Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Demolition by Sally Sutton

Little boys love books about construction. It seems books with a steam shovel, bulldozer, or crane instantly gets you some crib cred and more than a few have risen to the top of The New York Times Best Seller list. But I couldn't help falling in love with Demolition by Sally Sutton.  It seems my 15-month old son, Connor, loves demolition even more than construction, so this book was a perfect recommendation by Miss Nancy at The Storybook Shoppe.



Page by page, Connor loves the catchy rhythm and repetition. It's hard not to feel like you are singing a song while reading.  Illustrations by Brian Lovelock delight with every turn. The O'Regan's particularly love this page with a reference to dinosaurs.


Image via Booktopia - Copywrighted Material

And after the Demolition crew has destroyed an old building, constructing an inviting playground will excite little ones!  We adore Sally Sutton, an Auckland, New Zealand playwright and children's author, who produced the award-wining picture book, Roadworks.

Do you have a little one that loves to destroy things almost more than he loves to build things? He sounds like my son, Connor.  And even my girlie-girl 4-year-old daughter is captivated by this one! You can buy Demolition by Sally Sutton right here on this blog.  Check out using your major credit card via PayPal and your book will be shipped to your door within days.

Support Bluffton, SC local children's bookstore and buy Demolition right here for $14.49 plus tax and $5 flat rate shipping. That's 10% off the list price! Find out how this became an instant classic in The O'Regan home!

BUY DEMOLITION BY SALLY SUTTON NOW! 10% OFF for a limited time

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The day the crayons quit

Have you ever imagined what your crayons would say if they could talk?   A young boy, Duncan, gets to find out in this supremely humorous book by New York Times best selling author Drew Daywalt and illustrator, Oliver Jeffers

Miss Nancy at The Storybook Shoppe recommended this gem to our family several weeks ago and it has become a nightly favorite.  The story has prompted numerous discussions about things like the true color of the sun and if Molly's gray crayon might really be tired of coloring elephants!   While it may seem silly, any book that a 4-year old is talking about day in and day out is a winner to us!  And after watching his bio video, I may just be a little bit obsessed with the brilliant, Oliver Jeffers.  I think Drew Daywalt is pretty amazing too - there's a wealth of talent in that man! 


In this delightful children's book, Duncan learns all of his crayons are tired and ready to quit after receiving a pile of letters from them!  


Blue is just exhausted from coloring all of those bodies of water, gray wants to color more than elephants and hippos, and orange and yellow are in a fight over who is the real color of the sun!  Green is surprisingly not disgruntled.   He enjoys all of his work coloring dinosaurs, crocodiles, trees and frogs!  You will laugh out loud with your children page by page as you uncover all of the crayons human-like thoughts and feelings.

I fell further in love with this book and illustrator after watching Oliver's bio video.  He's brilliantly creative, funny, witty, and charming.   I want to buy all of his books and read them all after this one!  Sit back and get ready to laugh. 


Oliver Jeffers Author Film 2013 from Oliver Jeffers on Vimeo.

At The Storybook Shoppe we think children laughing over a book is glorious.  Early reading encourages a passion for reading that will last a lifetime.  This book is now available at The Storybook Shoppe and online at the end of this post.  By supporting The Storybook Shoppe, an independent children's book store located in Bluffton, South Carolina, you are supporting a local community and helping children thrive. We pride ourselves on person attention and hand picked stories. We highly recommend this treasure!


BUY THIS BOOK ONLINE HERE AND SUPPORT A LOCAL INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE! 


Monday, August 12, 2013

Spoon and Chopsticks

When your children are young and aren't reading yet, your quest for children's literature can be challenging because books should not only appeal to them but also to you -- the reader!  When my daughter, Molly, likes a book, we read it over and over again, perhaps fifty times in a week. So you better believe that I search for books that I am also going to enjoy.

It's not too hard to find books that I enjoy though.  My name is Libby and I am a children's literature fanatic. Miss Nancy and her staff at The Storybook Shoppe in Bluffton, SC recommend hundreds of books to me and my family and this blog is dedicated to sharing them with you!  If you like the recommendations and reviews on this blog, you can buy the books right here without leaving your computer or mobile device. How 2013 of us!  We hope that you will forward this new blog and share this with your friends!

Enter Spoon and Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Scott Magoon for my first review post. These books are the perfect mixture of entertainment for children and adults.  Both have valuable messages about embracing yourself and your talents, and asserting one's independence.   A good message is always a bonus.



Spoon is feeling "bent out of shape" and "blue" (as he sits in a pile of blueberries) because he is envious of his other friends, knife and fork, who get to do all sorts of things that he doesn't get to do.  Knife gets to cut and spread, fork never goes stir crazy because she gets to go everywhere (in a piece of cake, a bowl of spaghetti, a salad...) and Chopsticks are so exotic!  Spoon's understanding mother patiently listens to him, empathizes and validates his thoughts, but then points out all the things that he gets to do that the other utensils don't get to do.  Knife doesn't get to dive into a bowl of ice cream!  After some gentle convincing, Spoon realizes how lucky he is and he feels so alive!

It's a message of staying true to who you are and appreciating all that you are good at and have.  Kids will love the illustrations and adults will love pun after pun geared towards them.

Real Simple magazine called this a "soon to be classic children's book" and the New York Times Book Review can't get enough of Amy Krouse Rosenthal who is an accomplished children's author.  You can watch the animated trailer of Spoon here.


Chopsticks, also written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Scott Magoon, is the companion book to Spoons.  It's "not exactly a sequel to Spoon. More like a change in place setting."   Chopsticks are attached at the hip and do everything together until one chopstick gets hurt!  The hurt chopstick encourages his friend to go out and experience new things without him!  Chopstick learns that he can do great things without his friend and he goes off for adventure after adventure.   Once again, this book is loaded with great puns for adults.  (We like the whisk who quickly whisks away the injured Chopstick!)  And it's a fantastic message for kids that they can go experience new things independently. 


Miss Nancy at The Storybook Shoppe recommended Spoon and Chopsticks to my family last year and we simply adore it. Molly never tires of both stories and as she gets older, she seems to be catching on to the humor of it all.  She even says "ta-ta darling" like Spoons fancy silver grandmother.

Pick up your copies of Spoon and Chopsticks right here and support The Storybook Shoppe.  Just check out through Paypal and we will ship it directly to your home within a few days.   Support The Storybook Shoppe, Bluffton South Carolina's first independent children's book store!



Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, $16.99 plus $5.00 shipping

Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, $16.99 plus $5.00 shipping