The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat Preschooler Monkey found spotted this book at the library just as we were about to leave and had to take it home. My arms were already full of books, but she really liked the cover, and the librarians said it was a good one, so of course we checked it out. Toddler Monkey claimed it for herself at bedtime, and the next evening a small fight ensued when PM realized she hadn’t even gotten to read it yet (BTW hearing

The Three Little Witches Storybook by Georgie Adams (Author) and Emily Bolam (Illustrator) What’s more frustrating then falling in love with a book at the library, and then discovering it’s no longer for sale? Arg! Preschooler Monkey absolutely LOVED this illustrated storybook. The illustrations are extremely cute, and the text is just the right amount of silly. I almost didn’t choose it because of its length, which is more appropriate perhaps for a slightly older child, but

As you know, my preschooler has been very interested in fairy tales lately, so we’ve been checking out a lot from the library. The most popular (surprise surprise) have been Disney-princess themed, but here are a couple that she’s enjoyed for other reasons. The End by David LaRochelle, Illustrated by Richard Egielski One of my daughter’s recent repeated requests is for me to read books backwards. This started with Corduroy one day when she thought it could be fun to start wit

Preschooler Monkey and I enjoyed a lot of books this past month, but I thought I’d share a couple that really stuck in my mind as unique and interesting: Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds; Illustrated by Peter Brown When my daughter chose this off the shelf, I was worried it was going to be too creepy for her, and that she was going to be crying about monster carrots in her room in the middle of the night. But that’s not what happened. We read it over and over again, and each

Terrific Terror, aged two and a half (T.T.): Only 2 books today, Mommy! Me: Are you sure? We have time to read at least 5. T.T.: No. Only 2. Me: (pleased not to have to read out loud for an hour–5 picture books is actually quite a lot considering you have to read each one at least twice if not more) Okay! Choose two books and climb into bed! We start to read. She chooses a terrible Sesame Street book (but it’s shaped like Big Bird!!!), and a new and hilarious favorite from

I finally got photo uploads working! Here’s a long overdue blog post about my trip to San Francisco this past March. My husband had to go to California for his job, so I had a lot of time to myself to spend exploring the city. I had planned on getting a lot of writing done, but ended up taking a bit of a writing break instead! Here are some highlights (sorry for the poor quality, I am not a photographer and I only had my cell phone camera): A cable car! These things are so co

Last week’s library picks, as always, included multiple animal themed books and a Valentine’s Day selection. However, her favorites were a couple of farm animal themed books. Amazingly, neither of these books feature ducks or geese. Cock-a-doodle-hooooooo! by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom (illustrator) (I love that I had to count the number of o’s in the title of the book!) This book is about an owl who wants to live in the henhouse. The hens are skeptical but are soon wo

A few more library books my daughter loves. We checked out six books last week and these two have been the ones we’ve read over and over and over again: I didn’t realize how much she would love this book but the toddler actually quotes from this one very frequently. “Baby Bewwy rub a dub! Baby Bewwy rub a dub!” Her favorite part is when the baby escapes from his parents and streaks naked across the house (“Look at baby’s bobbon [bottom]!”) We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michae

Every one or two weeks my daughter and I walk to the library and come home with a pile of books to read at bedtime (or anytime, really). Here are a few of her favorites from the last few weeks: Lots of Dots by Craig Frazier A fun and colorful book filled with…dots. My daughter loves polka dots (or “cocoa dots” as she calls them) and this book fuels that obsession. The Little Little Girl with the Big Big Voice by Kristen Balouch This book was set up on the shelf by the librari

My one-year-old and I went on another trip to the library today! Today I let her do all the choosing. But before we get to the books from the library, here’s a book we purchased last week: Ducks Go Vroom (Step into Reading) by Jane Kohuth and illustrated by Viviana Garofoli The author of this book is a friend of a friend, but the baby honestly loves this book. Her thing these days is to have me read the first few pages of a book and then move on to the next one. But with this

My 1-year-old and I went to the library today. She ran around, choosing books at random, while I went through and looked at them carefully. Eventually, she sat and flipped through a few of the books she had strewn on the floor (Sorry librarians! Don’t hate me!). We took home a couple of her favorites and a few of mine. Mommy’s picks: On Mother’s Lap by Ann Herbert Scott, illustrated by Glo Coalson: I loved the illustrations and the repetitive, soothing text. Looked like a goo