Bedtime for Frances
Reviewed by Children’s Book List
Frances has trouble going to sleep because of frightening sounds and objects that may be going to get her.
Rating: 5 *****
I’m not sure I agree with Frances having trouble going to sleep because she is frightened. I think she’s just stalling. I have a little Frances at home and every night this occurs. Frances wakes up every 15 minutes asking for something new. This is a really cute book and a lot of parents will identify. It’s a bit antiquated, the father smokes a pipe and Frances is threatened with a spanking, but shows well how childhood behavior is timeless.
An old man and his wife decide to get a cat, so the old man goes out in search of the prettiest cat of all. When he is forced to choose from “hundreds, thousands, millions and billions and trillions” of cats, he (naturally) brings them all home. When the wife points out their inability to support the legion of felines, it is left to the cats to decide who among them is the prettiest. Anyone who has ever owned more than a single cat can tell you what happens next.
Petunia finds a book–and, deciding that if she owns a book she must be wise, dispenses hilariously mistaken advice to the other animals in the farmyard.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Reviewed by Children’s Book List
This book enables the teacher to raise the language awareness of the whole class as they follow the evolution of the caterpillar in days, foods and numbers.
Rating: 5 *****
Your child will love counting the holes in all of the eaten food.
The Story of Babar The Little Elephant
Reviewed by Children’s Book List
The classic first story about literature s most beloved pachyderm. After his mother is killed by a hunter, Babar avoids capture by escaping to the city, where he is befriended by the kindly Old Lady. He becomes educated and cultured and, upon his return to the great forest, is crowned King of the Elephants.
Rating: 4 ****
This actually is a controversial story because it’s said to support colonialism.
