29-33. Leslie Patricelli Books

29. Quiet Loud by Leslie Patricelli
30. Hair by Leslie Patricelli
31. Big Little by Leslie Patricelli
32. Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli
33. Baby Happy Baby Sad by Leslie Patricelli

There is nothing bad I can say about Leslie Patricelli and her books. The majority of them deal with opposites, and they all have bright bold colors and illustrations. Speaking of, they're hilariously accurate, which will make parents and caregivers laugh out loud. The outlier is Hair which focuses on baby's first haircut. Overall, all of Patricelli's book are short, feature easy words, and are overall a necessary addition to any child's collection.

28. Dinosaur Dance!

28. Dinosaur Dance! by Sandra Boynton

How cute is this book? Colors, dinosaurs, and movement?! Count me in.

Each page features a new, brightly colored dinosaur doing a groovy dance move. This book also rhymes, which is great for babies and small children. Of course my favorite is the triceratops because tap.

Jenny has very recently become a pacifier kid, which makes it easier to enjoy books with her because they don't automatically go into her mouth. She sat through this one and I think she really liked the bright colors and shapes. The onomatopoeia dance moves also help, and I definitely danced with my baby while reading this one. It ends with a dinosaur who looks very distressed because everyone is doing the cha cha cha. It's pretty hilarious.

27. XO, OX: A Love Story

27. XO, OX: A Love Story by Adam Rex. Illustrated by Scott Campbell

Back when I worked as the youth manager at a public library, I was in charge of purchasing for the entire collection. During my collection development, I found a lot of negative feedback of this title. More recently, during a trip to a local library, I saw it on the shelf, and absolutely had to give it a read through. Personally, I didn't find it creepy (we'll get into that in a minute), I found it rather sweet.

Ox is a well-meaning buffoon who is in love with Gazelle, a classy sophisticate. He writes her letters expressing his love to her, but she responds with a form letter. He doesn't get it, and writes her again. When she sends the exact same form letter, Ox finds it hilarious. He closes out his next letter with, "I hope that what I wrote before did not cause you to think that I love you because you are pretty -- I also love you because you are smart." Which I love.

She gets the picture and starts writing him personally, though all of her letters conclude with something along the lines of, "I will not be writing you again! Please stop writing me!!"

Endpapers.

Ox does not get the picture. He continues writing even though Gazelle constantly insults him and puts him down. Eventually she gets so fed up she rips up his picture, only to realize how much of a companion he was, and a sweet soul. The book ends with her writing a new letter to Ox with doey eyes.

Now, a lot of the negative criticism has to do with Ox's relentless attempts to woo Gazelle, even though it's clear she's not interested. But if she really wasn't interested, wouldn't she just ignore Ox? Wouldn't she stop writing for real? Wouldn't she get a restraining order?! Clearly she's intrigued enough to keep writing. I definitely do not see Ox as a creep. He does nothing but compliment and admire. But I totally get why you'd be offput by this story. Ox doesn't quite understand that "no means no." He loves her without knowing anything about her personally. He's clearly obsessed with someone who puts him down and can be seen as mentally abusive. And she just gives in and falls for him the moment he stops giving her attention. I can see where this book is problematic... and I can understand how this is a good book to start a conversation with your kid, but it's a picture book meant for children... I try not to take them too seriously.

Overall, I really enjoyed XO, Ox. I thought it was super cute and I absolutely love the watercolor illustrations, though the endpapers are probably my favorite. I will admit, I did not read this to my daughter because a) it's too long, b) it's not interesting to a baby, and c) I do not trust her to not rip or chew on picture books. We respect library books in our house! Recommended for older kids, 4+.

26. Tickle my Ears

26. Tickle my Ears by Jorg Muhle

I love interactive books. I think they can be a lot of fun to read with children and they really can get a reluctant reader interested in books. Preschoolers get titles like Press Here by Herve Tullet, while older readers get Choose Your Own Adventure type books. Tickle my Ears is also an interactive title, where the child assists a rabbit in getting ready for bed.

Jenny is now 6 months old, but I think she's still too young to really understand the concept of books like this. I mean, she doesn't even know how or why we clap our hands yet, so this title goes way over her head. I would, though, recommend it for baby or toddler story times. Better yet, if your library has a bunny stuffed animal, what a great prop for this book. Or parents can pretend their child is the bunny, and get them "ready for bed" by tickling their ears, stroking their backs, and giving good night kisses.

Ugh, please, someone use this for a pajama story time. IT'S PERFECT.

25. The Little Dump Truck

25. The Little Dump Truck by Margery Cuyler. Illustrated by Bob Kolar

I really liked this book about a dump truck, performing dump truck duties, with his friend Hard Hat Pete. No, not my husband Pete, who also wears a hard hat at work...

Each page has a 4-line rhyming phrase and an illustration that goes with it. The cut-out illustrations are super cute, and there are many, many ethnicities and genders represented throughout this little book. The cars and other equipment also have personalities, which help make this a really fun children's book.

The story, more specifically, starts with the little dump truck carrying a full load through a city, ending up at a building site. He dumps his load, watches the workers for a while, and receives more dirt into his dumper. He drives down route 10 to a garbage site, and makes his delivery. He then continues onto another state, fulfilling his duty as a happy little dump truck. It really is a very pleasant story... There are some hard words in this book though, that I don't necessarily think are the best choice for a board book. Words like debris, excavator, and landfill. Appropriate for an older child who is particularly interested in construction equipment and big machines, not so much for the mildly interested or baby. Nevertheless, this is a quaint, cute book that I really would love for my personal collection!

23-24 Tolerance & Acceptance

23. Mommy, Mama, and Me by Leslea Newman. Illustrated by Carol Thompson
24. Daddy, Papa, and Me by Leslea Newman. Illustrated by Carol Thompson

I've recently finished watching Transparent on Amazon Prime. It took me 4 days to get through 3 seasons. Yeah, I guess you can say I liked it.

Now, I'm not apart of the LGBT+ Queer, Feminist community. And I'm not going to pretend like I understand what they go through or how they live, because I have no idea. I am a white, straight female living in the suburbs, with a baby, a husband, and a chihuahua. I can say with confidence that my family fits many stereotypical gender roles. I stay at home and take care of the baby while the husband works a labor-intensive job to bring home the bacon. I cook, I clean, I run the house.

Being said, I am 1000% supportive of the LGBTQI+ community. I have many friends who are in that community. I support and I LOVE them. I performed in Day of Silence and Night of Noise in college. I've been in drag shows. I've been to Pride. I believe they can be and love whoever or whatever they want. I've told Jenny already that she can do the same. I am teaching her, even at this young age, that some families have 2 mommies, some families have 2 daddies.

This series tells of a child doing everyday activities with their parents. There isn't any special attention to the fact that the child (who is not defined by a pronoun, or any gender-identifying clothing or other characteristics) has 2 mommies or 2 daddies. The title of the books are the only exception. I think the books are trying to appeal to all same-sex families by making the child gender-neutral. It's smart. The text is pretty repetitive. One page says "Daddy and I..." while the next page says, "Papa and I..." The story repeats with different activities until the end. Same goes with the Mommy and Mama title. The rhythm of the story is nice, and I think Jenny enjoyed the bright, bold pictures.

19-22. Library Haul

19. Hot Dog, Cold Dog by Rookie Toddler
20. Baby Penguins Everywhere! by Melissa Guion
21. Quick Duck! by Mary Murphy
22. Pancakes! An Interactive Recipe Book illustrated by Lotta Nieminen

A lot of great finds at the Sugar Grove Library this past week. We attend baby story time every other Monday with Miss Eli, and we also try to pick up some new books to take home.

Hot Dog, Cold Dog is a book of opposites as illustrated with dogs. Unfortunately, no chihuahuas. My favorite page is "Empty & Full" because the bulldog looks so pissed. This was a hit with Jenny, as it ended up in her mouth.

Baby Penguins Everywhere is a story about how a mama penguin is lonely, but finds a hat filled with many, many baby penguins. MANY baby penguins. Jenny and I counted, and on the middle spread, there are 40 baby penguins. Eventually the mama penguin just needs some peace and quiet, alone time. But eventually gets engulfed with baby penguins again as it's "a lot more fun!" This is a very accurate depiction of what it's like to have kids and to stay at home with the kids. They're great, we love them, but sometimes mama needs to unplug and be alone. We love penguins in this house, so right off the bat I knew we'd love this book. The watercolors are beautiful, and the little pops of color are a nice touch.

Quick Duck, of course, is great because tell me a Mary Murphy book that isn't great? Oh, you can't. In the book we're directing the duck to move quickly either out of the mud, or around the flowers, or over the stones. Eventually the duck reaches its mama and siblings with a big SPLASH. I love, love the splatter paint affect they went for there. Bold colors, bright and contrasting, thick outlines. Typical Mary Murphy, but it works so well with kids.

Pancakes is such a cool interactive board book. It's not just a story about making pancakes, it's an hands-on recipe book. A little over Jenny's head. Okay, a lot over Jenny's head, but the idea and execution is done so well. You pull tabs to pour the milk, and turn wheels to whisk the wet ingredients. The publishers are coming out with a similar book soon about making a pizza, and I know it will be a hit.

18. Farley Farts

18. Farley Farts by Birte Muller

This is a really terrible book. I found it at Goodwill, and I'm usually drawn to the weird and gross things in life. So when I saw the word fart in the title, I didn't hesitate. Not one bit. Unfortunately, the only good think about this book is the illustrations. I love the coloring and the character design is pretty amazing. I love the frogs blank expression and his little fingers. This book was originally published in Switzerland under the title Fritz Frosch. I wish they kept the name Fritz, it's great. The direct English translation is actually Fritz Frog. I wonder why there is no mention of farting in the original title... Maybe us silly Americans would be more drawn to it if "fart" was in the title... which is exactly why I even picked it up... touche.

Farley Farts is a story about a frog who cannot control his farts. He farts at home, he farts in the pond ("It was like a Jacuzzi!"), he farts for the doctor, he farts at school. His mother tells him to hold his farts in overnight, which causes him to blow up like a balloon (you know, because he's filled with gas) and floats away. His dad yells at him from the ground to, "Fart, Farley, just as loud as you can!" He does, and he "flipped and fluttered and floated" down to the ground. They celebrated his homecoming by eating, what? BEAN SOUP. No wonder he farts so much...

Now, this is an amusing tale. Jenny loves blowing raspberries with her tongue lately, so she laughs whenever we need to make Farley fart. I love the texture of the illustrations, and the use of color is beautiful. All of the frogs in this story have a creepy stare, like their mouths are sewn shut and their eyelids are glued open... which I find to be hilarious. But I have a few issues with the story.

1. Who takes their kid to the doctor because he's just farting a lot? Try not feeding him bean soup all the time, and maybe he'll stop! The mom is an idiot.
2. Joey McIntyre came out with his 2nd solo album in 2001. This book was published in 2003. Clearly the author ripped off his song, "We Don't Wanna Come Down," because we have a very, very similar line. Lyric: From so far away the world can look so beautiful. Narrative: From way up high, the world below looked so beautiful. THIS IS A CONSPIRACY.
3. Once Farley hits the ground, the line in the book says he landed on his back. Clearly, he is illustrated as landing on his belly.

I will keep this book in my collection, simply because Jenny loves blowing raspberries. You can do a farting book well (i.e. Toot by Leslie Patricelli or Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle), but this isn't one of them.

17. You DON'T want a Unicorn!

17. You DON'T want a Unicorn! by Ame Dyckman. Illustrated by Liz Climo.

If you've been on the Internet for longer than 15 minutes you've probably seen a Liz Climo comic. You know, they're super cute and relateable, usually animal characters. Do a Google search, you won't be disappointed. So when I saw she illustrated this picture book, it didn't matter what it was about, I wanted to check it out!

You DON'T want a Unicorn! is a cautionary tale about how, well, you wouldn't want a unicorn. Definitely WAY out of Jenny's league, in terms of books she would be interested in at this age. But I quite enjoyed it. The narration is as if someone is speaking (or yelling, at times) to the main character, a little boy who dons a shirt that says, "I <3 Unicorns." This would be a really fun book to act out and perform.

The narrator warns the little boy not to wish for a unicorn, but he doesn't listen. A pretty cool looking unicorn appears, and quickly demonstrates why you wouldn't want to live with one. They shed, they scratch, and they poop cupcakes. They jump, they chew, and they burp rainbows. They also live in groups... which means you'll need to wish for MORE unicorns, which ultimately means they'll have a unicorn party, which will eventually drive you insane. The little boy wishes them all away, but not before wishing for a new mythical creature to hang out with...

I really think this book would go over very well with the older crowd, kindergarten and up. Any book that even mentions poop (even if its in cupcake form) or barf (even if its rainbows) will appeal to the boys, and unicorns almost always appeal to the girls. There is anarchy and there are unicorns in sunglasses and leg-warmers. What more could you want?

16. On the Farm

16. On the Farm: A Touch-and-Feel Book 

I'm really liking these touch-and-feel books for Jenny right now. She's slowly realizing things have different texture, so it's fascinating to watch her discover these different feeling patches in board books like this. I didn't know this when I picked it up from the library, but this is actually a perfect book for the upcoming Mother's Day. My first Mother's Day as an actual, honest-to-God Mother. I'm terrified. I'm excited. I told Peter, "I know it's a Hallmark holiday, but I do want something."

Each page repeats itself with different animals. For example, "I love my mommy. Her ___ is ___." Then it illustrates a mommy animal and her baby with the correct names. Horse and foal. Hen and chick. Pig and piglet. I don't like how the middle three animals all have very similar textures, while the first and last are the only truly unique feeling ones. But I guess you typically wouldn't have something with scales or something that's rough on a farm, so the publishers had to work with what they had.

15. Colors

15. Colors by Orla Kiely

I chose this book from the shelf simply because my home library had 2 copies. It's a simple book of colors and simple objects. I particularly like it because the thing doesn't necessarily match the realistic color. For example, Kiely chose to portray a boat as being grey, and an elephant as being red. And even though it's not obviously a counting book, there are multiples of these items on every other page, so it could easily become one. The pages with higher contrast appealed more to Jenny, and I counted to her. But overall this will be better for a 2 or 3 year old.

*edit* Upon further investigation, I've learned that Orla Kiely is an European fashion designer. The aesthetics of the illustrations, everything from color choice to the very rounded shapes, and repeating elements makes way more sense now. It also explains why there were 2 copies on the shelf... I'm going to be honest, her stuff is stinking CA-UTE. I mean, I would personally never spend $43 on an apron... but if I did have that kind of money, I'd be throwing it at her.

14. Five Stinky Socks

14. Five Stinky Socks by Jim Benton

Personally, I found this book hilarious. The monster is super cute and I think he talks about something that we can all relate to. He goes sock by sock explaining to the reader why they smell so much. He washes dirty dishes with the first, compares the second to a skunk, found the third in the trash, and relates the fourth to a dirty diaper booty (my personal favorite). Once he has on all of his dirty socks, he puts on his five stinky shoes. It's a great chance to talk about colors, patterns, and numbers with your child. Jenny, of course, is too young to understand these concepts, but I still explain to her the ideas and theories. She likes touching the monster and is enthralled with the bright colors.

Looking forward to finding and relishing in other Jim Benton books. The back cover mentions Piggy Paints, Where's my Fnurgle? and Robot Kitties. What promising titles!!

13. Hello, Baby Animals

13. Hello, Baby Animals: A High-Contrast Book by Julissa Mora

Now that Jenny has reached 5 months old, she's definitely interested in different things. She's very observant. She notices the puppy, and even grabs at books when I read to her.

The high-contrast colors in this book really appealed to her. I could tell. She was grabbing at it. She was cooing, and couldn't take her eyes off of it.

This book, essentially, says hello to a lot of different animals. But the way you say hello is different on every page. Whether you're asking Zebra, "What's going on?" or saying "Ni hao" to Little Panda.

12. You are my Cupcake

12. You are my Cupcake by Joyce Wan

Want a book where all you do is compliment your little one by calling him or her a "honey roasted peanut?" This is the book for you!

As someone who calls their baby sometimes cutesy (like: Jenny Bean), sometimes questionable (like: my little Poop Stain) nicknames, this book is right up my alley. With every page you get to cuddle and snuggle your baby. The illustrations are big, bright, and bold, making them pretty appealing for baby. Each graphic is raised up slightly and/or gritty with sparkles, making it interesting for baby to explore with their hands as well.

9-11 Easter Edition

9. Meet the Easter Beagle! adapted by Tina Gallo. Illustrated by Vicki Scott. Based on the characters created by Charles M. Schulz
10. Llama Llama Easter Egg by Anna Dewdney
11. Five Little Bunnies by Harper Collins Publishers. Illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

Happy Easter from Jenny Bean!

Welcome to our very special Easter Edition of Reading Books to my Daughter.

Easter is my absolute favorite holiday. Not for religious reasons. My mom and I went to church regularly when I started in middle school, but we don't really go anymore. I grew up going to a Lutheran church camp every summer since I was 18, but I'm not not uber religious. I can respect religiou people and their beliefs, but I'm more agnostic then anything else.

ANYWAY, like I said, I love Easter. I love hunting for eggs. I love the food. I love being around my family. I love how everyone gets so excited. I love that my dad and Auntie Liz get very, very creative with hiding the big money egg. There are no bad memories associate with Easter. When we started having them at my parents house, my grandma would always come over early to help my dad cook. I'd fill Easter eggs with her, and I really liked hanging out with her one-on-one. It didn't happen very often. She's gone now, but I constantly get reminded of her everyday, but get very nostalgic when the Easter season comes along.

So I had to get Jenny (her full name is Jeanette, which was my grandma's name) Easter books!

Meet the Easter Beagle! is Jenny's first introduction to Peanuts. I love Peanuts. My mom loves Peanuts. Jenny will love Peanuts too, damnit! If you've seen the Peanuts Easter Special, you know this story. Everyone thinks Linus is insane because he tells stories about the Easter Beagle, reminiscent of his stories about the Great Pumpkin. Peppermint Patty is upset because Marcie cooked all the eggs she was going to color for Easter. When I first read this, I thought she hard-boiled them, and was confused as to why Peppermint Patty was so pissed. But then I realized, she probably scrambled them and at them all. Anyway, Linus is all like, "Hey, NBD, just wait for the Easter Beagle." Of course the kids think he's crazy, but low and behold, the Easter Beagle saves the day. Well, except for Charlie Brown. He always gets jipped.

Llama Llama Easter Egg is one of the shorter Llama Llama board books. Dewdney has longer picture books, and then created these very short board books as well. Each page has 5 or less words, which will be great for when Jenny starts recognizing sight words and reading. I've already expressed my love of the Llama Llama series, so it's pretty obvious that I love this book. Baby Llama wakes up Easter morning. He gets chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, and searches for Easter eggs. He finds a robin's nest with bright blue eggs. His Easter surprise is the birth of a baby robin. It's really very sweet... I used to find robin eggs all the time at Omi's house, so I know the joy and excitement when you find REAL blue eggs in nature. Thank goodness Llama didn't mistake the robin eggs for Easter eggs... what a demented twist...

Five Little Bunnies is cute Easter finger play with illustrations. Dan Yaccarino is a pretty well-known author and illustrator. The bunnies are cute, bold, and colorful. It's fun for older kids to find all of the Easter eggs, to count all the bunnies, and to practice their colors. All of the bunnies hide the eggs, then watch a handful of children find them and eat the sweet, sweet insides. I have a favorite illustration. It's of a little boy thoroughly enjoying what looks to be a peep, with a smaller blue boy in the background pointing into his mouth. I don't know if he's meant to be thinking, searching, or indicating to everyone where to put their goodies. Insert sweets here. It's super cute and Jenny was pretty interested in all of the bold colors and different shapes. Good solid choice for a 4 month old.

I hope everyone who has made it this far has a very Happy Easter! And if you don't celebrate, have an absolutely amazing Sunday!

Goodwill Book Haul #1

Goodwill is dangerous.

99 cents for children's books. And I love it because it's always a mystery as to what will be on the shelf. I will, from now on, only buy books for Jenny 2nd hand. Library book sales, Goodwill stores, thrift shops, garage sales, you name it! I got 9 books for under $9.

1. Curious George at the Parade by Margret & H.A. Rey
2. Curious George's Dream by Margret & H.A. Rey
3. Curious George Goes to a Movie by Margret & H.A. Rey
4. Curious George in the Snow by Margret & H.A. Rey
5. Curious George goes to a Chocolate Factory by Margret & H.A. Rey

All 5 Curious George books don't even feel or look like they've been opened. Even the binding cracked when I looked inside of them. I'm particularly excited for #5 because that's where I met my husband, at a chocolate store.

6. You are my Cupcake by Joyce Wan

I've seen this one at Target many times, and I've always been sooooo tempted. It's probably the cutest book ever. But I'll wait to tell you why.

7. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. Illustrated by Lane Smith
8. Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney
9. How do Dinosaurs say I Love You by Jane Yolen. Illustrated by Mark Teague

So I'm pretty excited to add these to Jenny's bookshelf. Really good, solid book choices!

8. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

8. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault. Illustrated by Louis Ehlert.

I do not recall reading this book as a kid, or having it read to me as a kid. It was not a staple on my bookshelf. I liked it, but it's definitely not an instant favorite of mine.

Basically all the letters of the alphabet climb up a coconut tree. Then all the letters fall out of a coconut tree. Then the letter A climbs back up a coconut tree. The end.

I think this book will be better for Jenny when she's learning her letters, but until then, I might just leave it on the shelf. I don't have nostalgia goggles on when I read this book.

I do like the illustrations though. The bold and bright colors really appeal to kids, and there is a great contrast between the letters and the coconut tree. It'll be easy for Jenny to pick out the letters from the background, which will be GREAT when we start learning our alphabet. I also like when the letters get personalities after falling out of the tree. It sounds terrible, but when the letters get hurt is when the story really picks up. "Skinned-knee D" has a bandage on. "Stubbed-toe E" is swollen. "Patched-up F" has a bandaid. And when G is "all out of breath," it's laying on its back. It's amusing, and it's when the book really gets interesting. This will sound terrible, but it's like, back in the late '90s, when you'd be watching Titanic on 2 VHS tapes, and you'd skip the first tape because the ship doesn't sink until the second tape. Let's be real, when the ship hits that iceberg is when that movie really picks up. Same can be said for this book, only replace "hitting an iceberg" with "falling out of a tree."

7. Look at Me!

7. Look at Me! Disney Baby by Marcy Kelman. Illustrated by Jerod Maruyama

I would like to start this post off by saying that Jenny loved this book. The first time I showed it to her, she actually squealed with excitement. She's nearly 4 months old now, and she's finally getting excited about her reflection, so all the bright colors and the fun house mirror on every page really evoked something in her.

Every page features a Disney character and an emotion or action that they encourage baby to do as well. For example, Mickey is smiling, Goofy is making a silly face, and Dumbo is yawning. The illustrations are super cute, bold, and very colorful. It's no wonder Jenny loves it.

And I love it because the mirrors in this book aren't flat. So when I say fun house reflection, I mean it. It's hilarious... and I had to snap some photos of Jenny looking at the cover.

Shout out to Lauren, who bought this one for Jenny. We absolutely adore it.

6. Giraffes Can't Dance

6. Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae. Illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees.

If  you know anything about me, it's that I used to have crazy self-esteem issues. I felt pretty worthless and I hated, hated, hated my body. When I lived in Montreal July 2011-June 2012, I learned of my self-worth. I had a self esteem vlog for a little bit, and later transitioned it to a blog. I haven't updated the blog since I announced my pregnancy last June. I'd love to post about loving yourself post partum, but who has the time?!

Anyway, I've gone on this tangent because the giraffe in this story, named Gerald, feels sad that he can't dance like the other animals in the story.

"Gerald swallowed bravely
as we walked toward the floor.
But the lions saw him coming,
and they soon began to roar.

'Hey, look at clumsy Gerald,'
the animals all sneered.
'Giraffes can't dance, you silly fool!
Oh, Gerald, you're so weird.'

Gerald simply froze up.
He was rooted to the spot.
They're right, he thought, I'm useless.
Oh, I feel like such a clot."

Basically, the animals are all dicks and push Gerald away because he dances differently than the other animals. Gerald gets very sad and walks away. He later finds a cricket, who gives him some great advice while he's looking up at the moon.

"'Excuse me!' coughed a cricket
who'd seen Gerald earlier on.
'But sometimes when you're different
you just need a different song.'

'Listen to the swaying
grass and listen to the trees.
To me the sweetest music is
those branches in the breeze.'

'So imagine that the lovely
moon is playing just for you-
everything makes music
if you really want it to.'

The cricket starts playing a violin, and Gerald dances with delight. He doesn't care what he looks like. He doesn't care what other animals may think. He dances like no ones watching, and to his surprise, all the other animals love his dancing! Gerald closes the book by teaching the other animals how to dance like he does. He says, "We all can dance when we find music that we love."

I think this book teaches confidence. Once you dance and do things for yourself, without fear of judgement, is when you can really excel and find your inner happiness. And sometimes you need that push from a parent, spouse, or eavesdropping cricket.

And it was when I finally came to terms with my body and started loving it without judgement or hate that I truly felt happiness. I pushed myself initially, but I've constantly needed pushes from my husband to keep up this way of thinking. Kids can learn a lot from Gerald, and I hope this book will be one of Jenny's favorites.

5. Llama Llama Red Pajama

5. Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney

I have a real soft spot for this book. I read it for my Children's Literature class in grad school, loved it then, love it now. It's really quite sad knowing there won't be any new Llama Llama books, since Anna Dewdney passed away last year. Thankfully, her legacy will live on through her story telling.
Llama Llama books always have great rhyme and rhythm. This is no difference. Just saying "llama," "pajama," "drama," and "mama" repetitivly through out this story brings pure joy to this mama. When a story flows and sings this nicely, it really increases its rereadability.

My favorite illustration is one that shows Mama Llama running up the stairs to her Baby Llama. So much action and excitement! It makes me laugh, as it's so relatable. When your baby is "weeping, wailing," you "run, run, RUN!"

This book also has a lesson. Don't worry so much if Mama isn't jumping to your aid. Baby Llama learns patience. I know baby's as small as Jenny don't really have any sense of patience, as she's only 4 months old. But when she gets older... this book will be awesome.

1-4. Contrast Board Books

1. Spots and Dots by Art Baby
2. Look Look! by Peter Linenthal
3. Look Look Outside! by Peter Linenthal
4. Look at the Animals! by Peter Linenthal

The first 4 books I read to my daughter were all high contrast board books. These were given to me by a former coworker and friend for my baby shower last summer. I love getting books from youth librarians, they really know their stuff.

Spots and Dots can't really be read to Jenny. Because there are no words. Each page has different shapes in high contrasting colors like black, white, pink, yellow, red, and blue. It's just something to look at. Down the road, it'll be a great book to help her count and to learn shapes, but for right now, it's simply to stimulate her eyes and brain. It helps her eyes to focus. Boring book for me, but pretty interesting to her.

Nightmare fuel

The 3 books by Peter Linenthal are also black and white with one additional color, red, green, or yellow. These are much more interesting for mommy to read. Why? Because words. I actually really like the dark line illustrations, with the exception of one. The sun. It's terrifying.

I noticed Look Look Outside has punctuation, while the others do not. I might be knit-picking... but that's weird.

Overall, solid books. They'll be really great for when Jenny starts counting and learning animal sounds. Until then, they're just great to look at.

Welcome

Jenny at work with me, ordering books. No big deal.

My daughter was born on December 6th, 2016. She was 9 pounds, 1 ounce, and 21 inches long. She's perfect, and I can't imagine life without her.

I was born April 24th, 1989. I was 9 pounds, 9 ounces. I am not perfect. I've recently left my job as a youth services manager at the most perfect library to spend time with my daughter and to raise her while my husband is working. I've got a chore chart (to feel accomplished), and one thing on that chart is "self care." Everyday, I will take time to make sure I treat myself. That can be a hot shower, a cup of coffee, taking a walk, or reading books.

My boss (soon to be former boss), really urged me to stay in the field as best as I can, so when I apply for jobs when the kids are in school, I will still appeal to potential employers. I've always wanted to start a book review blog. Now is the perfect time.

I want to instill a love of books and reading in my daughter. I want her to appreciate libraries and feel the library magic when she walks through those doors. I want to read to my daughter.

Reading to Jenny will serve as self care. Reading to Jenny will help me stay relevant in my field. This blog will be a review and record of books I read to my daughter.