Jane Chapman

First sentence: It was Christmas Eve. Big Mouse was making cheese pies. Little Mouse was making paper chains. "Merry Christmas to us!" sang Little Mouse. "Big Mouse, can I decorate the tree now? Can I? Can I?

Premise/plot: Big Mouse and Little Mouse are celebrating Christmas together...until they aren't. Little Mouse slips off on his own to go gather some holly. This holly-gathering adventure has a little excitement in it.

My thoughts: This one--for whatever reason--reminded me of the show more delightful Brown Bear, Snow Bear by Joyce Dunbar. I enjoyed this one very much. It's a sweet and predictable little story to share with little ones. Mice are always cute and adorable in fiction books. show less

This book follows the life of a little Christmas tree that feels frustrated by how slow it is growing up. But as they grow, they experience and understand the gifts nature is giving them. This will be a fun book to read around Christmas time and to teach about the appreciation of growing up and experiencing things slowly. The illustrations are soft and small and have the typical Christmas vibe and theme to them.

Barry, a Bigfoot-style creature, is tired of being considered a "cuddle monster" by all the other creatures in the forest and constantly being petted, hugged, and so on by rabbits, skunks, birds, and more. He just wants some alone time now and then. How can he ever get it?

This a cute book that I could see being a nice readaloud with preschoolers and younger elementary school-age students. There's not really a message or anything, but it's amusing and the illustrations are really appealing.

Do not give up. That was the main idea of this story that encourage ladybug to keep trying even after some failed attempts. The first thing I noticed were the illustrations, which were very colorful and filled the entire page. There was no empty space, which created a very visually appealing book. Like many other children’s books, this story also included interjections like “BANG” when Ladybug flew into some of her friends. This characteristic would help get a child interested in the show more book through dramatically expressing those words. The character was very well developed, because by the end I was rooting for Ladybug. I think the author accomplished this through showing Ladybug’s failures, and when she almost gave up. I also enjoyed the humor that the author used like in the end of the book when Ladybug was shown almost flying into a bear’s rear end. This would make any child laugh while also subtly sending them a message to never give up on their dreams. Overall, I enjoyed this story, and could see using it in my future classroom. show less