Books of the Week – March 13, 2010

Alistair’s Elephant by Marilyn Sadler was our favorite book this week. Sorry the picture above is blurry. I couldn’t find a picture on Amazon or pretty much anywhere else. It’s a cute book about a serious little boy who has an elephant follow him home from the zoo. All he is worried about is getting rid of this silly elephant so he can get back to his normal, neat and hard-working life. :) M’s favorite part, which he has talked about non-stop, is when Alistair thinks it’s raining and it’s just the elephant showering him with his trunk. Really, how can you not know an elephant is following you home? :) Apparently there are more Alistair books and we are definitely going to look for them.

A good, non-fiction book this week was Close, Closer, Closest by Shelley Rotner. Each page of this book has 3 pictures of an object (strawberries, comic book, peacock feathers and lots more). The first picture is what you normally see, the second picture is a close up and the 3rd picture is a magnification of a small area of the object. It’s really a neat book and M has asked for it several times.
For more good kids’ books, click on the button at the top of the page and check out the blog carnival at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week – March 6, 2010

Click on the button at the top to see some great book suggestions for children at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns!

The Ant and the Elephant, by Bill Peet:

This is by far our favorite this week, and I think will make it’s way into our top 20 favorites.  I can’t believe I haven’t seen or heard about this book before!  It’s a great story about being helpful and being thankful.  It would be great for a story sequencing activity too; there are a variety of animals that come along and end up needing help in various ways.  If only I had time to make up some story sequencing cards, sigh.  If you haven’t read this book, look for it – you won’t be disappointed!

The Roundabout Train, by Betty Ren Wright:
This is a cute book about a big diesel train that thinks he’s bigger, faster, and better than the other older trains.  He is taught a lesson about being friendly in a fun way.  M has been a bit boastful himself lately, so this was a good way to help him see how unpleasant that kind of behavior can be for others.
Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week – Feb. 27, 2010

We recently went to a church festival and one of the activities was a book fair. We found so many great books, most of them written in the 30’s, 40’s, and 60’s. I felt like I won the jackpot! :) I just love the look of older books!

My Box and String, by Betty Woods was written in 1963. This is such a cute book, written in rhyme, about a boy who makes a *thing* with a box and some string and then doesn’t want anyone else to play with it. Yet, he isn’t sure what to do with it himself. Finally, with the help of a little girl’s wise words, he realizes the fun was in creating his box and string. This is a great little book about the fun a child can have with simple, everyday objects. And it is a great book about using one’s imagination too, since several animals, as well as a boy and girl, come up with all kinds of creative uses for the box and string creation. We all love this book!

Another great find was Everyday Animals, by Gertrude E. Allen. This book was written in 1961 and is a non-fiction chapter book. It has wonderful black and white illustrations and each chapter talks about a different animal… rabbits, chipmunks, mice, skunks, porcupines, and gray squirrels… animals a child knows and probably has seen. The text is great and the author did a great job of writing about things that small children will truly find interesting. For instance, this part from the rabbit section:

“When Mother Rabbit is expecting babies she finds a spot under some tree roots or bushes or in tall grass. She digs a hole and lines it with grass and bits of fur. She makes a blanket from grass and fur and tucks it over the babies when she leaves the nest.”

Or from the chipmunk chapter:

“Chipmunks look odd when they swim. They hold their tails straight up in the air!”

Ok, obviously I love this book and so does M despite it’s length. We’ve been reading one chapter at a time, and he has really enjoyed learning all the little things about these animals.
Click on the button at the top of the page to see more reviews on great kids’ books!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week – Feb. 13, 2010

 


We finally got to the library this week and found a zillion (well, almost) good books.  It felt like we were on a book fast for the past couple of weeks, and it’s so good to be back, reading up a storm together. 
We discovered this adorable little book:Choo Choo, The Story of a Little Engine Who Ran Away, by Virginia Lee Burton.  This  was written in 1937.  It’s a cute story about the engine of a passenger train who wants to shake off her responsibilities and run free and fast, and really impress everyone.  She has her chance one day and speeds off to find adventure.   She ends up alone at the end of an unused track, with no fuel left since she lost her coal tender when she jumped a drawbridge that was halfway up (she’s got spunk!).  She’s kind of a naughty little engine, and I think I may have related to her even better than M did. :)  Needless to say she learns a lesson about how it’s pretty nice to be what you are supposed to be after all. 

We also read Do Like a Duck Does! by Judy Hindley.This is a cute story about a mama duck who just knows there’s not something quite right about a big brown “duck” who keeps following her babies.   It’s told in rhyme and is fun to read (although some of the rhymes are not true rhymes, which can be annoying if I let it be).  Of course Mama outfoxes the fox in the end.  M enjoyed this book a lot since it is full of silliness.  He especially enjoyed it when the fox has to pretend like he is enjoying the worms and bugs that Mama Duck feeds him. :)
Go here to find more great kids’ books!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week – Feb. 6, 2010

Click the button above to see more reviews of great kids’ books!

Like the widget? I finally decided to get it since I normally only really write about one or two books each week. We normally read many more and this is a way to let you see some of the others. Any of the books in the rotation above are recommended!
We are starting to discuss dinosaurs and we’ve had fun reading a couple of new (to us) dino books this past week.
Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp, by Carol Diggory Shields:The rhyming text in this book is fun to read and the illustrations are fantastic (ill. by Scott Nash). It’s a fun story about a dinosaur dance and does a good job of naming a lot of dinos.
Ten Terrible Dinosaurs, by Paul Stickland: Paul Stickland has several fun dinosaur books, but this was the first time we’d read this particular one. The characters look the same as they do in his other books and M recognized them all. It’s fun to watch as one by one each dino leaves the group. They really are terrible, but they look adorable in my opinion. :) I love the facial expressions and unique character given to each of these dinos.
Have a beautiful day! :)

Book of the Week – Jan. 23, 2010

Hands down, the favorite of this week has been Jan Brett’s The Three Snow Bears.
This is a take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a fairytale which M has never heard.  I have read several versions of Goldilocks, so I can’t remember if the bears are friendly in the original story or not-so-friendly.  But in this one the three snow bears are nice, good bears who spend their morning saving a pack of sled dogs who are floating out on a large piece of ice (ice floe?); yet, they are not exactly welcoming of the little girl they find has been in their home while they were gone.  It’s a good combination of knowing they are good… yet knowing they are still bears!  It’s a fun story to read and M has asked for it daily.
For more children’s book recommendations, visit Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns! 
Have a beautiful day! :) 

Books of the Week – Jan. 16, 2010

We’ve become HUGE fans of Daniel Kirk’s books in the past few weeks.  I could go on and on about his books with music, but hopefully they will make it into a post of their own sometime soon.  For now, I’ll share two of his books that we’ve been reading this week.
First, Snow Family:This is such a sweet book!  A group of snow children are running around on their own, getting into trouble and making mischief.  Little Jacob (a real boy) has a very loving mom and dad.  When he meets the snow children and plays with them one afternoon he notices missing carrot noses, lost scarves, and that kind of thing and thinks the snow children need someone to care for them.  After his parents find him hiding in a tree because a sleepy bear was woken by the little snow stinkers (the mother has tears in her eyes as she snuggles him close – I could totally relate), Jacob decides to make snow parents for the little snow children.   What a good reminder that our little ones, even when they are a bit wild, need our comfort and care!

Next, Library Mouse:
This is a fun book to read and lets children know anyone can be an author.  The little library mouse loves to read and loves to write.  He begins writing books and leaving them on the library shelves for others to read.  When the librarians decide to have a “meet the author” day, the little mouse sets up a box for the children to look in to meet the author.  At the bottom of the box is a mirror. :)  Cute, no?  I really enjoyed this book and so did M!
For more book reviews, check out Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week – Jan. 9, 2010

M has fallen in love with CD books lately. Thankfully our library has a pretty good selection. I’m just so happy that he’s gotten to this stage; believe me, I enjoy the break I get when he’s listening to one of his books!
Two of his favorites are below, they also just happen to be wonderful classics…
First, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton:
Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel, Mary Anne, are becoming outdated and replaced by newer machinery, so off they go to look for work. They end up digging a cellar and then realizing they can not get out! A little boy (M loves this part) comes up with the perfect solution. :) This is a great book for kids who love trucks, big machines, digging, etc.
And Katy and the Big Snow, also by Virginia Lee Burton:
The inside cover of this book shows an entire map of the town in which Katy lives (um, if a tractor can “live” somewhere)… that map alone is reason enough to check this book out. M is enthralled with the map, and loves the story too! Katy is a tractor who is sometimes used as a bulldozer and sometimes used as a snowplow. When a major snow storm hits the city Katy comes to the rescue (the other snowplows are in over their heads) and clears out the town, helping the police, the fire department, the hospitals, and on and on. This is a great book about hard work and helping those in need. And it has a big machinery. :) What more could a little boy want?? :)
For more book reviews, see Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Book of the Week – Dec. 26, 2009

 
The hit of the week is, without doubt, GO!, by Daniel Kirk.  We made a quick run to the library on Monday and this was one that M picked out on his own. 
I had my doubts.  My husband had his doubts.  That night at bedtime M picked this to read… and we doubted some more. :)
However, M never doubted it; he knew it was a keeper.  And the next day when I pulled the CD out and we listened to it, I realized just how right he was.  This book is awesome!  Don’t try to read it as poetry, it just doesn’t work.  It’s songs – songs with some really weird lyrics and totally kid-friendly melodies.  The songs have super-catchy tunes, the book has amazingly interesting illustrations, and we are absolutely loving it.  M has listened to it no less than 5 times in the past 2 days – he sits on his bed with his nose in the book and listens to all 23 songs.  This equals 45 minutes of freedom for me, which is not the least of the reasons why I love it. ;)
There’s a song about a boy who wants to be an airplane when he grows up.  There’s a song about rollerblading to school.  There’s even a couple you might already know, but with new fun tunes.  It’s great, great, great – I think everyone I know with kids should go out and buy it.  It’s really that great! :)  Hee hee.
If you don’t buy it, at least see if your library has it.  It’s well worth the time!  And give it a chance, with the music, before you judge it!
Check out more book reviews here!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week – Dec. 19, 2009

Whew, I didn’t know if I’d get around to writing this post or not. (being as how I’m still on my “break”, hahahahahaha; I think I’m back, I just don’t want to actually say so for some reason.  Crazy girl.)
I have to tell you about one of our favorite Christmas books… Little Rabbit’s Christmas, by Harry Horse.
 
This is a book about a little rabbit who wants a red sled for Christmas.  He loves this sled.  Loves it.  And of course the Christmas Rabbit brings him his sled.  Little Rabbit suddenly feels very conflicted – he wants his friends to admire the sled, but he doesn’t want to share it.  He goes off where he can be alone with his sled, but that isn’t much fun either as there is no one to watch him sliding down the hill. 
Little Rabbit gets into a bit of trouble and ends up stuck in the snow with the red sled broken.  (M yelled “OH NO!” at this part, he was really into this book, hee hee.)  Little Rabbit’s friends are more generous than he, thankfully, and they help him out, fix his sled and even give it a new coat of paint.  Then they all enjoy sledding for the rest of the day… together.  Little Rabbit learns that the best things are even better when they are shared with friends. 
This book is fun to read, keeps M interested, and has so many good (yet subtle) lessons about friendship, sharing, helping, and how to handle one’s feelings appropriately.  There’s even a little lesson about listening to your mama when she tells you to wear your mittens. :)  Such a cute book and we all love it.  This is going on our “buy” list for sure.
For more book reviews, visit the link-up at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week – December 5, 2009

Christmas books this week – of course! :)  These are two favorites from last year that I put on hold for us two weeks ago so we could enjoy them again this year.  M was very happy to see these beloved books again!
Little Owl and the Star, by Mary Murphy
I think this book is perfect for very young toddlers, even babies.  The text is very simple and it evokes the feeling of expectation and joy well.  Little Owl has a “waiting feeling”, then comes a star and Little Owl follows it.  He finds baby Jesus and is filled with happiness when the baby smiles at him.  Then the star shines so bright it fills the world with light.  M still loves this book, even though it’s a bit simpler than the stories he is used to now.  I really recommend this one, it’s super-cute and sweet!

The Little Drummer Boy, by Katherine K. Davis
I have to admit, I’ve always loved this song.  And after reading  (er, singing) this book last Christmas, we have pretty much been singing it all year.  M loves the song as much as I do and while I normally am not a fan of books that are really just songs with illustrations, I LOVE this one.  I literally get chills in the last few pages.  
For more reviews, go to Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week

November 28, 2009

Let’s Go Home, Little Bear, by Martin Waddell
Martin Waddell has written a whole series of books about Little Bear and Big Bear, and we love them all.  I’m not sure why I haven’t written about them before; they are definitely in our list of  top favorites.  When we picked this one up at the library yet once again, I realized I need to write about this series.
The books usually revolve around some insecurity or fear of Little Bear’s.  Big Bear reassures him and provides comfort and there is always a happy, cozy ending.  In this particular book, Big Bear and Little Bear are walking home through the woods.  Little Bear keeps hearing strange things and Big Bear is right beside him, helping him understand the many sounds of the forest, and providing the security Little Bear needs.  Finally, tired Little Bear gets a piggy back ride back to their cozy cave and falls asleep in the “bear chair” listening to Big Bear tell the story of their adventure that day.  I really recommend these books for any child who might be going through a phase of being afraid or timid.  (We especially loved Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear? when M was going through a phase of being afraid of the dark.)

Another definite favorite this week was Duck and Goose, by Tad Hills This is a cute and funny story of a duck and goose who find a ball and assume it’s an egg.  They fight over whose egg it is going to be and both end up sitting on it waiting for it to hatch.  What started as a rivalry soon ends up as a friendship as the two learn to work together.  Of course a sweet little bluebird comes by and disillusions them about the “egg”, but they are both able to admit their foolishness and enjoy playing with the ball together.  This is a great book to use as a starting point for talking about sharing and cooperating with others.  This is the first Duck and Goose book we’ve read, but apparently there are many more.  We will definitely be checking them out!
For more book reviews, go here!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week

November 21, 2009

The Barn Owls, by Tony Johnston
This book is illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray, whom I’ve never heard of before reading this book.  The illustrations are what I love about The Barn Owls.  I was mesmerized on every page by the subtle shadings and beautiful autumn colors.  The pictures were done with transparent watercolors and watercolor pencils.  They are really very beautiful.  The story is very good too, and tells of 100 years of barn owls who have lived, hunted, and flown in the area of the barn which is their home.  Baby barn owls are shown hatching in the rafters of the barn, and an adult owl is shown hunting in a golden wheat field.  The story is very dream-like and poetic, I read it very slowly and softly to M, and he really seemed to enjoy it that way (me too!). :)


What Makes the Seasons?, by Megan Montague Cash
This book does a great job of explaining what happens in each season and how one seasons fades into another.  It also talks about how seasons *happen* because of the earth’s orbit around the sun.  This contributed to M’s first real understanding of the idea of outer space.  He’s seen pictures of the earth before, but this time we really talked about how the stars are in outer space and if we were up there with them this is what our world would look like – a green and blue ball because of the grass and water.  And we talked about how the earth moves in a circle around the sun and how that makes day and night.  There was a great illustration in the book that was a good aid to our discussion.   Another picture in the book was very interesting to M – a window with 4 panes and through each pane a different season is shown of the outdoor scene.  We looked and talked about this picture for quite a long time.  I LOVE books that interest him (both of us really) like this!
For more book reviews, go here!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week – November 14, 2009

I want to share two fabulous Thanksgiving books today.
The first is The Thanksgiving Beast Feast by Karen Gray Ruelle.
This is an early reader book,  but I’ve found the simple text of this type of book is perfect for a preschooler too.  It has 3 chapters, but don’t let that scare you – it’s a very quick read. 
Two children (cats actually) are learning about Thanksgiving.  They learn, briefly, the basics about the pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving feast.  They see animals that are hunting for food and decide to make a “beast feast” for them so they can have Thanksgiving too.  They make a variety of treats for the squirrels, birds, and chipmunks, and watch as the little animals enjoy their feast. :)  It’s really a cute little book and it has some great ideas for extension activities, like baking cookies and making treats for the animals.  M is really into watching the birds and squirrels lately, and we actually had a chipmunk in our house recently (another story entirely…) so we may do just that!
The only thing that bothered me a tiny bit about this book, was that it was focused on being thankful for our food, and that was given as THE reason for Thanksgiving.  While it’s true that the pilgrims did not have food and were thankful for the bounty they eventually received, I don’t feel that food is the main reason for being thankful.  In our home we try to be thankful for every blessing and thankful *to* God, who is never mentioned in this book.  However, it’s really a sweet book, and I feel comfortable reading it to M because he learns what we believe in many other ways.
The second Thanksgiving Book is Thanksgiving With Me, by Margaret Willey. This book is so moving it brought tears to my eyes the first time I read it.  It is basically the story of a little girl who is asking her mother about the uncles who are coming to visit for Thanksgiving.  It gives an overall warm family feeling… most of us know the anticipation of seeing family whom we haven’t seen in a long while, and how special it is when this happens at holidays.  I love this book; however, if you are looking for an explanation of Thanksgiving, this one doesn’t talk about the pilgrims a single time.  It gives one the feeling of Thanksgiving in a wonderful way though!
For more book reviews, go here.
Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week – November 7, 2009

We read The Poky Little Puppy, by Janette Sebring Lowrey during our “P” week, and I completely forgot to mention it in any of my posts that week. This is a wonderful book, and I just have to share it with all of you! 5 little puppies go out to explore the “wide, wide world”, full of curiosity and a little bit of naughtiness. ;) This book is good on so many levels… it talks about senses – smelling, hearing, seeing; there is some counting and adding – 4 of the puppies race up a hillside and count themselves then realize one of them is not there (the poky one of course!); there is a lesson about obedience; there’s even talk about caterpillars and grasshoppers and snakes. There are so many great ideas packed into one little book, the wheels in my brain are really spinning thinking of all the great things we could do with this… a lapbook would be awesome!
We’ve also been reading some books about animals in autumn time. Three of our favorites are Owl Babies, by Martin Waddell
Beaver Pond / Moose Pond, by Jim Arnosky
and Raccoons and Ripe Corn, by Jim ArnoskyAll three of these are great, and do a fabulous job of giving a lot of good information about each animal in story-form.
Check out other book reviews here.
Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week – Oct. 31, 2009

One of our very favorite books is Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. We found it at the library this week and have been reading it every day. We’ve had it before too – and we normally keep re-checking it out for as long as we can. I know, we should really buy it. It is “A tale of a peddler, some monkeys, and their monkey business”, as it says right on the front of the book. This is truly a classic and I think there are so many creative things we could do with this book. If you haven’t read it or shared it with your child, I highly recommend that you do!
We also checked out this fun little book:The Cow That Went OINK by Bernard Most. This was a recommendation from Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns, and M loves it. He laughed out loud several times – big belly laughs – the first time we read it, and that definitely means it’s a keeper. This is about a cow that says “oink” and a pig that says “moo” and how they help each other out while the other farm animals are busy laughing at them (neigh-ha, baa-ha, hee-haw-ha, etc. – pure silliness). It’s a lot of fun, and any book that gives my boy the giggles is a favorite of mine too. :)
We also picked up One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey.This book features Sal from Blueberries for Sal (one of our absolute all-time faves), who is now a big girl with her first loose tooth. This is a precious, adorable story. This book speaks to children in their own language, and reminded me of how magical a time childhood is and how sweet our innocent little ones are. Sal’s loose tooth falls out while she is helping her dad dig for clams; she can’t find the tooth so she wishes on a feather instead, and even makes a wish for little Jane on an old sparkplug (you’ve GOT to read it to understand). This is just a very sweet story and I’m so glad we picked it up!
For more book reviews go here!
Have a beautiful day! :)