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!