Childrens Days Books

Black Beauty's Early Days in the Meadow transforms the beginning of Anna Sewell's classic of children's literature into a gorgeous picturebook. Illustrated in soft colors by Jane Monroe Donovan, who studied horses at length to exquisitely capture their movements, the expansive artwork captures the essence of spring from the fresh grass of the meadow to the pastel hues of the sky. A wonderful introduction to a great humanitarian book for young people, and a superb book to read aloud at storytime or bedtime. The final lesson from Black Beauty's mother has an important lesson for youngsters of all species: "'I hope you grow up gentle and good, and never learn bad ways; do your work with a good will, lift your feet up well when you trot, and never bite or kick even in play.' I have never forgotten my mother's advice; I knew she was a wise old horse, and our master thought a great deal of her."

My daughter and I love this book. She's almost 2, and this book brings prayer down to her level. It has prayers for riding in the car, for playing and friends, for waking up, for bathtime, and for going to sleep. These are all things that she can relate to and that she is thankful for. This book is introducing her to the gifts that God gives on a level that she can understand. She wants to read it several times a week and calls it her "God book." I completely recommend this to any parent looking for a way to introduce God and prayer to their toddler.

So far I am very happy with the graphic history book. My nephew loves them and he especially loves the posters in the back of the book. Thank you very much.

Myths, legends and folklore about the days of the weeks are presented in an engaging style, beginning with the story of Sunday and ending with Saturday. Perl even explains the inexplicable -- Daylight Savings Time and the Uniform Act of 1967 in a simple and memorable way. Even an adult can remember it.

Blue Monday (Monday was washday and "such work would make anyone feel blue")is defined and explained. "Scientists tell us that, after a weekend change in routine," Perl writes, "our internal body clocks are out of harmony."

This is a book that parents will especially enjoy sharing with children. There's a wealth of information here, skillfully and entertainingly presented.

Sunnye Tiedemann (aka Ruth F. Tiedemann)

As a mom of a toddler, a preschooler, and a kindegartener, Blue is a familiar face around our house. My kids and I love watching the videos together and they love Blue's books. Unfortunately, many of the titles are not as fun for this mom to read as they are for my kids. But this one is a book that we all agree on. I've already read it about 6 times over the last couple of days and none of us have tired of it yet. It has quickly become a new Christmas favorite for our family. Its fun to look at, read, AND sing!

My son loves Blues Clues and lift-the-flap books, so I was delighted when this title came out. It features Joe, Blue and the gang wandering through the outdoors in the fall, playing in the leaves, picking apples, etc. It features a clue game of "What is Blue's favorite season?" and it follows the typical pattern of the game that kid's know. This book doesn't mention Halloween--look for Blue's Halloween Hide and Seek, also a lift-the-flap book, if you want a BC's Halloween title (doesn't have clue game, though).

Finally, this is not a hardcover book, but it's sturdier than the other 8 x 8 books in the series. I wouldn't recommend this book for a child who still likes to pull at the pages because the flaps would be too tempting.

"Blue's First 100 Days of School" is a larger and longer than your average "Blue's Clues" book, but it teaches so much more as well. This may truly be the best book in the series to date --- this book really teaches a bit of everything.

This book is structured around the idea of Blue and her friends learning to count to the number one hundred. It's a concept that's pretty popular among this type of children's program lately --- "Higglytown Heroes" and "JoJo's Circus" have both done it. But after reading this, I think "Blue's Clues" ran circles around them all.

Miss Marigold, the teacher at Blue's school, announces on the first day of school that they're going to learn to count to one-hundred. Each day, they find an example of something that matches the number for that day. For example, they learn the days of the week, the number of days in particular months, that there are sixty seconds in a minute and so much more!


This is a good read-aloud story, as the text is probably a bit too complex for the program's target-audience. This book really teaches a lot and it's packed with eye-catching illustrations as well. Strongly recommended.

This is one of the better companion books to this popular kids television show, and complements the Blue's Big Musical movie. Pictures are drawn in a coloring book format and many stickers are included, as well as cut-out characters and a cut-out stage. There is a lot to do here, with some help needed for cutting, and the story of Steve and Blue and all the usual characters getting their show ready is not only entertaining and instructive for kids, but is a great setup for children's continuing play using their own ideas for the actual (or their own) show. Nicely done.

Pooh and Piglet end up in Owl's house on a very blustery day. Your child will love the bright colors and familiar Disney characters. After a few readings he or she might notice that the words in red make a sentence on the opposite page. These words are common sight words that will help your child read other books later. A letter to parents, exercises and flash cards are included. Have fun!

It saddens me to find books like "The Book of Eagles" on the library shelf and read it to discover how informative and beautiful it is. When I find it on Amazon to write a book review, I discover the book is "currently unavailable" or has "limited availability." I return to the shelf and pull out current books on eagles filled with photographs. I read through the texts then compare the books.

"The Book of Eagles" wins every time. Helen Roney Sattler is a respected writer of science books for children and Jean Day Zallinger is such an illustrator. This is their fourth book together. The date is 1989.

Do you know that there are over 60 species of eagles located worldwide? They live everywhere except Antarctica. Divided into four groups, eagles are classified as raptors, or birds of prey. The four types are Golden Eagle (or booted eagle), the Bald Eagle (or fish and sea eagle), Harpy Eagle (eats monkeys and other small mammals and lives in jungles), and Bateleur (or snake or serpent eagle).

Only the Golden and Bald Eagles inhabit the United States. Both the Harpy and Bateleurs dwell in jungles or tropical areas and are very difficult to study. Eagles mate for life.

What sets this particular book apart is the extensive and high-quality artwork that accompanies the text. Zallinger spent two years creating this artwork. She includes nest building, types of nests each group of eagles builds, eggs, eaglets, and conservation efforts to protect eagles on the verge of endangerment at the time of publication. Besides differentiating each group, she also depicts the 60 species by showing three things: bird at rest, wingspan, and geographical location.

The text is so interesting; the artwork is fabulous. To show the reader a sample, I provided four photos of the artwork from the book. Just click on the title to go to the product page, then click on the images for pictures of the four groups of eagles. Please look at the Harpy Eagle. Isn't he a stunning but scary bird?

Although the book is in limited availability from Amazon, individual sellers have books in stock to sell. This is true of the last several books I have reviewed: Each one is currently unavailable or limited but can be purchased through sellers. I am not promoting sellers, but I am most definitely promoting these special books that are going to be lost forever.