Oonga Boonga by Frieda Wishinsky

This is a great book for an older sibling who is having a difficult time adjusting to a new baby in the house. Baby Louise cries all of the time and nothing her parents or grandparents do can make her happy. But when her older brother Daniel comes home and starts to whisper funny words into her ear she stops when he says "Oonga Boonga!" Baby Louise is all smiles when her brother is around, but as soon as he goes out to play she starts to cry and again, and even though her parents and grandparents try to say "Oonga Boonga" in just the right way, she won't stop crying until Daniel comes inside and whispers new phrase into her ear. The book offer a wonderful lesson about how important siblings can be to one another and why a big brother or sister can be the best friend a baby can have.

Cookies: Bite Size Life Lessons by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

This is a charming little book that is a

delicious collection of defined and illustrated vocabulary words that focus on teaching manners, and other life lessons, to young children. By using chocolate chip cookies as the unifying theme, Rosenthal teaches lessons about concepts such as greed and generosity (i.e., Greedy means taking all the cookies for myself. Generous means offering some to others) and proud and modest (i.e., Proud means, my chin is high, and I sure do like the way my cookies turned out; Modest means you don't run around telling everyone you make the best cookies, even if you know it to be true). I think that one of the most wonderful aspects of this book is that although it teaches children important lessons about how to treat other child, it also respects their ability to understand complex concepts when they are presented in a whimsical and meaningful context.

David Gets in Trouble by David Shannon

This is the third installment in the "David" series by David Shannon. In the two previous books David naturally gets into trouble, but it's the adults who are telling him what not to do. In this book it's finally David's turn to explain himself. Phrases like "It's not my fault", "It slipped", and "But Dad said it" all accompany expressive drawings of David's trouble-prone activities. This book has simple, fun text that appeals to children from about 2 1/2 years and older. It has a predictable story line, and just like in the other books all is forgiven by the last page. Where to Buy: Large children's bookstores and independent booksellers alike typically carry the David books. You can also find all of David Shannon's work through on-line retailers like Amazon.