This is an older book (1989), that I was able to pick up at a used book sale. Chapters book store has it listed as 1999. Anyway…
Great little book to learn or reinforce colours and use thinking skills. I really like that.
Each page is devoted to a colour, and big bird asks if you can guess what item he is thinking about. Eg. “Now I am thinking about something BLUE! It is something good to eat. Can you guess what it is?”
There is a picture of a blue jay, blue jeans, a blue car, blueberries, etc.
My son really enjoys the guessing part. He knows his colours now, but when he was still learning them he liked it when I would ask him what colour were all the things on the page.
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This book is about the death of a pet.
It starts out with the boy playing with a healthy Pepper the cat. Eventually, Pepper gets old and no longer wants to play, drink or purr. This makes the boy sad who asks his mom if Pepper is going to die. Mama replies, “I think so”.
The Mom and son deal with the pain of loosing a beloved pet. They burry him in their backyard (looks like they live in the county).
The boy is worried about if his cat will be afraid where he is now. The mom reassures the son that “His spirit is forever – it can fly, fly, fly”. Nothing more is said.
The book goes on to talk about the loneliness and sadness; so much so that the boy says he thinks he is going to burst. He thinks about Pepper everyday and how the pain never seems to go away.
One day the boy is able to celebrate Pepper. He remember his purr by listening to the wind and realizes that Pepper will always be in his heart.
Well thought-through book. I think it is good that it helps kids see that other children feel the same way. As a parent, I like that it is rather vague on what happens after death. I like this because it enables me to explain to my child what “we” believe.
I can’t comment on how my kids liked the book. I did not want to read it to them, as I know I would cry. So I read it to myself, and cried. My daughter who is 6 read it, and told me she thought it was sad. She has lost 2 cats to old age in the last year.
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This is a Bear In The Big Blue House book. My son has never seen the show and loves the book. It is a book I don’t mind reading over and over again.
Bear and his friends notice that things are changing now that it is getting warmer. Pip and Pop think that someone has stolen the ice from the pond. Ojo is excited to see a flower peeking through the melting snow and wonders where it came from. There are baby bird and animals being born, seeds that need to be planted, and some dancing because of all the excitement of spring.
Lots of fun and simple explanations of what happens and why during spring.
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I bought this book today at Chapters and my son (age 3) just loves it. I think he likes it because it talks about all the things I encourage him to do, and now he sees other children doing the same things (like coughing into their elbow).
Really simple book with attractive pictures of children of all sorts of ethnicity washing hands, using a tissue, etc.
Great book to teach children about germs in a non-threatening kind of way. It is also good for reinforcing why you want your kids to wash their hand after using the toilet or that they should throw out the cookie that fell on the floor.
The author has a series of books in the same vein, I think the first one is “Hands are not for Hitting”. We have this book too, but my son prefers the germ book over the hitting book. Not sure what that means. lol
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This is book #32 in the series. If you child loves animals then this is a great series for them.
Animal Ark is a vet clinic. Mandy parents run the clinic and Mandy and her friend James are often there to help out.
In this story “Mandy and James discover a stray cat and her kittens behind a house. But the next time they visit, she’s moved her family into a trailer on Sam Western’s’ camp site. Sam Western has no patience for animals – particularly cats. If Mandy and James can’t temp the cats out of the trailer, Sam Western will handle them himself.” (taken from the back of the book)
These are great books that teach more than just how to care for animals. This books shows how you can’t always “judge a book by it cover”. Sam Western and some of his workers turn out to be not as terrible as Mandy thinks.
Overall these are nice books.
Scholastic Reading Level 4
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I thought my son (3yrs) would love this book. Underpants and fun looking aliens, what’s not to like? Well, for some reason he just thought it was ok.
I liked the colourful pictures and that the aliens were not scrary, just lots of fun. Apparently, aliens don’t have underpants in space, so they come to visit earth to take our underpants. The book shows them wearing them on their heads, etc. They usually take them from unattended clotheslines.
Never thought of this till now, but if you have a child that likes to steal things maybe this is not the best book. I will have to double-check if the aliens steal the underpants or just play with them and put them back when done.
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I just don’t get what is so great about SpongeBob, but my son just thinks he is great.
This book is about how SpongeBob does not want to be scared this Halloween, but wants to be the person doing the scaring. He wants to be a ghost, and at first he looks more like a mattress than a ghost. He gets Patrick to shave his head into a round shape, and the fun continues from there.
My son (who is 3) wants me to read this book over and over. He loves the last page where SpongeBob brain is popping out and it scares everyone. I think it is the gross factor that my boy loves.
It is a Ready to Read Level 2 book.
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Very cute book. Just a nice way to say I love you to your child. Would make a nice valentine gift for a young child.
My daughter loved this book and my son (3 yrs.) loves it now too.
This book about a song/poem that a mom dog sings to her puppy. There is no actual music in the book so you need to make up your own tune. I made one up and it has stuck. The nice thing with kids is the tune does not have to be elaborate.
I did a search and there is actually an official song on Sandra Boyton’s website. Here is the link if you want to take a listen — Snuggle Puppy MP3
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This is my first reading of the Babymouse series. It is a graphic (cartoon) novel. I read the whole thing while waiting for my daughter to finish up something.
Good Halloween story. And also could be used to discuss peer pressure and being true to yourself.
The book is about how babymouse wants to be something scary for Halloween but the cat tells her that girls are not suppose to be scary they are suppose to be pretty. Babymouse caves and dresses pretty, she also invites people she does not like to her party. She goes trick-or-treating with the cat and her friends and not her true friend. The cat decides to toilet paper yards, steal candy, and egg houses. Babymouse is told to join in, and she does.
In the end Babymouse realizes that the cat and her friends are not who she really wants to hang out with.
As a parent it was disappointing that Babymouse joined in on the egging, toilet-papering, and stealing candy. It was not until she went home that she got up the courage to say no to the mean cat.
A fun book. My daughter had a hard time understanding that babymouse was daydreaming in parts. It was not that clear. She liked the book though. This is the second Babymouse book she has brought home from school.
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Good book to discuss bullying with your child.
If your child has been bullied it may help them discuss it when looking at the different situations in the book. If your child had not been bullied it is a great “what if…” book. ”What if this happened to you? What would you do?” What if this was happening to one of your friends, what would you do?”
The book starts out by saying that bullies usually look like everyone else. Bullies don’t always hurt your body – they can hurt your feelings as well. It also talks about how adults can be bullies too.
It does not offer solutions other than saying it is good to talk to someone about being bullied, and that feeling good about yourself is probably the best way to stop bullying.
I would say this book is a good overview of bullying. It would be a great discussion starter for school or home. I think if your child is being bullied this book will not give them a lot of answers, but it might give them some comfort knowing they are not alone. The back of the book has some other resources that might help.
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