Still Reading Along In My Library

Although I've kept it a secret from my blog, I'm still reading along in my library.  I took a brief break in an attempt to get my library count down, but now I've happily relapsed into pretending I'm eligible for all AARP related discounts, based on the rule that you can't check out more items then your age.  Hey, perhaps I was born on Mercury, you know.  Or I count in dog-years.  

I'm on the M-P's in picture books, with some happy choices and some draggers:

• Captain Raptor and the Space Pirates, by Kevin O'Malley and Patrick O'Brien.   Dinosaur pirates in SPPPPAAAACE.  Picture books just don't come much better than this comic-book style adventure tale.
• Do Not Open This Book!, by Michaela Muntean.  We all loved this meta-story about a book not yet read for reading, with words lying messily around and inspiration unhappily gone missing.  Both the fourth grader and the sixth grader guffawed loudly, and then insisted I read it as well.  I particularly liked the warnings to avoid turning particular pages.

• Just In Case, by Yuri Morales.  I picked this book for its timeliness, since we read it in early November, but I hadn't noticed that it was an alphabet book.  None of us really like alphabet books, so we grumped through it.  It was interesting to learn all the letters in the Spanish alphabet, and I amazed the fourth grader by guessing the final twist, but even the colorful illustrations weren't enough to overlook the dreary march through the letters.  It's good at what it does, we just didn't want it to do it.
• We Planted a Tree, Diane Muldrow.  A surprisingly fun book about the benefits of tree planting.  Despite the clear didactic intent, the bright and detailed pictures of families enjoying trees all over the world, from Paris to deserts to New England gladdened our hearts.  Although P smirked at the factoids ("The sunshine went into the leaves.") he agreed that it was a pleasant read.
• Good As Goldie, by Margie Palatini.  We've long enjoyed the companion book about a toddler and her baby book (Goldie is MAD!), but I think I missed this one.  It resonates because the baby is named Nicky, just lie our cousin.  And now we can all look nostalgically at the young toddler thinking she is big, when clearly everyone under six is really an infant.  
• The Moonglow Roll-O-Rama, Dav Pilkey. Lush pictures and charming quatrains reveal the secret lives of animals under the full moon.  Our favorite was the littlest duckling, who didn't see as much of the event as his siblings.  I balked at the pillow under the dog's head at the end -- my suspension of disbelief doesn't go that far.
• Book Fair Day, by Lynn Plourde.  This bait and switch tale follows a small bibliophile tragically stuck at the end of the book fair line.  Although clearly meant as a funny story and without ever allowing a doubt of the happy ending to surface, I admit I found it a bit nightmarish.  I mean, imagine being the LAST class to go to the book fair, and imagine peeking in all day to see all the books selling out, and the evil forces of bureaucracy yanking you away, and...  Perhaps I have issues.  P thought it was funny.