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Today’s guest book review and Dads Reading Featured Post is from a good friend of ours here at Book Dads. John Cave Osborne is the author of the recently released book, Tales from the Trips (read our review here and author spotlight post), which chronicles his life as he morphed from carefree bachelor into the father of four in just thirteen months thanks to marrying a single mom then quickly conceiving triplets.

If you like what you read here from John today, check out more of his writing at his blog (www.johncaveosborne.com) over at the parenting blog Babble (www.babble.com/contributors/john-osborne/).

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Some children’s books are entertaining. Some are educational. Some provide top-notch illustrations. Some deliver wonderful morals. And some are iconic classics.

I love children’s books that offer any one of those things. But my very favorite children’s book — Corduroy, written and illustrated by Don Freeman — offers all of them.

The story begins when a little girl named Lisa falls in love with a bear named Corduroy. Lisa begs her mom to buy Corduroy for her. “Not today, dear,” her mom replies, citing that she’s already spent too much money not to mention the fact that the bear, whose overalls are missing a button, doesn’t even look new.

That night, after everyone had left the department store, Corduroy scampers off on an adventure to find a button that might make him more look more appealing. His journey takes him to a different floor — one which he mistakes for a palace given the number of tables, chairs, beds and lamps he finds.

But his search is cut short by a security guard who brings the bear back to his place on the toy-department shelf. The next morning Corduroy wakes up just as the first customer enters the store. That first customer is none other than Lisa, the girl from the day before. She tells Corduroy that her mom has agreed to let Lisa take him home, only Lisa has to buy him with her own money. Luckily, she had just enough in her piggy bank.

The last scene finds Corduroy and Lisa together in her modest apartment. The little girl’s small room is nothing like the palace he had seen the night before. But to Corduroy, it’s even be

Babble.com had an interesting post- their 9 Weirdest Picture Books of 2008. I'm a big fan of weird and it caught my eye, so I HAD to check it out. After all, each of us has our own idea of weird, don't we?

I know I read a post somewhere recently that linked to a free online word game in which players make as many words as they can from a certain number of letters. I played the game once, but now I can't find it. Anyone know what I'm thinking of?

It wasn't Babble (a combination of Boggle and Scrabble), which we love.

It was a lot like Neopets Word Poker (my favorite Neopets game), but without the pirates.

I can't remember what it was called, nor where I saw the link. Hmm. This is...puzzling. (Ba dum bum.)

It's easy to forget that there are millions of American adults out there for whom children's literature is only applicable to their lives when their toddler stumbles into a room with a book and the parent has little choice but to read whatever it was their friends/family bought them for the child's last birthday. These people have never had the inclination to go out and find the best possible easy reading fare for their tots because they either do not care or haven't the time/inclination. The result is a piece like My nemesis: Maisy Mouse. What a brilliant example of what happens when a parent doesn't pay attention and WHAM. They end up reading over and over a book they can't stand to their adorable Maisy-luvin' son.

I'm not saying that this is an entirely avoidable situation. But it's clear that this guy, in spite of his utter bile-spitting contempt for the world's most famous British mouse (Danger Mouse and Basil have to take a backseat to her, sadly) isn't helped any by the fact that he is deeply aware of at least 3 different Maisy books. Now the article is more about dealing with your child's essential innocence and how it stands in opposition to your own deeply ingrained cynicism. Still, don't like Maisy? Whole bunch of other books out there, buddy. Doesn't take all that long to find 'em. Methinks this fellow is long overdue for a trip to the library. A trite idea, but I'm putting down even money that says his kid doesn't have a card.

I've just discovered Babble for the first time, which describes itself as "a magazine and community for the new urban parent." Uh-oh. I work in the heart of Manhattan and I can tell you that there's nothing much more frightening than an organized conglomeration of "urban parents". So, naturally, I had to check out their book reviews. My fear was that it would turn out to be just a massive listing of books like Urban Babies Wear Black and other disturbing adult-centric fare. But it's a rather good list, from what I could see, so that fear went entirely unfounded. Still, you may have to contend with statements like, "While I 100-percent support reading to children, and know it's necessary for their development and all that, I must confess I hate reading most children's books aloud. They're often repetitive, have dumb plots or require me to make awkward sound effects." Poor parents. Such trials and tribulations they must endure. Somebody hold my hankie while I go and fish the world's smallest violin out of my pocket.

Thanks to Gail Gauthier for the link.