Our first three recent-release book picks are ranked from our favorite downward, and then we have an "oldie but goodie" for you.

Fiona the Flower Girl

by Carley Roney and the editors of the knot

Eight-year-old Fiona is going to be the flower girl at her aunt Caroline's wedding. This book begins with her aunt's engagement ("Fiona thought it would be much better to have a ring that was purple, but she could tell that Aunt Caroline was very happy with her clear ring."), then goes on to dress shopping, the bridal shower, the rehearsal, the all-important walk down the aisle, and the reception.

This is an excellent book for flower girls-to-be. It explains wedding lingo and a flower girl's role simply, while still functioning more as a fun story than as an instructional manual. There is, however, a guide for parents at the end that reads more like a good magazine article, suggesting flower girl etiquette and traditions. The illustrations are charming, with girly patterned backgrounds and accents. The book includes a little purple flower necklace on a ribbon to match the one Fiona receives from her aunt.

Holy cow, it's on sale on Amazon, down from $16 to about $6.50!

Little Chick

by Amy Hest, illustrated by Anita Jeram

Little Chick is a sweet book made up of three similar mini-stories. In the first, Little Chick is waiting for a carrot to grow - but "Old-Auntie" says that sometimes a small carrot is just what you need, so the chick pulls it. In the second, she's waiting for her kite to fly. Old-Auntie comes along and walks with her, and eventually, the kite catches the wind. In the third, she wants to pluck a star from the sky, but Old-Auntie says the star makes the sky sparkle, so she leaves it there.

I was waiting for more with each of the stories. Little Chick is a cute character, and appropriately preschooler-ish in personality (a little impatient, exuberant, adventurous), but the stories lacked punch. I twice wondered if I had accidentally skipped a page, or if they really did just end like that. The storylines are very simple, and to me, a little boring. I was also put off by the name "Old-Auntie." I imagined my aunt getting indignant if Sarina were to nickname her that.

The illustrations are watercolor and pencil, with large gray text.

My daughter asked me to read the story to her twice, and then never again. I think she was a little bored by its repetitiveness, too. But if you have a particularly gentle child, this might be just right.

On sale in hardback, down from about $17 to just over $12.

Dinosaurs Roar, Butterflies Soar!

by Bob Barner

The illustrations in Dinosaurs Roar, Butterflies Soar! are superb; made with cut paper and pastels, they're simple and bright and friendly. That's where my nice review ends.

The text is dry and tries to cover too much. The top half of each layout is supposed to be the simple storyline, while the bottom gives more in-depth facts and bits of trivia. This in itself was confusing, because if I read both, it broke up the storyline and I’d forget where we were by the next page. It didn't matter much, though, because the storyline felt like a school lecture. What a wasted opportunity to give the (worthwhile) lessons some real life by making it a personal story that kids can relate to.

While the recommended audience here is from 4-8, I'd suggest it's for ages 6 and up... if you happen to have a kid who's really into not just the "fun" aspect of dinosaurs, but the historical aspect.

$13-$14 on Amazon.com.

Oldie But Goodie: Honey Bunny Funnybunny

by Marilyn Sadler

Honey Bunny Funnybunny is one of the Cat in the Hat Beginner Books for early readers, and it's a good pick for kids who are dealing with sibling squabbles. In this book, Honey Bunny has an older brother, P.J., who loves to drive her crazy. He pulls the covers off her bed, ties knots in her sleeves, switches the colors her paint jars, and even switches the heads on her dolls.

Finally, their dad yells at P.J., and he stops teasing his sister. For a while, she's happy - "but after a while, she began to feel that something was missing." P.J. is out playing with his friends now, and he's ignoring her entirely. She realizes she actually misses his teasing, and is afraid that he doesn't love her anymore. But when she wakes up one morning and discovers that he's painted her face with polka dots while she slept, she's elated. "P.J. loves me!" she cries. A cute take on quirky sibling relationships.

A mere $9 on Amazon.com, and if you like that, there's a whole series of these books.

Jenna Glatzer (www.jennaglatzer.com) is the author of 19 books. Her most recent collaboration is Unthinkable with Scott Rigsby, the first double-amputee to finish the world-famous Hawaiian Ironman triathlon. Jenna lives with her two-year-old daughter in New York. - Jeremiah

There's no better way to introduce preschoolers to Kant's moral imperative than Jo Ann Stover's If Everybody Did, an entertaining romp through the consequences of every person in the room engaging in the same minor misbehaviors after one child does a demo round. We have a love/hate relationship with morally instructive children's books, but we are learning over time that what makes them work well in our household is humor. From Jane Yolen's How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? to Maurice Sendak and Sesyle Johnson's What Do You Say, Dear?, the use of humor puts everyone at ease while gently introducing real concepts that need teaching - in this case, helping kids conceive of the consequences of what would happen "if everybody did" what it is convenient or entertaining for them to do in isolation.

Some of the issues covered in the book might feel a little constraining for families with relaxed standards of physical behavior - it covers such issues as rough play, "changing your seat," and slamming doors - but the words are few and the illustrations are pretty hilarious if you ask Z and I, so it's easy to focus the "lesson" on the standards you actually care about enforcing. Consequences include doors falling off and crushing everyone, a sea of unseated children chaotically shifting positions around a room, and (for the action shown above) a pile of people laying like pancakes while the last of a dozen or so people gleefully leaps towards the dogpile.

Proof that this book is serving us well was close at hand recently. Jenni was sick with a cold and dropping used tissues on the floor (there was no trash can handy) and Z waltzed up and "corrected" her. "Mama, what would happen if EVERYBODY did that?"


Personally, this one cracks me up - Stover has an eye for details. The kid with his hands in his mouth makes me laugh every time.

You can pick up If Everybody Did on Amazon.com for about eight bucks. - Jeremiah

Toon Books - the series that redefines "comics" for young children and makes them an invaluable early reading tool - introduced us to some surprisingly versatile online comic panel creation software that your kids will enjoy playing with.

After fooling around with it, I wrote:

In fact, it works so well, they should take it further. Add the ability to sequence multiple panels on a page and to draw your own characters with a rudimentarly drawing tool, and they could either sell this software on a standalone basis or provide exclusive access to purchasers of their books through an access code.

Then I started browsing some more and realized that Comics Lab Extreme, a companion product to the Comics Lab that Toon Books had brought me to, does just that. Multipage comic books, artwork upload, and more. Great stuff for tech-savvy kids with an interest in comics. And it's all free.

Anyone out there have kids who love a particular comics software, online or off? - Jeremiah

Happy Halloween, Punnyboppers! For this episode of Mini Media Mogul, Sarina and I have picked out three picture books perfect for the season.

Over in the Hollow

By Rebecca Dickinson, Illustrated by Stephan Britt (Chronicle Books, 2009)

Do you know the classic rhyme "Over in the Meadow?" That’s what inspired Over in the Hollow - it has the same rhyme scheme and children-echo-their-parents format, but with a Halloween twist. The characters in the book are a mother and daughter spider ("'Spin,' hums the mother/'I spin,' hums the one"), a mummy dad and his kids, plus families of owls, vampires, bats, witches, and so on. Appropriately for the holiday, this counting book goes up to the number thirteen.

The illustrations in this one are busy and energetic -cluttered, even, but still cute. It's nice to have a book that not only mentions mommies and daddies, but also grandparents and an aunt and uncle. It’s also easy to sing along with if you know the melody of the original.

Mouse's First Halloween

By Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Buket Erdogen (Simon & Schuster, 2000)

This is one of Sarina's favorites all year round. It's one of the "Mouse's First" series, which follow a curious young mouse on his brave adventures. In this one, he creeps around the house and hears all sorts of strange noises. "Eek!" he squeaks each time. "What could it be?" Children are given little clues in the pictures to help them guess what's coming. Then Mouse finds out what's making the noise - kittens, falling leaves, Trick or Treaters - and declares each time, "That's all. Not so scary after all."

The illustrations are richly painted, though sometimes just a bit hard to decipher because of the dark palettes. And the only part of the story that surprised me was the very first discovery: "Swooping bats! That's all. Not so scary after all." I don't know about you, but I find a bunch of swooping bats pretty scary.

My daughter had this book memorized after just a few readings, and she would giggle with delight every "Eek!" and smile for every sound effect. I'd recommend it for younger kids than the book suggests; it was perfect for my two-year-old.

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

By Linda Williams, illustrated by Meghan Lloyd (HarperCollins, 1988)

In this long-loved story, a spunky little old lady is on her way home through the woods when a pair of shoes comes to life and begins following her. "Get out of my way!" she tells the shoes. "I'm not afraid of you." The shoes follow her anyway, and then comes a pair of pants - and a shirt, gloves, shirt, and so on. Each new item has its own sound ("wiggle wiggle," "nod nod," "shake shake"), and each time something new arises, the little old lady again proclaims she is not afraid of it.

The final object is a floating pumpkin head... which causes her to run into her house (even though she is NOT AFRAID… liar, liar, pants on fire). They're all pretty bummed that she refuses to be afraid, until she comes up with a solution: they can form themselves into a scarecrow and scare the birds away from her garden.

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything is a great book for toddlers and young kids, who will enjoy echoing and acting out the sounds, and will appreciate that the illustrations really aren't scary. You can even get it in a book-and-CD combo format.

Do you have a favorite Halloween read for kids? Share it in the comments!

Jenna Glatzer (www.jennaglatzer.com) is the author of 19 books. Her most recent collaboration is Unthinkable with Scott Rigsby, the first double-amputee to finish the world-famous Hawaiian Ironman triathlon. Jenna lives with her two-year-old daughter in New York. - Jenna G.

I cannot help but excerpt the same brilliant passage everyone else undoubtedly will in referencing this interview.

What do you say to parents who think the Wild Things film may be too scary?

Sendak: I would tell them to go to hell. That's a question I will not tolerate.

Because kids can handle it?

Sendak: If they can't handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it's not a question that can be answered.

Jonze also quite elegantly describes why this is not necessarily a relevant question, which also explains why young children really should probably not see this movie. "[The studio] thought I was making a children's film and I thought I was making a film about childhood," he said. "I mean, I think it's a film - I want children to see it, and it's not like I made it not for children, and it'll be on the video shelf under CHILDREN'S, but I didn't come at it that way. I came at it from the inside out as opposed to the outside in. In the end, though, the studio let us make the movie we wanted to make."

Read the full interview on the Newsweek website. [Via Daddytypes] - Jeremiah

Chouette Publishing released a new series of Caillou books based on the Caillou television show earlier this year, offering the same simple drawings, uncluttered conversations, and practical lessons as the show in four different formats - lift-the-flap books (My First Vacation), a single-volume collection of stories (My Book of Great Adventures), a boxed set of five small hardcover stories, and a puzzle/board book (ABC Train).

Although these books are intended primarily for preschoolers, ABC Train would be fun for younger toddlers learning their ABCs and how to to assemble simple puzzles. The book is an extra thick board book with pop-out puzzle pieces that fit in alphabetical order, with an animal associated with each letter (jaguar for J, koala for K). The pieces fit together easily and store securely in the book. It's labeled as not intended for kids under three (maybe the choking hazard would come from puzzle pieces falling apart when chewed?) so use your discretion and parenting judgment here.

My First Vacation is a great book for helping kids grapple with the concept of taking a plane ride. As long as your child doesn't expect to get to meet the pilot and sit in the cockpit, they'll get something worthwhile from this book in advance of, or in the act of, taking a trip.

The Caillou Boxed Set, My Book of Great Adventures, and My First Vacation are clearly aimed towards the preschool set. These books teach a small life lesson in each story. Children who enjoy the quiet, gentle Caillou show will enjoy these books!

- Jeremiah