What Would We Be Without Bees? The Thing About Bees: A Love Letter by Shabazz Larkin

Sometimes bees can be a bit rude.
They fly in your face and prance on your food.

If a bee has to sting you, it definitely hurts.
But life without bees would be even worse.

Without bees there would be no flowers, (or cauliflowers), no watermelons, no strawberry shortcake or apple pie, no mangoes for smoothies, no cucumbers for pickles on your hamburgers.

When a bee and a flower love each other, a fruit is born!

It's called POLLINATION!

Most growing thing depend on bees (and their associates--butterflies and other bugs, hummingbirds and even fruit bats) to spread pollen from flower to flower so that plants make fruits with seeds and their seeds can get planted to grow more plants that make flowers to be pollinated--well, you get the idea!

So what would we be without BEES?

HUNGRY! VERY HUNGRY!

In his The Thing About Bees: A Love Letter (Readers to Eaters, 2019), author-illustrator  Shabazz Larkin offers much knowledge about the bee and the life cycle of plants, and much wisdom in a sweet lesson in parental love. Parents are the first teachers, and this book offers a lot of information about living in peace with nature. A double-page spread offers "Everything You Need to Know About How Not to Get Stung" along with information about various members of the bee family, from "Kind" bumblebees to "Kinda Mean" yellow jackets and what to do to co-exist with those stinging insects. Larkin's theme is that we must all be "bee keepers," and his lively and lovely illustrations of bees doing their thing in various settings and kids encountering them is a cheery little science lesson on a very serious subject. Says School Library Journal, “Starring an affectionate family and a whole lot of bees, Larkin offers up a sparkling celebration of necessary pollinators…."

'Snow Doubt About It! I Love You Snow Much by Sandra Magsamen

There's snow one like YOU.

We know that's true.

You are snow special, too!

It's snow secret you are snow bright! And there are snow shortages of endearments and snowy scenes inside for young fingers to follow.

In fact, There's snow chance any little one will not love Sandra Magsamen's I Love You Snow Much Scholastic, 2018), a snow-themed board book with its charming faux applique covers and illustrations, its lively rhymes, and its jolly snowman with his real felt snow cap.

Wintry but warm!

Share this one with its companion book, Magsamen's rhythmic reindeer ride, Our Little Deer (Made With Love).

More than the Moon? I Love You, Little One by Clare Lloyd

HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE ME?

A little bunny asks the big question, cuddling with a parent under the big full moon.

Is he loved more than the moonglow in the night?

A series of baby animals ask a parent the big question. Is his love for the little one more than Father Wolf's love of running? Is it taller than Papa Monkey's love for tall tree-climbing? Does Mama Penguin love her baby more than the snow?

Is it deeper than the whales' beautiful blue sea? Is it more soft than the owls' fluffy feathers?

And of course the answer is I love you so much, as much as I can love, in Clare Lloyd's I Love You Little One (Dorling Kindersley, 2018). Author Lloyd and artist Claire Petane set each pair on their own two-page spread within their own two-color palette. The monkeys share a green and black landscape, the big and little wolf are shown in a gray-blue and black setting, while big and little elephant are shown against an orange and black world. This is a little book about love that offers its own built-in read-aloud storyteller and lights up the big moon that begins the story. It's a book about love and a toy-and-movable book for Valentine's Day or any day, because love is an everyday thing.

A First Valentine: Lots of Love, Little One by Sandra Magsamen

You are a gift and a blessing in every way.

I love you more and more each and every day.

Describing the love parents feel for their young child is almost impossible, but Sandra Magsamen's, Lots of Love Little One (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2018), a rhyming Valentine to the youngest amongst us, is a sweetly charming way to try.

Counting the ways to describe "the depth and breadth" of a mother's or father's love takes author Magsamen into funny and fanciful comparisons--more than the twirls of all the world's dancers, more than all twinkles in the stars that shine, more than all the PB and J sandwiches ever made or strands of spaghetti served in Rome! Her illustrations, however, are simple, done in bright primary colors, of top-stitched nursery playthings, including a blue elephant mother and baby and a big red heart, making this just published little book a just-in-time gift for a first Valentine's Day.

And for older toddlers, share this one with Sam McBratney's classic story of Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare's best-selling can-you-top-this tale, Guess How Much I Love You, also available in a set of book and an adorable plush Little Hare toy, Guess How Much I Love You: Deluxe Book and Toy Gift Set.

Merry Mayhem? Alternatives to Gory Gaming under the Christmas Tree from Common Sense Media

If you feel that blood and gore shooting games are just not in the Christmas spirit, you're not the only one.

Says Common Sense Media, "If your kid's a gamer, you've no doubt heard of Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto -- two of the most popular console franchises out there. But how much do you know about the content? You might be surprised at just how gory some of these games get. Find out what your kids (or their friends) are playing on this list of the most violent games of the year, and arm yourself with a bunch of imaginative, engaging, and cool family-friendly alternatives."

For a list of the ten most violent video games and their less gory alternatives, see what Common Sense recommends here.