Saturday, December 27, 2014

It's Okay to Make Mistakes by Todd Parr

The title sort of tells the whole story here, but we like it. The book is brightly colored. My daughter mentioned that a guy spills his milk in the story, and she sometimes spills her milk too. "But it's okay," she explained to me. The author Todd Parr also lives in nearby Berkeley.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Bunny Mail by Rosemary Wells

This lift-the-flap book features 2 sibling bunnies, their grandma and the mail man. (Although my daughter pointed out that the mail man is not always the same color; thus indicating it actually features more than one mail man.) The older sister bunny throws a July 4th picnic while the younger brother bunny asks Santa for a Sand Spitter motorcycle. The real story is about the little bunny struggling to communicate without written language, which is fun and interesting.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Little Owl's Orange Scarf by Tatyana Feeney

Little owl doesn't like her scarf, but her mom says she has to wear it to stay warm. After several attempts, she succeeds in losing it. They replace it with a scarf that little owl likes better. I like the artwork and self-directedness of the character. My daughter likes the scarves. I wear scarves all the time (even in summer); so, my daughter probably associates them with me.

Reminder about our book reviews: As you know, we pull books off the library shelf, somewhat  randomly, every week. I blog about the ones we love most.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Olivia by Ian Falconer

I remember when this book came out. I had just gotten a new niece named Olivia. I thought about getting her this book and related Olivia paraphernalia, but I didn't because I figured everyone else would have already thought of that and done it. I have regrets. This book is fantastic -- totally worth the hype back then.

My daughter says she likes everything about this book: that Olivia changes her clothes, that she wants her mom to read her 5 books, that she gets a time out. These are all things my daughter does every day. It's like reading a book about herself.

The artwork is very cool too, and I like the red and black. Of course, I love the inclusion of Edgar Degas, Jackson Pollock and Maria Callas -- you can't start cultural conditioning too early. I also love that they got to a museum. They obviously live in New York City.