The Good Stuff Guide » Picture Books

Fabulous Halloween Reads!

Heidi Farmer — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:45:27 +0000

To amp up the atmosphere for Halloween, try these new books on your adorables!

1

Little Goblins Ten

by Pamela Jane
An adorable counting book full of gorgeous illustrations and read-aloud rhythm. Super cute and festive!

2

The 13 Nights of Halloween

by Guy Vasilovich
You just try not to sing along to this one! Richly illustrated.

3

Pumpkin Trouble

by Jan Thomas
A simple, cute read in the style of Mo Willem’s Elephant and Piggie.

4

Trick or Treat, Marley!

by John Grogan
Heartwarming tale about Marley’s enthusiasm for Halloween.

5

Count, Dagmar!

by J.otto Seibold
A cute counting board book for the younger adorables!

6

Pinkalicious and the Pink Pumpkin

by Victoria Kann
For the girlie set needing some pink in this orange and brown holiday.

7

Pumpkin Cat

by Anne Mortimer
A darling book about growing pumpkins. My adorable loved it!

8

Hampire!

by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
A seemingly scary story about the dreaded Hampire’s quest for snacks.

9

Halloween Howlers

by Michael Teitelbaum
A whole book for Knock-knock jokes for Halloween!

10

Never Kick a Ghost

by Judy Sierra
A Halloween-themed reader for level 2 readers!

Do you have any favorites for Halloween?

Summer Reading Made Fun…

Heidi Farmer — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 08:23:56 +0000

To get your adorables excited for their summer reading, we’ve put together the following list of new books to entice them.
Hopefully you will find some real gems!

1

The First Big Book of Why

by Amy Shields
Tons of photos and interesting info to keep your adorable engaged and eager to learn more.

2

Splish, Splash, Splat!

by Rob Scotton
Perfect for adorables learning to swim! Funny and endearing.

3

Quacky Baseball

by Peter Abrahams
A cute take on America’s favorite pastime.

4

Rocket Town

by Bob Logan
A board book with out of this world illustrations.

5

3-D Explorer: Dinosaurs

by Barbara Taylor
This is a WoW for your dino-lover!

6

Viewfinder Reptiles

by Barbara Taylor
Tons and tons of great info about reptiles! With a viewfinder to make it fun.

7

Children Make Terrible Pets

by Peter Brown
My younger adorable’s current favorite: “They really are the worst” gets him every time.

8

Seven Wonders of the World

by Carmella Van Vleet
For the older adorables, with 20 projects to make this info come alive.

9

Jungle World Sticker Book

by Maurice Pledger
I travel with these sticker books to keep the adorables quiet – this one is gorgeous!

10

Big Book of Activity Fun!

by Diane deGroat
Similarly, a book like this is great on airplanes or restaurants – and they’re learning!

What are your new favorites for summer?

{Giveaway} Charlie and Lola Set

Heidi Farmer — Mon, 23 May 2011 08:36:23 +0000

Happy Monday! I absolutely adore spring weekends and this one was great: we met and adored the folks who will be renting our house for 6 weeks this summer (more on that later…), I spent some time in the garden planting (I’m almost through the annuals for the year), and loads of time playing with the adorables.

Today’s Giveaway is awesome: I’ve been meaning to do a Brilliant Author Series on Lauren Child, the creator of Charlie and Lola, Clarice Bean, and others. Lauren’s sense of written comedic timing is spot on. I also love the quirky illustrations that are so creative and, via graphic design, help the story come alive.

Here’s the Charlie and Lola loot you can win:

This includes…

1.Slightly Invisible (Charlie and Lola) – the new book out May 11th that continues the hilarity that is Lola. I have to hand it to Charlie: he is patient and clever to “manage” his sister.

2. Charlie and Lola, Vol. 1-8 ($65.99) – an 8 DVD set encompassing the first 2 seasons of this witty and smart show.

3. Charlie and Lola – Plush – Talking Posable Charlie & Lola Set ($28.25) – your own Charlie and Lolas to make your adorable’s (or yours, I won’t tell) playtime come alive.

So here’s how you win…

Giveaway

One lucky, lucky winner can win the new simply by leaving a comment by Friday, May 27th. I’ll choose the winner using Random.org and announce it on Saturday.

Because I just LOVE comments, here’s how to gain extra entries (please leave them as separate entries):

1. Do you subscribe by email or RSS to The Good Stuff Guide? I love my subscribers, so you get an extra entry. Wahoo!

2. Email 5 of your friends about The Good Stuff Guide and tell them what a rockin’ website this is. We’d love to have them join us!

3. “Like” The Good Stuff Guide on Facebook and receive the latest news and your chance at additional giveaways. (I LIKE you too!)

4. “Share” any recent post from The Good Stuff Guide on your Facebook wall by clicking ‘Share’ under our Facebook posts with links to The Good Stuff Guide site. This makes a visit to our site just a click away for all your Facebook friends – the more the merrier…

(Feel free to do them all – that’s a total of 5 entries!)

Good luck!

Oh, and if you were wondering, I did finally break down and make these Chocolate Oatmeal Big Ole’ Hunk a Love bars over the weekend. I held out for as long as I could…

The Best New Books for Spring

Heidi Farmer — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:48:18 +0000

These are the best of the best! I reviewed a ton of newly published books for spring, and these were the standouts. I also tested these books on my adorables and the following are the ones they request night after night.
Fill a basket with these from the Easter Bunny and save their teeth!
So without further adieu…

1

Rain Brings Frogs

by Maryann Cocca-Leffler
A new favorite – might be on the next 25 Best Books list!

2

My Mommy Hung the Moon

by Jamie Lee Curtis
I felt like SuperWoman after reading this book – I hope my adorables did too!

3

Dream Big Little Pig

by Kristi Yamaguchi
Already #2 on the New York Times Bestseller List and it deserves it.

4

My Name is Not Alexander

by Jennifer Fosberry
Fantastic tour de force of great historical leaders; loved it!

5

Silverlicious

by Victoria Kann
Cute, Cute Celebration of holidays and manners.

6

Big Bouffant

by Kate Hosford
Creating your own style can be fabulous. Fun, fun.

7

Miss Dorothy and her Bookmobile

by Gloria Houston
Beautiful story about a librarian’s dedication to her readers. True story.

8

NG Kids Human Footprint

by Ellen Kirk
Fascinating and easy-to-understand; perfect for Earth Day.

9

Mary Engelbreit’s Fairy Tales

by Mary Engelbreit
The classics illustrated by the darling Mary Engelbreit. A treasure.

10

Ants in Your Pants, Worms in Your Plants!

by Diane deGroat
Inspire gardening in your adorables. Get out and dig!

11

The Great Migration

by Eloise Greenfield
A serious book about the great African-American migration.

12

Doodles for Breakfast

by Deborah Zemke
Tear out these placemats and take them along on your outings for entertainment!

13

Little White Rabbit

by Kevin Henkes
Springy and gorgeous illustrations.

What are your new favorites for spring? Which of these so you look forward to reading?

The 25 Best Children’s Picture Books!

Heidi Farmer — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 09:47:20 +0000

If you’re just joining us (welcome!), we’re celebrating National Read Across America Day (which is TODAY!).

Happy Birthday, dear Dr. Seuss – you completely changed children’s literature and we’re forever grateful. If it weren’t for you, we’d be reading Dick and Jane Readers until our eyes turned blue from boredom.

(Last year we celebrated this sacred day with a Brilliant Author Series dedicated to Dr. Seuss, and listed every book he ever wrote -and there were tons – so be sure to check it out!)

Contributing Writer Sarah Farthing and I collaborated on this list and boy, was it tough!

Please note, the symbols, (+++) after an author’s name denotes that there are many more titles by this same author that you should discover. In many cases, we just closed our eyes and picked one. With names like Robert McCloskey, Mo Willems, Virginia Lee Burton, Chris Van Dusen, David Shannon, Dr. Seuss – their titles alone could make up the whole list.

So off we go…

1

Make Way for Ducklings

by Robert McCloskey (+++)
Purely, innocently, Brilliant.

2

Where the Wild Things Are

By Maurice Sendak
Our wonderful world doesn’t value make-believe enough. We need to let our kids pretend. Seriously.

3

What a Wonderful World

By Ashley Bryan
Beautiful illustrations of the Louis Armstrong standard; what can be better?

4

Just Enough and Not Too Much

By Kaethe Zemach
A simple story about finding happiness in moderation.

5

Life Story

By Virginia Lee Burton (+++)
A masterpiece of the history of our Earth.

6

Stone Soup

By John J. Muth
If we all pitch in and give, this world would taste amazing.

7

The Empty Pot

By Demi
Truth, truth, truth. It’s the most important thing.

8

The Quiltmaker’s Gift

By Jeff Brumbeau
Beautifully illustrated and a great tale about giving.

9

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

By Jon Scieszka
Funny, clever, and great for teaching perspective.

10

Sally Jean, the Bicycle Queen

By Carl Best
A bright girl’s love of bike riding fuels her ingenuity.

11

The Story Of Ruby Bridges

By Robert Coles
The perseverance of this little girl is utterly remarkable.

12

So You Want To Be President?

By Judith St. George
Packed with little funny tidbits about our Presidents.

13

The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!

By Mo Willems (+++)
Hilarious! Willems must be part of your library.

14

The Gardener

By Sarah Stewart (+++)
Heartwarming and humble.

15

Duck on a Bike

By David Shannon (+++)
A Winner on any night.

16

The Relatives Came

By Cynthia Rylant (+++)
A heartwarming tale of a good old-fashioned road trip!

17

If I Built a Car

By Chris Van Dusen (+++)
So imaginative! What would your car include?

18

The Giving Tree

By Shel Silverstein
Something to ponder: what is Silverstein teaching us?

19

Click Clack Moo

By Doreen Cronin
A brilliant comedy about life on the farm.

20

The Seven Silly Eaters

By Mary Ann Hoberman
When 7 kids get picky, watch how things get sticky.

21

Yertle the Turtle

By Dr. Seuss (+++)
Dr. Seuss, I am utterly grateful to you.

22

The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear

By David Bruins
A must- read, memorable legend about friendship.

23

Little by Little

By Amber Stewart
A tall tale about starting small and finishing big.

24

Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy

By Jacky Davis
When two friends are at play, a compromise can save the day!

25

The Pout Pout Fish

By Deborah Diesen
A bright new twist on turning a frown upside down.

And the honorable mentions go to:

The Story of Ferdinand

The Seven Chinese Brothers

Ready for Anything!

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go

Katy and the Big Snow Book & CD

Too Many Toys

What are your favorites? What titles did we miss? Do you have memories of some of these titles from your own childhood?

Great Christmas Reads…

Heidi Farmer — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:36:47 +0000

Christmas is upon us and what better way to anticipate and celebrate than with some wonderful children’s literature? Last year, I shared 9 classics, and here are 6 more. Most are new this year, but a few are just new jewels to me.
Enjoy them!!

1

Yes, Virginia: There Is a Santa Claus

This is adorable and a TRUE story! It all happened in New York in 1897.

2

Christmas Cookies

You’re going to hear more about these books in January, and this one is not to be missed!

3

Mary Engelbreit’s A Merry Little Christmas

This is perfect, eye candy, just as you would expect from Mary Engelbreit.

4

White Christmas

The Irving Berlin standard illustrated with traditional Currier and Ives-esqe artwork. An instant classic.

5

The King’s Christmas List

A sweet teaching tool for giving and I loved the few ideas for giving at the end – wish there were more included.

6

The Night Before Christmas in Africa

An interesting and well-done African adaptation of the classic.

This post contains affiliate links – many thanks for supporting The Good Stuff Guide! When you make a purchase via these links, a teeny-weeny bit gets routed back here to help pay for hosting and postage. And that’s a HUGE help! And the best part – it costs you nothing to do so!

The 25 Best Toddler Books

Heidi Farmer — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:06:08 +0000

I’m up to my elbows in the kitchen today, so this is a post I’ve brought out from the past to share again! Please share your adorables favorites too!

These are the best interactive books for our adorable toddlers 18 months to 3 years: flaps, textures, words = FUN!

1

I Love You Through and Through

This tale of how much you love your little adorable is perfect for snuggling.

2

Tails

This book is FULL of fun stuff to touch and do. It’s a 1-kid book; meaning you will need to buy another one for your second, third, etc.

3

Peak-a-Moo

The adorables learn animal sounds and who doesn’t love peek-a-boo?

4

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Dr. Seuss is amazing. Enough Said.

5

Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever

Build your adorable’s vocabulary with this entertaining read.

6

Cars and Trucks and Things That Go

Not just for boys! Great for learning vocabulary. Turn some pages together – it’s over 70 pages long!

7

What Do People Do All Day?

Awesome for explaing how parts of the world work. I learn stuff!

8

Gossie & Friends: A First Flap Book

Really pretty simple, but its simplicity is well done.

9

Gossie’s Busy Day: A First Tab Book

More simple goodness. Fun game at the end.

10

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Introduce the alphabet with some jazz.

11

Big Dog… Little Dog

I have to admit, I don’t love this book, but my kids do. Good for teaching opposites.

12

Funny Faces Millie Cow

Bright and happy, and who doesn’t love googly eyes?

13

The Very Lazy Ladybug, Pop-up

Jack Tickle’s pop-ups are the most incredible I’ve seen. Seriously, how does he do this??

14

Please Do Not Open this Book!

I remember the plain version as a kid; the new pop-up is very fun.

15

World Around Me – Ocean

A long fold-out fort/enclosure – not really a book, but perfect for creating a mystical reading world.

16

Little Pea

A cute story about a pea who has to eat candy, but would rather eat spinach.

17

The Cheerios Animal Play Book

Toddlers and cheerios are like yin and yang and so this is a no-brainer hit.

18

Dog

Great rhythm, humor and fun!

19

Alphabet

More Matthew van Fleet fun (of Tails and Dog fame). I love anything that teaches the ABC’s.

20

Big Noisy Trucks and Diggers

It’s the noises in this book that make it exceptional.

21

The Cat in the Hat

Haven’t we already established how amazing Dr. Seuss is?

22

Let’s Go to the Zoo Lift the Flap

Lift the flaps are awesome to keep little adorables engaged. This is a hit and teaches many concepts.

23

My Big Animal Book

Bright, colorful and beautiful photos of animals and their names.

24

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

Love this rhythm and adventure.

25

Under the Sea (Usborne Lift-the-Flap)

More lift the flap fun. Lots of great facts for you and your adorables to learn.

Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee (Giveaway)

Heidi Farmer — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 08:44:02 +0000

Excellent news! Chris Van Dusen, that brilliant author/illustrator behind such instant classics as The Circus Ship, If I Built a Car, A Camping Spree With Mr. Magee, and Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee has done it again! The third book in the Mr. Magee series, Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee, is out TODAY!

Friends, dear reader Sarah F. introduced us to these books six or eight months ago, and they are consistently our very favorites at bedtime. We’ve had our newest Mr. Magee pre-ordered on Amazon for a couple months and it mysteriously arrived earlier this week before it’s publish date. When I pulled it out of the box, the adorables went a little bananas. Wish I had had the Flip ready to record my youngest adorable’s chicken dance/”The new Mr. Magee” chant.

We were thrilled with the book! These books scream to be read-aloud and the illustrations…!

Here’s a peek:

I don’t want to give anything away, but here’s one more:

And it only gets more hilarious from there!

I asked Mr. Chris Van Dusen about his inspiration for the book and he had this to say,

“Even though seven years have passed since the last “Mr. Magee” book, I always felt that there was room for one more adventure. When I was working on the book, I’d often mention to school children and library groups that a new MAGEE was coming. This usually led to a happy gasp and, on at least one occasion, applause! So I knew it was not a bad idea.

My original concept for a third MAGEE involved him getting stuck somewhere way up high. But when I told a friend (who’s also an
author/illustrator) about my story idea, she thought it was too similar to “Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee”. She suggested that I try something completely different. “How about a winter adventure?” she said. That got me thinking about skiing and soon the new story was born!”

Um, Mr. Van Dusen, I will give you a standing O for MORE!!! (Please.)

Giveaway

You can win an autographed copy of Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee simply by leaving a comment by Tuesday, November 2nd. I’ll choose the winner using Random.org on Wednesday.

Because I just LOVE comments, here’s how to gain extra entries (please leave them as separate entries):

Do you subscribe by email or RSS to The Good Stuff Guide? I love my subscribers, so you get an extra entry. Wahoo!
Email 5 of your friends about The Good Stuff Guide and tell them what a rockin’ website this is. We’d love to have them join us!
“Like” The Good Stuff Guide on Facebook and receive the latest news and your chance at additional giveaways. (I LIKE you too!)

Good luck!

Don’t (as in DO NOT) miss the other books: The Wonderful Books of Chris Van Dusen

Many thanks of course to Mr. Van Dusen and to Sarah F. of www.readtheseplease.blogspot.com, where Sarah shares her love of children’s literature and suggests tons of great books. Check out her site!

The Best New Books for Fall…

Heidi Farmer — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 08:48:01 +0000

These new picture books are sure to please your adorables.
And methinks these would be excellent surprises come holiday-time!
So without further adieu…

1

NG Kids World Atlas

Your adorables will absolutely get lost in this atlas. A MUST! (Or, the best $10 you’ll ever spend)

2

How The Sphinx Got To The Museum

Haven’t you always wondered where the museum gets its stuff? Fascinating!

3

Mr. Elephanter

Sweet, sweet, sweet, and it reminds me of being a mom. But he does get to go home at night…

4

A Bedtime for Bear

Cute story about bear and mouse and guess who is scared??

5

I See the Sun in China

A very interesting visit to Shanghai – great art!

6

Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee

The latest in the Mr. Magee series – debuts October 27th!

7

NG Kids Ultimate Dinopedia

It really IS “The Most Complete Dinosaur Reference Ever!” Dino-lovers will be WOWED.

8

Maisy’s Show

A gorgeous, intricate pop-up that you will LOVE!

9

Art & Max

VERY creative and gorgeous illustrations. But would you expect less from David Wiesner?

10

Knuffle Bunny Free

The NEW BOOK (out 10/1/10) is soooo GOOD. You may weep at the end.

What are your new favorites for fall?