Looking for a new book to read with your kids? There are a million picture books out there and it can get a little overwhelming trying to find a good story with nice illustrations that doesn’t feel like torture trying to read out loud. We’ve gotten a few new awesome stories this Christmas and I thought I’d share them with you guys in case your bedtime routine is getting a bit stale (this is essentially cross posted from my review blog):

Ladybug Girl by David Soman and Jacky Davis: I first discovered this awesome book back in September while perusing a website you need to know about: wegivebooks.org. I’ve been smitten with this new line of picture books ever since and can’t seem to say enough good things about them. The illustrations in these books (by David Soman) are simply brilliant, the small details perfect – flip through it for a few seconds and you will know what I mean – this is the book I sometimes want to curl up and read by myself and always get excited when MM asks for it at night. I love the stories which are all about empowerment, imagination and kindness. This one will make you reminisce of your own childhood and laugh at the all too familiar antics of your own brood. I recommend any of the Ladybug Girl books and guarantee your family is going to love them.

Freddi the Dog by Lisa and Randy Herman, Illustrated by Bruce Hammond : This was one of the books I reviewed in our gift guide at the review blog, but I didn’t give a lot of details since it was a Christmas present for the kids. We’ve read it several times since Christmas morning and my four year old is pretty smitten with it. I especially love Bruce Hammond’s adorable illustrations of Freddi’s many, many antics. This story is terribly funny but also very sweet and I think any pet owner will find something to relate to in this book. What dog owner hasn’t experienced that moment of “You ate what?” My husband was especially fond of this one, having grown up with many dogs as a kid and he and my son love reading this one together.

More Bears! by Kenn Nesbitt and Troy Cummings (Illustrator): This book is so silly and well drawn and should be well appreciated by any writers or wanna be writers out there. This was another book from our recent gift guide and my kids and husband both got a kick out of this one, too. I love that this book sort of breaks that fourth wall and talks about the author as he writes the story and finds himself being coerced into adding MORE BEARS! at the demand of a hidden audience. For some reason reading this book makes me want to go out and write a million stories immediately, not a bad thing! I also think this is a great way to explain the concept of authors and how books get written to your kids and in general, it’s simply a hysterical story to boot. My son loves to yell out “More Bears!” along with the story – giving a similar sort of interactive experience as the infamous Pigeon books by Mo Willems.

What books have you and your kids been reading lately?