Books like A Crankenstein Valentine
By Samantha Berger
For the kid who rolls their eyes at hearts and glitter, this is the Valentine's Day book that admits the holiday can be a little much. Grouchy, funny, and secretly warm-hearted.
Three mysterious visitors crash-land in Mr. Li's field claiming to be from "Europe," and he welcomes them home, feeds them, and helps fix their "car" — no questions asked, even though they're clearly aliens.
A crocodile mistakenly turns up under the tree on Christmas Eve and starts eating everything in sight — the roast, the stove, even the tree — while one girl fights to save him.
A warrior princess wants nothing but a big, strong horse for her birthday, but the pony she actually gets is small, round, and gassy — and nothing like the fierce steed she imagined.
A gentle duckbill dinosaur egg lands in the wrong nest, hatching among fearsome tyrannosauruses who mock him as Tyrannosaurus Drip for preferring water weed over meat.
A beloved dinosaur bakes cookies, helps old ladies cross the street, and plays with kids in town — while one boy, Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie, insists she's scientifically extinct and shouldn't exist at all.
An adopted dog named Cooper refuses to act like a dog — he'd rather drive the family car, go to the ballet, and travel than fetch or sit — so his new family has to adjust to his quirky ways.
A rat who can't pronounce his R's gets teased at school until a bigger, meaner, smarter capybara arrives — and his very speech impediment turns out to be exactly what saves the day.
An eager young dragon works his way through Madam Dragon's flying school, collecting bumps, bruises, and gold stars, while a mysterious little girl keeps turning up to patch him back together.
A visitor-hating bear puts up a no-visitors sign and orders a mouse out of his house, but the mouse keeps turning up in the most unexpected places anyway.
A bacon-loving cowboy and a knock-knock-joke-loving octopus strike up an odd-couple friendship, told through a handful of short, funny stories about their mismatched tastes and habits.
A baby with a booming voice, a habit of giving away his birthday presents, and a strange love of chimneys grows up to become Santa — one odd little clue at a time.
A boy declares Jeremy Ross his enemy the moment he moves in down the street, so Dad offers his secret weapon: Enemy Pie — but the recipe requires spending a whole day playing with the enemy first.
