Andrew Larsen

As someone who loves baseball and is a bit of a perfectionist, this book really spoke to me. In this endearing picture book, bestselling author Andrew Larsen celebrates the love of both the game of baseball and its countless facts --- which for many fans go hand in hand. It offers a strong character-building portrait of perseverance and patience at work in skill development. It also underscores the importance of letting go of the idea of perfection. It's also a great book about father and son bonding.

Lenny and his dad bond over baseball but when Lenny misses a catch in a crucial game, he starts to have doubts that he'll ever be good enough to follow his dreams in pursuing his big dreams of baseball stardom. But with a little bit of perseverance and patience, he quickly becomes better at the game and realizes that even the greats weren't perfect all of the time - in fact, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron spent most of their time striking out, and that what makes their incredible stats that much more astounding.… (mer)

First sentence: "Bob!" says Pearl. "Come in!"

Premise/plot: An apartment cat (named Bob) makes the rounds to ALL four apartments. He likes to think of himself as a jungle cat exploring and having adventures. But one adventure--an adventure outside the apartment complex--brings him to the realization that maybe he's not so wild after all. The apartment residents come together to 'rescue' "their" cat.

My thoughts: I didn't care for this one. At least I didn't care for it as much as I wanted to. I love, love, love, love, love cats. I wanted to love this picture book starring a mischievous cat. I just didn't. It is a fine book. There's no reason why other readers wouldn't enjoy it...or even love it.… (mer)