Food For Thought by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers

Food For Thought: The Complete Book of Concepts for Growing Minds by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers

Rating: 5 stars

Before telling you how cool this book is, I just have to point out the name of the authors: Saxton and Joost.  Um, why were we not aware of those two cool names when naming our children?!  Joost.  Pretty fun.  Let me practice it:  "Joooooost!  Time for dinner!"  Ok, maybe it would raise an eyebrow or two in this non-Dutch neighborhood...

Now, about the book.

Here is a book that combines two of my favorite things: great books and great food.  These two author-artists cut out fruits and veggies to make all sorts of cute and hilarious images--mostly but not only animals.  The expressions on some of the "faces" are amazing!  Really laugh-out-loud funny.

There are five little chapters: shapes, colors, numbers, letters, and opposites.  But really, this is more about fun than learning.  Oh wait...the two can be combined!  Check it out.  And giggle a little with your little one.


I do apologize if your children want their next fruity snack to resemble the this creative, edible art.

Bumble Bugs and Elephants by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd

Bumble Bugs and Elephants by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd

Rating: 2 stars

Really, this book just makes me envious.

Oh to be a proven author, creator of dozens of wonderfully-selling children's books!  What is it like to be SO GOOD that you can write a book about not much at all?  Just a gathering of big animals and small animals?

Don't think there's more to the story.  I just hesitated to type "story" because...there really isn't one.

And please, will someone please tell me what a bumble bug is?

Here are the first pages of the book:

Once upon a time there was a great big bumble bug
and a tiny little bumble bug
And there was a great big butterfly
and a little tiny butterfly
There was a great big red bird
and a tiny little black bird
And a tiny little turtle
and a great big turtle

The book goes on like this, gathering small and big versions of a species. 

It's a book of opposites, but...neither the prose nor the illustrations engage my kiddos, who are actually pretty easy to impress.  All in all, the only reason I want you to check it out is so that we can be baffled together.

Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox

Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox, illustrated by

Rating: 5 shining stars

I'm not sure how I forgot to review this book.  I know that I shouldn't give every book a five star rating...shouldn't I mix in some 2s and 3s to somehow gain credibility because I hold the ability to sneer at a book?  I just can't!  There are way too many incredible ones to waste time on the not-so-great ones (which are still probably special to someone else).

Anyway, this is one book that we don't own but Lorelei and Ben have both found it on their own in the library, so we check it out at least once a month in the board book or hardcover edition.

I started off this venture with Mem Fox's Reading Magic, a book for adults/parents/caregivers/teachers that explains how reading aloud to the little ones in your life can really change their world.  I inhaled the book as if it was my favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry's (Phish Food if you must know) and immediately got myself a library card and started checking out the books on her list at the end of the book.  The connection with Reading Magic and Where is the Green Sheep? is the illustrator: Judy Horacek.  (To read more about the connection and the origin of the idea behind the book, check it out here.)

The text is silly and simple but works wonderfully.  Judy Horacek just takes the text a notch above with her silly but simple drawings illustrating opposites--sheep doing everything, from shooting themselves out of cannons, acting as a one-sheep-band, basking in the sun, singing in the rain, and taking a bubble bath.  Throughout the whole book, the text asks the reader "Where is the green sheep?  Where is that green sheep?"  It's like a kid's first suspense novel!  And, amazingly, it works on the fourth or tenth or twentieth read as well! 

The best page is near the end, where you turn the page and suddenly you see dozens of sheep doing everything--parachuting, crying, singing wildly, having a tea party, eating birthday cake, doing a cheerleader-type pyramid, snorkeling, and a bunch of other things I'm surprised I can't remember.  Lorelei (through her eloquent little sentences) and Ben (through grunts and rude pointing) insist I describe what each sheep is doing on these two fun pages.

Of course I won't tell you where the green sheep is.  Go find out for yourself!