Only two this week – I say only, it’s still taken me six days to get to write about them… firstly we’ve got

The Rhyming Rabbit by Julia Donaldson with illustrations from Lydia Monks. We’re familiar with both as we’ve owned ‘What The Ladybird Heard’ for a good couple of years now – in fact, if I was to close my eyes I can probably still remember the whole lot. The Rhyming Rabbit follows a similar pattern – pages with glitter on, but longer rhymes. It’s all about a rabbit who constantly makes up rhymes, and eventually meets with a fellow poet – and as ever it’s fun. Definitely a longer read than the previous book, but still great. Published by MacMillan.

The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! by Mo Willems is another in the Pigeon series – we were recommended ‘Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus’ by a friend a couple of years ago and this follows the same pattern – this time the pigeon has found a hot dog, and a crafty chick wants to know what it tastes like… will Pigeon give up his hot dog? Will he shout a lot? Will you laugh a lot? Oh yes indeed. It’s fun, and another one I’ll probably have to buy now… we love Mo Willems books – published by Walker Books.

We went back to our local library and took out two more books today, so without further ado, here’s this weeks duo…

Pip and Posy – the Big Balloon by Axel Scheffler. I know nothing about Axel Scheffler other than his Gruffalo history – so to find out he’s written a book was what attracted me to it – and it’s a nice short pleasant story. Pip lets his balloon go, it bursts, Posy has a good idea – that they should blow bubbles, which of course pop, and everyone is happy. I like this, it’s a simple story but a good one when you’ve a slightly fickle three-year old who remembers everything she’s ever had which has broken and been (cough) discarded by her loving parents… and of course it has fabulous illustrations as you’d expect!  It’s published by Nosy Crow Books.

No! by Marta Altes is about a dog who thinks he’s called No, what with being a mischief. Actually he’s called something else altogether and just has people shouting “NO!” at him a lot. H is starting to recognise words, and funnily enough ‘no’ is one of them – it’s another simple story with plenty to talk about on each page (over tea H asked why the dog “broke the boy’s teddy”) and has been fun to read. Published by Child’s Play (International) Ltd.

Hey look, I started one of those linky things. Do you write about your library books? Link up here. Who knows, I might even make a badge or something.

It’s possibly a good thing for my bank balance that we didn’t join our library until recently, as last time I came away with new books for H I ended up wanting to buy copies for us so we could keep them forever. Sighhh.

Today we took the first lot of books back and took out some more, and seeing as it’s something we’ll be doing a lot more, here’s my new little idea – We Love Our Library – where I’ll do a briefer than usual writeup on each book and recommend (or not!). Obviously this isn’t something we can do single-handedly which is where you come in – as most people still have a library nearby (I hope… who knows these days) – so let’s share what we’ve found.

Here’s today’s stash…

The Monster Bed by Jeanne Willis and Susan Varley – published by Andersen Press. This is a Dennis The Monster book, and I’m hoping there’ll be more from this monster – H has an irrational fear of them, so this was perfect for reinforcing how much monsters are scared of humans – in short, Dennis the Monster decides to sleep under his bed as that’s where the humans go to scare him, a human finds his cave and has a lie down on the bed but decides to check underneath the bed for monsters… and well, you can guess the conclusion. H enjoyed it, it’s a book that rhymes and is fun – one we’ll read plenty of times.

Not Last Night But The Night Before by Colin McNaughton and Emma Chichester Clark – published by Walker books. It’s the familiar rhyme, but this time the little boy’s friends (who happen to feature in most nursery rhymes too) are all paying a visit – until the point it all becomes a bit too much! It’s fun and involves plenty of repetition which is always good for younger kids. Lovely illustrations too as you’d expect from Emma Chichester Clark (which is the reason I picked it up).

Finally, Ginger Finds A Home by Charlotte Voake published by Walker Books. I liked the really lovely illustrations – ginger is a cat, a stray, and is skinny and hungry. He finds a bowl of cat food and eventually a girl turns up with the bowl and adopts him, naming him Ginger. The story has not too much going on and I liked the illustrations best of all – let the story and the pictures keep everything really simple. I wouldn’t recommend this book if you’ve lost a cat (it might be upsetting with a small child thinking someone else has their cat?) – but it has a happy ending.