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.