"Red & Yellow's Noisy Night" -Josh Selig

Nothing like a huge grin and a scowl to make a book look interesting...

Red wants to play his guitar and Yellow wants to sleep. Watch how they display their sides and compromise to a solution.

I chose this book because of grinning Red and the "don't talk to me" look on Yellow. It had to be cute, right? It was a great book about disagreements and resolutions. The artwork was fun and vivid. The Olive Branch is part of the Little Light Foundation whose goal is to promote conflict resolution.

Read Also:
The Berenstein Bears - (despite problems with Mother Bear) this 1980's series of books focuses on different areas of life and how a family and each individual in the family need/can help the situation be better. Love'em!

"The Big Over Easy" -Jasper Fforde

I read a lot of novelizations of fairy tales and bible stories, so when I found this series which is nursery rhymes in mystery, I had to read!

Humpty Dumpty is dead and Jack Spratt is on the case! With Mary Mary as his sergeant, they solve the death which involves share trading, infidelity, and egg insults. Who knew?! The language was a little much but a quick read.

Read Also:

Albert Jack's Pop Goes the Weasel: the secret meanings of nursery rhymes is an interesting book on the origins of nursery rhymes. He includes speculations, myths, and wildly inaccurate claims.

Nursery Rhyme Comics is a graphic novel with fun interpretations of nursery rhymes.

"Shadows Over Stonewycke" -Michael Phillips, Judith Pela

The 5th in a serires of 6 ... or the 2nd of 3 in the 2nd series of 2 ... dude.

Coming highly recommended (Thank You!)- the "Stonewycke" books: The Stonewycke Trilogy and The Stonewycke Legacy, are about Stonewycke, a castle in Scotland and its owners: the Ramsey clan.

The trilogy focuses on Margaret Duncan (bks 1,2) and her daughter Joanna (bk 3) as they live and learn and grow. The legacy focuses on Allison, Joanna's daughter, and her husband, Logan MacIntyre. Shadows Over Stonewycke deals with the War years. Allison's and Logan's marriage, though built on their Christian faith, crumbles under the stress and lack of faith that comes from hard times. The "refiner's fire" they undergo during WWII rebuilds their faith, trust, and love in each other and God.

Very religious books, I enjoy reading about how these women take very natural emotions and desires and use them in ways to build their faith and families. I have cried multiple times during these books as the writing is strong and thought-provoking. There is quite a bit of history as well. Btw, the time frame of the series is over 100 years!

Read Also:

E.W. Honung's Raffles: the Amateur Craftsman - pretty much what Logan MacIntyre does before he reforms.

Bodie & Brock Thoene's The Galway Chronicles - 4 book series about an Irish family's faith and strength through Ireland's violent history.

Leon Uris' Trinity - an epic of familial loyalties and history in Ireland and England.

"OH NO, Little Dragon" -Jim Averback

A fun book about a dragon practicing his fire-breathing. The best parts of many picture books are the details in the background. The dragon's viking boat in the tub is a nice touch.

Read Also:

"How to Train Your Dragon" based on the books by Cressida Cowell, was an awesome movie! Great soundtrack! And I thought a better story.

Naomi Novik's "Temeraire" - fantasy series of dragons during the Napoleonic war, which includes a lot of training techniques.

"Is Everyone Ready for Fun?" -Jan Thomas

The title says it all...Is Everyone Ready for Fun? is a great book about cows ready for fun and a chicken who isn't. Unfortunately, it's chicken's couch at risk to 3 cows jumping, dancing, wiggling, and napping on it.

Great illustrations, bold lines, simple words, big font, Jan Thomas writes a good book! Also wrote Rhyming Dust Bunnies (fun) and Here Comes the Big Mean Dust Bunny (soon to be read).

Read Also:

An oldie but goodie: Robert Kalan Jump, Frog, Jump! - similar in art.

Mo Willems' We are in a Book - breaks the 4th wall as well.

"How to Marry the Man of Your Choice" -Margaret Kent

Not sure how to preface this one except I'm always looking for tips on how to better understand men.

Kent's How to Marry the Man of Your Choice, in fairly simple and straightforward language, tells how men view women and how women can respond and use this view to move men toward marriage.

The first half of the book offered some good tips and insights about behaving around men. She talks about what they look for, how they evaluate what they see, and how you can adjust yourself to still be "You" but wait for the appropriate time to reveal things. I especially liked her approach to discussing politics, religion, and sex with men: essentially nothing is off limits when talking with a potential mate. This is true! If you're going to marry a man, you have to be able to discuss anything.

Now, the second half was not so good. It was more of a guidebook for training your dog rather than finding a man. It was slightly distasteful when dealing with criticism; she adheres to using criticism, both towards him and yourself, to humble your husband instead of for improving the relationship. Not a bad book but keep it in perspective of your morals, ethics, and goals.

Read Also:

I highly recommend Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages which offers help with showing love in the way others perceive love.

For fun, How to get Married by me, the Bride by Sally Lloyd-Jones is a fun picture book check-list of how to plan a wedding.

"Maus I: A Survivor's Story" -Art Spiegelman

This is a well-known graphic novel which tells the story of the holocaust through caricatures: mice represent the Jews and cats representg the Nazis. What I didn't realize was there were other animals: pigs represent the Poles. It's a dark graphic novel, not a comic book. I read the section My Father Bleeds History.

I had mixed feelings while reading this book. The main character is called by his son "the stereotypical miserly Jew" and he is not a nice nor rational man. However, the goal of the story is to show what the Jews lived through. The reader makes this journey with the son, you learn as he learns. Several emotions: hate, disgust, frustration, pity, went through my mind. I have not finished the series so I don't know what the final "lesson" is.

Read Also:

I don't read a lot of graphic novels that aren't about superheroes or graphic renditions of literature (Yay Shakespeare!) but I did read V for Vendetta which was a dark, political commentary on a fascist government.