Get your book wishlists up and ready to update! Here are the titles the Bookroo Crew bought in June and what we think of them.
Jane and Kesler:
What we were looking for: Expanding our early chapter series collection!
We picked up all three of these the same day (on my 4-year-old’s special afternoon with Mom, when the two of us spend time together while the little plays at Grammy’s!) and read them on a blanket in the yard with some snacks—would highly recommend! Of the three, this was Fitz’s favorite. It’s a really cute graphic novel, and I love that it includes some facts about the actual sea creatures in question (in this case, otters and jellyfish), and the story is simple, easy to follow and has the perfect infusion of humor.
An oldie, but a goodie. Fitz has been listening to Boxcar Children for an hour before bed each night, so he’s really into mysteries right now and we both enjoyed this one as well. It’s a pretty fast read, with lots of spacing between lines, nice big text, and plenty of pictures. Is the story mind-blowing? No, but kind of to be expected with these early reader chapter books. Overall, good, and we’ll probably check out a few more in the series from the library.
Let’s start with the fact that I’m absolutely obsessed with The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, and have loved a bunch of her other YA books as well, so as the mom, I was really excited about this one. Also, I’m a big believer in the idea that a book isn’t a girl book if it has a girl main character, EVEN if that main character is a princess, and Fitz didn’t balk at that aspect at all. There is a monster fight in the book, at which point he asked me to stop because it was too scary and he didn’t want the other monsters to join the fight . . . I checked ahead and since none of the other monster’s join the fight, we were cleared to continue, but I was surprised he thought it was scary. Also, incredible premise, but I felt like things were made unnecessarily silly girly (the horse/unicorns name is Frimplepants, lots of talk of ruffles, glitter, etc.) . . . I don’t know. For what an amazing storyteller I know Hale is, the story and the storytelling just fell flat for me. Do I dislike them? No. If my kids decide they love them, great, I’ll get more, but I won’t be pushing these or grabbing some for my personal entertainment.
Tiffany and Chandler:
What we were looking for: A had to have sequel, classic Boynton humor, and a beautiful book!
We read the first book in this series (The Fog Diver) as a family. The kids loved it, and it ends with such a cliffhanger that we had to get the sequel. The first book does a lot of engaging world building that we hope to more fully explore in this title!
This is such a beautifully designed book with its minimalist sketches and cursive writing. It’s really popular but we haven’t read it yet, so we’re excited to see what it’s all about. The title is intriguing.
Our toddler is starting to show more interest in books and especially likes to hold them, so we want to add some fresh board books to our collection for her to enjoy (and to save the pages of our picture books and chapter books!) We’ve enjoyed many Sandra Boynton titles over the years, but we didn’t have this in our library yet, and we always love her clever humor!
Rebecca and Tayler:
What we were looking for: A few new books to jive with, and an old favorite!
We have and love Boynton’s “What’s Wrong, Little Pookie?” book and wanted another from the series for our home library. This one did not disappoint, though it is better for when you want to get some wiggles out, being a full on “interaction” book in getting you and your little one to shimmy and shake!
Our little boy is too small to dance yet, but I’m hoping to prime him so he’ll start as soon as he can (with this and Let’s Dance, Little Pookie)—prepping for our kitchen dance parties from the very beginning! Plus, I knew we needed to add this classic to our library for the great message of being yourself, dancing to your own tune, and not worrying about what others think of you—all messages I’ll happily read over and over again to my child.