Talk Oscar, PLEASE!

This new release from Sterling Publishers was extra special to me because its about a dachshund.  We used to have a dachshund named Buster, and he was a lot like Oscar.

Karen Kaufman Orloff captures the excitement in the heart of a young boy in Talk, Oscar, Please!  He dreams of all the crazy things he and Oscar could do if Oscar were only able to talk.  They could go to school together, talk on the phone, be on a quiz show, and more. 

Orloff uses a rollicking rhyme scheme to keep readers turning the pages.  Of course, Tim Bower's silly illustrations help with this, too.

In the end, Oscar's owner admits that he really already knows what Oscar is saying.  So what if other people think that it's only pretend?  Oscar and the boy are best friends, and that's all that matters. 

Talk, Oscar, Please! will send strong messages of friendship and love to your young readers. 

What's your favorite memory with a dog that was your best friend?

Little Mouse's Big Secret

"Will you give us a hint?"

"I promise not to tell anyone!"

"Lemme see!"

"Tell me! Ooh me! Me!"

"C'mon, you can trust us." 

Little Mouse might have a big secret, but even more than that, Little Mouse has a big truth!
In Eric Battut's Little Mouse's Big Secret, Little Mouse finds an apple.  But Little Mouse has a mind to be selfish and decides to hide it.  After burying it, Little Mouse stays nearby to protect it.  Each of his friends approach him, asking, "What are you hiding?"  Little Mouse vows to never tell, but a surprise leaves him realizing (with a bit of worry, at first) that his secret is out.  By the end of this simple but charming tale, Mouse learns that sometimes your secrets are even better when you share them. Little Mouse's Big Secret, released on March 1, 2011 by Sterling, will show your children that it is truly better to share and give than to receive and horde.

The only two reasons that I am choosing to give three stars to Little Mouse's Big Secret are because Battut uses so little vocabulary and because sentence structure becomes unnecessarily repetitive towards the middle of the book, failing to challenge the reader's word choice and diction.  Other than that, this is a cute story with a great message.