Recently in Kiddo Stuff Category

I once heard a parent separate children's books into two categories: "educational" and "just stories." I wish I had a recording so you could hear her tone of voice. I also wish I had schooled her, but I froze up because she was SO WRONG. How are stories not educational? But obviously, some are more awesome than others.

I am lucky that our trips to the library are usually family outings, which means there's one adult to chase the kid and another to look through 40-60 books and find the ones worth checking out. And then from the ones we check out, there are several fantastic ones that have stood out. This is the second post in a series highlighting those rockstars; the previous one was books about friendship. This one is all about dogs. (Don't worry, cat people, I will get y'all covered too.)

The first one here is for the wee babes. Dog by Clare Walters and Jane Kemp, illustrated by Linzi West. It's so cheerful, it's like a puppy licking your face with a tiny pink tongue. Board books can be hard to track down at libraries because they don't get shelved in alpha order and they fall apart pretty quickly. So just buy it and donate it to your library if it's not a hit with your little one.

Big Dog and Little Dog by Dav Pilkey is one of the board books that Boy Detective still likes to read at age four. I think that's because he bonded with it when he was younger. It's a sweet, simple friendship story. (Buyer beware, there are more books in this series but I have not read any of them - and creators OFTEN produce one good book about characters and then half a dozen uninspired knockoffs. There is an edition that contains all the Big Dog and Little Dog stories, but please don't buy that and then blame me if there's only one gem and then you're stuck reading the whole thing repeatedly.)

Mutt Dog! by Stephen Michael King. (He also wrote Henry and Amy from the books about friendship post.) Especially if you know anyone who has adopted a dog from a shelter or rescue, this is a great choice. The dozen or more names they try out for the dog crack me up. Radiator?!

Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan, and illustrated by Katy Schneider. I actually gave this to adult friends of ours before any of us had kids. It's gorgeous. I'm hugely in favor of real poetry for children, given how much children's literature is written in sing-songy rhyme schemes. Let's mix it up a little, people.

Please, Puppy, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee and illustrated by Kadir Nelson. (Yes, that Spike Lee.) Kadir Nelson's art is amazing. You have to see it. But I guarantee that you cannot physically say the words "puppy" and "please" out loud as many times as they're written in this book, so get this one before your kids can read and do some selective editing.

In Officer Buckle and Gloria, author and artist Peggy Rathmann won my heart with the sheer expressiveness of Gloria, the police dog who finds her calling helping Officer Buckle deliver speeches about safety. (Rathmann's name may be familiar from Good Night, Gorilla.)

You know that happy little dog that never gets in trouble no matter what it does, because it's just so dang happy to be alive? Then you know the dog in Good Boy, Fergus! by David Shannon. If you have ever lived with a dog, the page where the man is calling Fergus will be especially funny.

And those are the dog books! Next up: books about bedtime.

We've read some amazing children's books since Boy Detective joined us, so I thought I'd do a series this year with our book recommendations. When I say "recommendations," I mean serious, heartfelt recommendations for books that are totally awesome, by our grownup standards. If your kid is interested in firefighters, for example, there are a lot of serviceable books about firefighters out there. But you could go through two whole shelves at the library without finding the really great one that you can enjoy as much as your kid does. (At least for the first five to ten times you read it.)

If you're parenting young children, you might find some new reads. If you're not parenting, but you buy gifts for young children, please remember that an excellent children's book is a gift to both the child and the adult(s) who will be reading it to to them.

Or heck, if you're an adult who likes to read, and you want a change of pace, check them out for yourself. Maybe the next time you're sick, send someone to the library on your behalf?

So here's the first installment: Kids' Books About Friendship That Adults Can Love Too. If you see something that intrigues you, stop by a bookstore or check your local library and try it out. People's tastes vary, obviously, but this is our cream of the crop. I may make a few notes on what ages the book is for. If it's not noted, assume that you can start reading it when the infant is lying on their back next to you, and stop when they're bored with picture books which may be as late as seven or eight years old?

(Links are Amazon Affiliate links, it's up to you whether you're comfortable buying from Amazon or prefer your local bookstore.)

Clara and Asha, written and illustrated by Eric Rohmann, was one of the first children's books we read as adults that blew our minds with sheer awesomeness. Clara is a little girl, and Asha is one of her dearest friends... who happens to be a giant imaginary fish. There is so much magic in this book, and it's all so understated, which is no mean feat when there's a giant fish involved.

Henry and Amy (Right-Way-Round and Upside Down), written and illustrated by Stephen Michael King, is a charmer. Henry needs someone to teach him how to do things "right" whereas Amy wishes "everything she did wasn't so perfect." You see where this is going, right?

If you're going to dislike any of the books I pick, it will probably be Cowboy and Octopus. It's totally absurd and surreal, or as C-Man puts it, "f***ing awesome." We have never laughed harder at a children's book than when we saw Octopus's Halloween costume. But if you're more comfortable with classic than zany, you may want to skip this one. Jon Scieszka wrote, Lane Smith illustrated. (But don't skip if you've disliked other Scieszka, give it a chance.)

Ducks Don't Wear Socks by John Nedwidek, illustrated by Lee White, is another laugh-out-loud one. Emily is very serious, Duck is really not. What gets me aren't just the objections Emily lodges when Duck wears various clothing items, but Duck's explanations for them.

Across the Alley by Richard Michelson, illustrated by E. B. Lewis, is better for older kids because it does mention someone's fingers getting broken in a concentration camp. Two boys, one Jewish and one African-American, live next door to each other. As they become friends, they discover that one is great at baseball and one at the violin, but it's backwards from what their families had planned.

The George and Martha books are all good, but a couple go above and beyond. The writing is exquisitely spare, every word perfectly placed by James Marshall, and the pictures are sequenced just perfectly to carry the story forward. One Fine Day and Rise and Shine are, in my opinion two of the best. I cannot speak for the "Early Reader" versions, no telling what they did to them. Go for the real thing.

And that's it for this time! Next installment: books about dogs.

C-Man: What about a hexagon?

Boy Detective: A hexagon?! What is a hexagon?!

C-Man: It has six sides. Like a square has four sides, a hexagon has six sides.

Boy Detective: But where are all the sides?

C-Man: I'll draw one for you. See? That's a hexagon.

Boy Detective: HAI-YAH! I just chopped a zombie. It was trying to eat your head.

"The jack o' lantern and the yeti are enemies, right?"

1. I asked my child to put his underwear on BEFORE his shorts. OH PLEASE NO SOMEONE MAKE IT STOPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!

2. I told my child to go to the park with his grandmother because it's 70 degrees outside and the high's only supposed to be 90 and we live in Texas. AUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Boy Detective has been waiting ONE HUNDRED YEARS to go out on the balcony AND STILL NO ONE IS LETTING HIM GO OUT THERE.

Boy Detective does not like French toast, so he's having a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner instead, but he REALLY WANTS POWDERED SUGAR and HE DIDN'T GET ANY.

Boy Detective only has TWO SHELVES in the big bookcases while his mom and dad have FIVE and when he gets more books he is going to PUT THEM ON ALL THOSE EMPTY SHELVES.

(Just so y'all know what a bad person I am.)

Boy Detective: Was that one of your special attacks?

The Princess: No, that was a hug.

--

Boy Detective: Mom, what are these things called that move around like joysticks?

The Princess: Those are called your kneecaps, dear.

I"m not happy unless I'm organizing things.

It's the one activity I can't live without, honestly. I'm sure I have other basic needs beyond the biological life support stuff, just like everyone else, but after that, this is the big deal.

My mother in law is not happy unless she's mothering someone. I've often worried about her because I'm convinced she's wearing herself out. She works way harder than I do taking care of Boy Detective all day five days a week. But what I'm starting to realize is that taking care of other people is like organizing for me. It fulfills her and settles her and makes her who she is.

(Still, a good idea to take breaks. If I was cleaning out closets and file drawers all day every day and weekends too, that would also be excessive.)

For C-Man, it's learning. If that guy isn't learning something new almost every single day, he is miserable. If it wasn't financially a terrible idea, he very well might change jobs every six months just so there would be new stuff to learn. If he could talk his way into jobs in totally different industries, he'd be even happier.

I don't know what it will be for Boy Detective. He's only three, who knows?

But please, oh please, don't let it be "talking to Mom about robots." I love my child, but there is only so much I can take.

"Pretty please mommy with ice cream and sugar and peanut butter and bagel and peanut butter and bread on top?"