Laura Gates GalvinCritiques

A nice, compact boxed set of board books introduces feelings to little ones by way of Piglet and all the Pooh friends. The structure of the books may be a little too repetitive for adults to read all at once, but kids will probably like it. The set also includes an audio CD with a narrator who has a deep, warm voice reading all the books, but unless the books are piled up in order, children may have trouble keeping up with him unless they are comfortable pushing pause and play on their own.

Here are the books reviewed in order by their appearance on the CD:

Piglet and Friends: Happy ~2 stars~

Poor Piglet. He gets a series named after him, and he doesn't get to actually be in the first book except on the cover.

This little rhyming board book of ten pages and nine sentences tells us what makes Piglet's friends happy. It's not surprising that honey makes the list for one of them . . .

Piglet and Friends: Sad ~2 stars~

We learn what things make Piglet and his friends sad.

I'm appalled that they went with a rainy day for Pooh instead of an empty honey pot.

And Eeyore -- the saddest character in the Hundred-Acre Wood doesn't even get a page!?!? They actually passed up the chance to write, "What makes Eeyore sad? Everything." Boo!

Piglet and Friends: Scared ~2 stars~

I'm on the third day of going through a boxed set of board books about Piglet's feelings, and the only feeling I'm having is one of boredom.

Piglet and Friends: Proud ~3 stars~

Maybe it's my hubris allowing me to identify, but this book about what makes the Pooh friends proud actually works for me.

Unfortunately, it's the second book in this Piglet's Feelings boxed set that doesn't actually have Piglet in the story. He's on the cover only. I'm starting to have concerns about false advertising . . .

Piglet and Friends: Angry ~2 stars~

This joins that rare handful of books in our Pooh collection that does not actually have an appearance by Winnie the Pooh! He's not on the cover nor anywhere inside -- not even a cameo. And it's a shame because an angry Pooh bear is adorable:


https://imgur.com/x0eaIsn

Despite being named after Piglet, for the third time in this series Piglet only appears on the front and back covers, nowhere inside. But at least he looks angry on the cover. Except for Roo, none of the other characters inside the book even look particularly angry.

At least Gopher gets to make his first appearance in the series.

Piglet and Friends: Confused ~3 stars~

Confusion looks very believable on the faces of a Bear with Very Little Brain and his friends. A cute finish to the series.

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )

Confusion looks very believable on the faces of a Bear with Very Little Brain and his friends. A cute finish to the series.

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )

This joins that rare handful of books in our Pooh collection that does not actually have an appearance by Winnie the Pooh! He's not on the cover nor anywhere inside -- not even a cameo. And it's a shame because an angry Pooh bear is adorable:


https://imgur.com/x0eaIsn

Despite being named after Piglet, for the third time in this series Piglet only appears on the front and back covers, nowhere inside. But at least he looks angry on the cover. Except for Roo, none of the other characters inside the book even look particularly angry.

At least Gopher gets to make his first appearance in the series.

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )

Maybe it's my hubris allowing me to identify, but this book about what makes the Pooh friends proud actually works for me.

Unfortunately, it's the second book in this Piglet's Feelings boxed set that doesn't actually have Piglet in the story. He's on the cover only. I'm starting to have concerns about false advertising . . .

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )

I'm on the third day of going through a boxed set of board books about Piglet's feelings, and the only feeling I'm having is one of boredom.

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )

We learn what things make Piglet and his friends sad.

I'm appalled that they went with a rainy day for Pooh instead of an empty honey pot.

And Eeyore -- the saddest character in the Hundred-Acre Wood doesn't even get a page!?!? They actually passed up the chance to write, "What makes Eeyore sad? Everything." Boo!

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )

Poor Piglet. He gets a series named after him, and he doesn't get to actually be in the first book except on the cover.

This little rhyming board book of ten pages and nine sentences tells us what makes Piglet's friends happy. It's not surprising that honey makes the list for one of them . . .

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )

Kanga is trying to put Roo to bed, but he's restless in ways that will be familiar to any parent. It's pretty simple, but it amuses me, especially if you make a game of counting how many times they redrew the Roo character but simply cut-and-pasted the Kanga figure on consecutive pages.

It helps that on the CD that comes with this board book, narrator Doug Thomas has a voice fairly well suited to lullabies. (I find his singing voice harsh on other Studio Mouse audiobooks where he's doing upbeat songs. Or maybe I'm just getting used to him after listening to so many of his Pooh narrations.)

It's also a rarity that a Winnie the Pooh book doesn't actually have Pooh in it (except as a hand-drawn picture by Roo hanging in the background on a couple pages). This is all Kanga and Roo all the way.

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )

Includes an alphabet poster featuring the items in the book, as well as instructions for downloading a free audio version of the book and printable activities.

A nice rhyming run through the alphabet with Pooh and his friends.

Mostly, I just like the book physically. At 36 pages and with a CD inside the puffy front cover, it's one of the thickest board books I've held. And snapping it shut quickly makes a shockingly loud and sharp noise. (My dogs are annoyed with the sound though, so I must stop.)

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )

Deer Mouse prepares a nest for her soon-to-be babies, and then ventures into the night for a snack. But in the back yard lurks danger, as there is a prowling cat and swooping owl hoping to make Deer Mouse their snack. Will Deer Mouse make it back safely to her nest to have her babies? Reviewed by the Smithsonian Institution for accuracy, Deer Mouse at Old Farm Road is a fun and informative story with beautifully detailed illustrations.

Children follow the Black Bear family as they cool off in the lake, find honey in the woods and have a fun day of playing and exploring! Reviewed by the Smithsonian Institution for accuracy, Black Bear at Sweet Berry Trail is a fun and informative story with beautifully detailed illustrations.

This is a rhyming book that goes through the alphabet from a to z and does a great job and it is also very catchy. Genre, poetry,

book is full of great pictures and is a informational book about bumble bees. ages 3-5

this is a great book for children who are interested in learning more about bumble bees, the book is very informational and full of beautiful life like pictures.
age 5-7
source amazon

Young Reader Reaction: My kids liked it, but it didn't capture their imagination. They did want to read it more than once.

Adult Reader Reaction: I did like it and I think if my readers had been a little younger it would have been a bigger hit. The illustrations are mixed media and are interesting, but not that visually arresting.

Pros: Simple, straightforward syntax as well as a sweet message. The animal illustrations are cute and my children enjoyed seeing the animals.

Read our full review and add yours at The Reading Tub®.

How would you feel if you were being chased by something which you knew wanted to eat you? One warm summer morning, a towering dinosaur named Iguanodon was eating his morning meal of gingko leaves and ferns, while nearby Pelorosaurus grazes on low-lying leaves and a pterosaur glides overhead. However, another dinosaur is watching Iguanodon. It is Neovenator, a meat-eater. Just as it begins to darken, thunder, and rain, Neovenator starts chasing Iguanodon. Will Iguanodon be able to get away?
Children love learning about dinosaurs, so they will enjoy both Laura Gates Galvin’s exciting story and Thomas Buchs’s amazing full color illustrations. Did you know that Iguanodon, so named because of its resemblance to the iguana, was the second dinosaur to be given an official name in history—even before the word “dinosaur” itself was coined, or that being over twelve feet tall and thirty feet long it was one of the largest two-legged species of herbivores known? In addition to the page of facts about Iguanodon, Iguanodon Escapes, one of the “Prehistoric Pals” series from Soundprints and the Smithsonian which includes some twelve other titles, also contains a four-page, tear-out poster. Plus, there is an easy-to-download audiobook available at the publisher’s website.

Copyright by Studio Mouse and the Smithsonian Institution. “Bumblebee awakens from hibernation and prepares her nest for the new eggs she will lay there. Soon Bumblebee’s daughters are born and her nest becomes a flurry of activity.�€? Lists at $2.95 [kbb/06@Bkwarehouse Casa Grand]

Copyright by Studio Mouse and the Smithsonian Institution. “As evening falls, an armadillo emerges from her burrow in search of tasty insects. But when she passes the path of a coyote, her search turns into a night-long adventure.�€? Lists at $2.95 [kbb/06@Bkwarehouse, Casa Grand]