Seals on the Bus: Because I like to sing about the ridiculous

Title: The Seals on the Bus
Author: Lenny Hort
Illustrator: G. Brian Karas
Genre: Picture books, rhyme
Age Range: 2-4

My son's attention span with books is not the same as my daughters. He likes looking at books of cars, but isn't all that interested in hearing the words...unless I sing them and unless they rhyme. Suddenly he curls into my lap, sits patiently and wants me to read to him.  Therefore, this book was perfect for him, because it was a song he knew (Wheels on the bus) with fun pictures of animals invading a bus with an unsuspecting family of four on it.

The book invites you to sing the words like "The seals on the bus go ..." and then you make a series of animal sounds include sheep, geese, and tigers. (which is my son's favorite.)  It is a quick rollicking read with lots of opportunities to admire the animals as they take over the bus and the family inside is forced to make it with the animals.  The last verse is about helping the family who cry "Help help help" and get off the bus.


Paperback...amazon has paperback books on their 4 for 3 deal, so you could pick up a few and give them as gifts. :)

Freight Train: Trains come in many colors

Title: Freight Train
Author: Donald Crews
Illustrator: Donald Crews
Age Range: Ages 2-5
Genre: Picture book

After having two daughters, choosing books for my son has been interesting to say in the least.  No longer am I looking for the books about princess or other more "pink" like things.  Instead I have to hunt down books with vehicles in them, as they are his current favorite.  He loves to look at books and to be read to, so the challenge is to find him books that really spark his interest.  I'm keen to teach him his colors as he still gets confused about which color is which so this book really appealed to me when I looked at it.  I loved the illustrations - and the first page opens up with a totally white page, except with a single track running along the bottom. The image immediately appealed, and as each page goes on, more colors are introduced, and different cars of the train are given their names.

 My son really enjoys this book and has asked me to read it multiple times now.  He's starting to repeat the names of the cars (like red caboose which is his favorite) and likes the part where the train goes through a tunnel and illustrator has streaked the car colors to give the illusion of speed.

It truly is a beautifully illustrated book and one worth adding to the library, especially if you have a boy who loves trains. It did win a Caldecott Honor, which is given to beautifully illustrated books every year.

Trucks Roll: How to practice being a rap star...sort of...

Title: Trucks Roll
Author: George Ella Lyon
Illustrator: Craig Frazier
Age Range: 2-6
Genre: Picture book

My 2-year son is a cars and trucks fiend.  He loves them. He sits inside our house, on trash day, admiring the trucks coming by taking away the refuse.  He'll yell at the top of his lungs, "Mommy it's TRUCK" in his most excited and happy voice.  He pushes his trucks around the house saying ,"Truck, truck truck" and just gets so into it.

I picked this book up because of the picture on the cover.  I liked the big simple lines on the truck and immediately thought my son would like it.  When I showed it to him, he yelled, "TRUCK" and immediately became close friends with the book.  Later when I read it, I fell in love with the INSIDE as there are some really great pictures within AND a great rhyme and rhythm to the text.

Trucks' wheels
go 'round and 'round
Trucks' pistons
go up and down

Trucks roll! (Lyon)

When I started reading it, my son's ears immediately perked up.  I could tell he could feel the rhythm and he especially liked my raucous TRUCKS ROLL!  I have to admit I felt a bit like a rap star with my son on his bed bopping to the cool rhythms of the words.  After reading it to him several times over the past few days, he started picking up the book himself saying, "TRUCKS ROLL!"

There are wonderful illustrations within, depicting all the things that trucks do like carrying huge chocolate cookies, clocks, apple juice, ice cream.  It's a fantastic book, especially for you boys who love their trucks.

Duck on a Bike: For the ridiculous in all of us

Title:  Duck on a Bike
Author: David Shannon
Age Range: 3-6
Genre: Picture book

I like picture books that crack me up.  I do spend a lot of time reading them, so when I do, there are many a time when I like to be entertained.  This book entertains me with its pictures, its story line and its ending.  It's darn funny and pretty cute.

My daughter #2 has loved this book for over a year.  She can read it herself and there are many days where I catch her in the corner giggling while she reads this book.  The story itself is simple; one day, Duck gets it into her head that she can ride a bike, so she starts riding.  When the other animals see her, they make comments ranging from "You're not as fast as me" or "I wish I could ride like duck."  In reality, all the animals are slightly jealous of her bike riding skill and don't really know what to do with it.

In the end, the other animals take the opportunity themselves to ride bikes, when they are presented with a mess of bikes waiting for them in front of the house.  They ride themselves and have a blast. The last illustration with all the animals on their backs, enjoying themselves riding around is one of the funniest pictures ever.  The illustrations in the book will definitely tickle your fancy and you may find yourself wanting to read this book, even when your child has not demanded it.

Zinnia's Flower Garden: For the green thumb wannabe in me

Title:  Zinnia's Flower Garden
Author: Monica Wellington
Illustrator: Monica Wellington
Age Range: 3-5
Genre: Picture books

I generally kill plants.  I can't keep them alive.  Both my parents have green thumbs, evidenced by the beautiful gardens that they maintain, but I do not do well at growing things.  As such, my daughters don't really understand the concept of growing and maintaining a garden, which is one reason why I love this book so much.

In this book, Zinnia decides to create a beautiful flower garden.  She goes through all the steps of turning over the dirt, removing the stones, making rows, planting seeds, watering, and then waiting for the flowers to bloom.  At the end, when all of her flowers are blooming, she sets up a little stand and allows people to come in and pick a bucket of flowers, sharing her beautiful floral bounty.  When my 4 year old daughter saw that, she said, "I wish I could have a garden like that to share flowers with everyone."  It made my heart sink a bit, because I knew that it wasn't likely going to be in her future, given where we live.

In addition, there are illustrations explaining the life cycle of the butterfly, different types of clouds, and diagrams identifying the many different parts of the flowers.  The illustrations are very cute and informative and provide an additional layer of information, for someone who is a bit older.  The illustrations combine use of photographs of real plants as well as beautiful colorful bright art.  The eye is immediately drawn to the book for its of color and contrast.

It's a cute little gem of a book, especially wonderful for anyone who WANTS to learn how to create a garden, or perhaps for someone who wishes to have their own garden but cannot.

Cars and Trucks and Things That Go: My brother's favorite book

Title:  Cars and Trucks and Things That Go
Author: Richard Scarry
Illustrator: Richard Scarry
Age Range: 1-5
Genre: Picture book

This is the book that my brother and I would look at the most growing up.  We loved this book.  The pictures were silly, the cars were unique and exciting, and finding Goldbug hidden on every single page was a fun little project.  I do remember that my brother was always able to locate Goldbug before I was able to, even though we had read the book multiple times.  The two of us would hold the book on our laps (it's a big book) and scan the pages pointing out silly cars, and looking for the elusive, tiny, rare Goldbug.  It made for a fun activity and it never grew old.

This is a classic and one that I never tire giving.  Before there was the Pixar movie Cars, there was this book with all its imaginary cars like Donut Car, Pickle Car, Cheese Car, Carrot Car (driven by a Rabbit no less) among many other ones.  The basic story is that the Pig Family is going on a car trip and along the way they see a train yard with its many trains, a farm with its bustle of activity, an airport, and all the different places where multiple vehicles can be seen.  It's a fun book filled with so many things to see that little boys and girls love pointing them out.  The story itself is cute and entertaining, but often takes a backseat to studying the different pictures in the book.  Nevertheless, this is a book that will get lots of use in your house and provide lots of moments of enjoyment.

Rooster Can't Cockle-doodle-do: Animal sounds make my kids laugh

Title: Rooster Can't Cock-a-Doodle-Doo
Author: Karen Rostker-Gruber
Illustrator: Paul Ratz de Tagyos
Age Range: 2-5

This book completely cracked me up.  As I was reading it to my 4 year old daughter, my 2 year old son heard the funny animal sounds I was making and crawled into my lap and wiggled his butt until he was comfortable.  He was pointing at all the animals and laughing as I read the story with the different animal sounds.  It is udder-ly charming and pretty funny to boot.

In the story, Rooster wakes up with a sore throat and is unable to perform his duties to wake up the entire farm.  Realizing that he HAS to do something to help get the farm up, he goes from animal group to animal group, waking them up with a cough and whispering for some help.  Each animal group then sympathizes with Rooster, but also realize that if he can't do his job the farm is in trouble.  Consequently they all begin walking through the farm waking up hens, cows, sheep and pigs all in order to keep the farm going. The final person they have to wake up is Farmer Ted and their approach is funny.

I really liked the underlying message of the book.  Everyone has a responsibility and if someone doesn't fulfill it, the rest of the people relying on that person can't do their jobs either.  It was refreshing to read that when so many kids (including mine) say, "It's not my fault and I don't care."  Rooster is concerned about not being able to fulfill his duties and the rest of the animals support him and try and help him find a way to do his job.   The end has a funny twist where the animals are concerned about the Farmer being able to do his job so they all chip in to help.

Brand New Readers: Great book packs for emerging readers

Title:  Brand New Readers (a variety of boxed sets)
Author:  Various
Illustrator: Various
Age Range: 2-5
Genre: Emerging readers

I happened to stumble upon these book sets when I was trying to get my older daughter reading.  She had done all the necessary phonics and could sound out words, but needed practice with interesting books.  These series of books have great word repetition, engaging pictures, and an interesting enough storyline that the kids are entertained by them.

My older daughter started looking at them around 3 years of age.  I would read them to her. After about a year was able to actually read them.  My younger daughter loved the pictures and had me read them to her all the time.  In fact, over the weekend we went to a friend's house who had a couple sets of these books, and my younger daughter sat down on the grass and silently read every single one of the books available.  (thanks YK.)  This is not a set of books that many people have, as I've given them as gifts multiple times, and every single time the gift recipient has never seen them before.

You can get these as single readers, but the boxed set is a better deal.  There are 5 different boxed sets available, all with a different collection of books. The books within are varied, illustrations varied, and story lines varied.  Your child feels as if he or she is reading different books and not the same book with the same characters over and over.

The 5 different boxed sets available...