With the Halloween books now put away until next season, it's opened up an opportunity for my daughters and I to explore some new books this week. Not only did my wife swing by the library to pick up a new batch of picture books, but we also purchased a few new titles from a local bookstore! It always adds some fun to our bedtime story routine any time we're able to include some new books to the mix.
When it comes to newer books, my five year old gets the most excited. Usually on the way back from the library, she is already pulling books from our bag to determine which ones she wants us to read that night.
Our infant daughter also loves books, but has seemed to latch onto some of the more well-known classics that most children probably have had on their bookshelf at some point. Rather than reading something new, she's shown a clear preference to some regular favorites instead.
For this edition of "Bennett's Favorite Books of the Week!", we've provided a few new releases that are worth checking out, along with a reminder to not forget the classics as well.
We came across the first book in the Kevin the Unicorn series last year, It's Not All Rainbows. My wife found it in the library and my daughter Bennett must have asked us to read it a hundred times before we returned it. So, when she went to one of our local bookstores and saw the recently released, Why Can't We Be Bestie-Corns?, it was an inevitability that we'd be purchasing it.
The immediate appeal of both books is, of course, unicorns. My daughter loves them and would probably want to read any book that has them as featured characters. But, Why Can't We Be Bestie-Corns? is so much more than just a cute, unicorn book. The story by Jessika von Innerebner teaches children an important lesson that you can't force friendships.
Kevin the Unicorn is really excited that a new neighbor, Eric, is moving in next door. Although both unicorns have every intent of becoming best friends, they quickly learn that they have very little in common. They try to force themselves to like the same things as the other, but eventually realize that it isn't making either very happy. Once Kevin comes clean with Eric, they both learn that its ok to like different things and still be friendly with each other.
There's a lot to like about this picture book. There are fun characters, bright illustrations, a little bit of comedy and an important underlying theme. This is a great read for preschool and elementary age children.
Our aforementioned trip to the bookstore also resulted in purchasing the latest Suzanne Lang book, Grumpy Monkey Up All Night.
I absolutely love the Grumpy Monkey books and was really excited to find out that a new one had just been released within the last month. My kindergartener loves the Grumpy Monkey books as well. They feature the grumpy, but lovable, character Jim Panzee as he deals with challenges and controlling his emotions at the same time.
In Grumpy Monkey Up All Night, Jim's entire family is getting together and he plans to stay up with them all night. But as the day progresses, Jim's plans start to get off track and don't quite go the way he wanted. Mix that with an increasing lack of sleep and you've got the perfect recipe for grumpiness. The book's funny conclusion helps teach younger audiences an important lesson that that you can't always get what you want.
We've read all of the books in the Grumpy Monkey series and Up All Night keeps pace with the others. You can't go wrong with any of them, as they all blend comedy and meaningful messages together with a popular title character. This picture book is the perfect bedtime story for kids 3 to 7.
The third and final book we purchased this week was Gek Tessaro's The Little Ducking Who Wouldn't Get Wet. While technically not a new release (originally debuted in 2014), the first English edition didn't hit bookshelves until this year.
As I mentioned in previous editions of "Bennett's Favorite Books of the Week", my youngest daughter has developed a fondness for ducks. She's one-year old and, of the 10 words in her active vocabulary, "duck" may be the one we hear most often (ok, it's actually "no" but whose counting?). As such, the decision to get this book was purely based on the book cover featuring her favorite animal. But even though we picked this book up for my youngest, my older daughter actually enjoyed it quite a bit as well.
The story shows a little duck standing at the edge of the water, but refusing to jump in. All of the other animals do their best to convince the duckling to get in the water, but he continues to stand firm. It's not until all of the other animals run out of the water that the little duckling decides to jump in.
There is a hint of a larger theme of bravery and self-esteem in this international best-seller. That said, the book's unique illustrations, designed through cut-paper collage, is reason enough to give this one a look. Although we purchased it for our infant, The Little Duckling Who Wouldn't Get Wet is best for children 2 to 5.
If you were making a list of most iconic children's books, it'd be impossible to leave Goodnight Moon off of it. The lovely poem by Margaret Wise Brown has been a popular choice for baby gifts and has been a fixture on Amazon's best seller's list.
When my oldest daughter was born, we got Goodnight Moon as a gift from one of our family friends. It quickly became a go-to bedtime story for her, and that love for this book has already made it's way to our one-year old as well.
The version we have is in an oversized, board book format and it sits prominently on the bottom of my daughter's bookshelf so she can easily reach it. We have rarely missed a night over the last few weeks where this one isn't in the bedtime rotation.
The perfectly, simple story is just the right length to hold her attention. She loves pointing at the different things within the illustrations of "the great green room" and has occasionally tried to grab the picture of the spoon from the "bowl full of mush". I'd be lying if I said the cuteness factor of watching her try to interact with the illustrations wasn't a large motivation in me wanting to read this to her each night.
This classic children's book is a must-own for any parent or book enthusiast. We recommend it for infants, toddlers and preschool children.
It may be a little bit of a stretch to call Wherever You Are a classic children's book, but since it's release in 2012, it's certainly been one of the most popular.
The beautiful words by Nancy Tillman eloquently describe a parent's love for their child. Her heartwarming text is accompanied perfectly by her lovely illustrations which help celebrate the uniqueness of children. This sentimental favorite of many elegantly demonstrates the power of love.
We've owned this one in a board book format for several years. It was always one of my favorites to read to my oldest daughter. My youngest, Elliott, didn't include this one among her favorites initially, but in recent weeks has started to grab it from her shelf more often.
The book works well for kids of all ages and comes in a variety of formats. If you're a fan of Tillman's other best-selling work, On the Night You Were Born, you'll be certain to enjoy this one as well.