Library Book Review (We've Been Reading Some Good Ones!)

Hi Everyone! Happy Tuesday!

Thanks for the support recently with the crazy schedules/potty training/toddler bed mayhem. Will do a proper update soon but the short version is things are getting better, not worse, even if everything has yet to return to normal.

Anyway...

One of the things I miss most about Seattle is the gorgeousness of the Central Library. And also the fact that you can select books online and they are set on a shelf together for you to pick up.

Well, guess what? The ABQ library does the same thing. And since we've switched to that vs letting the kids randomly pull books off the shelves, the number of books we get that I (and the kids) like has risen hugely.

Here are some of our recent favorites:

• Little Oink—The language in this book is so clever and creative, and the story, about how little pigs are supposed to make a mess but this one actually wants to be clean, is super cute. There are lots of requests for this book around here
• Hippo! No Rhino!--I may have talked about this one before...it's a book the kids specifically asked to have back once I'd returned it. It's about a zoo keeper who puts the hippo sign on the rhino display and the rhino is not pleased. There is pooping in this book, which is a big hit with the kids
• Truck Stop--A quiet little book about a kid whose parents own a truck stop. I want to live in their sweet little world...
• The Bathing Costume (Or, the Worst Vacation of My Life)--Great pictures, but I wasn't sure how this was going to go over because the text on each page is LONG. Turns out, the kids don't care and will easily sit through this story. The narrator is so likeable...a little kid going away with his grandparents and cousins and NOT his mom for the first time ever. The voice this little kid has is one-of-a-kind as SO funny. Absolutely love this book
• This Is a Moose--Love this one too, about a movie director trying to make a documentary about a moose, but the moose really wants to be an astronaut, not just a plain old moose like the director wants him to be. This is one of those books that gets better and better every time we read it. I did return it today, but have a feeling we'll be checking it out again...
• Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site--This book I didn't return, it's a great combination of trucks (which both kids love) and a bedtime story and oh my gosh, the big tough trucks are soooooo cute with their teddy bears, blankets, etc. at bedtime. I have a feeling this is going to become part of our permanent collection
• Flora and the Flamingo--Cute pics. Very pink
• I Will Never, Not Ever, Eat a Tomato--Picky eaters was a big theme in this batch of books...this one solves the problem by the big brother telling the protagonist things aren't the gross vegetables she thinks but exotic foods from other planets
• Bad Kitty--This we originally got in Colorado and then checked out again here...oh my gosh so funny...the only thing is it doesn't put vegetables in the most favorable light. Essentially the kitty runs out of food and his owner wants him to eat an alphabet's worth of vegetables and because of this he (the kittly) turns into an alphabetically bad kitty. THEN, the owner comes home with tasty stuff (A to Z again...eg Buffalo Burritos, Baked Zebra Ziti, Shark Sushi, etc) and the kitty is then good, from A to Z. Love the kitty. He's so, so bad when he's bad...
• The Princess and the Peas--Another book about picky eaters, I love the rhymes and I love the little house in the woods the little girl lives in with her dad and rabbits. Because she doesn't like peas, they decide she's a princess (remember The Princess and the Pea?) and gets sent to the castle to live
• I Want to Be a Cowgirl--A big-city girl wants to be a cowgirl...love how this one ends...

Been having lots of fun reading to those kiddos. It's my new strategy in the evenings to get them to sleep... (jury's still out on if it's working or not...)

XOXO