Lisa Wheeler (Author)
R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator)

“Brother’s hands tap.
Sister’s hands snap.
Itty-bitty Baby’s hands
CLAP-CLAP-CLAP!”

We met R. Gregory Christie, the illustrator of this wonderful book at the inaugural Suwanee Festival of Books a few weeks ago. He had his own booth and was promoting several of the books that he has illustrated. The portrait he had of Bass Reeves for the book “Bad News for Outlaws” caught my eye and I came over to talk to this young talented guy. When I asked if he would like me to review one of his books for the blog he kindly handed me Jazz Baby.

When we got home that evening, my daughter chose to read this book first from a pile of books we brought home with us. And what an awesome book it is! She loved it so much that we ended up reading it three times in a row (and then three times again before bed). It’s hard to read it without getting into the musical nature of the book. Every time there’s a ‘HIP HIP HOP’ or a ‘GO MAN GO’ you just have to kind of sing it as you read it. Since my daughter can now read a little on her own she said all the sounds throughout the book. By the time we got around to reading it a third time, she read the whole thing by herself.

This is a really fun, easy to read book. It’s a great way to open up conversations about music styles with your kids. My daughter wanted to know what ‘Blues’ means. Yeah, she’s only five! We ended up ‘singing the blues’ before she went to bed and had a blast improvising our own lyrics.

And before I forget – the illustrations are fantastic as well. You want to get up and dance with the characters in the book. I can’t say enough about it. You just have to check it out for yourselves. Thank you so much R. Gregory Christie for letting us enjoy this book with our kids!

Oh yeah!

Parent Meter: 5 Stars! (5/5)
Kid Meter: 5 Stars! (5/5)
Overall: 5 Stars! (5/5)

Awards: 2008 ALA Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Honors

I was only able to find two videos of people reading this book to their children and I picked the one that shows the illustrations better. Check it out below:

ALA Notable Children's Books · Preschool Books · Toddler Books

Harriet Lerner (Author)
Susan Goldhor (Author)
Helen Oxenbury (Illustrator)

“Franny B. Kranny had long, frizzy hair. It was always getting her in trouble…”

I believe we were told about this book by someone who has seen our daughter’s hair. She has the most beautiful curly hair I have ever seen and we usually have a hard time getting all the tangles out of it. We didn’t get it cut until she was almost 5 years old, because none of us wanted to chop off the edges which were a magnificent golden yellow. But let’s get on with the review shall we?

Franny B. Kranny is a unique kid who does not want to conform to other people’s standards. She loves her frizzy long red hair and doesn’t care how hard it is to get it untangled. When her family wants her to cut it she refuses and instead her mother has the hairdresser “pin it up on her head and make it neat.” The baffled hairdresser does his best, but on the way home a bird decides the new hairdo is fit to be her nest and lands right on Franny’s head. Hilarity ensues.

This is a great story about a child who has an independent spirit and stands her ground. I thought the illustrations are a bit old fashioned but the facial expressions of all the characters are terrific. I especially like the way the little bratty sister is drawn as well as the mother. The use of illustrations throughout the book is great and they are bright and large and cover most of the page.

My daughter absolutely loves this book and can easily relate to having tangly, messy hair which she doesn’t want to cut as well as being a big sister. She loves to see Franny defy her parents and have her own opinions. And she always laughs at the part where the bird lands on her head.

The book is a little on the long side, but it reads very fast and the story is engaging. I would recommend it to all big sister and parents of children with tough-to-manage hair.

Parent Meter: 4 Stars! (4/5)
Kid Meter: 4 Stars! (4/5)
Overall: 4 Stars! (4/5)

What luck! I found a video from the Pikes Peak Library’s children’s department of Jennifer Roy reading the book which was added to YouTube just a few weeks ago. They did a great job of showing the illustrations throughout the video. Check it out below:

Preschool Books · Siblings · Sisters · Toddler Books

Tom MacRae (Author)
Elena Odriozola (Illustrator)

“When Nate woke up one morning, The Opposite was standing on the ceiling, staring down at him…”

We came across this book when TheMom was looking for illustration ideas for a book she was writing. The illustrator she worked with told her to look at this book and we knew right away we had to buy it. And what a fantastic find it was!

The story is very relate-able not only to children but to adults as well. Nate is having a tough day where nothing is going his way. He’s clumsy and awkward and can’t get anything right. And worst of all, nobody believes him that it’s not really him messing up, it’s The Opposite’s fault! Eventually he figures out a way to get the upper hand in this battle in a fun and clever way.

This is definitely a thought provoking book that will open up a lot of questions with your children. The concept of an “Opposite” is easy for kids to understand and seeing what mayhem he causes is pretty hilarious. Of course we don’t want to encourage anyone to pour milk all over the kitchen during breakfast, but we also want them to know that if it happens it’s not the end of the world.

I also like the illustrations in this book as they are quite unusual. The characters are a bit quirky and odd and there’s a lot of smart use of color that will help children understand the underlying concepts.

Overall, I really like this book a lot as do my wife and daughter. You should definitely check it out.

Parent Meter: 4 Stars! (4/5)
Kid Meter: 4 Stars! (4/5)
Overall: 4 Stars! (4/5)

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video about this book. But I came across an interesting video about the illustrator, Elena Odriozola. The paintings and illustrations in this video will give you a very good idea of what to expect in this book:

Illustrated · Preschool Books · Toddler Books

Patty Lovell (Author)
David Catrow (Illustrator)

“Molly Lou Melon stood just taller than her dog and was the shortest girl in the first grade…”

This book is another one of my personal favorites. Once again, illustrated by David Catrow, who is truly an amazing illustrator of preschool books. The illustrations in this book are colorful and really help tell the story.

This book deals with a young child’s self esteem issues and how a little girl learned to deal with a bully when she moved to a new school. Molly Lou Melon is a short, clumsy girl with buck teeth, a voice that sounds like a bull-frog. She doesn’t mind all that because her grandmother told her to stand tall, walk proud, smile big and sing loud. And she does all that and more to win over her new classmates while Ronald Durkin, the class bully does everything in his power to ridicule her. He ends up looking foolish in all his attempts and eventually comes around and tries to be Molly’s friend.

What a fantastic book! My daughter absolutely loves it and always laughs whenever Ronlad Durkin fails to insult Molly and ends up looking foolish. This book usually opens up discussions about going to a new school, having to move to a new home, making new friends and the most obvious is “Why is Ronald Durkin being so mean to Molly?” The book reads fairly quickly and in some cases, especially at the beginning, when Molly gets advice from her grandmother, you might only have two words per page. It’s a real page turner and flows very well.

If you’re dealing with a child that is being bullied at preschool or might even be the bully, this could be a great way to start talking about the issue. But in general, this is a must have book because the story and illustrations are pure joy.

Parent Meter: 5 Stars! (5/5)
Kid Meter: 4.5 Stars! (4.5/5)
Overall: 5 Stars! (5/5)

I couldn’t find a video of someone reading this book but instead I found an amazing video of David Catrow actually drawing Molly Lou Melon’s character and talking about how he came up with the concept. It’s pretty incredible. Check it out below:

David Catrow · Illustrated · Preschool Books · Toddler Books

I just ran into this terrific list of favorite preschool books on Amazon.com. At first I wasn’t sure how they came up with this list but then I noticed that it was a list submitted through an Amazon feature called Listmania!. This is basically a way for Amazon customers to put together lists of books or other items they liked.

I have to say this is a pretty good list. We actually own 6 of the books on the list (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Sheep in a Jeep, Guess How Much I Love You, Goodnight Moon, Tumble Bumble and The Very Hungry Caterpillar). I’ll review all these books separately in upcoming posts.

What are your favorite preschool books? Let us know in the comments!

Illustrated · Preschool Books · Toddler Books

Karen Beaumont (Author)
David Catrow (Illustrator)

“One day my mama caught me paintin’ pictures on the floor and the ceiling and the walls and the curtains and the door…”

We’ll kick off the reviews with one of my personal favorites. As you’ll notice there are going to be a lot of David Catrow illustrated books on this blog. I doubt there is an illustrator out there that we like more than Catrow. He has a knack for bringing to life the characters in a whimsical and hilarious way with lots of color and humor.

It’s a cute and totally relate-able story about a boy who likes to paint. After he makes a complete mess his mother hides his art supplies and sticks him in the tub telling him “YA AIN’T A-GONNA PAINT NO MORE!” But obviously he finds his paints and goes about painting his body from head to toe. Each color rhymes with a body part on the next page (red/head, rest/chest, etc.) and a new mess is created.

This book is absolutely terrific. It’s a quick and easy read and after reading it once your kids will be able to pretty much predict what body part will be painted on the next page. The transition from white colorless pages to full page color illustrations helps generate the right atmosphere.

Now the way I read it aloud to my daughter is in this sing-songy way. I add a bit of twang and she comes along for the ride. We end up hollering the book out loud and laughing as we get to the end of the book. This book is fun for both parents and kids and is a must for every bookcase. It will definitely become a quick favorite for the whole family.

Luckily, nobody in this household has tried to copycat the kid in the book… Yet!

Parent Meter: 5 Stars! (5/5)
Kid Meter: 5 Stars! (5/5)
Overall: 5 Stars! (5/5)

Awards: 2006 ALA Notable Children’s Books

Whenever I post a review, I’m going to try to find a video of someone reading the book on YouTube. Enjoy!

ALA Notable Children's Books · David Catrow · Illustrated · Preschool Books · Toddler Books