Fairy Tales by Leah Wilcox

These two books by Leah Wilcox take fairytales on a humorous spin.  They both have very catchy, rhyming text and hilarious storylines.  My two boys love them! 

In Falling for Rapunzel, the Prince misunderstands her cries and calls to her to throw down her hair so he can save her.  Rapunzel is a little hard at hearing (that or slightly dense) and throws down all sorts of items!

Waking Beauty is about a know it all Prince who, like Rapunzel in the previous book, is slightly dense). He stumbles upon Sleeping Beauty and her fairy godmothers and attempts to wake her.  However, he doesn't take the time to listen to the fairy godmothers and goes about waking her in his own way.  

Falling for Rapunzel

"Please, love, just your silky tresses!" 

She thought he asked for silky dresses. 

In lace and frills up to his head,  

the prince's cheeks were blushing red. 

"Rapunzel, do you have a rope?" 

Rapunzel dropped a cantaloupe. 

It burst in pieces on his head."  

Oh, bad catch!" Rapunzel said. 

Waking Beauty

"We see you finally made the trip,now give the girl a little lip. 

"Okay," he said. "If you insist."He drew his mouth up in a twist, 

and hollered "WAKE UP LAZYBONES!"Her snores drowned out the faries' groans. 

They shook their heads, "No, not like this, you have to wake her with a-" 

"Hey, I know!  He tapped his headand started jumping on the bed.

Transportation Collection

We recently discovered this collection of books by Patrica Hubbell at our library.  We checked out Trains and Airplanes and the boys (and I!) loved them so much that I ordered all 5 from Amazon last night.  I got them used for pennies and the total for shipping all 5 was $26 or something like that.  The books have very interesting and eclectic, mod-podgey illustrations and catchy, rhyming text.  The boys ask to read them over and over!

Trucks

Trains

Airplanes 

Cars 

Boats

The Mine-o-Saur

Mine-o-Saur by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

A group of dinosaurs are playing peacefully in the schoolyard when... oh no!  Here come's Mine-o-Saur!  

He snatched the jump rode and the ball.

He threw the cars against the wall.

And then he roard to one and all,

"MINE! MINE! MINE! 

Throughout the day, Mine-o-Saur continues on his "MINE MINE MINE" rampage.  Pretty soon, no one wants to play with him.  And Mine-o-Saur realizes how lonely it is without friends to play with. Will he be able to make up with the other dinosaurs again? 

Doggone Dogs!

Doggone Dogs! by Karen Beaumont

As the morning sun peaks through the dark,

Doggone dogs begin to bark.

"No, dogs. Down, dogs. Sit, dogs. Hey!"

Doggone dogs do not obey!

10 unruly, adventurous dogs take their pajama clad owner on an exhausting chase through Central Bark, Dog Obedience School, being captured and then plotting their escape.  They ultimately end up back home on the couch, exhausted.  

Three dogs, two dogs, one dog. Done!

Bow-Wow-Wow. That was fun!

Doggone Dogs from one to ten...

Cannot wait to go again!

This book is adorable and hilarious.  The story is captivating and the rhymes are simple and quick.  The pictures, I think, are my favorite part of the story.  David Catrow was a perfect pair for Karen Beaumont in this hilarious dog book!

Sheep in Jeep

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw

"Beep! Beep! Sheep in a jeep on a hill that's steep. . . . Sheep leap to push the jeep. . . ." 

A perfect rhyming book for beginner readers... five sheep pile in a jeep (of course!) and embark on a crazy journey resulting in a jeep in a heap... for sale... cheap!

Llama Llama Misses Mama

Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney

This was a perfect book to read before my son started preschool.  Little Llama is nervous about school and leaving his mama.  But it turns out he really does like school!

Llama Llama Mad at Mama

Llama Llama Mad at Mama

Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney

This is one of our favorite books in our house... anything in the Llama Llama series!  

Yucky music, great big feet.

Ladies smelling way too sweet.
Look at knees and stand in line.
Llama Llama starts to whine.

Little Llama doesn't like to shop and ends up throwing a tantrum in the store.  Mama Llama calms him down and is able to make shopping fun for her and Little Llama.

Digger Man

Digger Man by Andrea Zimmerman

Porter loves anything having to do with loaders, bulldozers and dumptrucks so this book was a definite hit. What I love even more about it is how closely it relates to Porter and Hudson (our youngest).

Digger Man is about a little boy who loves diggers. He talks about how he's going to buy a digger and have special digger man boots and he talks about all the things he's going to scoop and dig and work on with his digger. His little brother, though, is too little to help out. But, his mom and dad can bring him to watch and maybe he'll give him a ride in his digger.

Great storyline, cute illustrations and an easy read for short attention toddlers.

There Once Was a Man Named Michael Finnegan

There Once Was a Man Named Michael Finnegan by Mary Ann Hoberman

Michael Finnegan is at it again... stirring up quite a "din-igan" with his "violin-igan." Follow along beyond the silly song and take a journey with Michael and other crazy characters.

Jamberry

Jamberry by Bruce Degen

I've always liked this book, and luckily so does Porter. Lately, this has been his nightly read. He loves when the boy and the bear go over the dam in the canoe... he always says "Oh NOOOO!" right when we start to turn the page. And on some of the pages, the bears hat is flying off. He always says "Hat! ON!" LOL.

Anyhow... enough of how much my kid likes this book. Its just a fun, cute, rhyme-y book.

"One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry. Hatberry, shoeberry, in my canoeberry."

Dig Dig Digging

Dig Dig Digging by Margaret Mayo and Alex Ayliffe

This is a new book I bought Porter from the Scholastic Book Orders (love em!). Of course, he loves this book primarily because it features "lOOOHHHders" and "Bu-bo-bers" and "Duh-trucks". He loves anything that has to do with trucks.

MommyView: I enjoy reading this book... it has somewhat of a poem on each page, and a little rhythm and repetition on each page.

"Diggers are good at dig, dig, digging,
scooping up the earth, and lifting and tipping.
They make huge holes with their dig, dig digging.
They can work all day"

"Fire engines are good at race, race, racing.
Look out! Look out! Bright lights flashing.
Hoses at the ready for swoosh, swoosh, swooshing.
They can work all day"