12 Days of Picture Books Blog Tour Day 9 - Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa {A Review}

Welcome to my third review post in the Penguin Young Readers 12 Days of Picture Books Blog Tour. I am thrilled to be participating in this event during this holiday season. What better gift to bestow upon your child(ren) than a book (or many books) to instill the love of reading. Not only will I be sharing reviews of some great children's books (6 to be exact for this blog tour), but you will have the opportunity to go over to the Penguin Young Readers Facebook page to enter to win some awesome books for your kids.

I invite you to stop by my intro post to see the list of the books that are a part of this great celebration.

Today I would like to share my review for Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa by Anna Dewdney.

I have to admit, I have never read any of the Llama Llama books before. When the opportunity came up to review the newest one as a part of this blog tour, I thought it would be great fun to finally read one. You know what else I have to admit? I wish I hadn't waited so long to introduce my children to this cute character.

In this story Llama Llama's mommy is going out, so he gets to go on his first ever sleep over at gram and grandpa's. Such an exciting opportunity. Llama packs his bags and makes sure to take his Fuzzy. He was so excited to arrive and see Gram and Grandpa. It wasn't until he went to unpack that he realized that he forgot something so very important. Fuzzy was left in the car!!

Gram and Grandpa keep him busy, in such places as the garden and Grandpa's workshop, but his mind keeps going to poor missing Fuzzy. After dinner Llama doesn't want to go to bed when it is time to, so Gram and Grandpa take him out to see the stars. He finally prepares for bed (takes a bath, reads some stories, and gets a kiss), but he finally can't hold it in anymore. Poor Llama is in tears, until Grandpa finds a cuddly solution. He finally is reassured that "This is home . . . away from home."

This book is such a cute little story to help a child who may be anticipating their first sleep over. It is exciting to go and visit grandparents, or have a sleepover elsewhere, but it can be scary too. The book shows how Llama was so excited and enjoyed doing things with his Gram and Grandpa. It also showed that it is okay to miss something like a "Fuzzy."

I always love books that have a rhythm and rhyme to them, and this is no exception. The rhymes work perfectly as does the rhythm. I found it was a joy to read. The illustrations alternate between full pages of color and images on a white background. They are bright, created with oil paint, colored pencil and oil pastel on primed canvas. On the pages where Llama is very emotional regarding the loss of his Fuzzy, the background is painted in swirling, slashing brushstrokes of shades of blue and purple. Tabitha thought this was quite "very smart" to show Llama's feelings this way.

We enjoyed this book and definitely recommend the newest addition to the Llama Llama series of books. You can find out more about these books at the Llama Llama website.

Don't miss your chance to win 1 of 9 copies of Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa. Just head on over to the Penguin Kids Facebook Page.

Though I won't be posting a review every day of this blog tour, I hope you will remember to head over to their Facebook page to enter to win the books that you are interested in. Be sure to stop back here to see my reviews for:

• Little Tree 
• I am Amelia Earhart
• The Nonsense Show
• The Book With No Pictures
• The Day the Crayons Came Home

Also, be sure to check out the Penguin Young Readers Holiday Gift guide where you can build and share your own wish list from a huge assortment of kids’ books for all age groups.

Here are the participating blogs!

Sleeping Should Be Easy
House of Burke
Homegrown Friends

Growing Up Madison
InRandom
Crafty Moms Share
Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers
Inspiration Laboratories
Clarks Condensed
Book Rock Betty
Kid Lit Frenzy
Bored Mommy
The Delightful Life
Reads and Recipes
Omazing Kids
KidsCreative Chaos
The Chirping Moms
Hello Happy
Spark and Pook
Fun Handprint Art
Mama Smiles
Craftulate
Imagination Soup
Tots and Me
Design of the Picture Book
Gravity Bread
Creative Family Fun
Future Flying Saucers
Mrs. Karle's Sight and Sound Reading
JaMonkey
Coquette Maman
Growing Book by Book
A Little Bit of Everything
Happily Ever Mom
Little Earthling
The Little Tourist

Disclosure: I received a hardcover copy of Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa by Anna Dewdney  in exchange for my honest review as a part of this blog tour. No further compensation was given. This did not in any way influence my review. I only recommend products I use personally and feel will be a good products for my readers.