Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao is not a book about babies. My very limited Chinese knowledge knew that bao bao means baby. Thus, this is obviously a book about Amy and her search for the perfect baby. I was wrong. Had I thought about it for a moment the very large dumpling on the cover should’ve pointed me in the correct direction. Instead, Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao is about a young girl in search of the perfect dumpling. It’s a book about family traditions, good food, not getting discouraged and learning how to do things by yourself.
Like pizza, a cat video or peeking under the wrapping paper, Superbuns is impossible to resist. Superbuns is by author/illustrator Diane Kredensor and if you’ve read Buck’s Tooth you’ll recognize her style. The feel of the book is as at home with the classic vibe of a comic strip. Its size compliments the cuteness and takes a rabbit named Buns across the city with a hot pie of a happy time.
Buns is a rabbit. Actually, she
could be a bunny as the other main character is Superbuns is her know-it-all
sister, Blossom. Blossom means well, but is insistent that being kind is not a
super power. Sure Buns may hold open doors for old people, take out garbage and
pay compliments to lots of people, but being kind is not a super power.
On this particular day the two rabbits are being quite kind. They’re taking a pie that they baked to their grandmother’s house. Halfway through their journey they notice that a stranger is following them. This is the city and stranger danger is a real thing, but it’s also a city populated with impossibly cute anthropomorphic animals. However, things are further complicated by the fact that this stranger is a fox.
A fox who has been following two
rabbits can’t be a good thing, can it? In this case Blossom freaks out when
Buns starts innocently talking to the young fox. Foxes eat rabbits, you silly
rabbit. As this is a children’s illustrated book, Superbuns turns the animal
world on its head and this particular fox is just trying to get home.
Thankfully Blossom knows all about directions and getting lost, all of which
she’s eager to share with their new pointy eared friend.
Superbuns is cute. It’s disarmingly cute and will suck readers in who are 4-8 years old. Those on the upper end of that scale will be unwittingly charmed by the illustrations. The text in the book is such that those ages should be able to read all of it effortlessly. There are some sight words for the emerging readers that are on the younger spectrum of that scale.
Ultimately what makes Superbuns
work is its illustrations and the simple, home-spun nature of the story. It
feels like the book equivalent of a pillow with two cold sides. Kredensor is an
Emmy Award-winning director and producer for lots of animated shows that you
and your kids have seen before. Have you ever seen Pinky and the Brain (!!),
Clifford the Big Red Dog, Curious George or a couple others? Her resume is a
cartoon lover’s watch list and Superbuns rides into your child’s library as
effortless as using Superbuns power.
Our 9 year old is a hanger on to The Bad Guys and we are 100% OK with that. He’s going into fourth grade and has been reading The Bad Guys since the end of first grade. In real world time I know that‘s not a long time, but through the eyes of a kid’s library it can be an eternity. Two years ago he wouldn’t have dreamed of reading the stuff that he’s reading now. These books have no pictures, chapters that are more than a dozen pages long and might even mention the subject of boys and girls ‘liking’ each other.
The ninth book in The Bad Guys series of books from Scholastic is called The Bad Guys in The Big Bad Wolf. Each book in this series has our title characters in such elementary school adventures as in…The Furball Strikes Back, in Attack of the Zittens, in Do-You-Think-He-Saurus and other books that your kids aged five and older have already read. When you visit an elementary school library ask where their copies of any books featuring The Bad Guys are. You’ll see a handful of beaten up, dog-eared books with yellowed pages that most likely have some degree of little hand prints all of them. These books have been loved, read, re-read and had their spine tapped several times in order to extend their life span.
Our 9 year-old has been counting the days until The Big Bad Wolf was released. We got to the store and saw a couple of older books by Aaron Blabey on the shelf, but no sight of the new one. At first he was dejected and looked like he might cry. He was certain, absolutely positive that it was hitting stores on this day. I suggested that he ask a person at the store where the book is. This is an important leap of faith for him because he’s not one to ask questions to people that he doesn’t know.
However, as we were
buying some other stuff I suggest that he go to Guest Services and ask them. No
sooner had I looked up then I saw his every growing flip-flop covered feet
blazing a train to see where the book was. Guest Services directed us to the
area where the book should’ve been, but it wasn’t. Again I suggested that he go
ask someone in a red vest about the book. They checked their computer; saw that
it was in the back, still in the box, but that they’d go get a copy for us.
I kid you not, our nine year-old was skipping up and down
the isle with nervous energy. After a couple of minutes he grew tired of this
and started to peek around the corner like he was scouting out a drive-by for a
teenage girl in 10 years. “He’s got it. He’s got it!” I heard.
For adults who need to know what the plot’s about, Mr. Wolf gets blown up to a massive sized monster and The Bad Guys need to find a way to stop him ASAP. Toss in some new friends, lots of humor, a few potty jokes, some more humor, several dashes of action and you’ll see why elementary readers will absolutely love this series. They don’t need to know the series before reading The Big Bad Wolf. Most elementary school kids will know the characters, their role in the story and are already eager to be the first ones to tell the other kids that they’ve read the new book. A bonus for parents is that The Bad Guys,Big Bad Wolf only retails for $5.99, even less if you shop around.
Our children don’t know art per se. They’ve been to the High Museum of Art many times and know what art is, they just don’t know the key players. I don’t even know a majority of the classic artists. I might recognize their style, but their catalog and finer points will fall between my mental sofa cushion. However, I know animals and I know to count. It’s only because of the fact that I’m an adult and have experienced pop culture that I know some of the artist referenced in this children’s board book.
Kahlo’s Koalas, 1, 2, 3, Count Art with Me, is a board book for those crawlers to toddlers (and the adults who are reading to them) who want to shake up the palette of their counting books. Each page has a number with its respective number of animals who are presented in the style of the artist that it’s referencing. We see 4 Matisse Monkeys, 6 Kandinsky Kangaroos, 8 Seurat Sloths and seven other counting lessons that are done whilst channeling classic artists.
I had to mention those three artists because two of them I hadn’t heard of. Even the title of the book, Kahlo’s Koalas, 1, 2, and 3 is referencing an artist and not the author of the book. The actual author of the book is Grace Helmer, a London-based illustrator who has quite the career ahead of her as a forger, should she want to go on the other side of the law.
The colors and patterns in the book are fabulous and will draw in your eyes. Factor in that Kahlo’s Koalas isn’t even intended for adults and you’ve got a book that crawlers through pre-K will gnaw on for ages. This board book was originally published by LOM ART in England last year. However, it’s not off putting or inaccessible at all. This is a counting, board book with great art that just might happen to inspire kids or parents about the masters. Kahlo’s Koalas, 1, 2, 3, Count Art with Me is available in the United States by Andrews McMeel Publishing for $8.99.
It’s quite shocking that this is the first book featuring characters from Marvel Comics to help teach the A, B, C’s. Granted there might be others, but the Abrams Block Books are our favorite. From the first time we saw Alpha Block when our now 9 year-old was learning the alphabet; to when his brother read Dino Block two years later, this series has never disappointed us. Moreover, the quality of this series stands out so much that we still have all of the books and they’ve held up nicely.
The difference in construction is what makes these block books so sturdy. They’re square books that fit nicely in small hands and the spine is about three times as thick as an individual page. This is a strong series of books that have been through two children and countless visits to elementary schools when I was the guest reader.
Marvel AlphaBlock has select heroes from the MCU taking center stage as they present letters of the alphabet. A is for Ant-Man.V is for Valkyrie. S is for Spider-Man and so on. Of course, there are many heroes that share letters in the alphabet, what about them?
The final two pages of the book are gatefold and open up to show approximately 50 more characters from the MCU that are shown in Marvel Alpha Block. Essentially, it’s a Where’s Marvel Waldo that invites younger readers to go back again and find each character. I say ‘younger readers’ with air quotes because even those who have mastered the alphabet will be sucked into the book quicker than a Peter Quill dance off irritates Gamora.
This is a great, entertaining book that ages 18 months and
older will love. The colors bring everything over the rainbow and the
characters are those that will make up their entertainment for decades to come.
We’ve had our copy of National Geographic Kids Almanac 2020
for a couple of weeks. It’s something we meant to write, but every time we open
the book up for inspiration we get sucked down the knowledge (or lack thereof) hole.
Every year since 2010 this almanac has provided stunning illustrations, deep
dive facts and surfaced based knowledge for those who know a little about a
lot.
This is the 10th Anniversary Edition and it’s aged in all the right places. For instance, look at the brown bear on the cover. It’s embossed so that the bear looks like he’s running off of the page. Kids will immediately notice this, touch the 3D bear and start flipping through the book.
In theory, any age is OK looking through National Geographic
Kids Almanac 2020. In practice the book will be best enjoyed by those readers
who are 9 and up, but way up, because it’ll be read by adults when not being
used by younger readers. The book is great because it manages to have the
complex and the simple, with a side of pop culture or puzzles that will
entertain kids for hours. It has subject matter that those in middle elementary
through high school will be studying.
To celebrate the 10th Anniversary Edition they’re
giving away a GoPro camera, it’s a $315 value and will help deliver the
NatGeo-esque photos that you’ve always wanted to take.
We’re also giving away a copy of National Geographic Kids Almanac 2020. It’s a $14.99 value and will provide hours upon hours of entertainment for those 9 or older. Do you have a summer car trip coming up? This book is mandatory so that you can A. Do less screen time and B. Not have them say “are we there yet?” every 10 minutes. To enter our giveaway for the book only just leave a comment below.
Lola Dutch, you are indeed much too much. Except you aren’t really, we just like repeating the catch phrase that you uttered in your first book and referenced one time in Lola Dutch When I Grow Up. Size does not matter in a children’s book, yet these books by Kenneth and Sarah Jane Wright soak up every inch of their pages and would be comfortable with more. One of our kids is past the illustrated book phase, but I still find myself looking at this book, getting lost in the artwork and reading it his 7 year old brother who hasn’t quite discovered the love of books yet.
Lola Dutch is awash in imagination based play. She’s reading
books with Bear, Crane, Gator and Pig when she has a rush of ideas as to what
she wants to do when she grows up. She could be an inventor where she
experiments, improvises, researches and discovers things. Maybe she could be a
botanist, a judge in the highest court or an Egyptologist. All the while her
anthropomorphic friends are accompanying her as willing subjects, helpful
assistants or dubious onlookers.
What makes Lola Dutch When I Grow Up a fabulous book, and a great good-night book is its combination of art and words. The art in the book has soft, water colored images with edges in its drawings that mute it just a little bit. When you look at some of the illustrations they will have clear, defined markings, with some elements having just bit of white, uneven space between the edges that the paint or crayons left. Our kids and I love this style of art. It has a fun, whimsical appearance to it that confirms that it’s an illustrated book great for ages 3-6.
Its loose, carefree spirit is infectious for girls slightly
more than boys, but not by much. There are rhyming elements, but for the most
part the text is simply enough to where there are some sight words that allow
young readers to get in on the game. For the most part this is read-along fun
for small ones and those who are reading to them from this great good-night
book.
Nicola Killen warms the heart. At least that’s the case with her two most recent children’s illustrated books that we’ve received. The Little Reindeer was a book that we loved due to its old soul, rabbit-hole illustrations and desolate winter vibe. I know that ‘desolate’ isn’t exactly an adjective the springs to mind when one says a great children’s book. The Little Rabbit is the spiritual (and actual) sibling to that book. It shares many of its characteristics, the cut-away pages, two color schemes with the occasional third color to punctuate characters and illustrations that fill up each page.
Ollie is the main human character in The Little Rabbit and
she’s dressed up in a rabbit costume. She’s got her rain boots on and is
waiting for the storm to end while Bunny, her rabbit doll is dressed in a
yellow scarf beside her. When the rain ends Ollie carries Bunny out in her
basket as the wind blows flower petals past them. As that happens Bunny starts
to move her ears, or does she?
What follows is a magical, dream pop of a children’s illustrated book that effortlessly engages pre-K and early elementary school ages. Ollie follows Bunny as she joins in the rabbit hop that the forest bunnies are doing. Distinguished by her yellow scarf, the two are reunited, but still have a couple more adventures to get through in order to get back home.
As their journey in the forest continues we see distinct gold pops in the flower petals that float around some pages. Older readers will alternate between the dreamy illustrations, perfect colors and economy of words as to what they like best about The Little Rabbit. It’s a children’s illustrated book, yet between the well chosen words and the big scope illustrations it tells a big story. Large aspects of the story are filled in with our imagination. We think about what the rabbits are doing when they’re underground and what other animals we could meet during the trip.
Younger readers will also let their imaginations do most of the work with The Little Rabbit Ages 4-8 have a lovey, stuffed doll or action figure that comes to life and does stuff. Those young readers will immediately understand the energy and hidden story that The Little Rabbit is bring out. Every night when we put our 7 YO to bed he tells us about the adventures that his stuffed animals get up to while he’s asleep.
The Little Rabbit gets into that particular spirit that young readers have and put it in a gorgeously illustrated book. The text is such that a second grader will be able to read most of it. Ages much younger than that will love the pictures and marvel at how one page immediately blends into the next. This book is a keeper, it’s one that your kids will want to read and will remain in the children’s library for the next generation.
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