Published by Katherine Tegen Books 

Summary:  Those parents!  Just when you’re ready for bed, they’re more wide awake than ever.  You try getting them in their pajamas, making sure they’ve brushed their teeth, and reading them bedtime stories, but they still want to have pillow fights, watch TV, or stay on their cell phones.  You know they’re tired, but they insist on getting distracted by every little thing.  When you finally get them settled, and are ready for some time to yourself, you’re so exhausted, you can’t stay awake another minute.  32 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  Kids will howl with laughter at both the goofy illustrations and the crazy text that turn the whole bedtime routine on its head.  This would make a good beginner mentor text for procedural writing.

Cons:  I could have lived without the underwear scene.  Although those under the age of ten will love it.

Published by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers 

Summary:  Even before the title page, we see that Grimloch Lane looks a lot like it sounds, brown and dreary, populated with sad-looking people.  But wait, is that a man pruning a tree?  What is he doing?  Then the story begins.  William, looking through his window at the Grimloch Orphanage, hears a commotion. Running out the door, he discovers a giant owl has been cut into a tree.  As the days go by, trees are transformed into an elephant, a rabbit, a parrot, and then, the masterpiece, a two-tree dragon.  With each new creation, more townspeople come together and find reasons to celebrate.  At the end of the day of the dragon, William sees an unfamiliar figure in the streets, carrying a ladder and some pruning shears.  The man sees him, and the two of them work through the night to create a forest of animals.  Eventually, the leaves change colors and fall off the trees, and the animals are gone, but the town and William are never the same.  48 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  This simple story has a beautiful message, and the illustrations are worthy of Caldecott consideration.

Cons: This book has the same title as a very creepy book from a couple of years ago.  Make sure you don’t mix them up if you plan to read this aloud to a bunch of five year-olds.

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary:  As night falls in one place, a child drifts off to sleep.  The song of the crickets fills the room, and drifts out into the yard, where it is joined by the croaking of frogs.  The sounds and activities of one animal lead to those of another, from one page to the next.  At the bottom of each page is a picture of two places, separated by a large body of water.  On each page, the sun gradually moves from east to west.  At the beginning, night is falling in the eastern land, and by the end, the sun sets on the western one as well.  The child in that house drifts off to sleep.  32 pages; ages 3-7.

Pros:  The beautiful illustrations of animals combine with the poetic, soothing text to form a perfect bedtime story.  The series of pictures on the bottom make an interesting complement to the main illustrations.

Cons:  Although the pictures at the bottom of the page were cool and definitely added to the book, I found them distracting until I figured out what was going on in them.

Published by Random House Books for Young Readers 

Summary:  An ethnically diverse group of young children enjoy the outdoors in all seasons.  In spring they play in the mud, they enjoy a summer trip to the beach, in fall they play in the leaves, and winter brings cold and snow.   After each outdoor adventure, they bring a bit of the outdoors in.  At the end, they enjoy a box filled with photos of their adventures as well as a few keepsakes likes shells, leaves, and sticks.  32 pages; ages 3-6.

Pros:  The rollicking rhyming text and exuberant illustrations should be enough to pry any young couch potato away from the Xbox and into the great outdoors.

Cons:  The text seemed more like a song than a rhyme, but alas, there was no music provided, and I’m pretty sure it’s beyond my capabilities to make any up.

Published by Clarion Books

Summary: Yaks yak, dogs dog dogs, crows crow. Each two-page spread has an animal whose name is also a verb; the illustration depicts the animal demonstrating the action and includes a definition of the verb.  The final two pages list all the words, with a history of both the animal name and the action word; at the top of the list is a definition of homographs, words that are spelled and pronounced the same but have different meanings.  40 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  Word lovers will have lots of fun with this book and will enjoy thinking of more homographs when they’re finished.  The illustrations are adorable with plenty of humor.

Cons:  I struggled to think of even one other animal homograph…bears bear bears?

Published by Candlewick Press

Summary: Two sailors have a problem: their ship is too old to sail. When one of them loses a button, the other has an idea.  Swap!  They swap the button for two teacups; two teacups for three coils of rope; two of the coils of rope for four oars.  Slowly their collection grows until they have enough items to refurbish the ship.  Then it’s anchors a-weigh, and they are back out to sea.  40 pages; ages 3-7.

Pros: Although the story is simple, the artwork is not. Similar to Light’s two previous books, Have You Seen My Dragon? And Have You Seen My Monster?, the main story is told with color, while the black-and-white activity is mostly in the background. That activity is pretty complex, though, and will have kids poring over the pages to see all that’s happening.

Cons:  Due to the detailed illustrations, this is probably better for one-on-one sharing than reading to a large group.