Simon usually goes by the name Stuff. As you may have guessed, this book is all about him. In Stuff: The Life of a Cool Demented Dude, we learn that Simon has loads of useless knowledge and a wonderful ability to create art. However, Stuff has four problems in life. Stuff’s dad’s girlfriend has moved into their house and she brings along her daughter who Stuff doesn’t like at all. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Stuff wants to break up with his girlfriend without being beaten up by her brother!

While breaking up with his girlfriend might be hard, he has to find a way so that he can be with his (new) true love, Skye. Of course, if he breaks up with his current girlfriend he might end up dead before he can tell Skye how he feels!

The last problem revolves around his comic strip. While the strip was anonymous to begin with, people are starting to figure out who is writing them and Stuff runs the risk of getting more body parts broken! Of course, this is just the beginning, as there is much more to do, see, and learn about Stuff.

As the book progresses we learn more about Stuff’s comic strip. There are six installments that have been split into specific sections. These sections involve Stuff writing the comic strip for the school paper. The comic strip details the life of a kid who wants to get away from the drooling dorkoids (the bad guys, of course) so that he can get to the well of androstopower. The well of androstopower will turn him into a mighty teenager. He enlists help from Sky Surfer in order to get to the well.

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Written by Clare Beaton and published by Barefoot Books, How Big is a Pig? is a thick board book that is perfect for children that are just learning to read. As the book is a thick plastic it will last through the terrible two’s without a problem. If the child looking at the book is learning to read this book will be simple enough for them to read along with a parent who may need to offer minimal help in the beginning.

Each page offers a rhyming verse that encourages you to find out how big a pig really is. To do this you go through the farm and are presented with other animals that are both big and small. As you learn a little about these animals, each page continues to ask you if you know how big a pig really is.

Each page takes you from one animal to the next. Your child will learn (if they didn’t know already) that some sheep are black and some are white, some cows are thin and others are fat, and that some cats are wild while others are tame. Of course, these are just a few of the animals that you will see on your quest to find out the true size of the pig.

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The concept behind this book is simple and yet it is somewhat ingenious all at the same time. Any parent with a small child knows how much time they spend teaching numbers, shapes, and colors. This book allows your child to begin learning these things on their own. This hardcover book offers spinners on every page and the spinners move around in a circle to show the reader some new information.

The first section features colors. Children will get to see red, yellow, blue, green, pink, orange, brown, and black and white. As black and white are listed as one color, kids get to see tuxedos, penguins, panda bears, and zebras. In the shape section there is circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, and heart. Finally, the counting section offers spinners from one to ten.

Each page has two spinners on each page. They are easy to spin and offer easy to recognize, yet extremely child-friendly graphics. The drawings in the book were handled by Michelle Berg. While she was new to me and the drawings are elementary in style, they provide a perfect look for a book that falls in this age group.

The colors are lively and the book will provide entertainment for young children who are offered this book or who get to look at it with an adult. At nearly $10.00, this book by Harper Collins Children’s Division, is a bargain. One of the nicest things about this book from a parental standpoint is the material the book was made out of.

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