A Prime Present

1 - Tyrannosaurus Wrecks by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen. This is just such a fun, clever rhyming picture book about a mischievous, overly exuberant young T-rex who can't quite get with the program at school with the temptation to wreck being what it is. It introduces some obscure dino types, iconically illustrated by Zachariah Ohora (Wolfie The Bunny) and is a sweet little microcosm of kids working out their group dynamic in the classroom. This is a great read aloud as well- sn

1 - The Great Googly Moogly - First of all, The Great Googly Moogly is just really fun to say, and really cute to hear preschool aged kids try to pronounce : ) This book tells the story of a girl who has made it her life's mission to catch a legendary, monstrous fish. She finally gets the chance - will she take it? The illustrations are super charming and I love the color palette. My kids both loved this one and requested it night after night! 2- Cute to pair with this Boon f

1 - The Butterfly Garden - book by Laura Weston. There are lots of great butterfly books out there- some are more technical / educational and some pure art / fiction. This one is so simple but so beautiful. With just a few words on each page that do indeed chronicle the butterfly lifecycle in an abstract way, this lift the flap book features bold black and white prints that lift to reveal bright developing butterflies underneath. It's simple enough for very young toddlers

1 - For Just One Day - Super stylish illustrations and extremely catchy (like, stuck in my head a lot) rhyming verse are the hallmarks of this book about both the pleasures of imagining yourself to be something different, but the ultimate good of just being yourself. 2 - Dress Up Capes & Masks - A busy, buzzing bumblebee is one of the animals profiled in the book, but any cape / mask combo perfectly fits with the theme of trying animal identities on for size! This is a fun se

This book was an unexpected treat- I got it for my daughter because she is in a troop who named themselves the Sparkle Unicorns (or the Rainbow Sparkle Unicorns, depending on who you ask: ), and the title was too perfect to pass up. All I was expecting was a fun reaction to getting a nook with the words sparkle and unicorn in the title, but weve ended up talking about the message of this book as much as any other book we have, even ones I sought out specifically for their mes

I love nonfiction books for young kids, but the ones that really scream "nonfiction" (full of factoids, with photos instead of art illustrations) just don't feel like bedtime stories to me. That's why I love books like Some Bugs (and the whole gorgeous An Egg Is / A Nest Is / A Butterfly Is etc series by Dianna Hutts Aston). This would be so cute paired with a little observational bug catcher - my preschool daughter spends her spring and summer afternoons catching roly poly

1 - Mouse Mess is such a fun book- it's an older one that my mom (elementary school teacher) sent to me with a large shipment of retired classroom books, but it's been in heavy rotation over here since we got it. I love paper collage art in children's books, and these illustrations make you feel so included in the delightful midnight mess making! 2- Melissa & Doug Let's Play House! - If only toddlers and preschoolers were actually capable of doing the kind of cleaning they l