Dinosaur vs. bedtime by Bob Shea - review

Dinosaur vs. bedtime by Bob Shea
Oh. Mygod. How much do children love reading this book?! Even kids who aren't reading yet can read this book. And they love to do it!

I finally got a chance to read it to my two kids tonight, but even then I didn't really! They chimed in with all the ROAR ROAR ROARs, they loved doing a high-pitched, hysterical announcer voice for every challenge the dinosaur faces: "Dinosaur versus... A BOWL OF SPAGHETTI!!" and oh GOD did they love "Dinosaur versus... TALKING GROWN-UPS!" BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! BLAH!

And they even enjoyed the winding-down part of this tried-and-true story arc, as Dinosaur's ROARs wane and his eyelids droop, until finally, "Bedtime wins." Usually, my kids are too savvy - they see it coming and they kind of roll their eyes, "Oh sure, of course the kid runs out of steam and it's time for bed." They know it's a ploy meant to get THEM into bed, and they resent it. But it's so fun to turn those ROARs into yawns, they buy in completely.

Bob Shea, king of the LOUD picture book.

The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson, pictures by Beth Krommes - review

The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson, pictures by Beth Krommes
Finally got ahold of this much-praised new picture book the other day. In nested prose ("In the house burns a light. In that light rests a bed. On that bed waits a book."), the author takes us on a swooping, quiet journey through and above a summer night. And in scratchboard illustrations nearly as detailed as something by a Geisert, the illustrator pulls us in and slows us down.

Hypnotic. That's the word. Good for many a moment of stillness with a small child, even one who is rarely still.

Over 'Goodnight, Moon' - Best board books for babies

Our favorite board books:

Hug by Jez Alborough

Moo Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton (gets a special endorsement from Big Friend's ma)

Big Red Barn Board Book by by Margaret Wise Brown

The Very Hungry Caterpillar board book by Eric Carle

Inside Freight Train by Donald Crews

Jamberry by Bruce Degen (the rhythm of this book is really jazzy and the illustrations keep even older children interested)

Touch and Feel: Pets (or any Touch and Feel book) by Nicola Deschamps

Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino. "You are right about that: I think your mama must be a bat!"

Counting Kisses: A Kiss & Read Book by Karen Katz

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. You know, I have never liked this book, but I am a member of a miniscule minority in this regard.

Baby Faces by Margaret Miller

Yummy Yucky (Leslie Patricelli board books) by Leslie Patricelli

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury

Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathman

10 Minutes till Bedtime by Peggy Rathman. These two books by Peggy Rathman are almost wordless but high on interwoven detail. They both work for a large age range.

Peekaboo Kisses by Barney Saltzberg

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Mr. Brown can moo! Can you? by Dr. Seuss

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw. Very simple but funny and with a great rhythm plus terrific colored pencil illustrations.

Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business by Esphyr Slobodkina. The monkeys say "chee chee chee!".

Dinosaur Roar! by Henrietta Stickland and Paul Stickland. The winner and all-time champion favorite little-kid book in our house.

Tails by Matthew Van Fleet. A new entry in the canon. Lots of touchy, wiggly, shiny features.

Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus! by Mo Willems

Goodnight, Me by Andrew Daddo, illustrations by Emma Quay - review

Goodnight, Me by Andrew Daddo, illustrations by Emma Quay
I'll bet it's just me. Probably. I'll bet that everyone else will read this beautiful little book, about a baby orangutan saying goodnight to each of his body parts, and just be charmed to pieces.

After all, I thought it was adorable too ("Legs, get some rest. We've got a lot of jumping to do tomorrow."), right up until he said goodnight to his chest, and admonished it to "keep breathing". And all of a sudden I got that Goodnight Moon vibe. Goodnight Moon always freaked me out, and I am not the only one. Saying goodnight to the air, and to sound - it sounds a lot like death to me, and I think that's kind of exactly what you have to avoid when you are soothing an anxious child to sleep.

Of course, there are plenty of children who are not anxious about going to bed, and Goodnight, Me is a fine little bedtime book for those kids. But a lot of time, if a parent is looking for a bedtime book, it's because they have a kid who has trouble letting go, and I think reading this book to a certain kid who is tense at bedtime is asking for trouble.

Emma Quay's sensitive, delicate pencil and paint drawings of the little orang deserve special mention. You just want to scoop up that sweet, hairy little kid and cuddle him to sleep. I'm going to look for Cheeky Monkey, also by these two. Like I said, it's probably just me.

Triplets turn three! Best books for three year olds

Our friends Heather and The Toddfather have triplets. Yep, a girl and two boys: C, D, and E, all three just as cute and full of fun as a pillowcase full of puppies. It's their birthday - they're three - as well as the birthday of the admirable Heather.

In their honor, I am running down the best books I know for three-year olds. Three is such a great age. They can stand a bit of story in their books, but not much. They get a few jokes. They like strong colors and funny noises. They're a little young for alphabet books, but counting books and colors go over well. Best of all, the end of diapers is in sight.



Ravenous Beast by Niamh Sharkey. Lots of visual cues and repeating elements - our boy Mao started "reading" this one out loud to himself when he was about 3.



Dinosaur Roar! by Henrietta and Paul Stickland



The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman



Chicka chicka boom boom by Martin and Archambault. This book taught our Zhou all his letters before he was two. He was like a bar trick there for a while.



Sunshine by Jan Ormerod.



Bark, George by Jules Feiffer



I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by local hero Kevin McSherry, the t-shirt pimp of the Mt. Royal corridor.



The Pigeon books by Mo Willems, plus Leonardo, the Terrible Monster. I recently reviewed The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! here.



Not a Box and Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis. Here's what I wrote about Not a Box.



Penguin by Polly Dunbar



Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers



No, David! and the other David books by David Shannon



Bubble Bath Pirates and Good Night, Monkey Boy by Jarrett Krosoczka



Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. I just want to see Todd going, "Chee! Chee! Chee!".



Henny-Penny and Mrs. Mustard's Beastly Babies by Jane Wattenberg.



Good Night, Gorilla and 10 Minutes to Bedtime by Peggy Rathmann



Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett. Reviewed here earlier.



Living Color, Sisters and Brothers, and What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? by Steve Jenkins. Living Color reviewed here.



Runaway Dinner by Allan Ahlberg. This is the one that I said reads like Tom Waits.



Pigs from 1 to 10 by Arthur Geisert. I like the rest of Geisert's books for older kids.



Hello, Day by Anita Lobel. Reviewed here just the other day.



Color by Ella Doran. Reviewed here previously.



Grumpy Bird and Me Hungry! by Jeremy Tankard. Reviewed here previously.



Where is Coco Going? and the other Coco books by Sloane Tanen. Except the grown-up Coco books: Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same: The Life and Times of Some Chickens, Going for the Bronze: Still Bitter, More Baggage, and Hatched!: The Big Push from Pregnancy to Motherhood, although I totally recommend those for Heather.



Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Last but not least. A classic.

In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Tricia Tusa - review

In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Tricia Tusa
Tricia Tusa is one of those illustrators with a wonderful, gestural style, whose work I always feel like I've seen before. Her Alice reminds me of the little girl in How to Make a Ni...oops yes well that's because Tricia Tusa illustrated How to Make a Night. Well that was a good night-time book too. Maybe somebody's pigeonholed Tricia Tusa as a go-to-bed illustrator. Weirder things have happened. Eric Carle has his own museum.

In this book, Alice says she can only sleep in a blue room. Her Mama (a very patient, loving mama, by the way) brings her four items to soothe her senses: flowers, tea, a soft quilt, and a windchime, and then, as Alice is finally just barely hanging on to consciousness, she turns off the light and the room is bathed in blue moonlight. The last pages show Alice's house on the Earth and the Earth in space, in a celestial "blue room".

You want to get some sleep? I'm telling you - this is one sweet, soothing big blue marble glass of warm milk.

Hello, Day by Anita Lobel - review

Hello, Day by Anita Lobel
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." What they meant was "Hello, day!"
Later on, the owl said "Whoo-oo." What she meant was, "Good night."

Jeez, Louise, what else do you need? For storytime, for little kids, for bedtime - knocks Goodnight Moon out of the park. The illustrations, done in markers, pencil, colored pencil, watercolors and gouache, are colorful and rhythmic and textured and dimensional. They're like Van Gogh meets Warhol, but beautiful.

Endpaper bonus: gorgeous, dense bands of brilliant flowers. I want a skirt made of that pattern.

Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Jen Corace - review

Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Jen Corace
A new take on the bedtime book. Little Hoot is a happy little owl. He likes school, he likes playing, etc. He just hates bedtime, because his parents make him stay up late. Get it? He's an owl?

"You don't want to go to bed? Well, how would you like it if you weren't ALLOWED to go to bed, like Little Hoot?" the parent booms in a hollow voice.

I hate reverse psychology. It never works and it always seems like a mean, frustrating trick.

On the other hand, I read this to Mr. Four, and he thought it was a stitch. And the illustrations are SOOOO cute, with clear, delicate lines and a palette of warm, bright colors.

Big Bad Bunny, story by franny billingsley, art by g. brian karas - review

Big Bad Bunny, story by franny billingsley, art by g. brian karas

Wow! I am not going to give away the plot of this book - yes, I know it's a picture book and not to be taken seriously, but I'm telling you it's cute enough to preserve the surprise.

I will tell you that G. Brian Karas does his usual terrific expressionistic job illustrating Franny Billingsley's clever twist on the terrible toddler bedtime story. Get it for your two-to-whatever-year-olds and enjoy it.

Righty and Lefty: A tale of two feet by Rachel Vail - review

During that portion of my life known as The Diaper Years, I used to talk to feet. It was a good way to keep a child distracted while on his back on the changing table. As I recall, the left foot was Happy Foot and the right was Grumpy Foot. (The rest, I have blocked out.)

Happy Foot would say to me, "Ooo! Hi there! I am so happy to see you!" and Grumpy Foot would say, "Take your hands off me, whaddaya doin down there? Back off, lady!" Kid would dissolve into fits of giggles.

I would say, "I'm happy to see you too, Happy Foot! What's the deal with your brother over there? He seems kind of crabby," and Happy Foot would say, "Ooo! All he needs is a big kiss! Come here, you!"

Grumpy Foot would flee as far as his fat leg would take him (that would be me, yanking the child's foot around), and Happy Foot would pursue. Grumpy Foot would make "Bleagh!" sounds and Happy Foot would make kissy sounds.

Foot puppets. That's my milieu. I kill with foot puppets. There is NO VIDEO of me doing Happy Foot and Grumpy Foot. My performance masterpiece, and it is lost to the mists of memory. No justice.

Anyway, Righty and Lefty: A tale of two feet is pretty much Happy Foot and Grumpy Foot - illustrated. It is funny funny funny.

They help each other out of their sneakers.
"Ew," says Lefty. "You stink."
"You stink, too," says Righty.
"I know," says Lefty. "We are quite a pair."
They chase each other around.

(Righty and Lefty would appear to be boys)

A boo-boo bunny comes to help.
It has no legs and is freezing cold.
Lefty does not trust this bunny.

Dude, Lefty, follow your instincts.

This book also works really well as a bedtime book. At the end, Lefty wants to go to sleep but Righty wants to keep playing. After a while, Righty realizes that it's no fun to stay up by himself, and he slides in under the covers with Lefty. Very peaceful end to a very fun and unpredictable book about brothers.

Engelbert Sneem and his dream vacuum machine, written and illustrated by Mr. Daniel Postgate - review

Engelbert Sneem and his dream vacuum machine, written and illustrated by Mr. Daniel Postgate

Oh, awesome! It's a fun, good-looking book that, very sneakily, is also for helping with nightmares! Mr. Sneem is like a reverse Santa Claus who shows up and suctions away the dreams of children, keeps them corked up in brown bottles for his own consumption. Then one night a mom reads her kid a bedtime story - a book about Engelbert Sneem (ooo! meta!) - and the kid has a nightmare about him. Sneem sucks up the kid's dream and then views it at home. He is so upset to find out that he himself is a nightmare that he vows to change his ways.

And now...
if a child has frightening dreams
Of ghosties and ghoulies
and terrible things,
The good Mr. Sneem
is right there in a tick,
And he sucks up the nightmare
and plugs it up quick.