*Picture book, fantasy, preschool through second graders *Little Miss Muffet as main character *Rating: David Conway has written a clever picture book, incorporating many of our favorite nursery rhymes that we can share with a whole new generation of children. And of course, Melanie Williamson’s illustrations are cute, cute, cute! Short, short summary: Little Miss [...]

*Picture book, fantasy (fractured fairy tales) for preschoolers through third graders *Young girl as main character *Rating: The Gold Miner’s Daughter is clever and adorable. One of those “I wish I would have written this” books! Short, short summary: Jackie Mims Hopkins writes this adorable tale about Gracie Pearl, who lives in gold minin’ country [...]

*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 [...]

*Fantasy, Middle-grade novel *Fairy expert Miss Edythe McFate and fairies themselves as main characters *Rating: Lesley M. M. Blume’s book is a delightful and entertaining look at these unusual creatures. Short, short summary: Written in several short chapters with titles such as “How to Tell a Good Fairy from a Bad One” or “Further Notes [...]

*Picture book for preschoolers through 2nd graders, fantasy (fractured nursery rhyme) *Dish and Spoon as main characters *Rating: Kids love books like The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon that play off an old nursery rhyme and have loads of fun stuff in the illustrations. Short, short summary: What happened after the dish ran [...]

Before I talk about this cute book (I love fractured fairy tales), I want to announce the winner of Plank Road Summer. Again, thank you to everyone who left comments and questions for the authors. It seems to me that historical fiction is always a big hit, in spite of what the “big publishers” in [...]

photo by pareerica www.flickr.com *Picture book for preschoolers through third graders, based on a fairy tale *Sorghum cookie boy as main character *Rating: Cookie Boy Travelin’ Arkansas is a clever twist on the old tale–”The Gingerbread Man.” Anyone living in or visiting Arkansas will especially love this book! Short, short summary: A young couple in [...]

photo by gamene www.flickr.com *Picture book (based on fairy tales) for preschoolers to first graders *Big Bad Little Good Wolf as main character *Rating: Good Little Wolf has few words, but the illustrations tell us all about this little wolf! Very cute. Short, short summary: The Big Bad Wolf is here to tell you, the [...]

photo by ingermaaike2 www.flickr.com For this week’s Timeless Thursday post, I decided to write about the fairy tale, The Frog Prince. It’s on my mind since Disney’s latest princess movie is involving a version of The Frog Prince with the title, The Princess and the Frog. Disney’s version looks crazy and funny, set in New [...]

by Phyllis Root www.flickr.com *Picture book for preschoolers through second graders *Paula Bunyan (Paul Bunyan’s sister) as main character *Rating: Paula Bunyan is a clever, cute picture book with a twist on the old classic Paul Bunyan tale. Phyllis Root has thrown a little environmental education in there, too. Short, short summary: Did you know [...]