CLOSED - Five Silly Monkeys Children's Book {Review & Giveaway}

This giveaway is now closed! Thanks to all who entered! The winner has been contacted and has 48 hours to respond. Keep checking back for more awesome giveaways!

If your child is like mine, he or she probably LOVES reading. Since my parents read to me on a regular basis, I learned to read early in life and grew to love it as a child, teenager, and adult. The American Academy of Pediatrics says it's never too early to start reading to your child, so from birth, I read simple picture books to Angelica and she loved it. (This article on BabyCenter about the importance of reading to your child pretty much covers all you need to know.)

When Angelica was about ten months old, we added a bedtime story to our evening routine. Now, at almost three years old, she knows our bedtime routine by heart. She gets her bath, puts on her PJs, brushes her teeth and then picks two books to have read to her before "lights out". Of all the parts of this routine, she most looks forward to reading books.

One of her first favorites was Five Little Monkeys (jumping on the bed), which she had committed to memory. When I was given the opportunity to review Five Silly Monkeys, which is a cute spin-off of the classic Five Little Monkeys story, I was so excited. I just KNEW Angelica would get a kick out of this humorous twist on one of her favorite books.

Along with Five Silly Monkeys, we received a copy of Five Little Ladybugs. Both of these books are now bedtime favorites!

These books are great for any age, even the littlest baby. The colors are bright and interesting, and the little raised monkeys and ladybugs provide a way to encourage touch. As you turn the pages, one by one the monkeys or ladybugs disappear, so for the older child, this can prove to be a useful counting tool.

As you can see below, Angelica is thoroughly enjoying reading these books to herself in bed...except, she can't read yet. She really loves that the books are small enough for her to hold and look through by herself, and then really enjoys having mommy or daddy read them to her.

Buy it! Piggy Toes Press sells Five Little Ladybugs for $5.95 and an awesome Five Silly Monkeys gift set with finger puppets for $12.95.

WIN IT! Piggy Toes Press has generously offered to give a copy of Five Silly Monkeys (book only) to one lucky reader of Angelica's Awesome Adventures!

Mandatory Entry: Comment and tell me what your child's favorite bedtime story is! (If you don't have children, tell me what YOUR favorite story was!)

Extra Entries (Optional): (Please leave an extra comment for each entry)

• Follow Piggy Toes Press on Facebook.
  
• Follow Piggy Toes Press on Twitter.
  
• Follow me (publicly) on Google Friend Connect (left sidebar) and leave me a comment letting me know you did so. (If you're already following, that counts too - just comment and let me know!)
• Subscribe to Angelica's Awesome Adventures by Email (Subscription must be confirmed to count)
• Follow Angelica's Awesome Adventures on Facebook (this blog, NOT my personal page -- I love you guys but my personal page is for real-life friends and family only)
• Follow Angelica's Awesome Adventures on Twitter
• Follow Angelica's Awesome Adventures on Networked Blogs (left sidebar)
• Tweet about this giveaway - can use the following tweet: (Good for one entry DAILY)
  

Promote an early love of reading! #WIN a copy of Five Silly Monkeys for your child @angelicasmommy (Ends 5/4) http://bit.ly/evIr8E #giveaway

• TWO Bonus Entries: Add my button to your blog and leave a link where I can find it! (Comment twice)
  
• THREE Bonus Entries: Blog about this giveaway and leave a link to your post. (Comment three times)
• FIVE BONUS ENTRIES: Post this giveaway to a giveaway linky (Comment five times with a link back to the linky) - unlimited entries!

Please leave your email address in your comment or make sure it is visible in your profile!

Contest ends on May 4, 2011 at 9 PM EST. Open to US Residents only and the prize cannot be mailed to a P.O. Box. Winner will be chosen by random.org and contacted via email. Winner must respond within 48 hours of the email being sent or another winner will be selected. (Please make sure you check your spam and junk folders frequently to make sure you don't miss out!)

Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this review in any way. Piggy Toes Press provided me with a review package and will also handle prize fulfillment. Thanks to Piggy Toes Press for providing the review package and giveaway prize! All content in this review is my opinion.