The Helpful Puppy
by By Kim Zarins; Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

Comfortably old-fashioned illustrations help to tell the simple story of the brown-and-white puppy who lives on a farm and wants, more than anything, to help out.  After all, the other animals have jobs to do!  This puppy will try anything, and in page after page he does.    Maybe he can... Read More

Finn Throws a Fit
by David Elliott, Illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering

Look at the cover with that woebegone, discontented toddler. If ever there was a book to show to kids with the simple question, "What do you think this story is about?" this is it. It begins, "Finn likes peaches. Usually." Look at the sweet little toddler on the first page,... Read More

Cat the Cat, Who Is That? (Cat the Cat series )
by Mo Willems

With his new "Cat the Cat" emergent reader series, the versatile Mo Willems tackles the easiest of the easies. The first four books range from a total of just 18 to 31 words, proving that you can indeed do more with less sometimes. More laughing, that is. Cat the Cat,... Read More

The Doghouse
by Jan Thomas

The sky is sky blue; the day is sunny. Cow kicks the red ball, but it goes over the outstretched arms of Mouse, Duck, and Pig. "Oh no! The ball went into THE DOGHOUSE!” On the next double page, the now indigo sky surrounds a sinister-looking orange doghouse, with a... Read More

Simms Taback's City Animals
by Simms Taback

Labeled a "giant fold-out book," this appealing and colorful animal book contains a series of six riddles that even the youngest child will delight in solving again and again. On the first heavystock page is an illustration of what appears to be a large gray and white tail. Underneath, in... Read More

Press Here
by Herve Tullet

Interactive engaging play without electronics!  Press Here is the ultimate book for engaging very young children and holding their attention.  It is so clever and simple; you’ll wish you had thought of it yourself!  The book begins with a simple yellow dot in the middle of the page with... Read More

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes
by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean

Pete the Cat, a lanky, skinny-tailed, indigo-hued kitty with big, almond-shaped, yellow eyes, is sauntering down the street in his brand-new lace-up sneakers and singing: "I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes." Oh, no! Pete steps in a large pile--actually, an entire... Read More

The Very Hungry Caterpillar
by Eric Carle

"In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf." So begins one of the most beloved picture books of all times, right up there with The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. (If... Read More

How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?
by Jane Yolen

Can children, and in particular, boys, ever read too many dinosaur books? Certainly not. Dinosaurs are forever fascinating in both fiction and nonfiction. They may be monstrous and terrifying, but conveniently, because they're extinct, we don't need to worry about them showing up in the back yard or under the... Read More

The Feel Good Book
by Todd Parr

I’m feeling kinda down in the dumps, out of sorts, not so great, when I pick up a copy of The Feel Good Book. There, on the cover, is a smiling lady with a bright yellow face and pink big hair, dancing beside a blue-faced guy with six ropes of... Read More

Dinosaur vs. Bedtime
by Bob Shea

"ROAR! I'M A DINOSAUR. ROAR! NOTHING CAN STOP ME!" says a pointy white-toothed red dinosaur as he leaps into a pile of leaves. "DINOSAUR WINS!" he exclaims, triumphantly. He takes a bow and keeps on roaring. With Dinosaur versus a big slide, a bowl of spaghetti, talking grown-ups, bathtime, and... Read More

And Then It's Spring
by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Erin Stead

In Julie Fogliano’s poetic text that flows from page to page as smoothly as the seasons move from one to the next, we see the brown of late winter/early spring slowly change to a “hopeful, very possible sort of brown.”  Yet the seeds one little... Read More

A Visitor for Bear
by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton

Though the sign on his front door says "No Visitors Allowed," Bear hears a knock and opens the door only to find a mouse, "small and gray and bright-eyed." "Go away," Bear says firmly, but that little mouse keeps showing up everywhere: in the cupboard ("Perhaps we could just have... Read More

Bark, George
by Jules Feiffer

"George's mother said: 'Bark, George.'George went: 'Meow.''No, George,' said George's mother.'Cats go meow. Dogs go arf. Now, bark, George.'George went: 'Quack-quack.'"Every time the floppy-eared brown dog tries to bark, he meows, quacks, oinks, or moos instead. George's mother, a matronly olive drab-colored dog sporting a red bandana around her neck,... Read More

Olivia
by Ian Falconer

The first captivating book about the delectable piglet, Olivia, begins, "This is Olivia. She is good at lots of things. She is very good at wearing people out. She even wears herself out." Olivia trundles stoically through her days, building a sand Empire State Building at the beach, dancing instead... Read More

Shark vs. Train
by Chris Barton, Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

With teeth bared and menacing looks on their fierce profiles, a big turquoise shark and a smoke-belching gray-blue train engine are gearing up for an intense confrontation. The shark sneers, “I’M GOING TO CHOO-CHOO YOU UP AND SPIT YOU OUT,” and the unintimidated train responds, “HA! I’M GOING... Read More

Little Pig Joins the Band
by David Hyde Costello

He’s the youngest member of his family. Everyone calls him Little Pig.  They don’t even hear when he tries to remind them: “My name is Jacob!”  All he wants to do is keep up. At a visit to Grandpa’s, his brothers and sisters find Grandpa’s old marching-band instruments, and... Read More

Jump!
by Scott M. Fischer

Infectious rhymes and rhythm will get tots jumping out of their seats in this simple tale that builds from a tiny bug to a big whale. The story takes place near a house by the water: “Well, / I’m a bug. / I’m a bug. / I’m a snug... Read More

I Must Have Bobo!
by Eileen Rosenthal

When Willy gets out of bed, he can’t find Bobo. What an upset! Arms raised, eyes and mouth open wide, Willy proclaims: “I need Bobo. Bobo helps me with everything.” Children will recognize the comical overstatement since Bobo is, well, a sock monkey, but they will also empathize as, in... Read More

Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site
by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

A welcome addition to the wide array of bedtime books, Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site is sure to charm young children with its tale of what happens when the sun goes down on a construction site.  Little ones who play as hard as the construction vehicles... Read More

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa
by Erica Silverman, Illustrated by Betsy Lewin

Red-ponytailed Cowgirl Kate and her chocolate-colored talking horse Cocoa are the best of buds. In four cheerful, easy-to-read chapters, Kate tells Cocoa the story of how she found him, gives him a surprise in a box, counts cows with him, and sleeps in the barn with him, where he sings... Read More

Food for Thought: The Complete Book of Concepts for Growing Minds
by Saxton Freymann

You’ll drool over the sharp color photos, taken of a cornucopia of real fruits and vegetables, carved, posed, or assembled to look like animals and objects. The food creatures, made from bananas, peppers, cherries, mushrooms, and more—there's a list of the more than 75 ingredients on the copyright page—demonstrate a... Read More

Kitten's First Full Moon
by Kevin Henkes

The night Kitten sees her first full moon, she thinks it's a little bowl of milk in the sky, and she wants it. She jumps at it, and chases it, and climbs a tall tree all the way to the top, but still she can't reach it, poor Kitten. When... Read More

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale
by Mo Willems

Leaving the Laundromat with her daddy, toddler Trixie realizes she’s missing her constant and beloved companion, Knuffle Bunny. (Listeners will notice the face of the stuffed rabbit that Dad has just inadvertently loaded into the washing machine.) Unfortunately, Daddy can't seem to comprehend Trixie’s baby talk—“Aggle flaggle klabble!"—when she tries... Read More

No, David!
by David Shannon

"Be quiet!," "That's enough, David!," and "Go to your room!" are just some of the admonitions that David's mom yells at him while the round-headed dynamo barrels around the house making mischief. "Come back here, David," she exclaims as the gleeful little terror takes off, naked, down the street. In... Read More