My Name is Not Isabella By: Jennifer Fosberry

My daughter Isabela received this book for her fourth birthday.  It is such an enlightening book that is very inspiring for any little girl.  A little girl name Isabela goes throughout her day telling her mother that she is not Isabela but many other names.  The names just happen to be names of women pioneers of different eras that changed our world dramatically for women.  "I am ROSA, the greatest, bravest activists who ever was!"
 

Your little girl will love the illustrations and will find it an easy read with its repetitive structure.

"It's me, Isabella, the sweetest,kindest,smartest, bravest, fastest, toughest, greatest girl that ever was," and the little girl as she fell sleep and dream about who she would be....tomorrow. 

I just love how this book has the most simplest intentions to just inspire little girls to go for it all and to imagine anything for themselves because it is all possible!  What a wonderful message! At the very end of the book there is a page with all of the "women who changed the world" and it provides you with a history on each of them (they even include a paragraph for the most important woman, mommy). There is also a boy version of this book that my girls enjoyed as well called My Name is Not Alexander. 

When Emma got a hold of her sisters copy of this book I think she loved it even more than Isabela and she was only two at the time. This book will become an instant favorite!

Here is to an inspirational read!

Chrysanthemum By: Kevin Henkes

When this little mouse was born she was named Chrysanthemum by her parents because it was absolutely perfect just like her.  As she grew she learned a lot and loved her name...until she started school that is.  All the other mice had common names and they giggled at hers.  They teased it was too long, and she was named after a flower! Chrysanthemum wilted and when she got home her parents comforted her and assured her that it was still a beautiful name and made her feel better time after time.

But it became hard for her to go to school until one day when the music teacher Mrs. Twinkle arrived. Everyone admired Mrs. Twinkle and she told the class she was named after the flower Delphinium and when she had her new baby she was considering the name Chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemum couldn't have been more happy and all of the sudden all the girls wanted flower names too.  "Chrysanthemum did not think her name was absolutely perfect. She knew it!"  The Epilogue to the book is so funny the girl that always picks on Chrysanthemum forgets her lines in the play and Chrysanthemum gets a good giggle out of it and Mrs. Twinkle has a baby that she names Chrysanthemum.

This book will give parents an opportunity to talk with your kids about the importance of knowing who you are and sticking to what you know is right in your heart.  All kids at one point will be picked on but it shows how one persons courage to stick up for someone who needs it can make a very big difference.  It doesn't have to be a teacher it can be a courageous friend who stands up for you but what is important is to teach our children the power that lies within.  It also is a great chance to talk with kids to show them that all children are different in someway but all parents think that our little ones are "absolutely perfect!"

Princess Peepers By: Pam Calvert illustrated By: Tuesday Mourning

Princess Peepers is a delightful tale of a princess who loves to wear all different kinds of eye glasses. But when she attends the Royal Academy for Perfect Princesses she is made fun of for wearing glasses. She decides to get rid of all of them and show the other princesses she doesn't need her glasses and then she will be just like them.  Princess Peepers goes on a blurry journey filled with wrong turns, talking to animals thinking they are people, and when she gets dressed for the ball to meet the Prince that night she ends up looking rather silly complete with a boot on her head!  Then while Princess Peepers practices her dance moves she falls out of the castle tower and lands on what she thinks is a horse. It is actually the Prince and he wears glasses too!!! After that she decides she does need her glasses to see and when her and the Prince put on their glasses "It was love at first sight." It then shows all the girls who poked fun at Princess Peepers wearing glasses too. (Which are now in style!)

Since getting this book from the Library my little one Emma hasn't put it down! She loves picking the glasses she would wear and what a great lesson for them to learn. It is okay to be different and sometimes different is cool and stylish!

Hear is to cool shades and reading in style!

A Bad Case Of Stripes By: David Shannon

A Bad Case Of Stripes is sure to grab your child's attention and having them wanting to read it again and again!  The illustrations are awesome!  The book is about a girl named Camilla Cream who even though she likes Lima beans pretends not to so she won't be picked on.  On her 1st day of school she can't decide what to wear because she wants everyone to like her.  She looks in the mirror and notices she is striped from head to toe!  The stripes turn to stars and stripes, polka dots, checkers, virtually anything anyone mentions takes form on her skin.  The doctors are stumped and give her pills but she only ends up turning into pill!  After an "Environmental Therapist" tells her to "become one with your room." she ends up becoming the walls and all the furniture around her!  Then a little old lady comes in and says she has the cure.  It is Lima beans.  Camilla pretends to hate Lima beans but wants nothing more than to eat the tasty beans.  She is too scared people will think she is weird but ends up telling her the truth, she loves them.  After eating the beans she is cured and back to her normal self.  The woman says to her "I knew the real you was in there somewhere."  The story ends with Camilla not caring if some kids think she is weird or different and she eats her beans and never has a case of the stripes again.  Again  a great entertaining way to get your kids to understand that they only need to be true to themselves...Weird or not!  Emma said after reading this book "I want to read it again Momma!" "Why?" I asked  "Because I like how she gets the stripes." =)

Take a look behind Camilla...It is Fergus!

slide, already! By: Kit Allen

Slide, already!  A boy who isn't familiar with the fun a slide holds or exactly what you do with a slide gets a lesson from a group of kiddos who have mastered the art of "sliding".  The book is witty, hysterical and an absolutely true depiction of how a child acts when they are terrified to do something for the first time! Then of course when they do go through with it like this little boy they yell "I LOVE IT!" (And repeat it for what seems like forever)

My girls never wanted to put this book down!  Their favorite part in the book is when each kid shouts out a slogan as they slide down the sliding board like "Remember the Alamo"  "Anchors Away" "Hot Diggity Dog" and "Egad".  I am reciting them from memory that is how many times I have read this book.  I laugh when I picture Isabela acting out this book which always ends up with her yelling, and taunting and being so dramatic!  Emma too memorized most of this book.  We had it from the library on so many occasions and every time we spot it again they won't walk by it without putting in the bag to take it home again!

Being outside with my girls at the playground reminded me of this awesome book and all the fun that unfolds with it.  It is amazing how much fun you can have with your children by just reading a book!

Happy Playground reading!