Every Friday by Dan Yaccarino

What a sweet book to share with a dad! In this father / son tale a boy and his dad share with the reader their weekly tradition of having breakfast together every Friday. There is even an author's note at the beginning explaining that the author has taken his son to breakfast every Friday since his son was three years old!

When I was in kindergarten, I remember a similar tradition I had with my mom...we would go out to lunch every Wednesday and I got to pick the place. For some reason, I really loved a good cheeseburger (I still do today!) so we would inveritable go to a fast food joint and have fries and a burger. I don't know if I'd choose the same places today (I'm a little more health conscience now that I'm not 5) but I still remember that tradition we had. The illustrations in this book are reminicient of the 50's including such details as a milkman, an egg cup, and cars with 50's type details. A very cute book for sharing with someone you love!

17 Things I'm not Allowed to do Anymore

The protagonist of this simple but hilarious book presents 17 examples of things she's not allowed to do anymore, mostly because they are all things considered to be naughty (like showing her underpants to a boy, disrupting class at school, and glueing her brother's slippers to the carpet as shown on the cover). I especially like how she's not allowed to give the gift of califlower anymore. Very hilarious!

As a middle child, there were often things I wasn't allowed to to either. For example, after leaving the glue gun sitting on my mother's ironing board with the power on, I wasn't allowed to use the glue gun anymore. After using house paint on my mother's cutting board, I wasn't allowed to use house paint anymore (or touch my mother's kitchen things.) And after cutting my own hair (when it was halfway down my back) I wasn't allowed to use scissors anymore.

The pictures in this funny book add so much to the story. Would that we all could be rendered so artistically when we are creating mischief!

So Few of Me by Peter H. Reynolds

Are you a list maker? I love to make lists. They seem to help me organize my thoughts as well as the tasks I want to do in any given time. However, sometimes just the thought of starting a list can be daunting, especially if the list is bound to go on and on.

This book is about Leo. Leo is a busy person who has a lot to do. He organizes his tasks on lists and realizes how much easier it would be if there were two of him. I have felt like this so many times! Leo thinks he's lucky when the doorbell rings and another Leo appears! This book is a little like a counting book...as the pages turn, the Leos keep appearing. But somehow, the more Leos there are, the more work there is to do and the less time there is to dream.

The sparse illustrations in this book are charming and the endpapers (lists in and of themselves) are so telling in their message with tasks like, "Prioritize!" and "Go faster!" and "Write to Aunt Iris."

A day is just a day and what it's for is up to us. Leo reminds us of that.