Parent Friendly?

The reviews on Tadpole Tales are a little bit different from traditional book reviews.  These are "parent-friendly". They include some bits of information that I want to know about the books I read to my kids and you probably do too:

• Time: As a parent, I want to know approximately how much time a book is going to demand of me. Yes, I love books and I love reading but some days, at the end of the day, I’m just not up for a 20 minute story. Other days – bring it on!  For these reviews, I time how long it takes me to read the book aloud, at a child-friendly speed with any necessary inflections. I also include the time that creeps into the readings because of the inevitable questions the kids ask or comments they make. I won't enter into full discussions during the reading of the book but I will respond to little comments or queries "Look Mommy! She has pretty shoes on!" or "What's custard?". Discussion topics like "Why did Red Riding Hood's mommy let her into the woods alone in the first place?" I tell them we'll discuss at the end of the story.
• Content:  I’m not a prude by any stretch of the imagination but I also want to know if a book I am reading to my child to is going to expose them to language or behaviour I do not approve of (unless the point of the story is to discourage those behaviours). For example, I do not appreciate a children’s book that has a small child speaking disrespectfully to an adult. I’m also wary of violence or potential nightmare-inducing content. One of my kids went through a period of being afraid of the dark because she was convinced the big bad wolf was going to ‘get her’. I think I have my ancient “Little Golden Book” version of “The Three Little Pigs” to thank for that.
• Price:  I want to know a ballpark on how much the book will cost if I am to purchase it. 
• Availability: I want to know if it is readily available at my local bookseller or online or if I’m going to have to keep my eyes open, everywhere I go, for that great little book.  To that end, I will provide links for online sales of the books I review whenever possible.  That being said, if you can get it at your local independent bookstore - do that. Those people need to eat too.
• Reaction:  I want to know how the children are going to react to the book. I want to know what kids think of the illustrations. I want to know if it is the type of book they ask to hear again and again or if it is forgotten after the first read. Some books that look great to an adult’s eye can bore the socks off of a preschooler. And the inverse is true too. I remember the day my daughter picked up “Harold and the Purple Crayon” from a table at the bookstore. I hadn’t read it as a child and this was my first exposure to the text. I was in a hurry so I paid for it without looking inside. When we got home and I had a moment to myself, I started reading it. I thought it was adorable but also figured there was no way my three-year-old was going to be engaged with that book. I didn’t think it was visually stimulating enough to capture her interest. Boy, was I wrong! Something about Harold, his crayon, and his imagination captivated her. She toted the book with her everywhere she went for weeks, handing it to any halfway friendly adult in her life with a request for them to read it to her.