Friday, June 25, 2010

What my children are reading...

As usual, we read lots of great books this week.

Here are the books that Marcus and Sophia brought me to read this week.

George Shrinks by William Joyce
George Shrinks (Reading Rainbow)

This is one of the books on our Sonlight P3/P4 book list.  has been a favorite book here for quite some time.  Marcus and Sophia ask us to read this to them nearly every night.  It is the story about a little boy who has a dream that he has shrunk.  When he wakes up, he finds out that his dream has come true!  For some reason unknown to me, young George's parents have left him home alone to take care of his baby brother, make his own meals, do the dishes, get the mail, and his homework.  So he must do all of that in his shrunken state.  It doesn't make sense to me, but Marcus and Sophia love this story!  They think it is hilarious when miniature George and his brother scare the cat and then the cat chases George around the house.  The thing I love about this book is the illustrations.  They are vibrant and full of detail and color. 



Whose Mouse Are You?  by Robert Kraus
Whose Mouse Are You?
"Whose mouse are you?
Nobody's mouse.
Where is your mother?
Inside a cat,"

So begins Robert Klaus's classic children's tale.  The story starts off sadly, but soon a lonely mouse must be resourceful and reunite his family.  I like the story because it teaches perseverance despite your situation.   I love the rhyming and rhythmic text to the story.  I also love the ending. 

This is another Sonlight book that the kids have adored.  We have also been reading this book nightly for many, many nights in a row now.  (As soon as we are finished with George Shrinks, they ask for this book.)


If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (If You Give...) This is a very popular children book...and another sonlight book.  The kids ask me to read them this book often.  Although I am not too sure they completely grasp the humor of the story. ;)  I think it is a cute story and it gives us all a chance to bake cookies. 






Lentil by Robert McCloskey
Lentil (Picture Puffins)This is yet another Sonlight book.  (What can I say?  Sonlight does a wonderful job choosing books that children ask for over and over again.) This book is illustrated in Robert McCloskey's classic style using pencil to depict a small town in Ohio.  It is a very cute story about a little boy who is not able to sing, so he learns to play the harmonica. 






Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Harold and the Purple Crayon 50th Anniversary Edition (Purple Crayon Books)I am not sure if my kids totally grasp this book.  However, they think the baby is very funny and often ask me to read this to them.  









The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Snowy DayYou are probably thinking it is very funny that we are reading this book when the temperature is hovering in the mid 90's...but what can I say?  The kids brought it to me and asked me to read it.  (They must be longing for some snow!)







Baby Says by John Steptoe

This book can be hard to find--but it is worth the time spent searching for it.   Nearly every child I know thinks that book is HILARIOUS.   I originally didn't buy this book, however, we had it checked out of our library for nearly 6 months!  And when we finally brought it back the kids were very upset.  So I fianlly broke down and purchased an ex-library copy of the book last week.  (I will have to write another blog post on how we are building our home library on a budget.)

The book has very little text.  However, John Steptoe does a wonderful job telling a story using only a few words. I suggest using two different voices when reading it aloud.  One voice for the baby and one voice for the big brother.

Scruffy the Tugboat by Gertrude Crampton
Scuffy the Tugboat and His Adventures Down the RiverThis was one of my books when I was a little kid.  So I like it for nostalgic reasons.  The kids enjoy little golden books too and often bring them to me to read. 








We also spent a lot of time reading some non-fiction children's books about snakes.
National Geographic Readers: Snakes!Find the Snake (Welcome Books)King Cobra (Welcome Books)Watching Cobras in Asia (Heinemann First Library)
As I always say, life is too short to read crummy books! I hope you have read some good books too this week. 

To see what other children are reading this week, check out this blog hop:
 
 

3 comments:

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Thanks for joining WMCIR - you read a lot of fantastic books this week. We loved Whose Mouse Are You and its sequels here. I was always thinking of this Mouse as a girl until "Mouse in Love" where it became clear that it's a boy :) I have to look for the last two books you recommend since they look like something my daughter will enjoy.

Pathfinder Mom said...

The "If You Give a..." series is a favorite here, too. We'll be reading Lentil later in the year as part of Five In A Row.

You really picked some great classics. We haven't seen George Shrinks. I'll have to look for it.

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

We've watched the animated George Shrinks series, but I never realized it was based on a book - we'll look for that one soon!

 

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