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.

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.