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I'm always on the look-out for new, well-written children's books for my son. We had been reading him: Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! and Why Mommy is a Democrat.He loved the story and drawings! However, he didn't seem to take to them as much as I thought he would...so I decided to find something else as informative, well-balanced and fun to read with my child.Then I came across The Rainbow Fish by Macrus Pfister. The Rainbow Fish is a story about a spectacular fish with amazing scales. Soon, other - boring fish - come and request a scale from the fish who turns them all down. The boring fish leave, causing the Rainbow Fish to be lonely. The Rainbow fish goes on a journey to discover why the other fish don't like him.The Rainbow Fish is soon told by the octopus that it is because he won't share his amazing scales. The Rainbow Fish then goes to the other fish and gives them his scales. Eventually all the fish have a shiny scale and the Rainbow Fish now has only one shiny scale left as well. The fish all play together happily. The end.Fantastic! A book about learning. Isn't that brilliant? I suggest that you go buy this book for your children. It's important that your children realize that it is NEVER okay to be different from other children. After all, we as people are not allowed to be stronger/weaker, smarter/less intellectual, creative/logical, physically, spiritually or emotionally better than others. In fact, we should ALL be the same. And it's also important that you teach your children that, in life, they are entitled. If someone has something more - then it is okay to expect that they give it to you. In fact, you should shun them if they don't. If you work hard and have much - please remember you must share it all. Even if you don't want to. Don't expect to be liked just for your personality. You must give everything you have to ensure that you are liked.Nothing is worse than being unliked. Don't let you children think differently or it could go very badly for them. Your individuality is not precious and there is no degree to which it can't be compromised in order to make people like you. Remember. WHO you are - your morals, intellect, personality and charm aren't nearly as important to you as they are to other people. Never be afraid to give away any part of yourself in order to be liked. Just like:See! Even culture can be bastardized to fit in!Maybe I am being the grinch. Maybe I am bespoiling a perfectly good children's book. Or maybe I'm just wondering what the world would be like if all the Rainbow Fish gave away their pretty scales until there weren't any Rainbow Fish anymore...Just think... we could all look like this! Who wants to share an earring?

In this original edition, Peter and his sisters are told to go gather blackberries and not to go into MacGregor's garden because Peter's father was made into a pie by MacGregor after being found in the garden. Peter, who is wearing a new coat, promptly disobeys his mother, stuffs himself with vegetables, gets spotted by MacGregor, loses his coat and barely makes it out of the garden alive. When Peter gets home, he is given chamomile tea for dinner. Peter's sisters, who listened to their mother and stayed out of the forbidden garden have a regular dinner.

This beloved book by E. B. White, author of Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, is a classic of children's literature that is "just about perfect." This high-quality paperback features vibrant illustrations colorized by Rosemary Wells!Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter.E. B. White's Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come. This edition contains newly color illustrations by Garth Williams, the acclaimed illustrator of E. B. White's Stuart Little and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, among many other books.--harpercollins.com

THE all-time classic story, from generation to generation, sold somewhere in the world every 30 seconds! Have you shared it with a child or grandchild in your life? One sunny Sunday, the caterpillar was hatched out of a tiny egg. He was very hungry. On Monday, he ate through one apple; on Tuesday, he ate through three plums--and still he was hungry. When full at last, he made a cocoon around himself and went to sleep, to wake up a few weeks later wonderfully transformed into a butterfly!The brilliantly innovative Eric Carle has dramatized the story of one of Nature's commonest yet loveliest marvels, the metamorphosis of the butterfly. This audiobook will delight as well as instruct the very youngest listener.

This beloved Newbery Medal–winning book is the first of five books in Patricia MacLachlan's chapter book series about the Witting family.Set in the late nineteenth century and told from young Anna's point of view, Sarah, Plain and Tall tells the story of how Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton comes from Maine to the prairie to answer Papa's advertisement for a wife and mother. Before Sarah arrives, Anna and her younger brother Caleb wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice? Will she sing? Will she stay?This children's literature classic is perfect for fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie books, historical fiction, and timeless stories using rich and beautiful language. Sarah, Plain and Tall gently explores themes of abandonment, loss and love.

In the fifties, my Mom was head librarian for our small-town library (politically, we were termed a Police Village, whatever that meant). So we kids got our literacy skills off and running when she used to catalogue books in our kitchen. Especially since City View was in the middle of the postwar Baby Boom - like everywhere else back then - which required her little library to be stocked with piles and piles of kids' books!And we were the first kids in our village of snug postwar bungalows to read Dr. Seuss. We laughed. We howled. We ROARED in delight!Horton Hears a Who was SO much better than our puny one-channel B&W TV with 7 hours of dull community programming - anyday! The early 1950‘s in backwater Canada were tough - the postwar recovery was going to take a while - but kids back then learned to VALUE their friends and family.I had a very good friend named Norman back in those days. Norman couldn‘t play ball or run with us - he had a defective heart.We all knew he didn‘t have much time to live.But Norman was the only friend I had who could talk about the serious things in life, and I had a very serious side, too, even back then.So we would talk about life and death. The Bomb. Our parents. The facts of life. Death itself.Serious, deep stuff that our prefab, one-size-fits-all society now rushes through in its plastic, clinical and brutal attempts to mature us.And how lucky we were - we didn’t live in a world of socially engineered mental hygiene back then. We were free!And the way we felt at the end of a long summer’s day was much like the warm feeling we get now after reading a very good book. A sense of being close to our roots and to our Creator...In our books we can find serious, non-conforming friends - just like my late friend Norman! People unafraid of the truth. And in books we can live in those simpler, unsupervised, unwatched times like he and I knew, all over again, if we like.It’s all in our books.Today my wife and I don't even have cable TV - only books. We learned something valuable from those years.Like, for instance, HORTON’s gentle philosophy. “An elephant’s faithful - one hundred percent!”Doesn’t get any better than that!Horton’s still in print. Theodore Geisel’s uncensored compassion lives on. Life is good.And you know what? The Big-Hearted elephant with Ears of a matching size (ears so acute and friendly they can detect a whole beleaguered Microdot Civilisation of Who's) still delights us and the little kids around us who may be hearing his story for the very first time.And still as comforting as ever, is the analogy of this Big Guy up there somewhere - as caring and compassionate as Horton or Norman - inclining his ear to the plight of a beleaguered world like ours and PROMISING that we will not stomped out by a new Rampaging Elephant.And so, these days, I always repeat Horton’s words to my wife:I meant what I said, & I said what I meant -An Elephant's faithful ONE HUNDRED PER CENT!

Celebrate the power of friendship in these five adventurous stories starring Frog and Toad—a Caldecott Honor Book!From writing letters to going swimming, telling stories to finding lost buttons, Frog and Toad are always there for each other—just as best friends should be. Frog and Toad Are Friends is a Level Two I Can Read book, geared for kids who read on their own but still need a little help.The classic Frog and Toad stories by Arnold Lobel have won numerous awards and honors, including a Newbery Honor (Frog and Toad Together), a Caldecott Honor (Frog and Toad are Friends), ALA Notable Children’s Book, Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book), School Library Journal Best Children’s Book, and Library of Congress Children’s Book.

It’s so important for children to be exposed to feminism through their reads. The Paper Bag Princess, you did a good job showing the princess isn’t always the one who needs saving, so we should stop assuming that.

If a hungry little traveler shows up at your house, you might want to give him a cookie. If you give him a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk. He'll want to look in a mirror to make sure he doesn't have a milk mustache, and then he'll ask for a pair of scissors to give himself a trim....The consequences of giving a cookie to this energetic mouse run the young host ragged, but young readers will come away smiling at the antics that tumble like dominoes through the pages of this delightful picture book.

When I was seven, my Mom used to read to us from this little book. It was one of many books scattered atop our bright red plastic-‘n-steel tabletop, and she was cataloguing them for her new Public Library!It was a bright red-letter year for us kids, too, that year - a real Book Bonanza.And THIS was the way she encouraged stick-to-it-iveness in us lazy, dozy kids - with books like this: ‘I THINK I can! I THINK I can!’ Just like the relentless chugging of a pint-sized locomotive!Well, I KNEW about steam locomotives in those days. Dad used to take me down to the central Roundhouse back then to watch ‘em. The huge wheel would turn the engine around 180 degrees so it could face back out towards the station - and start a new trip...Well, THIS little locomotive thought it could make its trip if it told itself it COULD do it hard enough.And, when it got really chugging away, Mom would read, ‘I KNOW I can! I KNOW I can!’ AND the little locomotive was, of course, ultimately successful.But that was my mom for you! I remember one night at that same kitchen table four years later, when she was studying for her finals prior to receiving her Master’s Degree in Library Science - with an excruciating migraine.She made like the little engine again, only THIS TIME she was SINGING, in spite of her pain:ONE MORE RIVERAND THAT’S THE RIVER JORDAN!ONE MORE RIVERAND THAT’S THE RIVER TO CROSS!Because she KNEW she could make it.The day she received her diploma was a bright, warm spring day in Montréal.The proud dignitaries and even prouder McGill graduates were there in full regalia.But perhaps proudest of all, decked out in our Sunday best, were my Dad and us three little kids...For our Mom had done it - just like she had promised!

Farmer Brown has a problem.His cows like to type.All day long he hearsClick, clack, MOO.Click, clack, MOO.Clickety, clack, MOO.But Farmer Brown's problems REALLY begin when his cows start leaving him notes....Doreen Cronin's understated text and Betsy Lewin's expressive illustrations make the most of this hilarious situation. Come join the fun as a bunch of literate cows turn Farmer Brown's farm upside down.

ARE YOU MY MOTHER? tells a very simple story for children who have just started to read. their younger brothers or sisters will also want to follow the baby bird's quest as he asks everyone and everything he meets, "Are You My Mother?".Back in 1957, Theodor Geisel responded to an article in Life magazine that lamented the use of boring reading primers in schools. Using the pseudonym of "Dr. Seuss" (Seuss was Geisel's middle name) and only two hundred twenty-three words, Geisel created a replacement for those dull primers: "The Cat in the Hat." The instant success of the book prompted Geisel and his wife to found Beginner Books, and Geisel wrote many popular books in this series, including "Hop on Pop," "Fox in Socks," and "Green Eggs and Ham." Other favorite titles in this series are "Go, Dog, Go!" and "Are You My Mother?" by P. D. Eastman, "A Fly Went By," by Mike McClintock, and "Put Me in the Zoo," by Robert Lopshire. These affordable hardcover books combine large print, easy vocabulary, and large, bright illustrations in stories kids will want to read again and again. Grades 1 - Grades 2.

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” is a cult classic children’s book by Judi Barrett along with illustrations by Ron Barrett and it is about a magical town called Chewandswallow (chew and swallow, get it?) where food just falls from the sky and provides people with everything they need. But what happens when there is too much food falling from the sky? “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” is definitely one unusual and creative book ever created for children!Judi Barrett has certainly done an excellent job at writing this story as it is full of creativity and excitement! I mean what other book talks about a town where food just falls from the sky and people just eat the food from the sky like nothing? That is what I really loved about this book since I never read a book about food falling from the sky and that proves just how imaginative Judi Barrett made this book from any other children’s book! Ron Barrett’s illustrations are extremely creative and gorgeous, especially when he illustrates the actual family’s life in black and white while the illustrations of the town of Chewandswallow is shown fully in color, which truly brings out the creativity of the make believe town. I also love the illustrations of the different kinds of food that falls from the sky, especially of the images of a dozen hamburgers falling from a storm cloud as it looked quite unusual.All in all, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” is a truly brilliant book for children who are food lovers and just loves book about pure imagination! I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the book might be too lengthy for smaller children and there are some intense scenes with the falling food covering the town that might scare younger children.\ Did you watch this movie yet?\ Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

In a great green room, tucked away in bed, is a little bunny. "Goodnight room, goodnight moon." And to all the familiar things in the softly lit room -- to the picture of the three little bears sitting on chairs, to the clocks and his socks, to the mittens and the kittens, to everything one by one -- the little bunny says goodnight.In this classic of children's literature, beloved by generations of readers and listeners, the quiet poetry of the words and the gentle, lulling illustrations combine to make a perfect book for the end of the day.

My daughter is in 1st grade (age 6) and is TERRIFIED of this book. I realize it is very, very popular but my daughter has a great imagination and now she is very scared of eating orange, green, and blue foods. She pretty much only eats pink/red and white foods now. We got this book as a gift from my father when she was 4 and it scared her. We asked her preschool class to put it behind other books so she wouldn't see it in the book area (if she did see it, she wouldn't go near it). In kindergarten we warned her teacher and it wasn't an issue. Now in 1st grade I have warned her new teacher however I know it is in the classroom and she is scared of it. Today the principal read the first half during lunchtime and she covered her ears but could not block the sound. She is dreading lunchtime tomorrow when he will finish the book (and go through the part where the girl is all stripes).(She ended up eating lunch in the school office that day so she wouldn't have to hear the story.)SO if you have a sensitive child like I do, I urge some caution with this book. Never mind the author's intended message, some kids will be freaked out by the possibility of foods causing them to change colors and may suffer anxiety for months, or years, to come.

The first adventure in this highly popular series tells how the little monkey Curious George, caught in the jungle and brought back to the city by a man in a yellow hat, can't help being interested in all the new things around him. Though well meaning, George's curiosity always gets him into trouble. Young readers can easily relate, and Rey's cheerful illustrations celebrate Curious George's innocence.

Have you ever dreamed of being locked in a department store at night? The endearing story of Corduroy paints a picture of the adventures that might unfold (for a teddy bear at least) in such a situation. When all the shoppers have gone home for the night, Corduroy climbs down from the shelf to look for his missing button. It's a brave new world! He accidentally gets on an elevator that he thinks must be a mountain and sees the furniture section that he thinks must be a palace. He tries to pull a button off the mattress, but he ends up falling off the bed and knocking over a lamp. The night watchman hears the crash, finds Corduroy, and puts him back on the shelf downstairs. The next morning, he finds that it's his lucky day! A little girl buys him with money she saved in her piggy bank and takes him home to her room. Corduroy decides that this must be home and that Lisa must be his friend. Youngsters will never get tired of this toy-comes-alive tale with a happy ending, so you may also want to seek out Dan Freeman's next creation, A Pocket for Corduroy. (Ages 3 to 8)

For out-starting upstarts of all ages, here is a wonderfully wise and blessedly brief graduation speech from the one and only Dr. Seuss. In his inimitable, humorous verse and pictures, he addresses the Great Balancing Act (life itself, and the ups and downs it presents) while encouraging us to find the success that lies within us.\ \ And will you succeed?Yes! You will indeed!(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)\ \ A modern classic, Oh, the Places You'll Go! was first published one year before Dr. Seuss's death at the age of eighty-seven. In a mere fifty-six pages, Dr, Seuss managed to impart a lifetime of wisdom. It is the perfect send-off for children starting out in the maze of life, be they nursery school grads or newly-minted PhD's. Everyone will find it inspired good fun.