MommaReads

Stewart has a sweet tooth that talks to him and makes Stewart do things he knows he really shouldn’t do, like diving into a wedding cake before it has been cut, begging candy off people at the movie theater and eating ALL of the Easter candy all at one sitting. Stewart knows something has to be done, so he tries feeding it peas, but the sweet tooth is NOT happy. He tries brushing it and flossing it. The sweet tooth is so angry he gets revenge on Stewart. The war is not over though and Stewart goes to drastic measures to rid himself of his pesky sweet tooth.

Little Hippo is a bit disappointed when, even after 11:00pm., the tooth fairy has STILL not made it to his house. Well, it was raining that night and the Tooth Fairy had forgotten her umbrella and things were just taking a bit longer than normal. She does finally arrives at his house, but she still has one more stop to make after Little Hippo’s house. She’s wet and miserable and she really doesn’t want to do it though, so she glues her fairy wings on Little Hippo and he gets to be the Tooth Fairy for the night. Turns out the Tooth Fairy knows Santa, too, and Little Hippo gets a little extra surprise.

Another adorable addition to the Night Before books by Natasha Wing. This version shows all of the children around town making their Valentine’s and getting ready for the parties they will have at school the next day. It also shows the children enjoying all of the festivities in their classrooms the next day… complete with a secret Cupid who delivers a special surprise to the classroom.

A collection of very cute Valentine-themed poetry that not only rhymes, but might get a giggle or two out of your kiddo as well.

Splat is prepped for Valentine’s Day. He has made a card for everyone in his class, but he has made a special one for Kitten. Splat likes Kitten more than “fish sticks and ice cream”, but every time he sees her she pulls his ears and pokes his belly, ties his tail and calls him smelly. Well, it turns out that someone else in Splat’s class is sweet on Kitten, too, and he is ready and willing to prove that he is a better suitor that Splat. True love reigns though when it turns out that Kitten’s made a special card for Splat, too…such a super sweet story that will leave you with a smile on your face.

Mrs. Bear sets her alarm clock so she doesn’t sleep through Valentine’s Day again this year. She digs up the honeypot buried in the snow, sets out a bowl of crunchy dried beetles (Mr. Bear’s favorite) and gets out the Valentine cards she made in the summer. The hardest part is waking up Mr. Bear from his winter slumber. It turns out that Mr. Bear had been preparing for Valentine’s day, too. After sharing a special day together they settle into their den for the rest of the winter.

The classic tale of a boy who loses his mitten while gathering wood in the forest. Several animals, including a mouse, a frog, an owl, a rabbit, a fox, a wolf, a wild boar and a bear all squeeze into the mitten to keep warm. It’s only when a cricket tries to climb in that the mitten rips in two. The boy does finally find his mitten, but luckily his grandmother makes him another pair.

There are many versions of this story and they all contain a mitten and a bunch of animals trying to get into the mitten to get out of the cold snow. This version is a little different than the uber-popular Jan Brett version in that the grandmother in this story is more than happy to make her grandson a new mitten and the grandmother in this version also doesn’t make the mitten the same color as the snow. It would be fun to read several versions with your child and see how the stories and the illustrations compare and contrast. Being able to make connections between books is a great reading skill for children to have.

A collection of Arctic animals….10 caribou crunching, 9 muskoxen munching, 8 ravens raving…you get the idea. The clever twist on this book is that on the first page with the caribou it’s not snowing at all, but as the countdown continues, it starts snowing more and more. By the time you get to 1 moose, silent in the falling snow, it’s practically a blizzard. This would be a great book for practicing counting backwards and also talking to your children about how animals use camouflage….it’s awfully hard to see 2 snowy owls swooping when there’s snow all over the place.

Okay, this book about made me cry. It is SO sweet and is such a good example of doing for others and not asking for recognition. LOVE it! Sarah, an elderly widow, notices a boy dressed in blue at the bus stop who has no mittens. She knits him a pair of blue mittens and hangs them on the tree by the bus stop. He finds them and is then able to throw snowballs with the other kids. Then Sarah notices a little girl who has mittens that don’t match, so she goes home and knits a pair of mittens for her and hangs them on the tree. She knits and knits and knits and soon has enough to fill up the tree with mittens for all the children, but her knitting basket is empty. Somehow though, someone figures out she is the one knitting the mittens and leaves a surprise for her on her front doorstep. Super sweet!