Buyer beware

Monkey loves books so in order to not go into debt we go to the library a lot (and also because attention span is a bit short - his and mine!) Every time we go he insists on reading a bunch of books and then we scramble to pick out books to take home.

My advice to you? Pre-read your selections before checking them out! Aside from the annoying books we've brought home we've picked out some wonderful books but books that have made for some awkward discussions with a toddler. Now on to the books (which truly are great books and perfect for a child going through a tough situation):

A few months ago we got to discuss death after reading The Forever Dog. This is a touching story about a little boy whose dog dies. The premise is that he'd made a pact with his dog that they'd be "friends forever" and after the dog dies the boy is mad that the dog broke the pact. The mother talks with the boy and tells him that his dog will be forever in his heart (thus the forever dog). I think this is a perfect book for a child who has lost a pet . . . but not necessarily for MY child who has not! Let's just say we talked about lot about death and such while we had that book on loan. We probably read it at least twice a day - so it's a great book but know what you're getting into!

The most recent selection Now One Foot, Now the Other (down to once a day now) completely made me cry on first read. This book is a very sweet story about a little boy whose grandfather (his best friend) has a stroke. Luckily there's no death in this one because I don't think I could have handled introducing Monkey to the possibility that his grandfather might die. It really affected me much more than Monkey. Truly, I'm glad we got this book because it is very touching and we've had good discussions about how people are different, etc. (The grandfather "sounded like a monster" when he was first trying to talk after coming home). The premise is that the grandfather taught Bobby to walk (now one foot, now the other) and after he comes home they switch roles and Bobby helps his Grandfather. There's more about building towers, elephants and sneezing (which Logan loves) but I'll let you read it for yourself.