A children's book review blog

Bookish Dad

Honest reviews from a guy who has read The Very Hungry Caterpillar approximately one billion times.

Latest review: Pippi Longstocking → Read it

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White — featured review
⭐ Editor's Pick
Featured Review

The Trumpet of the Swan: The Third E.B. White Book Is Secretly the Fun One

E.B. White wrote three books for children. As a culture we handed one of them a permanent seat at the head of the table (correct), gave the mouse one a movie franchise, and then agreed to never mention the swan again. I would like to for...

★★★★★
5.0 / 5.0
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Pippi Longstocking: My Daughter Has Found Her Leader and I Have Concerns

My daughter waited a full day after we read the school chapter, and then at dinner on a Wednesday, over noodles, she asked whether anyone can actually make Pippi go to school. I said the town gives it a shot. She said "but they can't mak...

★★★★
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Little House on the Prairie: Pa Builds a House and I Explain American History at 8:40pm

Somewhere around night four, my daughter stopped me between chapters and asked whose land the little house was on. She asked it flatly, the way she asks everything, like an auditor requesting a receipt. And the honest answer is right the...

★★★★
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Bunnicula: A Vampire Rabbit, a Paranoid Cat, and the Best Narrator in the Business Is a Dog

On Thursday morning there was a carrot on the kitchen counter with two fork holes in it. Nobody would claim it. I asked the room in general what happened to the carrot and my four-year-old, without looking up from his cereal, said "THE B...

★★★★★
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The Indian in the Cupboard: I Loved This at Nine. At Forty-One It Needs a Chaperone.

Somewhere around 1993 I spent an entire Saturday trying every key in our house on every locked thing we owned. Desk drawers, a toolbox, a suitcase in the garage that turned out to contain my dad's tax returns. This book is the reason. If...

★★★
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A Wrinkle in Time: Twenty-Six Publishers Said No. Twenty-Six Publishers Were Wrong.

Twenty-six publishers rejected this book. Twenty-six. Two dozen professional book-pickers, people whose entire job was recognizing good books, held A Wrinkle in Time in their hands and said no thank you. Then it won the Newbery Medal in ...

★★★★★
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From the Blog

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I Hate Children's Books That Make No Sense (My 4-Year-Old Disagrees)

One of my favorite parts of the movie "Elf".. actually scratch that. I'm a card-carrying Millennial. ALL of "Elf" is my favorite part. Do you know the part where they are introducing Buddy the Elf's dad Walter Hobbs to the viewers? They ...

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In Defense of Junie B. Jones (and Other Bad Influences)

"Oh I would never read Junie B. Jones to my kids, she's such a bad influence!" If you are a parent of a 5+ child you've probably heard this before. Luckily I didn't hear it before I first started reading the Junie B. Jones series to my k...

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