What I'm reading Kiddo this week...

Ten in the Bed by Penny Dale is definitely not a new take on a familiar favorite. The illustrations are kind of blah and she uses two of the same objects two teddy bears that fall off the bed at separate times. They do have different nicknames. She calls the stuffed animals by pet names like teddy & croc. There is just not much to learn from this book nor is it very engaging beyond the rhyme itself and the cute ending. Ten in the Bed has definitely been done better.

I give this two BLAHS... Will not be in my kid's library.






So far this gets the award for the worst Eric Carle book we've read. As usual, the illustrations are great but the text that goes along with it is really awful. "I am an elephant and I  stomp my foot. Can you do it? I can do it!" Manperson said that he would have preferred something like I am an elephant and I can pick up things with my nose as a more interesting choice which would have made up for the lack of rhyme/rhythm in the text. No I don't think everything should rhyme, but there needs to be some payoff for the adult reading this. Learning wise this is a real disappointment for those familiar with Eric Carle.

This get three Blahs, because we know he could do better or get Bill Martin to do the text.





This weeks reading hasn't all been Blah. Hippos go Beserk is a fabulous book. It is counting book, not only does it have counting but addition and subtraction. It starts and ends with 1 hippo all alone, but in the middle 44 come and go in all sorts of different ways. Illustrations and texts not only rhyme but are interesting for the adult too. This would also make a great math lesson. Must have for any children's library. I'm definitely planning on getting Kiddo a personal copy.

This gets a big, fat LOVE IT!