Library books

I know you all have been dying to know about our two foot tall stack of library books we read last week and what we thought of them all. Oh, you weren't? Hmmm.... Are you sure? Like absolutely sure? Because I feel like doing a book post....

Lets just do it anyway. You could just pretend to read it.

Baby Animal Farm by Karen Blair

Little board book. No real plot. Just cute picture of little kids and little animals. Elsie loves it.

The Winter Book by Rotraut Susanne Berner

This book had the potential to be awesome, (an anthology of stories, poems, and songs about winter) but it is really wordy, so not so awesome. Plus the stories and poems and songs included are not the ones I would choose, so it just wasn't as good as I thought it could be. We didn't read much of it.

How do Dinosaurs say I Love You? Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

We had two of these dinosaur books out. Gilbert loves them. They are cute.

There Once was a Man Named Michael Finnegan by Mary Ann Hoberman and Nadine Bernard Westcott

A perennial Gilbert favorite

What does the Fox Say by Ylvis

Yep. It is the song in book form. The kids loved it. 

Pom and Pim by Lena Olof Landstrom

This looked really cute, but it wasn't quite as cute. Okay, it is cute, you can tell that from the front, and it is about finding good luck even when bad things happen (ie tripping and falling and then seeing money). For some reason it just didn't delight me. 

A Good Day by Kevin Henkes

Sort of like Pom and Pim about good luck and bad luck actually. The animals are all having bad days because of various things (little yellow bird lost his favorite tail feather) and then things start looking up. The day turns out well for each of them. And then...

A little girl finds the yellow feather, tucks it into her hair and runs to her Mommy saying "What a good day!" For some reason, I just liked this one better than Pom and Pim. Even though it was similar in the idea of good luck coming even if bad things happen.

Annie Oakley The Woman Who Never Missed a Shot by Katherine Rose

Biographical about Annie Oakley. Lily and Orianna liked it. Gilbert and Elsie were bored because it is long.

Mitchell Goes Driving by Hallie Durand

About a little boy who hates going to sleep, so his father lets him drive him (his father) to his bed. We had another Mitchell book out a few months ago (Mitchell goes bowling) and loved it. This one we loved just as much. Or more. We definitely laughed out loud with this one. And it is the one the kids requested to be reread the most. 

These pictures still make me laugh. This is Mitchell discovering his car's horn.

And putting it into reverse.

And then Mitchell tries to get the car to go to the gas station (the cookie jar) and the car rebels and takes him straight to bed. 

New York's Bravest by Mary Pop Osborne

Gilbert loves this story. It is a tall tale about Mose, a legendary firefighter in New York City. We have gotten it out several times now. All about bravery and selflessness with the normal tall tale flourishes.

The Pig Scramble by Jessica Kinney

This is a book set in Maine about the littlest boy in a farm family doing something his big brothers never did--winning the pig scramble at the county fair. It seems like I may have mentioned this one before, but I love the illustrations and the feelings of the little boy who tries hard, but is never as big as his much older brothers.

Stella's Starliner by Rosemary Wells

A little fox and her Momma live in a starliner camper in the mountain while her Daddy works weeks down in a town. She loves her neat little home until some weasels, on their way home from high school, make fun of it and call it a tin can. Weasel jerks! Stella feels terrible about the things they say and worries about it. Her mother finally asks her what is wrong and Stella tells her. The mother has no words of wisdom and can't take away the sting, but she shows Stella again the beauty of living in their little camper. And the next place they move to in their camper, the kids love it and think it is awesome. 

I love Rosemary Well's illustrations and the basic message of this book. Some people are mean little weasels and you can't do anything about that. But you can look at things differently and find people who are nice. 

Ten Gallon Bart by Susan Stevens Crummel

Apparently this is very similar to a Western movie called High Noon. Successful sheriff about to retire, and a desperado, Billy the Kid comes to town fresh out of jail to eat that town up. Sheriff Bart comes out on top. Cute. But I am not nuts about the paper... I don't even know what these illustrations are called. They are made of a lot of pieces of cut up paper. I just am not nuts about them.

Everything but the Horse by Holly Hobbie

I love Holly Hobbie's Toot and Puddle books and this has the same style illustrations and slightly vintage vibe that I love. This is sort of autobiographical about Holly's family moving out to the country and how she yearns for a horse. 

I love these illustrations.

The Pied Piper's Magic by Steven Kellogg

One we have gotten out several times. The kids love the story and the colorful Steven Kellogg illustrations.

Hooray for Fall by Kazuo Iwamura

Disappointing. It looks perfectly adorable and it is cute, but pretty shallow. Perfect for a young kid learning about fall I guess. Just not enough to make me love it. 

I Love You Just Enough by Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuyzen 

(That is quite the name!) 

This is about a little girl raising an abandoned wild duck. Her Daddy tells her the danger will be in loving it too much--too much to let it go back to the wild. So she loves it just enough and it flies away (to her sorrow), but returns the following spring. 

Cute illustrations and well written. This is the fifth Hazel Ridge Farm Story, which I have never heard of before, but I liked it enough that I will be finding the other ones.

The Garden in the City by Gerda Muller

I had been hearing a bit about Gerda Muller, an kids author and illustrator from the 1980's,

here and there and finally requested one of her books from the library. It didn't disappoint. This one is all about planting a garden. There isn't much about the city here, but a lot about a garden. There is a basic story of a brother and sister moving to a new place with a big yard and getting their own little patches of earth. There are little side notes about planting, collecting leaves, making daisy crowns. Orianna and Lily loved this book. It is long, but good.

This is going to visit their Aunt Lisa in the country.

The Happy Hedgehog Band by Martin Waddell

Cute enough I guess, but nothing about it makes me love it. Forest animals form a band and make noise. That is it. End of story. Fine, but wouldn't get it out again.