Children's Bookshelf

Where The Wild Things Are

   by Maurice Sendak

One of the most classic children's books of all time, "Where The Wild Things Are" is a book that can be enjoyed by children and adults of any age.

Max is a boy who seems to be in trouble a lot, and his mother tells him he is a "Wild Thing".  When he is sent to his room Max travels to a new land of Wild Things where he can be a little boy with his wild friends.  

It's hard to even describe this book in words, it is a true picture book where the illustrations tell so much of the story.  But the pictures are so captivating and imaginative your attention is captured and your imaginations soars into the wild land.  

Max becomes King of the Wild Things and lives a fun and wild time in the other land.  But then he travels home to his mother who loves him.  

A truly fantastic children's book that everyone should read.

ALSO:  "Where The Wild Things Are" has been made into a movie, being released in October 2009!!

The Napping House

   by Audrey Wood and Illustrated by Don Wood

In the Napping House there is a bed, "a cozy bed, in a napping house, where everyone is sleeping."

The book tells the story of everyone...and everything who is sleeping quietly in the napping house.  There is a granny and a child and a dog and a cat and a mouse...all asleep.  AND there is a flea....who is NOT sleeping!

Uh-oh!! The Napping House is about to be VERY not napping!

I love this children's book which begins with a repetitive rhythm that lulls you into a nap time quiet.  Then everything is chaos when everyone wakes up suddenly.  The illustrations in the Napping House are beautiful and they change throughout each page as we watch the sun slowly come up outside the window.  

This children's book is very similar to "The Flea's Sneeze" and is a must-have classic for every child's library.

Five Little Monkeys Go Shopping

  by Eileen Christelow

Another Adventure for the Five little Monkeys in this adorable children's book series.

The Five Little Monkeys and their mother go shopping for new clothes, but mom has a little trouble keeping up with the little ones.  She tells them "Stay right here and don't go wandering off", but we know how well those monkeys listen.  When she heads off the find one missing monkey, two more leave.  Then when some of the Little Monkey's friends show up she has five monkeys, but they're not the right ones!

This children's book is full of adding and subtracting as monkeys come and go, and each page shows how the numbers line up in the math problem format.  

The pictures and antics of the five little monkeys are very entertaining and children will laugh the whole way through as the monkeys wander around and the mom tries to keep up with them.  

A very cute and entertaining children's book!

Digby Takes Charge

by Caroline Jayne Church

Digby is a farm dog, but he's not so good at his job of sheep herding.  Digby is sent to a new farm that only has six sheep so his job will be a little easier.  The farm dog decides he will make the sheep do what he wants and orders them into the pen.  The sheep don't move.  Digby keeps trying day after day, but the sheep don't listen, even when he takes drastic measures including a tractor, a tank and a helicopter.

Finally the sheep decide to let him in a little secret.  All he has to do is say please.  Once Digby asks the sheep nicely to go into the pen and says please they go right in. 

This is a short children's book with a great lesson for young children.  The pictures of Digby trying different ways to move the sheep are very funny.  A great young children's book.    

Grandpa's Teeth

By Rod Clement

Grandpa wakes up one morning and discovers that his teeth are missing!  He searches high and low, on the shelf, under the bed, in the bathroom, under the dog.  He is absolutely sure that his one of a kind swiss-made teeth have been stolen.  Mom and Dad call the police and a search begins for the missing teeth.  The rest of the book is the adventure of the search through the town.  Grandpa assumes everyone is a suspect and all the townspeople start smiling all the time to prove that they have their own teeth.  Where could the teeth be?

A very funny story, "Grandpa's Teeth" keeps you reading this children's book because you just have to know what happens.  The children's book has really good pictures.  The story and length are better for children who can sit through a longer story.

Children will like this silly story book and will hang on to every word wanting to know how the book ends. 

The Giant Jam Sandwich

 

The Giant Jam Sandwich is one of my all time favorite children's books.  I remember reading it as a child and I recently read it to a kindergarten class for Read Across America Day.  It is a very fun story that adults and children will both enjoy.  

The story and pictures are by John Vernon Land with verses by Janet Burroway.

The story is set one summer in the town of Itching Down when four million wasps fly into town. The wasps are a terrible nuisance and the townspeople get together to find a way to get rid of the pests.  The winning idea is to make a Giant Jam Sandwich. (You can learn about the details in the book, but it includes a giant oven, horses and a flying tractor!)

The pictures are very classic in this book and the rhyming pattern makes the words fun to read.

To me, this children's book is an absolute classic that everyone should ready.  It is on my own personal top ten list!

Mucky Duck

by Sally Grindley

illustrated by Neal Layton

"Mucky Duck was supposed to be white, and sometimes she was, but mostly she wasn't."

Mucky Duck likes all kinds of activities:  Cooking, playing soccer, painting, gardening.  And all of these things are things that get Mucky Duck all dirty and many different shades of colors.  

This is a great picture book for children, which is mostly illustration driven.  The pictures show Mucky Duck in all her favorite things and the way she looks when she is all messy.  Children will identify with this picture book as Mucky gets messy while having fun.  

The Old Man and the Flea

 

by Mary Elizabeth Hanson

illustrated by David Webber Merrell

This children's book is a very silly book about a lonely old man who decides he needs a pet.  But he is very picky about the kind of animal he wants for a friend.  Dogs bark too much, cats scratch furniture and a parrot would eat all of his peanuts.  Finally he finds the perfect pet...a flea!  The flea is tiny and fun and keeps the old man company.  Everything seems just fine, until the townspeople start to think the old man is crazy for talking to himself.

What will happen to the old man and his precious pet?

The illustrations in the story really captured my attention, especially the pictures of the flea as he travels around with the old man.

Children will enjoy this book for its silly story and large colorful pictures to go along with the words.  

The House Book

by Keith DuQuette

The House Book is a great children's book about architecture.  It is a very simple, rhyming book about the different parts of a house.  From floors and doors to ceilings and windows, it explains the different roles played by the pieces of a house.  The book is pretty short and children will be able to read it for themselves.  Because it is so simple in explaining some basics of architecture it is a good introduction book for teaching children about the building process.  The illustrations and beautiful and the last page of the book is very sweet and true about houses.

"You've seen the things that houses do, but they're not homes without you."

The Letters are Lost

by Lisa Campbell Ernst

Puzzles with lots of pieces tend to get lost once in a while.  This book is about a child's toy with blocks of all the letters, once all the letters were together in the box, but now they are all spread out and need to be found.  Each page has a different letter block and where that letter has run off to, a place that starts with that particular letter, of course.

A very cute idea for younger children who are learning their letters.  And every parents can identify with the question of those missing letter blocks.