Potty Training books for children

No more Diapers for Duckie
by Bernette Ford
childrens
5/5

Ah! Potty training is in the works here at our house. Since K loves to read, I finally found two books that she absolutely loves and requests every time she sits on the potty. No more Diapers for Duckie is very simple with big pictures and few sentences. Its about friendship and learning how to use the potty. Duckie goes to pigs home to play with his toys. But, when he arrives piggie is busy using the potty and can't play. Duckie plays with pigs toys and reads his books while he waits. After awhile of playing by himself, Duckie decides he wants to use piggies potty. Off goes his diaper and he runs to the bathroom. Then piggie is the one to wait on duckie while he uses the potty. Its really a cute book. Very friendly and easy to relate to for little ones.

The potty book for girls
by Alyssa Capucilli
childrens
5/5

A little more in depth with the process of potty training. The book takes the reader through the steps of using the potty and how you know you are ready. Can you brush your teeth, get yourself dressed and wash your hands? then you are ready. This is the book K screams from the potty for. "Mom! I need the potty book for girls!" I laugh but its comforting for her to hold and watch Hannah learn how to use the potty.

Stuck in the Mud/ Where's bear?

Stuck in the Mud
by Jane Clarke
Childrens
5/5

An over protective mother hen (like me) has lost her little chick in the mud. Everyone on the farm tries to help out but everyone get stuck in the ucky yucky mud. In the end, this clever little chick decides the mud is to crowded and pops out on her own and thanks everyone for playing but nobody was really playing they were trying to help. I really enjoyed ready this book with K. We loved the pictures and couldn't stop laughing at the clever little chick who had everyone fooled.


Where's Bear?
by Hilary McKay
Childrens
5/5

As an adult, I find that all my children have that one favorite toy or blanket that they just can not live without. It goes with them everywhere and consequently everything hangs on to that one little item and its the dirtest thing in the house. But, like Simon, its not the same when its all nice and fluffy and clean. So, when grandma came over to take Simon out for the day, mom nabbed Snowtop the teddy bear and washed him. Grandma did her best to distract Simon all day so he wouldn't catch on and keep asking for Snowtop. When they returned Simon found a strange bear and not his loved snowtop sitting on his bed. But Simon nabs strange bear and goes on a hunt to find Snowtop and before you know it strange bear is covered in ucky yucky goo and Simon discovers his loved Snowtop has been with him the entire time.

Two more cute kids books that I really need to add. Its tough going to the library and filtering through all the books to find those special ones that you can read to children and both of you enjoy because they are engaging for the child and humorous for the adults so here are a couple Kyla and I found from our most recent stack that was a pleasure to read together and she enjoyed flipping through on her own.

Duck Soup

Duck Soup
Jackie Urbanovic
Childrens
3/5

As goes many of our trips to the library, we came home with a huge stack of books. I noticed this one right away from its illustrations but I didn't read it before bringing it home. I noticed that it was a New Yorks bestseller and thought I couldn't go wrong. Despite the catching illustrations, I would read this book first before you present it to your children. It can be a little scary. As I was reading, I noticed Kylas eyebrows starting to pull down with a look of great concern. The book in a nutshell is about a duck who loves to cook soup for all his animal friends. When he finally decides to make his own recipe, a dish he can call all his own, he realizes he is missing some herbs. He runs out to his garden to gather some and while he is out his animal friends drop by to see what smells so good. They notice the soup but NO duck. They come to the conclusion that duck fell inside the pot and cooked himself. The animals frantically tried to save him from the cooking pot and grabbed a strainer to catch his parts while the soup went down the drain. They mistook carrots for his feet and potatoes for his eyes. Kinda scary huh? I thought so. In the end the duck comes in and notices that his soup is gone. His friends are grateful he is unharmed and they end up having pizza for dinner and not duck soup. Like I said, its a cute book with catchy illustrations but kinda scary for my two and a half year old.

Two new favorites

No More Cookies
by Paeony Lewis
Childrens
5/5

What fun! All Florence wanted was a cookie. Just one! But after eating all the cookies with her monkey Arnold, mom said NO. Florence came up with some pretty creative ideas using her dress up clothes to convince her mom to have just one more cookie. Unsuccessful, mom came up with a better idea magic monkey bananas! This book was so cute. We had a great time reading it together and even made are own magic monkey bananas following the recipe in the book.


The Pout Pout Fish
by Debroah Diessen
Childrens
5/5

We loved this book too. It quickly became one of our favorites and we rushed
out to own our very own. A pout pout fish was dreary weary fish. No matter how hard his friends tried to get him to smile, he was convinced he would always be a blub. Until one day when an expected visitor came by and gave him a kiss. In which he discovered he really wasn't a pout pout fish but a kiss kiss fish spreading cheery cheeries all over the place.

Under the Bed

Under the Bed
by Paul Bright
Childrens
5/5

What a great kids book! Have your kids ever been scared of the dark when its bedtime or are they just worried there are monsters under the bed? Under the Bed talks about all the possibilities of what may be under the bed. Dragons, bugs, alligators and bears but what is to be feared the most is NOT what is under the bed what is inside the bed YOU! How cute is that? To have the monsters under the bed to be scared of you. Great illustrations and story. This is one of our favorite childrens books.

PIzza for Sam

Kids Can Read
Pizza for Sam
by Mary Labatt
Childrens
5/5
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I really enjoy checking out the Kids Can Read series because they are small and light to carry on our trips back from the library. Also because we read a lot and there seems to be more variety. Pizza for Sam and the entire Sam series is about a little puppy and all his misdoings. Kyla has lately been into puppies and I thought this would be a great attention grabber for her. She dumps her marsh mellows on the floor and eats them like a puppy, sniffs things like a puppy and barks like one too. These books have held her attention. They are a little longer then most level 1 books with longer sentence structures and bigger illustrations. They are perfect for an imaginative toddler who loves puppies.

Pizza for Sam is about a little puppy who is so hungry he just can't wait to eat. His attempts to sneak little bits of food off the party table have been discarded and his stomach continues growl. It wasn't until the pizza man shows up with a big pizza that he decides he can wait any longer. When no one is looking and the guests start to arrive, Sam sneaks the pizza and starts to feast on the pizza pie behind the couch! If you have a puppy, then you know what I mean by little puppies getting into all kinds of trouble but this cute little series tells it from his point of view.

How I became a Pirate

How I became a Pirate
By Melinda Long
Illustrated by David Shannon
Childrens
5/5






Before David Shannon wrote childrens books he was an illustrator. We have always enjoyed his illustrations. They make a story complete. We recently checked out these two fun pirate stories.How I became a pirate and Pirates Don't Change Diapers. They are stories of little Jeremy Jacob and his adventure of becoming a pirate and going on a treasure hunt to help his fellow pirates gather up enough treasure to fix their ship. In the process they must look after his little sister Bonnie Anne. Its an adventurous tale of changing diapers, baby sitting and treasure hunting. Kyla loves this book and it has a lot to do with the fact the pirates try to change Bonnie Annes diapers. "Change the stinky diaper she says."

Pirates Don't Change diapers
By Melinda Long
Illustrated by David Shannon
Childrens
5/5

Patrick Paints a Picture

Patrick Paints a Picture
by Saviour Pirotta
Childrens books
5/5

We loved this book and now its on our favorite childrens books. Kyla loved it for the animals and bright colors. I loved it for the interaction, guessing of colors and the fact that it is a great and fun learning tool. Patrick goes to visit his aunt and they decide they are going to paint a picture. They stare out at at the cornfield and guess what color it is....Yellow. Then a bird comes by what color will they need? Blue! The book continues on this way teaching colors to the young reader and in the very end there is a color chart of primary colors and what colors mix to make more color for Patricks canvas. Its simple and very easy to learn. We read this book a billion times and then had to take it home with us to read it a billion and one times!

Summer Reading Program

Shaggy Dog and the Terrible Itch
David Bedford and Gwyneth Willaimson

Sometimes its difficult for me to find great childrens books for Kyla to read at such a young age that will hold her attention and keep her interested in reading. She has her moments when she is ready to sit and listen to a great chapter book to the end and other times she loves to just sit and look at pop up books or simple books with lots of great pictures. Shaggy Dog and the terrible itch is a little on the long side for her but she sat quietly in the library on her favorite puppy and let me read this silly entertaining book to her. There were a lot great illustrations that interacted with her. This poor puppy went everywhere into town to find someone or something that could finally relieve his itch. The farmer, the baker and finally Mary Lou's Poodle Parlor where he was cleaned and scratched and groomed. A lot of fun if you love dogs.

The little mouse, the red ripe strawberry, and the big hungry bear.
By Don and Audry Wood

Don't let the long name fool you. This is a great book. I read this book to Nate about when he was Kylas age and that was twelve years ago. They both loved it! A silly little mouse who tries to shake his strawberry loose thinks he hears a bear near by who might take it from him. He goes all out to protect his strawberry and even puts a disguise on it. The text is simple but the illustrations are great and leave a lot of room for discussion and staring at the photos! LOL. you know what I mean with little ones. We own this book from when Nate was young but Kyla and I found it in the library and I grabbed it to share this same entertaining story with her as I did Nate when he was little. Besides she loves strawberries too.


Don't Eat The Teacher
by Nick Ward

There are a few other shark books Nick Ward wrote. Don't Eat the the babysitter is one. We have added this one to our program as well. Boys love this book because of the sharks but my little girl loves it too. The text is a little lengthy so it required a bit of attention and was the first book I read to Kyla because thats when her attention span is the greatest. We didn't get all the way through it but we will!!

David Shannon Books

Good Boy, Fergus
by David Shannon
5/5







Here are two more great books for our summer reading program. We love our David Shannon books and we have added these two to our collection. I can't help but laugh at The Rain Came Down because we have had nothing but rain for the last two weeks. Its fitting.

The Rain Came Down
by David Shannon

Kylas Summer Reading Challenge 2009

Today we officially started the summer reading program at our local library. We picked up our packet, papers and purple t-shirt and headed to the books. We laid between aisles and read for a very long time. Looking at the packet together I realized that being small childrens books that we were reading, we were going to fill our program fast. I had to set a limit on what we could actually count as a read book. We are only counting books we read in the library that we have never read before and one childrens chapter book a week. I realize Kyla just turned two but she is a great reader in the library and will sit and let you read to her for up to an hour so a chapter book with pictures is great for her. Here are a few of her first picks for our program. These are younger childrens picture books.



A Childs Good Morning Book
by Margaret Brown and Karen Katz
Young childrens picture books
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The story is simple. Waking up and saying good morning to all things. The illustrations are the same style as Karen Katz board books go. Kyla likes this one because she always wakes up with a smile and a good morning for everyone so saying good morning to the sun and lady bugs was fun for her to read.

Five Little Ducks
Illustrated by Ivan Bates
Young childrens picture books
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You have heard the song "Five little ducks went out to play over the hill and far away..." well this is the exact same story with great illustrations and in the end when the ducks came back they each had a gift for a sad little mommy duck. We enjoyed reading this one because the five little duck song we had learned in Music Makers this last Spring and it was great to read and sing the story again.

The Bridge is Up!
by Babs Bell
Young childrens picture books
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We have seen this book on the shelf a few times but never checked it out. It was a great book about transportation and I was really surprised Kyla enjoyed it as much as she did. She held it in her lap staring at the illustrations and you could see and feel her little mind churning at what was happening . The book was mainly pictures and few words.

Wheres your smile, crocodile?

Where's your smile, crocodile?

by Claire Freedman

children under 3

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Yes, another animal book. Its the age of my toddler that attracts these types of books and there are many but only a few make it to our favorites list and this is one of them. We go to the public library at least three times a week. Given my daughter is not quite two, we don't stay to long. But, on our most recent trip we sat on the couches and read for an hour and a half with no running and no tantrums. It was wonderful. Where's your smile, crocodile? was one of the books that really kept her interest. I think its because all the animals in the jungle where trying to help crocodile find his smile again by making funny faces and blowing bubbles. It wasn't until the very end when crocodile tried helping a baby cub cheer up that he finally found his smile.

Book, Book, Book

Book, Book, Book

by Deborah Bruss

Children under 3yrs

I loved this book! So you think its easy to check out a library book? Not for these farm animals! When the kids are gone for the school year the farm animals have nothing to do. They make a trip to the public library and one by one each animal goes in. But, each animal comes back out disappointed because no one can help them. Then the hen takes charge. She marches in and and squawks Book, Book, Book! Ha Ha. Get it? Book ? Bawk? Ha Ha. Its a funny book and my daughter loves books and animals. This is a perfect book for her. We love it and at the very end there is another surprise. The frog is tired of these books because he has "Read it, Read it" get it? Ribbit Ribbit. One of our favorites!!

A Bad Case of the Stripes

A bad case of the stripes
by David Shannon
young children
5/5
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We love our David Shannon books! He has great illustrations and quite an imagination. We recently purchased A bad case of the stripes with an audio reading. My daughter is almost two and I was afraid because of the length of the book she wouldn't sit through it. But she did! We enjoyed reading about Camilla and her case of the strips. She was to worried about what other people think to truly be herself. After all, how many kids do you know love Lima beans? It was the first day of school and she wanted it to be perfect. Camilla soon finds that being herself is more fun then worrying about what others think. Another great book to add to proudly add to our collection of David Shannon.

Funny Farm

Funny Farm

by Mark Teague

Childrens

5/5

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When you put farm animals together with a funny farm, what do you get? A great book! This is another one of our favorites. I loved the illustrations in this children's book. There was so much to look at in the pictures with lots of little details. Kyla enjoyed all the silliness (surprised? me? NO!) Edward learned a lot of things visiting the Hawthorne farm. How to milk a cow, How to knit and how to tend sheep. But! that's not all that goes down on this farm. The sheep brush their teeth and the pigs play practical jokes. Again another wonderful book that had plenty of opportunities to make our favorite animal sounds.

Ducks don't wear socks

Ducks don't wear socks

by Johns Nedwidek

young children

5/5

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Oh Emily is so serious! Not even a smile. Until one day when she meets duck. A duck in socks that is. Why does duck where socks? Because his feet are cold silly. Duck has lots of surprises throughout this book that will make even the serious Emily smile. And if his socks don't do the trick maybe his white underwear with red polka dots will. Does Emily finally smile? You will have to read this silly book to find out and I think you will giggle your way through to the surprise at the end. Another one of our favorite stories to add to our book list.

What will Fat Cat sit on?

What will fat cat sit on?

by Jan Thomas

young children

5/5

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What a dilemma for fat cat! Where to sit? On cow? On chicken? What about dog? hmm.. only the little mouse knows where fat cat can sit. I love reading books to Kyla that involve more interaction and creative play than simply reading out loud. We sat and read this book together, made funny sounds and we were both relieved when fat cat finally had a place to sit other then on his friends. Now that he has a nice soft place to sit a new dilemma arises "What will fat cat eat?" This is such a great book that encourages small children to get excited about beginning to read. Its simple and full of silly animals.

Story time with mom.

David Shannon

Alice the Fairy
Too many Toys
by David Shannon
10 Kyla stars
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I was very excited this week to see my toddler heading toward the picture books instead of the board books this week. On our weekly trip to the library, we picked a stack of David Shannon books. I know. Selfish. But given the fact Kyla's favorite book of all time was Duck on a Bike by David Shannon, I thought she would enjoy these too. I read Alice the Fairy wanting so badly to be a real Fairy but will have to settle for her temporary fairy status so many times! What a great book. We laughed as Alice hid under her blanket. We said our "ewws" to broccoli (even though its our favorite), and our sighs of "Ah so cute" to her little dog she tried to help fly. Also, Too Many Toys. Poor Spencer didn't want to give up his loved toys. Every one had such a special meaning and was given to him by everyone he knew. He just couldn't make up his mind on what toys to put in the give away box. We have all been there. I know I have. David Shannon is a wonderful illustrator and that's how he started out with children's books and made his way up to some of the best books out there for small children (choose the link on the side panel for more info on David Shannon). His books, no matter how long they would seem even for the most impatient toddler or for the parent who reads them over and over again, never get old! With just enough humor for an adult to remember their favorite childhood happenings and plenty to keep even the smallest of toddlers focused, David Shannon makes us all laugh.

Two great picks

Who ate all the cookie dough?

by Karen Beaumont

Giggle, Giggle, Quack

by Doreen Cronin

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I enjoy our trips to the library. Row upon Row of board books, picture books, and reader books. Kyla is a pro now and knows where to go for her favorite books, Clifford and Halloween. However once in awhile I manage sneak in a few in that she really enjoys reading out loud together. Who ate the cookie dough? can be read in the famous song "who stole the cookie from the cookie jar" perfectly. With lots of animals and guessing and a special surprise at the end, this book was a smash hit! Also Giggle, Giggle, Quack. Although I have to admit, its one of my favorite children's book too. While the farmer is away the animals will play. I love this little sneaky duck that tricks the farmers friend Bob into pizza nights, luxury baths for the pigs, and movie night for the cows. What a fun book with all the giggles, moos, and oinks to go along with the little chuckles of Kyla.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

My first Chinese New year
by Karen Katz

Two great children's books to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The Year of the Ox! These vibrate pages are filled with Chinese traditions to celebrate the Lunar year. Everything from bowls of tangerines, red money pouches, fish, and rice pudding are outlined in a festive and traditional way. I have a twenty month old daughter and this book was perfect to hold her attention.



This next New Year
by Janet s. Wong

This Next New Year is more in depth, outlining the many different cultures that celebrate Chinese New Year and is perfect for children four and younger. Filled with beautiful illustrations, a young Koren boy takes us through his families preparations for the New Year. Setting out bowls of tangerines for good luck, cutting his hair and cleaning his house rough and raw to ward off bad luck and invite new luck, to the lighting of firecrackers at midnight and the bright dragon that dances in the streets. I enjoyed reading these books to my twenty month old daughter. I remember celebrating Chinese New Year with my sister and her husband. We would gather with our children eating fish and handing out red money pouches followed by fireworks in the street and my brother in-law would start singing in Mandarin Chinese.