Notable New Children's Book Releases {September 28 - October 4}

Pete the Cat and the Bad Banana by James Dean
This book just ate my dog! by Richard Byrne
Flora and the Penguin by Molly Idle



Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert L. May, Illustrated by Antonio Javier Caparo
Frank! by Connah Brecon
Dora the Explorer: Guess Who Loves Christmas!




Max and the Won't Go to Bed Show by Mark Sperring, Illustrated by Sarah Warburton
Monkey Me #4: Monkey Me and the School Ghost by Timothy Roland
Bird & Squirrel on Ice by James Burks



Minecraft: Construction Handbook: An Official Mojang Book Spirit Animals Book 5: Against the Tide by Tui T. Sutherland
Survivors Box Set: Volumes 1 to 3 by Erin Hunter



Unstoppable Octobia May by Sharon Flake
Goosebumps Most Wanted Special Edition #2: The 12 Screams of Christmas by R.L. Stine
The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons: The Emerald Shore by Barbara Mariconda
Party Games: A Fear Street Novel by R.L. Stine

September 29 | Currently Reading

Thank you for the warm welcome last week! I'm super excited to be joining the kid lit blogging world.

Last week I posted a review of Ducks in Muck. I also posted the books that made it onto our wishlist.



We spent most of our reading time this past week with Pippi Longstocking. That girl! You just never know what's going to happen next with her.

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We are continuing our journey with Magic Tree House this week with Tonight on the Titanic. I'm a little worried about this one, but Mary Pope Osborne's letter at the beginning helped ease my mind.

Other books we read this week:

I'd love to hear what you are reading this week. Let me know in the comments or leave me a link!

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This post is being shared as part of Teach Mentor Text's It's Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA.

Book Review | Ducks in Muck

Ducks in Muck is a picture book written by Lori Haskins and illustrated Valeria Petrone.

Book Description

Ducks in muck. Ducks stuck in trucks. Trucks stuck in muck. How will the trucks and ducks get unstuck?

Discover what happens to a group of friendly ducks when they play in the muck and then are taken away in a truck!

Ducks in Muck is a book we have read many times at our house. We have it in board book format so it's an easy to grab and read book for all of my kids.

The appeal of Ducks in Muck is the simplicity. You basically have ducks and trucks stuck in the muck. Once your kids have those words down, the book is all theirs!

The illustrations are wonderful, but sometimes the black text is hard to find and read over the dark background.

There's not much to Ducks in Muck other than getting unstuck from the trucks that are stuck in the muck, but it's a cute book none-the-less.

6/10: Good Read

On Our Wishlist {1}

On Our Wishlist features all of the books we added to our wishlist in the past week.

Island: A Story of the Galápagos by Jason Chin

Charles Darwin first visited the Galápagos Islands almost 200 years ago, only to discover a land filled with plants and animals that could not be found anywhere else on earth. How did they come to inhabit the island? How long will they remain?

Thoroughly researched and filled with intricate and beautiful paintings, this extraordinary book by Award-winning author and artist Jason Chin is an epic saga of the life of an island—born of fire, rising to greatness, its decline, and finally the emergence of life on new islands.

I love the Galapagos Islands. I would really enjoy reading this book with my kids.

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Julia's House for Lost Creatures by Ben Hatke

When Julia and her walking house come to town, she likes everything about her new neighborhood except how quiet it is! So Julia puts a sign up: "Julia's House for Lost Creatures." Soon she's hosting goblins, mermaids, fairies, and even a dragon. Quiet isn't a problem anymore for Julia...but getting her housemates to behave themselves is!

The simple, sweet text of this picture book by New York Times Best-Selling Zita the Spacegirl author/illustrator Ben Hatke is perfectly balanced by his lush, detailed, immersive watercolor illustrations.

This picture books sounds delightful! It is right up my alley.

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Eerie Elementary #1: The School Is Alive! (Eerie Elementary #1) by Jack Chabert, Sam Ricks

Eerie Elementary is one scary school!

This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line called Branches, which is aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!

In this first book in the series, Sam Graves discovers that his elementary school is ALIVE! Sam finds this out on his first day as the school hall monitor. Sam must defend himself and his fellow students against the evil school! Is Sam up to the challenge? He'll find out soon enough: the class play is just around the corner. Sam teams up with friends Lucy and Antonio to stop this scary school before it's too late!

My kids aren't ready for the Goosebumps books yet. (I am!) In the mean time, I'm hoping they will enjoy starting this new series. I'm going to slip it in with their Scholastic order this month.

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The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith

When eight-year-old Kirstie and her family go beachcombing near their home in Scotland, she finds something that looks like a giant fish egg, which is just too interesting to leave on the beach. So she brings it home and sneaks it into the bathtub overnight. The next morning, she is surprised to find that the egg has hatched, but the newborn is unlike anything anyone has seen before. With its long neck, head like a horse, skin like a toad's, flippers like a turtle, and a tail like a crocodile, her brother Angus declares it a monster. Grandfather knows better and tells them it's a kelpie, or what he calls a water horse. The family keeps the baby and names it Crusoe. But as Crusoe grows, he becomes a bigger and bigger problem, literally. They are forced to find him a new home, away from people and boats. They settle on a beautiful Loch, now known as Loch Ness. From the author of beloved Babe comes the soon-to-be-classic story of how, thanks to the love and kindness of the human family that raises him, the Loch Ness Monster found his home.

This just sounds like a wonderful read. We've never seen the movie either, so I think it's a great pick.

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Pete the Cat and the Bad Banana by James Dean

Pete the Cat bites into a bad banana and decides that he never, ever wants to eat bananas again. But Pete really likes bananas! Will a rotten bite ruin Pete's love for this tasty fruit?

Beginning readers will laugh along with Pete in this hilarious I Can Read tale.

My kids love Pete the Cat! I'm a little afraid my oldest will be scared of bananas after reading this one, but I'll risk it.

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Are any of the books on your wishlist? Have you read any of them? I'd love to hear your thoughts and/or recommendations!

Banned Books Week

Each year I like to read banned or challenged books to my children during Banned Books Week. Some of the banned books we have read and enjoy include:

Banned Books Week 2014

So far this week we have re-read Green Eggs and Ham, and we will probably revisit The Lorax again this week as well. I tried to read Charlotte's Web to them last year, but it didn't go over well. I think I will try again this year once the days grow short and cold.

Are you reading anything in honor of Banned Books Week? I'd love to hear from you.

Currently Reading | My First Post!

This is my inaugural post! Please excuse the emptiness of my blog while I get started. I currently blog about YA/adult books over at Book Den, and I finally took the plunge and started Book Den Kids! I have 3 little readers so kid lit is a big chunk of my reading life. I look forward to being able to discuss in more detail what we are reading.

We are currently in the middle of the Magic Tree House books. Last week we read Day of the Dragon King, Viking Ships at Sunrise, and Hour of the Olympics.

My 5 year old had strep all week so it was a light picture book week (and thus a stronger read-aloud Magic Tree House week).

The only picture books we read were Lego City Need for Speed and Froggy's Best Christmas. (My kids pick holiday books year round!)

My kids and I always crack up at the end of Need for Speed. It gets a lot of great giggles.

This past week I also read The Girl Who Fell Beneath Faiyland and Led the Revels There. It's the second book in Catherynne M. Valente's amazing Fairyland series. My kids aren't quite old enough for this middle grade read so I'm going solo with this series. I'm loving it.

I'm very excited to start blogging about children's books, and I especially can't wait to discover and connect with other children's book bloggers.

I'd love to hear what you are reading this week. Let me know in the comments or leave me a link!

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This post is being shared as part of Teach Mentor Text's It's Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA.