Eek! There's a Mouse in the House (Sandpiper Paperbacks)

My husband picked this book up at the library the other week. My kids are 3.5 and 2 years old, and I think this is the most ideal book for their age range. We have some of those "award winning classic" children's books that the kids have absolutely no interest in. I don't know if this book has ever won any awards, but it should be a classic. It grabbed the interest of my kids in several ways. It has a simple rhyme, each page starts with an exclamation that the kids like to immitate, a different animal, and different actions. For instance: Dear Me! The Dog has broken the dish. And now the cat is after the fish. Send in the Hog To shoo that Dog! Each page introduces a different animal, and they're doing things like dancing, eating, kicking holes in the wall, getting tangled in yarn, etc. And each page has something visually interesting. After a week of reading this to my kids, my 3.5 year old already knows most of the words, and my 2 year old likes to point out things going on in the pictures.

Another charming picture book from the creator of "Fireman Small" shows an escalating series of animal hijinx: a mouse is discovered in the house, so in comes the cat to chase that rat, in comes the dog to chase the cat, and so on, all the way up to the elephant. The illustrations are charming and feature visual puns for parents (note, for example, the "duck soup") while kids are sure to love the sweetly humourous animals. The story is told in simple rhyme, with plenty of exclamations and animal absurdity to make your toddler giggle.