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By Mom Unplugged, April 6, 2007 10:30 am

My son’s very favorite lunch is a jam sandwich, so I just had to buy this book when I stumbled upon it at Amazon!

The Giant Jam Sandwich (Sandpiper Book) is a fun rhyming story about the town of “Itching Down” that is invaded by four million wasps. How do you rid your town of four million wasps? You build a giant jam sandwich with which to trap them!

The rhyming couplets are a pleasure to read and the detailed illustrations are positively delightful. My son loves this book almost as much as his precious jam sandwiches!

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By Mom Unplugged, March 10, 2007 5:50 pm

I just finished reading this book to my son’s class, and I whole-heartedly recommend it!

Anatole is a Parisian mouse who decides it is wrong to be stealing scraps to eat from people’s houses and decides to earn his cheese by being an anonymous cheese taster at the local cheese factory. The story and illustrations are so cute that children today enjoy this book as much as they did in the 1950′s when it was first published.

A Caldecott Honor Book.

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By Mom Unplugged, February 26, 2007 10:05 am

This delightful series centers on the fantastic adventures of two small stuffed dogs living in a human world. Nobody seems to notice that Gaspard and Lisa are not human children! The charming stories combine real children’s issues with a touch of fantasy and silly humor.

What really makes this series and its two canine stars so appealing are George Hallensleben’s marvelous oil painted illustrations.

Each small hardcover runs about 30 pages (with minimum text and maximum illustrations on each two page spread) making them ideal short bedtime stories.

Here are plenty of links for you to browse:

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By Mom Unplugged, February 23, 2007 6:44 pm

Astrid Lindgren, the author of the well known Pippi Longstocking series, also wrote this lesser known set of books about a pack of children from three small farms in Sweden. If I had discovered this as a child, I would have LOVED it! I think all children love simple, “nice” stories about children having fun adventures.

I bought this for Christmas thinking that my first-grader might eventually enjoy it. One boring, snowy Sunday in January, my two oldest kids (4 and 6) and I sat on the sofa in front of the fire and I began reading. I planned on reading just one or two chapters, however they would not let me stop until we had read the entire book. They laughed and laughed, and were genuinely interested in the antics of the children. Even I found the book charming, witty, and engaging.

We have since bought the other title in the series, Happy Times in Noisy Village, and my daughter did a school book report on it.

I recommend The Children of Noisy Village to any intermediate-level reader, or any family looking for a “nice” book about simple childhood fun.

The Children of Noisy Village and Happy Times in Noisy Village are chapter books, however there are also two other short, picture-type books: Christmas in Noisy Village and Springtime in Noisy Village. We have the Christmas book which is a good, short bedtime-read. The Springtime book is harder to come by.

If anyone knows of any other books in this series, please comment. I would love to find more!

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By Mom Unplugged, February 12, 2007 4:31 pm

I believe most little girls go through this phase.

This book tells the amusing story of what happens to one little girl who refuses to allow her hair to be brushed. I won’t spoil the surprise too much, but let me simply say that a family of birds is involved!