Burt Dow, Deep-Water Man

Our rating: ****

Bert Dow is a fisherman who lives with his sister, Lulu, along with his pet giggling gull. One day, he sails out to sea in the Tidely Idely to go fishing, along with the giggling gull, and hooks a whale tail! Adventures with whales follow.

This review may not sound interesting, but please read Burt Dow, Deep-Water Man! A good book, in my opinion.

Do You See a Mouse?

Our rating: *****

There’s a mouse in the Park Snoot Hotel! Everybody says there is no mouse, but manager Josh Posh calls in the professional mouse catchers Hyde and Snyde to make sure.

This is one of my absolute favorite picture books. It’s great fun to find the mouse on every page. Note to those reading out loud: This book is much more fun if a different voice is used for each character!

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Our rating: ****

Chewandswallow is an almost ordinary town. It has all sorts of stores, except grocery stores. Nobody needs them. All the food falls from the sky. Then one day, the weather goes haywire and the portions get bigger and bigger. The townspeople have no choice but to set out for a new land.

This is a very funny book. Pay close attention to the illustrations and you’ll find some very interesting things. Excellent to read aloud as well as to yourself. A very nice picture book.

Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue

Our rating: ****

Pierre is a boy who doesn’t care about anything. What will it take to make him care?

This is a charming story. I put it under the category of Younger Readers, but even though I read much more advanced books, I still love Pierre.

The Littles

Our rating: ****

Mr. Little, Mrs. Little, Granny Little, Uncle Pete, Lucy, and Tom live in the walls of a house owned by George W. Bigg. Mr. Little is the tallest, and he is only about six inches high! All the Littles have tails, which they are proud of. One day, Mr. and Mrs. Newcomb rent the Biggs’ house and don’t houseclean or fix damages. Soon the Littles fear that mice will come, as there are a lot of crumbs. And sure enough, they do. The Littles hope the Newcombs will set up mousetraps—but they’re in for a surprise!

This book is the first of the Littles series. It’s pretty good, in my opinion.