Henry & the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi

In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, I've chosen this great picture book that I've read to Ricky recently. This is the story of Henry, a pirate bunny like no other - who prefers reading instead of carrying out his normal pirate duties. This drives his father, Captain Barnacle Black Ear crazy. Afterall, Black Ear himself is known as the "baddest brute of all time." The examples are really cute - Black Ear asks Henry to force a prisoner to walk the plank and Henry replies, "Can't I just read about it?" The illustrations are great for the story and in fact it is the same illustrator for Minnie's Diner (John Manders) - which I featured on my blog earlier. The ending makes librarians around the world smile. Great book when your child is in the pirate mood.

We're Going On a Bear Hunt by Michael J. Rosen

This book tells the story of a family who goes on a bear hunt and the consequences of their curiosity. I don't think Mark and I will ever go on a deliberate bear hunt, so when I saw this book, I had to get it. Why not live through other people's experiences - even if they are fictionalized?

This is a book that Ricky likes, but I try not to read it too often. It requires lots of repetition - which is good for kids, but if your child expects you to read about 10 books in one sitting like Ricky, you will definitely lose your voice when you read this one. My husband is not fond of this book because of the noises you read (ie "squishy, squashy, squishy, squashy) but I appreciate this book for its sense of sequencing of events. Sequencing is an important pre-school concept, so I am all for reading this book once in a while - when I am only reading 2 books in one sitting.

The Racecar Alphabet by Brian Floca

This book is a big favorite of Ricky's. The book tells the story of racecars and each page starts with a letter of the alphabet and the action described has several words that start with the corresponding letter. Hence, the phonics lesson has begun! Ricky identifies each letter on each page and listens to me read the page - and then I review the sound the letter makes for him. The rhyming is super cute and engaging to the parent and child. Thinking about possibly purchasing this book for him - or telling Santa.

Building With Dad by Carol Nevius

For all those kids who are fascinated with construction equipment, this is the book (or one of them) for you. The story is about a little boy who is on site as his dad helps to construct the new school. The illustrations are pretty sharp and look true-to-life. The book opens length-wise - something very unique to picture books. Once you start to flip the pages and see the illustrations, it's quite understood why it is this way. The story is sweet, unique, and easy to read. Ricky identified with the boy and said the daddy was his daddy and they were going to build a school together.

Minnie's Diner: A Multiplying Menu by Dayle Ann Dodds

This is a really cute book. It's the story of a farmer who has several sons and they are supposed to work hard on the family farm. They are each distracted by the smells coming from Minnie's Diner and as each son goes to the diner to eat, his order is doubled from his brother before him. Even though Ricky is no where near multiplying yet, he did recognize the numbers alone and enjoyed the idea that these people ate so much food! I definitely see us checking this out of the library several more times!

The Three Little Rigs & The Ugly Truckling by David Gordon

These books are great to read! The Three Little Rigs is (of course) similar to the classic The Three Pigs and tells the story of three rigs who manage to avoid the torture from a mean wrecking ball. The story and illustrations are fantastic. My son loves this book and I dread the day when I have to return it to the library.

The Ugly Truckling follows the classic The Ugly Duckling and tells the story of a plane who is born into a family of trucks. It is sad but in the end, of course, realizes it is a great airplane. This book is great to read too.