What my children are reading...

 Good children's literature appeals not only to
the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
~ Anonymous ~

These are just some of the books that Marcus and Sophia picked out to read this week.  You might notice that some are repeats from previous weeks.  As with most children, when they love a book, they often ask for it again and again. 

Yellow Ball by Molly Bang,*

This is a nearly wordless picture book with gorgeous illustrations.  This is part of my home library.  Although the kids don't bring it to me very often to read.  However, Sophia picked this book out to read this week.  She made up her own story to it which was very cute.







Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins
This is a very fun read.  It has very rhythmic text that sounds almost like a song when you read it.  The pictures and text are also very comical so this is a popular title with both kids. 







Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone
Everyone has their own favorites of children's classics.  This is my favorite version of the Three Little Kittens.  The book has very large inviting print with only about two or three lines per page.  The text matches up to the illustrations nearly perfectly.  (It is such a pet peeve of mine when that doesn't happen in picture books!)  This is also a version that can be read over and over again and each time you will discover some new detail in the illustrations.   The first time you read this book the cat characters grab your attention.  However, the page will draw the child's eye to study it and they will probably start to notice new details with every reading.  For example: a family portrait of some distant cat relative on the wall; Mother cats decorative tablecloth with little tiny mouse designs on it;  The pet wind up bird in their dining room;  The various cat "nic-nacs" in their kitchen. etc. etc.   I mentioned before that I am a big fan of Paul Galdone.  This book is one of the reasons why!

The Three Billy Goats Gruff retold by Ellen Rudin
I mentioned before that we all have favorite versions of classic tales.  This is my personal favorite version of the story The Three Billy Goat Gruff.  It is a "First Little Golden Book".  We own the original 1982 version of this title since this is a book from my childhood.  I like this book because it has good text to illustration match.  It also includes lots of repetition.  The troll says the same thing each time a goat crosses his bridge.  Marcus and Sophia love when I read them this book since I do a separate voice for the troll, the little billy goat gruff, the middle billy goat gruff, and the big billy goat gruff. 


 
Come Look With Me:  Exploring Landscape Art With Children by Gladys S. Blizzard
This was a really, really cool book that we found at our library.  The book has beautiful copies of different landscape art from nearly every type of genre.  It includes work from such artists as Pieter Bruegel, Stuart Davis, Edward Hopper, Van Gogh, and Albert Bierstadt.  It also inlcuded a few biographical paragraphs about the artists.  But my favorite part were the thoughtful discussion questions that were given for each piece.  For example, here were the questions for the painting The Starry Night (shown on the cover) and three-year old Marcus's answers. 


Do you think that this scene looks warm or cold?  Why? 
Marcus:  Cold.  Because it is all swirling and swirling like this.  (Shows me the swirling sky with his hands.)
What kind of mood or feeling do you have when you look at this painting? 
Marcus:  happy.
(and the questions go on from there.) 

 
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom,*
This is a regular-repeat-read-aloud at our house.  It is one of the kid's favorite books, and I enjoy reading it too!   We have read it so many times that both kids have the book memorized and even two year old Sophia can recite the verse that goes with each illustration.  The verse in this book is easily repeatable and one thing fun that we do with this book is make up your own Jesse Bear rhymes throughout the day.  We do this often, except we say "Marcus Bear" and "Sophie Bear" instead of "Jesse Bear". 



First Tomato By Rosemary Wells
Every time we pick some tomatoes from our garden, I read the kids this book.  They have started to catch on and bring it to me every time I bring some tomatoes in from the garden.  This is a sweet little book about magical place that Claire the Bunny escapes to when she is having a bad day.  When she is in bunny planet, she can see the day as it should have gone. 






Is Your Mama a Llama?  by Deborah Guarino
This is another repeat from a previous week.   One of the things that makes this book such a great read aloud is that it gives the child a chance to guess what animal is being described.  Children love this and mine often squeel in delight as they yell out the different animal names.   The book is written in a simple rhyming verse.  This simple rhyme really prompts the child to anticipate how the stanza will end and guess what animal is being described.  This is helped further because you have to turn the page to see the last word of the stanza.  Books like this help teach children the concept of rhyming verse. 


Little Lost Kitten by Lois Lovvett

 My mom and I found this book at a library sale.  It is the original 1962 eddition of the title.  We originally bought it because we liked the artwork.  However, the kids found the book and wanted us to read it to them.  The title was OK.  The story is rather dragged out in my humble opinion because the cat runs into to a LOT of other animals before it finally finds the mother cat.  However, books like this make wonderful read alouds before bed. 





A First Book of Fairy Tales by Mary Hoffman and Anne Millard,**
If you go up to Marcus and Sophia's room you will see about 20-30 books piled up on their bedside table...and about 10 more scattered about their floor.  These are all books that have been dragged upstairs from our home library.  This is one of the books that has been dragged upstairs.   Before we go to sleep, the kids each take turns choosing a book to read.  This week fairy tales were very popular.  We read the following stories from this book:
The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde
Rapunzel by The Brothers Grimm
Jack and the Beanstalk (a Traditional English Tale)
Sleeping Beauty by The Brothers Grimm
The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson
Diamonds and Toads by The Brothers Grimm
The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Anderson

The Tall Book of Nursery Tales edited by Raina Moore, **
This is another collection of fairy tales and fables that we own.  The kids wanted to read The Tortoise and the Hare from this collection.  








* A Before Five in a Row Title
**  A Sonlight P3/P4 Title

To see what other kids are reading, please check out Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns and Feed Me Books Friday, and Read-Aloud Thursdays.