Sandy Brehl's Reviews > Stanley's Library

STANLEY's LIBRARY is one of many in the STANLEY series. Stanley (hamster) stars in an ongoing series of delightful books for young audiences. Just as early chapter books offer a transition from beginning readers to actual youth novels, STANLEY's stories, though appealing to even the youngest eyes and ears, offers a set of stories and characters with enough substance to engage longer conversations, questions, reactions,, and connections that reach beyond the basic naming concepts in most board books. The colorful, graphic, but detailed images focus on the topic-related materials and their purposes for each of the many topics. Though seemingly simplistic, Stanley takes young minds on journeys into the world around them, reflecting things they know and extending their awareness to think and absorb more while having a grand journey through the day. The impact of a template or pattern that carries through each story/Stanley structure builds confidence and connection, including not-quite-identical end of day pages.
Side note, for anyone bemoaning the lack of analog clock faces in young lives, Stanley's bedtime clock is set each night, and the times are not the same. In fact, it's worth noting that the particular career he holds for that title is reflected in the time he is expecting to get up. I found that to be a wonderful example of the ways these seemingly simple books will transcend a few readings or even a few years.