The Upbringing of Mom and Dad! How To Train the Perfect Parents by Rebecca Ashdown

PARENTS DON'T REALLY UNDERSTAND HOW HARD IT IS TO BE A KID.

PARENTS JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT US KIDS WANT. (PUPPY!)

AND NEED! (PUPPY!)

YOU CAN'T BLAME THEM. THEY HAVEN'T BEEN TRAINED.

But not for long! Mimi has a plot for a successful plan to get a puppy. Her parents may be totally unaware of the very existence of puppies, but she's going to blanket the place with an advertising plan that would make any mass marketer quail. Her parents will be totally trained when she's done.

And then comes the big push! What parents could possibly resist the compulsion to provide Mimi with a puppy when they see those polished, posh, perfectly performing pooches at the dog show. Mom! Dad! can we go? Please!

And Mimi makes the sale, in Rebecca Ashdown's How to Train the Perfect Parents (Sterling, 2019). Of course, things get really, um, messy when Mimi actually plunges into puppy care, and there's a bit of a question as to who is training whom, but youngsters will find plenty of fun in dog training as well as parent training in this charming pet tale.

How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways: I Love You More Than The Smell of Swamp Gas by Kevan Atteberry

Little Monster is enjoying a take-your-monster-kid-to-work-night with Papa, which means they are skink-hunting deep in the stinky swamp. Papa Monster sings his happy song:

"I LOVE NOTHING MORE
THAN A MIDNIGHT ROMP,
WHILE I CHASE A SKINK
THOUGH THE DARK, STINKY SWAMP."

Nothing more? Little Monster is suddenly worried.

"DO YOU LOVE ME AS MUCH
AS THE SKINK YOU CHASE?"

Well, when he puts it like that, Papa revises his earlier versification. He loves Little Monster more, he proclaims, even more than bloodsucking ducks! Now that's high praise for his little impling, but Little Monster has to up the ante just a bit. So Papa rises to the challenge, proclaiming that his little one is sweeter than a big whiff of swamp gas.

From a guy who knows a thing or two about monsters, Kevan Atteberry's newest, I Love You More Than the Smell of Swamp Gas (Harper, 2017) takes a spoofy but sweet swipe at Sam McBratney's classic, Guess How Much I Love You, in a silly story in which parental love is rated right along with mummified bass and oozing mud between the toes. Tickle boxes will truly turn over, as Papa counts up the many ways he loves his little "stinkling" boy. Artist Atteberry gives the read-aloud parent some fun, too, as Papa and Little Monster take a cheery stroll through the graveyard among tombstones for the likes of Long John Slither, Winnie the Boo, and Little Skunky Foo Foo. Atteberry's monsters are abstract and not the least scary, and his illustrations are indeed quite pleasing to the eye, as Papa pledges to love his little beastie boy "monstrously." As Kirkus jokes in their review, "Perfect for those parents who are sick of the treacly "how much do I love you" books and who want something with a little more ick."

Share this swamp monster saga with Atteberry's Tickle Monster and Halloween Hustle.

Pete the Cat: Rock On, Mom and Dad by Rob Scutton

It's Monday and Pete the Cat is late for school.

His alarm clock didn't go off!

Does Pete have to worry?

No. Dad has prepared Pete's breakfast and Mom has his backpack all ready to go.

Pete is going to make the bus!

Pete realizes that his parents do a lot of things for him. Dad drives him to guitar lessons, and Mom takes him to practice baseball with the team. Pete wants to do something really, really special, something, well, awesomefor them.

But what can Pete the Cat do that is awesome? He asks his big brother Bob for some ideas, and Bob comes through with quite an idea.

What can Pete do better than any other cat?

Rock out!

And rock out Pete the Cat does, in Rob Scotton's Pete the Cat: Rock On, Mom and Dad! (HarperCollins, 2016), playing and singing to tell his mom and dad that they are awesome for teaching him to love art and music and that he loves them--with all his heart. Scotton's groovy Pete plays and sings his own hearty appreciation for his parents, in a short and sweet thank-you note to all those moms and dads who make all the good stuff possible.

[Expletive Deleted]: Little Bird's Bad Word by Jacob Grant

Little Bird and Papa are having lunch out together. Papa's picked up their food and they're flying to a good place to share their picnic.

"LUNCH IS EXTRA WIGGLY TODAY," NOTES PAPA.

Lunch is a big pink worm, who obviously does not wish to go to lunch with them. He wiggles so well that Papa drops him. And before he can think, that word pops out of Papa's beak!

"BLARK!"

Little Bird is intrigued. He's gotta say that word, too! In fact, he says it three times!

"THIS IS NOT A WORD FOR LITTLE BIRDS!" PAPA SAYS.

But despite the warning, Little Bird can't wait to try it out with his friends.

"Blark!"

His friend Frog is affronted. Moose is not amused. Ladybug and Fish are offended.

Turtle is so taken aback that he clams up inside his shell!

Maybe that interesting word is not a GOOD word!

Papa apologizes and points out that Little Bird has a lot to learn about words, especially words that may do some harm to others. And he teaches Little Bird a new word.

"SORRY!"

But author-illustrator Jacob Grant gives the LAST word about bad words to Little Bird's new catch for lunch, the worm, who is clearly having a very bad day, in his Little Bird's Bad Word (Feiwel and Friends, 2015). This is a fresh and funny introduction to the power of words and the use of certain words that little ones should not use.  Grant's illustrations are cute and comic, but reveal volumes in the facial expressions of his characters. Kirkus Reviews calls it "... a charming, tender and ever pertinent life lesson."

Embraceable You! The Hug by Scott Campbell

HERE I COME!

I AM THE HUG MACHINE!

This kid figuratively hangs out a shingle for his version of EXTREME HUGGING!

Hugging his mom is a piece of cake. It comes naturally.

Hugging a mailbox? Cuddling a cranky baby? No problem.

But a porcupine? That takes special devotion and his own self-styled HAZMAT suit--boots, facemask, oven mitts, and a protective pillow over the contact zone.

Mission accomplished!

The next challenge is hugging a whale. No way he's getting his ever-loving arms around that! But whales NEVER get a hug, so he rappells down the behemoth's back, hugging and marking his progress as he goes.

But being a embracing machine is tiring work, and sometimes a guy just needs for his Mom to give him the hug, in Scott Campbell's Hug Machine (Atheneum Books, 2014). Campbell's faux naif illustrations, with rough outlines and splotchy watercolors, are loaded with preschooler-pleasing charm, and it's not hard to love his sweet little hugging hero. Says the Center for Children's Books, "Whether for bedtime or storytime, affectionate kids and adults will thoroughly embrace (ahem) this fuzzy and goofy paean to cuddling."

The Elephant in the Room: Hiding Phil by Eric Barclay

"LOOK! AN ELEPHANT!"

Three kids meet up with an elephant stranded at the bus stop and invite him to join them at the playground.  With his tiny hat secure on his head, the pachyderm and the kids have a blast on the slides and see-saw, and Phil even offers his long trunk for a jump rope. The kids can't bear to say goodbye to their new buddy.

"MOM AND DAD WILL LOVE PHIL!" the girl gushes.

Suddenly logic rears its party-pooping old head.

Um, No. They won't. Obviously, Phil won't fit in their house.

But the kids are hopeful.  Maybe they can sneak Phil by, under their parents' radar. But how do you hide an elephant?

The oldest boy tries hiding Phil under the dog house.

It looks like a red-roofed football helmet on Phil, and what's more, it's stuck!

By the time Phil is free, the dog house is a pile of splinters. But the kids haven't given up yet. They rake up a pile of autumn leaves deep enough to conceal all of Phil except his fedora. But the leaves give Phil a sneeze. KER-CHOOOO!

The leaves leave in the breeze from that big sneeze, but the kids have another inspiration. Throwing an enormous tarp over Phil, they paint a door and two windows on the front and write "CLUBHOUSE" over the door. This trick can't miss. Hopefully, they invite Mom and Dad to view their new backyard hangout.

"UM... IS THAT AN ELEPHANT?" says Mom.

Busted.

That eternal plea of kids, "Can we keep him?" no matter what sort of critter they bring home, provides the premise for Eric Barclay's hilarious story of a mission impossible, Hiding Phil (Scholastic, 2013). Barclay utilizes a minimum of simple but telling text in this story, and his retro comic characters (somewhat reminiscent of the popular cartoon "The Family Circus") and his happy use of visual jokes tell the story with a bit of pathos, plenty of wit, and an empathetic ending.  Hiding Phil is a honey of a kid pleaser, great for read-aloud times or for self-reading for beginners. "Prepare yourself for a "trunkload" of fun," quips Children's Literature.

Mom & Pop Shop: Truck Stop by Anne Rockwell

EARLY EACH MORNING,
BEFORE THE SUN IS EVEN UP,
THE TRUCK STOP OPENS FOR BREAKFAST,
AND THE TRUCKS START PULLING IN.

But before the first 18-wheeler rolls in, Mom, Dad, and their son are already there, starting their day and getting ready to keep 'em rolling along the main highway.  The boy squeezes orange juice, Dad starts the bacon and hash browns frying, and Mom gets the coffee brewing.

Outside Uncle Murray turns on the outside lights and gets the service center lights on as well, just as the headlights of the regulars start lighting the lot with their headlights.  Sam parks his big rig, gets Uncle Murray to check all this tires, and fills up with coffee and eggs over easy. Maisie's Milk Tanker rolls in, followed by Diligent Dan's Moving Van, who fill up their tanks at the pumps and their tummies at the counter.

As the sun lights up the front windows, in comes a flatbed hauler and Pete & Priscilla's Tow Truck.  The regulars are all there, except for Green Gus, the little battered pickup and his driver, who usually start the day at the family's diner counter.

Still wondering about Gus, the boy runs out to meet the Yellow Bus, which makes its special stop out front to pick him up for school.

ON THE OLD BLACKTOP ROAD THROUGH THE WOODS, I SUDDENLY SEE GREEN GUS, PARKED ALL ALONE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD!

"PLEASE CALL THE TRUCK STOP AND SAY I'VE FOUND GUS!" I ASK THE BUS DRIVER.

It looks like Pete & Priscilla's Tow Truck will be making its first run of the day right away, the boy thinks, as he settles back into his seat with a sense of a job well done. After all, Gus is a regular, and even if the boy is on his way to school, it's still his job to take care of him when he needs the truck stop to help.

Anne Rockwell, a famed veteran writer with a gazillion books going back over decades under her belt, establishes a wonderfully warm family feeling in her latest, Truck Stop (Viking, 2013). For this kid, the family shop is his home, a place where his is an important job, part of the on-the-road community that they serve.  There is a strong pride and sense of place in Rockwell's setting that makes this homey business more than a mere gas-and-go stop on the long highway.  Artist Melissa Iwai's solidly soft and rounded illustrations add a just-right heartland flavor to this look into the life of a small mom-and-pop place which plays its part in what keeps the business of life rolling.