MommaReads

As our children become more familiar with the world, they are able to make connections in books to the things they know around them. This is a great book for practicing those connections because even though this story takes place in Africa and its star characters are three dassies and an eagle, it won’t take your child long to figure out that this story sounds a lot like another story they know that has three little pigs and a big bad wolf.

This is a cute and fun tale of a clever little girl outwitting a bunch of trolls as she tries to hike over the mountain with her dog. This is one of Jan Brett’s books that you can read again and again and again and each time you read it your child will find something new in the illustrations…so much fun!!!!

Berlioz and his friends are due to play their instruments in the village square for a ball, but his bass has a weird buzzing sound in it and then their wagon gets stuck in a hole and the mule who is pulling it won’t budge. Various animals stop and try to help, but no one seems to be able to get that mule to go. Berlioz and his friends get their instruments ready so that once they get to the square (if they ever do) they will be ready. As Berlioz is tuning his instrument, out comes a bee (which was where all that buzzing was coming from), which stings the mule on his backside and off they go to the village square where they arrive just in time.

Mei Mei has six of the happiest hens in China. She takes great care with them and sells their eggs at the market. One of the hens, Diasy, is not very happy though because the other hens are picking on her. Daisy has quite an adventure when she finally gets tired of the other hens and ends up getting swept down the river. In order to survive her adventure she has to learn how to stick up for herself which helps when she finally ends up back home with those other bossy chickens.

This story is told from the perspective of Noah’s grandson who is helping get the animals on board and helping to take care of them while they are on their 40 day voyage. The illustrations on the sides show the outlines of various animals that are on the ark. Your child might have a fun time trying to guess what each of the animals are while you are reading the story.

A stray cat, named Comet, uses up almost all of his nine lives as he gets into all sorts of predicaments while trying to find himself a home. There is another story going on in the illustrations on the side of a man and another cat. In the end, the reader finally gets to see how both stories are leading to the same place. Jan Brett books are so much fun because even when you are done with the story, you almost always want to go back and look at the pictures again.

A girl and her dad go out owling on a cold winter night. She knows she has to be quiet and that she might hear and owl and she might not. I love the beautiful language in this book and the quiet moments that the little girl shares with her dad while they are out together on their nature walk in the snow.

This is is a cumulative tale (kind of like The House that Jack Built) and it is also a rebus story which uses pictures to replace some of the words in the story. These types of stories are FANTASTIC for preschoolers and early readers. The repetition and rhyming are one bonus, but when pictures replace words in a story, they help the child to follow along which means they can help “read” part of the story which gets them engaged and excited about reading.

This a winter-themed book that an early reader could probably read on their own. My first grader read it tonight with no trouble, but our older son could have probably read it just fine in preschool. All kids start reading at different times, so you may want to read it to your child instead of having them read it to you. I like it because there is some repetition and it rhymes, both of which help early readers.

The Good Knight rescues three freezing dragons from their cold cave during a snowstorm. The only problem is that he has to bring them back to the castle where the king is having a ball. Despite the many warnings and reminders from the Good Knight, the dragons manage to make quite a scene at the ball when they almost set the castle on fire and literally are swinging from the rafters. Things make a turn for the better though when the Good Knight explains that they need to start using their manners…and it works! All those pleases and thank you make for a much more pleasant evening.