Buy it: Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa – Horse in the House
Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa – Horse in the House (By Erica Silverman) – Cowgirl Kate wakes up to find her horse Cocoa in her bedroom. The young girl needs to get the horse back to the barn before her parents find out. But before they leave, Cocoa wants to explore the house. Cocoa makes a mess in the living room, finds the bathroom too small but loves the refrigerator. When they get back to the barn, Kate explains all the good things about the barn and why her horse should stay there, instead of in the house. But Cocoa explains that the house has two things he loves – Kate and the refrigerator. The whole series of Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa books offer sweet stories of friendship and would be perfect for young girls who love horses. Recommended for ages 6 to 9, they are great young reader books and beginning chapter books.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 6, and I have read and enjoyed together. I recommend the books that stand out to me as excellent children’s books for writing, illustrations, originality, story and characters. Ally and I hope you enjoy them too!
Buy it: Princess Peepers Picks a Pet
Princess Peepers Picks a Pet (By Pam Calvert) – Princess Peepers isn’t like the other princesses at the Royal Academy. She hangs from trees while the other girls work on their posture. And she ruins their tea party when she accidentally crashes her skateboard into the table. And when the teacher announces there will be a pet show, Princess Peepers finds out she’s the only one who doesn’t have a pet. But when Princess Peepers is out walking in the forest, she bumps into what she thinks is the perfect pet. Unfortunately, the bump knocked her glasses off, so what she thinks is a flying unicorn, is really a fire-breathing dragon. Peepers flies into the pet show on her new pet only to be told it’s a dragon. And when Peepers puts her glasses on and sees her pet for the first time, she thinks he’s perfect anyway. A cute story about being yourself.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 6, and I have read and enjoyed together. I recommend the books that stand out to me as excellent children’s books for writing, illustrations, originality, story and characters. Ally and I hope you enjoy them too!
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Buy it: Enchanted Forest
I passed my own childhood game of Enchanted Forest down to my daughter and she loves it as much as I did.
This quality board game features a variety of classic fairy tales and a forest of trees with hidden clues. To play, players roll the dice and move around the board, landing next to little trees. When they lift the tree, there is a picture from a fairy tale underneath. It might be Cinderella’s slipper or boots worn by Puss in Boots. Players try to search the board to find out where each fairy tale picture is hidden.
Then they try to be the first one to reach the castle where they will earn cards for knowing what clues are under each tree. But if your guess is wrong, you are sent back to start over.
To speed up the game for my daughter, when someone lands on a tree, instead of keeping the clue a secret, we share it with all the players. It’s a great game for teaching memorization skills.
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Buy it: Disney Edition of Guess Who Game
The Disney edition of “Guess Who” is a fun spin on the original game, featuring lots of your child’s favorite Disney characters. This is one of my six-year-old Ally’s favorite games. The game works just like the original Guess Who, with each player choosing a character or blindly drawing a character card. Then players ask each other yes or no questions to see who can guess the other player’s character first. The game has a nice mix of characters from princesses and Tinkerbell to Peter Pan and Dopey. The only drawback of the game is that the characters always remain the same, so once you are familiar with the game, it can go pretty fast. For example – “Is your character a princess?” “Yes.” “Does she have red hair?” “Yes.” “It’s Ariel.” Regardless, this is a great game for young children.
Buy it: Hippo and Rabbit in Three Short Tales
Hippo and Rabbit in Three Short Tales (By Jeff Mack) – This early reader book comes highly recommended because my daughter, Ally, age 6, has read it dozens of times and never gets tired of it. Even better, she laughs every time she reads it. The book includes three short stories of two friends, Hippo and Rabbit. Rabbit tries to make Hippo choose vegetables over his cheeseburger; they push each other on a swing to hilarious results; and they comfort each other when they get scared at bedtime. I love the sweet and humorous stories of friendship and the simple words are perfect for beginning readers. It’s an entertaining read that will build confidence in early readers.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 6, and I have read and enjoyed together. I recommend the books that stand out to me as excellent children’s books for writing, illustrations, originality, story and characters. Ally and I hope you enjoy them too!
Buy it: Wolf! Wolf!
Wolf! Wolf! (By John Rocco) – Have you ever wondered how the wolf felt in the story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”? This book, “Wolf! Wolf!”, is a funny take on the classic tale. An old wolf is weeding his vegetable garden when he hears a boy calling his name. He makes his way to the meadow where the boy is tending goats. From a distance, he watches as the villagers run to help the boy and then realize there is no wolf. After the boy repeatedly plays this trick, the villagers get tired and ignore him. The old wolf, who is no longer able to chase down the goats the boy is guarding, gets an idea. He approaches the boy, but this time no one comes when the boy cries “wolf!” The wolf tells the boy that in order for the villagers to believe him again, a goat will have to be missing. The boy agrees and leaves a goat for the wolf in his garden. But when the wolf sees how well the goat weeds his garden, he realizes the goat would make a better friend than a meal. The story is set in China and the illustrations is this book are amazing.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 6, and I have read and enjoyed together. I recommend the books that stand out to me as excellent children’s books for writing, illustrations, originality, story and characters. Ally and I hope you enjoy them too!
Buy it: Ivy & Bean
Ivy & Bean (By Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall) – Bean has short hair and likes to get dirty. Ivy wears dresses and is always reading books. But these two girls find out that despite their differences, they have a lot of fun together. The chapter book, “Ivy & Bean,” is a great choice for kids 6 to 9 years old. Bean plays a trick on her sister and is worried that she’ll get in trouble. Ivy, who lives across the street, invites her to hide out with her. The two girls quickly become friends as they make a witch’s robe and wand for Ivy; dig for worms and run from Bean’s older sister. These two girls find themselves in lots of humorous situations, which my daughter, age 6, loved to read about.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 6, and I have read and enjoyed together. I recommend the books that stand out to me as excellent children’s books for writing, illustrations, originality, story and characters. Ally and I hope you enjoy them too!
Buy it: Miss Malarkey Doesn’t Live in Room 10
Miss Malarkey Doesn’t Live in Room 10 (By Judy Finchler) – Where do teachers live? In this story, one little boy thinks he has the answer – at school! “Miss Malarkey Doesn’t Live in Room 10″ is a very funny story, with wonderful illustrations that make my six-year-old daughter laugh every time we read it. In the story, the boy thinks that his first-grade teacher lives in her classroom, eats dinner in the cafeteria and brushes her teeth at the drinking fountain. But then Miss Malarkey moves into the boy’s apartment building. Now the boy has to convince his classmates that their teacher doesn’t actually live in Room 10. A cute story told from a kid’s point of view.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 6, and I have read and enjoyed together. I recommend the books that stand out to me as excellent children’s books for writing, illustrations, originality, story and characters. Ally and I hope you enjoy them too!
Buy it: Nate the Great
Nate the Great (By Marjorie Weinman Sharmat) - This is the first book in the “Nate the Great” series of detective stories, of which we have now read several. Nate is a young boy who loves eating pancakes and solving mysteries. “Nate the Great” is a wonderful first chapter book for beginning readers, because the text and stories are simple and often funny; there are fun illustrations on every page and the chapters are short. In this first book, Nate is helping his friend Annie find her missing picture. Nate and Annie search Annie’s room, dig up the backyard and have a snack of pancakes, before Nate finally solves the mystery. My daughter Ally, age 6, loves reading the “Nate the Great” books and trying to solves the mysteries before Nate does. But even after we know the ending, she still loves to read them again and again.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 6, and I have read and enjoyed together. I recommend the books that stand out to me as excellent children’s books for writing, illustrations, originality, story and characters. Ally and I hope you enjoy them too!
Buy it: Read to Tiger
Read to Tiger (By S.J. Fore) – In this book, a little boy is trying to read, but he’s finding it difficult because there is a tiger in his living room who is being very distracting! My daughter Ally, age 6, thinks this book is very funny. While the boy tries to read, the tiger is pretending to be a bear, practicing karate and riding on a toy train. The boy repeatedly asks the tiger to please be quiet but nothing works. Finally, the tiger jumps up on the couch and tries to read too. Now the boy can finally read his book … to Tiger. This is a fun book with humorous illustrations that is sure to make your child laugh.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 6, and I have read and enjoyed together. I recommend the books that stand out to me as excellent children’s books for writing, illustrations, originality, story and characters. Ally and I hope you enjoy them too!
