The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers

This book tells the story of a boy who starts eating books and absorbs all the information of each book he ingests. Finally, he eats so many that he begins to confuse the information he stores and starts to abandon his habit. The story is cute but I really love the illustrations. This book had to grow on Ricky because the illustrations were not the usual bold-red-blue-yellow-green big and happy ones. The illustrations are very high design. My husband, who is a graphic designer, really liked the illustrations as well. I especially love the bite mark at the corner of the book! Well done.

Fire Engine Man by Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemesha

I know I know. Two fire engine themed books in a row. I am doing this out of comparison. This book is written from the perspective of a little boy, who pretends to drive the fire engine and do all those fireman-ish duties. His little brother can watch him drive by and visit him in the fire station. These authors also have a book called Digger Man, which I will review at a later time - and these books are great for toddlers. This book is written in a simple fashion and has great illustrations.

Firefighters! Speeding! Spraying! Saving! by Patricia Hubbell and Illustrated by Viviana Garofoli

Patricia Hubbell has written many books that little Ricky likes, and this is her newest one. This book describes the job of firefighters step by step throughout their shift. It begins when the bell rings and they go off to fight a fire - first getting dressed, riding in the firetruck, surviving traffic, fighting the fire, etc. The story is not scary and demonstrates how brave firefighters are and how helpful they are to the community. Just like her other books, the book is written in rhyming fashion, and will no doubt sustain your child's interest throughout.

An Absolute MUST When Travelling With Your Toddler: Little Sticker Books!!!

When Mark and I were planning our trip to visit my sister in Boston over the summer, I was on a mission to find new and exciting things to occupy Ricky throughout the trip. I am talking about situations when he wants to whine because he is bored. This could be when you are waiting in the security line at the airport, waiting at the gate, waiting to take-off, waiting to de-plane, etc etc. The situations are limitless. I discovered these little sticker books at 2 mom-and-pop book/toy shops in Chicago and they saved my life!

These books are small - about 3 x 5 inches and they fit in your purse or diaper bag very well. They come in multiple themes - as you can see from my picture. Some have a scene where you have to put the stickers (for example, a railroad station where you have to put the boxcars, people, luggage, etc.) and some are just stickers to play with. They only cost me $1 to $1.50 each and they proved to be one of the best inventions (besides the portable DVD player) for travelling with your toddler.

THE BEST Sticker Activity Book for Toddlers EVER!!!

If you have a toddler, this book and other variations of it are an absolute must. This book keeps my 2 1/2 year old busy for 20-30 minute intervals at a time and it is incredibly fun and educational.

There are sections of this book devoted to ABCs -uppercase and lower case, Phonics, Numbers, Counting, Colors, Shapes, Trucks, Animals, and Vocabulary. There are stickers that go along with corresponding workbook-type pages and you sit with your child, peel off the stickers he/she wants and have him/her put it in the right spot. This reinforces so many different important concepts that they need to learn at this age.

The book is so big that it will take your toddler months to actually finish the book, but there are so many different sections that he/she will never be bored. Admittedly, Ricky is devoted to the Trucks section and we always start there but then we do manage to navigate to other sections of the book.

I have seen variations of this book by the same publisher and I am hoping and praying to God that they manage to produce more kinds. This is by far the best activity book I have come across for Ricky. It is engaging and so very educational. I have recommended this book to all my mommy friends. But the funny part is that I have only seen these books sold at Toys R Us. Not sure why.

Five Trucks by Brian Floca

I think this might be the second Brian Floca book I've reviewed. The first one was Racecar Alphabet. All I know is, this guy has a good thing going - he writes & illustrates his own books.

This book is about 5 different kinds of trucks that prepare a plane to take-off. The language is simple, so it's great for toddlers. I especially like the fact that it uses the powers - first truck, second truck, third truck, etc. because I haven't run across many picture books that touch on this concept. I find this book interesting because it describes preparation for take-off for planes - which is also something rarely written about. A great read-along.