Granny Gomez & Jigsaw by Deborah Underwood

Sorry for the horrific pictures. A photographer I am NOT.

When I grabbed this at the library I thought it would be a hit. It's a bit legnthy for my 2 yr old though. At first my 3 yr old didn't gravitate to it at all, but after one or two reads she requested it for the next two weeks.

Granny Gomez is lonely. She receives a sweet pig as a present and finds out he is the best friend she could have. Not only does he help her pick up fallen jigsaw pieces, but he watches cooking shows and shares yummy snacks.

The story of their friendship is delightful. The illustrations are a little flatter than I am normally drawn to, but my children seemed to love them.

www.deborahunderwoodbooks.com

Deborah is also the author of the Sugar Plum Ballerina series, which are also authored by Whoopi Goldberg.

She's won several awards and has written MANY non fiction books for kids too. I'll be keeping my eye out for her upcoming book: The Quiet Book.

The Sally Series by Stephen Huneck

I am 99.9% sure I was a labrador in my last life: friendly, never says no to a morsel of food, and overall happy. Naturally, I own a big, loveable black lab. And when we read these books, we substitue the name "Sally" with our own lab's name.

The art work is all done by hand --- wood carvings. The tale is simple --- enjoy life.

The more I read about Stephen Huneck, the more I was amazed at his work. He and his wife Gwen lived in Vermont. He was an artist and loved hand carving. You can find his web site on line and see just how much he loved dogs --- he actually built a Dog Chapel on his property!! Many, many people have visited to leave small tributes to their furry friends that have passed away. So sweet!!! Stephen's books and artwork are filled with fun and love. It came as a complete shock when I read that he had passed away from a self inflicted gun wound. I found myself feeling really, really sad that someone who gave such a lovely, hopeful message had felt that much despair. Please visit his site and find out just how talented this author/artist was. And when you enjoy one of these great books; savor the moment! :)

Walter Wick

I felt the need to do a quick introduction of the I SPY books. This is just an example of the MANY books out there. The photographs are by Walter Wick. He and his writing partner, Jean Marzollo are geniuses.

Walter's web site:

www.walterwick.com

One day he took a random photo of a bunch of screws, paperclips, etc on his light box. Years later it catches the eye of Jean Marzollo, an editor for a kindergarten magazine. They make a poster. And that catches the eye of Scholastic editors, which eventually leads them to do these books.

The pictures are art in themselves. My husband and I have had a hard time finding some of the items!! The books definitely give you the satisfaction of a good jigsaw puzzle!

The part of Walters web site that I really enjoyed are the photos of how he and his team create these amazing "sets". He also has his own place on FACEBOOK where you can follow the building/art process.

He's got some really interesting books for 7 + years old which I will be SURE to get in the future. VISIT his site!!!

Look and Find Books

SUCH great books!! These are FAVORITES at our house. You get the idea.....you look on the left hand side of the page and then find the listed items in the picture.

These are perfect for my 2 year old AND 3 year old. Better than the I SPY series because those require me to read out the items we are going to search for. Look and Find books are so simple with their bold graphics. After a few examples doing it together.......my kids were on their own!

Look And Find books come in all types. Seems like any Disney movie, Nick Jr. program, etc. has a book. My son is looking at a Go Diego Go Look and Find book which involves looking for animals! This is the kind of scene I love to see....my child enjoying a quite moment with a book! Yippee!! (note I italicized moment)

At the end of the book there is another series of items to look for in each picture. For us, this involves my help, but it makes the "life" of the book even longer.

These come on sale often. I've found a few good ones at our local T.J. Maxx Home Goods store! So keep your eyes peeled.......they are great for your library and make wonderful gifts!

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.......

These are a series of cute books by Laura Numeroff. Illustrated by Felicia Bond.

This book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is naturally, about the antics which would follow should you indulge in giving a mouse a cookie, which would be followed by a glass of milk, which would be followed by.......you get the idea. We are also the proud owners of If You Give a Pig a Pancake. In fact, I think I like the Pig/Pancake one even better.

Laura has a wonderful website that lists all her books, www.lauranumeroff.com , it's a site that kids can enjoy looking at upcoming characters, etc.

These books promote some animated reading. As the mouse's demands get greater and greater the reading fun deepens. Sometimes my kids are crazy about this series. It is definitely great entertainment as we finish up dinner!!

Lauras list of books is pretty impressive. I'd like to check out:

Dogs Don't Wear Sneakers
Chimps Don't Wear Glasses

They look like fun. Great illustrations!

I may also have to look at What Brothers do Best, as I'm always trying to promote the brotherly-sisterly bond in our house!

Thanks Laura for a fun bunch of books! Very inspiring to us up and coming authors!!

The Birthday Pet

I love it when an illustrator, such as Kevin O'Malley, takes interesting and energetic vantage points of view. When Danny, who wants a turtle more than anything, is gifted endless OTHER pets from his unhelpful family, he is in trouble! Ellen Javernick created the perfect story for any child who really, really wants a pet. This book would be even more special if your child wanted a turtle!

The Giant Jam Sandwich, by John Vernon Lord and Janet Burroway. What a treat! When we stumbled upon this book, vivid memories came flooding back. This book was at MY pediatricans office! My Mom would read this book to me over and over. I had forgotten all about it. The copyright is 1972, which would be about right! And I was at the Dr's A LOT.......allergy shots!

Anyway, the town of Itching Down has the most annoying visitors......4 million wasps! What's a village to do? Why......build a giant jam sandwich of course!! And with the great rhyming couplets they accomplish making a Giant loaf of bread, sewing a huge tablecloth, spreading a ton of butter and jam (this is obviously English.....since my Mum is English-born, I can attest to the fact that a butter and jam sandwich is delish!) and capturing all but three wasps. A nice story with fun pictures. And worth many, many memories for me!

I can actually visualize that office and the stack of books they had waiting for kids!! Thanks Dr. Yates!!!

What fun to enjoy this with MY children!

Bookstores

aaaahhhh....nothing beats the wonderful "vibe" of a bookstore. Even a library doesn't quite hold all the possibilities of a crisp, new book.

The Barnes and Noble at the Westside Pavilion Mall has an AMAZING childrens section. It has really taken a corner of the store and given it some character that a child/young person can love.

From a "space planning" view point, there is a definite entry to the area. Once you've "entered" the childrens-book-zone, everything is displayed very clearly. There's a small stage, well, a 4" high semi-circle, where some story telling takes place. I saw a few polaroids up on the wall. And a cool structure that displays all the crafty books. I really appreciate that they made this area so special.

I miss the intimate bookstores. A small, Mom and Pop, bookstore. My dream store is the one in YOU'VE GOT MAIL. The character Meg Ryan played, inherited such a store from her Mother. It's a heartbreaking scene when the store closes due to the Big-Boys, such as Barnes and Noble. But what can you do? At least at this particular store you get a sense that they want children to feel the magic of a book. Here's to finding more great bookstores that children can appreciate the grandeur of buying a book!

Eric Carle

A few months after my daughter was born, a friend and I were chatting about baby books and she was going on and on about Eric Carle. A year or so later my daughter didn't seem the least bit interested in his books. My daughter is now 3 1/2 and my son is 2.......and they discovered Eric Carle in the library. Since then, they've pulled out the original books I had received as gifts.......The Hungry Catepillar, etc.......and have fallen in love with them! I wasn't much of a fan of his illustrations, but with my kids enthusiasm over his work, I've found myself getting into them.

WATCH OUT! A GIANT! is a fun look at two children who are "playing" giant. There are clever die cuts on the pages which reveal the next pages illustrations. A couple of the pages are a bit "dark"........scary water creature, dark, spooky tunnel, but my daughter LOVED them!!


I've checked out www.eric-carle.com and was a bit disappointed that it wasn't as fun or creative as his work. I've seen some illustrators do some great things with their web sites. Anyway, its worth a look because it lists all his work. And its very impressive. It's also given me some great ideas on future EC books to look for!!

Snap Snap! What's That? By: Mara Bergman

I love how the author uses the question, "Where the children Scared?" and the response, "You bet they were!!" throughout her story. My husband and daughter went to the library one Saterday and came home laughing about this book. Even now, out of the blue, we'll say,
"Were the children scared?!!"
And of course, we all laugh and scream, "YOU BET THEY WERE!"

Cute story, good illustrations and a fun read.

The Witch's Children By: Ursula Jones

What a cute story!! The Eldest, Middle and Youngest children of the witch go into the park and turn Gemma into a.......
Well, I won't give it away, but this was such a fun read. The illustrations, by Russell Ayto are adorable and have lots of energy.
I looked Ursula up and she's got two more books that follow up with these children. I'll be sure to find them!