I came across this book while looking for some good youth books with the Christian worldview. I could not believe how accurately Ms. Gilbert has portraited the current Christian community and some of its problems using an analogy. The struggles of Christian walking in faith is also well portraited. Although this book was written for young adults, I recommend this book to everyone - young & old!

Hofrrichter is a genius with this book. I couldn't stop reading it and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Dutch art, or any art for that matter.

The artwork in this book is very colorfully attractive and true to the Disney's Jungle Book movie. It is amazing that so much detail was put into the illustrations.

Another excellent feature about this book is how well the story was condensed from the film. It's almost all here. Often the Golden Books base their stories from segments taken from the movie. That is not the case here.

The story of Mowgli, the man-cub, befriended by the animals of the Jungle in India comes to life in concise and easy to read words. Bagheera the wise panther, Baloo the bumbling bear, and all his other jungle friends are all here as they make their way to the man-village. Mowgli saves the day by fending off the sly tiger, Shere Khan.

This is a very good book.

Our names are Janae and Anthony. JUST A DAYDREAM is our favorite Mercer Mayer book. Janae's favorite part was when Little Critter daydreamed and thought he was a super boy! Anthony's favorite part was when Little Critter was a superhero and scared the bully!

"Just a nap" features the little sister of Mercer Mayer's popular character, Little Critter. It's nap time, but she's NOT SLEEPY! Page by page, she finds new things to do to postpone taking her nap, and page by page, Mom gently and patiently responds(although she's not an unrealistic mother - she does look a little cross towards the end).

The book is colorful, not too long, small and portable so you can stuff it in a bag and read it while in line somewhere. My 4yrold doesn't mind that the main character is a little girl, he loves the story and the pictures. There's even a companion cat, so you can play "find the cat" on each spread.

Last night in the midst of a loud and scary storm my two-yearold kept asking me for something. It took me a few minutes tounderstand that she was saying, "Thunder book." So we went to our bookshelves in search of this book, which has been a favorite of hers since it first came into our home. (She also loves her little critter CDrom of "Just Grandma and Me") Last night I read the book three times and my husband read it twice, before my daughter said, "Thunder all gone" and was ready to move on to another book. This is the first time I've seen her use a book to process/normalize fears, and I think it's wonderful. Even though this is supposed to be for the 4-8 year old, all young children are fascinated by storms. The book doesn't minimize the scary aspects, but does give examples of ways of dealing with fear (reading a book, listening to a tape, climbing into bed with a brother) and talks about the positive aspects of thunderstorms (the adventure, roasting marshmallows in the fireplace when the lights go out, splashing in puddles the next day, and the fact that storms help flowers grow). My only complaint is that the children do end up sleeping in their parents room which is something we're currently trying to discourage. But I'm very grateful for this book.

My son and I have been collecting The Critter series since he was born and this is just one of the dozens of our favorites. Children love the idea of pitching a tent and looking at the stars. How true to see the critter keep coming inside for this and that b/c of the dark. I highly recommend this and many other critter books.

This book starts off with the Littler Critter visiting his relatives. He shows his cousin his bike and his cousin wanted to race so they did and his cousin won. His cousin dares him to climb trees and picks on him quite a bit.They got in trouble for building a robot with his uncles tools,but he didn't know that.They also played checkers where his cousin knocked over the board. They played many other sorts of games and The cousin picks on Little Critter quite a bit.He even,during hide and seek put on a mask and scared the Little Critter. The cousin wanted to play some more but Little Critter didn't want too. Finally his mom said they were going home and Little Critter was happy to leave.But before he could leave his cousin gave him a piece of paper that said I'm sorry and Little Critter thought that maybe his cousin wasn't too bad after all. This book is a funny one to read and it reminded me of how I used to be playing with my little cousins. But it is an excellent book that all children should read.

As a storyteller who coaches young tellers, this book and others in the series have been excellent resources for helping develop narrative skills. The illustrations are rich with detail, allowing children to develop that sense of "movies in your head" that is so often suggested in books on learning to be a storyteller.

The real value for me, however, has been as a tool for working with the language disabled kids in the middle school where I teach. Because of the rich, sequenced illustrations, the kids are able to develop their ability to describe, to infer, to make predictions, develop plot and logically order their narratives. It's especially fun for them to develop their stories, then compare and contrast with the original text.

The information on storytelling traditions provided by Janice DelNegro in the introductory pages is very helpful for those who are less familiar with the oral tradition. Because this story is from Thailand, it would also be a great component of any multi-cultural studies unit. If you encounter this, or any of the books sadly now out of print in the "Adventures in Storytelling" series, grab them right away. You will find infinite applications for these books.

This is a cute book that takes your child through Little Elephant's morning from the time he wakes up until he finds out what his surprise is. Your toddler will enjoy listening to the nice flow of the story while your preschooler has fun picking out the words that rhyme. The pictures are bright and fun to look at and this book enjoyable to read. Little Elephant's Surprise is a favorite in my house (a look at all of the taped pages will prove it!).