This is a surprisingly excellent book on dogs, with a fascinating focus on how dogs think and perceive the world. It explains how they live in a world of smells, which seems to help them to “see” the past in the present. It explains lots of quirks that any dog owner will recognize, like that guilty look on your dog’s face when there’s a mess (which turns out to mean that they know a mess will mean an unhappy owner, rather than coming from a feeling of “guilt.” It’s a well-written book, in paperback, with very helpful insights into how your dog sees you, their lives, and the world around us. It will help its readers learn to view their dogs with more empathy and understanding, helping us to understand our dogs better (and relieve owners, young and old, of lots of frustration, too).

I love this book, and so do my kids! This is a clever and imaginative story of a young girl who finds a special dress at a thrift store. When she notices the former owner’s name on the tag, she wonders who the girl is. What did she like? Could she be an ice skater? A trapeze artist? A mermaid? These pages, of Rosie imagining these things, and of her doing the same things, are illustrated wonderfully. The well-written story offers a message about empathy and the humanity we all share. Or, mermaid-ity, as the case may be. This is a wonderful book that I think also may take away some concerns about wearing pre-owned clothing, too. What a delightful story!

This is a beautifully illustrated book about a family (a little similar to the Jonas family) with a little girl who loves to go to the beach with her family. But what will they do when it’s raining on beach day? How about celebrating the day indoors, with a “beach” in her bedroom? There is some fine writing here, with a lovely theme and great dialogue. The illustrations elevate the book even further, with real and imagined elements throughout the heart-warming story of a family that knows how to enjoy their time together, whether at the beach or at home.

This beautiful and meaningful book looks at the foolish history of human conflict, over hundreds of years. When a family goes for a drive — and the kids start arguing — the dad decides to change the car into a space vehicle and drives across the solar system. The basic concept is that they consider how long it would take to drive to each planet, and then consider what humanity was doing that many years prior. There’s always a war happening back then. As the family travels further and further, the wars seem sillier and more absurd. The book is imaginative and beautifully illustrated in an imaginative and colorful style. The paper, printing, and binding are outstanding. The brief world history, on the book’s end papers, will help those of us who need a refresher on some of the many wars humanity has fought. The story ends happily and in a heart-warming way. After all, there’s no place like home.