Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon is an old favorite of mine that I recently shared with our daughter.  With encouragement from her Grandmother, Molly Lou is proud of who she is and confidently tackles challenges that come her way.  The true test comes when her family moves and she encounters Ronald Durkin who attempts to bully her.  Molly Lou triumphs by remembering her Grandmother’s wisdom – “Believe in yourself and the world will believe in you too.”

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon has an important message to share and does so skillfully.  It is a great book to use as a discussion starter with preschool and elementary aged children.

The World Champion of Staying Awake is a new favorite at our home.  Stella, a little girl who loves her stuffed animals very much is told that it is time to go to bed by her Daddy.  Unfortunately there is much work to do before Stella can go to sleep.  She still has to get her dollies – Cherry Pig, Thunderbolt the puppet mouse, and Beanbag Frog to sleep which provides quite a challenge.  Ultimately, through adventures fueled by imagination, Stella is able to get everyone sleeping in her bed including herself!

Last year I had the pleasure of discovering Pete the Cat which I have previously reviewed.  This year he is back and headed to school.  Pete takes readers on a school tour all the while “rocking in his school shoes”.  As he visits the  library, the lunchroom, and the playground he always has a positive attitude and he dances and sings his way through the day.  The song Pete sings on his school tour is included via a CD at the back of the book.  This book and song combo would make for a perfect first week of school activity for school age children.  What a treat!

Little by Little is one of the best books I have found about learning to swim.  Otto the Otter is able to do many things well including being kind to frogs.  There seems to be only one thing he is not able to do – swim.  The story follows his attempts to learn to swim which are not going very well until his sister tells him that “…he needs to start small to finish big”.  From that point forward, Otto proceeds in taking little steps every day and before long he is swimming.    The pride Otto the Otter feels in his accomplishment is captured beautifully in the delightful illustrations.

Our daughter saw a poster at the library that featured the cover art from Calvin Can’t Fly ~ The Story of a Bookworm Birdie and shared that she wanted to find that book.  Unfortunately it was checked out at the time  so we put in a requested and waited…When it finally arrived it was well worth the wait.  This darling story tells the tale of Calvin who enjoys reading and loves to learn.  He loves to read so much that he goes to the library rather than participating  in “flying lessons” with his sibling and cousins which presents a problem when it is time for all the starlings to fly south for the winter.  With the help of his family pulling him along, Calvin joins them southward.  Unfortunately they head directly into a hurricane.  Calvin recognizes what the hurricane is thanks to reading meteorology books and leads them  to safety.

I love this book.  The artwork is eye-appealing,  the lessons taught are outstanding, and a wide variety of non-standard vocabulary words are used.

Cloudette is a favorite at our home.  Our daughter delights in reading about Cloudette, the  sweet little cumulus cloud who enjoys her life as a little cloud but longs to do big and important things like the other clouds.  After being blown far from her neighborhood during a storm, she meets a little frog whose pond has dried up to nothing more than a little mud puddle.  Determined to help, she musters all of her determination and in the end finds she is capable of doing lots of important things.

Written with humor and enhanced with colorful, appealing pictures, Cloudette is a feel good story that shares an important message.

Our daughter loves everything about the outdoors and nature…especially animals.  On a recent trip to the  library At This Very Moment caught her eye.  She saw the cover and commented: “That looks like a really good book Mommy!”  She was right.  At This Very Moment is terrific.  Written in rhyming couplet, the reader is taken on a journey into the animal world through the pages of this book.  Daily tasks from getting up and brushing your teeth to sitting at the dinner table and eating your peas are highlighted and then in juxtaposition the reader is given a glimpse into what animals are doing at that same time.

A true highlight of this book are the illustrations.  They are amazing and truly bring the words on the page to life.  At This Very Moment is a treat!

The power of simplicity is found in Emily Gravett’s Chameleon.  Yes, this book is about colors, but it is also about a search for friendship.  The simply language coupled with eye catching illustrations of the chameleon transforming from color to color in an attempt to “fit in” and find friendship makes this book not only an engaging read for all ages, but serves as an outstanding starting point for meaningful discussion about friendship for older children.