Do you remember the lightness of summer? Not just the light from the summer sun, but the feeling of openness and possibility? The simple joy of waking with no responsibilities and an endless day of fun ahead of you? That is Hondo & Fabian, a Caldecott award winner written and illustrated by Peter McCarty. It’s a long, happy summers day.

Hondo is a dog. Fabian is a cat. Hondo goes to the beach, while Fabian stays home. Hondo has fun playing on the beach with his dog friend Fred. Fabian stays home and has fun too — he is chased by the baby and plays with the toilet-paper roll. The day ends with both at home, full and fat from eating dinner and ready to go to sleep.

The story is simple, sweet and gentle. The language just right for lulling its audience to sleep. The colored-pencil illustrations are warm and loving. As day turns to night, the images soften and the palette subtly darkens. Hondo and the baby drift off to sleep while Fabian looks out into the night sky.

Ages: 2+ (while the story is simple, this book will have staying power. Animal lovers of all ages will appreciate the fuzzy warm images and nostalgic call of warm summer days.)

(To return to the Footy Pajamas store to shop for pajamas, click here.)

Does your son or grandson want to know why hurricanes have names or what’s meant by the “eye of the storm?” Then pick up a copy of The Magic School Bus: Inside a Hurricane, written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen. It will answer a lot of his questions about extreme weather and bring a smile along the way.

In this installment of the bestselling science series , Ms. Frizzle’s class is studying weather and is off on the old yellow school bus to visit a weather station. But, things go awry when the bus is turned into a hot air balloon and floats to the tropics where it encounters a powerful hurricane.

The kids learn about the atmosphere, storm formation and the role that storms play in regulating ocean temperatures. As the storm picks up, so does the intensity of the story and the feelings of danger. Arnold, Ms. Frizzle’s hilarious sidekick who fears danger and has no interest in adventure (although he adores “The Friz”), is separated from the class and ends up in the ocean in the heart of the hurricane. He is rescued by a fishing boat, and while the rest of the class experiences the storm from the sky (the weather balloon has turned into a weather plane, designed to handle the winds of a hurricane), Arnold experiences it at sea level. With this neat story twist, the author and illustrator are able to show multiple perspectives of the storm.

Like all the other Magic School Bus books, this one is fun, and full of facts and adventure. But, this book is a little edgy. The pictures of the storm hitting the coastline don’t hold back on the effects of a storm surge on the coastline. Houses and trees are destroyed and people are in danger. Unlike the other Magic School Bus books, I’d think seriously before reading this one to a younger child. Or, you could just skim over parts of the story.

Be warned that these are not short reads, but can be broken into several sittings. It takes us about 30 minutes to read each book cover-to-cover.

Ages: 6+

(To return to the Footy Pajamas store to shop for pajamas, click here.)

For most of us there are books that bring us back to childhood. That evoke powerful emotions that come from another time. A time when a picture book was, for just a few minutes, your entire world. For me, one of those books is The Little House: Her Story, written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton.

It’s a simple story. A pretty little pink house lives on a hill covered with daisies far out in the country. On the hill with her are apple trees. Below is road where horse-drawn carriages pass by and a small brook babbles. Surrounding her are farm fields. The little house sits on the hill through season after season and year after year, watching the apples ripen, the harvest gathered and the children grow. At night she watches the moon and when there’s no moon she watches the stars. And, off in the distance she sees the lights of the city and wonders what it would be like to live there.

The man who built her so well says, “This Little House shall never be sold for gold or silver and she will live to see our great-great-grandchildren’s great-great grandchildren living in her.” What the man didn’t anticipate is progress. As time passes, the little house sees a horseless carriage pass by. Soon, a road is built and houses begin to fill in the fields that surround her.

The lights of the city move closer and closer until soon she is in the city. The cars are moving by fast and the people too. In no time, she is surrounded on three sides by large apartment buildings. Her family abandons her. An elevated train is built. Then the apartment buildings are torn down and replaced by skyscrapers. A subway rumbles beneath her. The little house is sad and lonely. She longs for the time when she was out in the country where she could see the stars and moon at night.

One day, as the house sits there forlornly, a woman walking through the city with her family spots the house and recognizes it as the one her grandmother lived in as a child. The family has the strong little house put on a trailer and moved out into the country and onto a hill where once again she can see the stars and moon at night. Where she is loved and taken care of. Where she can be peaceful once again.

This simple book is a gem. It won the Caldecott Medal for its lovely illustrations in 1942. The writing is spare and seems to flow with the seasons that the early pictures illustrate. Its allegorical richness is without question and its story will touch even the most hardened of hearts. As a child, I adored the first half of the book with its depiction of the seasons passing and the cycles of the moon. I cried for the little house when she was abandoned and was happy and peaceful when she was returned to the country. And, today, my 6-year-old daughter feels this story with the same intensity that I did so many years ago. It’s timeless.

Ages: 4-8

(To return to the Footy Pajamas store to shop for pajamas, click here.)

The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System, written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen, has it all: High adventure (literally), fun facts, colorful and engaging illustrations, and great characters and dialogue, including an annoying know-it-all cousin who is visiting the class of Ms. Frizzle, the whacky science teacher.

In this installment of the award-winning science series, Ms. Frizzle’s magic school bus blasts off into the solar system, taking Ms. Frizzle and her students with it. Along the way, they walk on the moon, zoom past the sun, and fly over all the planets in our solar system. They learn why the moon shines, what causes night and day, and all about gravity, orbits and planet rotation.

They fly through an asteroid belt and manage to lose Ms. Frizzle. On their own in space aboard the school bus space ship, they learn to value each other’s strengths while flying past Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus and Pluto. All ends well as they recover Ms. Frizzle and return to Earth and school and the rocket ship becomes once again a school bus.

For the skeptics in the audience, each Magic School Bus book ends with notes about the fantastical nature of the books. For example, in this episode, the writer explains why an ordinary bus couldn’t travel in outer space and why landing on certain planets would be very dangerous. And, these explanations are always funny. Just the right tone for a logician-child.

Like all the Magic School Bus books, this story has a lot of staying power. Both your 4-year-old and your 7-year-old will love these books.

Be warned that these are not short reads, but can be broken into several sittings. It takes us about 30 minutes to read each book cover to cover.

Ages: 4+ (as noted in the other Magic School Bus reviews, Scholastic recommends these books for 7- to 10-year-olds, but we know younger children who adore them)

(To return to the Footy Pajamas store to shop for pajamas, click here.)

Is your munchkin obsessed with dinosaurs? Does she like adventure and humor? How about lots of detail? If so, she’ll love The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs, written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen. Once again, Ms. Frizzle the science teacher and her class of curious students board the bus to high adventure. While visiting a dinosaur dig, the kids learn about Maiasaura (which we learn means good mother lizard because Maiasaura took care of their babies) and go on a hunt for fossilized Maiasaura eggs.

But rather than digging for the eggs, they take the magic school bus to the time of the dinosaurs. They visit the late Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Cenozoic eras. Not only do they learn about the evolution of dinosaurs over time, but also about continental drift and the changing climate. The action is fast and furious and the story is full of fun and facts. Even if your little guy or girl isn’t in love with dinosaurs, this book is great fun.

And, I shouldn’t forget to mention, for children on the younger side, the colorful and detailed drawings should hold their attention even if the facts are too much right now.

Like all the Magic School Bus books, this story has a lot of staying power. Both your 4-year-old and your 7-year-old will love these books.

Be warned that these are not short reads, but can be broken into several sittings. It takes us about 30 minutes to read each book cover-to-cover.

Ages: 4+ (as noted in the other Magic School Bus reviews, Scholastic recommends these books for 7- to 10-year-olds, but we know younger children who adore them)

Do you know a child between 4-10 who is insatiably curious and asks endless questions about how the world works? If so, then the Magic School Bus books written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen just might work for you.

My sister sent three of the original 11 books to my 6-year-old daughter at Christmas this year. Just like her cousins before her, my daughter loves these books. They are science books full of real facts and they are funny too. Ms. Frizzle, a whacky teacher who is obsessed with science, takes her class on adventures in her trusty old magic school bus.

One of our favorites is The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive. In this wonderful book, Ms. Frizzle, aka “the Friz,” takes her students to visit a bee keeper. They are accidentally turned bee-sized and the school bus turns into a beehive. But, not one to be discouraged, Ms. Frizzle leads her students into the real beehive where they learn all about the lives of bees and how honey is made. Along the way they learn about pollination, the social structure of a beehive, and how honey is made. Kids learn, but through story and engagement. Heck, I learn by reading the Magic School Bus books.

Be warned that these are not short reads, but can be broken into several sittings. It takes us about 30 minutes to read each book cover-to-cover. There is humorous dialogue on every page, along with fascinating facts that curious kids will love. The story lines are also engaging. And, there is always adventure and excitement, with a hint of potential danger.

I do recommend, however, that you stick to the original 11 books. The newer versions written and illustrated by other authors are shorter and lack the depth, wonder and humor of the original series. Over the next few days I’ll be reviewing all of the books in the original series.

Age appropriateness for these books is open for debate. Scholastic, the publishers of the Magic School Bus books, lists the original series as suitable for ages 7-10. However, I know 4-year-olds who love them, as does my own 6-year-old. You can always skip some of the facts and stick to the storylines if your child isn’t ready to learn about the different types of volcanoes or that there is only one queen bee in each hive.