With lovely pictures, soothing cadence, and rhyming text, this book offers the sweet sentiment of bedtime stories everywhere with its repeated refrain, “You nest here with me.”  As the book progresses, the complexity of the details surrounding each subsequent bird and nesting location slowly abates as the colors cool and darken in preparation for the appearance of the moon and stars to sooth the child to sleep on the last page of the story.

Terms such as sedges, boles, and tors are not typical word choices for children’s bedtime stories, but these concise terms for nesting locations would be engaging for older audiences.  Author notes at the end of the book provides more information on the birds in an age appropriate version of an Audubon type bird book.

The love between a cat and an Egyptian queen transcends time in this wonderful and approachable introduction to ancient Egyptian culture and burial practices.  While the Mummy Cat’s exploration of the tomb introduces the reader to features of an Egyptian tomb, the vivid murals and the cat’s reminiscences portray ancient Egyptian life. The hieroglyphs incorporated in the story are explained in the back matter along with an age appropriate explanation of Egyptian mummies, cats, and queens.

This is a 15th Anniversary release of a fun story of Gerald the giraffe who’s insecurity about his body made him, “so sad, because when it came to dancing he was really bad.”  After teasing from the other animals and an embarrassed departure from the party, a cricket helps Gerald realize he just needed to find the right music. An uplifting story full of alliteration and rhyming shows that true self-esteem comes from within.

The child is the center of this charming explanation of a family tree as the author cleverly portrays the child’s paternal line reading from front to middle and the maternal line backwards from back to middle.  While the text and images offer a multicultural view of an extended family, both the maternal and paternal lines follow only the patrilineal decent.  The human factor comes through in both the word choice and detailed illustrations making this book an engaging selection.