Books My Kids Like

 Leo: A Ghost Story by Mac Barnett
A friendly ghost meets an imaginative little girl, the only person who can see him, and helps catch a thief in her house.  The drawings in this one are so lovely and The Bairn immediately asked for a second reading after I read it to him the first time.

Soup Day by Melissa Iwai
A little girl and her mother prepare vegetable soup on a cold day.  My kids really love books about everyday life and they've found a lot to talk about with this one--which vegetables they like to eat, the shapes of the vegetables in the soup, etc.  They even asked to make the soup in the story and then play the games that the girl and her mother play together.  This one is reminiscent of Anne Rockwell's picture books (but I much prefer Iwai's illustrations).

Puffin Peter by Petr Horacek
Two puffin friends are separated in a storm, but a kind blue whale helps them reunite.  This story is very similar to Little Owl Lost by Chris Naugton and Where's My Mom by Julia Donaldson, two more books we all enjoy.

Dr. De Soto by William Steig
Dr. De Soto, the mouse dentist, and his wife outwit a fox who plans to eat them after receiving his dental care from them.  I don't think I'd ever actually read this one until we found a free copy at the parent resource center last month, although it won Newbery and National Book Award honors in the 1980s.  When one of my nieces was about Ellen's age, she called herself Dr. De Soto and would often come barreling down the hall, calling, "The doctor is coming!"

The Snatchabook by Helen and Thomas Docherty
The story books in Burrow Down are disappearing right from under the inhabitants' noses until clever Eliza Brown catches the culprit and helps him make amends.  Told in verse with beautiful illustrations, this feels like a new classic.

20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street by Mark Lee
When an ice cream truck breaks down in the middle of the street, it causes a traffic jam of twenty different vehicles.  The Bairn loves all the vehicle books in the world, and I'm always happy when I find one that I don't mind reading again and again.