The Cool Bean by Jory John
The Cool Bean is part of Jory John’s series that includes The Good Egg, The Bad Seed and The Good Egg Presents: The Great Eggscape! (coming in February 2020). The Cool Bean is just like the other stories in this group. There are more than a few puns about being “a cool bean” and bean puns in general. The story is simple: Our narrator used to hang out with a handful of beans in olden times (as long ago as last year), but this year […]
Love Monster and the Scary Something by Rachel Bright
Love Monster and the Scary Something by Rachel Bright stars the Love Monster from 2013’s Love Monster and 2015’s Love Monster and the Last Chocolate and 2014’s Love Monster and the Perfect Present. This time Love Monster is getting ready for bed, but no matter how hard they try, they cannot get to sleep! And as it gets later and later, Love Monster starts to hear sounds. Which, thankfully, can be figured out quickly enough. That is, until that one sound they cannot figure out. […]
Most Marshmallows by Rowboat Watkins
First blush I had of Most Marshmallows by Rowboat Watkins: This is completely and totally anti-establishment. DO NOT BE A MARSHMALLOW! Do not stand in straight lines! Do not be squishy! Be free! Do you own thing! Breath fire! Second blush: This story has been done before. That “Be yourself. Be whatever you want to be. Even (gasp!) breath fire!” Honestly, how many times can we do this story? While some of the things “you can do” are different: as we know marshmallows and fire […]
Charlie & Mouse Even Better by Laurel Snyder
Charlie & Mouse by Laurel Snyder
The Charlie & Mouse series by Laurel Snyder are one of those cute book series that you like but do not necessarily go “OMG BEST BOOKS EVER!” You enjoy the cute stories and the brotherly bond between Charlie and Mouse. The text is not your usual limited picture book text either. These books are more of a beginning to second grade read. This allows it to grow from a read-aloud to the child reading on their own. Also, this helps an older child who still […]
Little Santa is available in the board book size (which I read) and available in a hardcover/full sized. This is a quirky story about how Santa Claus (the youngest of a lot of siblings) became the Santa we all know. This is the story what Santa was like as a child (one who loves blizzards and climbing in chimneys). This is a typical story in the style of writing and illustrations of Jon Agee. There is some subtle humor that some kids might miss (the […]
Last night, I was looking at the box of (sadly) damaged books at work. I saw four I Can Read books. I have not read one in a while, so I picked them up. They average out to be a 2.5 for the four, but kids will enjoy and will be 5’s down the board. My biggest complaint with easy readers is companies do not have a uniform rating system. Publisher X might have these at a Level 1 but another would have them as […]
