animals – Page 7 – One Chapter

We Don’t Lose Our Pet Goldfish by Ryan T. Higgins

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Yes, big Penelope is afraid of Walter, the goldfish (I still laugh about the first book in this series and how this fear all began). Penelope has feelings just like all her friends at school, but Walter is her biggest fear and she’s going to have to face that fear in the upcoming coming weeks.

Ms. Noodleman, Penelope’s teacher announces to her class that the whole class will have the opportunity to take Walter home for the weekend. While the whole class is overjoyed with this opportunity, Penelope starts to worry. Week-by-week, her classmates share their positive weekends with Walter with the class. For Penelope doom day is today, Walter is coming home with her. You have to laugh as she tries to entertain Walter at home, her creative activities are entertaining, yet I don’t think they fit something Walter is capable of enjoying. It’s been quite the weekend and it’s quite possible that Penelope developed a liking for Walter, but I don’t think she’s ready for her own pet yet.

With fantastic illustrations you’ll fall in love with Penelope as she deals with some common childhood issues in this series. Penelope isn’t afraid to show her emotions and she’s a character that’s likeable and one you can relate to. A great book. 5 stars

Worm and Caterpillar Are Friends by Kaz Windness

5 stars Children’s Graphic Novel

We’re alike yet we’re different. This is a fun book as these two best friends discover how much they have in common and how much their differences really matter. Told in text boxes, this story is about a caterpillar and a worm. Worm thinks they are alike, but caterpillar tells worm they’re not completely alike. As worm tells caterpillar things that he thinks they’re similar on, caterpillar corrects worm. No caterpillar does not eat dirt and he doesn’t crawl on his belly.

I think it’s funny that worm hasn’t noticed this before but perhaps it really didn’t matter. They can still be best friends even though they have some differences. Caterpillar points out some similarities that they have which is sweet.

When caterpillar starts eating and he continues to eat and eat, worm notices that his friend is acting rather strangely. Ha!

It’s really cute as caterpillar starts to really change. Worm stays by his friend day and night as he undergoes some strange transition, right before his eyes. I love how worm cares for his friend and his love for his friend really shines.

Fantastic book. I liked how it talks about friendship and how you don’t have to be exactly like another person to be best friends. You can have similarities and differences and still be friends. I like how the caterpillar changes in the book and how he’s accepted by worm. The illustrations are colorful, fun, and do a great job telling the story. I liked how this book starts off by explaining to the reader how to read this book. Written like a graphic novel, this book tells the reader about each of the text boxes or panels and to read the page, left to right. They explain text bubbles and how to follow them to understand who exactly is talking in the story. They also explain about the little text words that are written outside the text bubbles and what they mean. 5 stars

Whose Prints? by Kari Allen

5 stars Children’s Board Book

This is a great board book that has cut-outs of animal tracks that help children identify which track belongs to which animal. Follow along with a father and his child as they take a walk in the woods and notice the footprints in the newly fallen snow. There are about 4-6 tracks on each page which are cut-out on the page for the reader to identify. One page per animal and the reader is also given a short question about the animal before the reader turns the page to see the answer and an illustration of the animal. This is a super book for children and adults alike as it covers 7 different animals (including humans).

I like the beautiful peaceful illustrations. The text is simple and fun to read. This is a book that can be read repeatedly as the child examines the footprints and makes their guesses. They can apply this knowledge to their own world as they explore the great outdoors too. A gem of a book! 5 stars.

“Quick! Who scurried, then skittered around, over, and up?” There is a set of 5 small tracks on the page whose prints vary in length between them. Turning the page, you’ll see three squirrels up in the tree and the following answer printed on the page. (Answer: “Scurry, skitter. Up, up, up. A Squirrel!”)

Swim, Jim by Kaz Windness

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Poor Jim, he’s a crocodile and he can’t swim. When he goes with his family to go swimming, Jim looks worried. As his sisters Sim and Kim jump in the swamp with their parents, Jim stands on the edge of the water and watches. His siblings tease him as they swim around the dark swamp that night as Jim tells them that he’s afraid of sinking. Meanwhile, his parents tell him that perhaps later he’ll be ready to swim.

Jim decides that a smaller swamp might be better for him so the next day, he sets off to discover one. After searching for a long while, Jim discovers one! The one that he discovers has floaties and noodles in it!

This will be perfect for Jim, as they will help him not sink. Jim is loving his little discovery and he’s getting the confidence that he needs to learn how to swim. It’s going to be a perfect little swamp for Jim until the owners of it come back.

It’s a cute book with large illustrations that jump off the page. I like how Jim handles the situation on his own and how he overcomes his fear. The book has lots of different text fonts for the words which are fun to read. Jim is a cute character too. 5 star read.

Llama Destroys the World by Jonathan Stutzman

2 stars Children’s Picture Book

What did I just read? Llama eats a cake that he just found and that ends up destroying the world. I’m sorry but this book makes no sense to me except it shows me that Llama didn’t pay attention to anything during the week except for his usual routine.

Friday, the world ended because of a black hole and as everything was sucked through the black hole, life on the other side continued as before. Really? The book then continues as Llama eats a pie and unfortunately, I have a feeling the whole thing would continue again …..if the book had more pages.

So, Llama makes lots of mistakes in this book and he just keeps on making mistakes and is that ok?

He just does his own thing because he can. He knows there’s danger, but he doesn’t really care, he is more worried about himself and what he needs.

I guess some people might think this is funny but I’m not one of them. Sorry. The illustrations are cute and nicely done but otherwise, I don’t care for this book. Not reading this one to my grandkids. 1-2 stars

Invent-a-Pet by Vicky Fang

4.5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Is it extraordinary? Katie wants a pet that is unique: something extraordinary. When they can’t find something at a pet store, her mother brings her a pet-making machine so Katie can make her own pet. The only problem is, Katie has to figure out how the machine works. There are three (3) input slots but what do they mean?

Katie tries all kinds of combinations to figure out what they mean as she creates all different kinds of pets.

Finally, Katie begins to understand what each of the different input slots mean and she can then put in the right item to get the correct pet that she wants.

What Katie ends up getting will put a smile on your face after you see everything that she has created.

Our grandson liked this book, he kept reaching for it when we’d read together. He’s 4 years old and I had to explain some of the book to him as I think some of the concepts were difficult for him to understand at first. Katie does the trial-and-error concept as she tries to figure out the different input slots so that part of the book gets a bit confusing as she tests each slot. After a few readings, he understood it and would point to the different input slots on the pages as I was reading it as each animal would come out a bit different. When an incident occurs at Katie’s house, we had to investigate that on our own as the book doesn’t mention what happened and I liked that as we flipped through the book to see what had changed on the pages to cause the incident to occur. It’s a cute book and the illustrations are busy, but they do tell the story. My grandson loved the book 5 stars from him and 4 stars from me – 4.5 stars

Biscuit’s Snowy Day by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

5 stars Children’s Board Book

We love Biscuit! This little brown puppy will warm your heart as he loves to get involved in everything that his friend does. Today, they’re going outside to play in the snow. First, they must put on their snow clothes and even Biscuit has to put on a sweater to head outside. As all the children build a snowman, Biscuit helps and so does the dog.

Next, they create snow angels or snow puppies in the snow.

Time to go sledding before heading inside and warming up beside the fireplace. It was a fun-filled day! Woof, Woof!!

Such a cute, simple book that we read repeatedly. The colorful illustrations are action-packed, and the facial expressions set the tone for the book.

Curious George Goes Fishing by H.A. Rey

5 stars Children’s Board Book

Who doesn’t love George? With a curious mind, George finds a man walking to the lake. As the man puts some food on a hook that’s fastened on a pole, George is fascinated when the man catches a fish!

George wants to do that too! Off George goes to make his own fishing pole.

Finding a mop, string, some cake, and a hook, George creates his own fishing pole.

Fishing doesn’t come easy for George but that’s okay, as George does have fun. What’s this? Bill comes by with something that looks more interesting than fishing and it looks like it will be more fun too!

So much for fishing, as George is now going to see what Bill is up to. A fast-paced book with short sentences and cute illustrations. 5 stars

Rocket’s Secret Valentine by Tad Hills

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Who is Rocket’s Secret Valentine? It’s Valentine’s Day and Rocket and Bella are out walking when they discover a huge red heart addressed to Rocket, with a poem attached to it. The poem is not finished nor is it signed. Bella and Rocket must follow the clues on the poem to finish the poem. Following the clues, the friends are led from one Valentine poem to another. The last poem that they read together; Rocket discovers who his secret valentine is.

I liked how Rocket and Bella had to solve the poem with rhyming words. Turning the pages in the book, my grandson solved the missing words by using the previous page information and the illustration. As I read the next page, he was excited that he matched the word that I was now reading to him.

Simple, colorful illustrations fill up the pages, as the friends go on their adventure visiting their friends along the way. It’s a super cute book. 5 stars

Happy Valentine’s Day, Curious George! by N. Di Angelo

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

George and the man with the yellow hat are having a Valentine Day’s party and all the neighborhood kids are invited. Excitement is in the air! With the fashion of Rey books, there’s lots of activity on each page as George has fun with the neighbor children. Balloons, cookies, decorations, and a good time for everyone. Colorful illustrations adorn each page. The left-hand side of each two-page spread is folded in so after reading the page, you fold out that flap to reveal more of the story which usually adds some surprise to the story.