Author Archives: Iiiireader

This is an extremely funny and fun book for young children. It is filled with just the right kinds of silliness to make them want to keep reading. It is, unbelievably, a debut book by Holly Grant. It is so well written, I fully expected to see a back list of children’s books waiting for me to read. It also appears to be the first in a series – a series that I fully intend to follow.

While the book was written for young children, I enjoyed it tremendously. I also plan to read it to aloud to the grandchildren and, when they are older, let them read it when they come over to visit. The story is about Anastasia McCrumpet, a pretty average girl with exactly 127 freckles. The book opens with a funeral which sets the tone for the rest of the book, Through wholly unpredictable means, Anastasia is whisked off to her (previously unknown) great aunties home to live. The aunties live in the house which used to be St. Agony’s Asylum for the Deranged, Despotic, Demented, and Otherwise Undesirable (That Is to Say, Criminally Insane), which in addition to being quite a mouthful to say, was a very creepy place for a fairly average girl of almost eleven to live.

(more…)

This is the second “Little Blue Truck” book by the same two author and illustrator. My 18 month old grandson absolutely loves the first “The Little Blue Truck” though he seems to like the pushy dump truck best of all. This is another good book in the series. It is a little over long for him to sit through – he usually gives up at about the time the mayor starts his speech. Can’t say I blame him – politicians can put me to sleep, too. I think when he is a bit older he will want to hear the whole story but in the meantime, when he arrives at my house in the morning, these are the two books he grabs first to have me read to him. The story is very cute (and Little Blue saves the day “Beep, beep, beep”) and the illustrations are so much fun – especially the mean looking eyes on all of the other vehicles. I never realized how much expression could be given to the front grill of a vehicle.

(more…)

This is a fresh new take on the classic stories of “Jack and the Beanstalk” as well as “Jack, the Giant Killer”. In this story, Jack still has both mother and father, as well as a pesky, younger sister. When all sorts of devastation abounds, Jack suspects giants and gets laughed at. I guess he gets the last laugh when he has to go to the land of giants to save the town. He also finds out his sister is not so pesky after all.

(more…)

I have purchased a number of the Bizzy Bear board books and was happy to find this new one. As with the others, this one has a number of fun activities for my grandson to play with. The book is filled with knights and dragons – even jousting. At 18 months old, he is easily able to move the levers to make the fun activities happen. He especially likes the one that moves the sword up and down.

The story is very simple and easy to read. When kids are interested in doing the activities, they really aren’t listening all that hard. I read this one to him several times a day and neither he nor I have gotten tired of it. A little one can be a bit tough on these books – my grandson tries to “open” the pages where the movement actually is house. He has only destroyed one as I figured out how to reinforce the books so he can’t pull them apart. I use a big of clear packing tape on the corners and edges of each page. Just enough to reinforce without hampering the flow of the activity. He hasn’t damaged another since I starting using this method.