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By Mom Unplugged, April 7, 2007 11:07 am

As an animal lover and a “sucker” for taking in strays and rejects (how do you think we ended up with eight cats?), I think this is a wonderful story! My kids and I really enjoy reading this over and over again.

This Caldecott Honor Winner is a true story of how a family discovers a stray dog while on a picnic and how that dirty little dog becomes part of their life.

The text is quite simple and minimal. The illustrations are wonderfully sweet and funny yet very effectively convey the emotions of the family members, and even the dog.

I guarantee that you and your kids will love this one, especially if animals are a big part of your life.

Awards: Caldecott Honor Book.

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By Mom Unplugged, April 6, 2007 10:30 am

My son’s very favorite lunch is a jam sandwich, so I just had to buy this book when I stumbled upon it at Amazon!

The Giant Jam Sandwich (Sandpiper Book) is a fun rhyming story about the town of “Itching Down” that is invaded by four million wasps. How do you rid your town of four million wasps? You build a giant jam sandwich with which to trap them!

The rhyming couplets are a pleasure to read and the detailed illustrations are positively delightful. My son loves this book almost as much as his precious jam sandwiches!

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By Mom Unplugged, March 10, 2007 5:50 pm

I just finished reading this book to my son’s class, and I whole-heartedly recommend it!

Anatole is a Parisian mouse who decides it is wrong to be stealing scraps to eat from people’s houses and decides to earn his cheese by being an anonymous cheese taster at the local cheese factory. The story and illustrations are so cute that children today enjoy this book as much as they did in the 1950′s when it was first published.

A Caldecott Honor Book.

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By Mom Unplugged, March 8, 2007 8:50 pm

My children sit captivated by this innocent Swedish story of the adventures of two acorn brothers who fly off on an oak leaf and encounter angry gnomes and trolls, as well as playful chestnut children.

First published in 1939, it is a gentle tale which reminds me very much of The Story of the Root-Children (Sibylle Von Olfers) in its simplicity and language (please see my post on the “Root Children”). The wonderful illustrations are also similar in some ways to those of Sibylle Von Olfers.

This magical book makes everyone feel good!

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By Mom Unplugged, March 5, 2007 9:01 pm

This sweet board book reminds me of a simpler version of Because Brian Hugged His Mother, a version aimed at even younger children. This teaches the littlest ones in the simplest way, that “what goes around,comes around.”

We follow a kiss as it travels from a girl, to her cat, to a cow, to many other animals, and then eventually back to the cat and then the girl. In the end, “you’ll have your love and kisses back!”