PICTURE BOOK - We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins

Illustrated by the author

2018, Disney/Hyperion

HC $17.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.51 - 3829 ratings

My rating:  5
Endpapers:  drawings of dinosaurs drawn by Penelope's classmates

1^st line/s:  "Penelope Rex was nervous.  It's not every day a little T. rex Starts school."

My comments:  This has been my favorite book so far this year (it was written last year, 2018)  It's funny, creative, and has a fantastic theme:  treating each other fairly, lovingly, appropriately.  I can't wait to read this aloud to kids.  And I love the illustrations, the diversity in the classroom, and Penelope's innocent reactions to everything that happens to her.

Goodreads:  Penelope the dinosaur starts school, but it’s hard to make friends when her classmates are so delicious!
          It’s the first day of school for Penelope Rex, and she can’t wait to meet her classmates. But it’s hard to make human friends when they’re so darn delicious! That is, until Penelope gets a taste of her own medicine and finds she may not be at the top of the food chain after all. . . . Readers will gobble up this hilarious new story from award-winning author-illustrator Ryan T. Higgins.

Driving My Tractor - Jan Dobbins

Illustrated by David Sims

2009, Barefoot Books

HC & paper (Carlisle's Bosler Library)

32 pages

for very young kids

Goodreads rating: 4.40

My rating: 5 (I have to say it's wonderful, Tristan loved it and enjoyed listening to it over and over and over again.

Title Page: Fully covered colored illustrations of the drier and his tractor, just like the rest of the book.

Illustrations:  Acrylics and Pastels.  Bright and lively and wonderful.

1^st line: "Driving my tractor down a bumpy road./ And in my trailer, there's a heavy load./ There's a black-and-white cow Going moo, moo, moo! It's a very busy day.? Chug, chug, Clank,clank, toot!/ It's a very busy day."

Last four pages include two pages of farm trucks and two pages of crops that are grown on a farm..  The final page is a song with the music.

A farmer goes down a bumpy road every day to pick up heavy loads: one cow, two donkeys, three pigs, four lambs, and five chickens...until he hits a really big bump and they all fall out (then beat him home).

My comments on Goodreads: Tristan loved this book, the repetitive, rhythmic words and the colorful illustrations (he just turned three and LOVES "krucks"). We got this from the library and it had no cd, I didn't even know there was a song until we turned the last page of the book and saw it. We'd actually sung the words all the way from the beginning without realizing, it's a very singable book. Highly recommended for little guys (and I mean both boys and girls) who love trucks and/or farms.