MommaReads

The martians have set off on a journey to explore each of the planets and to find other life forms. They are not having much luck at each of their stops since they started with Pluto, but are pleased once they get to “orb three” to find some very friendly black and white creatures on the south pole with whom they become fast friends. The martians have to eventually leave, but not before giving their new friends a genuine martian rock. (The last two pages of this book are non-fiction and have some very interesting facts about each of the planets.) Not only is this an adorable book, but it rhymes and we all know how I feel about a book with a good rhyme…sign me up! 🙂

Frances LOVES bread and jam. In fact, that’s all she wants to eat. Her mother makes her eggs for breakfast and all she wants is bread and jam. Her mother makes her a chicken salad sandwich for lunch, but all Frances wants is bread and jam. So….that’s exactly what her mother gives her for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. Frances quickly realizes that maybe she might like something else to eat besides bread and jam all the time. I think all children can see themselves in Frances’ picky eating habits and most parents probably know exactly how Frances’ parents feel.

Henry and his fellow pirates spend their lazy days days reading books and shooting themselves out of cannons, but things change for Henry one day when he finds a message in a bottle warning him and the others that someone is coming to steal their loot. No one believes Henry, so he takes matters into his own hands and when the time comes to save his friends he also learns how to be brave….or at least act like he’s brave. You and your little one will definitely get a chuckle or two out of this one.

Dimity Duck toddles out of bed, brushes her feathers and is ready to start her day. We follow her as she swims in the pond for her breakfast, as she spends the day playing with her friend Frumity Frog and then as she ends her playtime with Frumity and heads off to bed with a big snore. Such a sweet read and it rhymes…you know I am a sucker for books that have a good rhyme.

From the text to the illustrations, this is such a sweet and simple book. I love the repetition, too…enough to engage a little one and get them involved, but not so much that it gets in the way of the story. A child wants to know if it is summer yet. His mom lovingly reassures him that it’s not summer yet, but if you look around you can see that nature is preparing for it and soon you will see signs that summer is here.

Kids look so forward to the start of summer, but this book is a reminder as to all of the reasons why summer stinks…C is for castles the tide washed away and D is for dog doo I stepped in today. Oh, and there’s more…..M is mosquitoes and millions of bites and N is not sleeping on hot sticky nights. See? School is looking better and better. 🙂 If your child has a sense of humor, they will love this book.

This is the cumulative tale of all the steps a father goes through to bake an apple pie for his daughter. Cumulative tales are fun because children pick up on the repetition and can “read along” and participate. The illustrations in this book are also worth mentioning. They are not colorful, but they are very detailed and really compliment the essence of the story and its setting.

A simple story of a bear and his dad on a trek through the woods…playing in the leaves, eating berries, watching the sun going down. This story is simple and sweet and the illustrations are magnificent.

I am a sucker for just about anything Mercer Mayer and this one is no exception. It is the story of a boy camping with his dad. As with many of Mayer’s books, things don’t go very smoothly, but no matter, things will turn out alright in the end because he is with his dad.

Dads can get grumpy sometimes and sometimes they are as grumpy as bears. But what would happen if your grumpy dad actually turned into a bear?! I bet he’d give GREAT bear hugs even if he had bad smelly bear breath and I bet he’d make great honey sandwiches. See what other perks come with having a bear for a dad…