What is Ezri Reading? Books about books!

These two are books about toddlers who love their books.

Maybe a Bear Ate It by Robie Harris illustrated by Michael Emberly
In this book a little monster is imagining all the things that might have happened to his missing book. Maybe a bear ate it. Maybe a shark swallowed it. Maybe a bat flew away with it. Since he can’t sleep without it, he decides to look for his book. After searching the house, he finds his book under his bed. He gives his book a hug and says he loves it. Then he curls up and goes to sleep with his book. The illustrations show that the little monster’s stuffed animals are the animals he imagines doing away with his book. I’ve referred to the little monster as “he,” though no gender is assigned. No name or species is given either. Just a little critter talking about his/her book. The bibliophile in me loved this title and Ezri asked for it AGAIN.

Book! by Kristine O’Connell George illustrated by Maggie Smith
In this book a young boy (I think no gender is given in the text) is given a wrapped book as a present. Then he explains how he likes to open it and close it and put it on a shelf. He likes to wear it as a hat and read it to his cat. Ezri has been trying to read books and magazines to Sushi a lot lately, so she relates to this. The cat in the illustrations is seal-pointed grey like one of our cats, so she really likes finding the cat on each page. This is not a hard game as the cat is not hidden, but he is a part of each illustration. The boy, toy elephant and book are also in each spread. The illustrator did a nice job with this simple text. In the last page where the boy has fallen asleep with his book the eyes of the cat, toy elephant and rabbit on the cover of the book are also closed. I liked this touch that everyone was now napping. The boy also takes his book on a wagon ride to his secret place hiding under a table and takes his book to a lap so he will be read to before his nap. Yes this was a perfect pre-nap read.

Sushi has decided since we took the side of Ezri’s crib that it is a perfect place to nap. In this photo Ezri and Sushi are happily sharing the crib. Sadly, Sushi being in the crib makes it WAY TOO EXCITING a place for Ezri to sleep. She must be evicted at nap and bed time or Ezri will not sleep.