Ten Wonderful Children's Books

Genre:  Children's Picture Books

Source:  I received a copy in exchange for my honest review

I Want a Monster for Halloween by Evelyn Brenner

Martha Green wants a monster  for Halloween. The book takes you on a pictorial tour of a variety of monsters to choose from. None of them are scary at all. It made me think that a fun thing to do after sharing this book with a young one, would be to sit and create some fun monsters of their own.  I loved the creative flair of this book with all of its wonderful and fun monsters.

The Scare: A Halloween Story  by Kirstin Lenane

Simon the pig received an invitation to attend a Halloween party and Jim Mouse’s house.  Jim wants no scary costumes or mean tricks. Simon does this to him every year because he loves all things scary.  Simon decides to get a scary vampire costume anyway.  Then he makes some scary cupcakes and heads off to Jim’s house.  He scares little children along the way and thinks it is funny.  When he arrives he goes into Jim’s house and can’t find him.  This year Jim has a surprise for Simon.  Can you guess what it is?

Zombie Kids by Julie Dweck

This is a cute story told by a boy who loves zombies.  I had a student a couple of years back that would have loved this book because the only thing he ever talked about was zombies. This boy tells us in rhyming verse all the ways zombies are like us and why we should like them the way he does.  This was a very cute book.  Not scare, but lots of fun for the young ones.

99 Cents by Jason Sandberg

This is a very short story of a little girl who walks on Daddy’s feet. She finds it fun in the winter, at the beach, in the house or on the street. She prefers it to skipping and running.  Another cute book by this author.

Don’t Judge an Alligator By Its Teeth by Kevin Ocasio and Nicole Ocasio

Benjamin goes fishing with his dad. When his dad falls asleep and he has nothing nibbling at his line he decides to explore around the area.  He finds an alligator and tries to run away. Then he trips and falls.  He is sure he is going to be eaten.  The alligator explains that he just wants to be friends.  He says everyone runs away from him.  Benjamin agrees to play hide and seek with him and has lots of fun until his dad comes to get him. I loved this book.  Part of the reason is because I love alligators, even though I have a healthy respect for them. My only concern comes from the fact I live in Florida where we have plenty of alligators.  I would strongly suggest after sharing this book with your young one that you make it clear that the real alligators are not like the alligator in the story.

Maybe: A Little Zen For Little Ones by Sanjay Nambiar

In this simple book we read about a young girl and her friends. As different things happen to her, the girl’s friends tell her how lucky or unlucky she is. She always responds, “maybe”. The whole idea is to focus not so much on if it was lucky or unlucky. Why, what we thought was unlucky may have benefits we did not see coming. Greatb ook for kids and adults.

Julio Bunny and the Foreign Lion by Nicoletta Costa

This is a simple story of a lion who can’t speak the language of those around him. He finds a group of forest friends who help him, take care of his needs and learn that music is a language everyone understands.

Come Back Dear Sun by Geena Bean

This was an extremely appropriate book for this time in our lives. A little girl is sad because she’s not seen the sun in a longtime. She speaks with the moon and learns the sun was sad and went away. Why? With TV and video games no one came out to play. The sun gets sad and goes away.  The young girl and her friends talk with the moon and ask him to find the sun to come back.  The author is right that our children don’t play outside the way we once did.  I think this is a book that should be shared with all young children.

Pluto the Starfish by Bonnie M. Anderson

Pluto the starfish lives off the coast of Magical Buck Island. He cries because he doesn’t know what his purpose in life is. Lewis the lobster explains that Pluto has a freedom he can’t enjoy.  He must hide from humans to keep from being eaten.  Nancy the nurse shark explains that she has to be wary of cousins such as the great white shark.  Lolita the leatherback  turtle explains to Pluto that they are just now making a comeback because they were almost hunted into extinction. Harriet the Humpback whale explains that being large doesn’t protect you. They have to fear boats and humans. Pluto the starfish learned that size, color or the ability to move didn’t make one more important than another in the ocean.  After all, he was the star of the ocean.

Alphabet All Stars Academy Animal Pack by Scott Gordon

These four books are set up to teach the alphabet. They start off with the simplest task of itroducing childrne to the different animals whose name begins with each letter of the alphabet. The author takes it a step further by telling an interesting fact about the animal. In the second book he has included not only the cutsy animals but the real animals along with a letter from the alphabet and another interesting fact about them. In the third book Silly animals looks at some of the silly aspects of anials such as the narwhal that has a horn on his head or the fact that the own has a very flexible neck. All the while the children are associating the animals with a letter from the alphabet. I love the final book. It was set up as a quiz. The reader must guess the letter in the book. The author has given two great hints. The picture of the animal posed in the shape of the letter. Children learn letter recognition as well as association of animals with the letter. Since the letters are out of order it truly is a higher thinking process