Books of the Week – June 5, 2010

We have been reading so many good, good, GOOD books lately!  M and I (and Daddy too!) just love all the ones in the carousel above, so please check them out. 

It was hard to decide on just a couple to talk more about (I usually try to just write about 2 books in detail, since I tend to be wordy… ).  And I decided to go with the two that M has been requesting almost daily over the past two weeks.

First, Encore for Eleanor, by Bill Peet.  Peet has become one of our very favorite authors.  This is a cute story about a circus elephant who falls from her stilts one day and is sent to spend the rest of her days at the zoo.  Poor Eleanor – she is so talented, but what can she do at a zoo?  Everyone stares at her and she stares back, and finally decides to hide in her zoo barn.  Thanks to a teenage girl who visits the zoo, Eleanor discovers a new talent and happily becomes a performing elephant again.  M loves this book so much, I think we are going to make some stilts like Ticia’s to go along with this book.  (I know… I said I was going to make them immediately after you wrote that post, Ticia, but you should know nothing ever gets done that quickly around here.)

Secondly, Farmer Dale’s Red Pickup Truck, by Lisa Wheeler.Wheeler is quickly becoming one of our favorite authors too.  In fact, this story is also about animals with interesting talents.  The story is in rhyme and it’s very well done, which is always important to me.  There is nothing worse than a rhyming story with a rhythm that doesn’t work, or words that don’t really rhyme.  Sweet-tempered farmer Dale picks up several animals on the way to a talent show in town; they end up being too much of a load and the old truck breaks down.  The sheep picks on the cow, the cow bosses everyone around, the pig is sort of whiney… it’s actually a pretty funny story.  I love when the cow is steering while Dale pushes and when he says, “ turn the key”  the sheep says, “He can’t, he’s got no h-a-a-a-nds”.  Cracks me up every time! :)  They actually learn a lesson about working together by the end of the story, but that’s almost eclipsed by just how much fun this book is.

For more reviews of children’s books, check out Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns and Feed Me Books Friday.

Have a beautiful day! :)

Books about Dinosaurs

I wanted to list (for my own records, and as a recommendation to others) all the dinosaur books we’ve read and loved.  If you are interested, I wrote about all of our dinosaur activities here.

These were mostly just-for-fun stories; the next time around we will find more non-fiction books about dinosaurs.  There’s a great series about types of dinosaurs by Carol Lindeen that I plan to check out sooner or later.














 

































Danny and the Dinosaur is by far our favorite, and one I remember fondly from my own childhood.  The "How Do Dinosaurs... " series by  Jane Yolen are great too, and a good way to learn the dinosaur names since each drawing is labeled.

Have any favorite dino stories?  Please let me know in the comments!

Have a beautiful day! :)