Little Quack

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There is a new favorite picture book in La Casa SaraJean, and it’s called Little Quack. Written by Lauren Thompson and illustrated by Derek Anderson, this adorable little tale is the story of five little ducklings—Piddle, Puddle, Widdle, Waddle, and Little Quack—and their reluctance to enter the water to learn to swim.

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Too Many Toys

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David Shannon is famous for his David books, a beloved series about a little boy who is constantly getting into mischief. His wonderful picture book Too Many Toys, however, isn’t about everyone’s favorite boy, but about a young boy named Spencer who has too many toys—enough to make my own daughter’s enormous collection seem like nothing.

We checked out this book because my daughter, who is four, is going through a big “I want!” phase, and despite my husband’s and my own efforts, she keeps getting more and more spoiled rotten! Everyone who visits brings her toys, and when she goes anywhere, people just hand them to her like she’s magically compelling them to do so. Even at small stores, she’s given free toys—once even a free stuffed bunny!—just for walking through the door and not making a purchase at all.

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Piggies in a Polka

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If you’re looking for a new children’s book with plenty of whimsy, fantastic art, and a fun rhyming scheme—not to mention something with dancing, polka- playing pigs in it—look no further than Kathi Appelt’s Piggies in a Polka.

The story has a very simple premise: the yearly hootenanny for piggies all over the world is about to take place in one central barn location. Of course, it’s not just a barnyard boogie, or even a simple polka night; it’s also a roundelay, a piggy rigadoon, and even a piggy mosh pit. In short, every musical instrument and style has a place in this fun story.

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The Five Little Monkeys Series

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Most of us are familiar with the old nursery song, “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” A popular choice for finger play with toddlers or jumping rope verses, it’s a silly countdown featuring a group of unruly monkeys who jump on the bed at night, one by one falling off and bumping their heads. After each bump, their frustrated mother phones the doctor, who naturally tells her to make her tribe stop wearing out their bed springs already.

Author Eileen Christlelow has taken the five little monkeys concept and turned it into an entire series for little kids. Her adorable title book, featuring fun and quirky art completed in inks and watercolors, really brings the old rhyme to life, with personified monkeys wearing clothes and behaving just like children would.

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The Alphabet Keeper

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Mary Murphy’s The Alphabet Keeper is a delightfully funny story about a woman who keeps the alphabet caged in her home. The trench coat-wearing, angry-looking woman is a unique villain, a far cry from the usual rotund moustached man. Keeping all of her letters caged in the dark under lock and key while she grumbles in her chair, she is very much unlike most other villains I’ve at least ever come across!

One day, as the letter keeper is cleaning out the letters’ cage—very much like a bird cage with an even tighter lack of elbow room—they all escape out the window. Off they go on an adventure, misleading the keeper and taking her on a wild goose chase. The best part of the adventure is that the letters, with their newly found freedom, can add or subtract themselves from anything and change it to something else!

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I Kissed the Baby!

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Mary Murphy’s books are well-known for their round, friendly illustrations and timeless stories. Whether simple for very young ones or more intricate for older readers, we can always expect a twist, some humor, and some sweetness in her books.

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I Am Dodo

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Kae Nishimura’s I Am Dodo is a humorous children’s picture book that assumes that one dodo did, in fact, survive extinction—because he is so very, very clever—and, after several years of worldly traveling, is now living in New York.

Everyone assumes that he isn’t a dodo because dodo birds are extinct; so he can pretty much do as he likes. However, one professor maintains that there is still a dodo somewhere on Earth and that one day he will find proof. Everyone laughs at him, of course, except for his dog, Spotty. When the professor finally does run into the dodo bird, he is overjoyed and knows he just has to capture it for his long-awaited proof; however, the bird proves to be too clever to catch.

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Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!

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Who doesn’t love a good Mo Willems story—especially one in the darling Pigeon series? Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! is yet another hilarious take on Pigeon’s dead-on personification that children are sure to love and relate to.

In it, the author reminds us that it’s very late. He begs the reader to let him brush his teeth and not let the pigeon stay up late. Of course, the pigeon, as usual, has something to say about that! From his protesting of not being tired in the first place to wanting to watch TV, bargaining for additional minutes of wakefulness to denying all of his yawns, his excuses will likely sound like the same ones your own children give each night before bedtime.

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A Cold Winter's Good Knight

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If you’re looking for a lighthearted, whimsical tale to help teach your children about basic manners, A Cold Winter’s Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas might just do the trick. Of all the books we recently checked out this month, it has been my daughter’s favorite—largely due to the antics of three small dragons.

Unlike the fearsome dragons of legend, these are three tiny dragons that like to make snow dragons and igloos. One even has a little monkey doll. Dressed in fleece blankets and caps, they shiver together outside on a cold winter’s night. A kindly good knight hears their teeth chattering and invites them back to the castle, where it is warm and toasty—and where a party is about to ensue. Naturally, the dragons cause a bit of chaos at the king’s big ball.

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A Huge Hog is a Big Pig

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Stinky Pinky, Silly Willy… whatever you call them, Hink Pink rhyming word games are so much fun. Not only are they silly, sometimes tongue-twisting and entertaining word games to play, they’re also educational. They teach you to look at word combinations differently, locating synonyms quickly to discover a new rhyming set of words to describe something.

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