“My Bus” by Byron Barton

Age: 2-5 years

Genre: picture book

The newest book from author/illustrator Byron Barton is sure to delight fans of his previous transportation books, such as My Car, Airport, Trucks, Trains, etc. Using bright and colorful block illustrations that resemble cut paper (but which the book notes were actually done using Adobe Photoshop™), the text follows a bus trip with bus driver Joe. As Joe drives around town, he picks up dogs and cats at each bus stop, and then drops them off at a boat, train, and airplane to continue their journeys elsewhere. At the end of the day, one dog remains on the bus: Joe’s dog, which he takes home. Children will enjoy seeing the animals and various modes of transportation, and parents may appreciate that the book allows practice in basic counting, addition, and subtraction. My Bus is a great new edition to Barton’s repertoire and would fit well on any young child’s bookshelf.

Bibliographic Information:

Barton, Byron. My Bus.  New York, NY: Greenwillow Books, 2014.

My Bus on BarnesandNoble.com

“My No, No, No Day!” by Rebecca Patterson

Age: 2-5 years

Genre: picture book

This book came across my desk at the library on a day my two-year-old son was having a particularly hard time doing anything. He didn’t want to eat, or get dressed, or ride in the car… every parent has been there. My No, No, No Day! tells the story of Bella, a young girl who is having a bad day. She doesn’t want to eat the egg her mom made her for breakfast, doesn’t like her shoes and kicks them off, doesn’t want to ride in the grocery cart at the store, and on and on. All the while her patient mother and baby brother try to go on with their day without Bella’s bad temper catching up to them. At bedtime, however, Bella decides to let her mother read her a story, even though Bella doesn’t really want a story.  The story calms Bella down and she tells her mom, “Today was a very bad day, Mommy. Sorry.” Of course Mommy understands that some days are just like that, and the next day, Bella has a much better time.

I like that this story acknowledges Bella’s feelings and doesn’t just make her out to be “bad.” The incidents the author creates seem very believable, and the reader feels for Bella (and her family) as she tries to make it through a day when nothing seems to go her way. I’m not sure I believe that in the end Bella would apologize to her mom, but I would like to hope that actually happens sometimes. Parents and children alike should relate to My No, No, No Day! and reading it could open up a good conversation when a child is feeling grumpy.

Bibliographic Information:

Patterson, Rebecca. My No, No, No Day! New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2012.

My No, No, No Day! on BarnesandNoble.com

“Mighty Dads” by Joan Holub with illustrations by James Dean

Age: 2-5 years

Genre: picture book

In this colorful and bright picture book, we see big “Daddy” trucks and little “child” trucks as they work together to build a city. The story is told using rhyme, and though the meter doesn’t always read smoothly, the text flows overall. Each truck makes its own sound or completes an action, such as the bulldozers that “roar, roar, roar” or the dump trucks that “fill, drive, dump.” It can be a little confusing for the reader since the sentences start with “They go…” which to me implies it is a sound they are making, but “roll,” “dump,” or “lift” are not sounds. I think it would have been better to stick to sounds for consistency in the book and not throw in actions as well, but maybe I am being picky. After we have watched all the trucks work, we see the Mighty Dads say they are proud of their little ones, a positive message to send to any child.

My two-year-old son, who loves trucks and construction equipment, really enjoys this book because of the variety of vehicles pictured. He wants to know what each one is called. He points to the Daddy and child trucks on each page, so he is also learning “big” and “little.” Mighty Dads is a great read-aloud for parents with truck-obsessed children.

Bibliographic Information:

Holub, Joan. Mighty Dads. New York, NY: Scholastic Press, 2014.

Mighty Dads on BarnesandNoble.com