Today is the 22nd KidLit Blog Hop! That reminds me that the kerfuffle last week put me behind on my hopping, but I’m going to try again this time. There’s a lot of fun books linked up already!
We keep a large basket full of our current library picture books in our living room. These are the ones that we loved from the last month or so.
King Arthur’s Very Great Grandson by Kenneth Kraegel.
On his sixth birthday Henry Alfred Grummorson, a distant descendant of King Arthur, rides forth in search of battle and glory on his donkey, Knuckles. But each creature he meets offers him a non-violent competition: the dragon blows smoke rings, the Cyclops begins a staring competition, the Griffin plays chess, and so on. At the end of his journey, Henry still hasn’t used his sword – but he does have some new friends. Wavery ink and watercolor art gives this book an old-fashioned charm. My son would have obsessed over it during his four-year-old knight phase.
Monstore by Tara Lazar. Illustrated by James Burks.
“At the back of Frankensweet’s Candy Shoppe, under the last box of sour gum balls, there’s a trapdoor. Knock five times fast, hand over a bag of squirmy worms, and you can crawl inside…. THE MONSTORE.” Zack has a problem: his little sister Gracie is always getting into his room. The Monstore monsters are supposed to do whatever you tell them to, but his monsters don’t keep Gracie out. Now he has a new problem: his whole house is full of monsters. He tries to take them back, but “No returns. No exchanges. No exceptions.” This has bright art that looks like it could be from a digitally animated movie, with cute monsters hiding on every page. It took a couple tries for my three-year-old to get into it, but once she did, she cried when it was time to take it back.
Princess in Training by Tammi Sauer. Pictures by Joe Berger.
Viola Louise Hassenfeffer wants her kingdom to be proud of her – but karate chops, diving in the moat and skateboarding don’t work. Will Camp Princess help? This delightful story (still sparkly on the cover) features a multicultural princess class a tomboy princess who (spoiler!) defeats the dragon on her own. The layout varies between more traditional picture-book style and large comic book-style panels with written-in sound effects.
Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great by Bob Shea.
Goat thought he was pretty cool, until Unicorn came to town and started doing everything better. Goat tries a typical kid-style magic trick; Unicorn is really magic. Goat bakes a treat that almost comes out right; Unicorn can make it rain smiling rainbow cupcakes. Goat is sure they’ll be enemies… until it turns out that Unicorn envies Goat, too. It’s told in child-like drawings that capture the spirit perfectly.
Belinda the Ballerina by Amy Young.
This is an older one (2002) that’s just right for my little girl now. Belinda loves to dance and is very graceful but…. “Belinda had a big problem – two big problems: her left foot and her right foot.” No one will even let her audition because her feet are so big. This is a silly story about following your heart no matter what.
The Hiccupotamus by Aaron Zenz
A story told in extra-silly bouncy rhyme about a hippopotamus that can’t stop his hiccups. It features a full cast of brightly colored, round animals, whose bios at the end I enjoyed as much as the story.
Finally, one I reviewed a couple of years ago that my daughter wanted daily for about five weeks this time: Cinnamon Baby by Nicola Winstanley.
alibrarymama 
Stopping by from the hop – what a great selection of books! Thank you so much for sharing them – I can’t wait to check them out!
Thank you for stopping by – I hope you enjoy!
Stopping by from the hop. My daughter loved Belinda the Ballerina and also the sequel Belinda in Paris. We just read Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great. My kids loved that one as well. I will be sure to check out your other recommendations!
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope your kids enjoy the books! I should look for Belinda in Paris.
It’s fun to see your pile of picture books. We all loved King Arthur’s Very Great Grandson at my house! I stopped by from the Kid Lit Blog Hop.
Thanks for stopping by! It’s always fun when other kids love the same books.
Once again a great list of books, hurrah. Ooh, Cinnamon Baby looks wonderful, pinned it already lol. We are currently obsessed with The Monstore so give it a day or two and it will infect the house lol, we love it. Princess in Training also looks hilarious. Thanks again for linking in to the Kid Lit Blog Hop.
Thanks again for visiting, Julie! I’ve been seeing a lot of well-served buzz for the Monstore, too.
All these books sound absolutely wonderful. Monstore is already on my list, but I must check them all out. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoy.
The books all look like fun and I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the covers. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by and visiting fundinmental.
I’m always happy to provide a smile! Thank you for visiting back.
Thanks for sharing this great collection of books from your book basket in the Kid Lit Blog Hop. I love the play on words with “Hiccupotamus” – too funny! Glad to see you back and I hope everything is ok at your end. 🙂
Thanks for visiting. Yay, Hiccupotamus! I’ve been reading Zenz’s kids’ book blog at http://bookiewoogie.blogspot.com/ for years now. We are hanging in at our house – she’s healthy, just still being asked to drink lots of extra fluids.
Monstore and Unicorn thinks he’s pretty great are now on my ‘to be read’ list.
😀 Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy them!
Hehee! Finally got “Unicorn” off hold at the library – “Taste my cloven justice!!”
I’m so going to be saying that from now on…all the time 😀 And I just bought the Hiccupotamus as a pressie for a fleshling nephew. We obviously have good taste in books 😉
That phrase definitely needs to be in more common usage! And of course we have exquisite taste in books.
Popping in from the Kid Lit Blog Hop thanks for sharing! I see lots of books listed here that look very interesting. My 4 year old would really enjoy them and so would I!
Thank you for visiting, and I hope both you and your 4-year-old enjoy!
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