Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel

Tikki Tikki Tembo retold by Arlene Mosel, illustrated by Blair Lent

Rating: 4 stars

Lorelei loves this book.  She runs around reciting the older boy's name: Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo.  At 3, she realizes that it's pretty crazy to have a name that long.  As a little lover of anything that rhymes, this book is one that will get read over and over again.

I'm glad for that--because the book represents both a culture so very different from her day to day and a culture that is from a region of the world I love.  I love that the story is about a little family in China, and that the illustrations are vastly different from any other illustrations we've ever seen in any other book.  The illustrations alone make me want to buy this book (I always wrestle with that: to buy or just check out again and again?  My husband is glad I usually go with the latter).  They are gorgeous and so very Asian in all the right ways.  As a former volunteer in both Thailand (Peace Corps) and India (with Missionaries of Charity), I love that a piece of my slightly random past has found a way into my children's lives before the day we can travel there.

But the story isn't exactly a traditional children's story as we Americans define it. 

The story is about a mother and her two sons: her oldest and most favored is named (deep breath) Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo, meaning "honored and most favored son."  Her second son is Chang, meaning "little or nothing."

Humph.  Poor guy.

The well (check out the picture) is the center of the story: First, Chang falls in, and Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo runs and gets his mother, who gets the Old Man with the Ladder, who rescues Chang fairly quickly.  Then, later, Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo (yes, I used the cut and paste option) falls into the well.  Chang does his best to return the favor but his name is so long and he has to say it so many times that Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo remains in the well and under water much longer; his full recovery takes many weeks. 

The Old Man with the Ladder performs CPR on both of them!  (Ok, it's not called CPR: "He pumped the water out of him, and pumped the air into him.  He pumped the water out of him, and pumped the air into him.")  Some kids might get a little spooked if they understand exactly what is going on--the brothers almost drown.  For any child afraid of water, this might not be the best book for them. 

We'll check the book out again.  I'm not afraid to explain to Lorelei and Ben exactly what is happening in the book, and exactly why a different culture would value first sons so much more than their second sons (or any daughters).  I'm aiming to broaden their horizon through books, even if that means a slightly chilly tale underneath a layer of beautiful illustrations.  We are going to follow through on this illustrator, Blair Lent, to see what other Asian-inspired images he's created...stay tuned!

Dandelion by Don Freeman

Dandelion by Don Freeman

Rating: 5 stars

Recently, this book was available only for $500 or $700. While I have fond memories of this book, I would not pay that much for it...at least I don't think I would... Instead, my kids and I borrow it from the library a few times a year and I remember happily how much I loved it as a kid. I also just saw that this book is reissued and available through a bunch of retailers, including Target, for a much better price: $6.99. I'm glad that Dandelion will be a favorite lion for kids of today's generation, too!

I'm not sure why Corduroy is considered Don Freeman's best work.  Sure, Corduroy is a cute little bear that takes a nice imaginary hike through the department store and finds his way to a little girl's heart.  But what's the point?  Dandelion has such a wonderful point: Be yourself!  Wouldn't the world be such a different place if kids learned that at age 3, rather than age 30, or 40, or 50?

In case you're not familiar with the book or in case you've not read it in a few decades, Dandelion is a dapper little lion who gets a classy invitation to a "taffy and tea" party from his pal, Jennifer Giraffe.  He's so excited about the party that he gets his hair done in a spiffy new style (super curly, check out the picture) and buys a dapper new outfit to match.  He looks so unlike himself that Jennifer Giraffe doesn't recognize him and shuts the door in his face upon his arrival.  After a short and tumultuous rain storm that unfurls his curls, soaks his sweater, and wilts his first bouquet of dandelions, he tries again.  He finds a new bouquet of dandelions, knocks on the door, and laughs heartily at himself (another great lesson within the book) when Jennifer tells him of the "silly looking lion" that knocked on his door earlier.

Lorelei loves this book, which makes me happy because I loved this book as a child.  It is such a simple story, but has a sweet message and great illustrations, too.  A winner of a book!

Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae

Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae, illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees

Rating: 5 stars

I think that within every children's library there should be a couple of books that are fail-proof giggle-makers or pick-me-uppers.  They should be reserved for those afternoons or late mornings...or even early mornings!...when everyone just needs a good laugh.  The Baby Beebee Bird is one of my family's personal favorites when a mood needs to be lifted, but Giraffes Can't Dance is also in that category.  I'm always looking for more books that make my kids giggle and me care less about the mess around my house--please suggest a few to our little family!

It's like "Lucky" by Jason Mraz; you can't help but smile or tap your foot.  Maybe you don't have days where bedtime seems like two light years away...

So here's the gist of the book: Gerald the giraffe wants to participate in a jungle dance-off but he's clumsy with four left feet.  Everybody laughs at his feeble attempts, so he shuffles away feeling low as can be.  And then he meets a cricket that chirps some wise words: "Sometimes when you're different, you just need a different song!"  So he listens to the music from the jungle itself--the leaves, the trees, the birds, the bugs--and becomes the best dancer of them all.  And he doesn't gloat about it--he's just finally happy with himself.  I like that part best.

This is a great, great read-aloud book that totally lifts me up from almost any pity party I am silly enough to dwell in for more than 4.7 minutes. 

Curious George Rides a Bike by H.A. Rey

Curious George Rides a Bike by H.A. Rey

Rating: 2 stars

I'm all for old books, whether they are deemed classics or not.  But please don't check this book out.  If you do, your child will learn to:

1.  Play by herself in the front yard, near the street.

2.  Do "tricks" on a bike, such as riding without hands, riding on just the back wheel, and riding backwards.

3.  Go out into the street when the front yard/sidewalk got boring.

4.  Take a bag of newspapers from a stranger, a random paper boy, who wants help delivering papers (obviously George doesn't live in post-9/11 Washington DC where there'd be a bomb squad in seconds).

5.  Stop delivering said newspapers and make boats with the neighborhood's newspapers.

6.  Play near water by herself.

7.  Ride without a helmet (should have mentioned that first) and thus hit her head on a rock when front wheel hits a big one.

8.  Accept an invitation from TWO male strangers and GET INTO THEIR CAR to perform at a circus.

I am not making any of this up!  Go check out the book if you think I'm lying!  Obviously, the world was a little different, for both kids and monkey-pets, when the book was written in 1952.  There are so many incredible books that were written before 2000; this is not one of them.  Should I request that it be banned from our local library?  I guess not.

Where do your kids read?

This is an audience participation one!  Where do you read to your kids?  Where do your kids read?  Here are some of our favorite places, with pictures to go along...

on the bottom step (random!)

on top of the toy box

at the table while Mommy writes

and (blessedly) in the car.

I'm pretty limited to a few places where I read to them, though.  Ben has just started sitting through one book, and when he's extra tired he'll sit through two or three while sitting in my lap, squished up next to his beloved big sister.  I read to them while they are eating (when we're out, they usually ask me, "Mommy, can you grab a book?" and I have to explain that I really can't pull one out at Starbucks or Rio Grande) and before they nap/sleep.

Here's a picture of Grammy the Great reading during lunch.

Got any cool places that we can emulate?  Do your kids have any funny places they read?

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.)

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

Rating: 4.5 stars

We love this book.  I mean, we LOVE this book.  Lorelei knows almost every word by heart, and the little illustrations--more like intricate sketches or doodles, really--captivate her.  She can stare at a page of this book for a few minutes, just studying it.

Chrysanthemum is a little white mouse who, in her parents eyes, "is absolutely perfect," so she must have an absolutely perfect name, too--thus this super long flower's name that I now know how to spell.  (Even before spellcheck, for all you sassy folk out there.)  She loves her name, too.  Until she starts school.  On the first day of school she realizes everyone has monosyllabic names like Gus or Sam or Max; hers "scarcely fits on her nametag."  (Lorelei will often tell a person that her name is Lorelei, and her name scarcely fits on a nametag.  It always makes grown ups' eyebrows rise and me chuckle.)  She feels pretty sorry for herself when her classmates ridicule her like all little kids--sigh--do.

And then the class meets Mrs Twinkle, the music teacher.  "Her voice was like something out of a dream, as was everything else about her."  The entire class is mesmerized by this "indescribable wonder"--I love when Kevin Henkes and other authors note little kids' naive and beautiful infatuations like this... 

Anyway, back to Chrysanthemum.

The students all giggle and laugh yet again at Chrysanthemum's name until Mrs Twinkle finds out about why they are laughing.  And then she tells him, simply: "My name is long.  My name would scarcely fit on a name tag.  I am named after a flower.  My name is Delphinium."  Of course, Chrysanthemum bursts with pride.  She actually "blooms" according to Henkes. 

This is definitely one of the most clever and witty children's books we've ever read.  And Henkes gets it almost totally right this time with his humor: the wittiness and cleverness is completely child appropriate (he loses me in Julius, Baby of the World).  You've got to read it to appreciate all the flower references sprinkled throughout the pages.  And note the two books her father is reading when she comes home from school, too.  I think my only hesitation is that it does open up the true side of school: the not-so-nice kids who make fun of their classmates just because they can.  I'm in denial that that sort of thing will happen to my kids at some point. 

On the flip side, I appreciate the book a little more because maybe Lorelei will be in a position to be one of the not-so-nice students, and maybe she'll remember Chrysanthemum and be empathetic and kind.  My fingers and toes are crossed!

Animal Numbers by Bert Kitchen

Animal Numbers by Bert Kitchen

Rating: 3 stars

Not surprisingly, Ben saw this at the library last week and just had to have it.  He's a fan of our two weimaraners (who, luckily, are big fans of him) so the Irish Setters on the cover grabbed his attention.  This is a gorgeous book, with only a few words on the first page that introduce the book--and explain that the numbers correspond with the number of babies each mother animal has surrounding her. 

No doubt, it is a gorgeous book.  Kitchen draws incredibly realistic but also super creative pictures for each number, often making the animal and the number work together.  For example, the three baby squirrels climb up the number "3" and the four baby woodpeckers nest within the triangle of the "4" while the mama pecks away into the "4."  Lorelei traces the large, bold numbers with her fingers (a good pre-writing activity, I think).

It's not meant to be read aloud to kids, I know, and that's how we use most books these days, so I can't wax poetic about the book.  My biggest question comes from the last page, where Kitchen promises to explain all the babies names.  But then he doesn't.  He does say that a baby kangaroo is called a joey and states an interesting and often random fact about each baby animal, but...  We information-seekers want to know what babies are called!  I want Lorelei and Ben to pass that pop quiz of life, or in their second grade class when they are asked to identify all these things. 

Maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself and should just slooooooooooow down and enjoy the pictures of this book.  I'll do better at that sloooooooooooowing down thing.  Tomorrow. Or maybe next week.  Or next year?

I'm Mighty! by Kate & Jim McMullan

I'm Mighty! by Kate & Jim McMullan

Rating: 4.5 stars

Lots of people who know lots more than I do agree that some books are and should be written just to get kids interested in books.  You know, they don't teach very much but they are cute and funny and...well, they are sort of like a welcome mat to the wonderful world of books.

This is one of them.  This cute--well, he'd want me to say tough--little tugboat has more personality than I ever realized tugboats could have!  The text is bold and energetic, jumps around the pages, and invites the parent/caregiver/reader to use get in touch with their inner tugboat and half grunt, half shout the words as their little one/s check out the adorable illustrations.

Luckily, I am a total ham, which definitely helps Lorelei and Ben pay attention to books that I'm reading.  Let's just say that my inner tugboat (and, when I'm reading I'm Dirty!, my inner bull-dozer...we've not read I Stink! or I'm Bad! yet, but we I look forward to getting in touch with my inner garbage truck and inner dinosaur, respectively) is alive and well, and frequently cracks up everyone in the room. 

Including me. 

Ladybug Girl at the Beach

Ladybug Girl at the Beach by David Soman and Jacky Davis

Rating: 4 stars

We've fallen into the Ladybug Girl and Fancy Nancy series.  Help!

They are both wildly popular; I think each is okay.  I like Ladybug Girl a little more--she's more adventurous and independent and tough than Fancy Nancy seems to be.  We have read most of the Ladybug Girl series, but we've only read a few of the zillions of Fancy Nancy books.  When our first grade neighbor, someone Lorelei wholeheartedly adores, came off the school bus last week with a few Fancy Nancy books in her hands, Lorelei set her sight on reading all of them.  Oh my.

So, Ladybug Girl.

Ladybug Girl is a headstrong little girl with an older brother who usually doesn't pay much attention to her.  (He is not very kind to her; this is one my least favorite things about the series.)  Her best buddy is her basset hound, Bingo.  While she is brave and tough, her chutzpah sometimes borders on brattiness. 

But this book is one of my favorites, mostly because, as my sister put it, "It explains all the sensations of the beach."  Ladybug Girl is totally excited to be at the beach and she just knows that she's going to love it, but...she didn't realize how big and scary the ocean would be once you got up close to it.  So she does everything except go into the ocean--dig sand castles, fly a kite, run around. 

She carefully tries to go in, but the ocean almost pushes her over, and then nearly drags her in after planting her ankles into the soft sand.  If you've ever stood in front of the ocean as a wave washes in, and then out, you know exactly what she's talking about.  Which is kind of fun, especially for Lorelei who is also afraid of the ocean.  (On her first trip she wouldn't even step onto the sand.  We could have walked a mile away from her and Ben, and when we returned they both would have been sitting directly on the towel, feet as far away from the edge as possible!)  By the end, Ladybug Girl, who seems about 4 years old, wades into the water all by herself.  Hooray!

I plan on taking this book with us (along with a few dozen others, of course) when we head to the beach this fall.

Building A House by Byron Barton

Building A House by Byron Barton

Rating: 4.5 stars

This is one of those let's-connect-it-to-real-life books for us.  There's a house that's being built down the road, and we like to drive by slooooooooooooowly to check out what's being done.  Since this was one of the first books we checked out at the library many months ago, Lorelei had a good idea of what was happening each time we drove by. 

A big machine digs a hole.  Check!  Concrete is poured in.  Check!  Builders hammer and saw.  Check!  A cement mixer pours cement!  Check.

You get the idea.  I'm tempted to stop by the construction site and have a picnic to let the kids watch, but I'm not bold enough.  Yet.  Maybe when Ben is old enough to realize the words "Be careful!" 

A simple book, and one that provides the foundation for knowing how a house is built.  Three cheers for the simplicity of Byron Barton!

In the Town All Year 'Round by Rotraut Susanne Berner

In the Town All Year 'Round by Rotraut Susanne Berner

Rating: 5 look-and-find stars

This past April our family headed to the beach in North Carolina, a five-ish hour drive from our home in Great Falls.  I took 34 books for our kids.  I'm not kidding.  My husband even told me "Let's pack light."  So I did.  Knowing that there would be a washing machine readily available to wash our clothes every night if I wanted, I packed just two or three outfits for all of us.  Knowing that there would be a kitchen full of pots, pans, and Tupperware, I packed just a few toys and puzzles for Lorelei and Ben.

But books?  Who can skimp on books?  I actually hid them in each bag so that Jonathan wouldn't find them.  I put four or five bedtime books in the clothes bag for the kids, and another couple in our bag.  I had a book bag for the ride down there, and then had another book bag for the ride back.  I stuffed a few books under each child's car seat.  I cracked myself up!  I earned a "look" from my husband, which of course made me chuckle a bit.

For the record, we did read all of them many, many times.

But for this past weekend's trip to St Louis to visit my husband's family, we took just one.  This one. 

(Ok, I cannot tell a lie.  We packed two, In the Town All Year 'Round and Planes by Byron Barton that we had checked out from the library so we could read it on the plane.  Then we bought two at the airport's bookstore: Lorelei chose Ladybug Girl at the Beach and Ben chose Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car.)

Anyway, back to this great book.  It's a look-and-find, and is organized by seasons.  There are seven huge, gorgeous pages chock full of little details for each season, and the scenes are the same for each season.  They are, of course, altered according to what is happening in each season.  For example, in the town square picture in Winter, everything is decorated for Christmas; in Spring there's a farmer's market and flowers everywhere; in Summer there are picnics and a flea market with a storm brewing overhead; and in Fall leaves are streaming throughout the picture and geese are flying South.  You get the idea.

Lorelei received the book for her birthday, and, after she and Ben read through it once (and I snapped the picture above) I promptly tucked it away for the airplane ride.  We looked at it for about 30 minutes straight on the flight there and on the flight back, which is pretty good for a 3 year old and a little 19 month old!  Because Ben isn't talking just yet, he can point to things when you ask him to identify stuff.  And there are plenty of hot air balloons, helicopters, tractors, and airplanes--just a few of his favorite things!

We LOVE this book.  Is it bad if I hide it away until we go on our next airplane ride?

Wow! America! by Robert Neubecker

Wow! America! by Robert Neubecker

Rating: 5 patriotic stars

Confession: I'm an Army brat.  Because of that, and because I lived abroad for several years as an adult, I really love and appreciate America.  And I've been to 47 of the 50 states. (Rhode Island, Arkansas, and Alaska, in case you're wondering.)  And when I was little, my parents made the wise decision to really focus on discovering our own country.  When we moved to a new place, my parents would make a point to visit lots of touristy places as well as plenty of out-of-the-way spots.  That meant that when we lived in Hawaii Dad would drag us to Shark's Cove instead of just going to Barber's Point where all our friends would be.  And when we did go on a vacation that didn't involve visiting family back in Erie, Pennsylvania, we went somewhere amazing in this great country. 

And we drove to nearly all of our destinations (except in Hawaii, where inter-island flights called "hops" were the way to go).  Our first stop?  A bookstore.  Hmmm...I was a reader as a child and now my children are readers...

We came across Wow! School! last week at the library; a smart librarian had propped it up on top of the stacks and we picked it up and shoved it in our overflowing, very heavy library bag.  All three of us fell in love with it, especially because Lorelei will start --gasp!-- preschool in the fall.  I'll review that book later...  We ordered Wow! America! the next day and picked it up this morning (when the sitter didn't show up.  Grrr). 

I am in love, love, love with this book!  This is one we might have to buy.  Maybe I'll just suggest to the grandparents that this is a great book...hint, hint... Enter sheepish grin here.

Izzy, the star of all the books in this series (Wow! City! is next on our list), is in all the pages, with her yellow Labrador, too.  And in this book, her little sister Jo.  They scamper across the country.  For me, it was like a journey into my childhood--we moved around a whole lot, plus my husband's from Louisiana and lived in New York City for almost a decade.  So the New Orleans page and the New York page came with an extra story with them.  Then the Grand Canyon, which I've never seen.  It opens up to a third page!  And the cowboys page...well, I do love me a good cowboy book, and I'll take just one page if that's all I'm given.  And the Washington, DC, one is great because we live nearby and my husband works even nearer by. 

And, coincidentally, we leave for Missouri tomorrow, so the pages for the Mississippi River were appreciated and timely.  Finally, my husband and I are going on a leaving-the-kids-with-Grammy trip to the Rocky Mountains, so...wouldn't you know it?  There's a page for the Rocky Mountains!  I couldn't have asked for a better display of the U.S.  Bravo, Neubecker, and thank you for this great one.  I hope more people find it and appreciate it as much as we do.

I just took a bunch of pictures to let you see the great illustrations for yourself.  It is a really great book, with a lot going on, with minimal words so kids like Lorelei who are learning to read can focus on just a few at a time.  Go buy it!  Go check it out!  Trust me! 

10 Minutes Till Bedtime! by Peggy Rathmann

10 Minutes Till Bedtime! by Peggy Rathmann

Rating: 3.5 stars

You'd think this would be a bedtime book by the title, but the illustrations are much too exciting for that. 

The little boy in the picture is about to go to sleep; his father yells how many minutes to go from the next room, where he's reading the newspaper with his feet up.  While he counts down, there's a sudden and inexplicable hamster party.  Hamsters parade along the sidewalk into the little boy's house, to his bedroom, and even to his bathroom.  They turn his bathtime into a pool party!  He plays with them, reads to them, and marvels at them until his eyes are too droopy to stay open, and then they all leave.

There is so much going on in each picture that this book is one we rarely read together.  Instead, I hide it until we go on a long car trip or on an airplane.  In the picture, Lorelei studies each picture carefully on our way up to Baltimore yesterday.  She, and even Ben to a lesser extent, is just amazed at all the activity in the book.  The counting is a fun addition; 1 to 10 is no problem, so she traces them with her finger as something extra to do. 

And--look closely at the picture--do you see a screen in our car?  Nope.  That's right: Let's put our hands together for keeping TVs out of cars so that our kids actually (are you sitting down?) look out the window and talk with us while we travel and read a whole lot and then read a whole lot more.

A better travel book than a bedtime book!  A good one to pick up before your next journey.

A Good Night Walk by Elisha Cooper

A Good Night Walk by Elisha Cooper

Rating: 4 stars

Elisha Cooper is quickly becoming one of my favorite illustrators.  His images seem to be sketched quickly but the people seem to move, the trees seem to sway, and the animals seem to breathe.  My husband really likes Farm and Beach, though I think they are beyond even Lorelei's impressive attention span; I think they are the segue way to chapter books they are so long!  Those books are DK-like in their details and information, but A Good Night Walk is a great bedtime book.

Maybe because we live in the woods, the neighborhood setting of this book makes Lorelei more interested in it.  On our night walks, we see fireflies and hear owls and listen to the rustling leaves and not much else.  While I wouldn't change that, there is something amazingly and magically alluring about Cooper's retro drawings that make me pine for a neighborhood like those in his pictures.  The author takes a walk, presumably with his child/ren, along a sidewalk, where screen doors open and close, with smells of apple pie and sounds of dogs barking.  He simply describes what he sees, nothing more, nothing less.  Friendly waves, chasing squirrels, a pick-up game of baseball....somehow I think of my parents' hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania.  His images are just nostalgic and beautiful.

I'm too young to appreciate the difficulty of the late 1940s, and early 1950s when my grandparents began to raise their children.  I know there were plenty.  But they were surrounded by friends and family--and all of their lives were intertwined in those apple pies and baseball games and picnics. 

Somehow Elisha Cooper with his slow words, "Let's take a walk, a walk at night, and see what there is to see" sticks in Lorelei's and my imagination.  For different reasons, but...that's what makes this a really good book.

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

Rating: 4.5 blooming stars

Our family has a serendipitous relationship with Peter Brown.  On one of our first trips to the library, Ben grabbed a random book off of the shelf.  That book was The Flight of the Dodo; the entire book is about birds pooping from the sky.  Ok, not entirely, but I just didn't get it.  I thought that the author needed about five more books through which he could mature...I also thought it was the first book I'd read where the illustrator should stick to illustrating.  Know your strengths and weaknesses, right?  Well, I was wrong on that one.

Fast forward about six months.  Lorelei, Ben, and I were at a big ol' bookstore, trying to find a book for Lorelei's friend who was undergoing surgery that day.  I wanted to find an inspiring book that would captivate her attention while her body recovered.  I came across The Curious Garden, totally by luck.  (It seems like large book stores are frustrating places to find good children's books.  They stock what sells, rather than the gems that many people don't know about.  Bring back the local little shops!  I'd have to drive 30 minutes to get to the closest one!  Sigh.  Maybe in my next life.  Or do I just want to be Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail"?)  I picked it up, even though the last Peter Brown book I picked up reminded me too much of my diaper-changing day job.

Anyway, Peter Brown definitely got it right this time.  Inspired by a true story, the book is about curious little, red-headed Liam who lives in a dark, dreary city and decides to add some green to it.  He finds a sad, struggling little garden and decides to take care of it.  Eventually, the gray city becomes alive with green.  The illustrations are just wonderful--I was truly swept away in them. 

I think that I'd be a fan of the book even if the story was just ok and the illustrations were just fine.  It has the word curious in it.  I want Lorelei and Ben to know that word inside and out!  And, like little Liam, I want them to act on their curiosity and maybe just maybe they'll add a little bit of joy to the environments in which they evolve.  My fingers are crossed!

Good job, Peter Brown!

How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? by Jane Yolen

How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mark Teague

Rating: 2 stars

We are pretty crazy about dinosaurs in this house right now.  From my perch here at the computer, I can see five books of our very own and I know there are three more from the library in the library stack in the playroom.  After reading a dozen or more dinosaur books, I am a little confused about the role that they should take in kids books.  Should they be soft and cuddly like the triceratops in The Littlest Dinosaur, funny as can be like those in Dinos on the Go, cute but still pretty fierce like Dinosaurs Galore, fun playthings that sometimes come alive as pets like in Sammy and the Dinosaurs, or...pretty scary and huge and not-so-nice like in How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?

As you can see from my low rating, I don't think that Jane Yolen quite got it right this time.  This series of books is so popular--and this book in particular--that I am left scratching my head.  In this book, dinosaurs do a bunch of not-so-nice things like slap their parents hands, throw sand, mope through nap time, flood the house, and a bunch of other things that I'd prefer not Lorelei and Ben visualize.  Then, the parents forgive the dinosaurs when they blow kisses, or clean up, or hold their hand.  I am lucky to have kids who don't do all of those things (yet?!) and while of course I'd love them as they did all those things, I surely don't want to encourage it.

So I'm perplexed on this one.  Help!  Are they favorites in your house?  If so, what do you like about them (or what do your kids like about them)?  I just don't understand why every list I've ever found (practically) recommends this book!

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!

My Friends by Taro Gomi

My Friends by Taro Gomi

Rating: 5 learn-from-me stars

Some years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I lived in Thailand as a Peace Corps Volunteer and loved my crazy existence and experience there.  While a friend visited me from the US during my two and half years in rural Uttaradit; I soon realized that there were two types of people in this world.  Some of us go to a new place or meet a new person and ask, "What can I learn from them?" and there are another group of people who look at a new place or meet a new person and ask, "Why do they do it like that?"

When I became a mother, I knew that it was super important to me to teach my kids to be in the first group, just like I am, as well as my husband, partner-in-crime, and their father.

During a visit to my step-sister's house, I discovered a little children's book that I'd never seen before and fell in love with it: My Friends.  It is a simple little book where a little girl learns from everything and everyone around her.  I don't have the book in front of me (I will soon!) but here's what I remember: "I learn to jump from the cat, I learn to swing from the monkey, I learn to read from my teachers, I learn to love from friends like you."  And the illustrations are just simple and beautiful.  Just simply beautiful.

This will be another of my go-to gift books for babies because it is such a wonderful message: Look around you, and learn from everything and everyone.  Now!

The Littlest Dinosaur by Michael Foreman

The Littlest Dinosaur by Michael Foreman

Rating: 3.5 stars

Who knew that dinosaurs could be born as preemies?  I had no idea till I read this book. 

The eponymous (that's the biggest word I'll use all week) littlest dinosaur is littler than everyone else, and is sad about it.  He goes to a big hill to make himself feels big, and often sees the biggest dinosaur on a neighboring hill, looking as sad as the littlest dinosaur feels.  One day the littlest dinosaur's family gets caught in the mud and the littlest dinosaur rescues them, despite his small size, with the help of the biggest dinosaur, who finally feels useful despite his large size.

It's cute and the littlest dinosaur is pretty lovable.  I'm not jumping up and down, but this is a fun addition to a large stack of dinosaur books that have been piling up around our house during the past few trips to the library.  It's definitely one to buy or check out a dozen times or more if you've got a little one who is, well, the littlest kid in his playgroup/class.  We first read The Littlest Dinosaur's Big Adventure, by the way, which was also in the same category...cute, worth checking out and worth reading a few times.

When Santa Turned Green by Victoria Perla

When Santa Turned Green by Victoria Perla, illustrated by Merla Kantarevic

Rating: 4.5 inspirational and optimistic stars

Yes, that's right.  It's June.  And I'm writing about a Santa book.  That's because our neighbor thoughtfully ignored our "no gift, please" invitation to Lorelei's birthday party and gave us this book.  Of course we appreciated it, being the booky folks we are.  I was pretty surprised myself to find the Santa book on the other side of non-Christmas wrapping paper, but we dug right in because we don't really know what seasons are around these parts.

This is our first really environmental book.  I'm a green person myself, but I haven't really been deliberately teaching about the environment to our kids.  I mean, Lorelei and Ben know what goes into the recycling bin (no, not the dog's bone) and the compost pile (no, not your little brother, Lorelei) and we walk the half mile to the mailbox instead of driving there.  We make sure we turn out the lights when we leave the room, and we try not to waste water, even though our new Dora soap makes hand washing something we could do for hours.  We are lucky to have woods outside our doorstep, and we talk a lot about planting trees, and we plant a bunch each year on our property.  We talk about the importance of rain and reusing water.  I give myself a 8 or something on a scale of 1 to 10.  (We have two non-hybrid SUVs, so I'll never earn a perfect score until we get rid of them.)

I am not exactly sure how to rate this book.  Of course, I applaud the effort improving our ozone layer and of course am behind the idea of getting children involved.  And the book does a great job of selling the idea to kids: First, the author brings in the big guns: Santa!  There's nothing that gets a preschooler's attention like Santa, even in June.  Second, Ms. Perla explains how our environment needs a miracle, and kids have the ability to believe in miracles.  Ok, I'm on board with that.  Third, kids are encouraged to do small things, like the things I mentioned that we do in our house, along with even bigger things, like making recycling a part of their school and not drinking bottled water and stuff.  Good, good, good!  I like this.

I guess my hold up, and why it doesn't get a perfect score in my book, is the part of the book in between the beginning, when Santa's icicles are melting on his head, and he realizes that all the glaciers around the North Pole are melting, and the ending, when Santa/the author encourages kids to do lots of small things because together, so that we can all make a difference.  That middle part when I was suddenly explaining to Lorelei and Ben about the ozone layer...I fully expected my husband to start chuckling in the next room.  It is a really, really big concept to someone who is just understanding the whole outer space thing.  (Lorelei asked me why her friend's daddy wasn't home during a recent playdate; she asked if he was in space.  "I don't think he's an astronaut, Lorelei, I think he was just at work.") 

I find that the balance between teaching to and holding the attention of kids is one of the important things in fantastic children's books.  This book is close, but doesn't quite get it right.

But you know what, I don't think it's too early.  I think Lorelei got about .00035% of the idea.  But maybe during the next read she'll be at .0045%, and maybe in six months she'll be up to 5%.  And she definitely is impressionable, so if she thinks Santa encourages her to turn off the lights and wrap gifts in newspaper and compost even more stuff, that is a great thing!

This is a great Christmas gift.  Buy a dozen now and hand them out to everyone with kids, and their parents, too.  Check out the book/author's website if you have a few minutes to spare, because maybe miracles can happen, especially if adults join in with their little ones.

(And, when checking this book out on the web, I've realized what should have been obvious to me: There are a whole lot of green children's books.  So...stay tuned!  Hopefully our wonderful library has them, or has access to them.  Also...am curious if there's more I can/should be doing.  Feel free to share what you do!)

My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann

My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann

Rating: 5 trouble-making stars

When I started this whole let's-read-every-library-book-known-to-mankind thing, I thought that Caldecott books were It.  I was sure that those Wise Ones who sat on this committee knew all there was to know about children's books.  Of course, it was my mother who pointed out that the award wasn't even for the best book, just the best illustrations.  That's a very different thing.  I'm currently on the hunt for other awards out there to help me find really good and interesting books for our little family to read and evaluate...let me know if you know an award like this.

Anyway, I was pretty much down on Caldecott, especially after checking out the absolutely stunning The Lion and the Mouse last week.  The cover was so captivating and all of the pictures quieted even chatty Lorelei...we were smitten with the illustrations.  But we didn't love it.  It's just not a book for us, though plenty of people have purchased it and Jerry Pinkney is loving the publicity his book is getting from adults.  But as for my kids, they did love My Friend Rabbit despite the slightly sordid fact that it is a Caldecott winner as well. 

The book starts out with "My friend rabbit means well..." and a picture of a little Mouse flying through the air in his little airplane until Whump! he gets stuck in a tree.  Rabbit says, "Don't worry, Mouse, I've got an idea!" and runs out of the picture.  Mouse looks worried.  And we soon find out why.  Rabbit drags in an elephant.  Then a rhino.  Then an alligator with a squirrel on top.  Then he carries in with super-rabbit strength a hippo.  He stacks up all these animals one on top of the other in a hilarious long picture that requires the reader to turn the book sideways (always a hit in our house) to see.  Of course, the animals lose their balance and fall into one giant heap, which caused a giggle-fest everytime in our kitchen when we read it.  All the animals look like they're going to jump poor Rabbit, but Mouse flies his airplane to rescue his friend.  When Rabbit hugs him in appreciation, he puts his paws over Mouse's eyes and Mouse squeals "Rabbit!  I can't see!  Stop hugging me!"  And BAM! the airplane gets stuck in a tree.  Again. 

This is a delightful book with incredible pictures.  With minimal words, the animals are strong and clear and full of personality.  And I love, love, love the message of the book: That we should love our friends despite their shortcomings.  At least that's what our family took from this winner of a book. 

Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers

Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers, illustrated by Marla Frazee

Rating: 4 stars

Not everyone is a baby person.  I mean, we were blessed with The Cutest Babies On Earth the moment they were born, but...not all babies had Lorelei's huge blue eyes, and no other baby had the cutest little round toes.  There's no way that there was another baby with dimples like Ben or had his same lop-sided grin from such a tiny age.  Wait?  What was that?  Every mother thinks that their baby is the cutest?!  WHAT?!  No way.

Well, Marla Frazee's amazing art is The Reason to check out this book.  She must have spent a year on it!  I actually tried to find out how long it took her because I was curious...there must be two hundred babies in this book, each with a different expression on its little face.  This is truly a book for the new millenium, and it's a wonderfully liberal take on families, too, which I love and deeply appreciate.  Look closely and you'll see, right next to the picture of cookie-cutter family in a house with a cute dog and white picket fence, a baby being pushed by two dads or a baby being rocked by the sleepy foot of one of two mothers collapsed on a bed.  I love that through her illustrations Marla Frazee is gently suggesting we expand our mind just a little bit.  In every picture there the baby is being wrapped in a gentle blanket of love, and MAN isn't that the most important thing of all?

In addition to this liberal definitely of family thing, there are just babies being carried in every single way imaginable, from Bjorn to sling to shoulders to chest to stroller.  Babies are being held by every single person, from grandparent to friend to mother to sister to dog (ok, I'm making that one up...just seeing if you're paying attention).  Babies are being fed all sorts of food, from peaches to breastmilk to formula to bananas.  There is so much going on here!

Susan Meyers definitely plays a supporting role in this book.  When I read this to Lorelei and Ben, I don't think they listened or cared what I was saying!  They were focused on all the pictures.  Ben still (STILL!) isn't talking much at all, but he made it quite clear that he wanted me to point to each picture and describe what was going on.  I would name the babies on the first page, where a dozen babies are in a funny line-up, or maybe baby mug shots?  Each is so wonderfully unique!

Thank you, Marla Frazee.  We're on your trail, and can't wait for your next batch of art to show up in a library book near us!


P.S.  We just checked this book out as a board book--yippee!  Now Ben can boy handle it all he wants.

My Garden by Kevin Henkes

My Garden by Kevin Henkes

Rating: 3.5 stars

We're fans of Kevin Henkes, so we came across this book soon after it was released earlier this year.  It was Easter time, and we were all pretty tired of anything winter-related after one of the snowiest and coldest winters in a decade.  We were just getting into Henkes' great books, reading Owen and Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and Weekend With Wendell and Chrysanthemum again and again and again.  When I spotted this one, with a gorgeous cover full of Spring flowers, you better believe I grabbed it and shoved it into our already-full library bag to check out.

I do like it.  It's a good book, with a sweet message that encourages gardening (something I like to encourage in our own house) and imagination.  The little girl is her mother's helper in the garden, and within a few pages takes off into her own imagination to tell the reader what her garden would be like.  I love many of the little girls ideas: She would have flowers that could change color just by thinking about them, and having patterned flowers, too.  The flowers would grow back just moments after she picks them! She'd have tomatoes as large as beach balls, an idea that made Lorelei's and my mouth water just thinking about it.

It's silly to complain about a book that made the New York Times Best Sellers List and stayed there for a few months.  But, of course, that's what I'm going to do.  Why can't the little girl just focus on the positive?  Why does Henkes have to have her say she doesn't like carrots, when there are probably way too many kids who push away their carrots and other vegetables?  Why does the little girl have to choose to have a jelly bean bush?  Don't those have a bunch of high-fructose corn syrup in them or something hideous like that?  If Jillian Michaels bought a children's book, this sure wouldn't be it! 

The pictures are so beautiful, though, that I have to forgive Henkes his shortcomings.  The garden in his book makes me impatient for our own flower garden to mature...right now there is way too much mulch where I want color to be!  We'll read this book a whole lot more, I know, and we'll appreciate its positives, because there are many.

Sweet Dreams Lullaby by Betsy Snyder

Sweet Dreams Lullaby by Betsy Snyder

Rating: 4.5 sweet stars

We are blessed with good sleepers, but there are nights when Lorelei's little-but-growing mind and body are so tired she can't contain her sleepiness any longer, but still can't let go and go to sleep.  Her eyes are so red from crying, she can't concentrate on brushing her teeth or pulling on her pajamas.  She is just.  So.  Tired.  And often, by that time of early evening, I am a little tired, too.  Sometimes I pull it together and am able to think of a story when she requests one, think up a nice song if she wants one, or just find the right book.  But more often it's been a long day for all of us, so I'm glad I found this book.  (Many thanks to a new blog I'm following for the suggestion, We Heart Books!)

I'm going to write down the words to this entire book before returning it to the library.  The message is so sweet, the rhyme so rocking, the overall effect so comforting that I want to recite the poem to her on these nights when Lorelei's blue eyes are fighting to stay open.  And we all know that they should be closed.  This is one of my favorite pages: "Dream of gentle raindrop showers / Giving drinks to thirsty flowers / Hummingbirds sip water up / From teeny-tiny buttercups" and then, a few pages later, "Dream of tiptoes through the grass / And fireflies that blink and flash, / Catching night-lights floating by- / Then sending them into the sky."  This book makes me think that we should have a whole shelf of just night-time books upstairs by our kids' bedrooms, so they can pick and choose which quiet, comforting books to read before going to sleep.  If it makes them sleep till 7 AM, I'm all in!

The pictures are filled with happy scenes from nature--they are the type of backyards everyone wishes that they had, with bees buzzing happily (with no stingers attached), mama birds warming their eggs with a smile (no nasty squirrels to be seen), and humming birds sipping long enough to actually be seen (rather than zipping through, teasing you with a guest appearance).  The sky in the pictures grows darker with each page, until the smiley moon is high in the dark blue sky, and the wise old owl peeks down on the baby bunny, all tucked in.  "Sleep is near, so close your eyes. / Drift off to this lullaby. / May Mother Nature comfort you / And make your sweetest dreams come true!"

Good night!