Living With Your Monster

After writing about a whole slew of children’s books in my 12 Books For Christmas feature, I was burned out for awhile on Easy Picture Books, but the latest batch I brought home from the library are so cute and funny that I decided it was time for a Monday Easy Picture Book Round up.

Laura Numeroff is a prolific children’s book author, best known for the series of books that began with If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. Numeroff has collaborated with illustrator Nate Evans to create her 10-Step Guide To Living With Your Monster. From selecting the right monster in the first place to teaching him to brush his teeth, Numeroff provides wonderfully tongue-in-cheek advice to children who seek to own a monster, and the very colorful and imaginative illustrations by Evans are a sheer delight. To anyone who has ever had difficulty living with a monster, this one is Highly Recommended.

I suppose it is hopelessly politically incorrect to recommend a book that portrays construction workers as exclusively male, but the fact is I Loved this clever little children’s book with pages that unfold up to answer a series of questions about Who Builds? From the beaver building a lodge to the technicians building the space shuttle, Michael Rex answers the questions delightfully. Highly Recommended.

Also, The Very Hairy Bear (no image, Worldat) by Alice Schertle with illustrations by Matt Phelan is a recently published book that follows a bear through four seasons. The soft, almost pastel illustrations are quite striking, although they do not translate well to the computer screen and the story is quite cute. Recommended.