Karl's Reading List

We have been living in my parents' house for two months now, and they have a lot of picture books here. As a result, we have been reading a lot of new stories to Ezekiel, and it feels only right that I should do another picture-book entry to acknowledge some of them. Keeping the list to only ten has been tricky, particularly as I also wanted to include two books we read when we went to a friend's bach at the lake a few months ago. Aside from those two, I have limited myself to books that belong to my parents, knowing that the ones we own will still be with us the next time I do one of these. As is now usual, each of these books has their own page, meaning that you can easily skip all ten if you want to just move on to the next 'proper' book on my list. Karl's List First Flight ; Good Night, Alice and Other Stories ; Skarloey ; Swiggo ; Minny Car Elise's List Just Me and My Puppy ; Dogs ; Who's Driving? ; Mosan Mouse ; I've Lost My Kisses Previous Book ~...

Published by Gecko Press: Australia and New Zealand, 2007 (2006). English translation by Gecko Press, 2007. First published in Belgium by Clavis Uitgeverij. I say this a lot for Ezekiel's books, but this is a beautifully illustrated book! And it's a pop-up book too! Who's Driving? is fairly self-explanatory. Each page has three animals dressed in different uniforms, each approaching a vehicle that they could conceivably be driving. When the pop-up tab is pulled, the driver of the vehicle is revealed, and sound effects are added as the vehicle 'drives' away. The illustrations are clever in that there are hints given as to which animal will be revealed. The desert jeep, for example, is being approached by a hippo in khaki. Of course the one in khaki is the driver! The pop-up elements are also cleverly done, with my favourte being a small convertible that is revealed as being driven by a giraffe. I am still impressed by how that giraffe pops up from that little convert...

Published by Wm. Collins Sons and Co. Ltd: London and Glasgow, date unknown. A book I remember from when I was a child (along with Swiggo ), this book is old enough and has 'seen enough' that its cover is now missing - the picture here is from it's inner title page. Minny Car is quite dated - one of the main characters is a gollywog! - but still cute and well illustrated. The story begins with Minny Car broken down on the side of the road. A group of toys rescue her and reattach her wheel. In return, Minny Car takes them on a journey through the highlands. First, they encounter the Loch Ness monster, then they have a picnic that gets rained out, and then eventually they face off against a bad-tempered Highland Bull!  It's all told in rhyming verse, with each character getting a chance to shine; Golly actually turns out to be the most practical of the group! I enjoy the story, and it certainly has that nostalgia factor for me, as well. Karl's List First Flight ; Good...

Based on The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry. Published by Egmont UK Limited: London, 2008 (2003). I'm not really sure who wrote this book, as it is based on stories by Reverend W Awdry, and then filtered through the series owned by Guillane (Thomas) LLC and created by Britt Allcroft. The book only tells me who the illustrators are! So, apologies to the unnamed ghostwriter... There are a number of Thomas -brand stories at my parents' place, and Ezekiel likes them all. Wanting to include at least one of them for this list, I chose Skarloey mostly because one of us pointed out to Ezekil that my name is hidden in the title, and now Ezekiel also points that out every time. He'll point at the title word and say "Skarloey" and then point at it again and say "Karl." He's not quite up to actual reading yet, but he is starting to do a good imitation of it. At some point I'll add Tacky the Penguin to one of these lists and talk about the lines he has a...

Published by St Martin's Press/Priddy Books/Macmillan Publishers Ltd.: London, 2007. A book that has numerous sliding sections on each page, and themes to each page, this proved useful in helping Ezekiel begin to understand that words have meanings too. For example, on a page that gave four different trucks, each with a different colour, the text then asked the reader to slide the 'door' with the right colour written on it (also, handily, written in the appropriate colour) in order to reveal the appropriate truck. This meant that we could point to a truck, ask Ezekiel what colour it was, and then have him point to the appropriate word in order to reveal the appropriate truck. Handy, and providing good visual cues. The only tricky bit was when Ezekiel mislabelled a truck's colour, pointing at the word 'yellow' and saying 'orange.' However, when he was corrected he embraced the right word in it's place. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinla...

Published by Nosy Crow Ltd: The Crow's Nest, London, 2023. The fun gimmick with this book is even observable if you look closely at the cover: the track that surrounds the central picture of a train has a moveable train 'token' on it. You actually make it move around the track! Each page has a similarly laid out feature, highlighting a different train and the journey that it may take. We get underground trains, high-speed trains and others, and each one can be taken on a literal journey. It needs no further reasoning to see why this book is a favourite one for Ezekiel whenever we go to visit Grandma and Grandpa. It's even fun for me as his fellow reader. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinland ;  Slide and Find Trucks ;  Make Tracks Trains ;  Guess How Much I Love You ;  Hug! Elise's List Ezekiel's World of Trucks ;  Snappy Play Set Garage ;  Big Machines ;  Did You Do This Poo? ;  Truck Trouble Previous Book  ~ Next Book (Ezekiel Books) ...

Published by My Story Tale, 2025. In the vein of When Ezekiel Was Born which was featured in my first collection of picture-book reviews , this book was custom made/tweaked online for Ezekiel, this time by one of Ezekiel's friends Reuben, and his mother Morgan. Whereas When Ezekiel Was Born focuses on Ezekiel himself and the 'story' of his naming, this book stars a little truck who just happens to be named Ezekiel, and his journey to figure out what sort of truck he wants to be when he grows up. With Ezekiel already being fan of vehicles, this book is definitely a hit, featuring as it does such trucks as a fire engine, a tipper truck, and an ice cream truck. If there is not quite as much customisation as in When Ezekiel Was Born (which changes the whole plot in order to correctly spell the customised name) it still gives a little extra thrill by keeping Ezekiel's name featuring throughout. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinland ;  Slide and Find Trucks ;  M...

Published by Templar Publishing: Dorking, Surrey, 2011. This is a fun little rhyming book that tells the stories of the various animals who bring their vehicles to get fixed by Larry and Barry at the Snappy Garage. Most of the pages are focussed on one vehicle and its issues, however, a little bit of plot enters in later in the book. An impatient hare who has a racing car has missed a light and gone into the river. Larry and Barry have to take their tow-truck out and pull Harry Hare's car - and Harry - to safety. Then all the animals gather to celebrate Larry and Barry's heroics. The story is basic and sweet, and about vehicles, so it's instantly a winner for Ezekiel. There is a gimmick to the book, in that when it is sold it also includes pop-out model versions of the garage and all of the main characters. I cannot review that part, though (which I'm sure Ezekiel would love), because we got given a second-hand copy in which the pieces had already been removed. Karl...

Published by Dorling Kindersley Limited: London, 1998. One of a pair of similarly themed books we got at the same time (the other is Big Machines ), Truck Trouble follows truck driver John as he sets out to make his daily deliveries in his truck. As the title suggests, things begin going wrong, ranging from bad weather, to traffic, to a tyre needing replacing...  This book introduced Ezekiel to some terms of frustration that he quickly picked up ("Oh no!"), as well as the idea of someone feeling time pressure to get somewhere. Being a book about trucks, though, makes this an instant winning. And the ending is good. John makes it to his final destination on time, and is able to provide toys to the children's hospital. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinland ;  Slide and Find Trucks ;  Make Tracks Trains ;  Guess How Much I Love You ;  Hug! Elise's List Ezekiel's World of Trucks ;  Snappy Play Set Garage ;  Big Machines ;  Did You Do This Poo? ;...

Published by Dorling Kindersley Limited: New York, NY, 2000. One of a pair of similarly themed books we got at the same time (the other is Truck Trouble ) Big Machines follows the demolition of an old factory and subsequent establishment of a park, by focussing on the big machines that perform the different tasks to achieve the goal. The book intentionally uses mostly simple words, including some onomatopoeia, and has a few moments where it breaks down a bigger word (particularly excavator). Most of the images appear to be stock photos, but they still tell the story fairly well. The only midly disappointing thing for me is that the final park is only shown in drawing form, where every other image in the book is a photograph. Needless to say, this is another book that Ezekiel greatly enjoys, being a fan of big machines. Karl's List Simon's Adventure in Goblinland ;  Slide and Find Trucks ;  Make Tracks Trains ;  Guess How Much I Love You ;  Hug! Elise's List Ezekiel's...