Saturday, February 12, 2011

Books of the Week – Feb. 12, 2011

Stuart Little, by E. B. White (the author of Charlotte’s Web) – this is our current chapter book.  Stuart is the mouse child of otherwise normal people, and he has lots of interesting adventures.   There’s quite a bit of new (somewhat old-fashioned) vocabulary in this book, which I love exposing M to.  I think it’s so important to introduce this kind of thing to him.  I credit my ability to so easily “get” Shakespeare and other older literature to the fact that my parents raised my siblings and I on stories like this (as well as the King James Bible!). 

 

Count Yourself to Sleep, by Lynn Hodges – spare yourself this one if you have a low “sugary sweet” threshold. :)  M loves it and I bet other kids his age will too, but goodness… the book is basically a song about counting your blessings, and it’s okay in and of itself… actually very wholesome.  BUT the cd that comes along with it, which plays the song, is sung by a very cutesy, cutesy child’s voice and it’s almost more than I can bear.  M listens to it at bedtime every night and it does put him to sleep, so its fine as long as *I* don’t have to listen to it too! :)

 

I Wish that I had Duck Feet, by Theo LeSieg (A.K.A. Dr. Seuss) is great.  The rhyme is perfect, the illustrations are appealing and funny, and the story has a good message about being happy just being yourself.  This is probably the hit of the week.  (M might disagree with that, because I’m pretty sure the one above this is his favorite, but still… I just can’t call that one the hit of the week – sorry, M!).

The Original Curious George, by H.A. Rey – this is a book that belongs to M, and he’s been asking for it this week.  There are only a few character books that I really like, and the Curious George ones are at the top of the list (along with the original Winnie the Pooh books).  This is the story of how the Man in the Yellow Hat found George and brought him to the zoo.  M loves the part where George plays with the telephone and calls the fire department. :)  It really is a fun book to read!

For more reviews of children’s books, check out Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

Have a beautiful day! :)

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for the info. on the books! I have been wanting to start a chapter book with my little ones, but didn't know where to start. I think I'll look into Stuart Little. Any others you have read?

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  2. At what age do you read the King James version to your kids?

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  3. My 5-year-old got the original Curious George from the library a couple of days ago. We have a 75% off store here that supposedly has a lot of George books--I think I'm going to have to check it out soon.

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  4. We have Stuart Little early reader adaptation, and Anna enjoys the stories in that book. I've been thinking about getting an audio version of Stuart Little soon too. Right now we struggle through The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - it's not going too well because Anna considers events "too scary". I think "If I Had Duck Feet" is brilliant - love it. Thanks for joining WMCIR!

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  5. Joyful Learner - I have not tried reading the King James version to M yet... although I do make sure to expose him to that type of writing every so often.
    I'm pretty sure my parents started reading the KJV to me and my brothers when we were babies; it was simply part of our family life.

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  6. Krissy - I'm not sure I'd suggest Stuart Little as the first chapter book to read (although apparently there is an early reader adaptation that might be less involved - see Natalie's comment above). The one we have is almost 200 pages! Our first chapter books (I think) were animal stories by Thornton W. Burgess - they are super fun and easy to understand, with short chapters. :) Hope that helps!

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