The Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 1/18/12
Come Back, Cat
How to love a cat: Hold him gently in your lap. But don’t panic if he bites – he’s only playing. Be careful not scare him away. Listen for his ‘motor.’ He’s telling you he loves you, too.
Nodset writes a simple and easy to understand story of trial and error as a little girl chases the cat she wants to play with and how he react. She presents a very basic and child-like dilemma: “I like you cat. Why don’t you come? Don’t you like me?” with answers the child can derive from the next step and the illustrations “Then I’ll come to you, cat.” Throughout the book, you learn to pet softly, don’t squeeze too hard and a number of useful lessons for a soon to be young pet owner. Ayla loved pointing out where the cat was on the page, and of course, my meow sounds.
The Night Pirates
I love this one! And Ayla thought it was pretty great too, which is always a plus. Reminiscent of Where the Wild Things Are, Tom goes to sleep only to be bombarded by girl pirates and taken away to a treasure island via his floating house. Its pretty awesome and the illustrations are fun and colorful.
Pooh Loves
Ayla is a sucker for all things Pooh, even though I didn’t really introduce her to him. She picked out a Winnie the Pooh book on the first shopping trip to a bookstore we had together after she was walking and I allowed her to pick stuff up off the shelf. She handed it to me and was very excited to get to take it out of the store with her. Then, this Pooh book she picked out at the library all by herself as well. There’s something about Pooh, forever and always, and this one is exceptionally sweet.
The Lion and The Mouse
This is one we’re going to have try another time. It’s all pictures and no words, but it’s a picture book and not a board book. Ayla kept demanding that I read to her, but I had to kind of just tell her a story. The illustrations are based off of Aesop’s Fables and it’s been too long since I’ve read them to recite the tale. If you pick this up, be familiar with the tale so that you’re prepared to help walk your kid/baby through the book. Your kid makes you feel like a pretty crappy parent when they open a book and all you can say is “Uhhh, that’s a lion…”
Anakalian Whims 
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