Picture Books for Little Ones

Monkey and I have been enjoying our reading time together. His interests have been slowly changing over the last few months. Boardbooks have been replaced with picture books, but I try to select picture books with simple stories. Here are a few of our favorites from the last few months:

Dinosaurumpus

Shake, shake, shudder..

Near the sludgy old swamp.

The dinosaurs are coming.

Get ready to romp.

Dinosaurumpus is about dinosaurs coming together for a big dance-celebration-get together. Even T-Rex joins in on the party! The pictures are colourful and dynamic and the story is silly and fun to read. The script rhymes and is full of onomatopoeias.

Snip Snap!: What's That?

When I first read this book to Monkey I found it a little disturbing. An alligator barges into a house occupied by three children (where are the parents?) and begins ransacking the place. The children are scared which is made obvious by the repeating line "where the children scared? you bet they were!". Eventually the children "have had enough of all this scary alligator stuff" and tell the alligator off. It scurries back into the sewer and the children claim victory. Despite the book's darker content, Monkey really likes it. I'm not sure it would find a permanent place in our home library though.

Super Duck

We are Jez Alborough fans around here. We really like his Duck books: Duck in the Truck, Hit the Ball Duck, Fix it Duck and one of his latests Super Duck. The pictures in his books are simple yet captivating and the stories are silly, well paced and they rhyme! In Super Duck, Duck's friend Frog is taken away by a kite and Duck must save him. Super Duck to the rescue!

The 3 Little Dassies

Jan Brett has such beautiful books. The 3 Little Dassies is her most recent one. It is an African version of the three little pigs. The story is longer but the pictures are so imaginative and welcoming that Monkey has no problem sitting through the entire book.

ps. Jan Brett has a link for a free downloadable 2011 Calendar that depicts her art from this book.

Strega Nona's Havest

Tomie de Paola is another of our favourite authors around here. Strega Nona's Havest is a wonderful picture book about planting and harvesting a garden and sharing with those in need. Big Anthony wants to plant a garden like Strega Nona's and so he does (in secret behind a shed). Although his garden is a mess compared to Strega Nona's, his vegetables eventually help the town folk who experienced a poor harvest that year. I especially like the Italian influence in this book and the Dominican sisters :)