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We try to take our littles (ages 5 and 3) the library almost every Saturday to get a fresh armful of books to tide us over for the week. I was traveling for work last week, so I didn’t get to read each of these the usual 3-5 times. But I read most of them at least once!

The Last Firehawk #5 & 6 by Katrina Charman. We finished up book #4 last week, and my 5yo started cracking into book 5. The basic ongoing premise of kid-warrior owl, spunky squirrel friend, and quickly-growing baby firehawk vs evil vulture and co. continues (via collecting ember stone pieces). We’ve been somewhat sidetracked by the latest Dragon Master book, but hopefully we’ll finish these up this week in time to nab book #7 & #8. Since my 5yo reads these independently and can follow the story it gets a: 😍

Mouse and Mole by Wong Herbert Yee. Sadly we didn’t get around to this one this week (that I know of) so back to the library it goes. No rating.

Dragon Loves Tacos 2 The Sequel by Adam Rubin. Um. I hate to say it, but this wasn’t for me. There’s a taco shortage so they make a time machine to go back in time to get a taco, bring it the future and… plant a taco tree. Naturally dragons keep getting the spicy tacos which gives them flaming breath. The story, prose, and illustrations all fell pancake flat for me. The only reason I’ll give it three stars is because the littles made me read it three times. ⭐⭐⭐ from me. 😍 from the littles.

How to be a Pirate by Isaac Fitzgerald. The boys in the treehouse say she can’t be a pirate, so the little girl goes to her seaworthy-looking grandfather to show her how to be a real pirate through his tattoos. And spoiler alert, she takes over the treehouse as the best pirate ever, to the awe of the boys. This one was probably my favorite one we read! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

But my littles, alas, didn’t ask for a reread. 😕

Superbuns by Diane Kredensor. Little sister buns goes around being a super hero with the power of kindness, but her older sister doesn’t buy it until she gets her own chance to be nice. This was more of a meh for us. The superhero-kindness connection didn’t seem quite as strong as it could have been. The illustrations were bright and catchy. ⭐⭐⭐½ But there was no request for rereads. 😕

The Magic School Bus Sees Stars by Nancy White. My kids LOVE magic school bus, and it actually gets them asking questions about the world so these are always safe choices for us. I have read magic school bus books a million times and they have seen all the episodes (original and reboot) at least 3 times each. So yeah. Magic Schoolbus is always a solid choice. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😍

The Dragon Hunters by James Russell. A cute story with cute illustrations about two boys who go save their dog from a dragon. It reads well, but I guess it just didn’t seem to stand out to me, and apparently it didn’t stand up to my boys either because we only read it the once. I would still give the other books in the series a try though. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😕

I Can Read! Level 2: The Amazing Spiderman by Susan Hill (I think.) This is your pretty standard “this is Peter Parker aka Spider-man” early reader. I probably read this 3 times, and they picked it up multiple times themselves because, you know, superheroes. My only beef is at the end Peter says “I’m not a nerd! I’m Spider-man!” Which… c’mon, I mean honestly he’s both, and he’s obviously in some self denial here. Plus, at least in this house, we think fondly of nerds, so we were all confused by this comment. You can’t be a nerd and a superhero? I thought that was kind of the point. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😍

Mind your Manners by Nicola Edwards. This book was a pleasant surprise! I thought the author did a great job of illustrating why bad manners are gross and rude, and how being nice really helped straightened out the animals and make them all happier. I would totally recommend this one! My boys were also asking questions and seemed to get it to (although they didn’t pick it up by themselves or ask for a reread. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😍

Whew! And that’s it for now! Tune in next week for the review of our next library haul! Kid’s book recommendations and review requests welcome (as long as it’s find-able at our library).