Tag Archives: series

Childcraft Folk and Fairy Tales

Posted on October 16, 2025 | Comments Off on Childcraft Folk and Fairy Tales

My family of origin had the whole 15-volume Childcraft set (the 1961 edition) when I was a child, but I ignored most of them (with the exception of this volume, Storytelling and Other Poems, Animal Friends and Adventures, Life in Many Lands, and Great Men and Famous Deeds). Most of them were non-fiction, and already VERY dated. This volume, however, was a favorite. It contains a variety of (mostly European) folk and fairy tales by lots of different authors and illustrators. When I think of fairy tales, a lot of the default versions in my head come from this book.

While I read some of the stories in it to the boys (fairy tales are important for cultural literacy!), they didn’t spend nearly as much time with this book as I had as a child. (After looking at the rest of the 1961 set as an adult, I ended up donating all the other volumes).

Authors: Many

Illustrators: Many and uncredited (although some pictures are signed)

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The Hobbit

Posted on October 13, 2025 | Comments Off on The Hobbit

This is another one that was so much fun to read aloud! If you’re reading this blog in English, you almost certainly already know the basics of this adventure. But the vibe may be unexpected. J.R.R. Tolkien told this first to his children and it really shows; there is a lightness and sense of play that largely goes by the wayside in the Lord of the Rings series that ended up following it.

Main character Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit and homebody, not a traditional heroic type. But he becomes a hero nonetheless by stepping outside his literal comfort zone and trying new things, while always maintaining his interest in creature comforts (as so lovingly described by Tolkien). It is not to be missed (and neither are the Lord of the Rings movies, which are masterpieces). Unfortunately, however, the three (!) movies made from The Hobbit should absolutely be skipped.

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Illustrator: J.R.R. Tolkien

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Here Comes Santa Cat

Posted on October 10, 2025 | Comments Off on Here Comes Santa Cat

Cat is concerned that he isn’t going to be getting a present from Santa this year (see the image below to understand why). But he has a plan–he can be Santa. And then he can give himself a present! Much like Mo Willems’ Pigeon, Cat is not one to let logic or plausibility stand in the path of a self-serving plan. Unlike that series, Cat doesn’t have a “voice” of his own–the reader (or audience) has to create a dialogue based on visual cues and signs. My youngest especially loved this one–it still gets read at Christmas time. (I understand that this book is part of a series, but we never picked up the other books.)

Author: Deborah Underwood

Illustrator: Claudia Rueda

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The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Posted on October 9, 2025 | Comments Off on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Gracious, Prince Caspian (the second published Narnia book) is boring. I didn’t miss a thing not reading that one as a kid. So, I skipped reading it to the boys, going from Wardrobe straight to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the third published Narnia book).  And then, well, I skipped reading them the rest of the series too (because they were dull as Caspian, even more preachy and dated than this book, and the boys never asked about them) and showing them the live-action movies.  So, as far as our family is concerned, I guess this series is a duology.  And a good one!  While Lewis is so very preachy (which I supposes makes sense in the Christian allegory context that he was working within–see my discussion of Wardrobe for more on this) and the pictures are generally awkward (as with Wardrobe), it is full of adventure and a nice change to have an antihero as a main character, someone needs a lot of personal growth rather than starting off perfect.  But the real draw in Dawn Treader, as far as I’m concerned, will always be the glorious Reepicheep.  Well, and the opening line:  “There once was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it.”

Author:  C.S. Lewis

Illustrator:  Pauline Baynes   

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Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible

Posted on October 8, 2025 | Comments Off on Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible

[I wrote almost all of this entry (gulp) 10 years ago.]

I never, ever expected a princess book to be this popular. I picked it up because I enjoyed Ursula Vernon’s graphic novel for adults, Digger, and was curious about her writing for kids. Once I started reading it to the boys, they were completely hooked.
Roars of uproarious laughter kind of hooked.
They thought they knew where the story was going. It turns out that they didn’t. And they loved that.

Ursula Vernon is also T. Kingfisher and I’d happily recommend anything she’s written under either name (an entry on Summer in Orcus is long overdue).  Just keep in mind many of her books are decidedly not for children.  Of this series, this first entry was definitely our favorite, although we did enjoy the others that followed.

Author: Ursula Vernon
Illustrator: Ursula Vernon

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Mother Bruce

Posted on January 7, 2019 | Comments Off on Mother Bruce

Bruce is a grumpy bear with one joy in life: preparing and eating fancy egg recipes that he has carefully researched online. But after a batch of (free-range organic) goose eggs hatch while he is off gathering firewood, Bruce becomes “the victim of mistaken identity.” (“MAMA!”) Much as he tries to get things back to normal (and he really, really tries, which is where a lot of the humor comes in), his life will never be the same.

This book kicked off a series, but we never picked up the later books; by the time they came out, my boys’ interest in new picture books was waning.

Author: Ryan T. Higgins
Illustrator: Ryan T. Higgins


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A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee

Posted on January 7, 2019 | Comments Off on A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee

When the boys were in early elementary school, by far the most fun way to volunteer at school was to be a mystery reader. The teacher and parent made super-secret plans, far in advance, for the parent to show up midday, books in hand, to read to the class. The kids loved it (especially the mystery reader’s kids). And I’m a total ham, so I loved it too. Of course, when reading to 25 plus kids at once, you need to pick the right books. By which I mean, they have to read very well aloud, they have to have pictures that work even from a good ways away, they can’t be too long, and they HAVE to be funny. A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee was one of my mystery reader books (I’ve made a tag linking to most of the others below, there was one more that will be my next entry) because it easily checked all the boxes. Mr. Magee, and his little dog Dee, go camping in their (adorable!) teardrop camper trailer and havoc quickly ensues. This is one of Chris Van Dusen’s best books, which is extremely high praise (you’ll notice his If I Built a Car was also a mystery reader selection). The other Magee books (Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee and Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee) are also great fun.

Author: Chris Van Dusen
Illustrator: Chris Van Dusen

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Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site

Posted on February 2, 2016 | Comments Off on Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site

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I was about to read this sweet story tonight when my oldest asked to read it to us (a first!). He did so with incredible fluidity and expressiveness and I’m so very, very surprised and delighted.

Although we haven’t read it very often, both of my boys really enjoy this book, which winds down a busy day of work and play by saying goodnight to big trucks one by one. My youngest noted of the picture above that the crane truck has a teddy bear to cuddle, a star for if he wakes up in the night, and that he looks very happy. Me too.

Author: Sherri Duskey
Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld

 

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Scaredy Squirrel

Posted on October 31, 2015 | Comments Off on Scaredy Squirrel

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WARNING!
Scaredy Squirrel insists that
everyone wash their hands
with antibacterial soap before
reading this book.

Scaredy Squirrel, true to his name, is afraid of just about everything. He has an emergency kit on hand at all times, plans for emergencies, and never leaves his nut tree until one fateful day… Well, I don’t want to spoil the fun (and there is lots of fun to be had).

Like One Kitten for Kim, this is a great book to read with early readers and non-readers, due to the humor and repeated rebuses (pictures that take the place of words). Be ready to read it repeatedly.

Author: Melanie Watt
Illustrator: Melanie Watt

 

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Posted on August 20, 2015 | Comments Off on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is another book that needs no introduction and is utterly wonderful. Though there are many hints of the darkness to come (gulp), the tone is largely playful and the story and setting are as imaginative as ever. And it is here that Ms. Rowling, through Dumbledore, quietly states a message that goes to the heart of the series: “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

About a year and a half ago, after we enjoyed reading the first book in this series together, I read half of this second book to my oldest before he lost interest. Now a number of his friends are reading the series and he decided to give it another try. He raced through the rest of the book (mostly by himself) in a matter of days and then hopped straight into the third and fourth books in the series.

Author: J.K. Rowling
Illustrator: Mary Grandpre

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