Dude

Dude, talk about awesome! Christopher Aslan's newest book, Dude, illustrated by Emily Mullock is another home-run hit. Dude is a pretty simple book with an even simpler concept, but the way it is carried out really makes Dude a book parents and kids are going to enjoy.

On each page, the Dude character is illustrated in a different situation, using the word "dude" to express his different feelings. We see everything from exhaustion and surprise, to awe and amazement. There are more than 25 different scenarios for Dude, and even more opportunities for you and your child to have fun saying "dude" in a rainbow of different ways.

My six year old son loves putting himself into the book, pretending to be Dude and then trying all the different voices Dude would use in each situation. My husband stands firm in his jealously in not having thought of this concept himself. Then, when I told my best friend about the book, she laughed and was amused and entertained by the idea. Simply put, this simple book brings so much to everyone!

This is the third book I've seen by Christopher Aslan and I already can't wait to see what he comes up with next. I think we are looking at another legendary children's author, to sit high with the likes of Dr. Seuss, Eric Carle and Sandra Boynton (just to name a few of our household favorites).

If you are interested in purchasing Dude by Christopher Aslan, visit Dude on Amazon.com to purchase your copy today!

Wenda the Wacky Wiggler

Wenda the Wacky Wiggler is the tale of a very spirited child. Much like my very happy and active son, she is filled with such joy, it can't be contained and she just has to move, move, and move. Then, just like in real life, the grumpy adults, who have lost sight of the daily pleasures life brings, want to keep Wenda from dancing around and enjoying each day the way she knows best. Despite their best efforts to keep Wenda silent and still, the grumpy adults saw Wenda's excitement for life welled from deep within. They opened their eyes and let Wenda's infectious love for herself and her love for life seep within their own hearts, and before they knew it, they were enjoying themselves, their lives, and all the things they were now able to do with a positive attitude - all thanks to Wenda!

Wenda's tale is inspiring for the young, and reminds those of us who aren't so young anymore, that the world through the eyes of a child can make us feel light and happy. Christopher Aslan has really poured his heart into this tale, and you feel that from the moment the story begins. If you don't walk away from this joyful tale with a smile on your face, you weren't paying attention, and you need to start over from the beginning!

Not only is Wenda the Wacky Wiggler a tale that is bound to become a treasured classic, but Emily Mullcok's illustrations are energizing and compliment the positive flow of the story.

I look forward to seeing more books from Christopher Aslan, and the positive messages they bring to the young and old. He's becoming a favorite of mine and I believe every other family will feel the same. Invite Wenda into your home today and you will feel her joy, too!

Lilly and Lucy's Shadow

From page one, it is easy to fall in love with Lilly and Lucy. I see myself and memories from the past playing out through the pages of this beautifully illustrated book. I then see my twin girls as younger versions of Lilly and Lucy. Just like the girls in the book, my girls have danced and played with their shadows.

Some stories really give you a warm feeling when you read them, and this is one of those stories. Regardless of gender, the story is identifiable by all readers of all ages. Christopher Aslan's writing style makes reading aloud easy because of the rhythm and flow of the words. Toddlers and preschoolers will definitely enjoy not only the story itself, but the sound and the pictures that go along. Early readers will be able to read along and identify the action verbs, which is very helpful for children like my first grader, whom is learning to read longer words.

Lilly and Lucy's Shadow is a great addition to your family bookshelf. Between the writing and the artistry, it's got at least a little something for everyone in your home!

Sharks and Other Sea Monsters

Whether you are interested in learning about sharks and sea monsters or you simply enjoy a good pop-up book, Robert Sabuda & Matthew Reinhart's Sharks and Other Sea Monsters is a must-have! Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart are both well known for their children's books and masterminded pop-ups. These authors aren't just great children's writers, they are paper engineers! The imagination and creativity put into Sharks and Other Sea Monsters is no match to the pop-ups we saw when we were kids! These pop-ups are high-tech creations for the new millennia!
Sharks and Other Sea Monsters begins by illustrating and identifying the origin of early sea "monsters" reported since the first sailors set to the sea. Each page is dedicated to individual sea life and includes astoundingly intricate and colorful pop-ups. At the center of the book is an exciting and very realistic pop-up relication of a modern day shark. Some of the smaller pop-ups on the Shark page include a 250 million year old shark and even a life-sized megalodon tooth, a type of shark that is long extinct and was more than 50 feet long, weighing over 50 tons.
The book continues on with reptiles, long-necked sea lizards and even marine mammals and birds. It uses simple explanations with scientific words and pronunciations so that readers of any age can easily understand the history of large and ancient sea life. From fossils of prehistoric life to the ancestors of a common-day crocodile, this book has it all. Plus, there isn't just one pop-up per page. There are large, medium and small pop-ups on each page. It's a pop-up lover's dreams!
Sharks and Other Sea Monsters stands up to the sub-title of Encyclopedia Prehistorica, making it a must have addition for any collection of reference books. The pop-ups are so complex, it could be examined over and over again and still be a complete amazement as to how the pop-ups all come together. From age five to ninety five, everyone will enjoy this remarkable creation for generations to come.

The Fairy Chronicles - Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams

J.H. Sweet brings back the Fairy Team in another magical story telling of The Fairy Chronicles. In book two of the series, Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams, the reader revisits this magical world of fairies, gremlins, brownies, mystical spiders and even a cameo from the Sandman! But there is much more than magic happening in Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams.

One of the best points to make about The Fairy Chronicles is the way J.H. Sweet weaves lessons of environmental responsibility into the stories, without it seeming out of place. Jennifer Sommerset, also known as Dragonfly in her fairy form, is avid on the notion of recycling and reusing. From making sure her family has the proper recycling bins, to encouraging her neighbors to do their part, Jennifer goes above and beyond the environmentally conscious duties of all fairies. Jennifer is also known for her pamphlets, created wholly on her part, for ideas on how to reuse things like coffee cans and butter tubs. These are everyday examples of how easy it is to make the world a better place to live in, and young impressionable readers will be educated and inspired by these environmentally friendly messages.

Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams also delivers the important message of team work, as the Fairy Team and other characters introduced in the first book of the series work together to benefit all of mankind. Sometimes team work also means working with someone you don't know very well or have a misconception about, and Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams demonstrates to young readers how you really can't judge a book by its cover. The Dream Spider is a very large, furry creature that has a deep booming voice and is very intimidating by appearance. However, in the end, we see how even someone who seems to be dark or scary can actually do something helpful or produce something as mystically beautiful as the Web of Dreams.

J.H. Sweet has perfectly captured the right balance of magic and mystery with real life lessons of team work, environmental responsibility and open-mindedness. These are perfect lessons for the targeted audience, and Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams makes a great family reading session! The magical fairy world of The Fairy Chronicles takes everyone, from the young and the young at heart, into a place that is exciting to visit, over and over again.

The Fairy Chronicles - Marigold and the Feather of Hope, the Journey Begins

It is time to introduce you to the Fairy Team: Marigold, Dragonfly, Thistle and Firefly. Perhaps it is possible that they are the ones that magically fixed the lamp you thought was once broken, or perhaps that dragonfly you saw buzzing around yesterday was actually a fairy in disguise. In this magical fairy-filled world, anything from a young girl's imagination materializes in the magic of The Fairy Chronicles' first book of the series, Marigold and the Feather of Hope, the Journey Begins.

Young Beth Parish is starting her summer off in the most boring way possible - two weeks with her oddly strange aunt. As a nine year old, there is nothing else worse in the world than having to spend a half month with someone that is far from ordinary. However, no sooner than a can of root beer later, Beth learns that not only is her aunt a fairy, but she is too - a Marigold fairy, to be precise! It is at this instant that the young (and old) reader is pulled into the magical fairy world of writer and creator J.H. Sweet.

There are more than just fairies in this magical world. Garden gnomes, brownies and even nasty gremlins could be lurking around any house and garden on the block. Never fear, the fairies rescue the day when they defeat the nasty little gremlins wreaking havoc upon Mr. Forrester, just in time for the brownies to recover the Feather of Hope. This magical team effort is rounded out by the help of Beth's dachshund - the one creature gremlins are afraid of!

The Fairy Chronicles are more than just a magical ride through a mythical world, but also teach valuable life lessons while entertaining the senses. Learning to appreciate nature and the colors of the natural world is a great lesson to be learned in the midst of "Climate Change" and other scary, bewildering thoughts of the future. "Leave only footprints" is an idealistic thought for how all creatures (fairies and non-fairies) should treat the Earth. Also, while awaiting the rescue of the Feather of Hope, we see that Mr. Forrester believes that there are "two important things to consider" in our search for the meaning of life. "How we treat other people, and what we teach to children," are actual lessons demonstrated in Marigold and the Feather of Hope, the Journey Begins.

Another beneficial lesson weaved into this magical book includes knowing the importance of community as we see the how the fairies work together to solve problems with each other to benefit each other. The reader learns alongside Marigold on becoming an educated fairy and how fairies value honesty and virtue. Between the magic and the lessons, this book is a wonderful choice for young, impressionable readers with wild and ambitious imaginations.

In addition to being a very easy read, geared towards children ages seven and up, with colorful and imaginative illustrations by Tara Larsen Chang, it makes an excellent bedtime book to be read a chapter or two at a time. Magically fun adventures are on the horizon for Marigold, her aunt, the Fairy Team and others from the Fairy Circle. You and your child will both enjoy the adventures yet to come to the lovable fairies in J.H. Sweet's magical fairy world!

All Things Bright and Beautiful

Imagine visiting a world of bright and vibrant colors, where the sky isn't only blue, but hues of green and purple too. A world of flittering dragonflies, fluttering butterflies, and buzzing bees over landscapes of green rolling hills and fields of fragrant flowers. All of this and more is brought to life in All Things Bright and Beautiful by Cecil Frances Alexander, through the awe-inspiring illustrations of Anna Vojtech.
Any parent wanting to share God's daily gifts with their child can do so through the verse and illustrations of the book. From infant to toddler and even preschool through grade school, children will remain captivated with the wonderment this book inspires.
All Things Bright and Beautiful is a wonderful addition to any collection of books because of the little time it takes to read, but mostly because the effect on your child's senses will last a lifetime.

I Love You More

I Love You More reminds me of a game I used to play with my Papaw. I would tell him how much I loved him by reaching my arms out, like every other child, touting "I love you this much!" And he would always reply to me, with his fingers pinching out about an inch-long of space, "Yes, but I will always love you this much more than you'll ever love me!"

That sort of adoration I had with my Papaw, and the kind of love a child and mother have for each other is poetically defined in the children's book by Laura Dukesta, I Love You More. However, this book actually goes a littler further than the title implies because it is "A flip-sided book… like love it never ends" It begins with mom telling her son how much she loves him, and then at the end of the story, you simply close the book, flip it around and start again. This time, the adoring son recites his love for his mommy.

If your child is anything like my son, one story at bed time just isn't enough. This one book, so imaginatively illustrated by Karen Keesler, can be easily read from front to middle for the first story and flipped and read to the middle for the second and back again. It's fun and enjoyable for the young and old; the reader and the listener!

My four year old refers to I Love You More as "the magic book" and he's been wanting to read it every night since it made its way into our home. Plus, as a mother I get to read him a feel-good story that leaves me knowing that he truly understands just how much I love him. That's the best feeling to give a child before bed, and that's exactly what I Love You More delivers!

Poetry Speaks to Children

From the moment the shiny new book arrived at my doorstep, I was excited to see what this incredible creation had in store for my son and for me. From the moment I cracked open the spine, I realized it delivers more than I had hoped it would.

Poetry Speaks to Children is a collection of poems and is accompanied by an audio CD containing many poems from the book, with most being read by the author. Even the famed Robert Frost's voice makes an appearance to read his well known "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Each poem of the book with a matching track on the CD is marked with the track number, making listening to your favorites quite easy.

The first thing I noticed about the book was the amazing illustrations by Judy Love, Wendy Rasmussen, and Paula Zinngrabe Wendland. These names may not mean much to most readers, but after viewing the images of imagination coming to life in full color on the pages of this book, it may give you pause enough to file these illustrators' names to memory. Each illustration captures the feel and wonderment of the poems bound in Poetry Speaks to Children.

The collection of poems, 95 in all, captures the diversity of humanity, cultures, and inner thoughts and feelings. The poetry isn't just poetry; it is literature in its purest form. Poems from greats like Langston Hughes, Lewis Carroll, and Rudyard Kipling share space with historic playwrights such as William Shakespeare and epic novelists like J. R. R. Tolkien. The best part of this collection is that children can enjoy a rich education of literature, learning about the beauty of poetry and the written word while having fun!

The recordings on the audio CD add to the timelessness of poetry. Some of the poems were recorded for the first time while creating the CD, thus resulting in crisp and beautiful poetic rhythms spoken by the author. Other tracks from the CD are from much older recordings, such as the Robert Frost reading. The varied sounds of the CD add to the feel of old and new merging together to make a classic for the younger generation.

Although my son, a mere 2 years old, can't read the words, he can enjoy the imaginative illustrations and the music of poetry when listening to the CD. It also allows parent and child to bond in a way a DVD or audio CD alone cannot.

Poetry Speaks to Children is the best choice for a new addition to any avid reader's collection of poetry. Better still, it is the perfect choice for introducing the beauty of poetry and the spoken word to anyone, of any culture, young and old. Within the pages of the shiny, wonderful book, poetry speaks to everyone in the family.