What to Read Wednesday

I figured it was time to change things up a bit, Wednesdays will now feature a book or two or more that I think you should pick up. For this first edition, I am going kids books. Here are four books I think you should read to your kiddos this week.

Just a note, I received electronic copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

by Heather Hartt-Sussman
Illustrated by Geneviève Côté

This is another wonderful children's book with a great moral to teach them. Noni is a girl like any other, she wants to do the right thing, but it's hard. She fears what standing up for Hector will do to her. She worries that if she stands up for Hector that she won't have friends anymore or that they will turn on her. It's a worry I think a lot of kids have. Finally, at the end of the story, Noni has enough and speaks up to the bullies. As expected, they aren't quiet about it and tease Hector some more about having to be saved by a girl. But Noni and Hector just walk away. They have friends in each other. As a mom to three girls, I know that the "mean girls" aren't far off (if they aren't already around, I haven't heard about it!) I feel like this book would be a great conversation starter. The more you talk about it and the more your children know, the easier it might be for them to stand up. I think this is a wonderful addition to our bookshelf and plan to buy it. Bullying is a serious issue and I think Noni Speaks Up takes a wonderful stand on it.

by Vikki VanSickle
Illustrated by Cale Atkinson

As a lover of the mythical, I had to read this one and was not disappointed. This story has a lyrical rhyme to it but isn't too much. In this story, Sam gets a hamster. She thinks another more mysterious pet might be a better choice, so she imagines what it would be like to have a mythical creature as a pet. Many mythical creatures make an appearance and Sam talks about how each one might not make the best pet. In the end, does she decide her hamster is a good enough pet? I will let you find out. What I will tell you is that you are going to love this story and its beautiful illustrations

by Kwame Alexander,
Illustrated by Daniel Miyares

I really enjoyed this book It makes it cool to be a reader. The frog friends have plans to go surfing, but frog one is stuck in a great book. While traveling to the beach, frog one shares the story with frog two. They get to the beach and frog one finishes the story (reading to himself) he won't share the end with frog two, so he has to read it himself. The story ends with frog two enjoying the book while frog one surfs. I loved that this book made a love of reading a good thing. Both the story and the illustrations are wonderful. I loved it. .

by A L Wegwerth

Illustrated by Luke Flowers

This book was so fun even as an e-book, can't imagine how much more fun the hardback would be to have. In this Mother Goose re-telling, the narrator is trying to tell the story of Little Bo Peep but he keeps getting interrupted. On each new page there is something else going on to view in the fun pictures. There is also a find a picture "game" you can play on each page, trying to find all the nursery rhyme characters. I look forward to buying this as a hard-cover book so my kids can enjoy it like I did.