Kid's Book Blog

by David Catrow
Grades K-3

Max Spaniel is a daffy hound dog who decides to go on a dinosaur dig. He takes his trusty butterfly net and hard hat on the expedition. The silly dog mistakes a football for a dinosaur head, a Lincoln log for a dinosaur rib, a water hose for a dinosaur tail and so on. The dim witted dog puts the junk together and builds a dinosaur!

Kids will be endlessly amused by the silly dog and his adventure.  New readers will laugh out loud as they follow the fantastical thoughts of this kooky hound. The ingenious story, by David Catrow, is easy to read with lots of visual humor.

by Tedd Arnold
Grades K-3

Fly Guy and Buzz are back in this outrageously funny adventure told in three simple chapters. Buzz likes to play Hide-and-go-Seek with Fly Guy, his pet fly. Fly Guy usually hides in the trash can but disastor strikes when the trash collecter comes before Buzz can find Fly Guy. Fly Guy is carted off to the dump. When Buzz tries to find him, he is faced with a multitude of flies that look, act, and sound exactly like his pal. And every one of those flies can call his name—Buzz! Fortunately, the one and only Fly Guy thinks they are still playing the game. He has been hanging upside down from the visor of Buzz's cap, as close as any good friend can get.

This is a silly story that boys will like. The squiggly drawn pictures and the bright colors help to tell the story of a boy and his pet fly. The words are large and easy to read. Each pages has a couple of sentences and the great illustrations to hold early reader's attention. There's no mistaking Arnold's hilarious cartoon illustrations, and in this new addition to a popular series, there are plenty of them to enjoy.

by Wong Herbert Yee
Ages 4-8

Mouse and Mole are very excited. Minkus the Magnificent is in town—ONE SHOW ONLY!—and they can’t wait to sit in the front row and see his tricks. After the abracadabras happen, though, something goes a bit wrong—and Mole is very disappointed to discover that magic is sometimes not exactly what it seems. But Mouse shows Mole that sometimes real magic takes time.

Frequent, small frames resembling comic-book cells are sprinkled among the full-page illustrations, pulling the reader forward. Warm nighttime hues make the magic of Mouse's natural world warm and inviting to new readers.

I liked the onomatopoeias! In the story, "He tossed a stone into the pond: PLOP!" And in the picture mole tosses a stone into the pond. In the illustration you can see the PLOP. The artwork nicely reinforces the story's action, the closeness between friends, and shared wonder in nature's magic. It is very well worked together and it's little details like this that makes the book more fun to read.

Ages 4-8

"It was dark. It was stormy. It was night." The opening lines to this easy reader is a really great example of using simple words and repeition to get a point across to kids. To a young reader, "It was a dark and stormy night" may be a daunting sentence to read. Half of the words in that sentence are not familar to those little eyes causing frustration. But when the kids already know, "It was," the sentence goes much easier. Plus, what a great opening line to a book!


The storyline is cute: Melvin has a flat tire and needs a new one. He rolls into a spooky junkyard and finds just what he needs: a golden! But when the junkyard ghost asks, "Who took my golden tire?" Melvin gets scared.

The illistrations by David Shannon are vibrant and so very cute. This is a great boy book because it is about trucks, but girls won't be offended by it either because the art and  personified car is not overly masculine.

My only complaint is that sometimes the word placement is wonky, not exaclty left to right. This might confuse a new reader. OR it might make reading the book more interesting. Not sure.

I really liked this book.

This book is another funny addition to the Elephant and Piggie Books By Mo Willems.  I just love the cartoon drawings! Poor Gerald the Elephant - you just feel for him throughout the story when he thinks that Piggie is leaving him for ever. Only to discover that Piggie is leaving to go and have lunch!

A perfect choice for an early reader to read with on his own!