Super Fly Guy is a fun book all kids should have. It has the some of cutest illustrations as you can tell from the cover of the book. Madison likes it and giggles every time we read it. The story is about a fly called Fly Guy and a little boy called Buzz. Buzz takes Fly Guy to school and you get to read all about it. Fly Guy doesn’t land on the teak furniture. Instead, he lands in the lunch room which leads to all sorts of chaos. If you want to find out what happens from here, you’ll have to read the book.

Mr. Men: Start to Count is a workbook I picked up for Madison for Christmas. I remember Mr. Men from when I was little, so when I came across this, I knew I had to buy it. This is a great workbook to work on with young children. Madison and I have done this workbook many times together. She laughs every time too. Each page has part of a story and an activity for you to do. They even have a picture of Mr. Men and Little Miss (. . . boy, could they use some Orovo). They look just like I remember them as a kid. It is nice to see that they haven’t changed them at all! There are several skills that are worked on in Mr. Men: Start to Count. Recognizing and counting from 1 to 10, matching numbers with pictures, and developing a sense of number sequence are a few of things that are worked on. I love Mr. Men and this workbook did not disappoint.

I can’t remember if we got When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old’s Memoir of Her Youth before or after Will was born. However, Madison uses the state “when I was little” a lot, so this book is quite fitting for her. The book itself is about a 4 year old talking about all the things she no longer does or uses because she is big. She talks about using words, sleeping in big girl platform beds, going to nursery school, and getting teeth just to name a few things. As a parent, you actually can visualize your little one growing up.   Madison often tells me the things that aren’t listed in the book that she did when she was little.  It is a great conversation starter with your children.  The pictures in this book are awesome.  This book is perfect for the 3 - 6 age group.  It is especially perfect for any 4 year old you may know.

The Magic Locket is book Madison got for Christmas. The really cool thing with this book is that it comes with (no, not a raymond weil watches), but a locket. Madison really like that more than I think she liked the book. This is definitely a big girl book. The pages are paper, so they will rip. The story is that a little girl didn’t have much confidence and couldn’t do anything right. Her aunt gives her a locket and tells her it is magical. When the girl wears the locket, great things happen to her. What she doesn’t realize is that the magic is within her and not the locket. By the end of the book, she learns to believe in herself. This book has such a great story that all little girls need to read.

Another great children’s book to get is My First Nursery Rhymes. The book has a lot of the classic nursery rhymes that we all loved when we were children (you know, I always wondered if Humpty Dumpty got a migraine from his fall). There is also great illustrations to go with the nursery rhymes. The pages are made from cardboard, so Will can chew and not do any damage. The pages also cannot get torn either. The book is a perfect length for a little one’s attention span too. I highly recommend this book for your kids or a present.

I am little worried about what kind of hits I’ll get with a title of a book like this, but I love Underwear Do’s and Don’ts. It is one of the funniest little kid books ever (and as you can tell from a lot my prior posts, I own a ton of kid books). Plus, it does teach your kids to wear their underwear! The colors are bright and will keep their attention. The story is short and to the point. It tells you how to and how not to wear your underwear. For example, you should not wear your underwear over your Halloween costume! As an adult, I found it hard not to giggle at this book. It gets 2 thumbs up from me.

A Light In the Attic is one of those books from my childhood that my kids had to have. I actually bought the book before I even had kids — that’s how much I love this book. Shel Silverstein is one of those authors that is able to speak to both kids and adults alike. His poems are cute and definitely make a picture in your mind. I remember being a little kid at school and having the teacher read this to us. I am hoping my daughter and son are able to have such great memories of this book too. The 20th anniversary edition (which is the one I own) actually has a CD included with Shel Silverstein reading his own work. One the poems that still makes me laugh is “Prayer of The Selfish Child”:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
and if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my toys to break.
So none of the other kids can use ‘em . . .
Amen.

I was giggling as I was typing that. I guess what I really love about Shel Silverstein is that he is able to get into the hearts and minds of children and tell us what they really are thinking.