MommaReads

This Thanksgiving story will give most little ones the giggles…so much goes wrong while trying to get their Thanksgiving dinner together…the turkey ends up in the lake for starters. The Tappletons’ turkey dinner does not turn out AT ALL as they had hoped, but they quickly learn that it’s not the turkey that makes Thanksgiving, but the people you share it with.

Note: There are two different versions of this book. Only the illustrations are different; the story is the same.

The title of this book sums up its content pretty well. It’s a cute rhyming tale of Boynton’s classic characters getting ready for bed and doing probably the same things your little ones do before they go to bed…taking a bath, brushing their teeth, picking out the pajamas. This is, as you may have guessed, a great bedtime book to help reinforce those nightly routines.

We love our Mark Teague books around here and this one is no exception. Ike LaRue (who happens to be a dog) ends up running for mayor when it seems that the other candidate’s campaign starts to sound a little “anti-canine”. Did I mention that Ike and his friends have been stealing meat from the butcher and tipping over hot dog carts? No matter. What’s important is that Ike and his friends are not restricted by leash laws and curfews. In true Ike fashion, Ike ends up saving the day and a resolution to the dog problem isn’t far behind. You will definitely “like Ike”.

Prelutsky’s poetry does a great job of capturing the essence of several different sports in this book that is perfect for the preschool and elementary sports enthusiasts in your house. He covers sports like basketball, soccer, football and baseball as well as swimming, frisbee, karate and ice skating to name a few. His poems handle both losing and winning with grace. He also helps kids see that it’s okay to not be good at a sport and even if you’re not good at a sport you can still have fun playing it. These poems are short, fun and have a great rhyme to them.

I don’t have a little girl nor do I have any scouts, but I DO love this book! Sylvia Jean really wants to earn her Good-Deed badge and has come up with the perfect plan. However, she botches that plan in a very big way and has to come up with a second plan. Sylvia Jean follows the Pig Scout motto “A Pig Scout Never Gives Up” and uses her imagination, her dress up clothes and some perseverance to get the job done. Super cute!

T.Rex wants to go trick-or-treating with his friends Stegosaurus, Iguanodon and Diplodocus but he can’t decide what to wear that would make him look scary. His friends are already going as a ghost, a witch and a skeleton. His friends have a couple of suggestions but T. Rex decides those aren’t scary enough. Finally, they decide that he’s pretty scary just being himself. Super cute story with adorable illustrations especially if you have a dinosaur fan in your house.

Ant and Honey Bee have been pilgrims for Halloween for a couple of years in a row. They decide to do something differently this year and they put a lot of work and creativity into their new costumes. When they step outside to go trick-or-treating, however, Mother Nature all but ruins all of their hard work. The pair will not be undone though, they make lemons out of lemonade and use their fast thinking and creativity to salvage their costumes.

Wendell, Floyd and Mona are not happy how their Halloween costumes have turned out, but they are stuck with them. It’s a good thing they decided to stick with them too because they come in handy Halloween night. The bullies of the block show up dressed as witches and it turns out that those Halloween costumes they didn’t like so much have magical powers that help them outwit those witches.

A very cute book with the same rhythm and cadence of the more popular night before Christmas story, but this time the ghosts and goblins are getting ready for Halloween, as are the children and their parents.

Mummies unraveled
and put on new wraps.
Spiders found corners
and spun silky traps.

Meanwhile the children
were tucked snug in their beds,
while visions of candy corn
danced in their heads.

Natasha Wing has several “night before” stories and they are all adorable. This one is no exception.

A cute book about fall and the many stages a tree goes through throughout the year. This book is geared towards preschoolers, but it is also great for early readers because it has repetition and illustrations that really support a beginning reader. It’s also short enough and the illustrations are bright and entertaining enough that a toddler would enjoy it as well.