Boo Hoo Bird

 Boo Hoo Bird by Jeremy Tankard
4
This is the story of a bird who gets hit on the head by a ball and won't stop crying. Reminds me of Ian who gets a scratch on his leg and limps all day long. The bird cries and each of his friends try something different to make him feel better, but it doesn't work, so they start crying because they are sad, too. This finally stops bird from crying-when he realizes his friends are feeling helpless. I got it as a lesson to Ian-hasn't helped much, but maybe in the future. A cute story with a great lesson.

The Napping House

 The Napping House by Audrey Wood
3
Again, we have this in the board book version, but it comes in paperback, too. This is a build upon story htat starts with a granny sleeping in the bed, adds a boy, a dog and so on, until a flee bites the mouse at the top and everyone wakes up. Silly and cute it's a great book.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

 We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury & Michael Rosen
3
We have the board book version, but it comes in paperback also. A cute book about a family going on a bear hunt through the wavy grass, water, etc. It's told in rhyme since it's also a song/chant. It has lots of repetition and varies black and white pages with the color pages of the sounds of each element. It's only slightly scary, and didn't seem to bother Ian who gets scared of many things.

Blue Hat, Green Hat

 Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton
5
One of my favorites by Boynton, though most of hers are great! These silly animals are teaching the turkey how to get dressed. While we learn colors (and clothing items) the turkey keeps putting them on the wrong part of him. When he finally gets it right, it's to go swimming, so it turns out he's got it wrong anyway. Very cute, very silly! (Board Book)

Freight Train

 Freight Train by Donald Crews
5
A simple train book gives the name of each type of car while introducing colors. The train then goes through a tunnel across a trestle and into the night. A nice book for the toddler age.

Three Cheers for Tacky

 Three Cheers for Tacky by Helen Lester
4
Silly Tacky, he tries his best to be like the other penguins, but he has his own style. There are many Tacky the Penguin books, this one is about Tacky and his friends entering a cheer contest. Tacky never get's it right, but the day of the contest, it turns out that Tacky's silliness keeps the audience laughing and so he's the star of the show, just being himself. A funny self confidence book.

Cookies Week

 Cookies Week by Cindy Ward
4
A cute little book introducing the days of the week. Only a few words on each page, so for the younger crowd. Cookie the cat makes a different mess each day of the week.  Such a silly cat.

Thirteen

 Thirteen by Remy Charlip
0
This book was on a recommended math books list.  But I was disapointed. Each of 13 double pages has a number, and some non-related pictures. As you go through the book, the pictures change. For example, the ship in the bottle goes from top to bottom, the hourglass sand runs out, and things like that. Maybe interesting for an older child, but it's so unrelated I had a hard time figuring it out. And other than there are 13 pictures from start to finish on each item and each page has the numeral on it-I'm not sure what "13" has to do with anything. Could be I'm missing something, but if I am, how many kids would, too.

One Brown Bunny

 One Brown Bunny by Marion Dane Bauer
5
I really love this book.  It's for the younger crowd, but combines numbers with colors, which is fun. Little Bunny asks lots of animals to play with him but they're all too busy.  He's sad, but then the animals come back and play.Very cute rhyming triplets.And just a sweet story.

Game: Guess Who?

 Guess Who? from Milton Bradley
4
I remember wanting this game as a kid, and I recently saw it at the thrift store, so I had to get it. You Each have the same people on your board and you each draw a card of those same people.  Then you take turns asking questions to figure out which person your opponent has. I figured it would take awhile to teach the logic behind it to Ian, but he figured it out right away: If you ask "Does your person have a hat?" And the answer is "No", do they put down the people with the hats, or without. Takes me a minute to think about it, and Ian, too, but he does it pretty quickly. Overall, a good pick for a 4 year old, and fun for mom and dad to play, too.

Sheep in a Jeep

 Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw
5
"Sheep in a jeep on a hill that's steep." I love all the rhyming in this book. It's more than just poetic rhyming of the last word in a pair of sentences or whatnot.  There are rhyming words found all over the place.  This is the best one (in my opinion) in the series of books about the sheep. And it's funny!

Yummy Yucky

 Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli
4
We received this book as a gift when Colin was a baby. It's a cute board book talking about similar things that are yummy and their counterpart which is yucky. Spaghetti is yummy, worms are yucky; Apple Pie is yummy, Mud pie is yucky. etc. Ian had it memorized after a few readings which was cute, because he then "read" it to Colin (this was when Colin was younger and would sit still for that.

Diggers

Diggers: See how they go! from DK publishing
4
I have found that I really like DK publishing for non-fiction books.This one especially appeals to Ian and has for quite some time. It's full of facts, but only about 7 construction diggers. I like that it is readable, unlike many other fact filled non-fiction books which have sentences or short paragraphs scattered throughout the page. Each page/digger has a title to it's page (usually just it's name) which is all we read when he was a toddler. And each page has 4-6 little tidbits of infomration that you can pick and choose how much to read. A welldone book, I wish it were a little longer.

I Stink!

 I Stink! by Kate & Jim McMullan
5
Ian loves garbage trucks.  From the time he was little, we've stopped to watch the garbage trucks when we've been out, counted garbage trucks while driving around, watched the garbage trucks on garbage day here at home and he's also played garbage man quite often, too.

This is a good book-Ian likes it better than I do. Told from the garbage truck's point of view he's out at night collecting garbage.  I love the ABC part where he makes alphabet soup naming something for each letter from the garbage.  It's probably set in New York City as at the end, he puts his garbage block on a barge, and it's a little, um harsh, I guess in the language, but definately fit for a garbage truck.Things like Burp, Rev me to the Max, Mount Trash-o-rama, baby, nothing big, just terse.

Overall a good book, great for boys.

Giraffes Can't Dance

 Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae
4
This is a cute book about a party in the jungle and the other animals make fun of clumsy Gerald the Giraffe.He goes off by himself and sees a cricket (are they in the jungle?) who encourages Gerald to listen to the sounds of the jungle, the grass, the wind, the trees, and finds out he really CAN dance, much to the amazement and encouragement of his other jungle friends.An encouraging self-confidence book told in rhyme.

Game: Curious George A B See

Curious George A B See game
3
Got this at the thrift store even though it wasn't on my list of games I was actually considering. It's kind of fun, and has more potential than Ian is interested in. He played it once and we'll probably re-visit it again, but it's not a "must play" game. 

Basically, there are 4 boards, each person draws a color and letter and finds something that starts with that letter in that color on a board. Not sure why there are 4 boards instead of just one big one. I might try making up my own rules, because as it is, it's kind of boring. I like the idea, just the boards and pictures on them are not the best. I would have gone with more of a scene rather than just a bunch of objects thrown about.

What Do People Do All Day?

What do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry
5
We LOVE this book, and have for quite some time. If you're not familiar with Richard Scarry books, there are a lot of things happening on each page many with labels. Most books have a little story to go with the pictures, but nothing big. This book has quite a story line for many different stories: building a house, making lumber, mailing a letter, getting your tonsils out. Only drawback is the book is fairly outdated (before my time even) which makes it difficult with a child who is just learning the vocabulary, but it works ok for an older child since you can explain "history" to them. Overall a great book that Ian loves to just look through on his own sometimes.

From Head to Toe

 From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
3
This board book came highly recommended from a good friend, but it just didn't work for us. "I am a penguin and I can turn my head." It's a book you can get into...unless you're my Ian-who apparently is not a participatory reader. It's a nice story, and I tried to encourage the movements by doing it myself, but it just didn't catch on. A good book, just not for us.

Mama, Do You Love Me?

Mama Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joose
4
We have the board book version of this book, but it's not just for toddlers. The main premise is a little girl asking her mother: would you still love me if... And mama always responds I would be surprised or angry or whatever, but yes, I would still love you. I love that it portrays the Inuit (Alaskan Indian) culture and introduces many new words such as mukluck (like moccasins) and ptarmigan (type of bird).A great book.

Game: Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar Game
2
This is a rather odd game. It doesn't teach much except how to play a board game. You spin the spinner, and move your caterpillar box that many spaces. But, you rarely get to go as far as the spinner says because you have to stop every 4 spaces and "do" something.  The directions are rather confusing, so we had to make up our own version of what you do when you stop, but it mainly involves putting items that the caterpillar ate in your box. Boring, even for a 4 year old, and like I said, confusing.

Big Red Barn

Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
3
This is an ok book. We have it as a board book but it is rather wordy for the toddler age who need board books. There is really no substance, no plot to the book, it just says that certain animals are in, around and near the barn and sometimes gives the animal sound, then at the end of the day they all go into the barn to sleep. "And a big white hen standing on one leg.  And under the hen was a quiet egg." Boring, but it is out, so we read it periodically. I think we've read it maybe a half dozen times in 4 years.

Jack's House

Jack's House by Karen Magnuson Beil
4
A cute version of The House that Jack Built, Max, the dog does all the work building the house for Jack. It does build on each item throughout the book, just like the original. I love that it centers around the actual building of the house: perfect for boys. This is one Ian asks for again and again.

Rumble in the Jungle

 Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae
3
This book is not what I expected. Turns out it's little poems about jungle animals.They're cute, but not full of information or anything. I like the idea of introducing young children to poetry, however, this is nothing special.  I do like the concept that the beginning of the book starts out in the morning, and it ends at night time.