Funny conversation

At about 2:22 in the above video, a cute conversation between Mercer Mayer and his "son", character  Little Critter takes place. It brought a smile to my face! :)

A little Little Critter

My mother recently got this book for my son. She's given us quite a few Little Critter books, so he's a well known character around here. Little Critter lives in a such a messy, animal-filled, chaotic world. It's refreshing to read older books sometimes, because they are less sanitized and safe. It's OK that Little Critter has a mouse eating cookies under his bed. He's part of a cast that repeats throughout the series: a spider, a grasshopper, cat, dog, etc.
Toddlers and young children relate to all his dilemmas, but his strange world keeps things interesting and a bit less preachy. This book is a lift-the-flap, which always engages even distracted toddlers. I ended up reading it 5 times in a row to my nephew the other morning.
The illustration style is nothing that would catch my eye - I prefer Mayer's "There's an Alligator Under My Bed" if anything. But the series as a whole has a very long shelf-life - something as 'bookmakers', I think we all strive for.

Just Grandma and Me by Mercer Mayer

I never had any Mercer Mayer/Little Critter books as a kid. But I love this book and these little characters nonetheless. To me they feel so classic and nostalgic even without having had a long personal history with the books. That is quite a feat in itself!

Just Grandma and Me is about Little Critter's day at the beach with Grandma. In all honesty I think this book captures the feeling of youth in a bottle. Something about the tone and the perspective (Little Critter tells the story), mixed with the charming, detailed art which doesn't miss a trick. Add these emotive characters that are full of expression and personality and all this adds up to a real feeling of authenticity in this book and story. I just can't think of a more apt word to describe it!

>See some art from the book here

They say it is really hard to do a kid's book right. I can tell a lot of work went into this one. A classic!

This book is one in a huge series of Little Critter books, so if this one looks good to you, there's plenty more. This book is a small paperback and is very affordable ($4 new on Amazon, and you could get it even cheaper new or used through Amazon Resellers).