One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, Illustrated by David Small

Okay, so I'll be honest. This book is not really E's Pick of the Week. It's Mommy's Pick though. E loves looking through it and we read it while we're doing looong sits on the potty. However, it definitely is for a more mature audience. You know, 5 year olds. ;o)

It's a cute story about a misunderstanding between one very proper young man named Elliot and his father. He asks his father if he can take home a penguin from the aquarium. His father believes he means the plush version. Silliness ensues. While the writing is fantastic, the illustrations are what really drew me in. They are black & white with only hints of color. They are simply stunning and really express the humor of Ms Buzzeo's adorkable (yes, adorkable) story.

"One Cool Friend" would be perfect for the more patient toddler (potty time makes for a captive audience!), but would be best for the late preschool-K age group. It was just published this year by Dial (Penguin).

Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker, Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

E's Pick of the Week is "Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site", a charming book for any little boy or girl who is in love with vehicles. I bought this book as a gift for my son's friend Emily and of course, had to get a copy for him too! It's just so cute. After E fell in love with Tom Lichtenheld's illustrations in "Cloudette", I knew he'd love this book. I just gave it to him this morning and he's already made me read it at least 5 times. Ms. Rinker's rhyming words are absolutely precious and will help sooth your little one close to bed time. With the setting sun, all the trucks find themselves winding down and settling in to bed. Plus... it's all about big TRUCKS! How much better does it get?! ;o)

It's funny. As a mom, I notice certain kinds of cars and trucks now that I never paid heed to before I had E. I find myself even calling them out when he ISN'T in the car. The other day, I got very excited over seeing two cement trucks and a Mini Cooper (his favorite kind of car) in a row. I squealed and then sheepishly realized that E was not in the back seat. Hehe! Ever have one of those moments?

This is on the longer side for impatient little ones, but it makes for a great night time routine book with its soothing rhyme, fun subject matter, and adorable illustrations. It's a must have for any young truck lover!

"Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site" is published by Chronicle Books. It is available in hardcover.

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

I feel pretty silly writing a little "review" about Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham", but the "E's Pick of the Week" is all about what E is reading and this week he is Seuss crazy. We are reading "Green Eggs and Ham" a few times a day. I am starting to hear Seuss rhymes in my head instead of music. Ahhhh! :D

Seriously though, I love that E is so book crazy. He went to the library this weekend for the first time in a loooong time and he went crazy. THE LIBRARY THE LIBRARY MOOOOM! :D I'm curious.. to the moms out there reading, do you just go in, grab some books and leave or do you stay and read a book at the library? They had a cute little reading area.

Sorry for such a light "E's Pick of the Week", but I'll be back next week with more from my little two and a half year old reader.

Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld

This book is adorable! We went on a family outing to one of our local bookstores this past weekend and picked this one up. I just want to pinch Cloudette's little cloud cheeks. She's so cute and E just adores her story. She's just a little cloud who appreciates being little, but also wants to do something big and important like the big clouds. One day, she's blown far away from home by a big storm (though I'm not sure why this cloud didn't warn her. Deus ex machina!). It's in her new neighborhood that she discovers that even little clouds can do big important things.

There is some hokey dialogue that is completely there for the adults and as I said, a big ol' deus ex machina, but overall - a super cute little book that young ones will love. I'd recommend it for preschoolers (or in my son's case, nearly preschoolers). It's the perfect length for little ones who are just starting to get the patience to sit for more than 2 minutes and listen to longer stories.

"Cloudette" by Tom Lichtenheld was just published this month by Henry Holt & Co. It is available in hardcover.

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka

I picked up this book based on my podcast co-host Allison's blog entry. Boy am I glad that I did! E loves this beautiful little book. I was a bit worried about purchasing a book with no words since E has become obsessed with words and letters. However, this simple story is so beautifully told that even I find myself enraptured every time I look at the beautiful watercolor illustrations.

Allison wrote an amazing review for this, so I'm not going to attempt to try to write something too detailed here. (Seriously, go read her review. She writes amazing, informative reviews.) This book will touch your heart.

"A Ball for Daisy" is published by Schwartz & Wade (Random House) and is available in hardcover. It won the 2012 Caldecott Medal.

Jessie Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom, Illustrated by Bruce Degen

This charming rhyming book is E's favorite this week. You go through the entire day with Jessie Bear, discovering what he does through the clothing and items he wears. The soothing rhythm of Nancy White Carlstrom's charming text makes this book a perfect choice to read before sleep which is why I love it. E, however, loves it for the illustrations. He is constantly talking about wanting to play with Jessie Bear's toys. I have to agree - Jessie Bear does have some awesome toys. The illustrations are obviously very engaging and surprisingly consistent. You definitely get a feel for Jessie Bear's life through the illustrations. It's incredibly well done.

"Jessie Bear, What Will You Wear?" is published by Aladdin (Simon & Schuster) and is available in paperback, hardcover and board book form.

Time for a Hug by Phillis Gershater & Mim Green

Choosing "E's Pick of the Week" today was ridiculously easy. My sister picked this book up for E during her visit to California (she leaves today, sad!) and he hasn't stopped requesting it since. I think everyone in the house has read it to him at least a handful of times and he loves every second of it each time. He squeals with delight when we get to a "time for a hug!" and has started asking "What time is it?" on a daily basis. It's the perfect balance of adorable story, charming illustrations and yes, a wee bit of learning as well. Go through the entire day with the little bunny and learn about what he does at certain times of day. After each section, it's.... you guessed it - TIME FOR A HUG!

You'll fall in love with this beautiful little story right along with your little one. Even if they aren't ready to start learning about time, they'll love the illustrations and all the hugs. It's definitely worth picking up!

"Time for a Hug" is written by the mother/daughter team Phillis Gershator & Mim Green. It is illustrated by David Walker. Sterling Children's Books is the publisher. It was released in January of this year.

Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle

Eric Carle's "Mister Seahorse" has quickly become a favorite and was a no brainer for E's Pick of the Week. It's the story of a father seahorse exploring the ocean and learning about other father fish who are caring for their eggs/babies, just like he is! Along the way, he meets sees other types of fish hiding along his path (using a gimmick of see through plastic pictures which E thinks is SO cool). The book is full of the illustrations you love from Eric Carle in many bright, beautiful colors. We have only owned this book for 48 hours and I have already read it at least 8 times. My husband has also read it a couple times as well. E may be a bit obsessed. ;)

Eric Carle's "Mister Seahorse" is sure to enrapture any young fish lover, such as my little guy. It also makes a wonderful gift for new dads. I always love finding a book about Dads and how much they love their children.

"Mister Seahorse" is published by Philomel (Penguin) and is available in hardcover & board book form. We have the board book! :)

In the Garden (Green Start book)

I am really into gardening, despite my many failed attempts since moving to California almost seven years ago. (I miss rain! I am terrible about watering.) So, when we moved into a place with a patio, I got straight to work. Last year, we grew (or attempted to grow) blueberries, peas, chard, lettuce, herbs, carrots, and tomatoes. The tomatoes and blueberries were the only success, but it was a great learning process. The best part was seeing E out playing in the garden. He is a really great helper! So it's no wonder that he loves this little board book (made from 98% recycled materials) about gardening. He's a pro!

This book is a great way to introduce your kids to new fruits and vegetables and where they come fun. It's short, fun and a great book to start a discussion about food and the importance of eating fruits & veggies.

"In the Garden" is published by IKids and is available in earth-friendly board book form.

Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems

Better late than never! E's Pick of the Week this week is from the awesome Knuffle Bunny series, by Mo Willems. To be honest, he's been obsessed with both the first book and the second one for quite sometime. We are reading them 2 times a day at least and he sleeps with his very own Knuffle Bunny. I wrote about his love of the first book (and shared a picture of E) awhile back. I won't blab on and on, because really the same praise applies to this book. In "Knuffle Bunny Too", Trixie goes to Pre-K and brings her Knuffle Bunny for show and tell. Unfortunately, another girl has a knuffle bunny too! (Although, she says "nuffle" instead of "kuh-nuffle". Bah!) They argue over who has the best bunny and in the end, the teacher takes the toys away. When the toys are returned at the end of the day, they end up going to the wrong owners and this error isn't corrected until the middle of the night. It's not all bad though. In the end, Trixie makes a wonderful friend and so does her Knuffle Bunny.

As always, Mr. Willems illustrations are amazing. I adore the mixed mediums and love his drawing style.

"Knuffle Bunny" and "Knuffle Bunny Too" are published by Hyperion and are available in hardcover and paperback.

Old Bear by Kevin Henkes

Man, this is is my third "E's Pick of the Week" featuring a book by Kevin Henkes. If you haven't picked up on it yet, this man is brilliant and you should go out and buy all of his books right now. E is currently obsessed with this one. It's a lovely little story about a bear who goes to sleep for the winter and has dreams of all the seasons passing by. As always, it features Kevin's magical illustrations that full of so much color and life. You can't go wrong with any Kevin Henkes book. They're perfect for children of all ages, even trouble makin' little two year olds who can barely sit still.

His charming illustrations and stories enchant parents too. I seriously want to get prints of Mr. Henkes work to decorate my house with! :)

"Old Bear" by Kevin Henkes is published by Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins) and is available in board book and hardcover formats.

The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen, Illustrated by Dan Hanna

As I've mentioned in previous "E's Pick of the Week" entries, E is crazy for fish and sea creatures. So it's not a surprise that his pick this week is "The Pout Pout Fish" by Deborah Diesen, Illustrated by Dan Hanna. This book is adorable. I actually purchased this book and another one in the series in an auction hosted by Carrie Harris. . This book is absolutely adorable. It has a really fun rhythm that my toddler just loves and the illustrations are *adorkable*. Yes, aDORKable. E and I love all of Pout Pout Fish's friends. As a voice actor, there is so much fun material here to be silly with. It is an absolute joy to read to E.

I'll be giving away a pair of autographed bookmarks from Ms. Diesen to one random commenter. Tell me what you like about this book, E's Picks of the Week, or pouting. Maybe you have a little one with a pout pout face. I'm dying to know. :) I'll announce the winner next week with E's Pick.

"The Pout Pout Fish" is published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It is available in hardcover form.

Busy, Busy Town by Richard Scarry

E's Pick of the Week is a classic. I've featured Richard Scarry book on here before, but I can't help it! His books are adorable and E loves them. He's also obsessed with the TV show (thank you Netflix!) which he gets to watch as a treat a few times a week.

This book is great. It is LONG, but because it is about divided up into individual sections of the town, you only need to read a page or two at a time. It's all about the pictures, not the plot (there is none, it is just explaining Busy Town and the things in it). E loves it and it makes for a GREAT "potty time" book because of its length and ability to be put down at a moment's notice. And of course, like always, Richard Scarry's artwork is incredible adorable.

Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy Town is published by Golden Books and is available in hardcover.

Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow & Lenny Lipton, Illustrated by Eric Puybaret

Happy holidays everyone! Did you have a nice weekend? We sure did. E was incredibly excited about Santa coming, so we had a blast. Of course, Santa, Grandma, & Auntie all gave the little guy a TON of books. Over the next few weeks, I'll be featuring a few of his favorites.

This week, it's "Puff the Magic Dragon", the famous poem by Lenny Lipton, made into a song by Peter, Paul & Mary. It is just like you remember from your childhood. To be honest, I would be happy to have a few less repeats of the chorus, but other than that, it's a charming book. Eric Puybaret's illustrations are charming and add such magic to the story. E loves this one. We've been reading it every night before bed! The hardcover edition comes with a CD in the back for your little ones to enjoy too.

"Puff the Magic Dragon" is published by Sterling Publishing and is available in hardcover & paperback.

Merry Christmas, Ollie! by Olivier Dunrea

What can I say? My kiddo is festive! As I mentioned last week, he is obsessed with Christmas. I love it. I'm a big fan of the holidays myself and I am SO excited to have Santa come visit our house this year. E is going to go nuts. You should hear him in the car when we drive my Christmas lights. He is constantly "oo"ing and "ah"ing. He shouts out "BEE-OO-TEE-FUL" and "AH-MAAAAAZING" at random intervals. It's awesome.

Anyways, I digress. It's no surprise that E's Pick for this week is another Christmas title. This one comes from the series of books by Olivier Dunrea about five little goslings, each with their own little quirks. In this book, the goslings are all waiting for Father Christmas Goose to arrive, but Ollie, the stomper, is getting a bit impatient. It's a quick, adorable holiday read. If you need a last minute gift for a little one, I'd go try and find this one! My sister bought it for E at a department store, but I'm sure you can find it on shelves everywhere.


"Merry Christmas, Ollie!" by Olivier Dunrea is available in hardcover, board book, and Kindle formats from Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

Clifford's Christmas Presents

It's been a festive couple of weeks around our house. E is obsessed with Christmas. So obsessed that we had to take DOWN our Christmas tree this weekend because we couldn't get him to leave it alone. It's a shame because it was pretty adorable. He'd walk up to the tree and say "it's beautiful!". Then he'd proceed to spin it around, pull down ornaments, and pluck off needles. LOL! Ah, the joys of toddlers, right?

ANYWAYS, E's Pick of the Week is "Clifford's Christmas Presents", a flap-filled board book (over 30 flaps!). He is insane for Clifford and when he got this in the mail last week, he squealed. As a mom, I don't really care for it. Unlike the Spot series where the flaps have a purpose in the story, these are actually referenced as flaps. It's a gimmick instead of a fun story telling device. There are also quite a few flaps on each page. It drives me a little batty, but E just loves it.

So, if you have a little one who is a Clifford fan, this is a fun little holiday book that will keep them busy for awhile. If you can't abide flap books though, you better avoid this one.

The Clifford books are published by Scholastic. This book is a large board book with flaps.

The Nutcracker, illustrated by Alison Jay

Okay, so E's Pick of the Week this week, is really "Mommy's Pick of the Week", but I can't help myself. I LOVE Alison Jay's illustrations and with the holiday season upon us, I had to share this book with you guys. Her rendition of the Nutcracker is absolutely breathtaking. The illustrations are so gorgeous that E sat through the entire book (which is saying a lot since it is a bit on the long side for a 2 year old!). I have always loved this holiday tale and this version is amazing. I may just have to order another copy to keep as a back up. It's so beautiful.

I'm sorry. I seriously have nothing of substance to say. The text of this traditional story is wonderful rendered and the illustrations are magical. It's a version that boys and girls will definitely enjoy this holiday season.

I purchased "The Nutcracker". It was published by Dial (Penguin) last year and is available in hard cover.

I Spy in the Ocean by Damon Burnard, Illustrated by Julia Cairins

E is currently obsessed with sea life. He loves learning about the different creatures in the ocean, so this little board book was a fun addition to his book collection. "I Spy in the Ocean" is a simple little board book that uses a cut out hole on every other page to let kids "spy" the creature. At the end, the reader find out the letters spell "O-C-E-A-N". Some of the reviewers on Amazon were complaining about the animals being too scary or obscure ("N" is for "Nurse Shark"), but E doesn't seem to mind. He loves eels, crabs, and all sorts of sharks. Sure, having "N" stand for "Nurse Shark" or "A" for "Angelfish" is a little out there, but I don't really think it's a big deal. All and all, a quick, fun read for the little sea lover in your family!

I purchased "I Spy in the Ocean" at the Aquarium of the Pacific gift shop. It's published by Chronicle Books.

What's in the Witch's Kitchen? by Nick Sharratt

I know it's a little delayed, but it would be remiss of me to not mention this book. E is absolutely insanely crazy for it. Even though Halloween passed over two weeks ago, we still read this book daily. Why? It's a book totally for little boys. It mentions pee and poop which E finds absolutely HILARIOUS. He loves the other gross and scary things too, but especially the excrement pages. I know. He is such a boy. What happened to my sweet little baby? This book is simply a gimmicky, cute book full of flaps for toddlers to explore. Each page has two flaps... a good flap and a bad flap. E gets so excited when we get to each gross or scary item and I start saying "ew gross!" or "ahh!".

You need to be a very animated reader though for this one. When one of our babysitters tried to read it to him in a normal voice, he thought it was boring and wanted to move on. However, when Mom or Dad read it, it is worthy of big ol' belly chuckles.

"What's in the Witch's Kitchen?" by Nick Sharratt is published by Candlewick. E received a copy as a gift from his wonderful Grandma.

I'm a T.Rex! by Dennis Shealy, Illustrated by Brian Biggs

As you know from my post last week, my dad has been in the hospital. On Sunday when they called us, the prognosis was very very bad. Miraculously, he's still here and doing very well. His life will never be the same. He'll need dialysis and his time is still limited, but he has time. After what we were told by doctors that day, that's more than we could have ever asked for.

Anyways, my point to this is to a) update you all and thank you so much for your prayers/healing energy/warm thoughts and to b) tell you about this awesome Little Golden Book, "I'm a T. Rex!" by Dennis Shealy, illustrated by Brian Biggs. The Barnes & Noble was a sanity saver for my husband Jacob who was on full time Dad duty while I spent my days in the ICU with my father. Thank you thank you B&N for having a kid's play area. It was raining almost the entire time we were there and E was going stir crazy in the ICU waiting room. We picked up a few new goodies, including this darling book about E's favorite dinosaur, the T.Rex. It doesn't jazz up a T.Rex and make him all sweet like some kid books do. E loves the part towards the beginning where the T.Rex talks about all the different noises he makes (snarls, growls, and roars - oh my!).

This book is a must have for any toddler and preschooler who loves dinosaurs. It's fun, catchy and the illustrations are adorable.

"I'm a T.Rex!" by Dennis Shealy is available as a Little Golden Book. Go purchase it at your local bookstore today!