It’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.
1. Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts
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2. Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld
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3. Dog by Matthew Van Fleet and Brian Stanton
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4. The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
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5. The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
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6. Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin by Lloyd Moss and Marjorie Priceman
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7. Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists by Various Authors, Chris Duffy and Leonard S. Marcus
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8. Zen Shorts by Jon Muth
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9. One Potato, Two Potato by Cynthia DeFelice and Andrea U’Ren
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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. 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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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.
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It’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.
Owly & Wormy: Bright Lights and Starry Nights! by Andy Runton. Ages 2+. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. November 2012. 40 pages. ISBN: 978-1416957751. $15.99 Fiction.
Quick Summary: Owly and Wormy are back in picture book format! This time they have a new telescope and going to do some stargazing. The only problem? The leaves from the trees are in the way. They decide to pack up and go out into the field so they can get a better view of the sky. Unfortunately, the next day when they head out it is daytime and they can’t see the stars. Then it gets cloudy and it begins to rain. Owly and Wormy take cover in a nearby cave but quickly decide to leave because they hear some spooky sounds. After it rains, they pitch a tent and are ready to view some stars only to find… Owly has dropped the telescope somewhere! Wormy is brave and guards the campsite while Owly heads back to find his telescope. He gets lost but finds a new friend who is a bat! The bat, along with some of his bat friends, helps Owly find his telescope and his way back to the campsite. When they return to the campsite Owly, Wormy, and his new bat friends all get to enjoy the beautiful night sky.
Our Experience Reading this Book: We highly, highly recommend it. I first found the Owly series in the library in the comic book section. These wordless comic books are sweet and a joy to read with my two-year-old son. We’re going to end up buying them all because they’re always interesting and fun. He enjoys them now and I can guarantee you that he’ll enjoy them for years to come.
These books are really wonderful! I can sit down with my son and make up a complex story with a lot of details or I can give the basic story line and let him fill in his own. On occasion, I’ve also just handed an Owly book to him and told him to read it to himself while I get something done quickly.
I am so happy to see Owly & Wormy Bright Lights and Starry Nights! in picture book format. While I love the original format of the Owly books, I’m just as smitten with them in full color, glossy, picture book format. I especially enjoy how large the images are and how encompassed my son and I feel when we read through it together. It’s a lot easier for two people to sit down and read through Owly & Wormy Bright Lights and Starry Nights! than it is for the smaller, black and white comic books.
I have found that the Owly books are a fantastic way to empower my son to take charge of the story. We will sit down and have an interactive experience where he creates and adds to the story. I also enjoy it because it forces me to look at the images to tell the story. Often times it is so easy, especially when I am tired, to overlook the beautiful illustrations of a picture book. With this book, I got to treat myself to beautiful and fun illustrations.
The text is minimal and limited to sound effects. There are exclamation points and question marks and equal signs throughout the book. This has been a great introduction to punctuation for my son. My son can now easily identify various punctuation marks and their meanings — all thanks to Owly and Wormy.
The Owly books are for people of all ages. I’m just as comfortable giving this book to my son as I would to a teenager. Everyone will enjoy these books. I predict that these will be classics. These books are so good and sweet without being sappy or overly sentimental. Andy Runton has really created an amazing series and I’m so happy to see his second picture book featuring our heroes. I can’t wait for more.
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:
__________________________________________________________________
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:
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Valentine and His Violin by Philip Hopman. Ages 2 – 100+. Lemniscaat USA. September 2012. 32 pages. ISBN: 978-1935954170. $17.95. Fiction (but says on his website that it is a true story/fact).
Quick Summary: Valentine plays the violin very badly. He doesn’t realize this. In fact, he thinks he plays rather well. For the Queen’s birthday he plays Ode to Joy. Three people shout at him, “Horrible!” “Hideous!” and “Get outta here!” after the concert. The depth of his horrible playing doesn’t quite sink in and Valentine then goes out in the world offering his music to others. With his violin, he inspires a feeble horse to jump up, a constipated wolf to poop, a dragon to flee, and an attacking army to retreat. His horrible violin playing has actually turned into an asset and saves lives. The story closes with Valentine poised to give a concert for the King and Queen of the castle he has just saved. All the members of the audience have plugged their ears — ready for the concert to begin.
Our Experience Reading this Book: I will never forget this book. I don’t often laugh so hard while reading a book that I have to stop reading. I laughed really hard while reading this book to my son and so did my husband. There were a few times while reading this book that I thought, “Oh, Geez! What is this book?” Except, I loved it. We highly recommend this book — but it may not be for everyone. A good sense of humor is certainly required when reading this book.
Despite the topic, the tone of the story is very good-hearted and friendly. All of the characters are really nice with the exception when three people tell Valentine that his playing is horrible and that is extremely brief. Everyone else in the story is very kind and grateful for Valentine’s helpful violin playing. It’s very refreshing. Valentine doesn’t mean to play badly and he’s not arrogant or rude about his ability. He just thinks he plays the violin well when he doesn’t — at least not in the traditional sense of the word.
“Gosh, thinks Valentine, the poor creature! Maybe he’d like a little music…”
“‘Thanks for playing your violin,’ says the farmer. ’I thought it was very … er… different.’”
It’s also fun to note that many famous pieces are mentioned in this book: Ode to Joy, Allegretto, Water Music, Waltz of the Flowers, and Marche Militaire. Listen to these pieces and then read the book again. It’ll add a new level of appreciation for these pieces.
The illustrations are absolutely beautiful. It’s done in watercolor and ink. The landscapes and medieval setting make it a joy. The illustrations are contradicting in that they are so detailed and yet when you look closer you see simple scribbles. He makes the artwork look effortless — but you know many hours and a lot of hard work went into it. There’s a scene with a wolf pooping and the poop is actually leaving the wolf’s butt — and it is beautiful! It’s also absolutely hilarious and wrong, but in the context of the story — it just works. That’s called magic when something works even though it doesn’t seem like it should. So yes, this book is magical. Pooping wolf and all.
I hope you get a chance to check this book out and I hope you have a wonderful sense of humor when you read it. If you’re looking for a book to inspire a child to play the violin, try one of our favorites, Mole Music by David McPhail. If you’re looking for a wonderfully fun book that is completely different and certainly memorable — please do check out Valentine and His Violin.
Also, I highly recommend getting this book, giving it to an unsuspecting adult and having them read it to your child. I think everyone will get a good laugh and have a good time.
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:
__________________________________________________________________
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
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Captain No Beard: An Imaginary tale of a Pirate’s Life by Carole P. Roman. Ages 2 – 7. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. July 2012. 40 pages. ISBN: 978-1478151708. $9.99 Fiction.
Quick Summary: Captain No Beard is about two children, Alexander and Hallie, playing pirate with their stuffed animals. Alexander is Captain No Beard and Hallie is his first mate. As they are swabbing the deck and pumping the bilges, they encounter a storm. They successfully navigate the storm and then encounter a mermaid. This is the most awesome mermaid ever — because it turns out that not only is she a mermaid, she is Captain No Beard’s mom and comes bringing cookies.
Our Experience Reading this Book: We highly, highly recommend it. Carole Roman has tapped into exactly what my son wants in a book and he can’t get enough of it. We read this book so many times. Each time I read this book to him he would say, “Please read it again,” as soon as I finished the story. Often times we’ll read a book about two or three times in a row and when he really likes a book we’ll read it five or six times. After the tenth time I read this book to him in a row I thought, “I’m going to have to hide this book from him or it will be the only book we read this weekend.”
I eventually convinced him that we should go ahead and read some other books. We read through a few other books, had a snack, nap, and played with toys, but as soon as we sat back down to read again — he rummaged through the pile of books and found Captain No Beard.
Captain No Beard is a fun book. The illustrations are vibrant and done by hand. None of the images are computer generated or even digitally enhanced — which makes it all the more impressive. Some of the images are repeated, but that doesn’t take away from the story or my son’s love of it.
All of the characters in the story are good. They mean well and have good intentions. Personally, my favorite part is when Captain No Beard pulls out the Pirate Dictionary to define, “Shiver me timbers.” I’m always looking up things and I enjoyed seeing that reflected in this book. I didn’t feel compelled to edit the story at all. It is entirely appropriate for my 2.5 year old and I’m sure that he’ll enjoy this book for several more years.
This book is an excellent combination of Early Reader and Picture Book. It has the vocabulary and illustrations of a picture book, but the accessibility of an Early Reader. The tone of the book and story line is right on.
Blessedly, it does not have the brain-numbing quality of a lot of Early Readers I have tried with my son. For example, my son loves the Dick and Jane books, but I can only take so much of them before I have to move onto something else. I enjoy reading Captain No Beard repeatedly to my son and I’m fully aware that I’m going to be reading it again and again and again.
I hope you check this book out and get to experience reading this with your children. Carol Roman has also written Pepper Parrot’s Problem with Patience: A Captain No Beard Story. My son also immensely enjoyed this book, but I’ll have to save that review for another day.
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 “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:
__________________________________________________________________
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.
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George Washington’s Birthday: A Mostly True Tale by Margaret McNamara and Illustrated by Barry Blitt. Ages 4 – 8 (2.5 year old son loved it). Schwartz & Wade. January 2012. 40 pages. ISBN: 978-0375844997. $17.99
Quick Summary: This is a very creatively done book about George Washington as a child on his 7th birthday. This is a fictional book about George Washington that cleverly integrates and dispels many of the myths about him. A fictional book dispelling myths — a happy irony. It is done in a simple narrative that is easy and fun to follow. The illustrations are beautiful and accessible to adults and children alike. The illustrations along with the text make this book a great introduction (and reintroduction) to George Washington.
Our Experience Reading this Book: We highly, highly recommend this book. It was a lot of fun to read this book and my son wanted me to read it to him again and again and again. I was thrilled every time my son pulled this book off the shelf, of his own volition, and asked me to read it to him. I learned things about George Washington and loved looking at the illustrations. It’s a light introduction to George Washington and I’m thrilled that this is how I was able to first tell my son about him.
What has surprised me about this book is how long lasting of an impression this book has made. My son and I read this book months ago. We read it every day for about six weeks and sometimes two or three times in a row. This led to me telling him more about what I know (or think I know) about George Washington. I pulled out a dollar bill and told my son that this is what he looked like when he grew up. I showed him some quarters, too. A few weeks later I showed him the dollar bill and my son proudly declared (at not even two and a half years old at the time) that it was, “George Washington and he was the first president AND he chopped down a cherry tree.” Well, at least he got the first two parts right and he can learn about myths a little later — and at least he has the right myth with the right president. Anyway, I’m one proud mama.
I think it is great that my son has this information somewhere in his brain now and it’s a great start. We’ll come back to this book many more times. I’m impressed with how many layers this book has. I’m also looking forward to my son and I having deeper discussions about George Washington when we read this book later. It’s a book that will become even more interesting to him as he gets older and understands more about the world around him.
I hope you get a chance to check it out. It’s elegant, fun, and very informative.
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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I’m participating in the Kid Lit Blog Hop over at MotherDaughterBookReviews. Go check out all the bloggers talking about great children’s books!
It’s Tuesday! Which means Top Ten Tuesday hosted over at The Broke and The Bookish. Today’s theme is Top Ten Favorite Characters from a genre. Mine is: Top Ten Favorite Characters from Picture Books. All of the characters that I mention below have excellent, positive qualities that I hope to instill in my son (and myself).
Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs by Giles Andreae and Russell Ayto Ages 2+. Margaret K. McElderry Books. September 2005. 25 pages. ISBN: 978-1416907138 $16.99
Summary: When Flinn goes back into the art supply closet at his school to get some supplies he finds a pirate, Captain Stubble, crying because someone has stolen his ship. The boy and his friends help the pirate find his stolen ship. Oh, and they battle pirate dinosaurs, too. But they’re pretty nice about it. So it’s fun and good and everyone ends up happy. We Highly, Highly Recommend it!
Our Experience: I was in the library with my son perusing the cart of to-be-shelved books when this one stopped me. Pirates? Dinosaurs? Pirates + Dinosaurs? Okay, this book looks like it could be good. And I was right! (I love it when I’m right.)
First off, the illustrations are a lot of fun. The ink and watercolor illustrations are done with bright, bold colors with lots of exaggerated lines. A few of the illustrations and the cover have a person’s mouth wide open with a dangling uvula. My son and I spent a while discussing what a palatine uvula is and then I got a flashlight and opened my mouth wide so he could see mine and then we tried to look in a mirror so he could see his uvula. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and led to lots of giggling. It was hilarious and educational and all because of this book. Also, my 2.5 year old knows what a palatine uvula is — which is fun.
The characters in this book are all top notch. The actual pirate dinosaurs aren’t exactly the most well-mannered or friendly dinosaurs, but they aren’t inappropriate. I didn’t feel compelled to edit the book at all while reading it to my son. Nor do I think he’s going to imitate these dinosaurs and so far after reading this book no less than 25 times (and probably closer to like 35 times) he hasn’t. There’s one part where the pirate dinosaur says that he’s going to cut up Captain Flinn and BBQ him with, “much too much ketchup.” I wasn’t so sure about saying that to my 2.5 year old — but it seems just fine. He hasn’t threatened to cut me up, but he has been threatening to add much too much ketchup to things. (Which I find pretty cute.) If you’re not comfortable with it, it is easy to take out of the story.
I really liked the friends in this story. They were supportive of their friend Flinn and wanted to go with him to help rescue Captain Stubble’s stolen ship. Good friends are always a win for me when reading a story. There’s also a part where Captain Stubble doesn’t want to be the captain of the ship they’re using to find his stolen ship — so he’s the cook instead and makes fish stew. We’ve been having a lot of pretend play around fish stew since this book entered our house.
Also! There’s a simple, fun song in the book that goes, “Yo Ho Ho! Yo Ho Ho! Somethingy Something! Go! Go! Go!” Which is entirely too much fun to sing. We sing it a lot these days.
In writing this review, I have learned that there are several other books in this series and I’m really looking forward to checking out and reading with my son.
I hope you get a chance to check out this book. We love it so much and hope you do, too.
Where Obtained: Public Library. Random grab off the to-be-shelved cart.
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 Websites:
Some of My Favorite Reviews of this Book:
__________________________________________________________
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.
This post contains affiliate links.
