tree!  She perches her spotted rump way up high in a tall, tall tree, where she gazes out on her favorite farm and the surrounding land.  She sits and waits.  Waits and sits.  Sits and waits.  Sigh.  A little more sitting, a little more waiting...  Until she's bored.  And then Millie realizes that she is stuck.

Instead of helping her down, her barnyard friends get the silly idea to go up to join her! Pretty soon even the farmer joins her animals, and gets stuck up there herself when her ladder falls down. One chicken trots out to the neighbor for help, and when he comes, he calls the fire department.

The good-natured fire fighters have the silliest rescue of their careers (and the good-natured readers have a grand time looking at the illustrations of all this silliness).

This is a crowd-pleaser of a book!

P.S. Millie and her friends have had a few other adventures equally as silly.  Check out Millie Waits for the Mail and Millie and the Big Snow!

Alphabet Trucks by Samantha R. Vamos

Alphabet Trucks by Samantha R. Vamos, illustrated by Ryan O'Rourke

Rating: 4 stars

So far we've had heaps of luck with the 2014 Children's Choices Award-Winning Books.  The books on this list we've printed out guided our book lending last week.  These books were selected by kids and for kids--with the goal of encouraging kids to read more for pleasure.  These kids were spot-on.  There are some really great books on the list!

Including Alphabet Trucks, a compact little read that I've read half a dozen times to Kiefer already, and we've only had it a few days.  At three, the alphabet--recognizing the letters and learning the sounds they make--is exactly where he needs to be.  Nothing makes him happier than riding in his dad's old Chevy pick-up truck (if only it were orange!), but a book about trucks--with a pick-up truck on the cover--comes pretty close.

The rhymes (the fact that it rhymes at this age is a wonderful thing!) are a solid good:

E is for elevator truck,
Raise the forklift--up it goes!

A is for apple truck, carting produce to the store.

F is for fuel truck,
with a meter, pump, and hose.
G is for grapple truck,
And its grabby, massive claw.
H is for horse truck,
Full of water, feed, and straw.

As you can see, there's not a lot of information on each truck, just a brief introduction and a great illustration by Ryan O'Rourke.  In each picture, he's sprinkled in a bunch of those letters--Kiefer particularly likes how the Ms are sliding down the chute of the Mixing Truck. I like how the Junk Truck is hauling off a whole lot of Js to the dump.

But my favorite is the zipper truck.  Because I know what that is!  And I knew it when we first read it, promise.  I am NOT the know-it-all in the house, so I am rarely the one who has The Answer.  But this time I did!  (Enter triumphant ha-HA! here)  Years ago I saw a zipper truck, also known as a Barrier-Transfer Machine, do its thing as I drove into Washington, D.C.  I thought it was cool back then, and I didn't yet have boys who would verify its coolness for me. I told the kids about it.  I did my best to explain how it moved barriers to accommodate the different rush hour traffic needs on a single road, but this video helped them truly understand:

There you go!  One good book and one cool video to explain the car that exemplifies Z!

Truckery Rhymes by Jon Scieszka

Truckery Rhymes by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by David Shannon, Loren Long, and David Gordon

Rating: 5 stars

This is a great, great book for boys!  I'm bummed I've only just found it.  Jon Scieszka is the creator of the blog Guys Read, a blog created to help boys become life-long readers.  I'm all for that!

In this book, he simply but cleverly rewrites all the classic nursery rhymes to make them dirty and funny and...truck-y!  And David Shannon, Loren Long, and David Gordon add some super cute, sometimes silly, sometimes funny illustrations to compliment the nursery rhyme.

Here are a few examples:

Patty Cake, Patty Cake 

Patty cake, patty cake, Dumper Dan.
Dump me some dirt as fast as you can.
Slide it and drop it and mark it DD,
And pile it in the lot for Melvin and me. 

Jack and Kat 

Jack and Kat raced up the hill
To burn some crazy rubber.
Jack zoomed down,
Right through Trucktown,
And Kat came scraping after.

This is a fantastic birthday book for a 2- or 3- year old boy (or truck-obsessed girl).

Jon Scieszka has written a few Trucktown books after this; they are a great preschool/kindergarten series you should definitely know about if, like me, you've got a boy or two in your charge.  We've read a bunch of them and like them...check them out here.

Firefighter Ted by Andrea Beaty and Pascal Lemaitre

Firefighter Ted by Andrea Beaty and Pascal Lemaitre
Rating: 3.5 stars

Anything with a firefighter or fire truck on it generates mass excitement in our house from "the Little Guy," as we often call Ben.  He still doesn't have many words in his vocabulary, but "WEE AHH WEE AHH WEE AHH!" means (obviously!) firefighter.  Or fire truck.  Even Lorelei easily comprehends this; this morning I asked Ben what shirt he wanted to wear.  He responded with: "WEE AHH WEE AHH WEE AHH!"  Lorelei interpreted: "He wants to wear his fireman shirt."  I just hope that pretty soon he's able to say "fireman shirt" so the rest of the world doesn't have to become fluent in Ben-speak.

So we like Firefighter Ted.  Ted is a little bear who smells smoke after waking up, and since he can't find a firefighter to fight what is (obviously!) a fire, he becomes one.  He finds a truck and fire extinguisher and puts out the fire (his toast).  He goes to school and solves various dangerous, usually hot problems in funny ways.  For example, a kitten and two puppies and two tricycles are on super hot asphalt, with their toes steaming.  So he puts them in a tree.  "No need to thank me!" Ted says to the curious onlookers as he skips his way to school.

I don't love the book because of Ted's run-in with the principal, Mr. Bigham (he's a warthog, chuckle chuckle).  Mr. Bigham tells him he's late for class while standing in front of the fire alarm, so Ted ties up Mr. Bigham with caution tape and squirts his fire extinguisher at him.  I don't think this is funny, and I really don't think it's funny when Lorelei and Ben laugh at it.  I'm from the old school line of thinking, where disrespect for those in authority (or any adult at all) was met with punishment, usually just a glaring I'm-disappointed-in-you look. 

But we'll check out Doctor Ted because it's not THAT bad, and Ted does mean well.  And he does rescue Mr. Bigham in the end when the principal's pants catch on fire.  "Only you prevent pants fires," Lorelei now reminds me.  Good to know!

Fire Engine Man by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha

Fire Engine Man by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha

Rating: 5 stars

We are loving these Zimmerman and Clemesha books.  The husband-wife team has three sons, so all of their books (that we've read so far) are SO perfect for little boys, including our little boy. 

Fire Engine Man, and their other book that's on our shelf Digger Man, are great simple books with the tried and true boy subjects of firetrucks and diggers.  You can't go wrong with these images on the pages of a children's book!  The stories are both told through the voice of a young boy, maybe 5 or 6 years old, and tell how he's going to be a "Fire Engine Man."  He's going to drive his own big fire engine, hook up his hose, and help the other firefighters fight the fire. 

But what makes this book (and Digger Man, too) special is the fact that the little boy has a younger brother, maybe 12 or 18 months, whom he actively adores.  He drives by his family in his big fire engine, so his brother can see him, and then invites his little brother to the fire station to visit, "because it would be safe."  There's a great picture of the big brother driving the fire truck, and the little brother in the passenger seat, in a car seat, with a bottle.  Lorelei and Ben and I always wonder if a real fire truck could have a carseat in it...I'm guessing not, but it's fun to pretend it's possible.  The end of the book shows the two brothers playing happily together, with the big brother declaring, "When my brother gets bigger, he can help."

How wonderful to see a positive sibling book!  I can't get the ones where one sibling is trying to sell off the other one out of my hands fast enough.  I don't want to give Lorelei any ideas...  Really, though, I don't think it's too much to expect that my kids are going to love each other.  Most days, at least. 

This book, and Digger Man too, are GREAT books for boys who have a new little brother in their life. 

Fire Truck by Peter Sis

Fire Truck by Peter Sis

Rating: 4 stars

Since it's basically Ben Week this week as Lorelei started preschool and he finally has the undivided attention of his mother, I made it a point to order books mostly for him--books that were age-appropriate and topic-appropriate.  The end result: holy smokes I'm going to read a lot about trucks this week!

Now this is a strange little book.  Ben loves fire trucks and firefighters and hopefully all things related to fire except fire itself, so when I saw this on a recommended reading list somewhere, I ordered it right up.  When we picked it up today, Ben was just as eager and curious as me to read it.  So we dug right in.

The text is simple--a little boy loves fire trucks; "fire truck" are the first words out of his mouth in the morning, and the last words out of his mouth at night.  The pictures are simple black and white except for the very red fire trucks--both Ben and I give that two thumb's up, so that's four thumb's up from our family.  But then the boy becomes a fire truck.  I found that a bit odd, but I guess there are little boys out there who probably aren't satisfied to just ride a fire truck.  That's so last week.  BEING a fire truck is way cooler.  Well, this book is for them. 

As the little boy-truck--a fire truck with a chest and head sticking out the back end--drives around, he seems to be having a great time.  There's a great double pull out page that shows the number and an image, getting the little reader to find 3 hoses, 4 blinking lights, etc.  I know Lorelei will love that page when she sees it.  The boy-truck rolls around saving toys and stuffed animals until he smells something good for breakfast: pancakes!  So he parks his truck, morphs into a little boy again, and eats some of those pancakes for breakfast.

This is a good book for a fire truck/firefighter collection, mostly because it's different than most of the books out there on the subject.  If Ben decides to be a fire truck for Halloween, I'll be sure to come back to this post and add a picture...that would be interesting!  As long as he doesn't insist on requiring a Dalmatian for the ensemble.  We've already got two high-strung dogs.  I can't handle a third!

Firefighters: Speeding! Spraying! Saving! by Patricia Hubbell

Firefighters: Speeding! Spraying! Saving! by Patricia Hubbell, illustrated by Viviana Garofoli

Rating: 5 speeding, life-saving stars

Who doesn't love a fireman?  We are fans of all first responders in this house, but firefighters hold a special place in our hearts.  Especially Ben's big little heart.  I am sure that 99.8% of little boys go crazy when a fire truck speeds by, with sirens blazing, forcing cars to get out of the way.  This is Ben--in fact, he starts crying and moaning when they pass, wanting to see them again.  Ben really would love it if, one day, I put my blinkers on and go on the chase, following that fire truck in an exciting, traffic-dodging race to the emergency.  He might pee his pants (which would happen anyway, of course, since he's still in diapers).


Fireman Ben to the rescue!



Lorelei and I went to the library last Saturday and I spotted this book on the little shelf of board books.  I'm so glad it jumped right out at me, because it's a great one.  Firefighters are a pretty easy subject for a well selling book (along with trucks and princesses)--but there are definitely some duds out there.  This one is great!  It's a sturdy board book, which is essential in Ben's oops-did-I-rip-that hands, and is a poem, which is always nicer to read, especially to kids under 2 or 3.  And it actually teaches small but important facts about firefighting; my two favorites: that saving lives is their most important jobs (many firefighter books shy away from this--their firemen rescue cats from trees or check the fire alarms in pizza parlors); and that cars need to get out of the way when a fire truck races past (all DC residents need to read this and re-learn that basic driving fact).

Ben has slept with this book since we checked it out from the library.  I try and keep library books downstairs (after one got ripped up during a particularly destructive naptime) but this board book was an exception.  It's way too cool a book to not read over and over and over and over again.  I've not memorized it YET, but...give me another few days with it.

Ben is still too young to do crafts like this (or am I just too lazy?), but I found this neat activity on the fantastic No Time For Flashcards website.  Super crafty moms can do this (build a fire station with some empty milk cartons) with their fire-fighter-obsessed kids.  Maybe next year!

Even Firefighters Hug Their Moms by Christine Kole Maclean

Even Firefighters Hug Their Moms by Christine Kole Maclean, illustrated by Mike Reed

Rating: 5 stars

I always go on a hunt for books for birthdays and other special occasions.  I try and find a bunch of books that I think the particular child would like, and then I check them out at the library to preview them, and then we buy one or two for the child.  Well, I kind of ran out of time for my very best friend's son's 4th birthday and I had to do what most people do: buy a book without reading it first!  Gasp!

Now that you've gotten over your shock, I'm here to say that the gamble work.  This particular little boy is happily in the Firefighter Stage, which I hear is inevitable and lasts awhile.  I had tried to find other books on firefighters, but when I came across this one and decided to take the risk.  I am glad it was good.  My best friend reported back to me on his birthday that it was great and the birthday boy loved it, so I checked it out to make sure she wasn't just being polite.  (Unlikely.  We've been friends far too long for that.)

This book is about a big brother and little sister who have several imaginative scenarios while playing in their house, supervised by their mother.  They pretend to be firefighters putting out a fire, police officers capturing criminals, EMTs taking care of victims, construction workers building some pillow thingie, helicopter pilots rescuing people from "gigantic storms," and astronauts going to the moon.  And Mars.  The great illustrations show the brother and sister: a) playing together really happily (the little sister gets a special role in each situation), b) using normal household things in a super creative way, and c) the mother sometimes supervising, sometimes playing right alongside them.  What great things to see!

After each little scenario, the mom requests a hug, but the little boy is too busy fighting fires or rescuing people, to which the mom replies: "Even firefighters (or EMTs or...) hug their moms!"  She gets rebuffed every time until the end, when he finally gives her a hug (the illustration is very sweet) and explains to his little sister, "Even firefighters hug their moms!"

Very, very cute book for a bunch of different reasons!  The copy from the library is so beat up...it looks like a lot of people agree with me that this book is very much worth reading. 

So, happy birthday, G!

Off Go Their Engines, Off Go Their Lights by Janice Milusich

Off Go Their Engines, Off Go Their Lights by Janice Milusich, illustrated by David Gordon

Rating: 4.5 stars

Sometimes Ben is just a lucky guy, even at the library.  As any almost two year old does, he thinks that pulling a lot of books off of a shelf is way cool.  Of course, I try to discourage such destructive behavior at both at home and at the library--but especially at the library!  At home, sometimes it's just easier to give him the ten minutes to create the mess he so desires...and clean up after bedtime.

This is one book that Ben grabbed, randomly, without seeing its cover, from the stacks.  It's a really nice bedtime book for boys (and girls) who are fairly vehicle-crazy--that's Ben!

Milusich writes the story with a soothing, quiet tone.  A taxi picks up a mom and her son, and they pass by a pumper truck, a dump truck (Ben's favorite), a brown delivery truck, a police car, and an ice cream truck; she explains what they do in one line, and puts them to sleep with another.  One by one you say good night to each truck, and on the last page the mom says good night to her son.

It does have a lot of words in it, so if you've got an impatient little guy/girl on your lap, you might want to wait till 2 or older for this one if you're going to read it at bedtime.

While we've never read it at bedtime (I had to stop taking library books to bed because Ben kept wanting them in his crib, and I'd have several repairs to do in the morning.  When he learns that ripping is not synonymous with reading, we'll change the rule about where library books can and cannot go), we've read it a lot, and Ben "reads" this book by himself a few times a day.  Ben even wiggled himself into Jonathan's lap over the weekend with it.  Our male weim, Guidry, even had to get in on the action, so I couldn't resist taking a picture of all the boys in our family reading together.

Fireman Small - Fire Down Below! by Wong Herbert Yee

Fireman Small - Fire Down Below! by Wong Herbert Yee

Rating: 4 stars

There are a lot of fireman-crazy boys out there.  And girls, too.  This is a sequel to Fireman Small (review here), which we liked.  This one looks a little frightening.  I wasn't shaking in my boots, but check out the cover--Fireman Small looks a bit intimidated with the rain pouring over him and the fire coming up from below.  I actually turned it down a few times at the library because it looked a little scary.

But we went for it and got it anyway.  We aren't afraid of a book!

It's really good.  Not fantastic, I've-gotta-buy-this-now, but good.  And it's really a good one to write down and check out during fire prevention week (October--make sure to visit your local fire station!).  It's a nice poem--again, like with the original Fireman Small book, I can't seem to get the beat just right, which annoys me a little--and longer than the first, for better or for worse.  But, through the poem and illustrations, he teaches how to crawl under the smoke, breathe through a wet towel, and to stop, drop, and roll.  And all of this is done through the story, so you can focus on it, or not. 

Here's an additional picture of me reading this book to a fireman-crazy boy, almost-birthday-boy G.  (I can't help but laugh as the kids are kind of crawling over me to get to the book, and the paparazzi, a.k.a. Stacey, is taking photos the whole time.)  His mom is my very best friend since first grade (she listened to my long-winded book report on the Bobbsey Twins umpteen years ago), and now our kids are friends.  Life is good!

Fireman Small by Wong Herbert Yee

Fireman Small by Wong Herbert Yee

Rating: 3.5 stars

So there's a new thing in our library: bean bag chairs.  Ben especially loves them!  I try and get the kids not to take a few steps back and jump into them; I do my best to express how they were purchased and placed for kids to sit and read.  They do that, sometimes, but it usually takes a few jumps for them to settle in between the beans.

What does this have to do with Fireman Small?  Well, the bean bags are placed not in the middle of the children's area, but on the outskirts, between John Segal (of Carrot Soup acclaim) and Paul Zelinsky (think the gorgeous The Wheels on the Bus).  The bean bags are right next to the Z section.

So we spend a lot of time at the end of the alphabet when the bean bags are available.  That's why and where we found the cute little series by Yee.  This is a long poem of a book about Fireman Small, the lone fireman in a small town.  He is trying to get to sleep but emergencies keep waking him up: a cat in a tree, a fire in town, and things of that nature.  Lorelei loves the poem, and Ben loves firetrucks, so it works for both of them.  As the bean bags were available on Tuesday afternoon when we popped into the library after nap time, we just got the next in the series.  I'll let you know how it is!

PS  I couldn't find an Amazon link for the book, so I put up a tape recording/book combo, definitely not what we checked out.  It seems that the book is not available to purchase.  (Oh by the way, if you buy books through my blog, I get a teensy-weensy commission, though you're not charged any extra.)