Fuddles by Frans Vischer

Fuddles is your ultimate, pampered feline until he realizes that all he does is eat, sleep, and visit his litter box.  He decides he needs an adventure, so he heads for the door.  But Mom says you cannot go outside.   Fuddles cannot believe it, no one has ever said no to him before!  But the [...]

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The Dark, Dark Night by Christina Butler, illus. by Jane Chapman

It is summer and Frog is very excited.  After sleeping through winter Frog is ready to play with his friends, Badger, Hedgehog, Mouse and Rabbit. After a day of games and leapfrog, suddenly it is getting dark.  Frog borrows a lantern and sets off for the pond, ready for his first swim of the season.  [...]

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So You Want to Be a Rock Star by Audrey Vernick, illus. by Kirstie Edmunds

So You Want to Be a Rock Star is a fun read for any future rocker in your house. Kirstie Edmunds fun illustrations add to the author’s instruction as to how to make your fist into a microphone, play air guitar and of course deal with all your adoring fans. Pick this one up and [...]

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The Pirates Next Door: Starring the Jolley Rogers by Jonny Duddle

The town of Dull-On-Sea welcomes the Jolley-Rogers family and things will never be the same. The family doesn’t quite fit in but when Tilda meets the new neighbors she knows something good is happening. The town folk complain even as things around them turn all things pirate. Pay attention to the illustrations in this book [...]

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Oink by Margie Palantini illus. by Henry Cole

Thomas and Joseph were pigs. “Don’t you just love first lines?”    In the story Oink, the pigs were very happy being pigs but the other farmyard friends thought they were sloppy and decided to fix them.  Needless to say Thomas and Joseph got the better of their friends and in the process, got their pig [...]

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Mad At Mommy by Komako Sakai

Mad at Mommy is a simple story packed with the strong emotions of a little boy rabbit that is angry at his mother. The little rabbit has a laundry list of complaints about mom. She sleeps in late on Saturdays. She is always telling him to hurry up, hurry up. And she yells at him [...]

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Madeline in London by Ludwig Bemelmans

I was familiar with Ludwig Bemelmans’ famous character Madeline, but I never read any of his books until I recently picked up the fourth book in the series, Madeline in London. Originally published in 1961, Madeline in London opens with the departure for London of Madeline’s friend, Pepito, son of the Spanish ambassador, and his [...]

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Rumpelstiltskin retold and illus. by Paul O. Zelinsky

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin is retold and lavishly illustrated in Paul O. Zelinsky’s 1986 Caldecott Honor Book. Rumpelstiltskin is the story of a young woman whose father attempts to impress the king by telling him that she knows how to spin straw into gold. The king wants to test the woman’s skill [...]

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Our Tree Named Steve by Alan Zweibel, illus. by David Catrow

This story is a letter from a Dad to his children that sums up an important lesson about life.  Dad begins his letter at the time, a long time ago, when the children’s house was built.  The land needed to be cleared, but there was one tree that the children couldn’t bear to see cut [...]

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Talk Oscar, Please by Karen Kaufman Orloff, illus. by Tim Bowers

Attention lovers of dogs, this is a picture book for you.  We have a charming young boy and his best friend, his dog Oscar.  Oscar is perfect in many ways, but he just won’t learn to talk.   The young master keeps promising Oscar all the things they could do better, if he would just learn [...]

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