Reviews: More New Picture Books!

9780062285805

Freddy and Frito play together every day—sometimes at Frito's and sometimes at Freddy's. But there are rules. Rules aren't fun! So what do these best buddies do? They build their own clubhouse in a tree in the park! With no rules, there's plenty of fun—until all of their friends come by for a party, and suddenly Freddy and Frito wish for a way to make them all leave!

A word to publicists: if you are going to compare a new duo to "Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie and the classic Frog and Toad," they had better really deliver. These guys don't quite come close. All on its own, this can be a nice little story about the need for some rules, but it's not quite rock-star-Mo-Willems caliber.

9780062291783

Buster Bickles's big ideas are always getting him into trouble. But when Buster gets to test the newly invented What-if Machine, anything Buster imagines becomes reality. Packed with rivers of chocolate, robot dinosaurs, and eggs-ray vision, the world becomes Buster's creation in this fantastically creative picture book by debut author-illustrator Dave Wasson.

Well, anything with rivers of chocolate can't be all bad - unfortunately, it was actually a river of caramel (read the book, blurb-people!), which is still pretty cool - salted caramel being all the rage now.

It is an understatement to say that my kiddos have pretty wild imaginations at times, and their "what-if"s have made for some interesting car combinations. This silly tale should go over well with them and with every other imaginative kid!


9780062223999

Chu and his family are going to the beach! Chu is excited. He will get to play in the sand and wade in the water. But what will happen if Chu sneezes at the beach? And what will happen if he doesn't?

We love Chu! He is just cuter than cute, and the oops-sorry-but-i'm-still-cute expression after he sneezes makes him even cuter. The beach is such a wide-open place, though...a sneeze couldn't possibly cause THAT much trouble, could it?

These books are all available in stores now, and on our shelves soon!

Picture Book Reviews - Back to School!

Out just in time for school, which starts here next week:

9780062223975

Children who are not familiar with Chu's first book, and his prodigious sneezes, may not get a full appreciation of this story. It is still a cute, simple tale addressing those first day jitters. You can't beat Adam Rex's illustrations for adorable animal expressions (I especially liked the giraffe just after the sneeze!) 

9780062243003

Oh, goody, a picture book for my husband. Flip and Fin have some...er...'great' jokes (What do sea monsters eat? Fish and ships!), and Flip is looking forward to joke day at school. At first his biggest problem is deciding which joke to tell, but then he gets stage fright and can't get any out at all. Fin to the rescue! There are piles of jokes that will appeal to young readers, who will probably insist on telling them to everyone they encounter - so, be warned!

9780062286185

A cute fuzzy monster asks, "What's school for? I already know my ABGs!" We've already enjoyed watching these monsters learn their colors. The same energy and fun carry us through the first day of school, as little blue discovers school is a great place to be.