It doesn't get sweeter than this!

February's Book Club print is called Sugar Crush and is thoughtfully designed with our favorite sweet treats taking center stage. This candy kingdom will allow your child's imagination to soar to the cotton candy clouds. This print may be reminiscent of a favorite childhood board game or maybe a fictional video game in a classic animated movie. Whatever it reminds you of, we are sure it will usher in sweet dreams. 

Picking the books for this month's inspiration was difficult, there were so many good ones to choose from. I picked 3 books that were staff favorites and 2 that were new to us but we fell in love with and would definitely recommend to others. 

1."Love Monster and the Last Chocolate" by Rachel Bright. Kids of all ages will love this adorable book about a sad monster who has his day brightened when a box of chocolates is left at his door. Love Monster contemplates whether or not he should share with his friends and explores the full range of emotions that sharing can produce, such as whether they will pick his favorite, or eat them all. First he decides not to share but that doesn't make him feel good either so he changes his mind and runs to find his friends. What he discovers at the end is that his friends are the ones that left him the box. They had shared the box of chocolates and left him his favorite one. The monster realized just how much his friends cared about him. This book is not only filled with colorful, detailed pictures, it also teaches lessons on sharing and caring for others. This book would be great for Pre-K kids!

2."Chocolate The Consuming Passion" by Sandra Boynton. Who knew that Sandra Boynton wrote books for adults? She was one of my favorite children's book authors when my girls where little so I was pleasantly surprised when I came across a book written by her that was geared towards the more mature reader. It is still filled with her tongue-in-cheek humor and adorable illustrations. This book would make the perfect gift for that chocolate loving person in your life or if you just wanted to learn some possibly completely false but definitely hilarious facts about chocolate.

3."Wally and the Sweet Mountain Candy Factory" by Meghan Christensen, , is about a boy's first day of work at his family's candy factory. He is so excited to be part of something that his family has been doing for generations. The story line is adorable though probably would not be approved by OSHA or Child Labor Laws 😂 But what I love the most about this book is that on every page there are conversation starters and activities that you can do with your kids while reading the story, making it super interactive and a different experience every time. There are also a couple of candy recipes at the end so you can make your own candy, just like Wally! This would be a great book for Pre-K through early elementary age.

4. "Wreck-It Ralph" adapted by Victoria Saxon. This is one of the Classic Little Golden Books based on the Disney Movie Wreck-It Ralph. This book is written in simple language and with an abbreviated storyline which makes it perfect for those early readers. If you've never watched the Wreck-It Ralph movie the story is about video game characters. Ralph, one of the main characters, only job in his game is to wreck things. Felix, another character in the game, is the hero because he always fixes Ralph's mess. Ralph is tired of not being the 'good guy' and looks for a way to get a medal so the other characters in his game will like him. He ends up visiting a game called Sugar Rush where he meets Vanellope, she is trying to win her game by beating other characters in a candy go-kart race. Ralph ends up having to decide between his own desire to feel important and like a hero versus helping a friend. He ends up discovering that in the end having friends is really what makes you the 'good guy'.

5. "Pinkalicious" by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann. This book was one of my girls favorites when they were elementary age! It is about a little girl that loved pink cupcakes. She became very upset when her parents wouldn't let her eat as many as she wanted. Then, one day, she woke up and was bright pink, from head to toe! Her clothes, her hair, her skin, everything. The doctor told her she would only be able to eat green foods if she wanted to go back to normal. She did not like this idea and continued to sneak pink cupcakes when no one was looking. Because she didn't obey she ended up turning bright red. She decided enough was enough and started eating all of the green foods she could and turned back to her normal color.