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Thanks for this recommendation. I tend to shy away from any books with talking animals (just a hangup of mine), but this sounds exactly right for my younger daughter.

My daughter (age 4) adores these books, likes Cobble Street Cousins (though not as much) and is enjoying Catwings. Are there more books along these lines - short, heavily illustrated chapter books that are NOT readers with limited/controlled vocabulary?

Good question. Sadly, I think the answer is no, on the whole. I have come across VERY FEW books of this length and level - something between beginning to read books but not quite Magic Tree House/Junie B Jones level/length either. Here are a few books/series off the top of my head. I have reviewed these and you can search for them on my blog:<br /><br />Horse Crazy by Lester<br /><br />Toys

I purchased these books on your recommendation and waited to read them to my son until he turned 5 recently. He thoroughly enjoyed them and so did I. I found the books to be so charming and soothing. &quot;Lovely&quot; is a word that comes to mind. One caveat, I reviewed the hardcover editions at the library first but purchased the paperback. I found the illustrations in the paperback editions to

I did finally remember to compare the paperback illustrations (at the bookstore) with the hardcover artwork (copy I checked out form the library) and you as 100% accurate in your assessment. I am sad to realize this - the pictures, at their best, are very rich for a black and white illustration and the paperback versions are definitely lacking. Like you, I would shell out the extra $$ and buy

nice work

Tanya, I think I will be the lone vice of dissent, because everyone I know really enjoys these books also, but I don&#39;t. I didn&#39;t detest them either but I found them to be pretty bland. Now after reading your post, I will cut the books some slack because you have reminded me by the post, that these books are readers and not picture books so the absence of challenging vocabulary is

I have to confess, I share your cringe-worthy responses to the characters in the books, but, alas, we are adults and possibly slightly less attuned to delights of slapstick humor and the need for clearly defined good and bad and right and wrong than the young readers who enjoy these books. Hopefully the success of this series will inspire more writers to create beginning reader books at this

<i>&quot;These qualities make the series the ideal bridge between beginning readers and chapter books, which can sometimes be a difficult and boring bridge to cross.&quot;</i><br /><br />Well said -- these (and the Poppleton books) aren&#39;t exactly high-end childrens&#39; literature, but they fit a very specific need and they do that very well. The pacing, silly bits and excellent illustrations

Thanks! And that is such a good point about a beginning reader books functioning as traditional picture books. I think most parents don&#39;t think of them as such because they are so horribly boring on the whole... But, like you mentioned, Poppleton, Houndsley &amp; Catina and Cowgirl Kate are definitely among the best in this &quot;bridge&quot; category.

Indeed! And I thank you (as always) for recommending many of them.

We have read all of them as bedtime stories for my now 4yo. The divisions into short chapters made it easy to stop if it needed to be a quick night. He LOVES them. I think the text/characters can be a bit much, but I LOVE the illustrations. If I could afford to, I would buy them (for sale on his website). Even as I was reading along for the umpteenth time, I would notice some new detail in one of

Agreed! Van Dusen&#39;s amazing illustrations are the big attraction for these books! I love his attention to detail, too, especially in his book &quot;Circus Ship.&quot; Spectacular! I need to get my hands on his Mr Magee books!

Thank you for your post. I am a HUGE fan of Kate DiCamillo but I never read the Mercy Watson series (not did my two older kids) but now I will check out. That early chapter book level is a tough level to find really good quality book series and for some reason, I stayed away from the Mercy Watson series also...maybe the pig isn&#39;t the most appealing of animal protagonists??<br /><br />

Thanks for the great review. These will definetely be on my order list for next year.

Can&#39;t wait to hear what you think!

Spot-on review. They&#39;re good books, no question. <br /><br />My girls lost interest pretty quickly, though. If I remember right, I thought it might be because there&#39;s so little variation in the illustrations throughout each book -- if you held the book six feet away, the pictures would sort of all look the same. <br /><br />I&#39;ve noticed that same phenomenon in some of the board books

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. I love Mo Willems! My 9 month old loves him as well (at least the pictures in his books) :o)

Maybe your girls picked up on what kind of irks me about these books, in spite of the fact that I have to acknowledge their brilliance. I definitely see how the lack of variation makes the books good for emerging readers, but... how long can you keep milking the same cow. Maybe that&#39;s why there hasn&#39;t been a new pigeon book in a while.

Perhaps you&#39;re right -- we never got into the pigeon books. I took the whole stack of Elephant and Piggie books out of the library last night and the kids were all glad to see them. Ella read them all happily this morning. So I&#39;m thinking this was an issue with *me*.<br />:)

Interesting! I wonder if other adults have a similar quasi-negative response to Mo&#39;s books like you and I did. Glad the kids enjoyed them again, though.