*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders, fantasy *A monster as the main character *Rating: Monsters Aren’t Real is a cute picture book that will help children who are worried about monsters in the dark to see them as a little less scary. Children who love monster stories will also enjoy this. The illustrations are [...]

*Picture book, (contemporary concept book), for preschool to first graders *Boys as main characters *Rating: If Waffles Were Like Boys (illustrator: Scott Magoon) is an interesting book that really captures children and their imagination. It is obviously targeted toward boys, but girls could read it and write their own version! Short, short summary: If Waffles [...]

I had the best of intentions to do a blog post on this book: That’s My Dog before I went out of town. However, I’m still getting my stuff together and now my dear daughter is crying. So, I will do this book justice with three activities on another day, but I want to tell [...]

*Picture book for preschoolers through first graders, fantasy *Cute dust bunnies as main characters *Rating: I love clever books with few words and cute illustrations. Jan Thomas’s Here Comes the Big, Mean Dust Bunny! fits all three categories! Short, short summary: Ed, Ned, Ted, and Bob, the cute, colorful dust bunnies, love to rhyme all [...]

*Fiction picture book for preschool to third graders *3 boys as main characters *Rating: Edgar, Allan, and Poe and the Tell-Tale Beets is a cute take on Edgar Allan Poe’s scary story, “Tell-Tale Heart.” Short, short summary: Edgar, Allan, and Poe are brothers who aren’t crazy about their mom’s cooking. Well, who would be when [...]

For today’s Monday post, where I like to highlight a book or organization that is spotlighting or helping girls and women around the world, I have chosen Extraordinary Girls (Charlesbridge Publishing). The photos alone are fantastic, showing girls of different ages and races, smiling and doing amazing things. It targets girls in the upper elementary/lower [...]

Melanie Watt (who is supposed to have a mark over the first e in Melanie, but I don’t know how to do that on WordPress. Help?) is the author of the ever popular Scaredy Squirrel series. This book is just as wonderful! *Picture book for preschoolers through second graders (although you could use this with [...]

photo by Vadim Lavrusik www.flickr.com *Picture book for preschoolers through third graders, contemporary *Young boy as main character *Rating: Looking Like Me is a rhythmic self-esteem-builder journey for young children by father/son duo Walter Dean and Christopher Myers. Short, short summary: Looking Like Me is basically a list of all the things that a boy/girl [...]

photo by joi www.flickr.com First, I’d like to announce the winner of the book: Coolhead Luke and Other Stories. It is Kim W.! Congratulations, Kim, I hope you enjoy the book and all the silly poems/illustrations with your children. Now to today’s post. . . On Friday the 13th, it’s only natural to write about [...]