Getting ready to do anything around here is difficult. It’s like that KPMG commercial where the ranchers are herding cats, except I have less than a quarter-acre and three cats - only two of whom are mobile.

Bedtime isn’t bad - no whining or crying - but it does tend to drag out.

Mornings are really rough though. Yesterday morning, for example, we all woke up about 20 minutes before Tacy had to leave for school. But even when we wake up with plenty of time to spare, all the cats children like to lounge around in their jammies, hoping for waffles.

Naturally, the new books from the ParentSmart/KidHappy series - Ready for Bed and Ready for the Day - are a great fit for us. Not only do they discuss topics that we need to work on, they do it in a way that helps kids understand what needs to be done and why. Parents aren’t trying to squash the fun; there’s just a time and place for it: after you’ve changed your underwear. Heh.

Both of my mobile cats children love these two books. CJ has recently re-acquired a love of being read to, and these books lend themselves well to animated reading (different voices, lots of expression) and to asking her questions about the story and relating it back to our own morning and bedtime routines.

Tacy is expected to read to us each night, and these books are a great fit for her reading level. In fact, she read Ready for the Day out loud to Kyle last night and noted it on her school reading log.

As for me, I’m really picky about children’s books. I cling to my old favorites - Frances and Harry and Corduroy, among many others - and it’s tough for newcomers to win me over. But I really liked these books. First, I love the illustrations. In children’s books, illustrations are key - they tell more of the story than the words do. They’re clear and realistic without being photographic or posed.

The dialogue is better than most children’s books. I’m always critical of dialogue - does that really sound like an actual conversation? - and it’s rare to find realistic dialogue in children’s books. While some of it seemed forced, the large majority of it seemed quite natural.

The sequence of events was important to me. That’s something I try to emphasize to my own cats children - we have to do A before we can do B, so that then we can do C - and it’s helpful to have books that demonstrate that concept so well. I especially liked how, in Ready for the Day, the father told the daughter that because they’d taken care of everything they needed to do, they had ten extra minutes to play before they had to leave. Delayed gratification - it’s a great motivator!

Of course, I loved that one book featured a mother and son and the other book featured a father and daughter, and that families of color were included in both. No need to point out the diversity to my cats children - the idea is that for them, diversity will be integral to their lives and not something to marvel about.

Finally, I love that the books are hardcover. Soft cover books don’t fare well around here, thanks to all of the use they get. Not that I’m complaining that my cats children like to read.

For more blogger reviews of Ready for Bed and Ready for the Day, check out PBN!