Welcome to our Kids Book Review Library Haul post! This is my mostly-weekly series where I give you quick and snappy reviews of our favorites from our weekly library haul. We read a LOT of children’s books from the library and I like to keep things positive too, so books that I thought were terrible don’t usually make it into the list… unless I just really want to rant about it for a while. That has happened too! Let us know in the comments which books were winners in YOUR library haul!

#1. Grandma’s Hurrying Child by Jane Yolen

Grandma’s Hurrying Child is a sweet tale about remembering a baby’s birthday.  When Maddy asks her grandma what happened on the day she was born, Grandma tells the story of how Maddy was a hurrying child, impatient to arrive, while Grandma was hurrying from far away, worried she wouldn’t make it in time.    It’s a wonderfully crafted story and makes that leap from kids book to children’s literature.

We loved it: 5 out of 5 stars

#2. Princesses by Fiona Watt

Princesses have very busy lives, between all the dancing and dresses, and walks in the woodland, but when it comes down to it, they still have to read stories and be tucked into bed at night-time–just like everybody else.  This is one of the Usborne board books.  I’ve heard great things about the company, but I think this is one of the first books I’ve seen myself.  I was duly impressed.  It’s a touch-and-feel book, but there is much more artistic detail than the average touch-and-feel toddler book, plus a real variety of textures.

We really liked it: 4 out of 5 stars

#3. Eyes, Nose, Fingers, and Toes by Judy Hindley

Rhyming books about babies are always fun, and this one was no exception.  It went a step beyond the ordinary baby anatomy book with these cute little rhymes for every body part.  It’s more grown up than the cute little board book we found last week (“All of Baby: Nose to Toes”) with actual pages, and quite a long list of body parts, but it’s great for expanding your child’s repertoire of random body parts.

We really liked it: 4 out of 5 stars

#4. Tacky’s Christmas by Helen Lester

Yes, this is an actual Christmas book.  No, we aren’t sorry.  We’re celebrating Thanksgiving too, don’t worry.  We’re just also very enthusiastic about Christmas 🙂  Tacky’s Christmas is about one Tacky Penguin, his not-so-tacky friends, and how he manages to save Christmas with his tackiness.  It’s subtly entertaining as an adult (especially an adult reading the book in the beginning of November) but overall a pretty original plot for a Christmas story.  It’s not a Christmas story I’ve read before, and I do love a Christmas story!

We really liked it: 4 out of 5 stars