Picture Book Review: OH NO, Little Dragon! and Except If by Jim Averbeck

“Phooosh! Phooosh!”

(My daughter after reading OH NO, Little Dragon! by Jim Averbeck)

OH NO, Little Dragon! is an adorable and colorful picture book by Jim Averbeck (see his guest post). The story is about a young dragon who loses his “spark” and must figure out how to get it back. The Charles Shulz like drawings (Little Dragon reminds me of Woodstock, who was always my favorite Peanuts character) combined with the dragon’s very toddler-esque behavior really warmed my heart (pun intended). Toddler Monkey was immediately drawn to the bright red cover, and unfortunately so was her toddler cousin, who immediately demanded to take our copy home with her (she has promised to return it though!).

Except If, by Jim Averbeck

This story was a big hit with Toddler Monkey, because it coincidentally features one of her new favorite words “except” (though she likes to say “except of” instead of “except if,” as in, “Everyone loves spinach, except of me!”)  The book reads as a kind of exploration of the imagination. What could possibly come out of an egg? What might this snake also look like? The book also includes a dinosaur and fossils, which are a topic of great fascination right now. “What happened to the dinosaurs? What is the fossil?” The only source of confusion for my toddler is that the book doesn’t look like the bones we’ve seen in the museum. I guess it’s more of an impression kind of fossil. In any case, I already had to read this book about a million times the first week we got it.

Note: I received copies of both books directly from the publisher.

#picturebook #toddlerfavorites #ohnolittledragon #jimaverbeck #exceptif #fossils #dragon #dinosaurs #toddlermonkey

Read it Again, Mommy: Shiver Me Letters by June Sobel

Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC by June Sobel; Illustrated by Henry Cole

Let me start out by saying that I (usually) hate alphabet books. They tend to be boring alliterative lists (and I particularly hate it when people make up words to get X and Y to work. Even when it’s Dr. Seuss.). So when my toddler and my husband came back with this one from the library, and my toddler asked me to read this one again after my husband had just read it to her earlier, I actually groaned. But I was wrong to judge this one by its cover (groan again). This book has an actual story with funny illustrations that turn into a sort of search-and-find for the reader (not so much for parents because the letters aren’t hidden exactly, but for a toddler I guess they are). And I particularly loved that the pirates say, “R!” all the time. Hilarious!

#junesobel #picturebooks #shivermeletters #henrycole #mommyreaditagain

Picture Book Review: Dangerously Ever After by Dashka Slater

[2013 Update: (see original review below)

Now that this book is age-appropriate for my daughter (she’s now almost 4) she loves this book! My minor quibbles about the book are now gone. Clearly, she was just a little bit too young last year. She now understands most of the puns and laughs out loud about the silly noses. Very cute.]

Dangerously Ever After by Dashka Slater; illustrated by Valeria Docampo

When I received an email from this author asking me to review her latest picture book, I was thrilled. I loved Sea Serpent and Me, which had been a baby shower gift from a good friend of mine (thank you, P!). The ending makes me tear up every time. So cute. While this story doesn’t feature a cute little girl and her sea serpent, it does feature a spunky princess and a creepy garden.

Dangerously Ever After is the story of Princess Amanita, a princess who wears blue and has a dangerous garden full of plants like stink lilies and grenapes (grenade + grapes = grenapes). When the Princess receives roses from Prince Florian and is enamored by their dangerous thorns, she requests some seeds for her garden. Unfortunately, instead of roses, she receives noses, and she must find her way to Prince Florian’s castle to give them back.

The story itself is cute and the illustrations have lots of fascinating details to look at. Princess Amanita is a great counterpoint to those Disney Princesses who my daughter is already starting to love.

Toddler Monkey’s reaction: She’s like Rapunzel! Me (inwardly groaning at Disney Princess reference): Why? Toddler Monkey: Because she wants to leave her castle! Me: Oh. Okay.

While I was happy to read a story with a spunky, independent princess (who also wore pretty and unusual dresses), I’m not sure my toddler was quite ready for this one. She was very puzzled about why Amanita would like dangerous things (“Why does she like thorns? I don’t like thorns!”) and I wasn’t sure how much explaining I wanted to do, not wanting to make dangerous things like “leaning out of the topmost turret of the castle” sound appealing to her toddler brain.

But I think this book will grow on her (gardening pun intended) in a few years.

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

#valeriadocampo #bookreview #seaserpentandme #picturebooks #dangerouslyeverafter #dashkaslater