Nancy Clancy

Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth
By Jane O'Connor



This is a dear little book. Nancy Clancy is a precocious little girl who's obsessed with Nancy Drew, and tries to find mysteries around her house and neighborhood. By oldest, Bea, thought this was a great book, and searched the house for a magnifying glass of her own. This book is more suited to slightly older kids, and if they're starting to read on their own it would be great for them.

20 Halloween Stories

20 Halloween Stories/Free Fun Games for Children
By Shane Alex Lee

Unfortunately it's time for a negative review. This book is a disappointment on just about every level. First off, the cover looks like it was drawn in Windows Paint by someone who's never seen a book cover before. The Jack-o-lantern looks a bit deranged, and in the top corner is what I'm guessing is supposed to be a full moon, although it looks more like a cross between a film reel and a chocolate chip cookie. And inside the pictures don't get better. Any child could easily make drawings as good as these, but at that age it would still be cute. The writing is basic and uninspired, and there's really no point to it. For .99 cents, it's way over priced. I recommend passing on this book.

Five Little Pumpkins

Five Little Pumpkins
By Cindy Bracken

Another book for Fall! To me this book is a perfect read for the night before Halloween. It's a sweet little rhyme, much like the Ten Little Indians nursery rhyme. It's simple, but it leaves lots of room for fun. The expressions on the pumpkins' faces would be a great way to help your toddler identify emotions. It also might go great with some pumpkin cookies!

My Noisy Farm

My Noisy Farm. A children's picture book with extra first word pages
By Moira Butterfield

This is a great book to teach kids about farm animals. It's rhyming style makes the words flow, and the realistic pictures offer a good visual. At the end of the book is a list of cartoon animals, with both the names of parent and baby animals. I really like that the book gives both options, so that kids can see what the animal actually looks like, but have a fun cartoon option too. It also includes the noises made by each animal, which gives you an opportunity to be silly and make these noises with your kids.

Marvin's Mysterious Monster

Marvin's Mysterious Monster
By Michael Yu

 "Marvin's Mysterious Monster" was pretty cute. Marvin is going to bed when he sees a monster hiding in his closet, and he dresses up like a superhero to fight it off. It ends up being only a teddy bear, and Marvin goes to sleep safe and sound. I like how it ended - I was expecting it to be the dog or something hiding in the closet, but I thought the teddy bear was sweet. There are just enough words on the page and they're clear and easy to understand, however, I didn't like the format. The pictures and words were on separate pages, which would be fine in a hard copy, but on the Kindle, you can't see both at the same time. This is only a minor issue in a great book, and it certainly won't keep me from reading it to the kids, it's just a pet peeve of mine. Otherwise, it's a good read.

Autumn is Here

 Autumn is here!
By  Heidi  Pross Gray

This book is so cozy! The Fall hues make me want to wrap up in a blanket with the kids and eat soup.  The color combinations really look great, and the rustic artsy of the pictures is perfectly appropriate. The book takes you through typical Autumn images from apples to muffins to mittens, and you can almost smell pumpkin spice and crisp air. The words are simple but compelling, and it's great for identifying these seasonal objects. It really gets you in the mood for Fall.

Hugo's Cat Circus

Hugo's Cat Circus
By Julie Dweck

I love cats. And I like the circus, so I was a little excited for this book. The French cats put on an annual circus, Le Cat Circus Show, and the story takes you through all the different circus acts as well as cat breeds. I think some of the French names and breeds might be hard for kids to read, but it's a great way to introduce them to these words. The main cat, Hugo, was so darling in his little tux. The rhymes are amusing, and so is the mouse juggling. Overall I thought it was sweetly informative and light-hearted.

Who's There, Little Hoo?

 Who's There, Little Hoo?
 By Brenda Ponnay

What can I say about this book? It's adorably cute. The story is simple, so it's definitely for younger readers, but it's just so cute. Can I say "cute" more than once? This is a little bit of a gush, but even I said "aww" when I read this. My toddler likes to hoot along with the owls, and he was saying "who's there?" every time I turned the page. Little Hoo has a Halloween party, and when his friends show up in masks, he can't tell who's who. And then Mama Owl shows up with a big hug, and you can't help but smile.

Lula's Brew

Lula's Brew
By Elizabeth Dulemba

What a cute story! Lula is a young witch living with her aunts, but has no interest in brewing spells or potions - she'd rather cook. Her aunts want her to try making another spell, but instead she cooks up a magical treat that everyone loves. It ends with Lula and her aunts opening a restaurant to share her cooking with the town. It was great to read to the kids with Halloween coming up, but I could see reading it in any season. It's even inspired me to cook up some Fall treats with the kids.

Little Owl's Big Wait

 Littlle Owl's Big Wait
By Calee M. Lee

So Bea has a birthday coming up (in like, 3 months) and she's already talking about it nonstop. I thought this little book might help take some of the pressure off. I don't know if it will help her wait for that on-so-anticipated birthday party, but she (we) thought this book was incredibly cute.  The story is basically that there's a little owl that really, really wants to get in the middle of the birthday party prep.  When her mom suggests she play elsewhere, she runs off, only to end up back at the party again thanks to a ride from her helpful grandparents.  I think Bea is at the top end of the age range for this book, but even though it was fairly girly, little Michael hooted appriciatively at the owls and loved the birthday balloons.

Farm Animals

Farm Animals 
I have to admit, I have a special place in my heart for goats.  I love them and love even more the way my toddler says "maaa" in a perfect imitation of the noise they make.  This little book (and many of the Discover Series titles we've downloaded) are perfect for little ones.  Each page has a really nice photograph of a farm animal and a one or two word title.  I get a little twitchy when he swipes past a page and we haven't read all the words yet so these are perfect.  We can talk about the piggy or count the chickens or just name them and pass on by.  Great little book.

eReader Tip: Libraries are your Friend

eReader tip:  Many public library systems now offer a selection of books for the Kindle and other ereaders.  Now, when it comes to children's books, the formatting is all over the map. From my last batch (my library allows 3 downloads at a time.)  I downloaded an Encyclopedia Brown title last week that was just a .pdf.  The Virgina Lee Burton story was virtually unreadable because it was chopped into pieces and scanned so poorly.  The Bernstein Bears story looked pretty good and despite being pretty trite, was a good version of the story.

Don't Juggle Bees

 Don't Juggle Bees! And Other Useless Advice For Silly Children
By Gerald Hawksley
When it comes to cute Kindle books, Hawksley is king. This one doesn't disappoint and might by my favorite of the bunch.  It's silly and the illustrations are vibrant and look equally good on a phone, table or the Kindle Fire (and yes, the kids like it so much we've read it on all those devices.) Highly recommend!

The Paper Bag Princess

The Paper Bag Princess 
Robert Munsch

Let's get one thing straight here.  When it comes to children's books, there is sometimes a definite difference between parents perception and how a kid will respond.  This was one book I've been planning on reading to my daughter for ages.  When it came up in the Kindle charts a few weeks ago, I had to pick it up for the Kindle Fire.  The story is great--a lovely princess is engaged to a handsome princess when a dragon destroys the castle (and her clothes) and carries off the prince.  The princess finds a paper bag and hauls off to rescue the prince.  I thought it was a great little story--the ultimate opposite of the floofy princess book.  Bea (who doesn't particularly care for floofy princess either) would have said "Meh" if it was in her vocabulary.
All in all--beautiful story and illustrations, great tap to zoom on the Kindle Fire and (right now at least) a great price.  But, you never know what will resonate with a particular kid.

Time to Eat, Bunny!

Time to Eat, Bunny!
By Brenda Ponnay
The bunny books by Brenda Ponnay are becoming some of our favorites. Each one features a little bunny who's mother is trying to get him to do some typical activities (get out the door on time, go to bed, etc.) This latest book features dinnertime and is really cute. My toddler always repeats "Bunny? Bunny?" and Bea likes to play the role of the mom and try to get Bunny to do what he's supposed to do. (If you haven't guessed, my kids are classic "Max and Ruby!") These are classics in the making. If you like the Pigeon books, you'll "get" bunny!

5 Level One Beginning Readers

5 Level One Beginning Readers From The "I Love Reading" Series
by Cindy Bracken
Beatrice is just learning to read and she declared 3 out of the 5 books in this collection "easy-peasy lemon squeezy" and read them without complaint. The pictures were simple but quite cute and the reading level was spot on. I didn't particularly care for the Rebus story (about the snowman) since I'd prefer a book like that to be in a different type of collection. But all in all, its a set of cute beginning readers. 

The Jesus Storybook Bible

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name
by Sally Lloyd-Jones
 First things first, we love this book and read from in almost every night. We've bought the print editions of many, many Sally Lloyd-Jones books so this one seemed like a logical candidate to also have on the kindle fire. When I bought that kindle version as well (Annoying, when I already own the print, but we really like the book...) the formatting was horrible. It looked like it had just been thrown together. For an ebook this expensive, you'd think that someone would actually pay attention to the way the images and text lined up and if the pictures were even viewable. This was a big disappointment and I would encourage people to buy the print over the Kindle edition.

Let's Go to the Beach

Let's Go to the Beach
by Nancy Streza

Beatrice is 5 and her reading requirements are "must be easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy."  Here's another little book that met those requirements with a fun, summer spin.   Each page has one sentence (or even just a part of one) and there are colorful photographs that give cues.
On a side note- I went to the library today and checked out 5 more easy readers.  Even though borrowing a book from the library is technically free, at $.25 each day each book is late, there's a significant chance these 5 books will cost me at least $1.25 if not closer to the $18 I paid last time I went to the library.  Ebooks aren't always free (though they often can be!) but neither is the library.  Even if you return your books on time, gas at $4/gallon might make buying a kindle ebook a better choice for your beginning reader!

Ereader Tip: Change the Font Size

Did you know you can often change the font size on your Kindle Fire, Kindle App or other Kindle device?  Some children's ebooks have the text embedded in the image (and when there's no pop up formatting, it can be pretty tiny when trying to read on a phone).  But-- many books have what's called "flowing" text so that you can edit the font size.  This makes tiny words easier to read and can sometimes fix pictures not lining up with the text.


Reading on a Kindle can be lots of fun--especially when you know all the tips and tricks!

The Hungry Shark

The Hungry Shark
by Tamia Sheldon

This is what a picture book should be.  The images are vibrant and the story is educational yet funny and cute.  Amelia the shark is looking for lunch but keeps getting foiled by sea creatures.  The end features a lunch of lush seaweed (which, I don't know how realistic that is) but the kids thought it was cute.  There's a fun bonus recipe for peanut butter pasta with seaweed in the back of the book.  I don't know if I'm brave enough to try it, but it sounds good and it might get the kids eating their (sea) veggies.  Ebook and print editions.