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By Mom Unplugged, September 26, 2007 9:47 pm

This is such a cute book! DK books always have wonderful photographs and this one is no exception.

The text is basically a recitation of the children’s song “Old Mac Donald Had a Farm.” The adorable photos are what really make the book so enchanting. Each image features a farm scene composed of cute little felt toys.

My 20 month-old loves this book. She likes pointing to the animals and telling me what noise they make. This is a large-format board book so it is quite sturdy. An important (but often overlooked) plus for a book geared towards babies.

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By Mom Unplugged, September 24, 2007 9:15 pm

Perhaps I should have saved this post for Thanksgiving, but I am so excited about this book that I really had to post it now.

I found this lovely book over the summer when I was away in a place where they actually have stores, unlike here at home. It was either at TJ Max or Tuesday Morning and I bought it (hardcover) for $4.99 (list price is $16.99). Well, you are not going to get this kind of a deal from Amazon, but if you search your local discount stores, perhaps you will be lucky enough to find it for less.

This book is lovely in all respects. The illustrations are gorgeous oil paintings that are completely beautiful unto themselves. For me, often the illustrations are what make the book (as you can tell by the number of children’s books I recommend that are filed under “exceptional illustrations“).

The text of this book is as beautiful as the illustrations. A boy and his father go for a walk through a lovely fall landscape. As is his habit, the father gives thanks to every bit of nature that they encounter: frogs, crickets, tree, mushrooms, sun, etc. The boy explains that “Dad believes that the things of nature are a gift. And that in return, we must give something back. We must give thanks.” At the end of the book, the boy says: “To me it’s a little embarrassing to say thanks to trees and things. But Dad says it becomes a habit; it makes you feel good.” On the very last page the boy finally dares to thank the stars and is treated to a lovely surprise.

Sometimes I find certain books to be wonderfully worthy of praise, yet my children are not as interested. This however, is a book that seems to capture their attention as well as my own.

If my children could simply learn to be thankful for every bit of “nature” that they encounter, then I would feel that my mission on this Earth was not wasted. I am convinced that this simple book can help plant those seeds. Check it out of the library and let me know what you think.

**Paperback is eligible for the 4-for-3 Promotion at Amazon.**

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By Mom Unplugged, September 19, 2007 6:41 pm

This one is truly silly fun. Don’t buy it if you are looking for something profound. Don’t buy it if you want something educational. Do buy it if you want you kids to have a good silly laugh! Or simply check it out of the library of course.

We were kindly given the hardcover version of this book as a hand-me-down this summer, and it has been a huge hit.

Zachary Zebra and Orfo the Orangutan love underwear. They wear underwear of all different colors, prints and styles…sometimes all at once. Gloomy Bismark the Buffalo doesn’t like underwear,and not many other animals like him (even the flies stay away). Zachary helps Bismark laugh for the first time by daring him to say the word underwear ten times without laughing. You can guess the rest I am sure.

What child under the age of seven can resist laughing at jokes about bodily functions or underwear? Well, thankfully there is no bodily function humor here, but the underwear joke is a big hit with my two oldest kids. The illustrations are marvelous too!

I guarantee that the six and under set will find this one hilarious. The paperback is eligible for the 4-for-3 promotion at Amazon.

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By Mom Unplugged, September 11, 2007 8:33 pm

My children and I just adore the sweet tale of how a stray cat makes himself a part of a lonely lady’s life. The illustrations are as delightful as the story.

I like to consider this book both a story book and a find-it book because in every two page spread, the kitty is hiding somewhere in the room. This adds a little element of fun to a nice bedtime read.

It seems that Amazon might be doing away with Where Is That Cat?. I don’t know if it has gone out of print or if it is just harder to find. My advice: grab this one while you still can! Also try shopping around: Ebay and Half.com are good sources for hard to find books at reasonable prices.

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By Mom Unplugged, August 31, 2007 8:02 am

One of the wonderful things about living in the Southwestern US is that there is a whole unique genre of regional literature, including children’s literature. There are not many other parts of the United States that come to mind with such a strong regional literary presence.

After finding my review of their book Baby Animals of the Southwest, publisher Rising Moon (Northland Publishing) asked me if I would be interested in reading and reviewing other books. I am very interested in Southwestern and multicultural children’s literature and I loved the idea of helping support a local publisher (Northland was based in Flagstaff, Arizona, not far from me).

Unfortunately, I heard on the news last night that Northland has just been purchased by a large East Coast publisher and has already closed its doors (which explains the lack of response when I requested some high resolution images of the book to add to this post).

Just when I was feeling like a “cool blogger” for having been asked to write a book review, “my publisher” goes out of business! Maybe I should have written my review sooner?? Oh well. They were kind enough to send me the book, and it is a great book, so I will write the review anyhow!

I was interested in Southwestern bedtime stories, so they kindly sent me Bedtime in the Southwest, by Mona Hodgson, illustrated by Renee Graef.

The southwestern animals in this story resist bedtime in ways that all parents will recognize (bouncing on the bed, ignoring Mama, begging for juice, etc,)… but at the end, the animals demonstrate the proper way to go to bed “scoot into bed and snuggle in tight, and offer big hugs and then say goodnight.”

The text is very simple so that it will appeal to younger children. The illustrations are humorous and very cute and depict such animals as prong-horned antelope, skunks, hummingbirds, and coyotes for example.

I gave this book the test of all my children (ages 7, 5, and 19 months). They all enjoyed it, but my 19 month-old actually made me read it twice more. She loved the story and for some reason, she found the skunk page absolutely fascinating!

If you are looking for an unusual, quality children’s bedtime story with cute art, give Bedtime in the Southwest a try. This might be a really fun one to read to a reluctant sleeper too!