Daisy's Big Night, by Sandra V. Feder (illustrated by Susan Mitchell)

Daisy's Big Night
Author: Sandra V. Feder
Illustrator: Susan Mitchell
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Publication Date: March 1, 2014
Source: NetGalley
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The only thing better than discovering this great children's book--quite by accident--is discovering that it is actually the third in a series. So my daughter and I don't have to wait to read more about these characters. Hooray!

Everything about this book seemed designed to be irresistible to an artsy-booksy mom like me. Daisy is a little girl whose favourite pastime is making lists of words she likes and who is very excited because she's been invited to a real grownup poetry party with her neighbour and her best friend's mom. Now she just has to figure out what to wear to be most "poet-like." Oh, I WISH those were the problems I had when I was little! That sounds like heaven.

To be honest, I requested this title on NetGalley because I was so sure I would love it, even if it didn't appeal to my four-year-old. But it turned out that Magda loved it even more than I did! We immediately got the previous Daisy books from the library and Magda is even working on her own word lists (though she needs help because she's only just learning to read and write).

At just over 100 pages these books are just the right size for early readers, while Susan Mitchell's line drawings help younger readers (like Magda) follow along as the story is read to them. I hope there are more in the series!

A Dream So Big: Our Unlikely Journey to End the Tears of Hunger, by Steve Peifer (with Gregg Lewis)

A Dream So Big:

Our Unlikely Journey to End the Tears of Hunger

Authors: Steve Peifer and Gregg Lewis

Publisher: Zondervan

Publication Date: March 19, 2013

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I expected this book to be full of self-congratulatory colonialism--how I rescued these poor African children from themselves, that sort of thing--but it was quite the opposite. I found Steve Peifer's account of teaching in Africa to be both humble and inspiring. I especially liked reading about how much he learned from the children and from the experience. It makes me want to travel more...and help people more, for that matter.

Little Monkey Calms Down, by Michael Dahl (illustrated by Oriol Vidal)

Little Monkey Calms Down
Author: Michael Dahl
Illustrator: Oriol Vidal
Series: Hello Genius
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers/ Picture Window Books
Publication Date: February 1, 2014
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Source: NetGalley

Wait, what? After I read this picture book with my daughter I felt I must have missed something. The monkey in the book is about to have a tantrum because he drops his ice cream, but then he doesn't. That's about it. His ice cream is still all ruined at the end. That does not get resolved. I think Little Monkey is perfectly within his rights to be upset, thank-you very much. I'm not sure if it's a reasonable lesson to try to teach kids, "When something crappy happens, deal with it by not caring about that crappy thing. When you lose something you love, deal with it by not loving that thing anymore. Problem solved."

If anything this book made me feel less calm than I did before. I felt bad for the poor little monkey who lost his ice cream. Deep breaths and singing quiet songs can help you get enough control of yourself so you can then go deal with what's actually wrong. But nobody helps Little Monkey get a new ice cream. Or clean up the old ice cream. Or tell him that there will be more ice cream in the future. NOTHING!

Maybe it's just because I really like ice cream. I'm sure kids won't be bothered by this. Kids don't like ice cream, do they?

William Shakespeare's Star Wars, by Ian Doescher (illustrated by Nicolas Delort)

William Shakespeare's Star Wars:
Verily. A New Hope
Author: Ian Doescher
Illustrator: Nicolas Delort
Publisher: Quirk Books
Publication Date: July 2, 2013
Source: Edelweiss
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It's essentially the script of Star Wars arranged to look like a play, with a few "verilys" and "thous" thrown in. It's cute, but it's exactly what you'd expect it to be with few surprises. Mostly it would make a funny gift for someone. Of course if you do happen to know someone who loves Shakespeare and Star Wars in equal measure, and they've literally got everything else they could possibly need, then you should definitely buy this for them.

Plesiosaur Peril, by Daniel Loxton (illustrated by Daniel Loxton and Jim W.W. Smith)

Plesiosaur Peril
Author: Daniel Loxton
Illustrators: Daniel Loxton and Jim W.W. Smith
Series: Tales of Prehistoric Life
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Publication Date: March 1, 2014
Source: NetGalley
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I don't know what I can say about this book that couldn't be better said by the book itself. The illustrations are...well, they're stunning. As I was looking at it (on the desktop computer, because I received a digital review copy), my dinosaur-enthusiast hubby was behind me, literally gasping. "Ahhh! I--...what is...WANT! I want that book!"

Oh and for the record, I do understand that plesiosaurs were not dinosaurs. I didn't want you to think I didn't know that. And by "you" I mean I didn't want my hubby to think I didn't know that (though the book makes it perfectly clear, even if I didn't).

Plus there are Liopleurodons! No word on whether or not they're magical.

Check out these spreads from the book. They're astounding. They used a combination of digital art and photography to make the illustrations feel especially real.

Water Can Be... by Laura Purdie Salas (illustrated by Violeta Dabija)

Water Can Be...
Author: Laura Purdie Salas
Illustrator: Violeta Dabija
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Millbrook Press
Publication Date: April 1, 2014
Source: NetGalley
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I'm so in love with this book! It's clever and poetic and inspiring. All the things that "water can be" are not only beautifully illustrated and poetically explained ("Water can be a tadpole hatcher, picture catcher..."), some of them really made me think about water in a new way ("salmon highway, eagle flyway" "woodchuck warmer, snowman former").

Also the end of the book has a web address of the organization WaterAid.org, which helps bring clean water to communities worldwide.

Sleep Tight, Anna Banana, by Dominique Roques (illustrated by Alexis Dormal)

Sleep Tight, Anna Banana!
Author: Dominique Roques
Illustrator: Alexis Dormal
Publisher: First Second Books
Publication Date: June 17, 2004
Source: NetGalley
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I read this book on my own while my four-year-old was asleep and I loved it so much I almost wanted to wake her up to share it with her right away. Then I realized that was madness. But wanting to forego sleep to enjoy a good book is pretty much the plot of this hilarious children's picture book.

Anna Banana is supposed to be asleep but how can she? Her book is soooo good. She just wants to keep the light on a little longer. Unfortunately that means her stuffed animals can't sleep either and they're starting to get frustrated.

I also love that her stuffed animals have such great names (Foxface, Grizzler, Pingpong, Fuzzball, Whaley and Zigzag...I think I got those right). It's like they all have interesting back stories. Also, Anna has a little doll house AND a painting of the SAME house on her wall. I wonder what the story there is. I have so many questions.

My favourite thing about this book is the idea that the little girl has fights with her stuffed animals. This is definitely something familiar in our house. Magda seems to be in constant disagreement with her beloved Lambie. Her father and I find this particularly confusing, considering Lambie is a little soft hand puppet who only talks when Magda makes her, but Magda assures us that she and Lambie have VERY different opinions on things. Somethings they're not even speaking to each other. Anna Banana would understand.

When I finally did read this to Magda, she loved it as well. She is a little envious of Anna Banana, though, because she's big enough to stay up late reading books all by herself.