Shepard Books

I think any child will be delighted with this. It teaches and amuses both,
and the illustrations are lots of fun.

My daughter and I love this book. She is learning her alphabet and understanding the sounds that go with the letters! Each letter of the alphabet has a clever story involving PL Travers delightful characters. It is verbose if your child doesn't love to listen to stories and be challenged by vocabulary, this is not for you. But if yours is like mine...you will both enjoy it!

I read this book hundreds of a time when I was a child. The pictures are amazing and the story is cute. Everyone should have the chance to look at this book. If you like this book, you may want to try the Brambly Hedge series by Jill Barklem, which is another great set of books about mice. These books also have fabulous illustrations.

When I was a young child, I would always request a trip to the library to check out this book. I never knew the correct title of it, but my mom always knew what I was talking about. It is a great book, all little girls should own one!

When I went to introduce my preschooler to Winnie-the-Pooh, I bought the big book with the complete stories and poems. It didn't take long for me to figure out that it wasn't quite right for my 3-year-old. Reading a story out of the original works takes a good 15-20 minutes, which is more than one can really expect from a preschooler or toddler. Also, the original Pooh is a bit like Sesame Street, in that there are phrases and indeed entire sections of the stories that adults will find amusing but which will just go over a child's head.

And yet, I didn't want to break down and go the route of the Disney-fied Pooh books, with their cartoonish illustrations and watered-down plots and characters.

That's why I was so pleased to find the Easy-to-Read series. There are six easy-to-read titles from two publishers. They are:

Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees
Pooh Goes Visiting
Eeyore Has a Birthday
Tigger Comes to the Forest
Christopher Robin Leads an Expedition
Pooh Invents a New Game

Each book is based on one chapter from the complete works. These little books are divided into four chapters, although it should be no problem to read one from start to finish in one sitting.

The print is large and well spaced, and there are ample illustrations (the original drawings by E.H. Shepard) on every page spread to keep little eyes engaged in the story. Most important, the editor has removed most of the passages that aren't so kid friendly and has simplified the stories without giving them a Disney style candy coating. One could read the original story and then the easy-to-read version and get the same basic plot; when going from the Milne works to the Disney versions, the same is certainly not true.

I didn't give these books five stars because the editor retained some language and dialogue that may be a bit confusing for children in the intended age range. Nevertheless, these books are a wonderful introduction to a classic cast of characters for the preschool set.

Beautifully bound and illustrated, this little book is part of a series of 10 such Pooh books published by Dutton. Don't confuse these "storybooks" with the even smaller and abridged board-books; also, don't confuse these books with many other Pooh books, such as read-alongs or cassete tapes or Disney versions.

This little book is a near-exact reproduction of a Chapter One in the original book, Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, with the original illustrations by Shephard enhanced by judicious watercoloring. All the charm of the original, in a perfect size for reading to littler kids, who can feel satisfied at having been read "the whole story." Also good for children just starting to read all by themselves.

This story sort of fell in our laps... I picked it out from the library since I was looking for stories about owls but this tale turns out to be more a story about minding your own business. I read it to my daughter a few times on days when she had been getting in trouble for being nosy; I thought it would be a gentle humourous story that lets her know that everyone is nosy sometimes, so it's not just her being singled out. Of course, the story also sends the message that you don't want to take your interrupting and rudeness too far! She was almost 4 at the time and always got very serious and sober after the story. After the third time, she asked me not to read it anymore. I suppose this is because she felt it was speaking directly to her and it made her uncomfortable. I personally thought the book was humorous and beautifully illustrated. It would make a nice addition to a unit on Native American studies for older children.

I read this book aloud to a group of 14 four-year-old children who were enchanted by the tale of the creator Spirit Rawena and the pesky little owl who couldn't make up his mind, and who couldn't mind his own business. The beautiful illustrations enhance the tale and are dramatic enough to catch the attention of a very squirmy group of kids! Some may find the narrative a little cruel by the bland standards of most modern stories for kids; this is true of many myths and folk tales, however, and the humor used in the telling of this story, and the justice dealt out by the creator, will appeal to children four years old and older.

I love both this book and the other "Peabody" book. I read them as a child, and now am reading them with my own daughter. Ruth Thompson is a talented children's writer (British).

I remember this book from when I was a kid. I have spent years trying to find it again only to find out its out of print. Its a great read for beginner readers. It has colorful pictures. Peabody and his dog Humbug are delightful characters that entertain and show children to look at the small details. Excellent book I plan to share with my niece and nephew!

This is a wonderful book from my childhood- preserved with my Halloween decorations and brought out to share with my own children once a year. The story is charming- a kingdom, a castle, poor farmers, and a truly revolting Giant make this a delightful Halloween story to read aloud. Reminiscent of some of the milder Roald Dahl stories, it has elements of quasi-historical facts ( well, it COULD'VE happened like that) and just a touch of chilling evil. For ages 4 and up, the only possible objection being that the Giant likes to eat "fat little boys", certainly not any worse than anything Disney puts out year after year!

The Pumpkin Giant is a book that has been around for years but is hard to find. When I first found it after weeks of searching there was only one copy of the book in all of the Kent County Library system. It is about a far away kingodm terroized by the pumpkin giant who eats fat liitle boys and girls. The farmer and his chubby son save the community and the chubby little boy meets up with the king's chubby little daughter and they all live happily ever after. The pumpkin giant slayer becomes the king's grounds keeper and his wife who made pies out of the pumpkin giant's head becomes the head cook. The kingdom is no longer terrorized and all is joy. Very cute story!

"The River Dragon" takes place in China, telling the story of Ying Shao.

Ying Shao was betrothed to Kal-Li when he was very young. Ying Shao was a blacksmith, it displeased Kal-Li's father because he was a goldsmith. The father tried to delay the wedding but finally a date was set. The father invited Ying Shao to the traditional three-banquet course. In the first banquet the father prepared some swallows, as the main course. Not Ying Shao was afraid because in this story there are dragons and dragons love to eat swallows. Ying Shao had to eat all the swallows because it would be disrespectful if he didn't. But how would Ying Shao escape the dragon because dragons have a good sense of smell.

I like the pictures in this story because of the colors and I love the way of how Ying Shao tricks the dragons. I wouldn't say this would be one of my absolute favorites because the story was predictable but I enjoyed the pictures with the story.

"The River Dragon" is a beautifully written book that tells the tale of a very clever boy who must outwit both a frightening dragon and difficult father-in-law to be. I started reading this book to my son when he was five years old and it remains a favorite. The book is full of marvelous imagery from Chinese culture and is so poetically written that it is a delight to read out loud. It can be difficult to find, so I have had to special order the book in the past in order to give the book to my friends and family members. The illustrations are also memorable!

This collection has many songs you haven't heard plus many of the ones you have (e.g. basically all the nursery rhymes). The pictures are cute, and the authors provide suggestions for actions to go along with some of the songs. We, and especially our two-year-old son, really enjoyed this book, so much so that we're going to buy it instead of re-re-renewing it from the library.

I have many books of children's music, but this is one of my favorites. The songs are well-chosen, music arrangements fairly simple but beautiful, the illustrations are lovely, and the notes at the bottom of the pages give great information on the history, hand/dance movements. I've used my copy to read as a bedtime story, taught children to read with it (the syllabicated lyrics help break down words for beginning readers), used the songs in it for "talent" shows. I've given it many times to beloved friends upon the birth of their own children. It's a great book even for those who cannot read music well. The lyrics to familiar songs and beautiful illustrations are entrancing to all.

In fact, I've worn my copy of this book out, and I'm looking to buy another. ....

Chantal has been jealous of her flirtatious sister, Aimee for a long time. But after being drawn to a statue of Lorelei at an art show by hearing a singing voice that no one else can hear, her life changes just like that. With the Lorelei in her possession, boys are drawn to her instead of her sister. But each boy meets a serious accident that is unexplainable. Chantal and her good friend Micah know that the statue has something to do with this. They go to the library to find all they can about the statue. They find out Lorelei is a Siren. A Siren is a mythical creature that has such beautiful voices that men went crazy and threw them-selves off cliffs over them. The Lorelei is using Chantal as a way to escape from the statue. Can they find out a way to break this spell before someone gets seriously hurt? Read this book to find out the bone-chilling ending of this fantasy book.

Chantal has been jealous of her flirtatious sister, Aimee for a long time. But after being drawn to a statue of Lorelei at an art show by hearing a singing voice that no one else can hear, her life changes just like that. With the Lorelei in her possession, boys are drawn to her instead of her sister. But each boy meets a serious accident that is unexplainable. Chantal and her good friend Micah know that the statue has something to do with this. They go to the library to find all they can about the statue. They find out Lorelei is a Siren. A Siren is a mythical creature that has such beautiful voices that men went crazy and threw them-selves off cliffs over them. The Lorelei is using Chantal as a way to escape from the statue. Can they find out a way to break this spell before someone gets seriously hurt? Read this book to find out the bone-chilling ending of this fantasy book.

Jim Daly is a wonderful illustrator. The pictures actually come alive on the page, you can visualize what the words are actually saying. Children, as well as adults, can learn about the trees; how big they have to be before you should tap them and why doesn't sap run all of the time, etc. The only thing that is not true is the temperature that the syrup is drawn off from the rig is not the same temperature you would need for sugar on snow. This picture gave my kids false ideas to try at our sugar house. Overall though this is a wonderful book.

My family has made maple syrup for years. Reading this book I felt like I was back in the woods gathering sap and could almost smell the syrup as it boiled in the pan and taste its sweetness. The pictures are beautiful and the information right on the mark. As syrup making is a family event I will have to buy copies for all of my family.