Hello, ZRecs readers! I’m a long-time fan of the ZRecs Network, and recently asked if I could come on board as a reviewer. Some crazy person (Jeremiah) said okay. So here I am!

I live with one opinionated two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Sarina. She and I both love books and music, so that’s mostly what we’ll be reviewing around here. Sarina is a fan of volcanoes, songs about the rain, hiding from Wiffy the Skunk Ghost, and broccoli (I know, she’s weird). I am the author of a whole bunch of books on topics ranging from Marilyn Monroe to bullying, which you can read about on my website if you are so inclined.

I'll be rotating my review roundups among various types of kids' media every two weeks. This time, books. Next time, music!

[And no, that tattoo does not belong to Jenna, despite her extreme love of books. It belongs to her. - Ed.]

Thanks for caring about what we think. Here are our four picks this week, ranked from our very favorite downward.

The Delicious Bug

By Janet Perlman

This is the book we grabbed out of our review box first, and it turns out that there was a good reason we were so attracted to it: It’s full of awesome.

This story is about two chameleon friends who catch the same bug at the same moment. They first argue politely about which one should let go, but soon politeness turns to anger and name-calling. (“Shlobberface!” “Shkunk cabbage!” They do still have a bug stuck on their tongues, hence the speech impediment). They irritate all the animals around them, and almost wind up as two crocodiles’ lunch before they see the error of their ways and realize that their friendship is more important than a bug - no matter how delicious.

The Delicious Bug is satisfying on so many levels. There are worthwhile lessons here about sharing, friendship, helping those less fortunate, and selflessness, and the book takes the message one step further when the chameleons make amends to the animals they annoyed. All this in just 32 pages! But what makes it even better is that it’s really funny, both in text and illustrations. Turns out it’s an adaptation of the author’s award-winning short animated film "Dinner For Two." (I watched a preview. The book is better.)

If you’re the kind of parent who likes to act out books, complete with funny voices and sound effects, this one will be a treat. Sarina now frequently asks for “my bug book.” You can get a Delicious Bug of your own on Amazon at a nice discount.

Flip, Flap, Fly! A Book for Babies Everywhere

By Phyllis Root, illustrated by David Walker

We love the sing-song rhymes in Flip, Flap, Fly! Each four-page layout is a peek into a mama and baby pair learning a new skill. A baby otter is learning to slide, a baby fish is learning to swim, a baby bird is learning to fly. And the added bonus is that the red-headed baby boy is learning to kiss - leading to the line “So the mama and the baby child kiss like this...” Seriously, thank you, author Phyllis. You wrote that just so I’d have an excuse to get Sarina to kiss me, didn’t you?

The colors are warm, and the illustrations are simple and friendly. A sweet pick for any mom and baby or young toddler. You can pick it up on Amazon for 25% off the cover price.

Spoon

Written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Scott Magoon

Spoon is a book about Spoon, who is… well, a little boy spoon. He lives with his extended family, which includes ladles, measuring spoons, wooden spoons, and so on. (Poor Spork looks awfully uncomfortable in the family photo.) His great-grandmother was the famous one who ran away with the dish in the Mother Goose tale.

In this story, Spoon feels a bit jealous about his friends’ ability to do cool stuff - like how Knife can cut, and Fork can go just about anywhere. And people always think the Chopsticks are so exotic. But, his mother reminds him, his friends are probably thinking about how cool it would be to do the things he can do - like dive headfirst into a bowl of ice cream or relax in a hot cup of tea.

It’s a fun twist on the “there’s something special about each of us” theme, and there are funny details in the illustrations that will make you want to read it again to make sure you’ve caught them all.

Seymour and Henry

By Kim Lewis

I’m not sure I get the moral of Seymour and Henry. It’s a book about two ducklings who don’t want to stop playing when their mother tells them it’s time to come home. Instead, they run away from her. They hop on a log, scamper around a rock, tumble down a hill, and hide in a flowerpot and under some leaves, and they wait for their mom to find them. They wait and wait, and it starts raining.

This frightens them enough to run back to find their mother... who is still just sitting in the same spot, unfazed. She never bothered to go looking for them. When they find her, she doesn’t admonish them for running away, she doesn’t give them any warnings, she doesn’t express that she’s so glad they’re okay.

In short, she should be arrested for child neglect. Well, aside from the fact that they’re DUCKS and they live in water and rain should not be a problem.

So, she just tells them to “hop on for a ride,” and she flies them into a... building? A treehouse? I don’t know, but they’re in some kind of structure with a blanket at the end.

The illustrations are sweet and gentle - the ducks are drawn as stuffed animals with clothes on, which is a little strange in a pond... but nice drawings nonetheless.

It’s a cute enough book for very young ones, but I think it would require some good explanations for those 2 and up. You can find Seymour and Henry on Amazon, too. - Jenna G.