Two mice

by Sergio Ruzzier

Age range: 2 to 5 years old.

This little book tells the adventures of two little mice constantly counting up to 3, and then counting down to 1 again.

The text is predictable enough to allow the kids to count and guess the number before you say it, encouraging the interaction.

The illustrations, by Ruzzier too, are really nice and tell by themselves the rest of the story.

Not a typical counting book, but an enjoyable one!

I can roar like a lion.

by Frank Asch

Age: up to 4 years old

This board book portraits 18 different animals with a big hole in their face. Kids can peep out their faces through the hole and pretend to be that animal. Roar like a lion, squeak like a mouse, oink like a pig, chew like a cow and stick out the tongue like a snake are some of the funny things the kids are encouraged to do in each page.

This is not a book for a quiet story time. Not at all! It is very interactive, and being silly and noisy is an important part of the amusement.

I think a mirror instead of a hole would be another interesting version of this book.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The most magnificent thing

by Ashley Spires

Age range: 3 to 7 years old

The girl loves to build things with her dog-assistant. She is not only very creative. She is a perfectionist. And today she wants to make the most magnificent thing! She knows exactly how the most magnificent thing looks. She knows perfectly well how the most magnificent thing works. It's just that for some reason all the first twenty "things" she makes are wrong! She is so frustrated! Actually she is really mad!

But after a well deserved break, she realizes that not all is wrong with the wrong "things". Actually some parts are pretty good. She could use the good parts to finally make the most magnificent thing. And she does.

Maybe the most magnificent thing is not exactly what she was expecting, but it is just what she wanted. And if it provides a great shared moment of fun and laugh, then it definitively is the most magnificent thing!

The story is funny and cute. The illustrations are amazing, focused in the character and the "things". The background, when there's one, is delineated in black on white. 

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The rabbit ate my flip flops.

by Rachel Elizabeth Cole

Age range: 8 to 12 years old

In The rabbit ate my homework, we met Drew and Libby, and knew how they ended having Tiny, a not so tiny overactive rabbit, as a pet.

In this second book in the series Drew and Libby go to camp with Nana and Papa while their parents are out of town. This is not Drew's best plan for this week, since Galaxy Guilds, the best computer game of the year, is being released and he will have to wait till he's back home to play it.

Things get even more complicated when Libby hides Tiny in the trailer so he is not alone at home during a week.

Everything will happen in one week! New friends, bullies, Tiny getting lost and then found, a not working trailer's toilet, a big bunnies' rescue, and even a new rabbit to bring home.

The series are really entertaining, and always have a good message in them. The characters are adorable, and it's very easy to relate to them.

Looking forward to the next book in the series to discover what the rabbit(s) are eating this time!

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Have you seen my dragon?

by Steve Light

Age range: up to 6 years old.

The poor kid has lost his dragon, and he will look for it along the book. The reader has the chance of help him find the dragon disguised in the black and white illustrations. At the same time the reader can count up to 20 the few colored objects in each page.

My kids favorite part was the map when you can follow the dragon and the boy's route.

We read this book a hundred times in the last week. It instantly became a favorite!

Too many carrots

by Katy Hudson

Age range: up to 6 years old.

Rabbit is a hoarder. He can't help himself. He hides carrots in his burrow until there's no more room for a rabbit to live there. Thankfully he has very good friends who offer to share their homes with him, but one by one their homes are destroyed in catastrophes related to Rabbit's absurd amount of carrots...

Only when all of them are homeless and frozen under the rain, Rabbit realizes that maybe he has the solution just in front of his eyes. Sharing his carrots and his burrow feels so good!

The story is really sweet and the illustrations are incredibly beautiful. All the characters are so cute you feel like touching the page.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Float

by Daniel Miyares

Age range: up to 8 years old

I remember making boats from newspaper in rainy days when I was a child. I remember the excitement when folding the paper, trying to make it perfect for a perfect performance. I remember the joy of seeing it surfing at great speed. I remember running along with it. I remember feeling disappointment when it got crushed or sunk.

This book brought all this adventures back to me, and it provided a precious moment with my kids. Since the story is wordless, all this adventures can be incorporated to the story. I wish it would have rained yesterday afternoon to sail some paper sailboats! We actually folded boats, but they had to settle to the living room carpet.

When our main character comes back home holding his wrecked boat, a hug, dry clothes and a hot chocolate with marshmallows are waiting for him. And of course, a brand new sheet of newspaper. What could he do now that the sun is shinning?

I remember folding newspaper to make a perfect plane when I was a child...