Children's Books

This is a book that was read to my older brother my sisten and lastely me. I have read this to my children and I was happy to find it still in print for my Grandson. It was out of print for some time but it's back. Hardcover, great colors, the origional illustrations still intact. This is an absolutly wonderful book, I was glad to stumble across it on Amazon.

As a boy I had studiously avoided Lindgren's more famous creation Pippi Longstocking, partly because it was about a GIRL ("The horror! The horror!"), but also because it struck me at the time as just too silly. "Mio, My Son" is neither, but I had never heard of it before stumbling upon it in the list of chapter books reprinted by Purple House Press, which specializes in reprinting OOP children's classics. Since they had started by reprinting no less than FIVE of my favorite books from my childhood, all long out of print until they came along, I was inclined to trust their judgment sight unseen. "Mio, My Son" at least, did not disappoint.

Perhaps because it began as a short story of Andy and the genie, which Lindgren later expanded into the current novel, "Mio, My Son" starts rather slowly. I know that I began to wonder when "something" was going to "happen" after Mio arrived in Farawayland, but be patient. Lindgren is slowly drawing you into her world, making you care for characters that shortly will be plunged into terrible danger in the rousing climax. The charming illustrations by Ilon Wikland nicely complement the story. After this I am looking forward to reading PHP's other Astrid Lindgren title The Brothers Lionheart with greater interest.

Note: The publisher claims the reading level as 6-12; IMHO it's better classified towards the younger end of that scale, ESPECIALLY for boys. The Purple House reprint of Mio, My Son is worth picking up even if you own an older edition because of the smooth new English translation by Jill Morgan (the publisher herself?).

I had forgotten about this book until someone just asked me to name my favorite book. I read this book again and again as a child and found it absolutely entrancing. I highly recommend it to anyone who dreams of living in a fantasty world of their own.

I am so happy to find this book in English so that I can share it to my little American friends. In Germany, where I was born in 1983, Astrid Lindgren is a 'must-have' in every children's bookshelf. I grew up with beautiful characters like Mio and Madita, Michel and Ronja. I think the other reviews speak for themselves, I just wanted to add one more thing from self experience:
I think these bed-time fitted books (chapter length chosen for a 15 to 30 min reading session) are what made me dream as fantastic as I still do.
Astrid Lindgren knew the secret of how to catch on to children's interest, and how to pack messages of value in understandable words for them...

From E.A. Solinas' review: "It's never really dark or genuinely thrilling..."

Absolutely no offense intended, but try saying that if you're an 8-year-old girl who loves horses and fairy tales! This book has haunted me for years. I checked it out time and time again from my school library, and tried to find it as an adult, but I couldn't remember the title, the main character's name OR the author. All I remembered was ..."a horse called Miramis"... but that was somehow enough to track it down on a lost books site.

I remember the story as being mystical and full of entrancing descriptions. The story of a journey to destiny is timeless, and really captured me back then. I'm just thrilled to have found it again, and can't wait to get another copy.

This is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read, and we read A LOT in our house! I get teary-eyed every single time my son and I read this book together. The sentiment is just so perfectly accurate, and the appearance of the heart in every picture is a fun seek-and-find for my son. You just HAVE to add this book to your collection!

Mama bird explains to baby bird, who misses her, how her love is with him throughout the day while she is at work. She tells him that she also misses him and finds his love with her. She also tells him that her greatest joy is when she comes home to him.

This is a good book for a working mother to read to her child (starting as young as possible) to reassure him/her and open up a conversation about the topic whenever needed. The pictures look just like my grandson when I babysit and he misses mommy.

Gift Of The Tortoise: A Musical Journey Through Southern Africa by Ladysmith Black Mambazo includes a song that the children sing when their mothers return from trading in the city (which may take days). It also has a song by a girl when she receives a gift from her father who works at a distance from the family and only sees them a few weeks a year.

I bought this book for myself when my first child was still a baby. It helped me with the drop off at preschool when she was a baby to know that our love was with each other when we were apart! I bought them this year when my sister-in-laws had their first baby girls and were headed back to work and they found them just as moving and sweet. What a great gift for any mom at any stage!

Large, soft, colorful illustrations attracted me to this book that I found at a book fair several years ago. I purchased this book for my "when I have children" book collection, and now that I have a son to read it to, it is a favorite for both of us. The story is a sweet rhyme and not too "wordy" for my toddler who does not sit still for very long. The illustrations are so pleasing to me, that I just completed a search for other books illustrated by Jane Dyer, and am excited by my new finds.

This is one of the most beautiful and tender stories I've ever read about a working momy and the seperation she and her baby son must go through every day when she goes off to work and he goes to school. It helped me and my son a lot knowing that other families go through a similar process of separation anxiety. It also has beautiful pictures and eases the insecurities most little children go through when the aren't with their parents, I really recommend it.

Ultimately we love Sandra Boynton. She has a great writing style for little kids.

All of Sandra Boynton's books are a hit at our house, but Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs! is the favorite. The catchy rhymes and funny pictures are a great way to introduce the concept of opposites, counting and colors to small children.

This is one of our favorite books! My son loves seeing the dinosaurs and I really like reading it. It is the best opposites book I've seen, most are boring, but this one is really fun. He loves saying "bye bye" at the end to the dinosaurs too, it's just too cute!

This is probably the most clever and entertaining opposites book I've come across so far.

Like most of Boynton's work, this book is filled with cute illustrations in her classic fun style. The rhymes are great and have that fun-to-recite quality found in most of her books.

If you're drawn to this book because your young child loves dinosaurs, don't pass it up! This is a great story for bedtime, or any time.

As others have said, a wonderful book. We own a couple, but this is the favorite and plan to get more. Our two year old actually reads this to me every night before bed. That is the beauty of how Ms. Boynton's books are written. You read and re-read a couple of times, then the children "read" to us! Great work and highly recommended!!

This Arnold Lobel classic should be a fixture on every child's bookshelf. Owl is a gentle soul with whom children can identify, even as they laugh at Owl's silly responses to mundane events in the world around him. Humor ensues when Owl goes too far in anthropomorphizing (tytomorphizing?) winter and the moon, and when he mistakes his own feet for scary bumps under the bed. These stories are a natural for bedtime on a cold winter night, cuddled up under the blankets just before drifting off to sleep.

I originally purchased this book when my children were young, and it was nearly worn out from the numerous readings. My children loved the "bumps" and I always used the "tear water tea" to remind my kids when everything seemed to be going wrong in their world. It is a great little book for children...and some of us adults as well.

My 2 1/2 yr old daughter loves Lobel books and when I moved "up" from the ones in the Easy Fiction area of the library to the Easy - Reader ones I was very pleased as was she. Very short, simple stories with a very clever and imaginative storyline. Like Mousesoup and Mousetails, the stories are just simply good reading stories that my daughter loves hearing over and over and I dont tire of reading.

This book is marvelous. All the stories in this book are so charming, innocent and beautiful. I dont believe my own eyes. Now, all the illustrations are also absolutely wonderful. They are incomparables. As I said, I dont believe my own eyes, because in today's book market (dominated by emptiness, futility and commercial [...]), it is like a glass of pure water in the desert. More, it is a miracle! I read it every night to my children, and cannot put it down myself. I am sad on only one point: I cannot give it 6 stars. Please, buy this beautiful little book to your children. It is a wonderful gift they wont forget. One of these few wonderful souvenirs we all love so much to remember from our childhood.

My son's teacher recommended that he read a lot over the summer to keep up his reading skills. We found this and similar books which are really a delight for him to read...the format as a "chapter book" for young readers allows him some challenge yet we can complete a story in one short sitting. The book's humor keeps him interested and anxious to read the next short story to see what Owl is up to next. I recommend this and any Arnold Lobel books for your young readers. Other favorites are the "Frog and Toad" series, also by A. Lobel.

love this book!!! there is so much going on!! amy and andy are really hot together

I started reading this book series last year when I was looking for something to read. After I read the first book I fell in love with the series. This one is my favorite book! I think Aly is really funny when she gets very hyper. If you LOVE the Replica books then you'll LOVE LOVE LOVE! this one!

Have fun reading!

This book was really really good. It is probably my favorite out of all of the series. I would reccomend to girls 10-13. Everyone would LOVE this book!!!!! You'll really like it if you like adventure with comic. Totally great!

It's another organization-planned 'get-together' with the clones. Only this time, ALL the clones are there, including all the surviving Amys and all the Andys. They're trapped on a perfect Island Paradise - the sand feels soft and warm, the water is crystal-clear and full of colorful fish, and the sun shines brilliantly all the time. Too bad the clones can't enjoy the experience; they're being held here against their will by 'The Organization!!' Their supervisors, a woman named Cindy and the Mr. Devon clones, force them to play a frightening game similar to 'Survivor.' But you better watch out when you're voted off.. it's pretty serious!!

I loved this book sooo much!! The only thing I didn't like about it was that whole celebrity-clone thing. I mean, c'mon. How would they know which baby would be a celebrity someday? Are they just mass-producing future celebs in cloning labs or something? 'Hmm, this baby looks like she could be a supermodel someday. Let's clone her!!' hehe. Anyway, I loved the rest of the book. It was great!!!

REPLICA!!!!! One of then best sci- fiction series ever. If you haven't read any other of the Replica books I suggest you read the following ones before reading this book.
#1 Amy, Number Seven
#11 Lucky Thirteen
#3 Another Amy
#6 And the Two Shall Meet
#12 In Search of Andy
#4 Perfect Girls
If you have read a lot of the Replica books already, you probably won't need to read those.. Anyway, this was one of the best Replica Books in the series. You learn a lot more about the Project Cresent Clones, and OTHER CLONES!!! This was really a great book. Also, our Amy reunites with some old friends. And ENEMIES!!!

My son loves this book so much, we wore out the first copy to the point that it was beyond me being able to tape the binding back together anymore. We bought him a second copy that has been "loved" as much as the first, and so we had to buy a third copy for my toddler so she had her own book that didn't have pages falling out while we were reading it. At one point, I had all the words in the book memorized, which came in handy while we awaited the arrival of our replacement book. At first glance, it may seem that this is a Halloween book. Let me assure you, you will enjoy reading this book all year long (I believe that my son asked to have this read to him every night for about 6 months) and the verse never gets tiresome. The story teaches children about compassion and the need to help others, despite the fact that you may not really be in the best position to help at the time it is needed most. Random acts of kindness by the witch thoughout the book are rewarded at the end of it when her friends save her from a fire-breathing dragon, and in return, she builds an even better broom to house her friends as a way of saying thank you. It teaches kids how important it is to be nice to everybody, and to be ready to lend a helping hand, because you never know when you might need a little help yourself.

My 3 1/2 yr old grandson LOVES this book. Great pictures Just enough drama! Discovery possibilities on the pages for a second look. Wonderful pictures and some anticipation on the right hand pages of what will come when the page is turned.

Both my 4 year old daughter and I love this book. It is so much fun to read and so much fun to hear. She laughs everytime I read it. The story is adorable and pictures are great. It is a nice story about friendship and rewarding acts of kindness. I bought this book for Halloween and we are still reading it several times a week.

"Room on the Broom" by Julia Donaldson is such an awesome book. My son got it when he was four. We have read it so many times that I couldn't even count. Then a couple of months ago, our original copy was involved in a spill-related accident. There was no question that we would replace it. He would have missed it so much!!
The rhymes are inventive and funny, and the illustrations are absolutely wonderful. I do believe that any child would enjoy this book.

My kindergarten students loved this book and had great fun with predicting and participating! The rhyme and repetition are great for young students and it's one of my favorite new books.

Several of the books in this series had a rushed feel to them, I thought the writing got better in this one.
The teens finally figure out a way to free Max from the collective consciousness and free the alien homeworld from it's grip as well. I'd expected the story to be pretty sloppy but was pleased to see it was better.
The Max/Liz and Michael/Maria romances even ran pretty much the way the TV series did with the exception that in this story Michael was going to return to the homeworld with brother Trevor and Isabel was going to go with him. Isabel decides to remain with her "family"and Michael, who had never admitted his feeling to Maria, decided that he too had to stay.
You do kind of get left with a "where's the rest of the series?" feeling as this is the last we see of the Roswell storyline.

OK, this book, in my opinion was the best at the end for romantic reasons. Michael and Maria both had a thing for the other, but, yes, Michael is a little dense, and once he fooled around with this evil Cameron (as you can probably tell, I hate her). Finally though, Michael and Maria admitted feelings, and it was so sweet! (I'm Michael-Maria crazy). The bad thing is that Alex and Isabel practically said (yes, they did) they only wanted to be friends, which totally sucks. Another thing: Max and Liz have always been totally corny in the books, but this time, they crossed the line. They act all lovey-dovey even after Liz's problems with Adam. If you ask me, they're too perfect a couple to be real. All in all, though, this book really came through.

I loved this one, it's my favorite out of the whole series. It was an excelent balance of tying up loose ends and leaving a promise of the future. I was not disapointed with this ending.

Melinda Metz is a fantastic author. I loved her other Roswell books but this is, by far, the best one yet. I was jumping out of my seet from the first page. I love how Melinda ended the book, it was very twisty and tourney and almost made me cry. When I was done with the book I felt good to know what happens but I also felt sad to know that this was the end of Roswell. It's so depressing realizing somethings going to end.

The Salvation by Melinda Metz was truely a terrific ending to the Roswell High series. After all of the conflicts and terrors that Max, Liz, Michael, Maria, Alex, and Isabel had gone through in previous books, The Salvation needed a happy ending to calm the reader's nerves. And that's just what Metz delivered. If you've read the other Roswell high books don't even hesitate to read about their final battle in The Salvation.
The only thing I wish now was that she had written more!

I absolutely love this book! I bought it for my 5 year old son a month or so before Christmas. He is at the perfect age for it! He LOVES looking at Santa's map of his route on Christmas Eve, reading about the reindeer and their different personalities and much more. It is a beautiful and treasured book.

I loved this book, along with it's counterpart about the Reindeer. It's a magical book that every child will love year after year!

My son was always asking questions about Santa, the reindeers, his house, etc. Well, this book has all the answers. It's packed full of information on everything you can think of relating to Santa. The illustrations are beautiful and it has sturdy, cardboard-like pages. It has a lot of special features, like fold-out pages and little, separate books on some of the pages. It's one-of-a-kind and I can't imagine any kid not being thrilled with this book.

This book is delightful!! My children ages 4 and 6 loved it and we read it countless times throughout the holidays. It was also very enjoyable for ME!! There are maps of santa's route, details of the elves duties and lives, secrets about every room in Santa's workshop. The illustrations are brilliant. I intend to give this book to every child (and a couple of grown-ups)that I know for Christmas this year.

great book for all ages ,very interesting and interactive with hand written letters, messages and flip outs. My daughter and I Loved it!

This book is cute. It has a different texture on each page. I would recommend using it for read-alouds for awhile. Young children may eat or tear off the "feely" parts.

This is great as far as touchy feely books go. There are a variety of textures for baby to explore. But it is very short with a total of five page of text. And the text itself is fine but not very rich.

I really like the "thats not my.." series. All the books are colorful, quick and cute. We also own "thats not my dragon" which I think my son (17 months) likes better than this one but all the books in this series are cute and I would recommend any of them!

this is a very good keep busy book for our 18 month old and when we read it together we do the touchy feely of the different surfaces and look for the mouse...

Our 6 month old loves this book already. She can enjoy the story which is necessarily short and is already reaching for the touchy feely parts on each page. We love reading it to her and seeing her eyes light up when we bring out this book each evening.

This was written before the internet age, but it's totally relevant today. It's about a girl who has it all (looks, brains, etc.), and then she discoveres she has cancer. She meets a guy in the hospital, someone who understands everything she's going through, and they start dating.

I liked this book because so many dating books sort of exist in a world where no one gets sick, and here, real life pops up and gives everything perspective. On the other hand, just because these characters get really ill doesn't diminish how important love and relationships are. Melissa and Ric still have sexual feelings and go through what all teens go through in relationships.

This was the first Lurlene McDaniel book I've read, and I plan to read as many as I can!

the story sucks u in and wont let u out tell the end with tears in ur eyes

"The diagnosis is lymphocytic leukemia, Melissa. It's a form of cancer." This book puts you in the place of 16-year-old Melissa. She seemed to be a normal teen, living her life to the fullest. She was beautiful with long, thick, black hair, which would soon be gone. Her best friend, Jory, was always with her, and her all-time crush started to like her! She was even nominated to go out for the Brain Bowl, which was always her dream. Everything was going her way until she was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, leukemia. She couldn't just live anymore; she had to fight for her life. A never-ending battle was going on in her body. Melissa's struggle between life and death really will make you see things from a different point a view.
I recommend Too Young to Die by Lurlene McDaniel to any person that wants to know what facing reality can be like. It is hard for people who haven't experienced loss, to understand. McDaniel does a remarkable job clarifying the situation and taking you on a journey through the eyes of Melissa, while battling her cancer. Many people die everyday of cancer, heart disease, and other dreadful causes. Think about how fortunate you are compared to many of these people that don't even know if they are going to be alive tomorrow.

I love to read...especially sad books. This book was amazing!! What bravery Melissa had. I don't want to give away any secrets but this is a MUST read!

When someone gave me this book in fifth grade, I put it aside and didn't read it right away. Boy was I glad when I finally started reading. It was one of the best books I've ever read. Well, back when I was in fifth grade. I'm in eighth grade now, and I still like this book.

Melissa is 16 and starting her junior year, which is looking pretty good. The most popular boy in school has taken an interest in her, and there's a pretty good chance she'll make the brain bowl team (kinda like the math thing in 'mean girls', only math and science). Melissa and her best friend, Jory, are physced. They're about to have a great year! Then Melissa starts finding bruises everywhere, and gets put in the hospital for some tests. The outcome isn't good. Melissa has cancer. Melissa, a perfectly healthy 16 year old, now has cancer. It didn't seem possible. Melissa sees her perfect junior year going right down the drain. The chemo she takes to fight off the cancer leaves her sick, and now the most popular boy in school ignores her. Then she meets Ric. Ric's knows what she's going through. He had half his leg amputted to save his body from cancer. With the help of him, Jory, and her family, Melissa is learning how to cope with cancer. She was so mature for a 16 year old, dealing with cancer. I hope I would have the guts to be as brave as Melissa Austin if I ever got sick like that.

There's a sequel to this book, so be sure to read it when you finish this. It's not as good, but it's still worth reading. It focuses more on Jory.