Candlewick Press books (review and 4 BIG giveaways)

I love reading books to my children, and we really enjoy this time to spend together soaking up stories. My kids and I recently had the opportunity to review a few books from Candlewick Press, and we really had a great time going through the stories. Here are the story books that we reviewed: The Patterson Puppies and the Rainy Day (by Leslie Patricelli), A Walk Down Sesame Street (pop-up book celebrating 40 years), Yummy: eight favorite fairy tales (by Lucy Cousins), The True Story of Goldilocks (by Agnese Baruzzi and Sandro Natalini) and Swan Lake Ballet Theater (by author Jean Mahoney and illustrator Viola Ann Seddon).

The Patterson Puppies and the Rainy Day is an adorable story about 4 little puppy siblings stuck indoors and needing something to do. Using their big imaginations the little puppies turn their living room into a beach with the ocean waters. Playing at the beach became so much fun! The music was playing, the pups were in their swim suits, and they even had a snack with water in their tea cups. With water spilling from the tea cups, one of the pups had a grand idea...let's add more water to make a real ocean! Well, you can imagine where this went...
The Patterson Puppies and the Rainy Day sparks the imagination and brought lots of giggles from my children as we read this story together. What was really comical about this book was the descriptions of the puppies very much resembled characteristics of my own four children. TOO FUNNY! I think your kids would enjoy this book! We sure did! $14.99 U.S./$17.50 Canada
Leslie Patricelli lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband, their two children, and two kitties. She sketched out her first children’s book, YUMMY YUCKY, when her then one-year-old son was putting everything in his mouth. "After hearing myself say ‘yucky!’ or ‘yummy!’ for months on end, this book seemed to write itself," she says. "Talking to and watching my young children all day gave me a voice and inspiration for these books. I write down what I say to them and what they say to me."

A Walk Down Sesame Street Pop-Up book is a great pop-up and my kids really enjoyed seeing Bert and Ernie play their instruments in the laundry room and finding the matching socks in the dryers, slimy reusing an apple as a playhouse, counting the cookies on the tray, looking through Big Bird's "B" book, seeing Super Grover fly through the air to rescue a kitty, and hearing about the rhyming words on Zoe and Abby's pages. This is a great book full of learning letters, counting, rhyming and matching. Plus, Elmo greets everyone on the first page as a big pop-out! This is a new favorite.
Yummy is a book compiled of eight fairy tales. The stories are the original stories, and I was surprised about how a few turned out. Nonetheless, this is a cute book. Here are the stories in this book: Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Enormous Turnip (I had never heard this story before), Henny Penny, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Little Red Hen, The Three Little Pigs, and The Musicians of Bremen. $18.99 U.S./$22.00 Canada
Lucy Cousins is the author-illustrator of many books for children, like Maisy the mouse. Lucy Cousins lives in Hampshire, England.

Have you ever heard the True Story of Goldilocks? This book is about what happened before the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears came to be. The True Story of Goldilocks is about Goldilocks Papa Bear and Mama Bear loving Goldilocks, and Baby Bear not liking her, and in fact he was very impolite and naughty. After Goldilocks had enough of Baby Bear's tactics, Goldilocks taught him how to be GOOD. However, Goldilocks got tired of being good, so she let her hair down and sent a fake invitation to the bears tricking them into leaving so she could have the house to herself. Thus, the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears came to be. $14.99 U.S./ $17.50 Canada
Author-illustrators Agnese Baruzzi and Sandro Natalini met while studying in Urbino, Italy. They have gone on to create a number of children’s books, including THE TRUE STORY OF LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD.

The book, Swan Lake Ballet Theater, is an amazing story book where kids can be creative, anduse their imaginations to put on their own play with the props, people and stage settings all within this board book. The book can be transformed into a stage where you can take the included scenery and ballet characters to act out the play Swan Lake, plus an audio CD with the music from Swan Lake. Included is a full color book about the story and how you can put the play together. There are 9 dancing figures, scenery, back drops, and a supporting cast. My kids really enjoyed this book, but it isn't a book for littler ones to play with. However, telling them the story with the stage before them, is a fun way to do story time.
$24.99 U.S. /$29.00 Canada This book is geared toward ages 6 and up.

Jean Mahoney, the author of The Nutcracker Ballet Theater and The Sleeping Beauty Ballet Theater, says she finds the first moment of light and music in a performance to be an inspiration. She lives in Southampton, New York.
Viola Ann Seddon grew up surrounded by the performing arts, ballet, and opera. She is the illustrator of The Nutcracker Ballet Theater and The Sleeping Beauty Ballet Theater. She lives in London.

ENTER TO WIN!!
Candlewick Press has offered to sponsor a giveaway of an assortment of books, including the ones I reviewed. There will be FOUR winners in this giveaway!
This contest is open to bloggers and non-bloggers of the United States, and the contest is open until midnight March 4th, 2010.
To enter, go to the Candlewick Press website and check out all the books. Comment here about which ones sound interesting to you.

**For extra chances you can: blog this contest, add my button to your site, subscribe to my blog, twitter and/or become a fan on facebook, and/or visit everyday and add another friendly comment about something you found over at Candlewick Press. Lots of chances to win! Don't forget to put the extra comments for the "extra" work. Good luck!**

This review was provided from Candlewick Press. They have provided me with books to review and information to share with my readers. I am sponsored to offer a giveaway for my readers through this review. I was given the product for my personal opinion and option to share with my readers. I was not compensated for my time or written review.