It’s Monday! What Are You Reading??

I thouroghly enjoy reading children’s books.

1. The Polar Express- written by Chris Van Allsburg

The Polar Express is a classic story about boy that doesn’t believe in Santa Claus.  As the story unfolds, the boy slowly begins to believe in Santa and his magic.  At the end of the story, the boy believed and also made new friends.

This is such a wonderful book.  I remember reading it when I was younger. I’m not sure what it is that I like better, the adventurous story or the illustrations.  What a phenomenal set of illustrations.  They are beautiful and unique.  My only criticism is that these beautiful illustrations are likely more enjoyable for adults than they are for children.

Overall, I loved this book and would (and probably will) read again.

2. Journey- written by Aaron Becker

Absolutely phenomenal.  It takes talent to make a true picture book SO enjoyable, and so “addicting”  It is a wordless book, but it tells a bigger story than many books that have words.  The young girl is seemingly bored, so she creates her own world.  The pictures tell a story of her adventures.  The wonderful details in the illustrations tell a story in their own.

3. Extra Yarn- by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen

The book Extra Yarn is about a young girl named Annabelle that finds a box full of yarn.  She knits sweaters for everyone and everything.  A royal man showed up and wanted to pay her for her “endless” yarn supply.  When he took it, the box of yarn was empty.  As Annabelle got her yarn back, it was full.

One thing that I loved about this book was the illustrations.  Yet again, the illustrations made the story liven up.    I also liked that even though there was a negative scene (with the royal man stealing her yarn), Annabelle was positive and happy when she received her yarn back.

4.  Green- by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

This book is a picture book with very few words.  It has cut outs that creatively peek into the next page, but fits in with the page you are on.  I loved the creativity of this book.  I caught myself going through it a second time making sure I caught all of the creative cut outs. This book had ten stars in my eyes.  I loved it.

5. Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity

This book was fun.  I feel that it would appeal to a wide age of children.  It is like a series, with several different Knuffle Bunny stories.  They are about a young girl and her stuffed animal bunny.  In this particular boo, Knuffle bunny gets mixed up with another child’s bunny that was very similar.  In the middle of the night, the two girls made their dads meet to straighten out the bunny situation.  From that day forward, they were good friends.

6.  Knuffle Bunny Too: A Cautionary Tale

This brings me to the next book, another Knuffle Bunny book.  This one was about the little girl and her father going to the laundromat and loosing Knuffle Bunny.  At the end, they found him and all was well.  This book was actually taken place before the mistaken identity, because the young girl was a toddler.    As I said about the book before, these are cute books.  The illustrations are not my favorite that I’d read, but I like the story.

7.  Ella Sarah Gets Dressed- by Margaret Chodos-Irvine

This book was about Ella Sarah who was a toddler, or a young girl, who dresses unlike anyone in her family (no matter how hard they tried to convince her).  They bicker about her outfits throughout the book, and in the end, all of her friends are dressed goofy like her.  This story was cute, not much depth to it, and the illustrations were not overly detailed, but I did like it.  They were cute pictures and the story was fun.

8.  The Lion and the Mouse- by Jerry Pinkney

Loved this one.  I absolutely loved the illustrations.  The story about a lion and a mouse, they couldn’t be much more opposite of each other.  I love the similarities and differences between the two animals. Pinkney’s illustrations made the book irresistible.

9.  The Graphic Alphabet- by David Pelletier

I enjoyed this book because it was another picture book.  It has a detailed picture of each letter of the alphabet.  It was a simple book that would be appealing to young children.  It teaches the alphabet.  Although this was simple and not super detailed, I loved the illustrations,

10.  One Cool Friend- by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by David Small.

This book was about a young man who was polite, well put together, and mature.  His father takes him to the aquarium and asks if he can have a penguin.  His father thinks he means a stuffed penguin, so he says yes.  The young boy then sneaks a live penguin home and they play in his room all day.  In the end, his father learns about the live penguin and shows the boy that he has a giant live turtle as well.

This book was cute, but what sold it was the illustrations.  There were only highlight pieces that had color and that is what made the illustrations so great.  It made the bits of color stand out and seemed special.  I enjoyed this book and I think that it would appeal to many different ages of kids.

11.  Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type-  by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin

This book was comical.  It was about a group of cows that kept leaving typed out messages to their farmer.  They request funny things like electric blankets.  It is a good laugh, and I feel like little kids would love it.  I noticed at the library that there are several of these cow books. The cows are doing different things in each book I imagine. I enjoyed it because it was light hearted.

12.  My Friend Rabbit- by Eric Rohmann

Speaking of comical, this book was funny too.  It is about a rabbit and mouse combo.  The mouse is mature and smart and the rabbit is immature and goofy.  He is always getting the two of them into tight situations.  This book was not my favorite, it didn’t have a lot of depth.  But it was fun and I am sure that children would enjoy it.

13.  First the Egg- by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

This book was similar to the Green book.  It is written and illustrated by the same person. Another cut out book, and another brilliant one at that.  It talks about the egg coming before the chicken but at the end it says the chicken before the egg.

Laura Vaccaro Seeger is creative.  I would recommend both of the books I have read by her and will likely be finding more by her!

14.  Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

This book was darling.  It was about a kitten that was trying to find a way to reach the moon because it thought it was a bowl of milk.  So sweet and cute and enjoyable.  I loved the illustrations and the story was simple and cute as well.

15.  A Sick Day for Amos McGee- by Philip Stead

This book was about a zookeeper that is connected with the zoo animals.  One day he does not show up to work because he is sick.  Shortly after the morning unfolds, the animals show up at his house.  It was a book that I would have loved as a child because it was about how the different animals had their own personalities..