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My kids and I have long enjoyed Oliver Jeffers’ books. This is a sequel to his other stories of the boy and the penguin — including “Lost and Found” — and includes the star, the girl, and the martian. Yet, the story stands alone. The boy, penguin, and star love to play hide and seek near his seaside home. The star is usually not hard to find. Yet, one day, after the boy sets down the star in his rowboat, while rescuing the penguin (who got stuck while hiding), the star goes missing. Where could it be? From there, the story takes some warm and surprising turns. We all love this simple, loving, yet fantastic milieu, and we all love to visit and revisit this magical world as often as we can. I cannot recommend the entire series enough, which every library absolutely should seek out.
Pencil & Eraser: We Have a Dull-Emma!
My little guy loves comical “comic” book that shows that little people can accomplish great things! This fun — and funny! — story is about a melodramatic pencil and her friend, a more serious-minded eraser, as they trek across the school to find a pencil sharpener. Jokes abound throughout their adventure, which is told in a comic-book format. The text is geared toward children yet remains quite clever throughout. The illustrations are very simple, yet the comic book panels and non-stop action — and jokes! — make this a page-turner that any fun-loving child will love — including my children!
My Feet Go (Body Power)
I love to read rhyming books to my youngest, who loves to share some bonding time, while learning about herself and the world we live in. That’s why I think this charming board book, about all the different things our feet can do, because it teaches so many things at once. The colorful illustrations are a visual delight, and the clever and informative rhyming text rolls off the tongue while fully engaging my little one. But I also like the subtler points the book makes, as it shows children of all colors and abilities enjoying what they can do with their feet, while loving caregivers encourage and help them along, reinforcing the importance of love and care for each of us, big and small. The book is sturdy and very well made, and beautifully printed. It’s a delightful board book for any youngster, no matter their color or abilities.
Bookie & Cookie
“How can you know you don’t like it if you don’t try it?” I think I’ve asked my children some variation of this question, found in “Bookie and Cookie!” This is one of the most clever children’s books I’ve ever read, somewhere along the lines of “The Monster at the End of This Book,” where the characters realize that they’re in a book, where each friend lives on one side of the book or the other. Bookie likes books, and Cookie likes baking. Each two-page spread shows them interacting across the binding as they learn that trying new things can be a wonderful idea — including meeting on the left-hand page, rather than on the right side, or leaving the book altogether to head for the library (on the back cover). The book also helps my kids appreciate how friendly persuasion works, when it actually works, and that they’ll attract more flies with honey than vinegar, so to speak. Such a clever and engaging book!
Brandon and the Totally Troublesome Time Machine
Apparently, one of the most difficult things for humanity to learn is that we each must take responsibility for our own lives and actions. And, by “humanity,” I specifically mean my family, which may have something to do with one of my children’s parents struggling to learn this simple lesson. Since I am that parent, I just want to note two things: (1) If I’d had this book as a child I could have learned that crucial lesson much earlier in life, and (2) easier said than done! Number two is exactly what Brandon learns for himself when he invents a time machine and decides to bring future or past versions of himself to help (cheat) on homework and do his chores for him. Both approaches work briefly, but things get out of hand as Brandon starts arguing with himself, worrying too much about the future or his past, instead of living in the present, responsibly. The illustrations are delightful and the time-machine angle is explored quite well as he adventures through time before exploring his own life, until things begin to escalate. This is a delightful book that I think anyone who likes gentle sci-fi — and maybe has a little trouble with responsibility — would love (and learn from)!
Good Night Thoughts
This is a wonderful bedtime storybook! I have many vivid memories of sitting awake at night as a child, worrying about this and that. This warm-hearted book offers a nighttime story of a child whose thoughts are busy at night, imagining one silly terror after another. But then, the child remembers that these are just thoughts, that they are safe and all is good in their real life. The text about the child’s different worries are imaginative, fun, yet relatable. This well written and ably illustrated book offers a solution to children who worry a bit too much instead of falling peacefully asleep. The illustrations help distinguish, in their coloring and style, between the dream-like imaginings of the child, and their real life, safe at home in bed. Soon the child is fast asleep — just like my own children whenever I read this comforting bedtime book to them once they’re snuggled safely into bed.
Bigfoot’s Big Heart
Everyone feels lonely sometimes, including my children, which I think is why they love this book so much! In this Valentine’s Day book, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and other mythical beasts are each lonely since they often have to keep hidden. So, Bigfoot decides to send them each a valentine to cheer them up. But his plan falls apart when he runs into some scouts on a camping trip. Happily, some of the scouts feel a little outcast themselves, and by communicating with other scouts, figure out a way to make Bigfoot’s plan into more of a success than he thought possible! I think my kids enjoy the fanciful creatures, the fun illustrations, and the way that the outcasts, in trying to help others, find new friends and feel more loved. I love the message — and details, like the dried flower garlands in his cave.
How to Talk Like a Chicken
I’ve noticed that my kids can sometimes be so egocentric that they have no idea how egocentric they’re being! To them, it just seems appropriate to be “The Main Character” of every situation. Helping them to see outside themselves, without sparking an unintentional fight for their autonomy, can be challenging. This book has been a help for my kids to learn this important lesson. Here, a bossy chicken is trying to teach an off-screen (page?) reader how to speak “Chicken.” Reading the book out loud to my kids brings lots of laughs, especially when I raise the volume for the chicken-like dialog in ALL CAPS. Plus, the fun illustrations and clever concept of talking back and forth with the bossy chicken also help my kids to remain engaged and fascinated as they learn from the cause-and-effects of egocentric, bossy behaviors, while illustrating how silly acting bossy can make children (of all ages) appear.
The Dinosaur in the Garden
This well-illustrated story is told by a dinosaur, recounting the history of the earth, and explaining why one little girl finds (as shown in the illustrations) a fossil of its tooth. It explains the changes the entire earth has undergone over millions of years and why, for instance, a dinosaur skeleton may be found in, say, a little girl’s garden. The goal of the book is to inspire children to learn and grow into paleontologists, as the little girl in the story does. When reading this book over and over to my children, I love to point out to my children, future paleontologists or not, the steps and studies it shows the girl going through during her life to learn how to become one. It also explains the important lesson (especially for one of my sons) that life will be patient as children prepare and learn to fill their roles in the future.
The Wrong Book
This comical book starts off as a simple children’s book that names things and tells the noises they make; you know, the kind that read, “The cow says ‘moo!'” and such. But instead of proceeding as expected, an increasingly exasperated bookmark starts commenting on everything, especially when the book starts getting everything wrong. A hungry shark is not a delicious hamburger, and neither sharks nor hamburgers say “cock-a-doodle-doo!” It’s a fast-paced story, with engaging and silly illustrations that keep my young kids reading (for themselves and their younger siblings) as the book goes further and further off the rails. It’s a great way to get reluctant readers to read out loud, as the many noises and sounds get sillier every page.