Tag Archives: Children’s Books

Perfect Picture Book Friday: Roasted Peanuts by Tim Egan

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roastedpeanuts Roasted Peanuts by Tim Egan Ages 4 – 8 (2.5-year-old son adores it). Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. April 2006. Fiction. 32 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0618337187.  $16.00.  (Available used for $.01)

At a Glance:

This is a wonderful story about two friends who take a less-than-happy situation and turn it into a fantastic one.  We highly, highly, highly recommend this book.

Summary:  

Sam and Jackson are great friends and they love baseball more than anything else.

When they are old enough they try out for their local baseball team.

© 2006 Tim Egan. Used with Permission.

© 2006 Tim Egan. Used with Permission.

Sam is fantastic and makes the team.  Jackson doesn’t make the team.  He’s just not a very good (actually, he’s the worst), but he is able to throw a ball very well.

This is hard for both of them.  Jackson feels sorry for himself while Sam is off at practice, and Sam doesn’t enjoy baseball as much without Jackson.

Then one day Sam sees an ad on a poster for a peanut vendor.  The main requirement is that the peanut vendor MUST THROW WELL.  Sam tells Jackson about the job and that he can get into all of the games for free.  Still feeling sorry for himself, Jackson declines.

Then the problems really begin.  Without Jackson, Sam just isn’t as good anymore.  He begins to strike out and his team starts losing.  People begin to blame Sam.  Jackson overhears some of the comments that people are making about Sam’s poor playing.  This inspires Jackson to take the job as the peanut vendor.   Just when Sam is about to strike out again, he hears his friend Jackson call to him from the stands.  As soon as he sees Jackson, he’s back to being himself and hits a perfect home run.

It turns out that Jackson has an amazing knack for throwing peanuts.  He’s able to set new records and then break them.  People are just as interested in seeing Jackson throw as they are in the game.  Jackson is even able to help out Sam during a particularly close game.  In their own way, each becomes a legend.  Sam on the field, and Jackson in the stands.

Themes/topics:

Friendship, Making the most of life, Failure/Success, Using your talents

Opening Sentence: 

“Of all the things that Sam and Jackson loved, nothing beat baseball.”

Synopsis: 

Sam and Jackson are the best of friends and they love to play baseball.  When they try out for their local team, Sam is chosen and Jackson is not.  At first, both are sad and baseball just isn’t as much fun anymore for either of them.  However, Sam finds a poster that changes this all and helps to make both of them legends.

Our Experience Reading this Book:

After reading this book to my son, my husband declared that it was a, “perfect book.” (My husband very rarely uses such strong words for anything.)  I could not agree more.  Beautifully illustrated, great characters, interesting problems and situations, and a wonderful ending.  It leaves us feeling inspired and happy each time we read it.

We read a lot of picture books — if I had to guess, we’re reading about 200 different picture books a month.  The more picture books we read and the older my son gets, the less my son wants to read the same book over and over again.  He’s ready to move on to the next book.  This is the first book in a while that my son has asked me to read to him over and over again.  When I attempted to return it to the library he protested, “NOT Roasted Peanuts!  It’s my favorite!”  My son doesn’t usually get upset when we have to return books to the library.  I always assure him that we can just check it out again. This book was different, he declared that he NEEDED this book.  Far be it for me to separate a boy from his book, especially a book that promotes wonderful values, resourcefulness, and making the best of your talents and situation in life.

This is one of those books that we’ll pack for trips and that we’ll have readily available for when friends and family comes over.  Everyone can (and hopefully will, have a chance to) enjoy this book.

Author/Illustrator website:

Resources:

Some of My Favorite Reviews of this Book:

Where Obtained:  First, the library and then I purchased it online.
FTC Disclosures:Some of the links in the post above are Amazon affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase the book, I will receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Perfect-Pic-Book-Badge
I’m sharing this post with Perfect Picture Book Fridays over at Susanna Leonard Hill’s fantastic blog!  Her website is an incredible resource for picture book reviews and all things children’s books.  I’m always impressed at what I find on her site.  Please take a moment and check out lots of other picture book reviews.

It’s World Penguin Day and There Are Baby Penguins Everywhere!

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Baby Penguins EverywhereBaby Penguins Everywhere! by Melissa Guion.  Ages 2 – 5. 28 pages. Philomel.  December 2012.  ISBN-13: 978-0399255359 Fiction. $16.99 Hardback out now. Board book $6.99 due out October 2013.

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Animals Building a House + Beautiful Illustrations + Peanut Butter = A House in the Woods by Inga Moore

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A House in the WoodsA House in the Woods by Inga Moore Ages 3 – 7 (2.5-year-old son adores it). Candlewick. Nov 2011. Fiction. 48 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0763652777.  $16.99

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Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley with Drawings by Brian Selznick

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The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse HawkinsThe Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley with Drawings by Brian Selznick.  Ages 4 – 8.  Scholastic Press.  October 2001.  48 pages.  ISBN-13: 978-0439114943. Nonfiction. $17.99 (But many used copies for $0.01 on Amazon.)

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Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: The House That George Built by Suzanne Slade and Illustrated by Rebecca Bond

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The House That George BuiltThe House That George Built by Suzanne Slade and Illustrated by Rebecca Bond.  Ages 4 – 8 (2.5 year old son likes it).  Charlesbridge Publishing.  July 2012.  48 pages.  ISBN-13: 978-1580892629. Nonfiction. $16.95
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Top Ten Picture Books I Recommend the Most

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toptentuesday2It’s Tuesday!  Which means Top Ten Tuesday hosted over at The Broke and The Bookish.

Here are the books I recommend the most.  All of these books are brilliant, fun, and have amazing artwork.  The following picture books have made me, my son, and my husband all fall in love with picture books.

Iggy Peck, Architect

1.  Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts

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Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site

2.  Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld

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Dog

3.  Dog by Matthew Van Fleet and Brian Stanton

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The Curious Garden

4.  The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

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The Lion and the Mouse

5.  The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

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Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin

6.  Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin by Lloyd Moss and Marjorie Priceman

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Nursery Rhyme Comics Official Pic

7.  Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists by Various Authors, Chris Duffy and Leonard S. Marcus

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ZenShorts8.  Zen Shorts by Jon Muth

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One Potato,Two Potato

9. One Potato, Two Potato by Cynthia DeFelice and Andrea U’Ren

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The Amazing Hamweenie

10.  The Amazing Hamweenie by Patty Bowman

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FTC Disclosures:  Some of the links in the post above are Amazon affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase the book, I will receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Night Horses by Anaka Jones

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The Night HorsesThe Night Horses by Anaka Jones. Ages 2 – 5.  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.  February 2013.  28 pages.  ISBN:  978-1452882789.  $11.99  Fiction.

Summary:  The beginning of this story is about the daily life of horses.  It’s everything we’re used to reading about life on a horse farm.  The horses eat, race each other in the fields, have their showers, and eat their dinners.  However, once their human caretakers go in for the night — the disco ball comes out and the party begins. The horses start playing cards with sugar cubes (instead of poker chips), the mares paint each others’ hooves and do each others’ hair, and there’s even a horse comedian that makes, “the ladies laugh so hard they fall off their buckets.”  After a midnight snack and some dancing, the horses call it a night and go to sleep.

Our Experience Reading this Book:  We highly, highly recommend this book.  It’s entertaining, creative, and appropriate for all ages.  My son adores this book.  It’s written by a 12-year-old young woman and does she ever know how to tell an entertaining story.  I sincerely hope that she’s planning on writing more picture books.

We really enjoyed reading The Night Horses.  My son had me reread it to him five times in a row when we first got it and we have been reading it daily ever since.  There have been several occasions where he pulled the book off the shelf himself and looked through it while I was doing housework.

My son had many questions for me as we read through the book and I had a great time trying to explain to him what a disco ball is and what a pedicure is.  He has since informed me that we need a disco ball.

The book is written very clearly and in a straight-forward way that thoroughly engrosses my son.  The humor in the book is great and made me laugh quite a bit.  The images are well done and thoughtfully composed.  The text is large and follows logically from one page to another making it easy to read for beginning readers.  The ending is sweet and brings the story to a gentle close.  It is evident that a lot of work and thought went into creating this outstanding picture book.

This book is presented simply and charmingly enough to read to a two-year-old boy, but my son will enjoy the humor more and more as he gets older.  It’s a fantastic book that we’ll be enjoying for many years to come.

We hope you have a chance to check it out!  It’s a lot of fun.

Where Obtained/FTC Disclosures: I received a review copy from the author.  No other compensation was received.  The opinions expressed here are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Some of the links in the post above are Amazon affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase the book, I will receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Author/Illustrator Website:

Some of My Favorite Reviews of This Book:

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childrensbookshelf

I’m participating in The Children’s Bookshelf.  This is  a weekly Linky party that connects parents with great books for their kids.  Please add one of your book-related posts to the Linky party.

Click here to enter your link and see links others have added.  It will be added to all of the following co-hosts listed below.  This is a fantastic group of people and I am always impressed with the book recommendations they have.  You can find more details here.

Please also follow  The Children’s Bookshelf on Pinterest or visit The Children’s Bookshelf’s co-hosts:

What Do We Do All Day?

No Twiddle Twaddle

Smiling Like Sunshine

My Little Bookcase

Sprout’s Bookshelf

MeMeTales

Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns

Please Note: Kindly link up to an individual post, not your blog’s homepage. The hosts reserve the right to delete any links to homepages, commercial links, repeat links or otherwise inappropriate links. Thank you for your understanding.

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Eight Days Gone by Linda McReynolds and Illustrated by Ryan O’Rourke

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Eight Days GoneEight Days Gone by Linda McReynolds and Illustrated by Ryan O’Rourke.  Ages 5 – 8 (2.5 year old son loved it).  Charlesbridge Publishing.  July 2012.  44 pages.  ISBN-13: 978-1580893657. Nonfiction. $7.95 (Paperback)

Quick Summary:  This picture book is about the Apollo 11′s space mission to the moon in 1969.  It’s written in rhyme, has a great rhythm to it, and the illustrations are stunning.

Our Experience Reading this Book:  We highly, highly recommend this book.  I really love reading this book to my son (over and over and over again).  The author makes great use of rhyme to make the landmark mission to the moon accessible to everyone without dumbing it down.

“Michael Collins stays with ship.  Waits, observing, tracking trip.”

It is also an exceptionally beautiful book with a retro feel to the illustrations.

The vocabulary is excellent.  My son and I talked about the following words used in this book:  sprawling, bulky, fasten, lunar, desolation, tranquil, barren, stark, quarantine, and data.  I am very impressed with the author’s word choices especially considering there aren’t  a lot of words in the book.  This book also had my son asking why astronauts need helmets — which led to talking about why there is no air on the moon.  I loved how this book inspired a lot of interesting discussions between me and my son.  It’s a fantastic introduction to Apollo 11′s lunar landing.

It’s an entirely appropriate and wonderful book to read to any age.  I think everyone will enjoy reading and learning from this book.

Where Obtained:  Library. Random pick.

FTC Disclosures:  Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” If you click on the link and purchase the book, I will receive an affiliate commission.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Author/Illustrator Website: 

Some of my Favorite Reviews of this Book:

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NFPB2013leaves

I’m linking up this post over at:

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday.

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted over at Kidlitfrenzy.com.

Please go visit and hook up a nonfiction picture book review of your own and see other nonfiction picture book recommendations!  This is a great resource and Kidlitfrenzy is an amazing blog!

I’m also participating in the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge 2013.  I’ve set my goal for 25 books.  This is book 3 of 25 since signing up for the challenge.

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Marvin Makes Music by Marvin Hamlisch and Illustrated by Jim Madsen

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Marvin Makes MusicMarvin Makes Music by Marvin Hamlisch and Illustrated by Jim Madsen.  Ages 4 – 8 (2.5 year old son loved it).  Dial Books for Young Readers.  November 2012.  32 pages.  ISBN-13: 978-0803737303. Nonfiction. $17.99

Summary:  This book is based on the true story of Marvin Hamlisch’s audition and acceptance to the Julliard School.  Marvin loves music.  He hears it everywhere and his piano is his best friend.  He loves composing his own music and he’d much rather play his own music than practice.

One day his father tells him that he and his piano teacher think he’s ready to enroll into one of the best music schools in the city.

The day of his audition is anything but smooth.  He and his father actually get trapped on the roof where he’s auditioning.  After getting back into the building, Marvin manages to come through and play his best. He becomes the youngest person ever accepted into the Julliard School.

This book also comes with a CD of The Music in My Mind.

Our Experience Reading this Book:  We highly, highly recommend this book.  It’s a nonfiction book that reads like a fairy tale.  The beautiful and stylized 1950′s/1960′s era illustrations set the tone and transport you back in history effortlessly.

It’s a wonderful book that reminds you that even people who are passionate and talented musicians don’t necessarily want to practice.  It also reminds us that it is important to overcome the things that scare us (like performing in front of people and auditions) to do what we love.

The suspense when Marvin and his father get locked out on the roof of the building is very well done.  My son actually exclaimed, “Oh no!”  When we finished reading the book my son wanted to turn around and read it again.  We’ve read it several days in a row now and have enjoyed it immensely each time.

After reading this book the other day, it was time for me to fix some lunch.  I went into the kitchen and left my son in the living room to play.  A few minutes later  I was thrilled to hear my son playing on his electronic keyboard.  I said, “Oh, what are you playing?”  He smiled and said, “Come play with me!”  How could I resist that?

It’s an inspirational picture book that I hope will inspire many, many people to come.

Where Obtained:  Library.

FTC Disclosures:  Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” If you click on the link and purchase the book, I will receive an affiliate commission.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Author/Illustrator Website: 

Some of my Favorite Reviews of this Book:

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NFPB2013leaves

I’m linking up this post over at:

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday.

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted over at Kidlitfrenzy.com.

Please go visit and hook up a nonfiction picture book review of your own and see other nonfiction picture book recommendations!  This is a great resource and Kidlitfrenzy is an amazing blog!

I’m also participating in the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge 2013.  I’ve set my goal for 25 books.  This is 1/25 since signing up for the challenge.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 3/11/13

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MondayReadingIt’s Monday!  What Are You Reading?  is a fantastic meme hosted over at Teach Mentor Texts.  Here they have a lot of great children’s book recommendations — and lots of picture book recommendations, too.  Please go check them out and link up with them to share your recommendations.

Here are the top 10 books that my two-and-a-half-year-old son and I have read and enjoyed over and over and over again this past week.

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