Best Library Finds (6)

One Gorilla is beautifully illustrated. Every page has a different group of primates. This book would be a real winner for an animal lover. Beckett likes it too, and he isn't an animal fanatic.

Trainstop is a wordless picture book. This is our second time checking it out from the library, and I love the way the book illustrates imagination. It's a good little introduction to fantasy as well. This is definitely a good pick for train lovers.

Little Owl Lost is my favorite of the bunch and perhaps Beckett's as well. I love just about everything about this book: the story, the illustrations, the colors, the font. The design is basically perfect. Little Owl falls from his nest and a squirrel and a frog help him find his mama.

Best Library Finds (5)

What Time Is It, Mr. Crocodile? Mr. Crocodile plans his day, but those pesky monkeys just won't leave him alone. This is a fun little tale, written in catchy verse. It has a clock on every page.

Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow? Beckett loved this book. It has a lot of things going for it. The question and answer style was a big hit. It also has colorful illustrations, flaps on every page, and a review half through and at the end. It's pretty clever too, for example, "If a kid grows and becomes a goat, can a sweater grow and become ... a coat?"

Tupelo Rides the Rails Every time we go to the library we have to come home with at least two train books. Sometimes this seems like a pretty tall order, and I settle for ANY book that has a train. Needless to say, some of the train books we've brought home have been real duds. I was sure that this would be one of those duds, but it's not. Tupelo is an abandoned dog. She joins a bunch of other dogs who ride trains looking for homes. Not only is it way cuter and cleverer than I thought it would be, but I would recommend it to both dog-loving and train-loving children.

Best Library Finds (4)

Who is Driving features a bunch of different animals driving a bunch of different vehicles and going a bunch of different places. I like how all the animals are carrying keys and are dressed appropriately.

Demolition is a real winner if you have kids who love vehicles and construction. B liked this book and its companion Roadwork so much that they took several car rides. I like hearing Beckett say "DEM-O-WITION" with his hands thrown up in the air. Demolition and Roadwork are written in verse and are easy to read.

Z is For Moose was a huge hit at our house. After the first read, Beckett asked to read it again. Zebra is organizing an alphabet book. Moose is eager to be in it and gets very upset when mouse is chosen to represent M.

Best Library Finds (3)

Emergency! is a good choice if you have a vehicle enthusiast. Lately we play a lot of "Fireman Beckett" and "Fireman Mommy" around here, so B was really pleased with this library book. It also has a breakdown train in it, so it counted as a train book when we found it at the library. (Thankfully. Sometimes it's really hard to find a train book, and we cannot leave the library with at least one or two.)

This is Not My Hat won the Caldecott this year. A little fish steals a big fish's hat. That's a mistake. A big mistake. Beckett wanted to read this again and again.

Sleep Like a Tiger won a Caldecott honor. It is a goodnight book featuring a little girl who sleeps like a bunch of different animals. The illustrations are enchanting and reminiscent of Marc Chagall and Gustav Klimt.

I Want My Hat Back is a companion to This is Not My Hat and was written first. I think I liked the story better. I enjoyed reading, "Okay. Thank you anyway." The Bear, who is looking for his hat, demanded to be read with a slightly slow, rather depressed voice (think Eeyore). Beckett really liked these hat books.

Best Library Finds (2)

Machines Go to Work in the City is not quite as wonderful as Machines Go to Work, but it does have a lot of new machines. Garbage truck, vacuum truck, airplane, bucket truck. We saw a bunch of bucket trucks on the road the other day and Beckett knew exactly what they were.

Airport would be a good way to prepare your young child for a airplane trip. The people arrive at the airport, wait in line to check their bags, go through security, board the plane, and only on the last page take to the sky.

Creepy Carrots! is by far the best of this bunch. A clever and funny book about a rabbit who is stalked by the carrots he loves to munch, at first it seemed too scary for my 3-year-old. Pretty soon it was the most requested of the bunch. I can see why this book recently won a Caldecott sticker.

Best Library Finds (1)

I'm thinking of doing a new series on the blog featuring Beckett's favorite library books.

When it comes to library books Beckett has some very strict standards. Those standards involve trains. One day we stopped at the library to drop off some books and Beckett said, "Oh the library. Get a train book."  Usually we have to get more than one.

The last time we went to the library they have a special vehicles display, and I picked up these three books.

Machines At Work is about a group of construction workers building a new building. Beckett said of the first page: "Like at the demolition site!" The workers take a lunch break and put all the machines away at night.

Red Car, Red Bus is a color book. It features different types of vehicles of varying colors. Beckett cheered for the blue bike. I also like to count the different vehicles with Beckett. The illustrations are great and involve some textual collage. I love that it takes place in an English village.

Machines Go To Work is probably Beckett's favorite of the three. I know because he has it memorized and insists on reading it to me. The illustrations in this book are really lovely. I would hang the fire truck and cherry blossoms page on my wall.