Buy it: Toy Boat
Toy Boat (By Randall de Seve) – A little boy loves the toy boat he has made. He sleeps with the boat and takes baths with it. And every day, he and the boat go down the lake and the boy sails the boat while holding onto a string from the shore. And the boat is happy, but sometimes the boat wishes to sail free like the big boats on the lake. One day, the boy accidentally drops the string and the boat sails out into the lake by itself. The toy boat faces huge waves and bigger boats that push it around. The boat misses the boy. Then little fishing boat comes by and helps the little boat to get headed for the shore, where the boy is waiting for it. The boat and the boy are thrilled to be back together. After that, the boy keeps the boat on the string, but every once in a while lets it sail free. And the boat always comes back. This is a sweet story about growing up, learning to let go, braving new experiences and finding your way back home. It is also filled with wonderful illustrations.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 5, 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: Hit the Ball Duck
Hit the Ball Duck (By Jez Alborough) – My daughter Ally, age 5, and I have enjoyed all of Alborough’s books about Duck and his friends. This is one of our favorites. In this fun rhyming story, Duck, Frog, Goat and Sheep head to the park to play baseball. But Duck’s hit sends the ball up into a tree, where it gets stuck. Duck, who doesn’t always think things through, decides to throw the bat up to knock down the ball, but that gets stuck as well. He then does the same thing with the glove. My daughter always giggles through this story. Then the four friends decide to climb on one another to make a tower and reach the ball, bat and glove. But they fall over. Luckily, their fall shakes the tree and everything falls out. However, Frog catches the ball, which means Duck is out. A cute story and a great gift idea for little baseball fans.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 5, 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: Stella: Queen of the Snow
Stella: Queen of the Snow (By Marie Louise Gay) – Stella and her little brother Sam are excited to head outside and enjoy the first snowfall. But Sam has never seen snow before and has lots of questions. He asks Stella if they can eat snowflakes, where do snowmen sleep, what do snowmen eat and why is fog coming out of their mouths. Stella fields all his questions with sweet, childlike answers. She tells him that polar bears eat snowflakes for breakfast, snowmen sleep in snowbanks and eat snow peas and their words freeze on cold days, which makes a fog come out of their mouths. An adorable story about the joy and wonder of children on a snowy winter day.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 5, 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: How I Became a Pirate
How I Became a Pirate (By Melinda Long) – A boy named Jeremy is playing at the beach when a pirate ship pulls into shore. The pirates notice Jeremy’s sand castle and ask if he would like to come along with them and put his digging skills to use burying their treasure. Jeremy goes along and becomes a pirate. Jeremy loves the pirate life, in particular that lack of manners, rules and vegetables. After the ship gets hit by a storm, Jeremy announces he knows a good spot for the treasure. They row to shore and bury it in Jeremy’s backyard. Jeremy bids farewell to the pirates, who ask him to guard their treasure until they can return. And Jeremy knows he can always join them as a pirate again. But not today… he has soccer practice.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 5, 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: Have You Filled a Bucket Today?
Have You Filled a Bucket Today? (By Carol McCloud) – The award-winning book is a great way to explain to your child the importance of being kind to others. The book explains that everyone in the world carries around an invisible bucket to hold their good thoughts and feelings. You can fill up other people’s buckets by doing or saying nice things. And when you fill someone’s bucket, you are also filling up your own bucket because you feel good about helping others. But when you are mean to someone, you are dipping into their bucket. The book also gives kids some ideas of how to be a bucket-filler. After reading this book, we continued to use the phrase “bucket-filler” around the house. When my daughter was helping me or saying something nice, I would point out that she was filling my bucket, which made her want to do even more good deeds. It’s a simple concept that very young kids can quickly pick up on. A wonderful book!
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 5, 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: Cranium Hullabaloo
If you have little kids ages 4 to 6, you should get them Cranium Hullabaloo. This is an incredibly fun and easy to follow game for young children that gets them up and doing what they do best – moving, bouncing, jumping, stretching and spinning.
When my daughter got this game as a gift at age 5, the whole family played it together no less than – and I’m not kidding – 30 times the first day. And thank goodness, this game is even fun for adults to play along with their kids.
The game comes with a speaker that gives directions during the game. There are also 16 pads, with different shapes, colors and pictures. During the game, players are asked to bounce to a blue, swim to a square or sit down on an animal. The kids must listen and follow the instructions until they are told to “freeze.” Then the player standing on a certain pad is named the winner and asked to do something silly – like a funky monkey dance.
My daughter always laughs through the whole game and wants to plays it often. It has been great for playdates and would also be fun for birthday parties. Since the rules allow for more than one player to stand on a pad, we have played the game with several players and it works just fine.
My only criticism of the game would be that the “game announcer” can sometimes be a little too quiet to hear, even at top volume, when several kids are talking and laughing. But that’s a great way to encourage kids to quiet down and be good listeners.
Buy it: Mercy Watson
Mercy Watson (By Kate DiCamillo) – My daughter Ally, age 5, and I have read all of the Mercy Watson chapter books over and over and over again. Mr. and Mrs. Watson have a pig named Mercy. Mercy sleeps in the bed and loves to eat toast with butter on it. My daughter loves all of the Mercy Watson stories, whether she is trying to drive a car, having a tea party, dressing as a princess for Halloween or eating the neighbors flowers. These books have bright and colorful illustrations of all of Mercy’s adventures. And these are great beginning chapter books for parents to read to their children or for young readers to read on their own. My husband loves that the chapters are short, so when Ally begs him to read one more chapter at bedtime, he can give in. I love that, unlike most chapter books, Ally never gets tired of hearing these stories. I guarantee that if you buy one Mercy Watson book, you’ll want to get them all.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 5, 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: Knuffle Bunny Free
Knuffle Bunny Free (By Mo Willems) – In this third Knuffle Bunny book, Trixie has gotten a little older and is traveling to Holland to visit her grandparents. But soon after Trixie and her parents arrive at her grandparents’ house, Trixie realizes that she left Knuffle Bunny on the plane. Everyone tries to make Trixie feel better, but she is still sad. Then Trixie has a dream about all the places Knuffle Bunny would be visiting and the children he would be meeting along the way. She wakes up feeling better. Then on the plane ride home, Trixie finds Knuffle Bunny in the seat pocket! But when Trixie hears a baby crying behind her, she makes a big decision. She gives Knuffle Bunny away. The baby loves Knuffle Bunny and quiets down and a few weeks later Trixie gets a letter in the mail from the baby’s family. The end of this book always makes me tear up. The last pages show Trixie growing up, falling in love, starting a family and then getting a package in the mail from her old pen pal. And inside is Knuffle Bunny.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 5, 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: Knuffle Bunny Too
Knuffle Bunny Too (By Mo Willems) – My daughter loved the first Knuffle Bunny book so much, we just had to get the second one. In Knuffle Bunny Too, Trixie is off to Pre-K with her Knuffle Bunny in tow and just can’t wait to show it off to all her classmates. But when she gets to school, Trixie sees that another student, Sonja, also has a Knuffle Bunny. The two girls argue over how to pronounce “Knuffle” and the teacher takes the bunnies away. But when she returns them, they get switched and the girls take home the wrong bunnies. Both Trixie and Sonja realize they have the wrong bunnies and the girls and their dads rush out in the middle of the night to make the exchange. Trixie and Sonja become best friends, and the next day at school decide to swap bunnies again. My daughter Ally, age 5, loves the Knuffle Bunny books for the funny stories and great illustrations layered over black and white photographs.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 5, 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: I Am America
I Am America (By Charles R. Smith Jr.) – This is a wonderful book that celebrates what it is to be an American. Featuring colorful photographs of real children, the book explains that we are all different, but all American. Whatever our facial features, color of our skin, clothes we wear, music we listen to, religion or ethnic background – we are America. This is such a simple book, but it’s a great way to show children the diverse people who make up their wonderful country.
The book recommendations included on this website are books that my daughter Ally, now age 5, 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!
