Picture Book: Llama Llama Red Pajama

"Llama Llama Red Pajama" is the rhyming story of a young llama who is not so good at waiting for his mother's attention. Although baby llama goes to bed on time, he finds that he misses his Mama. This starts off a hilarious chain reaction, where Mama's absence produces a series of increasingly agitated reactions in the baby llama. The rhymes are well crafted and the incredibly accurate expressions in the illustrations will enchant kids. The alliteration in this book lends itself very well to phonemic awareness exercises, and kids who are learning to read will find it an excellent choice (after they ask you how to pronounce "llama", that is!).
Picture Book
Ages 3-6
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Picture Book: Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash!

Children who are obsessed with large machines will absolutely love this book. The bright illustrations follow a garbage truck as he smashes and crashes through his trash route. The catalogue of moldy dinners and stinky garbage will revolt and fascinate children, and the onomatopoeic rhyming text invites noisy participation from listeners. My favourite part is the expression of greedy anticipation on the garbage truck's face as it opens wide to chomp up a broken chair. Although there is absolutely no underlying message in this book, it will prove a wildly popular choice for kids who love noisy, enormous machines.
Picture Book
Ages 3-6
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Picture book: Silly Suzy Goose

Suzy goose looks just like all the other geese in her flock. "I wish I could be different," she thinks. The simple text follows her as she imagines hanging upside down like a bat, splashing like an elephant, swimming like a seal, and roaring like a lion. Inspired, Suzy tries out a "Rroarrrhonk!" on a snoozing lion, and races back to the flock just in time to blend in with her identical friends, and escape being eaten. She ends the book by deciding that sometimes it's nice to be like everyone else; but not always.
The simple text and large amounts of white space in this book make it an excellent choice for toddler read alouds. Kids will enjoy looking at the cartoonish paintings of familiar (and not so familiar) animals, and the message is a good one. Definitely a fun choice for storytime.
Picture Book
Ages 2-5
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Picture Book: My Father the Dog

This picture book is aimed at a slightly older reader, as the joke is a somewhat sophistocated. A little girl provides the reader with evidence of the similarities between her newspaper fetching, sore-losing, napping, ball chasing dad, and their dog. The bright cartoonish illustrations are very attractive, and older kids will giggle as dad and the dog both pee in the bushes, and drink from the hose at the same time. It's a good thing mom says the family can keep him.
Funny and simple, this book is a lightweight read that most kids will really enjoy.
Picture Book
Ages 4-7
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Picture Book: Carrot Soup

"Carrot Soup", by John Segal, is an excellent picture book for Spring or Easter themed storytimes. Spring is rabbit's favourite season, and he plans his garden (full of only carrots) very carefully. The delicate watercolour illustrations follow his hard work as he plants and tends the garden, until he finds that there are...No Carrots!?
It's clear someone has stolen them, so rabbit goes and asks all his friends in turn if they have seen the missing harvest. Of course, every animal denies any knowledge of the theft. Attentive kids will notice that in the background of every spread, rabbit's friends are wandering around with wheelbarrows full of the missing carrots, and party supplies galore. All this leads up to a surprise party for rabbit at his burrow, where the meal of honour is, you guessed it, carrot soup. An excellent picture book with a warm ending, and kids will love being in on the joke as rabbit searches for his carrots in vain.
Picture Book
Ages 4-7
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Picture Book: Mr. Pusskins

This delightfully sour faced cat is Mr. Pusskins, a pet who has absolutely no appreciation for his loving owner. Emily adores Mr. Pusskins, but he barely tolerates her thoughtful brushing, praise and bedtime stories. In fact, he becomes so bored with her constant "Blah-de-blah blah blah" that he nips out the cat door one night, and does lots of naughty cat things on his own.
At the end of the night, however, Mr. Pusskins finds himself alone and cold, missing Emily dreadfully. He comes across a missing cat poster with his own face on it, and dials up Emily, meowing piteously into the phone. Of course, Emily comes and scoops him up, and he realizes how lucky he is and reforms.
The text is just a little bit saccharine, but the absolutely hysterical illustrations more than make up for this. It was a shame that Mr. Pusskins had to reform so absolutely, but kids will appreciate the message that sometimes you don't realize how lucky you are until you lose something. Older readers might prefer another bad cat in Rotten Ralph, a very easy First Fiction book about a cat who never does reform.
Picture Book
Ages 3-7
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As you can see, Milo is just a little bit different than the other bunnies. His enormous size and general goofiness make him a laughingstock with all the fluffy little white bunnies, and Milo's dearest wish is that he could do something to fit in. When he sees a contest for an Easter Bunny Helper, Milo springs into action! During the contest, his best efforts go sadly awry, and Milo slinks home in defeat.
On Easter morning, Milo just stays in bed depressed. Suddenly, there's a knock at the door! The Easter Bunny needs Milo's help to make his deliveries in the huge storm that has blown up. In a sweet ending, Milo saves Easter, and finds his place in Bunny society.
The stylized pictures are wonderful, and the message that everyone has a talent and a place is well delivered. A great book.
Picture Book
Ages 4-7
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