When you read as many books as we do in our house, you're certain to develop a preference for specific authors. I know when I go to the library, there's a particular list of writers that I'm on the lookout for every time.
For my daughter, she's less familiar with individual authors' names, but absolutely has certain book characters that she loves. Once she latches onto a favorite, we usually end up reading several books from that author in one sitting. We read Llama Llama books before bedtime when she was a toddler so often that I could practically recite every word from memory.
Many of today's most successful authors have grown their popularity by featuring likable characters over a series of multiple books. Best-selling authors like Mo Willems, Aaron Blabey and Anna Dewdney all have well-known characters that we often feature on this site. Their books fill my five-year old's bookshelf and our collection continues to grow with each new release in the series.
With so many great picture book characters to highlight, we decided to dedicate this week's "Bennett's Favorite Books of the Week!" to some of our favorite book series characters!
A couple of years ago, we came across Suzanne Lang's original Grumpy Monkey book while killing some time in a nearby Barnes & Noble. Me and my, then 3-year old, loved it so much that I proceeded to check it out our library several more times over the following year.
Since then, Lang has dropped two more books in the series -- Grumpy Monkey Party Time! and most recently Grumpy Monkey Up All Night. Both books are a perfect compliment to the original and feature a really entertaining character, Jim Panzee. All of the books have elements of humor, great illustrations and touch on important subjects that are beneficial for younger audiences.
A couple of weeks ago, we purchased the latest book, Grumpy Monkey Up All Night, and have read it several times since it's arrived at our house. My daughter enjoyed it so much that we recently made a trip to our local library to pick up the middle book in the series, Grumpy Monkey Party Time! as well!
In this installment of Grumpy Monkey, we start with Jim Panzee receiving an invitation to Porcupine's party. Jim's friend Norman is excited about it, but not Jim. He doesn't want to go because he can't dance, much to the surprise of all of the other animals. But even after several failed attempts to teach Jim to dance, the other animals still drag him to the party anyway. Although being forced to go to the party makes Jim quite grumpy, he soon discovers that he's not the only one that doesn't care for dancing. When he doesn't have to try to fit in, Jim is able to have a great time and meet some new friends. Grumpy Monkey Party Time! teaches kids the important lesson that not everyone likes the same things, and that's ok.
You really can't go wrong with any of the books in this best-selling book series. If you're already fans of these books, make sure to be on the lookout for the fourth installment set to release in June 2021, Grumpy Monkey Freshly Squeezed!
If I had to pick a favorite author in our house, it would undoubtedly be Mo Willems. We own a ton of books from his popular Elephant and Piggie series, and have read just about everything from his entire catalog.
To add to his appeal, my daughter was also a regular viewer of his brief YouTube series earlier this year, Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems.
When it comes to Willems' popularity, a lot of it can be attributed to one of his first characters, Pigeon. Since his debut, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Willems has published six more books in the series. All of the them are incredibly funny and feature Willems' trademark comic-style illustrations.
Since we were at the library this past week, it was pretty much a given we'd be bringing home at least one Mo Willems book. This time, it was one of our favorites from his Pigeon series, The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?
In the book, we are introduced to Duckling who is politely asking for a cookie. When he shows his friend Pigeon the cookie he received, Pigeon loses it! How did this little duckling get a cookie simply by asking for it? If you've read other books in the Pigeon series, you'll know that Pigeon very often doesn't get his way. Pigeon's tirade, however, is quickly halted when he learns that Duckling was actually getting the cookie for him!
This lesson in generosity, mixed with a lot of humor, is a great read for preschool and elementary age children. We recommend checking all of the books in the Mo Willems' Pigeon series.
With the recent Presidential election dominating the news, we've been answering a lot of our daughter's questions about politics and voting. From seeing all of the signs in yards throughout our neighborhood to hearing my wife and I talk about the election, my daughter has been surrounded by the subject of politics without much context. To help include her in the conversation, we sought out some children's books about government, politics and voting.
We started with Mark Shulman's I Voted which did a great job breaking down what voting is and why it's important. It presented an unfamiliar topic at a level that was perfect for her comprehension and continued to promote interest.
The second book we checked out features some of her favorite characters from Doreen Cronin's popular Click, Clack, Moo series. Duck for President is highlighted by Betsy Lewin's watercolor illustrations and presents the entertaining story of how Duck ascends through the different levels of government, all to try and get out of doing some work.
The story starts with Duck upset about his chores on the farm. The only way he knows how to get out of this grueling work is to vote Farmer Brown out as head of the farm and take his place. Duck sets up voter registration, puts up a few fliers, and in the end wins the election to run the farm! But running a farm is hard work so Duck decides he needs to go a level higher and run for Governor instead. This wacky political effort eventually leads to Duck ascending all the way to the White House where he finally realizes that it's much better being a duck on the farm.
Duck for President is really funny and will not only keep kids entertained but also teach them a few things about different roles of government. The fact that it features characters that my daughter is already familiar with only made the book even more fun to read.
Ever since he debuted on Saturday Night Live, I've always been a big fan of Jimmy Fallon. Assuming I have an energy left at the end of the day, I'll try to catch him hosting The Tonight Show as well. So needless to say when I learned that Fallon had jumped into the world of children's books, I was immediately anxious to check out his work.
His children's books are all written for the youngest audiences and make great gifts for new parents. His debut book Your Baby's First Word Will Be DADA was released in 2015 and I was quick to pick it up for my newborn. Since then, we've also added his second book, Everything is Mama, and more recently his third This is Baby.
While my one-year old likes all three books, she's started to show preference towards the last book of the series, This is Baby. Maybe it's the bright yellow cover that grabs her attention. Or maybe it's the fact that it covers her favorite subject, babies. Either way, it's rare we skip a night where this one isn't read to her before bed.
The book has a lot of charming appeal, thanks in large part to the illustrations by Miguel Ordonez. In the book, we see colorful pictures of babies with different animal characters as they learn about the different parts of their body.
Fallon's story is incredibly simple and perfect for the short attention spans that come with kids under the age of two. We recommend it for any parents of infants and toddlers, or for anyone looking for a great gift for a baby shower!
There may not be another series that we own more books within than Eric Hill's Spot books. These books have long been praised for their promotion of children's literacy. They are great for beginning readers thanks to their utilization of short, simple sentences. Chances are, if you're a parent with a collection of children's books, you probably already own several (there are dozens in the series). For my youngest, Spot books are perfect because they have bright illustrations and usually come in a board book format, which is much tougher for her to destroy.
As I pushed my daughter's stroller through the aisles of the library this past week, she was quick to point out books that caught her attention. One of the first ones we stumbled across was Spot Goes to the Beach. Although we're certainly well beyond beach season, there was no chance I was denying her this book after she recognized the familiar character, along with his Penguin friend who she affectionately refers to as a "duck".
Since the books are intended for children under the age of two, they're obviously light on story but do cover a variety of topics. In this edition, children are introduced to common beach activities like building sandcastles and surfing. It's a really easy read for infants and great for elementary kids to practice their developing reading skills.