My granddaughter Jasmine is starting to get more and more involved in my reviewing process. She loves books almost as much, if not more, than I do and her first words to me any time she comes over are, “Hi Grammy – any new books?” We usually spend a huge amount of our time together reading and finding new books.

Like every Saturday, today we went on our walk of the neighborhood. We love our walks together so much. Jasmine and I walk and Aiden rides in the jogging stroller that also acts as our mini-Sherpa for all the things we carry. There's plenty of room for books in that thing.

As usual, we spent quite a bit of time in Read Books, Eagle Rock's charming used bookstore. The combination of a great children's section, knowledgeable and extremely nice proprietors, good atmosphere and the cushy, deep couch that begs you to sit under the window and read a book all make a super winning combination and I find myself there more often than not. Today Debbie surprised me with a book I have been wanting for years - a Noel Streatfeild classic, Dancing Shoes! Watch out for a review of that in AmoXcalli's Reviewing the Classics of Kidlit series very soon.

I believe I mentioned before that Jasmine is four years old and already starting to read small words and put short sentences together. I asked her if she'd like to pick some books to review and she quickly hopped up and over to her shelf to gather what she thinks would make a special post. I thought it would be pigs but she surprised me with a selection of Little Scholastic.

Little Scholastic books are great in that they cater to the littlest child. Their books are chunky enough for little hands to easily hold. They come in fancy shapes, textures and colors and they are simple enough for the toddlers and entertaining enough for the bigger children. They help to promote a lifelong love of reading and that makes them special to me. Good job, Scholastic!

Five Shiny Stars is a lovely little rhyme that teaches counting. The sing song rhythm of the rhyme is just right for little ones who love a sense of music in their talk/play. Shiny stars grab attention and the sweet faced kitty on the cover captures their love of animals and makes them smile. The book has cut-out stars and and at the end, the "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" song that is one of the first songs little children in this country learn. The book is thick and gently rounded, giving little fingers ease of page turning and makes it easy for uncoordinated hands to carry. It’s probably even a little chewable for those teethers, although I wouldn't recommend chewing on a book.