ALL BY MYSELF Written and Illustrated by Mercer Mayer

One of the first series of books I read to my grandchildren was the little critter books by Mercer Mayer.  Once we snuggled up on the rocking chair with a favorite blanket we would look at the cover and talk about the picture. I read the title and the name of the author. Now that they are older (three and four years old), I have them repeat the title, authors name and illustrator's name after me. They are just so smart. They can tell me the author's names of their favorite books.

Mercer Mayer's illustrations are wonderful. They are full of detail and colour. The wording is short and simple for even the very young to understand. Once they are ready to learn to read, these books will be ideal too.

We don’t just read these books we use them to talk about colours and feelings. The girls found it absolutely delightful to search for Little Critter's pets on each page. Where is the little mouse? Or where is the grasshopper and spider. Sometimes it was a little challenging but that made it even more fun.

ALL BYMYSELF Written & Illustrated By Mercer Mayer

Publisher: Random House Digital, Inc.,

Pages: 24

Ages: 0 to 4

In this simple, charming book our little hero shows us all the things he can do all by himself. 

Page 2 - I can get out of bed all by myself.

He can get out of bed all by himself.

My girls can get out of bed all by themselves too!

Page 3

Just look at the concentration on his face. We like to count the number of times Little Critter has his tongue out.

Page 4

My granddaughters giggle when we read this book because it is hilarious. They can brush their HAIR. They don’t have fur like Little Critter.

Seriously though, I like the book because it helps them want to do things all by themselves like Little Critter. Self reliance is a good thing to start as soon as possible don’t you think?

Page 5

And look, his tongue is hanging out again!

So Little Critter can do almost everything by himself.

But even big boys or girls still need someone to read a bedtime story to them.